Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Central City

The Central City suburbs were surprisingly sparse, despite being from the big city. Whisper could look down on one side and see the beach, filled with beachgoers who waved up at them as they flew past.

Far off in the distance, she could also see the mountains, and various other hills that dominated the local landscape. Central City was based in a valley, with a beach on one side and mountains and valleys on the other, allowing expansion to only the sides. It created a single unique city that was long rather than large.

Downtown though was more than enough to show where they were. Skyscrapers battled against the clouds for territory, their gray spires touching the sky.

Shadow brought them down slowly as Violet took over the navigation, her hands far more practiced at it than hers were. Green was hovering around, wondering if he needed to do his job before touchdown.

The streets had almost no one on them. Whisper could see various islanders walking the streets, but none of them were taking vehicles. Cars couldn't be that rare today. As they got further inwards, and she really felt the plane starting to slow down, she saw more cars parked on the side of the road, but even fewer of them active.

No wonder Tails' instructions essentially said to 'land in the street'. No one was driving around. Compare that even to Spiral Hill, Tangle's home area or worse, Emeraldville, and it was kind of astonishing.

The plane flew lower and lower before finally they hit the pavement, small squeaks coming from the tires as they landed. Whisper felt her body push into the cushion and jump almost out of it, and she could feel the other wisps start to jump around. "Finally! Freedom!" Cyan screamed as she bolted from the canister.

"Cyan, wait!" Orange cried out. "She's going to be such a pain..." she said, hovering close to Whisper's shoulder.

The wolf was struggling to catch her own breath. Shadow's landing job was...painful, on her tail. "Ow. Hedgehog, you need to learn to land," Violet muttered.

"I don't see you landing. This thing is a relic."

"Of course it's a relic, it's been a relic since long before I was born..." Violet retorted. Whisper had to agree with her. A biplane model was ancient even when Sonic had been a kid. Tails mostly kept it around because he had rebuilt it so much it would be shameful to not be flying it.

Whisper forced her legs to get back to normal under her, before she struggled to get Violet off her lap. Once that was done, she hopped the three or four feet down to the ground, her boots landing solidly on the concrete. There were a few islanders around, mostly giving curious glances towards Shadow.

"Whoo! Done with that, that was exciting! Hey Whisper, think we can modify the canisters so next time we have a long flight like that I can totally own Cyan at chess?" Pink asked as he came out a second later. "Seriously, we were bored. Like, bored bored."

"I caught that."

"Bored! So bored!"

"I think she knows Pink," Blue said as he came out, still hovering slightly from side to side. "Also, I'm going back in because I'm going to...air travel does not agree with me..." he muttered, darting back in. Whisper sighed a moment before she grabbed all six of the containers.

Violet, once Whisper had gotten out of the way, hopped over the side. Her shoes hit the concrete far louder than Whisper's had. Shadow's was silent. "Where do we put this thing?" he asked.

"Garage. Uh, hold on," Violet said, hopping to the pilot's seat and pressing a small code in.

Two houses down the road a small red house's garage opened up silently. "There, there it is," Violet pointed out. She moved a small lever to the side, and Whisper could see the entire plane was...lifted? No, not lifted. Able to be rolled around, that's what it was.

Tails' house was one of the larger ones in the block. A slanted roof that made it look common, but right out in front was a large yellow building shaped to look like Tails' head. "Ooh, I bet that's the lab!" Cyan claimed. Before she could go over and check, Green grabbed onto Cyan, holding her back. "Boo! Let me check!"

"That's the lab alright," Violet said. She paraded the Tornado around as if it was a horse, slowly leading it to the garage where suddenly the Tornado's wheels started to move on their own. Violet didn't seem too surprised as it maneuvered itself into the garage, parking itself in only a minute. "And there we go!" she said with a smile.

"And here's your stop," Shadow answered. "I'll call your parents," he said, using the opened garage door to enter the actual house. Whisper followed him, and the wisps close behind her.

"Wait, no, I can help!" Violet said, pushing a small button on the side so the garage door went down before she followed the others. "Mr. Shadow, wait!" she said.

It was closed door floor plan, surprisingly. Whisper had always thought Tails would prefer it to be opened up. Instead there were hallways everywhere, with dozens of pictures of a fox kit...no longer a kit.

He'd grown up, a lot. He was much, much older than she was now, too, wasn't he? His head had gotten boxier, but it didn't detract from it. Next to him were pictures of Blaze, the cat also having gotten older and wiser. Dozens of pictures had them walking around with a much smaller Violet, and sometimes even with a baby Mata.

They had looked...happy.

The main family room was easy to find. A few small blinking lights lit up the room a bit, and a noxious smell hit Whisper instantly. Shadow turned on the lights and winced at the sudden light. The counter was covered with various dishes, mostly half eaten. "Mom never had time to clean up..." Violet explained as she came up. "It was so sudden that she just left..."

Shadow said nothing, but went to grab the phone hanging on the wall. He dialed a number instantly, his hand almost teleporting around. "Come on, Mr. Shadow. I can pilot better than anyone, you have to let me come with! If you could save someone you loved, and you weren't allowed to because of something like age, you'd fight for it wouldn't you!? If you're going to save Mom and Dad, I want to be there!"

"Sonic, this is Shadow," the black hedgehog said, ignoring Violet's impassioned pleas. "We found Violet. She stowed away aboard the Tornado."

"Fine. If I have to go back there anyways then I at least want to see the Chamber..." Violet muttered. Whisper kept glancing around. The floor was dusty with age and disuse, the carpet old and falling apart. Moths had eaten the curtains in many parts, and the sunlight bleached the areas it commonly reached.

"Ooh, I got dishes! Come on, let's speedrun this!" Cyan yelled. Green and Blue and Pink all screamed in agreement as they darted for the old dishes that Whisper couldn't even get close to due to the smell. Life was here, but it wasn't the kind of life she wanted to have around.

Violet led her to another steel door, off yet another hallway. This one was painted orange, and had a small electronic lock on it. There was a panel next to it, saying in large black letters, "IN USE". Violet ran her hand down the middle. "Hi Mom. It took me longer than you thought it'd be, but I finally made it back. Where are you? Mata and I need you..." she said, not caring that Whisper was behind her.

This was what Mata wanted her to undo.

There was no answer from the steel door, as if whoever was behind it couldn't hear her. Shadow walked up behind them. "Sonic says that he kind of figured you'd tagged along. He'll be over in a few minutes, and we'll take things out, now that he knows how serious you are," Shadow answered.

"How can Sonic go that fast? He's disabled," Violet muttered under her breath. Whisper had to agree. It was kind of unrealistic, it had taken them a good chunk of the day to even just get here into Central City.

"He still has a Chaos Emerald."

"What would that do?"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Your stepfather has tricks up his sleeve, even ones that you don't know. Ones that I, too, have. They don't work with wisp energy, which is why we're taking the long way."

Whisper felt it first, a small feeling chilling up her spine. The fur on the back her neck lifted up a bit, and she unsheathed the wispon, poking Orange's canister to wake her up. Instantly the wisp imbued the weapon, and the orange glow slowly lit up the darkened hallway. The lights in the kitchen had helped, but there were so many rooms and hallways that what light it did give off was hindered.

From the family area a few lightning sparks gathered on the ground. They lifted into the area, small shockwaves of electricity bouncing off each other. In another moment Sonic was there, right where the lightning had gathered. Whisper stared down the sights of the wispon, slowly lowering it. "Sonic?" she asked. Was that...Shadow had mentioned the Chaos Control. She'd only ever seen Shadow use it, but could Sonic use it too?

"I forgot how much the Chaos Control took that out of me," Sonic muttered under his breath. Whisper was sure they weren't supposed to hear it, but they all had surprisingly sharp hearing. So it had been the Chaos Control.

"You need to practice more, Faker," Shadow said, his voice acting haughty as he stared at his once rival on the ground breathing hard.

Violet was staring at him. "You could've taken me here at any time!?" she screamed.

"What? No," Sonic answered instantly. "The Chaos Control is one person only, unless your name is Shadow. I've never gotten the hang of bringing multiple people with me. And considering how out of it I am right now, how do you think it'd work with even just one other? I mean, I'd do it, but Amy'd be cleaning up afterwards when I pass out." he commented.

He did look out of it. He was barely standing now, his blue spines hanging low. His eyes glanced over the family room, before he hobbled over to the kitchen, making sure to look over the dozens of pictures on the wall. There was a hint of longing to his eyes that Whisper wasn't sure she was supposed to catch. "It looks better than it did before, at least. Dishes are done this time," he said, looking over to the counter when he'd finally made it. His hand was resting against the wall in place of the usual crutch.

The four wisps popped up. "Yeah, it's great! We don't have noses and we're made out of energy, so we don't care about things that make you meatbags all get angry and moody!" Pink brought up.

"They're not meatbags! It's islanders, Pink!" Blue commented.

"That's what the show I was watching said they were! And think about it, we're energy bags, they're meatbags-"

"Pretty sure that wasn't a compliment for them," Green answered. Pink stared at him with his one eye.

"It...it wasn't? Well. Poo."

Whisper sighed. Whatever show Pink had watched, she was going to have to vet for him. She hoped it wasn't one of those gory violent shows, Pink absolutely loved those and Whisper hated them.

"Blaze still locked in there?" Sonic asked as he hobbled over to the metal door. It wasn't far, just seeming that way. Violet nodded, her hand running down the middle of the door again. "Shadow told me a bit of what you were saying," he explained. His hands flicked on a light switch that Whisper wasn't sure had been there, but yet he'd known it was without barely looking.

"I want to save Mom and Dad. I'm older than Dad was when he was traveling with you, against Eggman and with the Resistance. I can do it!" Violet shouted.

Sonic held up his hand, "Never said you couldn't, Vio. It's just...when it was Tails and I, we were on our own. That's all we could trust, for a long time. It seemed the entire world was against us, a lot. Ask your father, when you see him, what it was like on Westside Island, or even dare I say it the Starfall islands. But...we never wanted that for you kids. Tails and I, we agreed, when you were first born, that we'd do things differently."

"But I don't want to be different!"

"I know, Vio. You were raised on stories of heroes, but heroism...it gets people hurt," Sonic said, pointing to his knee. "We wanted you to be different, to be better than we were. If it was just Shadow here, I'd say forget it, you're coming back. Even if it puts me out for a week."

Shadow's eyes narrowed. "What does that mean, Faker?" he asked accusingly.

Cyan's eyes lit up, "Oh, oh, I know! He was saying that he doesn't trust you at all with anyone, let alone Violet! I don't know why. Is it because she's a girl or because she's Tails' daughter?" she asked.

"Or it could be both of those! Think about it! The impossible romance-" Blue started, only to get smacked by Pink. "Ow. Okay, yeah that's kinda creepy in hindsight."

Whisper rolled her eyes. It was more than just 'kind of creepy'. Really, she should take better care of what shows the wisps watched if this was their idea of entertainment. Romance was something that should be natural, not wisp driven.

"But with Whisper here, now...you have a better goal," Sonic continued saying. Violet and Shadow's ears were twitching towards the wisp conversation, and Whisper got the sudden idea that it was probably for the best that the wisps just...stop talking for a bit.

Violet startled a bit. "Wait, you're letting me go because Whisper's here?" she asked.

Whisper startled. "You're letting her go because I'm here?"

Shadow glared. "Faker, what exactly does that mean?"

Sonic chuckled. "Yeah, I'm letting you go. Shadow...Shadow has demons that are still plaguing him, and have been for a long time. That kind of darkness isn't one to leave anyone. Whisper though...Whisper's been through a lot, and she has the resiliency to not let it affect her."

The wolf in question stared at the blue hedgehog. Had he forgotten that her entire team died? That she was still working off that trauma, and sometimes she had to remember that the Shadow she was working with was the real one, and not one of the Shadow robots? Where on Earth was he getting this nonsense!?

"Also because she has five wisps to help take care of me," Violet deadpanned, staring over the arguing wisps that had been doing the dishes. The dishes were clean now, at least, and none of them had broken. Honestly, the only thing missing was them starting to clean the carpets and flooring.

Sonic nodded. "And because she has five wisps to help take care of you, whereas otherwise I'd have to trust Shadow to do it and we all can't have that," he said. Shadow growled under his breath.

Whisper finally understood. It wasn't necessarily because of who she was and what she'd been through, but rather what she brought to the table. Utilitarian of Sonic, really, but it was similar in the Diamond Cutters. Not so much the New Diamond Cutters, thanks Tangle, but the original set. Some people were selected for certain missions because they were more useful there than sitting waiting for another mission. Rare was it when all of them would go out at once.

"You know, I've tried to get into this system, but Tails somehow made it so I can't even get in," Cyan whispered to Whisper. "I've never seen a system so well defended. Orange, do you see any ways to get in?" she asked.

Orange popped out a moment later. Her eyes scanned the door up and down, trying to take in every angle. "Not a one. It's perfectly shielded. I didn't even think that was possible."

"Yeah. You can go, Violet. We wanted better, but sometimes we don't always get what we want. But Whisper, Shadow? Take care of her, yeah? If you need any help, any at all, we're just a radio or a call away," Sonic nodded. Whisper nodded, half of her ears pointed to Orange and Cyan, continuing to whisper between themselves about the door that had been perfectly sealed against even wisp entry.

"Yes, thank you!" Violet shouted, running and grabbing onto Sonic, hugging him hard. He gave a solid 'ooph' as he was glomped. "You won't regret it, I won't be hurt and I'll bring Mom and Dad back, no worries!" she was saying. Sonic gave a disheartened look and a soft smile towards Shadow and Whisper, slowly closing his arms on the girl.

"Look at this, it's a carbonate style door. The amount of damage this thing can take is astonishing," Orange muttered. Cyan flew over to the wall next to it. Whisper could have guessed what she was thinking; if the door was unbreakable, then the wall definitely wasn't.

"The wall is too. The entire thing is kept circuit free. It's as if Blaze or Tails knew that we were coming, and deliberately kept us out," Cyan said.

"The wall's unbreakable?" Whisper asked quietly.

Sonic hugged Violet tight. "Yeah, Tails did his research when he did it. Blaze asked for a room that only she could access that could be kept separate from everywhere else. There's even a vacuum between the two parts of the walls. It's a massive sphere on its own," Sonic said. "We were never sure why, but Tails knew."

"Fox boy never told us," Shadow shrugged.

"Mom never said anything either," Violet said. "I know that Mom wanted this thing far away from everything else. Separate but connected," she continued.

"We can see that part. No separate circuit, a sphere hanging out on its own...I think this might be a spacial-temporal sphere!" Orange said.

"Or to remind Orange that the rest of us don't speak wisp, it's an orb that transports whatever is inside to another world," Cyan summarized.

"That's what I said."

"That's what I said too," Cyan teased. Orange rolled her eyes.

"Makes sense. Blaze wasn't originally from this world," Sonic said. Whisper turned to him. "She was originally from the Sol Dimension, from what I know. That's probably where she is now."

Violet shook her head, "No. The Emerald Chamber was built to help her meditate on the Sol Emeralds. It can't actually teleport her anywhere," she said. "I looked at the plans when Dad wasn't looking way back when."

"You can remember something as miniscule as plans from back then?" Shadow asked. Violet nodded.

"I've always had a really good memory. It's how I helped Mata make sure she was summoning only the good spirits, because I remembered the pattern she used for particular spirits," Violet explained.

Sonic glanced at her. "That's not going to be an issue now, is it?"

"Shouldn't be. Mata's been writing down each spirit and combination that she gets, so she knows how to get the good ones she wants. I haven't had to help her for half a year."

"You've been planning this for that long?" Sonic asked. "Shows how much attention we've been able to pay..." he said, self-deriding.

"Not your fault," Green hovered nearby, now done with the argument of the dishes. Pink and Blue also flew nearby. "You had three other kids to watch, and you're own issues to work through."

"Is my fault though," Sonic said, "Supposed to watch over all of them. Let them make mistakes, and pick them up when they fall down."

"I...think you did as good a job as you could," Violet said. "Mata and me were just...dropped on your doorstep one day. You took us in, treated us like we were your own, even if I...even with me there."

"Vio, you're almost a teenager. Both Ames and myself remember ourselves as teenagers. We weren't going to hold that against you."

"I was never a teenager," Shadow bragged.

Whisper glanced at him. "That's not as much of a brag as he thinks that is. I mean...he at least had a family for a bit," Green muttered under his breath.

She wondered when the rest of them would realize that aside from Violet she was the youngest of them, in the middle of her teenage years. In other words, the very same type of age that they were referring to as uncontrollable at that exact moment.

"I just feel that...I don't know. You weren't Dad but...you were a good dad," Violet said, gripping him tight in another hug. Whisper noticed that Sonic moved his spines just a bit out of the way so Violet's hands wouldn't get hurt.

"Thanks, Vio. Means a lot to me. Shadow, Whisper, wisps...keep her safe, yeah? I don't want to hear of anything happening, to any one of you."

Cyan came up and gave the best salute that Whisper could tell she'd ever done. "You can count on us! We won't let anything happen!"

"I mean, if we can," Orange said from the back. "We won't let anything happen, if we can."

"You shouldn't clarify things that don't need clarifying! He already knows that we can't do everything, not without a white or a crimson or a black or..."

"No!" Blue decreed immediately, "We are not getting a crimson or a black! No, on no circumstances! We all remember why we banned them the first time, and if Eggy hadn't gone into that cave what would've happened!"

...Had the other wisps tossed the black ones into a single cave? That was...that was horrible!

"Yeah, he would've blown himself up because we stored all the bombs there. It's okay Whisper, we just had a note on all the black wisps that whenever they create bombs, they needed to go to a certain cave. Eggman blew it up, that's kind of what created the original valley that he built out of," Orange explained.

"That fills me with dread," Shadow muttered, his ears twitching. "We're done here then, right?" he asked, crossing his arms with a scowl.

Violet shook her head. "No, we need to refuel the Tornado. Then Spiral Hill," she said. The violet fox turned to Whisper, "the wisps can't actually break through the box then? To open the door?" she asked.

Whisper shook her head. "No. It's beyond them. Both Orange and Cyan looked over it."

"Darn. I was hoping for Mom...I'll go refill the Tornado," Violet said, heading off towards the garage.

"You should get some sleep first. All of you," Sonic said. "It's almost night, and I know Tails has some spare beds around here. I doubt Blaze managed to pull that out of him," he said.

Shadow glared at the blue hedgehog. "I don't need to sleep, Faker."

"No, but Whisper does, and Violet does," Sonic pointed out. "And the wisps...sometimes do?" he asked quietly. Green nodded, while Pink was next to him and shook his head violently. "Wait, which is it? Do you sleep or not?" he asked.

Pink shook his head, Green nodded, Orange shook her head, Cyan nodded her head, and Blue was off sleeping in the corner. Whisper sighed.

"They sleep," she answered for them. She wasn't tired yet, but it would probably be a good idea anyways. They could always pull out food from the Tornado to not go through Tails' stores, which probably had already been hit hard by the many years empty.

Violet came back in with a large yawn on her face, her maw stretched wide. "Tornado will be ready in the morning."

"Fine. I can tell we shouldn't go anywhere yet. We'll reconvene then," Shadow said heartlessly, as he glanced over to a small couch in the living room.

Sonic gave them all a quick wink, before pulling out a blue Chaos Emerald. Small flashes of lightning emanated from it before a bright flash made Whisper wince. When she turned back, Sonic was gone.

"...Are you sure you can't just teleport in there?" Violet asked Shadow suddenly. "It's...it's right there. Right there," she said, pointing to the closed door.

"Sorry kid. I need to have been there before to teleport to it. That door is as sealed off to me as it is to all of you," Shadow explained. He walked off towards the couch, quickly laying down on it.

"Oh. We're...staying here for the night?" Violet asked. Whisper nodded. It was probably for the best, she knew. "Alright. I...guess I'll show you my old room!" she brightened up, leading Whisper and the wisps down the hall, away from the steel closed door.

I wrote this while trying to listen to more somber music than usual, and I think it shows. First chapter of two, as I won't be available next week to post.

Until Next Time!