-= Marionette =-

I. Quietus

The bowels of Ironlock Prison were like a time capsule, its oily walls untouched by any light, or seemingly, even time, for ages.

Viktor knew that the Freedom Fighters had once made their way into Ironlock during the days of the battle against Robotnik, but their excursion, treacherous as it had been, had only been a brief one, going little further than the holding cells and some of the caverns below - and even then, they had stuck to the paths that had been mapped out in the last century.

Further below, though, were the mines - where, in the seminal years of the Acorn Empire, prisoners had been put to work to dig into the earth for ore deposits. It had been here, Viktor had learned, where they'd discovered the Antithesis.

There was a slight vibration going through the shaft as he trod down, his flashlight and the dangling mine lamps the Cult had set up in there doing little to allay the feeling that the place was ready to close in at the sides and swallow them all whole.

"Bloody hell," Roderick said from behind, "You can hardly breathe down here."

Viktor sneered at him, motioning back up the shaft. "Feel free to grab the oxygen line and run some down here, if it makes you more comfortable. We're almost at the end."

"And you really think we can resurrect Xul with this thing, when we find it?"

Viktor stopped, peeking up the shaft to make sure nobody else was listening. "Who cares if we can't? The whole motivation for this cult is to resurrect Xul in exchange for some of its power. If the Antithesis brings us the power to topple the North and South alike, why bother?"

"The rest of the Cult reveres it," Roderick said. "You Southerners don't understand it like we do. You never saw what it did to Naugus like we did, what it turned him from or what it turned him to."

"Naugus was just a kid playing with his Tinkertoys," Viktor said with a wave of his hand. "If the legends of the Antithesis are for real, you'll wonder why you ever cared about any of that Heart of the Void nonsense."

Roderick found his hand headed for his holster, where his sidearm cried out for him to put a bullet through Viktor's head for his blasphemy. He stopped himself. "Be careful who you talk like that to," he said. "There are some of us with less restraint than I, who would... react negatively to it."

Viktor simply turned forward, and began to move with increased briskness. "Feh."

Jericho was waiting for them at the end of the shaft, flanked by a group of five other cultists. The mouse's normally light grey face was caked in dark dirt and soot.

Viktor surveyed the caved-in end of the shaft. They'd been right.

There were very obvious signs here, just like at the mine entrance, that it'd been sealed deliberately. He kicked at the dirt with his foot, and found the end of a femur emerging from it.

They'd been finding bones in the walls and floors all the way down here, and plenty of ancient mining equipment, too - pickaxes, torch sconces, canary cages and more. None of it had been disturbed for centuries. It was clear to them all, now, that these people had discovered something down here - and whatever it was, it'd caused them to seal the shaft in a hurry, at the expense of a few hundred lives.

"We think we've reached the anomaly," Jericho said. "Right on the other side of these rocks."

Roderick stroked his long beard nervously. "How can you tell?"

Jericho motioned with a finger for him to come close. "Listen. You can hear it. It's the source of the vibrations down here."

He approached the wall, placing an ear to it. When Viktor saw his eyes going wide with wonder, he couldn't help but do the same.

Behind, he could hear a strong, rhythmic pounding, and just beneath it, like a memory playing in the back of his mind, he heard voices. He could only guess at their number, speaking in a language that he couldn't understand, but recognised all the same.

What on Mobius have we found?

"Are those charges ready?" he said, pointing to the plastic explosives they'd planted and wired up in a few of the wall's corners.

Jericho nodded. "Set and armed. But Captain, I'm getting a bad feeling about this. The texts never spoke of what lay in the anomaly, and all signs around here seem to indicate-"

"Coward!" Viktor chortled at him. "Here we are, on the doorstep of our fate, and you choose this moment to get cold feet? Hand me the detonator and clear outta here before I lose my temper, you spineless ponce."

The mouse stared at him, frowning, his glance flicking between Viktor and Roderick.

"What?" Viktor said, becoming more animated with the second. "You suddenly deaf now, too? Oh, I'm sorry, did you think I was joking? The detonator!"

Jericho reached around the back of his belt, unhooking the detonator and slapping it into Viktor's waiting palm. "Only the mad or the truly dense think to rush into the unknown without fear."

"Cute proverb," Viktor said, pointing away from the gathering. "Leave."

"It's not a proverb," Jericho sneered over his shoulder, heading back up the shaft.

Viktor waited a full five minutes until he was sure the mouse was gone. He'd considered putting a bullet in his back, but it wasn't worth causing a scene at such a crucial moment. They'd all cleared some significant distance between themselves and the charges, and set up a blast shield in front of them.

The Captain of the Second Guard and senior cultist reached into his pocket, producing a cigar. He put it to his lips and lit it. He took a long draw, and looked at Roderick, who returned his gaze darkly. He shrugged, then took a long drag of the cigar, blowing out a thick trail of scented smoke. "Fire in the hole!"

His thumb flicked the safety guard of the detonator up and pressed down on the trigger with a metallic click.

The charges popped with intense light as they exploded, shaking the cavern, shattering the cave-in with a colossal blast. In his haste, he'd forgotten to don ear plugs before hitting the button, and suddenly his head was swimming with a shrill ringing.

His mouth went wide with surprise when, out of the smoke, he could see shafts of eerie green light peeking through the breach.

"By the gods," Roderick gasped. "It's the anomaly, just like the stories said. The Antithesis is real..."

He started to head cautiously towards the opening, but Viktor strode in front of everyone, holding a hand up. "Park your arses, everyone! I get the first eyes on this place."

"Fine," Roderick watched him heading through the breach, muttering under his breath, "Damn fool..."

The anomaly was immense. Viktor could barely keep his eyes off of it as he hastily began hooking up his harness, driving the spike hard into the ground, kicking it to make sure it was holding fast.

The place looked like a city from high up, monolithic and spartan. The cylindrical room had to be at least five kilometres in diameter, filled from end to end with massive emerald pillars of varying height.

The walls were etched as far as he could see with ancient texts that he'd never encountered in his studies of the legends. At the very least, even if they were not to be rendered god-like in their powers from this expedition, they were now assuredly going to be very, very rich.

The centrepiece, though, undoubtedly lay in the middle of the room, an intense column of pure green light. Somewhere within, he knew it was there. The Antithesis.

He could feel it calling him. It had to be the force that Angiris had spoken of the kitsune hearing sometimes. It had no voice, no sound, and yet he knew it to be angelic, intrinsic to him. He had no choice but to do as it commanded.

Back in the shaft, Roderick watched Viktor unfastening his harness, backing up to the mouth of the breach.

One of the cultists to his side gave him a nudge. "What the hell is he doing?"

Roderick could only shake his head. "Sit tight. Don't try to follow him."

Viktor broke into a sprint, and throwing all caution aside, leapt into the anomaly, his eyes shut tight.

Roderick drew a sharp breath when he saw what happened next: Viktor didn't fall. He was gliding freely through the air like a bird, heading straight for the centre of the anomaly.

"Do you see this!?" Viktor shouted rapturously as he flew, "This is freedom! This is power! There are no gods! There is only us!"

He flew right into the light, and he could immediately feel its searing heat burning away the fur of his coat, starting to eat through his skin.

The pain was unbelievable, unlike anything he'd experienced before, but the Antithesis kept calling, and he was like a pup drawn to its embrace.

He flew freely, gaily, into the light and the heat as the flesh on his limbs started to disintegrate.

Viktor reached the epicentre of the light, and in the eye of the storm and he saw it - the truth of everything that comprised this world, of pure creation made manifest. Truly, he knew at last, the Antithesis was something not of this universe, a gateway to the impossible that had no right to be in this existence. But here it was, swallowing him, making him part of it.

"There are no gods!"

The last of his spirit and his thoughts swirled away into the light, along with what remained of his corporeal form. The last of his thoughts rung out through the room, making the whole cavern shudder, as he finally dissolved completely.

"There is only us!"

II. Fear and Power

Between the capital of Trema and the vast expanse of nothingness that was the Great Unknown, there were the meadows, the sublime range of rolling hills and mountains that made up the majority of Mobius North.

Tails sat back in the seat of the hovercraft he'd borrowed from Knothole, watching as by the hour, dry, arid brown gave way to lush green. Flanked by monolithic grey cliff sides to the left and right, it was spread before him, painted in golden yellow by the rising sun. Ahead, he could see a great chasm, the Black Fall - a place where three separate rivers met and flowed into.

The crashing water against the lake below made him smile - this world was capable of incredible things when it wanted to be. In his solitude, surrounded by this place, he felt humbled, dwarfed. Mobius, when not pushed to the background by the squabbles of its inhabitants, was a tempestuous, brilliant ode to the sublime. A place that could move you with its beauty, and crush you with ease in the same breath. These cliffs had been here for a millennia, and they would move for no one. No matter which king or queen or conqueror you swore fealty to, even they would never dare to disobey the law of nature.

Ahead, he could see the remains of a cobblestone house near the waterside. He had no intention of stopping here, but he remembered it well. The straw roof had long since given way to the elements, but it was there he'd spent the first night with Marr by his side, during the War for Mobius against Lilith. It felt like a memory of a past life.

He knew she'd be at the Sanctuary when he got there. After all this time, he wasn't sure how he'd react. His memories of her were cherished ones, despite himself, but all he felt about the prospect of seeing her again was dread.

The house, cliffs and waters of the Black Fall passed, and he let out a deep sigh. Ahead, he could see the snow-capped mountains on the horizon, and the ruined husks of the city of Trema. He closed his eyes, listening to the wind in his ears and the soft roar of the hovercraft's turbines. He wasn't far off.

When he opened them again, he sat up straight, squinting. "What the...?"

He could see silhouettes - tents, sandbags and figures moving left and right. A pair of makeshift watch towers were set up, both with their spotlights piercing the early morning light.

It had to be a defence perimeter for Trema - they looked ready for war.

One of the spotlights caught his vehicle, and stayed fixed on him - suddenly, his vision was flooded with harsh, white light. As soon as this happened, he knew they'd have their weapons trained on him as well. He took over control from his hovercraft's auto-pilot system and began slowing down.

"You there!" someone called out from the line with a megaphone. "Stop the vehicle and walk towards us, with your hands behind your head!"

He pulled the choke on the engine of his hovercraft, and when it set down, he hopped out. All was silent, except the cold breeze and the faint din of the falls behind him.

He took a deep breath, and started walking towards the light, listening to his footsteps in the damp, long grass, and the pounding of his own heart. He walked slowly, raising his arms until his fingers locked together, resting on the back of his neck.

The Treman sergeant with the microphone, a female dingo, turned her head when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Another of them, a single-tailed fox with the rank of private, was looking at her.

"What is it, Snow?" she asked.

"The guy's wearing a Brotherhood cloak," the fox said. "Maybe we should stand down, it looks like he's one of us."

"That cloak's also a design the Thamaellists haven't worn for years, and that ain't one of our hovercraft," the sergeant said. "Head on out and get an ID on him. Keep your weapon trained on him, but don't get trigger happy."

Private Snow nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

With that, he turned, slung his rifle over his back, and hopped on the ladder, looping his hands and feet around the edges to slide down. As soon as he touched dirt, he unslung his weapon again and vaulted over the sandbag wall. He could see the interloper, a fox with three tails, was getting close now. His aim was trained straight at his head, and it wasn't shaking. He'd been ready for this.

"That's close enough," Snow shouted. "Identify yourself."

"Miles," Tails said. "Miles Prower. I'm a Brotherhood Acolyte from Mobotropolis and I need to meet with Ari."

"You're either an Acolyte or you're a Southerner," Snow growled. "Pick one." He reached for his radio, and spoke quietly into it. "Snow here. It's a fox with three tails. Says his name's Miles Prower."

"You sure? Miles Prower?" the radio crackled.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Lower your weapon, let him through."

"You sure, ma'am? He says he's a Southerner, from Mobotropolis."

"Stand down and direct him to the gate, private. I'll meet him there."

Snow paused for a moment. "Yes, ma'am." He lowered his weapon, and spoke: "Head for the gate, Mr. Prower. Sergeant Janus will speak with you before you proceed."

Tails nodded and headed for the gate. When it lowered, the dingo was waiting for him behind it, just as she'd said.

"Miles Prower?" she asked, arms folded.

Tails could only nod in response. "Yes."

She didn't move. "Sergeant Arlene Janus. I've heard quite a lot about you, over the years."

The kitsune raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware I was that popular. I don't remember a garrison being here, either. Has the fighting really been that bad?"

Janus scowled at him. "Seems you've been living a sheltered life lately, for the one that went into Crystal Mountain and destroyed Xul. Are you not aware that we are at war with your city? Of course the fighting's been bad. Your troops marched on here a fortnight ago and laid waste to everyone in sight! One of you even managed to nearly blow the Grandmaster away. That would've been two killings of our leaders you'd have to your name!"

Why are you blaming me? He thought, feeling a jab of anger well up in his gut. As the question went through his head, he felt his arm twitch, a jolt of electricity going through it, summoned from within. Something was going on inside of him - he'd felt it ever since he'd made it back into Mobius. What was happening to him?

Tails frowned, shaking the thought aside. "I only just learned about all of this. I haven't been back in Mobius long. I'm sorry about everything that's happened, but nothing's what it seems here. There's been a conspiracy afoot. Both Nicole and Ari, they've been used."

"I don't want to hear about it," Janus said. "You'd better talk to Ari yourself. And while you're at it, when you get to the Sanctuary, I want you to take a look around. A good, long, hard look."

"What? Why?"

"The path through this garrison is clear now," she continued, ignoring him. "Grab your hovercraft and I'll message the guys back at the Sanctuary to let you through."

"Thanks," Tails said, turning away. "One more thing, Sergeant, about this garrison."

"Go ahead."

"Get more people for it. You'll need them."

"Hmph", she sneered. "Tell that to your Southerner friends."

One hour later, Tails found himself looking at the cottage that had served as the disguised entrance to the Brotherhood Sanctuary for an age. From the outset, he could hardly see any sign to give reason to thinking that any kind of battle had taken place here. Granted, the snow piled up quickly in the North, erasing most of the marks anyone could make on the landscape, but even so, he had his doubts so far that things were as grim as he'd heard.

That was, until he set foot inside the cottage.

There were two troops guarding the entrance, standing idly as they'd been ordered to, regarding Tails with quiet, suspicious gazes.

The stairwell into the cottage's basement that he'd remembered using had been completely demolished, a charred, ruined hole in its place. The walls had been stripped bare of the old paintings and Brotherhood paraphernalia that once adorned them, no doubt they'd been torn down or destroyed during the recent raid. A ladder downwards into the cellar beckoned, but Tails stopped short of hopping down when he heard voices down below.

"We've got a bed for 'im, don't we?"

"Oui, Marr and I dragged in a spare mattress from one of the other dorms. A little charred, but you couldn't tell with a fresh set of sheets over it."

Those voices...

"Bunnie?" Tails said with surprise, peering over the edge of the hole. "Antoine?"

Bunnie stepped out into the open, looking up at him. "Oh, my stars... it really is you, ain't it sugar-fox?"

Tails found himself grinning when he finally dropped down. Bunnie immediately pounced on him, pulling him close and planting a firm kiss on his cheek. "Tails, darlin'! Oh, Tails... how long's it been?"

He wrapped his arms around her, and gave her a few light raps on the back when he felt her embrace starting to squeeze the breath out of him. "Uh, Bunnie... I can't breathe."

She hopped back, her face turning red. "Er, whoops. Sorry 'bout that. I still forget about this arm sometimes. Even with the nerve endings."

"Don't sweat it, Aunt Bunnie," Tails smiled. "It's good to see you again. And Antoine!"

"Bonjour, Tails." Antoine stepped forward with a hand extended, but Tails put an arm around his shoulder and gave him a hug as he took it.

"It's been too long, man," he said, his grin now running from ear to ear.

"What's this?" Bunnie said, running a hand through Tails' thick orange hair, these days draping half way down his back. "You really have let that mane o' yours go, haven't ya?"

Tails shrugged. "It comes in handy during the winter," he said, noting Bunnie had allowed her golden locks to grow out a little as well. "I don't mean to rush this, but I'd better get to seeing Ari right away. I guess he hangs around in Christof's old office, right?"

Bunnie nodded. "'Course, sugar. I'm sure you still know the way, but let us take ya there all the same." She turned towards the passageway, now fully exposed where there'd once been a false wall covering it, and winced. "Listen, Tails..."

He looked at her. "Hm?"

She looked pensive for a moment as she spoke. "There was an attack here a few days ago. A big one, with half the Mobius South Army involved. I guess ya know that, by now..."

"Nobody's told me the full story," Tails said quietly. "But I was aware something had happened."

They began to set off down the passageway into the Sanctuary - a dark, well-worn tunnel lit with red, flickering candles. He'd lit these candles himself several times during his stay here. A torrent of emotions ran through him as he walked.

"A lot of folk here got killed, Tails," Bunnie continued. "The main hall of the Sanctuary got beat up pretty badly, and we're usin' it as a bit of a medical tent at this point. I guess I'm just sayin'..."

Tails swallowed. "It's bad in there."

"It is," Antoine said. "But they are working hard down here. Don't be too frightened by what you see. They are getting better."

They arrived at the heavy wooden door to the Sanctuary proper, and emerged through it into the main hall.

He looked around, walking ahead of Antoine and Bunnie, his mouth agape in horror. The ancient stone pillars were pockmarked with bullet holes, giant chunks ripped out where explosives and shotgun blasts had hit them. The wooden floor, usually polished to a state you could see yourself in it, was gritty, stained crimson with blood and scorched black from the flames of battle.

He kept walking.

To his left and right, the wounded lay on mattresses they'd pulled out of the dormitories - heads and torsos bandaged, hooked up to drips, propped up on pillows. Some of them were still moaning in agony. Some had limbs missing, hastily bandaged and bound up with leather belts to stop the bleeding.

Tails pressed on, his pace slowing.

No amount of incense could cover up the stench of disinfectant and necrotic flesh. Nurses and healers were scurrying from patient to patient, calling out alerts, issuing orders.

"...healer, this one's stopped breathing!..."

"...hold her down! Get her a local anaesthetic, and keep her upright. Make sure you keep her airways clear..."

"...I can't move this guy! We need a lifter over here!..."

Tails stopped walking, and listened, his fists clenching at his sides.

So this was it. Angiris' endgame. A society pushed to its knees, awaiting the final coup de grace.

A fatal blow to be delivered by the kitsune. By his race.

A blow he'd been given ample opportunity to stop. But he hadn't. He'd watched them invade Durugan settlements, ransack their villages, he'd helped them. He'd watched Christof, his old mentor and friend, butchered for the whims of Angiris.

And here he was back in Mobius, with the people he'd finally come to realise were his own, watching them suffer, watching them slaughter each other by the hundreds. All for the whims of a race, bent to the desires of a single kitsune, gone mad with power and ambition.

He felt his cheeks becoming damp with tears.

"Angiris..." he sobbed to the open air, "I trusted you... why?"

"Tails..." Bunnie's voice. "It's gonna be okay, hon-"

"Don't touch me!" Tails snarled, his breathing quickening, his voice hoarse with anger. "Angiris, that treacherous, lying, conniving bastard, I'm gonna murder him! I'll rip his goddamned throat out for what he's done!"

"Tails, I know this is hard to look at," Bunnie tried again. "But it's over! It's okay!"

He could hardly hear her. His fur stood on end, and he could feel his skin crackling with energy. Something in him was changing, he could feel it deep within. Some enraged, vengeful spirit was clawing its way out from the centre of his heart, gasping for breath, thirsting for blood.

Antoine put a hand on Bunnie's chest, gently nudging her away from Tails. "Tails, listen to Bunnie... calm yourself."

Tails turned around to look at Antoine, barely recognising him. His vision was flooded with red, his eyes glowing with fury and power, his fangs bared, gnashing together, his body expanding and contracting with barely-contained rage. "Screw this. Tell Ari I'm going. Angiris, Scala, Viktor, Roderick, Jericho, the whole gods-forsaken cult and that whole freakin' circus act of a kitsune clan... I'll kill them all. I'll eat their hearts and bathe in their-"

"Miles, please!"

Another voice - a small one, that made his heart flutter.

He turned around to search for the source of it, saw nothing through the haze, then doubled back, striding towards the hall's entrance, violently pushing Bunnie and Antoine out of the way as he moved.

"Calm down!" That voice again.

She was standing in front of the doorway, blocking his path.

Marr.

"You!" He screamed. "Get out of my face!"

"What if I don't?" she yelled back at him. "What are you going to do? Kill me?"

He snarled again, his body starting to convulse, jets of ethereal fire starting to fly from his arms, crackling blue electricity wrapping around his fingertips. "Don't tempt me!"

"I'm not moving from this door until you explain what's going on here," she said.

Tails' body was acting on its own accord. His head was full of noise, his thoughts all awry.

The voice inside of his head was screaming.

I will kill Angiris and kill all who stand with him. I will kill all who stand in between.

He watched his own arm as it reached out to grab her by the throat, lifting her off her feet easily with one hand.

You are in my way.

He dug his thumb in, ready to crush the life out of-

"Miles..." Marr wheezed, her face going pale.

The red suddenly started to fade from his vision, and his grip around her throat loosened.

What am I becoming?

Her eyes started to roll into the back of her head as she began to ebb into unconsciousness.

This feeling... is this me?

He his fist opened completely and he dropped Marr to the floor. He looked around, suddenly lucid, sick to the stomach.

This is me.

Everyone in the hall had stopped moving, and were staring at him. There was only silence aside from the gentle draft of the hall. Somewhere from one of the beds, a wounded Mobian was coughing violently. Bunnie and Antoine were standing there, looking at him, holding hands.

There was a trail of black footprints leading up to where he sat, still smoking and smouldering with blue magical fire.

He turned back to Marr, looking at his hands, and sank to his knees. He scooped her up into his arms, kissing her forehead, watching as his own tears started leaving spots on her face. "Marr, I'm sorry," he whimpered.

He checked for a pulse, and found one, steady. She was breathing.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "Gods, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."

He took her hand and pressed it to his chest, crying openly and uncontrollably.

This is me.

Bunnie and Antoine ran up to stop near them. "Tails! Jesus H, what the hell've you done?" Bunnie said, her eyes wide with shock.

He turned to look up at her, his cheeks wet with tears, with the eyes of a terrified child. "Aunt Bunnie, what's happening to me?"

Bunnie's anger and confusion began to soften when she saw Tails' face. In the space of a minute, he'd been reduced from the confident adult kitsune she'd known in her recent years to the frightened kit she'd known in her childhood. She didn't need to ask if Tails was aware of what he'd just done. The look in his eyes told her everything.

She knelt down next to him, and linked her flesh arm under his. "Come on," she whispered. "Let's get Marr to her room."

No one spoke another word. Everyone watched Tails in stunned silence as he walked down the hall again and towards Marr's quarters, cradling her in his arms, Bunnie and Antoine with an arm around each of his shoulders.

Half an hour later, he was in the waiting room outside the Office of the Grandmaster, sitting in a chair, staring at his hands. His face still felt tender where he'd been crying. All he could feel was shame and embarrassment, after the scene he'd just made - and Nicole had asked him to come here acting as a symbol of hope, a rallying cry to unite Mobius against the threat of Angiris and his Enclave. What hope was there of that, now?

"You alright now, Tails?" Bunnie asked, sitting in the chair next to him. Antoine had left to keep an eye on Marr, and make sure Tails hadn't hurt her worse than it had seemed.

"Ever since I got back to Mobius, I've been getting this feeling," Tails murmured. "Like I'm a puppet on a string. My body is telling me to leave here and..." he trailed off.

"And what?" Bunnie probed.

Tails' eyes widened as he spoke, suddenly aware. "It must be the Antithesis... damn! It has to be. It's like it's calling me, controlling me..."

"Huh..." Bunnie's eyes widened, and she cocked her head as she looked at him. "So, that thing's real, then?"

"I wasn't so sure before, but... there are all these pieces of a puzzle in my head. Bit by bit, they're starting to come together. Angiris and the rest of the kitsune... they must feel it, too. I can feel myself getting more powerful the closer I am to it, but it's like I'm losing my handle on my powers..."

"Then we gotta do something about this," Bunnie said, "before you lose it altogether."

He turned to her and nodded, blinking quickly, his eyes suddenly feeling dry. "Thank you, Bunnie. Nothing's been going the way I'd hoped, so far..."

"It's alright, hon," she said, resting a hand on his arm. "We'll get through this, long as we stick together."

Tails nodded. "How did you and Antoine go with your part here, anyway? You were sent here to find out about the conspiracy, right?"

Bunnie shrugged, pursing her lips. "I'll level with ya, sugar - it was looking pretty darned hopeless. We were still looking for an in on how to get in touch with the Cult of Xul and find out their plans. We'd only just found out that the Antithesis was even a thing, then the comm link with Mobotropolis went down. Then the attack happened, and now you've showed up and it sounds like you've already found out more about what's goin' on around here than we could've hoped to."

"Hmm."

"Tails, I've been meanin' to ask since you got here... you were back in Knothole just a few days back, and we haven't been able to get in touch with them since the comms in Mobotropolis went down..."

"You've been worried about Amelie."

Bunnie nodded sheepishly. "How's my little princess doin'?"

Tails smiled a little, the thought of the kid cheering him up some. "I'm sorry I didn't get to see her before I came here, but Rosie tells me she's as well-behaved as they come. She's still safe and sound in Knothole. Don't worry, you'll be together again soon."

She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank heavens. I think Rosie's the biggest hero of us all, sometimes."

"Can't argue with that."

The door to Ari's office opened. The Grandmaster of the Brotherhood of Thamael stood before them, his arms folded beneath the great cloak that hugged his shoulders. He wasn't smiling.

"So..." he frowned, "the child prodigy, destroyer of the Void and my master's protégé returns, and the first thing he does have a nervous breakdown and strangle my assistant, in front of absolutely everyone."

Tails could only respond with a solemn nod. "Yes, Grandmaster."

"And out of nowhere, you come back here after over a half-decade of absence, saying you've just happened across all the answers to all the questions we've been asking since Christof was murdered."

"Yes, Grandmaster."

"Boy, I can't wait to hear this one," the ram said, shaking his head. "Come in, have a seat. And if you think for even one second that you can come in here and try to get one up on me-"

"I'm not thinking that at all, Grandmaster," Tails said quickly.

Ari's expression hardened. "We'll see."

Over the next three hours, Tails laid it all down, from the moment he'd left Mobius all those years ago, through everything he'd seen and experienced living with his ancient kin, to Angiris' aspirations, to Christof's murder-suicide that he'd arrived seconds too late to prevent, to the sabotage of Mobotropolis' primary communications relay, to the Cult and their search for the Antithesis.

Tails was almost going blue in the face by the end of his rambling monologue, but Ari hadn't interrupted or interjected during any of it - he'd simply sat there in his chair, one leg over the other, stroking his long beard. In one corner of the room, one of his aides had been sitting with a computer, quietly taking minutes.

"Thank you, Miles. That'll be all," Ari said.

The kitsune's ears perked up in surprise. "There wasn't anything you wanted to ask?"

"No, what you've said hitherto is sufficient. You may go."

Tails opened his mouth to speak again, but when his eyes met Ari's stony gaze, he thought better of it. "As you say, Grandmaster." He stood, bowed, and turned for the door.

III. Copper and Lavender

The Great Forest, the night before.

"Oh, man. Hold up Chuck, I need a rest from this," Rotor groaned exasperatedly, dropping his end of the heavy equipment hardcase they were carrying through the forest. It was easily as long as they were tall, and about thrice as heavy. The walrus imagined it was like carrying a coffin - except coffins had handles at the sides, and were carried by groups of at least four.

"Ugh," Knuckles started. "Already? But I just gave the thing to you! I've already been carrying it for a half-hour! Besides, it was your stupid idea to bring this heap of junk along in the first place."

Chuck looked at them both, amused, still hanging onto his end of the case. "That'll do, kids. Put some muscle into it, it's not that heavy."

"Maybe not for you," Knuckles said, looking at him. "Though I should probably point out in this particular instance, that you're a robot, and you don't have muscles."

The roboticised hedgehog simply shrugged. "If you're both struggling so much by yourselves, maybe you could both take the handle?"

Knuckles and Rotor looked at the narrow handle at the end of the case, and then at each other. "I ain't holding your hand," Knuckles said.

"It's alright, I'll take it," Rotor responded, taking a deep breath.

"No, no, I'll have another go. Keep your eyes open and cover up the trail we're leaving. We're almost there."

Chuck hushed them both. "Quiet!"

Rotor lowered his voice as he spoke. "What is it?"

"I hear something out there, in the trees..."

Chuck gently lowered his end of the hardcase to the ground, and they all stopped moving, scanning the barely-lit forest as best they could at this time of night, listening for the source of the noise.

All around, only the sounds of leaves rustling in the breeze and crickets prevailed. The occasional call of one of the Great Forest's many species of birds pierced the night, echoing through the trees.

"I don't hear squat," Knuckles finally said. He squinted at the darkness, trying to spot some, any, kind of unwelcome movement - but the constant swaying of the bushes, vines and branches, along with the dark night and thick cloud cover tonight, made it impossible for him to place anything.

"My sensors are definitely picking up something," Chuck said. "But I can't tell what it is, or how big."

"Local fauna, probably," Rotor suggested.

The worker bot shook his head. "I thought so too, but I've been picking it up this whole time we've been moving. I don't like this, guys. I hope we're not being followed."

"If we are, we'll end up leading them right to Repose," Knuckles said. "But who could even stay on our trail, anyway? It's so dark out here."

"Let's just get moving," Rotor said, grabbing the handle of the case and lifting it up. "It's not like we've got much of a choice anyway. Either we get where we're going or we don't," he remarked, already starting to pant as he spoke.

Knuckles sighed, and gave Rotor a tap on the shoulder. "Let me take the case from here. You look like you're about to pass out, and I think one big, heavy thing to drag through the forest is enough."

The thing about being underground: you have no idea when the sun is up if you don't have a clock to look at. And you can't rely on your body to keep its usual circadian rhythms when you've gone to sleep completely and utterly spent.

Sonic awoke to the smell of eggs and toast wafting in from down the hall. He rolled over happily, burying his face in Nicole's pillow - he could still smell her shampoo in it - lavender. The lights were still on down the hall, but in here it was still gloriously, mercifully dark and warm.

"Hey, sleepyhead!" Nicole's shapely silhouette said from the doorway. Evidently she'd already risen, showered, dressed and found the time to fix breakfast. "Get out of that flea-pit already and get some chow."

"Nnngh," Sonic groaned, pulling the blankets over his head. "In a minute..."

"Noooo, noo, noo..." Nicole took a flying leap onto the bed, landing right on top of him, and pulled the blanket down. "You get up now, Sonic Maurice Hedgehog, before it gets cold."

The hedgehog winced. "You know my middle name."

"Of course I do. I know a lot of things about you, dummy," she said, swaying her hair to and fro, tickling his face. "Now, come on. Get up, get up, get up. Or I'm just going to keep jumping on you until you do."

Sonic yawned, and through bleary eyes, stared at her face for a moment, raising a still-gloveless hand to brush her hair out of his vision. It came to a rest on her cheek. "This ain't real, anyway. I've gotta be still dreaming."

Nicole cocked her head to one side. "Huh?"

"To just wake up one day and find those big luscious emerald eyes of yours looking at me," Sonic smirked. "Can't happen."

She leaned in to kiss him softly. Sonic closed his eyes happily as she did, shivers going down his spine, breathing in the scent of the perfume she was wearing.

Nicole broke the kiss to rest her head next to his. "This is real," she whispered in his ear.

"I don't deserve something so beautiful," Sonic said, smiling.

"Well, guess what? You're stuck with me. Now get your scrawny blue ass out of bed. You've slept long enough."

Sonic froze. "Wait a minute. How long have I been asleep?"

The lynx giggled. "It's nearly nine in the morning. You've been asleep for almost twelve hours!"

He sat up suddenly and gulped. "Are the others here yet?"

"They got here hours ago," Nicole said, rolling onto her back and looking up at him. "They're just down the hall-"

"Have they been up this end of the bunker?"

"No, you seemed pretty spent. I wanted to let you sleep."

Sonic ripped the bedsheets off of him and immediately dashed out of Nicole's bedroom, skidding into the room he'd chosen for himself the night before. When he got in and saw his bed covers barely disturbed from last night, he ripped them off the mattress, scrunched them up into a ball and threw them on the floor, punching a few dents into his pillow for good measure.

Moving quickly, he sat on the bed, pulling on his shoes and socks, and started searching around desperately for the bandages he'd had over his hands the night before.

He looked up, and saw Nicole standing there, hands on her hips. "Sonic, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Er... looking for those bandages?" Sonic said, scratching his neck. "It's my hands, y'know how I was saying last night..."

"Trying to cover up evidence that we were together last night is what it looks like you're doing," Nicole said, frowning.

"What?" Sonic said, biting his lip. "No, I just could've sworn I left those bandages in here-"

He stopped talking when he saw Nicole folding her arms, utterly unconvinced.

"You, uh..." he began sheepishly, "you didn't tell them, did you?"

"They don't know," Nicole said. "Why? Is it really that big a deal?"

"No, 'course not, but... I just-"

The queen sighed, and knelt so that she was eye level with him, resting her hands on his knees. "Alright, tough guy. If you're so worried about this, it'll be our little secret. For now."

"Just for now." Sonic looked at her wanly, hanging his head. "So, breakfast sounds good."

For the middle of a crisis, it was strange to see everyone looking so laid-back. It was a welcome change, and Sonic had to admit to himself, they all were long overdue for some downtime. He wondered for a moment if Tails had managed to find himself any similar opportunities up in the North.

Knuckles, curled up on the couch, looked at the hedgehog through barely-open eyes. "Well, now. Look what the lynx dragged in..." he murmured, then immediately lapsed back into sleep, his breathing a light wheeze.

"Morning, Sonie," Chuck said with a wave.

Rotor and Chuck were both busily working on some strange device they'd set up, a machine that reached from floor to ceiling with a pillar that folded out like a flower at the top, with several thin lattices of steel touching the fondling the plaster ceiling. They'd brought a large hardcase with them, now cracked open, half of its contents strewn across the lounge room floor.

Sonic raised his brows. "You guys haven't crashed since you got here?"

"No rest for the weary," Rotor said with a shrug. There were circles under his eyes, but then, Sonic knew Rote well enough to acknowledge this was hardly out of the ordinary for the walrus.

"Need a hand with, uh... whatever that thing is you're doing?"

"Nah, it's cool. Get yourself a feed first," Rotor drawled, not looking up. He was hunched over the base of the machine, where a computer screen was showing a few graphs, along with some kind of waveform measurement that Sonic couldn't make out the purpose of.

Sonic followed the smell to the bench, where a plate with two slices of toast and some eggs, cooked sunny side up, sat atop. "Compliments to the chef, then," Sonic smiled, looking over at Nicole.

"Actually, that's Chuck's handiwork," Nicole said, looking over at him.

Sonic took a knife and pierced the egg, spreading its runny yolk all over a slice of toast, and took a bite out of it. It had already gone cold, but he didn't mind. "Not bad, Unc, considering you can't even sample your own cuisine."

Chuck smiled at him with his red-on-black LCD eyes. "I used to be a cook, before the Coup, actually. I kind of kept the practice around as a hobby, and a keepsake."

"Right. So, what's this thing you guys have built in here?"

His uncle reached up near the ceiling and touched one of the thin steel lattices, watching it recoil from his touch. "It's a seismic sensor, though we've got this one set upside down. They normally sit on the ground. We can use it to detect movement on the surface above this bunker up to a two-hundred metre radius."

"I should've figured you weren't setting up the cable television," Sonic said in between chews of his breakfast.

"Yeah." Rotor looked up at Sonic, then pointed over to the hardcase, still half-full of assorted electronic equipment. "Once we're done with this thing, I'll be putting together a communications relay. Before we left Mobotropolis, I jury-rigged a setup to send short-range burst transmissions from the Castle to here. From there, I'll be able to use this to patch together a long-range transmitter and open up the communications between the North and South again, and start coordinating an alliance against the kitsune."

The hedgehog pinched a finger and thumb to his chin thoughtfully. "Couldn't they trace our transmissions back to this bunker that way and find out where we are?"

Rotor grinned proudly. "Not with the transmission protocols I've implemented. That baby over there, once she's set up, will silently redirect all data to the castle. For all intents and purposes, anyone will just think it's coming straight from there. It's one hell of a sleek piece of kit, if I do say so myself."

"Has anyone ever pointed out that you kind of refer to your machines as if they're women?" Sonic said flatly.

The walrus shrugged. "Ro-becca was a machine and you still talked to her like she was a woman."

"Ugh," Sonic grimaced at the memory. "Don't remind me. So, have you got this funky thing working yet?"

"Almost," Chuck said. "It's usually a pretty simple affair to get the thing set up, but it's misbehaving down here. Not sure what's causing it - a lot of false positives are showing up. Rotor, can you turn down the sensitivity of the sensors? They must be picking up noise from somewhere inside the bunker."

"But they're not scanning inside the bunker, they're all directed at ground level," Rotor said, stroking his whiskers. "And if I tune the sensors any lower, they'll stop working completely."

"Wait," Knuckles growled, sitting up suddenly. "You've got that thing working, and it's registering movement topside?"

Chuck turned to him. "Yes, but they look like false-"

"What if they aren't? What if they're real positives? You're the one that picked up a disturbance in the forest during the night on the way here, remember?"

Nicole was next to join in: "You're saying you think someone might've tracked you here?"

Chuck frowned. "We couldn't confirm it, but, I... maybe. I don't think so..."

"Guys!" Rotor said, ogling the monitor of the device, eyes wide as saucers. "The detector's going nuts! I'm getting movement from five different sources right on top of this bunker!"

Nobody breathed when they began to hear a muted, metallic pounding.

Rotor noticed his hands starting to shake, and rubbed them together impatiently to try and stop it. "It's coming from the lift shaft..."

"Nicole, I'm sorry," Chuck said, hanging his head.

"Forget it," Nicole growled, turning to Sonic. "Sonic, get down the hall. On the left wall at the end, is a weapons cache. Open it and bring us whatever you find in there. We're entertaining!"

"Gotcha," Sonic said, and bolted down the hall, reaching the end in under a second. He flung the cabinet doors open, and surveyed its contents:

Eight blasters, and a handful of laser-activated flash claymores - all munitions designed to stun, not kill. It was hardly anything to repel an invasion force with, but at least up against a few meagre saboteurs, it was better than nothing...

Grabbing three of the blasters and all the claymores he could carry, he weighed up the odds. There was always the chance that it wasn't kitsune trying to bust in - it might even be someone on their side -

Without a warning, the bunker shook violently, throwing him off balance. Whomever it was, they must've breached the blast doors on the surface.

Back in the lounge, Knuckles watched everything unfold in slow motion. First, there was the explosion, and mere seconds later, they watched the reinforced door to the lounge bursting clean off of its hinges with the impact of the lift slamming hard into it.

He braced himself, watching Chuck, Nicole and Rotor standing there dumbstruck, not even registering the speed or intensity of what was happening.

The intruders came in like angry spirits, faster than any living thing he'd ever seen besides Sonic. Out of the giant ring of flame that had once been the bunker's entrance, they sprang forth, five of them - all kitsune.

The one in the lead came straight for him, a crescent-shaped blade in his hand, poised to take his life.

Knuckles ducked and watched the kitsune sail straight over him, tumbling into the coffee table in the middle of the room. It made a cacophonous noise under the barbarian's weight as it shattered, and the kitsune rolled to his feet. The echidna just barely turned his head in time to duck under a savage swipe from another of them.

He pivoted, and came back with a blow of his own - the sharp barbs on his knuckles pierced cleanly through the kitsune's leather armour, plunging deep into his abdomen. The fox's eyes went wide with shock and surprise, before the echidna withdrew his fist from his chest and he went down hard.

Nicole had leapt back from the onslaught immediately, pulling Chuck and Rotor with her, screaming down the hall: "Sonic!"

The hedgehog was already there, tossing all three of the blasters he was holding at them. Rotor reached out and caught one easily, slamming home the safety switch and firing a volley of high-powered energy at a kitsune coming straight for him.

The blast caught the fox dead-centre in the face, knocking him unconscious in mid-air, his limp body slamming into the walrus', sending them both tumbling to the floor.

For a moment, all was silent - at one end of the room, backs against the wall, Knuckles, Sonic, Chuck and Nicole stood, bracing themselves. Near the door, three more kitsune remained.

Scala Grama was heading them up.

He looked grimly on at one of his compatriots, gone stiff in the foetal position, clutching at his chest where Knuckles' spikes had run him through. In the middle of the room, he watched Rotor trying to scramble out from under the unconscious body of the other one. Then he looked at Sonic.

"How are your hands, ghu-rah?" he asked in Kitsune.

Sonic cracked his knuckles, and cracked his neck, looking Scala in the eye. "Ready to knock your teeth out," he said, matching the tongue. "You go to all this trouble tracking us through the forest just to try and insult me?"

"Trouble?" Scala laughed. "How stupid are you, hedgehog? We let you go! We fed you a tracking bug with one of your meals, along with Miles. You led us here as early as last night!"

The hedgehog's eyes went wide, his fists clenching. "What?" he said in Mobian. "No way. You couldn't have."

"Couldn't have, what?" Chuck said, looking at him. "What'd he tell you?"

Scala Grama shrugged, reaching around the back of his belt to produce a computer the size of his palm, and tossed it across the room to Sonic. As soon as the hedgehog caught it, it began beeping loudly. "Gorromandas is full of all kinds of fun trinkets, it seems."

Sonic went into a crouch, ready to go into a spin. "Alright, bozo. Well played. But what about the Antithesis? Don't you have more important things to be doing than chasing hedgehogs across the countryside?"

The kitsune's lip curled. "Enough talk. Now you die."

"What's he saying?" Nicole asked.

Only Sonic and Knuckles saw the telltale twitch of Scala's muscles in time - Sonic went into a super spin, launching himself across the room, while Knuckles pounced sideways, tackling Nicole to the floor, anticipating the kitsune to make a beeline for her.

Scala leapt, scaling the room in a single bound, sailing past Sonic through the air, and brought his hook-blade down directly at Chuck's sternum.

The roboticised hedgehog never saw it coming. Before his visual processors could make sense of the image they were taking in, he was already nailed to the wall, crushed under Scala's immense weight. The blade came out and went in again - then again, and again and again, slashing and slicing maniacally.

"Chuck!" Nicole and Rotor screamed in unison.

Over near the entrance, Sonic came crashing down on both of the other kitsune, and soon found himself fist-fighting with them, ducking, jumping and parrying swing after swing. They came at him in a flurry that was almost too fast for the naked eye, but Sonic's reflexes were afire.

"Damn it!" one of them grunted in between blows, "Hold still, ghu-rah!"

Still on her back, Nicole took aim with her blaster and fired a burst of rounds at Scala, two of them missing, and one of them catching him on the shoulder.

The kitsune barely flinched at the hit, simply turning his head to her and grinning toothily. He saw Knuckles' fist coming at him a mile away and ducked it easily, and followed up with a blow of his own, smacking the echidna in the side with a roundhouse that sent him flying across the room. He slammed into one of the bookcases, breaking it in two, and he was out for the count.

After watching the guardian collapse under a pile of old books, Scala reached down, and simply snatched Nicole's blaster from out of her hands. He knelt down over her, twirling his blade near her face, pinning her to the floor. As he got closer to her, he slowed, sniffing sharply. "What's this?" he said in Mobian, his nose twitching.

Behind them, lost in thought, Rotor looked around grimly at the carnage erupting around him.

Knuckles was in the corner, buried under a pile of books and splinters of wood, out to it. Chuck had been almost ripped in two by Scala's attack. Nicole was pinned down by the kitsune, ready to meet her fate. Sonic was a blur in the other corner of the room, taking on the other two kitsune at once, becoming overwhelmed by their relentless punishment.

He noticed a sack sitting next to him that Sonic had tossed them earlier, its contents spilled out and rolling across the floor. He sighed, and reached for it.

Scala grabbed Nicole by the hair with one hand, pulling her face up near his until they were eye to eye, and pinning her hands behind her with his other. Then, in a gesture that made Nicole's stomach turn, he opened his mouth, taking a deep breath, and licked her from from her chin, across her lips, to the tip of her nose.

"You stink like no ghu-rah I've ever known," Scala smiled, glowering with malevolence. "What are you?"

Nicole spat in his face.

"Oh, I do love the ones that squirm," Scala cackled, taking a deep breath of Nicole's scent through his nose. "Keep at it, tender one. It excites me so."

"Hey!"

Scala's head turned sharply to see Rotor tossing something at him. He snatched them out of the air with his paw by reflex, staring at them - two metallic, lozenge-shaped devices the size of his fist.

It took a look at Rotor's triumphant expression before Scala realised what he was holding. He frowned. "Futud-"

The claymores went off directly in his face, blasting him off of his feet, the bang so loud it almost sent everyone deaf, engulfing the room in intense, blinding light.

"Ugh..."

Knuckles wondered for a moment if he was dead. He could tell he was on his feet, stumbling through the room, but everything was a haze, like he was surrounded by a fog of white noise. He blinked repeatedly, trying to get the world to stop spinning.

He clapped his hands together, feeling the impact and feedback of the motion, but not hearing any sound aside from an intense ringing in his ears. He could make out no movement in the room - he'd heard a bang, a flash, and then everyone was still.

Teetering off-balance, he felt his foot suddenly become ensnared by something and he fell flat on his face. Blinking again, he saw one of the kitsune had awoken and grabbed him by the ankle. The fire in the fox's eyes was flickering in and out of existence, and in the other hand Knuckles saw him trying to conjure up a fireball. Rolling over, he brought his fist down hard into the kitsune's side, impaling him with his spikes. The fox opened his mouth to yelp silently, and then slowly exhaled the last of his breath as he died.

His vision was starting to return, two separate images of the room around him starting to finally come together into one image. Three of the kitsune in the room were dead. The other two, including their ringleader, had vanished.

Behind him, he could hear the dripping of water. He peeked into the elevator shaft through the charred hole where the hatch used to be, and felt warm rain against his face, coming from the surface. They'd need to find a way to cover the entrance topside later to prevent the bunker from flooding.

It was only when his vision finally cleared, that he spotted Sonic across the room from him, slumped in the corner of the room, propping Chuck's body up on his lap. He stumbled to his feet, nearly tripping over again, and staggered over to them. Rotor was kneeling over them, a holding Sally's old MX-50 computer in his hands, wiring it up to a port in the side of Chuck's head. Nicole was sitting cross-legged at his other side, resting her head in her hands.

"Chuck," he breathed. "Is he okay?"

"I got hit hard," Chuck said, craning his head to look at him. "My respirator's gone, and we can't-"

Sonic hushed him. "It's okay, Unc. We'll get you through this, okay?"

Chuck shook his head. "Even if this works, there's no guarantee I'll be able to be reactivated for years, maybe even decades, until Rotor writes a new bootstrap program for my AI. Robotnik's code is gone, and Snively's routines won't work."

While the top half of Chuck had sustained little damage, it was only now that the savagery of Scala's attack had become apparent to Knuckles. His entire lower half had been severed from the abdomen down, loose wires and conduits sparking and spurting. The sight made the echidna recoil with horror. He'd never thought the sight of a robot opened up like this could offend his sense, but when it was someone he'd known for so long like Chuck, it felt no different from looking at the splayed viscera of a flesh-and-blood Mobian.

"What are you doing with him, Rotor?" he asked.

"I'm going to make a ghost copy of his cyber-brain on the MX-50 before it dies," Rotor said. "Then, I might be able to bring him back in some way... one day."

"What happened to the other two foxes?"

Nicole looked up at him. "Sonic had them both on the ropes after the claymores went off. Then there was a tremor, and they escaped up the shaft. We haven't seen them since. Something must've happened topside to recall them."

Knuckles bent over to pick up one of the chairs nearby that had been toppled in the fighting earlier, and slumped into it. "I see," he said.

Rotor unplugged the computer from Chuck's head and closed it. "Ghosting complete."

Chuck looked up at the walrus and nodded. "Good work, Rote."

Rotor could only nod in response, his words stuck in his mouth.

"Could I... have a moment alone with my nephew?" Chuck asked.

"Of course," Nicole said. She took his robotic hand, and kissed it. "We'll see each other again, Charles. It's a promise..."

"Good girl," Chuck smiled.

They quietly stood and made their way down the hall, leaving Sonic and Chuck alone. The two sat quietly, Sonic with Chuck's head resting in his lap, running his fingers through steel quills that had long ceased feeling.

"Sonie," Chuck started.

"Unc..." Sonic murmured. "Rotor's got a copy of your brain on file, now. We'll talk again soon, won't we?"

"I don't want you to wait for that day," Chuck said. "But don't think this is a goodbye forever. We'll meet again, one way or the other."

Sonic started to shiver, clutching his uncle to his chest. "But this version of you still dies."

"Ssshh. Doesn't matter. I've had a good run, Sonie. I never had kids of my own, but... you've been like a son to me. And I'm proud of you, boy. Damned proud. Your mum and dad would be, too."

The hedgehog sniffed, blinking in vain to keep the tears from flowing. "You think so?"

"I know so," Chuck said, then he gestured with a finger for Sonic to lean in. "Listen, I've only got a few seconds left before my brain runs out of oxygen completely and shuts down. I want to get something straight with you."

"Sure," Sonic said, his ear an inch away from Chuck's mouth.

"It's about Nicole. You know about her secret, don't you?"

Sonic leaned back, surprised. "You knew?"

"I've known for ages, Sonie. Since before the coup, even - heard it straight from Julian's mouth, where Nicole came from, who she was, everything. I saw the way you two were looking at each other today. It's like how you and Sally used to look at each other in the old days."

"You saw it that easily, huh? Shoulda known."

"She really cares for you, Sonie. I think she even feels guilty about that, knowing how Sally felt for you. That girl's had a monkey on her back as long as I've known her. Always one thing or another. Just make me a promise, alright?"

Sonic bit his lip. "What promise?"

The LED lights comprising Chuck's eyes went dark.

All was quiet.

"Unc," Sonic said quietly, shaking him. "What was it you wanted?"

He shook him, again and again, searching desperately for a way to bring him back. "Please, Unc!"

Nicole emerged from the hall, and knelt at Sonic's side. "He's gone," she said, placing a hand on his, still clutching to Chuck's body.

The hedgehog looked at her blankly for a moment. "It's happening again, Nicole..."

"What?" she asked, returning his stare. "What's happening again?"

Sonic shuffled out from under Chuck's body, and headed for the lift shaft. He ducked inside, leapt onto the tattered emergency ladder, and began climbing briskly. The bandages had slipped off of his hands in the fight before, and the rust of the ladder's rungs bit into his wounds, sending shocks of pain through his wrists. He kept climbing until he reached the surface.

When he hopped out onto the forest floor, he sank to his knees for a moment, feeling the pouring rain wash over his body. Overhead, through the thrashing branches of the forest canopy, he saw the angry grey sky beyond. It felt no different from all those years ago, when Sally had perished. The pain returned, just like he remembered... the hopelessness, the desire to turn back the clock just by a few hours and change things...

The desire to see the ones who'd wronged him suffer.

The path was hard to make out through the pouring rain and the overgrown foliage, but Sonic didn't care if he had to lose limbs to get through it as fast as he possibly could. He began to stride, ready to break into a run.

"Wait!"

He turned and saw Nicole standing there, near the entrance.

Sonic said nothing - just stared at her for a moment, turning up his palms expectantly. "What?"

"Don't do it," Nicole called out to him. "Don't run away again."

"Run away?" Sonic spat, the bristles on his back raising with annoyance. "Running away is all we've been doing! I'm gonna go to Ironlock, I'm gonna find that bushy-tailed POS that just killed my uncle and I'm gonna freaking end his ass!"

"You know going in there alone is suicide!" Nicole said, walking towards him. "They'll rip you to shreds."

"So what?" Sonic growled. "If I can just take a few of them out on my way down..."

"Then you'll be dead," she said, quickening her stride to close the distance between them. "And you won't ever have to feel this pain again, right? You won't have to learn to trust in someone who could be gone one day, right? Won't have to face your fears, face your losses any more, right? You won't have to go through the agony, the feeling of hopelessness that comes with losing someone you love, until you're finally able to make peace and forgive yourself?"

Sonic said nothing.

Nicole stopped a foot away from him. "Right?"

"Tch," The hedgehog shook his head, and turned to leave again, but Nicole grabbed his wrist.

"Let go, Nicole," he growled.

"Please, Sonic. You said yourself just last night how much you were tired of running. The last time you left us, I know I never said so, but it broke my heart. I don't want to lose you again... and if you go this time, it'll be for good..."

Sonic tried to channel the last of his strength into maintaining his composure, but when Nicole's arms came around him, the strength in his legs gave way, and he sank submissively into the muck, pulling her down with him. She pulled him close, ignoring the cold and the wet and the dirt, cradling him in her arms.

He lay there, crying into Nicole's chest, as she gently rocked him back and forth. "Gods damn... I'm sorry, Nicole... I was really ready to do it..."

"Sssshhh..." she hushed him quietly, kissing him on the forehead. "It's alright." She looked upwards for a moment, feeling the rain on her face, and gave a little shiver. "You still want to run?"

"No," Sonic sighed. "I won't run away again."

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear."

IV. The Other Side

"So, this is the fabled Dark Swamp," Angiris said, surveying the lands before him. "Homely. Come, daughter," he motioned with a wave of his hand, beckoning Fiona to follow.

Fiona Moro could feel her fur matting already from the humidity here, swatting a mosquito trying to burrow its way into her skin. "I hate swamps," she murmured. "Full ticks and filth. Why aren't the others coming with us?"

They trod through the mire, their feet sinking deep into it with every step. The Dark Swamp was a grove of thick, untamed jungle, sporting a climate almost all its own in comparison to the rest of the Great Forest. The dense foliage was a chorus of insect and amphibian calls, that seemed to get louder as they moved. The jungle canopy stretched far above them, the sky almost impossible to see.

"They will join us soon, when I give them the order," Angiris said, looking over his shoulder at her. "Let the two of us taste of the Antithesis first, before we go sharing it with the rest of them. What say you, Fiona?"

Her gut was still wanting to pull her away from here, back to the boats, back to Duruga. But now, there was something else, too, and staring at her father as he strode purposefully through the swampland, towering a full foot taller than her, she knew he could feel it too. Something moving beneath her coat, through every muscle.

It was alluring, intoxicating. As they moved closer to where they knew the Antithesis lay, she grew more uncertain of how she'd react to being fully exposed to it. She hadn't seen it yet. She had to admit, she didn't even fully understand what it even was, yet - she just knew she had reason to want it... and reason to fear it.

She licked her lips. "It sounds... good, Padra."

Ironlock Prison loomed over them, a great old mass of a structure perched at the precipice of a deep chasm. The bridge across the gap was made of aluminium scaffolding, held together with rivets and fencing wire - clearly a recent addition, after the original crossing had long since perished.

Angiris stopped in the middle of the bridge, gazing into the maw of the prison, and spoke, his back still to her: "Our co-conspirators are within."

"Your co-conspirators," Fiona said. "Not ours."

She saw her father's massive, rippling back rise and fall with a sigh. "Yes, I suppose that's been so, hitherto. Before we proceed, I must ask you to make a commitment. What happens here today, I must know you are prepared to take ownership of it along with me. I must know that you are prepared to go all the way..."

She stared at him, growing uneasy again as she was so wont to do with him these days. "Why now?"

When he finally turned to her, she saw there were tears in his eyes. "Because in the coming days, I feel I will die, my daughter. The future lies with you, as Gela Utama of the kitsune, wielding the powers of the other side to watch over the earth. That will be what I leave to you, Fiona Moro."

Fiona's top lip began to curl with confusion and suspicion, but when she saw the look in his eyes, her cynicism fell away. "You don't know that," she murmured, her confidence seeping into the ether before she realised it was gone.

She had never, ever seen her father cry.

"I know well enough," the Padra Utama told her. "It is a matter of course. I know how torn you feel, my darling. You try to tell yourself that you stand by me and stand by your kin, but your heart pulls you the other way, even now, telling you that this is not the right thing."

"I..." Fiona stammered, trying to deflect his words. "I have made my choice!"

"It's alright," Angiris said, running a hand through her hair, scratching her behind the ear like he used to do when she was a kit. "Miles is a good boy, Fiona. There's nothing wrong with wanting to take his side."

"Damn it!" she said, feeling an angry sting of tears behind her eyes. "My choice is made, father! Made! And I don't want to be Gela Utama. If you're so insistent that your death is in the offing, then let Scala succeed you. He's the one that wants it."

He shook his head, smiling. "Scala thinks himself a son of mine, a Padra Utama in the making. But he is a follower, not a leader. And he will follow you well. That tear in your heart, that is what makes a leader. That tear, and the fact that despite it, you are here with me, now, is what makes a leader."

"I'm not a leader!"

"Fiona," Angiris put a massive paw on her cheek, wiping away a trickle of her tears with his thumb. "You are the strongest kitsune I have ever known, next to your mother. We are nearly at the end of this trail - and whatever you feel now, I promise that once this thing is done, you will understand everything. I believe in you, Fiona, and I love you. No matter what happens, I always will..."

The red fox felt herself falling apart, like she'd not felt since she was young. Angiris put his arm around her and pulled her close to his chest, and she curled up in his embrace without protest, her usual defiance and bravado shattered.

The smell of him, the feel of his breathing - she remembered when she was small, when there was no such thing to her as pride or responsibility or legacy. She remembered when there was only Angiris, her father, Janassa, her mother, and a feeling of endless warmth. For a brief moment, she could feel that old warmth returning, and it was suddenly so clear to her now, how long she'd been yearning for it.

She looked over her shoulder for a moment, scouting for movement in the jungle.

Angiris caught her angle. "It's okay. No one's watching us."

"I love you, father," she cried.

"Will you come with me?" Angiris asked, rubbing her back affectionately and kissing her forehead.

"Yes," she spoke into his chest quietly, nodding.

"Are you prepared to go all the way, Fiona Moro?"

"Yes," she repeated. "I am prepared to go all the way."

He ran a hand through her hair one more time, parting it so he could get a look at her face. "If your mother could only see you now..." He turned back to the prison, spared a moment to look at the sky again, and smiled. "Come, then. We'll begin our task here now."

They held hands as father and daughter, and began to walk.

"What is the task?" Fiona asked, still looking forward.

"We're going to open the Antithesis, channel its energies to expose it to the skies once again for the first time in a millennia," Angiris said proudly. "And, we're going to kill everyone in this building."