"Revelations and Reunions - Part II"
Authors: Francis Tolbert and Robert Brown
Disclaimer: This story uses characters created and copyrighted by Sega of
America, Inc. and Archie Comics (except where noted, in which case
they were created and copyrighted by us or by another and we have
permission to use them). The authors hereby give permission for
this story to be downloaded and/or printed at 1 copy per user as
long as (1) no changes to the story are made without our express
written(not e-mailed) permission and (2) no attempt is made to
profit from this story. If either or both rules are violated, it
will be considered a violation of copyright law.
Author's Note: IT'S DONE! I told you we were working on it. It only took two
months. I hope it was worth the wait. It's a long one. I'll say no more.
Peace, see ya later!
Cast of Characters (in order of appearance)
Bunnie D'Coolette
Nadine "Lily" Osaya###
Antoine D'Coolette
Angela Shi-rat***
Nicholas###
Charisma###
Charlotte Oster###
Krella###
Queen Sally Alicia Hedgehog
King Sonic Hedgehog
Donovan Osaya###
Nadia Osaya***
DJ Osaya###
Lupé
Kao***
Lyka***
Prince Juice Hedgehog***
Rouge
Tanis Shi-rat***
The "Spyder"###
Edgar "The Owl"###
Amy Rose
Princess Sondra Acorn-Prower***
Miles "M3" Prower III***
Miles "Tails" Prower
Sarah Prower***
Victoria "The Lyoness"###
Duval "The Kameleon"###
Princess Alicia Rose Hedgehog***
Darrin D'Coolette***
Desirée D'Coolette***
Knuckles Echidna
Maurice Hedgehog***
Patricia Hedgehog***
Kelly Min Hedgehog**##
Metal Sonic
Lissette Lexford***
#43
Bunnie had no idea how long she stood there in shock before picking up
the paper and rereading it. "My stars," she whispered, having to hold onto a
nearby chair to keep from sinking down to her knees. "How? How is it
possible?" But it was. It simply was. The girl that lay unconscious on the
bed in front of her, the one she had knocked out only hours before in the heat
of battle, was Nadine Osaya. After over five years, Donovan and Nadia's
daughter was back home.
Bunnie pushed away from the chair and stormed over to stare at the
girl's sleeping face. Now that she could actually see this girl's face, her
doubt slowly vanished. The more she stared, the more she was convinced that
this girl was Nadine. But even though she knew it was true, she just could
not wrap her mind around how it could be.
There had to be someone to tell about this, someone who could make this
make sense to her. Donovan and Nadia were out, quite literally in this case.
Each of them had suffered injuries that night and, despite being healed by
Tanis and Rosie, were on full bedrest until the morning. Sonic deserved to
know the true identity of the girl who had saved Sally's life, but Bunnie knew
he would not be up to hearing anything until Sally awoke. But someone had to
be told about this; this was far too big for her to keep to herself, even this
late at night.
"How are you doing?" Antoine asked softly from the doorway. Bunnie
jumped in surprise; she hadn't even heard the door open. She tried to ask a
question, but couldn't get her thoughts together. "I'm here to report a new
development," he said, answering her half-formed question. "A female bat was
caught inside the palace trying to get inside Tails' home. We think she was
after Amy."
"And yet another thing to worry about," Bunnie said, sinking down into
the chair. "What else is going to happen tonight?"
Antoine walked behind Bunnie's chair and gently kneaded her shoulders,
ignoring the pains in his hands from his earlier duel with Duval. "I've
placed the Chosen Ones around the palace where this Nicholas animal may be
likely to look for his friend. I also brought Desirée up to speed so that she
knows what has happened this night. Why don't you get some sleep?" he urged.
"I can station some other guards here to make sure she doesn't wake up and get
away."
Bunnie shook her head, pulling away from Antoine's relaxing massage. "I
have to stay here," she insisted. "I want to be the one here in case Nadine
wakes up."
"I'm sure it doesn't have...to...." Antoine's voice trailed off as
Bunnie's words sunk in. "I must have been mishearing you," he said slowly,
his accent returning in his confusion. "I could not have heard you just say
that this girl is Nadine."
Bunnie reached over to give him the crumpled paper that was still in her
hand. "Read it for yourself sugarfox," she said, the weariness she felt
creeping into her voice despite her best efforts. "The tests are conclusive.
If you don't believe me, take a look at her for yourself."
Antoine took a good, long look at the young squirrel. The realization
hit him with an almost physical force, making him stumble back away from the
bed. "By the Almighty," he breathed. "I always hoped that she would return,
but I never thought--"
"Neither did I," Bunnie admitted, sounding just a bit ashamed. "I just
wish I knew where she's been and what she's been doing. If she's been alive
all this time, why hasn't she come home?"
"Maybe she couldn't," Antoine suggested. "Or maybe whatever took her
from us also took her memory."
Bunnie shrugged as she considered Antoine's words. She was about to
debate the possibilities of this with her husband when a hushed voice cut
through the silence. "Is it true? Is this really Nadine?"
Bunnie and Antoine turned to look at the still open doorway. Angela
stood leaning against the wall, her face tired and drawn. "What are you doing
here?" Antoine asked. "I sent you to watch the front gates."
"I'm not a Holy One yet," she gently reminded him. "Fighting can still
occur in my presence, and I'm too tired from healing Kao to do much good. I'd
come here to see if she needed any healing before heading home for the night.
That's when I overheard what you said." She closed her eyes and called up
what strength she had left to walk into the room and look Bunnie directly in
the eyes. "Is it true? Is this Nadine?"
Bunnie held her gaze as long as she could before looking away. "It's
her," she whispered. "I'm positive of it."
Angela walked over to where Nadine lay and placed a trembling hand on
her cheek. "Oh Deena," she whispered, "what happened to you?" She offered a
silent prayer to the Almighty then turned around to look at the D'Coolettes.
"If she truly has amnesia, then perhaps I can help bring the Nadine we know
and love back. But before I do it, you have to be absolutely sure it's her; I
will not do it unless you are."
"Is it that bad?" Bunnie wondered aloud. "I mean, it won't hurt her or
anything, will it?"
"Physically, no," Angela hesitated. "But mentally...if we're wrong, the
consequences could be dire. To help her I have to travel into her mind and
find whatever is keeping her memories from her. While I'm in there, I'll be
able to see everything; nothing can be kept secret from me. If this isn't
Nadine, then what I'll do to her is no less than mental rape."
Bunnie flinched when she heard that word. "Angela, I know in my heart
and my soul that this girl is Nadine. I would never let you do this any other
way."
A slight smile touched Angela's lips. "I'll have to prepare then. If
I try it tonight, I could get lost in there. I'll be back in the morning.
Just please...please make sure she's still here and still asleep."
Bunnie nodded as Angela faded away in a light whirlwind. "Antoine, find
Dr. Gray," she ordered. "Tell him to sedate Nadine to make sure she can't
wake up until Angela's done."
Some time later, deep in the heart of Mobotropolis, a shadowy figure was
making his own preparations. Nicholas sat near the entrance of a dark alley,
trying to calm his thoughts so that he could fall into the meditative trance
he needed to enhance his abilities. It was going to take a lot of energy to
"walk" into the palace, get Amy, get Lily, "walk" back out, and get as far
away from the palace and its inhabitants as they could.
Nicholas sighed and opened his eyes. Even with a full night of making
ready, he didn't know if it would be enough. He would have to go about things
a little differently from how he had planned. But he knew he would do
whatever it took to get them both back. He would not fail them, could not
fail them.
Fast moving footsteps approached where he sat, making him press further
back into the shadows. It would undo everything he'd done so far if he was
forced to move, but it would be worse to be found out. Fortunately for him,
the footsteps passed right by his hiding spot. He let out a breath he hadn't
even realized he'd been holding and quietly resumed his meditations.
Charisma moved as quickly as she dared through the darkened streets,
trying to ignore the pain in her knee and foot. But it was too hard and her
gait was broken and limping. "I have to get back before the others wake up,"
she told herself, urging her body on. "They can't find out about this."
Darrin had tried to get her to stay the night, but she'd successfully
pled her need to get back to her aunt before her aunt came looking for her.
Darrin had tried to at least get someone to escort her home, but every single
uninjured guard was on duty and couldn't be pulled. After a little fussing,
and some intense kissing, he'd finally let her go with the admonishment to get
back with all speed and to stop for nothing.
Charisma sooned neared the home of her alter ego. As she approached the
front door, Charlotte Oster threw open the door, looking much better than she
had the night before. "Get inside, hurry!" she hissed at the younger feline,
draping a black cloak around her. "The others are already starting to stir.
Move it!"
"Why are you doing this for me?" Charisma asked as Charlotte hustled
her to the black door.
A humorless smirk touched Charlotte's lips as her eyes turned completely
black. "I have my reasons," she said. "Reasons you don't have the time to
hear. You will one day, trust me on that. But for now," she added, yanking
open the door, "go!"
Charisma grunted in pain as she was unceremoniously shoved through the
door, landing a little awkwardly on her injured leg. She removed her shoes
and padded through the halls as softly as her leg would let her. She could
feel the dark energy protecting the castle and its inhabitants had returned to
its pre-Christmas levels; the Unholy One was now more than able to sense her
movements if he cared to look for them. She had to get back to her bed before
he cared to.
Slipping into her bedroom, Charisma let out a soft sigh of relief. She
quickly disrobed and dove into bed, pulling her covers up around her neck.
For an instant, she considered taking off the necklace that Darrin gave her.
But in that same instant, her gut wrenched horribly. "No," she whispered,
lifting up the heart to look at it, "I won't take you off. Not ever." she
brought it to her lips and kissed it softly before letting it fall back down
to her chest and letting herself finally drift off to sleep.
A few seconds later, the door to her room opened and a tired vixen poked
her head inside. "I could've sworn I heard something," Krella muttered,
closing the door and shuffling back to her own room. "Normally I don't
believe in just hearing things, but I'll let it slide considering what the
last day was."
Morning broke over a somber and silent Mobotropolis. As the rays of the
winter sun pierced the dark gloom, they fell upon the face of the fitfully
sleeping queen of Mobius. Her sleep had been neither easy nor silent, but it
had allowed her body to rest and recover. When she opened her eyes, her
vision was blurred for a few frightening moments before slowly coming into
focus. "Where am I?" she slurred, her voice thick and slow as if she had
drunk too much alcohol. "What happened?"
Sonic had awoken from his light doze when Sally had started to stir and
now stared at his wife with tears shimmering in his eyes. "Thank the Almighty
you're all right," he whispered, pulling her close to him and burying his face
in the crook of her neck.
Sally swallowed hard, trying to dispel the sensation that her mouth was
full of cotton. "My body feels so heavy," she complained, slowly bringing her
hand up to rub her face. "What happened to me? The last thing I remember was
that girl shocking me...."
"You were poisoned Sal," he murmured, lifting his head so that he could
look at her. "That girl, whoever she is, saved your life I guess. That's
what Lupé said at least."
"You're not making any sense Sonic," Sally argued, trying to sit up.
She barely got her head off the pillow before what strength her body had
recovered gave out, even before Sonic had laid restraining hands on her
shoulders. "Sonic," she whined softly.
Sonic shook his head firmly, holding Sally down until she stopped trying
to get up. "Just try to rest Sal; you've been through a lot. I'll go grab
you some food if you think you can handle it."
"Do I really have a choice?" Sally quipped in a weak voice. Sonic
smiled and gently kissed her forehead before tucking her in and walking to the
door. As soon as he was outside the door, Sonic zipped down the halls toward
the kitchen, trying to get there and back before Sally tried to get up again.
Inside the Osaya family suite, Donovan's eyes snapped open as Sonic ran
past the front door. He sat up slowly to see if his family had been awakened,
breathing a soft sigh when he saw that they hadn't. Then he muttered a sharp
curse when he saw that his movements had awakened Nadia.
No sooner was she awake than Nadia started to cry again. She had been
crying almost non-stop since he'd brought her back to their rooms, only
finding brief respites in her sleep. It had been so bad that when DJ had come
home from being briefed on the night's events with Desirée, he had crawled
into bed with his parents to offer what comfort he could. And just as before,
Nadia's crying awakened DJ who immediately latched onto her with a fierce hug.
Donovan wrapped his arms around both members of his family. Tears sprang to
his own eye and he made no effort to fight them. And so they sat, each one
dealing with their grief by providing comfort to the other two.
It took some time, but slowly Nadia's tears stopped. Donovan turned his
face to look at her, thinking she had fallen asleep again. But he was
surprised to see her eyes staring back at him. "I want to see him," she
murmured in a dull, lifeless voice.
"Nadia, I don't--" Donovan began before Nadia angrily cut him off.
"I need to see him Donovan," Nadia said in a firm voice, pulling away
from both his embrace and DJ's. "I killed him Donovan. I killed him," she
said, stressing each word. "I know he would've killed us, but the fact is
that I took his life. I need to see the body, if only for closure." She
looked down when she felt DJ clutch her leg. "It'll be all right," she said
with a smile she didn't feel.
"I can't talk you out of it, can I?" Donovan asked. He wasn't really
surprised that she shook her head. "Very well, we'll all go."
Nadia opened her mouth to argue, but just sighed as she saw the
determination on both their faces. "Let's just go then," she surrendered,
rolling her eyes.
When they left the bedroom, they all jumped to hear a voice speak. "I'm
glad to see you're all all right," Computer said quietly. "I have an
important message for you from Bunnie. She said--"
"Computer," Donovan interrupted quietly, "when we get back from the
morgue, you and I need to talk."
"Very well," Computer said after a moment. "But Bunnie wants you down
in the hospital wing. All of you."
"We'll meet her after we go to the morgue," Donovan promised as he and
his family walked to and out their door.
The walk to the morgue was very quiet and somber; fittingly so. As they
walked the hallways, they came upon the three members of the Wolf Pack that
were still in the palace. "Where are you guys going so late?" Nadia asked.
"And what happened to your shoulder?"
"Oh that's right," Lupé said, "you weren't in the ballroom. Kao took a
bullet meant for Sally."
"Is she all right?" Donovan asked, amidst gasps from Nadia and DJ.
"It's a long story," Kao growled, rubbing his bandaged shoulder. "But
don't worry, the only one who isn't all right is the one who tried to shoot
the queen. The young D'Coolette made sure of that."
Nadia had to swallow to moisten her dry mouth. "How is he handling it?"
she asked, her voice cracking slightly.
The wolves shared a significant look for a long moment. "I checked up
on him while Dad's shoulder was being looked at," Lyka said. "He seemed all
right; he was just concerned about Charleen getting home safely and getting to
wherever his dad was sending him."
"Why didn't you wait until they healed your shoulder?" Donovan asked,
an obvious attempt to change the subject.
"I did," Kao said, going along with it. "But whatever that guy did to
his bullets made the wound resistant to magical and scientific healing. We're
heading back home now to try some of our natural remedies. And no, we don't
want to wait until later; we've been asked that five times already."
"Safe travels then," Nadia said, a parting that was echoed by everyone.
It wasn't long after they'd parted company with the Wolf Pack members that the
Osayas arrived at the morgue. "Now or never," she whispered, gathering her
courage as she reached for the doorknob. She couldn't help but smile when her
hand was covered by both Donovan's and DJ's. They opened the door together.
The morgue's clerk, a chipmunk in his early thirties, looked up at the
door as it opened. "I'm not used to getting visitors down here," he cackled
in a creepy voice that only made them roll their eyes. "Sorry," the clerk
said in his normal, almost nerdy voice, "it gets boring down here so I have
to liven things up somehow."
"Bring a book," Donovan deadpanned. "We're here to see Duval's body, if
you please."
"I'd love to help you, but you're about a half hour too late. Someone
showed up, said she was his fiancée, and claimed the body. I wasn't exactly
told to keep tabs on it, so I figured good riddance."
Nadia's mouth opened and closed in absolute fury. But despite her fury,
she knew there was nothing she could get angry about, and so her rage drained
from her and left her empty. "So much for closure," she sighed, leaning
heavily against Donovan.
Donovan hugged Nadia to his side and fixed the clerk with his most
intimidating stare. "Did you see what this woman looked like?" he asked in a
low, calm voice.
The clerk took a few steps back, trying not to look directly at Donovan.
"Not really," he admitted. "I could see her face and everything, but she wore
this weird yellow cloak that hid the rest of her. I didn't think anything of
it. I mean, who'd claim to be the fiancée of a traitor unless they were?"
Donovan thought about that as he walked over to the communications panel
in the wall. "Security room," he called as he clicked it on, "I want you to
call up the security tapes from the cameras in and around the morgue. If you
find any footage of a yellow cloaked woman carrying a body out of here, bring
it to me immediately."
"Understood sir," one of the security room personnel answered. "But I
cannot do this yet. I am under strict orders from the co-captain of the
guards not to comply with any of your orders until you and your family 'get
your furry butts to the hospital wing.'"
Donovan bit off his angry response. "Fine," he barked after a moment.
"Contact Bunnie and tell her we're on our way. Donovan out."
The Osayas left for the hospital wing with no small amount of grumbling,
some of which came from their stomachs. But a different kind of grumbling was
taking place in the underground cells. Juice paced angrily up and down the
walkway between the cells, trying to block out the conversations between the
captive he was guarding and the guards who were supposed to be helping him.
"Oh come on cutie," Rouge purred, leaning suggestively against the bars to her
cell, "why don't you come in here and we can have some fun! It's not like I'm
going anywhere."
Juice spun around in time to see one of the guards unlocking the cell
and ran over to smack the keys from his hand. "What is the matter with you?"
he yelled. "This is just a ploy by her to get out! As a matter of fact, get
out! All of you!" When the guards just looked at him in surprise, Juice
almost exploded. "Get out! And tell whoever's on the next shift not to come
in either!"
"Sorry boys," Rouge called, blowing them kisses as they left, "I guess
the prince here wants me all to himself. Who knows? Maybe he's actually man
enough to handle me."
Juice stormed over to a chair and sat down on it so hard he nearly broke
it. "You might as well save your breath," he said, crossing his arms over his
chest. "I'm not listening to any of your lies; I haven't paid attention to
anything you've said since you woke up a couple hours ago."
"Your loss you know," Rouge said with a shrug, walking sensually over to
the cot in the cell and stretching out on it langorously. "It really doesn't
matter to me if you take me up on my offer or not; I'm not the one who'll miss
out on an unforgettable morning, afternoon, and night." Juice threw a cup at
the cell, splashing Rouge with some water in the hopes that it would shut her
up. But if anything, having the front of her bodysuit get wet only made her
worse.
While Juice thought about anything he could to ignore Rouge's taunts and
sensual advances, the Osaya family stood inside the hospital wing but outside
the door that led to where Bunnie was. "What could be so important that--"
Nadia began as she opened the door. But when she saw just who was laying on
the bed, her words were cut off by a startled cry as her legs just simply gave
out on her.
"Nadia!" Donovan yelled, catching her as she fell. He looked up to see
what had startled his wife so and a strangled gasp escaped his lips as he too
felt his legs give way. "By the Almighty," he whispered, sinking down to his
knees while still holding Nadia in his arms.
Nadia stretched out a violently shaking hand toward the still figure on
the hospital bed. "Nadine?" she gasped, her voice choked by the tears that
were falling down her face. DJ's eyes snapped wide open and he stumbled over
his parents to see what they had seen. The truth of the moment was so intense
that he didn't even notice when Bunnie walked out of the room, gathered all
three of them up in her arms, and brought them into the room.
Once inside, she plopped each of them down into separate chairs and then
walked back over beside Nadine. "I guess I don't need to explain why I asked
you to come down here," she said, fighting off a yawn.
Donovan stood on shaky legs and lurched over to Nadine. "I can't
believe it," he whispered, smoothing some of the bangs that had fallen across
his daughter's face. "You've finally come back to me."
"That's not entirely true," Bunnie said hesitantly, flinching back when
Donovan turned to glare at her. "She's not in her right mind Donovan. I'm
not even sure she knows who she is right now."
"I think you'd better explain from the beginning," Donovan said calmly
even though Bunnie could see his eye going red.
"Relax Donovan," Bunnie said soothingly. "There's too much to tell you
right now, but I know that this is Nadine and that she doesn't know she's
Nadine. Angela should be by shortly to try and help, but we need your
permission to do it."
"What exactly does she plan to do?"
"She wants to go into Nadine's mind and find out what's blocking her
memories. It's really invasive though so I don't know if you want her to do
it."
"Will it bring my daughter back?" Nadia said unexpectedly, her voice
sounding hollow and haunted.
"If everything works like Angela said it would, then yes," Bunnie
assured her.
Nadia exchanged glances with her family and saw the approval and desire
to have Nadine back in each one of their eyes. "You have our permission then
Bunnie," Nadia said. "Just give me my daughter back."
"I'm glad you feel that way," Angela said as she appeared in the room,
looking far more refreshed than she had when Bunnie had seen her last. "I
must warn you, this is not going to be pretty. Whatever happens to me or to
her you cannot interfere. If someone does something to either of us while I'm
inside her mind, we'll both be lost forever. If you don't think you can
handle it, I suggest you leave now."
Nadia's posture stiffened noticably. "I'm not going anywhere," she
said.
"Neither are we," Donovan said for both him and DJ.
Angela nodded, a small smile on her lips. "It will be easier for me to
find the true Nadine with her family around." She walked over to where Nadine
lay and placed her fingertips against Nadine's temples. "Let us begin," she
intoned.
The moment Angela's eyes closed, a white whirlwind appeared in the room.
"What is going on here?" Tanis demanded as the winds died. "Why are you
letting Angela do something that has been forbidden for centuries? She is not
supposed to be used to gain information from your enemies!"
"My apologies Tanis," Donovan said, but his tone was anything but
apologetic. "But perhaps you should take a look at our 'enemy' as you call
her."
Tanis spared a glance at the bed and then was forced to do a double
take. Before his mouth even opened to ask, Bunnie was shoving the DNA report
in his face. "She's got amnesia," Bunnie explained as Tanis read the paper.
"That's why your daughter is doing this right now; she's trying to find out
why."
Tanis sank down into a nearby chair. "Why do I get the feeling that
this is a very long story?" he asked quietly.
"Tanis my friend," Donovan said, laying a hand on the mouse's shoulder,
"you don't know the half of it. I don't even know the half of it."
"So let's all figure out exactly what went on last night," Bunnie said,
pulling up her own chair. "OK, who's going to start?"
Angela was oblivious to the conversations going on in the room as her
consciousness dove into Nadine's mind. It wasn't hard to pass through the
upper layers of her mind as she was still asleep. But the transfer from the
conscious mind to the subconscious was much harder than she expected. Angela
could feel Nadine's mental barriers stripping at her sanity as she forced her
way through what appeared to be a grey fog.
Once she passed through the final barrier, Angela had to pause a moment
to get her bearings. She found herself floating in a void without form or
substance. The backdrop was a darker grey than the fog she had just forced
her way through, but constantly roiled and churned as if in the heart of a
maelstrom. If she stared long enough, Angela swore she could see other colors
appear for just a second before being swallowed back up by the darkness.
Various spheres of light hovered nearby, each one its own distinct shade
that pulsated gently to its own rhythm. "Those must be her memories," Angela
realized as one floated past her, being careful not to touch it. "Maybe one
of them will reveal why she doesn't remember us.
"Or maybe," she added, peering off into the distance at a bright black
light that wasn't pulsating like the others, "my answer lies there." She
tried to walk toward the light but found that she was getting nowhere fast.
Angela took a deep breath even though she didn't need to nor was there
any air to breathe; it was an instinctive reaction for her. The material she
was floating in was thick enough that she could feel a slight pressure on her
from all sides, but wasn't substantial enough to let her swim through it like
a liquid. She couldn't even gather some in her hands to examine it better;
it just refused to allow her to do anything with it.
"I have to get to that light!" she screamed inside her own mind. The
moment the thought entered her mind, she found her dream-self moving toward
her goal. "Of course," she chided herself, "this is a mindscape; the only
power here is the power of thought." It took a little doing to figure out
how to move under control, but soon Angela was making her way toward that
black light.
She made sure to take the most open path she could, staying as clear
of the thought spheres as she could. So focused was she on her goal and
avoiding the thought in her path that she wasn't aware of a small violet
sphere that drifted lazily along behind her. She became keenly aware of it
though when it collided with her back as she was waiting for a different
thought to pass in front of her. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as she
felt the world drop away from her and she was dragged into the thought whether
she willed it or not.
* * *
Run. Now! That was the only thought she could focus on as she made her
way down a long passageway. That exit had to be around here somewhere; this
tunnel really didn't seem that long when she'd made her way down it the first
time. Just a little bit more and she was home free!
It was just a few yards more, she was sure of it, but as soon as she
turned the final corner she ran into an invisible barrier. "No!" she yelled,
trying to claw her way through it even though she knew it was useless.
"What was the big idea?" a gravelly voice behind her demanded.
She turned around and fell into a defensive stance. "I was following
the Seer's directives," she yelled into the darkness.
"Those directives served no purpose but to fuel the incompetence that
plagues this planet!" the voice ranted, seeming to come from a different
direction this time. "I'm trying to prevent the planet from falling into ruin
and you do nothing but stop me!"
She frowned; from the voice and the words she knew she was dealing with
Spyder, a risky proposition under the best possible circumstances. "I have a
sworn duty to both protect the Seer and follow her visions," she said calmly
though every muscle in her body was tensed for action. "You know this."
"Your first duty is to the Society!" Spyder's voice rang out, echoing
off the tunnel's walls. "We cannot interfere with each others plans unless
we are asked to by another of us."
"I am not part of the Society!" she screamed. "You never made me or
Nicholas part. The only duty I have is the one the Lyoness charged me with!"
For a moment, only silence answered her. "Perhaps you are right,"
Spyder admitted. "But if you are not a part of our solution, then you are
just another problem to be dealt with."
"Shit," she muttered, sprinting toward the voice as fast as she could,
trying to dodge and weave around an enemy she couldn't see. Her luck just
didn't hold out as a metallic arm struck her in the chest, barring her way.
"Oh no you don't!" she cried, following along the arm to its source and
striking Spyder's head with a flying kick.
"You little bitch!" Spyder yelled. She turned to run away from where
she knew he was now but stopped when she ran into the end of one of his
"arms." She tried to duck under it but a caustic liquid sprayed from it,
catching her across her face and eyes.
She screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, wiping frantically at
her eyes to try and clear them. She was vaguely aware of Nicholas showing up
and fending Spyder off. Nicholas was saying something to her, but it was all
lost to the haze of pain that surrounded her mind. As he picked her up and
ran from the tunnel, that pain faded away to the black of unconsciousness.
It was some time later when she awoke. How much time had passed she
could not be sure of, but she was very sure of the lack of pain she felt.
Her eyes fluttered open and then immediately closed under the glare of a harsh
red light. "Ow," she moaned, slowly bringing her good hand up to her face and
lightly rubbing her eyes.
She slightly opened one of her eyes and looked around. The light above
her was still harsh, but was no longer red. "I must have been seeing things,"
she thought, opening up her other eye just as slowly. She started in surprise
as that eye registered the light as red along with everything else around her.
"What...?" she breathed, sitting up slowly and hoping she wouldn't feel
nauseous.
"I had to do something I've never done before," a voice said outside of
the room she was in, a voice she could recognize as the Owl's. "You had
better brace yourself though and be strong for her. This goes for you both.
Especially since she doesn't know about any of this yet."
"I don't really care about any of that," Nicholas' familiar voice fairly
growled. "As long as she's all right, that's all that matters."
She pushed herself off the table she'd been sitting on and stumbled
toward the door. "Nicky?" she called in a somewhat weak voice. "Bird-boy?
What's going on? What happened? And why am I literally seeing red in one
eye?"
When she stepped into the room, she saw the Owl and Nicholas talking
while Amy was off in a corner. She smiled with relief when she saw that they
were all right, but that smile soon disappeared when Amy shrank back from her.
"Amy?" she whispered, taking a step toward the pink hedgehog.
Amy screamed and dove behind Nicholas' legs, startling everyone in the
room. Amy screamed even louder when she took a step toward her. "No!" Amy
cried.
"What's the matter Amy?" she asked, a knot of worry tying up her
insides.
Amy fearfully peeked out from where she was hiding. "You're scary now!"
She jumped away from Amy, wondering what was done to her. Seeing a
mirror nearby, she ran to it and looked at her reflection. She screamed
herself as she saw her eye, covering her mouth in horror. In place of one of
her naturally purple eyes was a robotic eye, one that had a black background
and a bright red pupil. It looked just like the eyes the Lyoness had
described to her, the eyes of Robotnik.
The more she stared at her reflection, the more her worry turned to
anger. In no time, her one good eye had gone the same red as her robotic eye
and she lashed out at the mirror, shattering it with her robotic hand.
"Lily, no!" Nicholas said in a commanding voice, rushing over to her
and restraining her before her anger could go any further out of control.
She wriggled and thrashed, trying to break free of Nicholas' grasp, but even
her anger fueled strength was no match for his. "Lily!" he barked again,
his voice cutting through her rage like a knife. "Look at Amy! Look how
scared you're making her now!"
Those words stopped her in mid-thrash. She slowly turned her head to
see Amy huddled in a corner, tears running down her face. "No," she
whispered, collapsing against Nicholas as her anger drained from her. "First
my hand, now my eye. Now I really am a freak." She broke down then, sinking
into Nicholas' embrace, tears running down her face as he tried to comfort and
console her.
* * *
The memory faded away and Angela nearly collapsed from the sensory
deprivation. It was worse than she had feared. Not only would she see
Nadine's memories if she touched one of the spheres, she would relive it as if
she were Nadine herself. While she'd been in that memory, the one where
Nadine had lost her eye, she'd been unable to separate herself from Nadine.
Now Angela was afraid that she could quite possibly become lost in a memory if
it were strong enough to hold her. More than ever, she had to avoid contact
with all of them.
As Angela proceeded further into Nadine's mind, a very happy guard was
making his way back to his quarters. He'd been scheduled for guard duty in
the cells that morning, but when he reported for duty he'd found that the
prince had ordered all guards away from the area until he said different. So
this was basically an extra paid vacation day. After the events of last night
in the ballroom, this was the best Christmas present the guard could ask for.
While he was walking, minding his own business, a black-furred hand
reached out of the shadows and pulled him into a darkened corridor. "I have
some questions that are you *going* to answer," a very angry looking Nicholas
ordered. The guard was so surprised by the attack and terrified by Nicholas'
presence that he could do nothing but nod his head.
* * *
She was in the Great Forest, in one of the darker and more remote areas.
It was nearly sunset and what light filtered through the trees cast long and
dark shadows that had Amy on edge. She wasn't on edge from that herself, or
so she told herself while looking around warily and keeping one eye on Amy.
Her every instinct screamed at her that someone or something was out there
watching her. She offered a quick prayer to the Almighty that Nicholas would
show up soon, food or no food.
Her head snapped to the side as a branch rustled in the wind. No, it
wasn't because of the wind. Someone had landed on it and sprang off in some
direction. There it was again, in a different direction this time. Someone
was out there playing with her, and she didn't like it. Besides, Amy was
getting scared, and that pissed her off even more. "Show yourself!" she
yelled, making Amy cringe. "I know you're out there, so come out and face
me!"
"And who's saying I have a face?" a sultry voice asked, seeming to
come out of thin air. "I'm just a ghost of the forest, and you're in my
territory now. If you think you're getting out without paying my tribute,
then you're sadly mistaken."
"A tribute?" Amy asked, quivering from within her sleeping bag.
"Yes, a tribute," the voice said again. "Something nice to convince me
not to keep you here forever."
"And what, pray tell, would that be?" she asked angrily, gathering Amy
up in her arms.
A soft chuckle echoed through the rapidly darkening sky. "Well, I've
always been partial to young girls. She would make quite the nice plaything
for me."
She smirked, moving Amy behind her and flicked her wrist, letting one
of her flash bombs fall into her hand. "Too bad I don't think you're a
ghost!" she yelled, throwing her grenade into the trees near where the voice
last came from. The grenade exploded in a brilliance that lit up a small area
as brightly as daylight. A startled yelp coincided with the flash and was
then followed by the sound of breaking branches as their tormentor crashed to
the ground. "For a ghost you sure do make a lot of noise," she taunted.
Their assailant let out the most unladylike grunt as she, a white bat in
the most ridiculous bodysuit she had ever seen, pushed up to her feet. "So I
didn't fool ya, huh?" the bat asked with a smirk in her voice and on her
lips. "No matter, I'll still take the kid but I guess we have to do this the
hard way."
"Who do you think you are?" she demanded. "And what makes you think
I'll just let you take Amy Rose?"
"Call me Rouge," the bat said before kicking cleanly through a nearby
tree. "And who said anything about letting me do anything?"
"Amy, go hide," she whispered as she began circling the bat, her feet
skipping lightly over the ground. Rouge moved quickly, more quickly than she
had expected. The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air
courtesy of a spin kick to the ribs. "That hurt!" she yelled as she landed,
rolling backward a couple times to absorb some of the impact.
Rouge just laughed haughtily. "Did you expect it to tickle?" she
needled, watching as she got to her feet unsteadily, swaying side to side.
But when Rouge attacked, she flipped forward and caught Rouge in the face with
both feet. While Rouge was still reeling, the bat got nailed with a spinning
handstand kick and a falling ax kick that forced her to withdraw back into the
shadows. "So, you're one of those fighters," Rouge panted, wiping a trickle
of blood from the corner of her lips. "That's OK, I know how to handle you,"
"You may know how to handle her," a voice said that made a smile break
out on her face, "but can you handle me?"
Rouge turned her attention to the newcomer and raked her gaze up and
down his form appreciatively. "I'd certainly like to handle you handsome,"
Rouge tempted, the sultriness of her voice exponentially higher. "Anytime
and anywhere."
Nicholas just stared at the brazen bat before pulling a short stick from
his cloak. A quick snap of his wrist and the stick extended into a staff, the
butt of which buried itself in Rouge's midsection. The impact made Rouge
double over, the breath knocked from her body. Nicholas quickly moved in and
cinched Rouge up for an attempted vertical suplex.
It was a good idea, but apparently one that Rouge had been waiting for.
In a move that made her gasp in outrage, Rouge dropped to a knee and grabbed
onto Nicholas' groin and squeezed. She could see Nicholas grit his teeth
against the pain, but the suddenness of it had him completely paralyzed. She
ran to pull Rouge off Nicholas, but instead found herself pinned under
Nicholas as Rouge threw him right on top of her.
"As much as I would love to stay," Rouge said, jumping up and flying
back into the shadows, "I have no doubt that the two of you can outfight me
before I could get to the child. You will be seeing me again, count on it.
Oh and handsome," she added, alighting on a branch where her green eyes could
just be seen glittering in the darkness, "if you ever get tired of being
around a little girl like her, I'd be more than happy to show you what a real
woman is like."
She rolled Nicholas off her and kipped up to her feet. "Sorry bat-
girl," she said as she dropped back into a defensive stance near Amy, "but our
job is to protect that little girl. Why don't you go find a belfry to hang
out in?"
"I wasn't referring to the child," Rouge's voice taunted her out of the
darkness. "I was referring to you, little girl. I mean, it's no surprise you
simply can't handle him the way I could."
She stood still for a moment as she pondered Rouge's words. Then, when
the true nature of those words sank in, she could feel her eyes going red.
She threw open her trenchcoat with a flourish, discharging her whole supply of
flash grenades into the forest. They exploded with a brilliance bright enough
to blind half of Mobotropolis. But all that answered her was a fading laugh
as Rouge flew away.
She clenched her teeth as she crouched down in preparation to take off
after her until she felt a strong hand clamp down on her shoulder. "Ow!" she
cried, twisting out from under the grip and whirling on who had done it.
"What was that for Nicky?"
"Emotion is the greatest hindrance toward judgement and duty," Nicholas
intoned. "It seems we should intensify our training again."
"Does that mean we have to get up early again?" Amy whined.
"A half hour before every sunrise," Nicholas confirmed, getting groans
out of both ladies with him.
* * *
Angela shook as the memory orb, this one a bright yellow, floated away
from her. Once she'd recovered from the experience, she tried to figure out
what she'd learned from it. It wasn't much, but she could tell that this
memory had occurred before the first one; Nadine had had both of her eyes in
this one. "At least I'm heading the right way," she realized. But as she
drifted onward in her journey, one other thought worried her. From this
memory she had a good idea of how Rouge acted. And now that Juice was the one
guarding her, she couldn't help but wonder if he was falling prey to her
charms.
Elsewhere in the palace, a pair of light green eyes were blinking the
sleep away. Amy Rose lay quietly in the bed that she'd been given by the
Prower family, just enjoying the feeling of being in a bed. It had to have
been two or three years since she was able to sleep in a bed and there was
nothing on Mobius that could make her get up.
Well, almost nothing. Amy's nose twitched as the most delicious smells
tickled her nose. "Breakfast!" she exclaimed, sitting up and tossing the
covers aside. Amy jumped out of bed and ran to the adjoining bathroom. Here
was another thing she was able to enjoy: a hot shower. She took her time to
wash her body, especially the places she just couldn't wash with barely melted
snow.
After her shower was done, Amy walked into the room she'd been given and
sighed. The only clothes she had to wear were her formless brown dress.
After such a good morning, it seemed like a step backward to wear that. But
since she wasn't going to the breakfast table in the frilly pink nightgown
that Sarah said she could wear, she slipped on the dress and walked out to the
dining room.
"Good morning Amy," Sondra said from where she sat at the table. "Sleep
well?"
Amy nodded shyly as she approached the table. She went to pull out a
chair so she could sit down but found M3 already there. "Here you go," he
said with a slight smile.
"Thank you Miles," she whispered, sitting down as he pushed the chair in
for her. "Umm, what's for breakfast?"
Her question was answered as Tails came into the room with a huge plate
in his arms. "I made plenty of pancakes, so I hope you're hungry," he said,
placing the plate right down in the center of the table.
Amy looked shocked at the foot high pile of pancakes on the table in
front of her. "You didn't have to go through all this for me," she whispered.
"Don't worry about it," Sarah said, slipping into the chair beside Amy
with a yawn. "Dad likes to cook breakfast, and pancakes are his specialty.
Go ahead, dig in!"
"Don't push her," Sondra said calmly, though she did frown a little bit
at the somewhat daring nightgown that her daughter had worn to the table. She
made a note to talk to her daughter about that, especially wondering just who
she'd gotten that from. But the breakfast table was not the proper place for
such a discussion.
"But Mom," Sarah whined, reminding her mother forcefully just how old
Sarah was, "she should at least take more than one."
Sondra shook her head a bit to clear her thoughts and focused on Amy's
plate to see that what Sarah said was true. "If you're hungry you can take
more."
Amy put her fork down next to her plate and sighed. "I know we need to
save for later," she said quietly. "Who knows when we can eat like this
again."
The entire Prower family fell silent at those words. "Is that how
you've been living?" Tails asked in a hushed voice. Amy nodded quietly, just
picking at her pancake now.
A significant look passed between Tails and Sondra, one that only seems
to work when parents do it. Sarah and M3, having witnessed this numerous
times before, were completely unfazed by it. Amy, on the other hand, was
completely confused. "What's going on?" she asked uncertainly.
"Nothing for you to worry about," Sondra said as Tails returned to his
meal. "But come with me, I want to show you something." Amy nodded and
hopped down from her chair to follow Sondra into the kitchen. "I just wanted
to assure you that we're in no need for food."
Amy stared openmouthed as Sondra open up the refrigerator to show that
it was fully stocked with food. "I haven't seen this much food since...."
she began in awe, but then she fell silent when she realized what she was
about to say. More subdued now than she had been, she simply walked back to
her seat and sat down, staring at her plate.
Sondra walked in behind Amy, a chagrined expression on her face. But
before she could apologize for touching a nerve with the pink hedgehog, M3 was
already at Amy's side hugging her. "It's OK Amy," he said, going so far as to
wrap his tails around her waist. "You don't have to say anything unless you
want to."
"Thank you Miles," she whispered for the second time that morning,
letting herself be drawn more into his hug.
"Do you think you two lovebirds could save this for another time?"
Sarah asked with a smirk, making the two she was referring to jump apart,
blushing heavily. "I mean, we do have people trying to eat here."
"Sarah!" her mother yelled warningly.
"Sorry," Sarah said, though she didn't sound sorry in the least.
Sondra just shook her head and one again reminded herself to have a very
long talk with her daughter. "Hurry up and finish your breakfast everyone,"
she said. "After we're done we're going out to get Amy some new clothes."
Amy perked up a little when she heard that, but then grew depressed
again. "I don't think that's a good idea," she said. "I don't want to have
to deal with that bad bat lady."
"Don't worry," Tails assured her. "We'll make sure nothing happens to
you."
As the Prower family and guest finished up breakfast, Angela was still
making her way further into Nadine's mind. It was hard to judge distances in
a dreamscape such as this, but it was fair to say she was about halfway to her
destination. This much closer to the black light, she could tell that it
was a much larger sphere than the others. She was more certain now that the
answers she sought lie within that sphere.
She was getting better at dodging the thought spheres, but now and again
she'd had a couple close calls. Not close enough to draw her into one of
Nadine's memories, thank goodness, but close enough to make her worry. While
she was counting her blessings for that, a sphere she had just dodged made a
U-turn and collided with her arm. The only thing Angela could think of was
"Not again!" before the dreamscape faded away.
* * *
Someone was calling her, begging her to awaken. She blearily opened her
eyes to see Nicholas standing beside her bed. "Nicky?" she murmured, her
voice thick and drowsy. "What time is it?"
"Victoria wishes to speak with us," Nicholas said. "Get your uniform on
and come to the main room."
"OK OK, I'm coming," she said, though she really wasn't making the
effort to get out of bed.
Nicholas just watched her a moment before speaking again. "Do you want
Victoria to come wake you up? Remember what happened last time you refused to
get up."
"OK OK!" she exclaimed, sitting up and tossing aside her covers. "I'm
up!" Nicholas was out of the room before she was fully out of bed, but she
knew there was no way of going back to sleep now even if she wanted to. She
grabbed her uniform from where she had dropped it earlier and dressed as
quickly as her tired body would allow.
Once she left her room, it wasn't too long of a walk to get to the main
room; it just felt that way because she was still half-asleep. "About time
you got out of bed," Victoria said, scowling at her as she closed the door.
"Any longer and I had a bucket of ice water with your name on it."
She flinched when her mentor mentioned that, glad that she'd been able
to get up. The only time she'd called Victoria's bluff she'd found herself
soaked to the bone with water just above freezing. The threat of that
happening again was more than enough to ensure her getting out of bed. "OK,
I'm here," she said through a yawn, noticing out of the corner of her eye that
Nicholas and Amy were also there. "So what's going on that you needed me
here."
Victoria's scowl never left her face as she took in a deep breath and
let it out slowly. "'He' is coming," Victoria simply said. "You must all
prepare yourselves to leave. Take only what you need; anything else can be
replaced."
She snapped to full alertness at that pronoucement. He was coming? The
one she'd been told about for as long as she could remember? There was no
time to waste! She moved quickly, putting into practice the routine they had
prepared for just this incident. Grabbing only the essentials from her closet
and under her bed, she shoved what she could fit into a bag and slung it over
her shoulder. When she was done, she ran back to the main room to wait for
the others.
To her surprise, both Nicholas and Amy were already ready, but Victoria
hadn't moved an inch. "Good, you all are ready," Victoria said, nodding her
head. "Now get going and don't look back."
"Why aren't you ready?" she asked though some part of her had already
figured out the answer.
Victoria sighed and turned away from them. "I'm not going," she said
quietly. "I have to stay here and buy time for the rest of you to get away."
She opened her mouth to argue, but her voice died in her throat when Victoria
turned to face them, her hazel eyes glittering in anger. "If I go with you
then we'll all die. If I stay here, then I can stop big and bad in black from
coming after you."
Amy ran over and latched on to Victoria's leg. "No Miss Vicky!" she
cried, tears streaming from her eyes. "We'll stay with you. Nicholas and
Lily can fight and I'll bite his shins or something."
Victoria kneeled down to be eye-to-eye with Amy. "I want you to always
remember something Amy," she said in a soft and kind voice. "It may not seem
like it now, but I do love you." Amy was going to ask what Victoria meant by
that but was cut off by a stinging chop to her neck that knocked her out.
Victoria picked Amy up and handed her to Nicholas. "Get going," she repeated,
"and don't look back."
Nicholas nodded solemnly as he watched Victoria stand, and she could
feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she watched the two of them. "I will
not let you down," he swore.
"I know you won't," Victoria said as she allowed a small smile to grace
her lips. "I love the both of you too, you know," she added, her voice
quavering just slightly.
"We love you too," she said, speaking for herself and Nicholas.
Nicholas ran past her without a word, but she lingered a moment. If this
would be the last time she saw Victoria alive, she wanted to capture every
detail of her teacher that she could.
Victoria was a female rabbit that stood taller than any adult she knew
except for the Spyder. She was slender but you could see her muscles laying
just under the skin. Her fur was a light brown except for darker colored
rings of fur around her eyes. Her uniform was the same as the one both she
and Nicholas wore, except that Victoria's uniform was a deep red. She watched
as Victoria raised one hand in farewell and then turned and ran down the
escape tunnel.
She quickly caught up to Nicholas and slowed her speed to match his,
wanting to conserve strength if she were to need it. It seemed like things
would go according to plan as they neared the exit. That was when the
explosions started. It wasn't completely unexpected, but the force of the
blasts had made Nicholas lose his footing. It wasn't enough to worry her, but
the rock that was falling from the cavern's ceiling definitely was. "Nicholas
look out!" she screamed, diving for Nicholas' back.
She was able to shove Nicholas into the clear but was unable to avoid
the rock completely herself. She screamed in pain and terror as her right
hand was crushed under the rock, pinning her to the ground. Mercifully, she
was only conscious for a moment longer before she passed out from the pain.
The next thing she knew, she jerked awake suddenly, trying to sit up.
When she found she couldn't because her right arm was restrained, she panicked
for a long moment. "Relax!" a gruff voice ordered, causing her to freeze in
mid-motion. "You'll damage your hand all over again."
She turned her head and saw the Spyder "walking" over to her with his
arms. "What happened?" she asked as Spyder loomed over her.
"Do you remember getting caught in a cave-in?" Spyder asked, his manner
more solemn than she could ever remember. At her nod, Spyder continued.
"From what I was told, your hand got trapped under a rock and you passed out
from the pain. Your companion brought you here with the help of the Kameleon
to see if I could save your hand, but it was too mangled to be of any use. I
had to replace it with a robotic one."
Her eyes widened so far she swore her eyes were going to pop out of her
skull. She only partially listened as Spyder listed off all the things she
could do with her new hand, still overcome with the shock of it. After he
stopped talking, she was aware of him freeing her arm and unwrapping the
bandage on her hand.
It was as bad as she feared. Though the hand was the same color as her
fur, it was clearly metallic and she couldn't help but shiver at the sight of
it. She flexed it experimentally and some part of her mind marvelled at the
exact responsiveness of it. But she knew it would take a long time to get
used to, if she ever could.
"My duty to the Lyoness is fulfilled," Spyder said quietly, pulling her
attention from her hand. "You and the others must leave now. As long as you
stay out of my way, I will stay out of yours. Go, and don't come back."
She followed Spyder as he led her outside, but it really didn't register
in her mind what was going on until he slammed the door behind her. "Are you
all right?" Nicholas whispered, almost startling her.
"I guess I'm OK," she answered, looking down at her hand again. "What
about you and Amy?"
"We're both fine, thanks to you," Nicholas said, glancing down at the
young hedgehog asleep in his arms. "She cried herself to sleep while Spyder
was working on you. Listen Lily, I'm...I'm sorry for making you lose your
hand."
"You were protecting Amy," she said, putting her good hand on his
shoulder. "It was my job to protect you. And that's just what I did." He
nodded slowly, but she could see the hurt in his eyes, one of the very few
times in the past year that he had shown any emotions. It touched her to the
very core, but now was neither the time nor place to comment on it.
Silently they walked into the Great Forest, not stopping until Spyder's
house was far out of sight. A gentle rain had started to fall, matching their
mood. They took cover under one of the larger trees and Nicholas used his
cloak to protect them all from the rain. Amy started to whimper and burrowed
herself more into Nicholas' embrace. At this, she couldn't keep her own tears
in any longer and started sobbing against Nicholas' side. From how she could
feel his chest heaving, she could only assume that he was crying too. And so
they sat there, huddled together, grieving for the loss of their mentor and
their mother.
* * *
Angela broke free of the memory, tears running down her own cheeks. She
could still feel the overwhelming despair and sadness that had consumed Nadine
at the loss of the Lyoness. She drew her body into a kneeling position and
offered a prayer for the soul of Victoria. "I don't know how much more of
this I can take," Angela thought once her prayer was done. "I just know I'll
take however much more of this I have to."
Though she could not have known this, a certain hedgehog was keeping her
foremost in his thoughts. It was the only thing that kept him from going
crazy from Rouge's attempted seductions. But he was handling it, and that was
driving Rouge crazy. "Oh come on!" she exclaimed, adjusting her clothes for
the tenth time in the last minute. "I promise I won't try to escape. I'm
just lonely in here and this cot is so cold. Why don't you come in here and
help me warm it up?"
Juice gritted his teeth and beat his fists into his legs as he sat at
the guards' table, using the pain to bring his anger and frustration under
control. He wanted more than anything for any of the other Chosen Ones to
come into the room and tell him that that girl's companion was in custody and
he could leave to go to bed. To sleep! He had to remind himself forcefully
of that little distinction lest his thoughts run away with him.
When the door opened, Juice looked up in the hopes that his prayer had
been answered. But when only a guard walked in, his frustration broke free.
"I thought I ordered no guards down here!" he exploded, standing up so
quickly he knocked his chair back into the wall.
"I'm sorry," the guard said, walking into the room and keeping his head
down so that Juice was unable to get a good look at his face, "I'm new here
and didn't hear the word put out."
"New here?" Juice asked, confused. "We haven't hired any new guards in
the past six months. Who are you?" The guard didn't answer but did keep
moving toward Juice. Every instinct he had screamed in alarm as the guard
closed in on him, which was the only reason he saw the metal baton the guard
swung at his temple before it connected.
Juice ducked the attack and grabbed hold of the table he'd been sitting
at. Before the "guard" could recover, Juice threw the table up into his face.
The table was easily backhanded away, but Juice's followup charge wasn't.
Juice ducked low, grabbing the guy around the legs and driving him backward,
aiming for one of the open cells.
Nicholas didn't even grunt as Juice made contact with his midsection.
He calmly raised his baton to strike the prince in his back, but the baton was
ripped from his grasp by the top of the cell door. Thinking quickly, he
changed tactics and drove the point of his elbow into the back of Juice's
head.
Juice staggered and fell to his knees, but not before he was able to
shove Nicholas against the back wall of the cell. He'd figured out who he was
facing by now; the skunk in front of him matched the description he'd been
given perfectly now that he could see his face. "So Nicholas," Juice said,
standing up and ignoring the pain in his skinned knees, "looks like you're in
my custody after all."
Nicholas took a moment to look around. The cell's door was closed,
probably from Juice running past it at such a high speed. The next cell over
was only separated from the one he was in by metal bars, and he noticed for
the first time that it was Rouge who occupied the next cell. "You're the
female prisoner?" he asked, his voice holding only the barest hint of
surprise. Before Rouge answered, he saw Juice making a move toward the cell
door, pinning him against the bars with a forearm shot to the back. Juice
cried out in pain and lost his grip on the key. The key sailed through the
bars of the cell and landed a few yards away.
"Bright move," Juice gritted out, trying to get some space between his
face and the bars. "Now neither of us can get out of here."
Nicholas scanned the cell quickly without releasing the pressure on
Juice. Once the cell's door had closed, the area became very brightly lit,
completely ruling out the possibility of a shadowwalk. The cell was well
built; there were no obvious weak points that he could exploit. There was the
chance he could force down the door, but that was impossible with Juice still
conscious and able to fight. Resigning himself to the fight, Nicholas swung
Juice around face-first into one of the walls.
Juice was ready for it though and managed to brace his feet against the
wall before his face made contact. He walked up the wall with the intention
of flipping over and behind Nicholas, but it didn't turn out quite as he'd
planned. Nicholas had turned around while Juice was still in mid-air,
grabbing him under the legs and holding him up. Then, while Juice tried to
figure a way out, Nicholas placed one hand against his chest and shoved him to
the concrete in a spinebuster-like manuever.
Juice managed to roll with the throw, landing more on his shoulder
blades than the small of his back. But Nicholas wasn't about give him any
time to recover, charging into the hedgehog shoulder first and trying to use
Juice's body as a battering ram to force the door open. Before he made
contact with the door, Juice gave Nicholas a taste of his own medicine by
slamming Nicholas in the back of his head with his elbow. Even though it
didn't stop Nicholas, the impact slowed him up enough to where the force
wasn't enough to even knock the breath from Juice's lungs.
Rouge watched the fight intently, her aqua-colored eyes glittering in
delight. "Imagine that," she mused. "Two handsome men fighting over me. I
wonder who I should root for? I guess it doesn't really matter. After all,
whoever wins this will truly prove themselves worthy of my 'special'
attentions."
Juice backed away from Nicholas, gasping for breath. No matter what he
tried, he couldn't get any clean shots in. Not only that, everytime he tried,
he ended up taking more punishment than he gave. In the most recent exchange,
Nicholas had taken a glancing back elbow to the jaw in order to bury his knee
into Juice's midsection. Juice was sure that blow had done damage, he could
taste the blood in his mouth. It was time for a change in strategy; his own
smashmouth methods were being outclassed by Nicholas' far more effective ones.
Nicholas cautiously advanced on Juice, watching the prince carefully.
He had the advantage right now, but he knew he could lose it by acting rashly.
One mistake could turn everything around. There was no way Nicholas would
just give Juice any opportunity. As soon as he was within arm's reach, Juice
struck out with a wild backhand that easily avoided. It wasn't until he had
avoided it that Nicholas realized Juice had meant to miss.
Juice stepped into the false swing and threw a dropkick to Nicholas'
left knee, causing to forcefully lock. Nicholas staggered forward from the
blow and Juice tried to throw a quick uppercut from where he lay on the floor.
Nicholas managed to grab Juice's fist before it connected, but that left him
open for Juice swinging his feet into the inside of the skunk's right knee,
collapsing it and forcing him to fall flat on his back.
Juice immediately pressed his advantage by diving onto Nicholas and
striking him in the face repeatedly with forearm and elbow strikes. Nicholas
suffered three or four of them before shoving Juice off and trying to scramble
to his feet. The second Nicholas was on his feet, Juice jumped into him and
took him down with a Thesz press. But instead of striking him again, Juice
clamped down on Nicholas' forehead with an Iron Claw.
Nicholas grimaced as he tried to block out the pain. Juice's grip was
surprisingly strong and Nicholas could feel his consciousness going a little
fuzzy around the edges. Before it could get any worse, he slammed his fists
into Juice's ribs. He did it a second, third, and fourth time before Juice's
grip finally faltered. But before he could follow up, Juice fell away and
backed up into a corner. "It looks like I'll have to be more on my guard
now," he thought, ignoring the pains in his knees as he stood. "This game has
now changed."
Rouge watched as the fight resumed with growing anxiety. No longer was
this a playful matter, even for her. One of them was going to get seriously
hurt and soon. She would try to get between them, but that would only end up
with her being hurt and that idea held no appeal. But perhaps she could get
somebody's attention. She launched a devastating kick at her cell's door,
felling it in one shot. Neither of the two fighters paid it any attention,
but she didn't take advantage of it. All she did was lean patiently against
the door to keep an eye on them and await whoever was going to show up.
Within the confines of Nadine's mind, Angela continued her journey. She
was starting to sense some agitation in Nadine's mind and it worried her.
Even though Angela was sure she was still sedated, her subconscious mind was
becoming more and more aware of Angela's intrusion. She definitely had to be
more careful now.
She was almost to the black sphere, only a few minutes more if she
didn't run into any more thoughts. But seeing how the thoughts were more
dense in this area, it was going to be nearly impossible to get there without
any other incidents. It was almost easier to intentionally go through one or
two thoughts instead of dodging ten or twenty. "I really don't want to do
this," she thought as she charged straight into the nearest sphere, trusting
her momentum to take her closer to her destination while she was lost in this
thought.
* * *
It was the middle of the afternoon, but she only barely noticed that.
After all, she was much too busy blocking Nicholas' strikes. Victoria had
left them alone with the order to spar while she tended to Amy. Only it
wasn't really much of a spar. Nicholas was really pouring on the pressure;
for every blow she blocked two more got through.
She soon found herself backed up against a tree with no way out. "Now
Nicholas," she said, her voice cracking in her nervousness, "you don't really
want to hurt me, right? I mean, take it easy!" She yelped the last word as
she ducked one of Nicholas' punches that was aimed right for her head.
That was when she saw it; Nicholas had left his stomach wide open.
Before Nicholas could cover up, she brought her feet up and planted them into
his midsection hard. Nicholas bent over from the blow and was forced back a
step or three. She quickly got to her knees and spun around, connecting with
Nicholas' face with one of her feet.
Nicholas was on the defensive, something he rarely did against her. She
tried to follow up with a springing double ax kick, but Nicholas stepped back
just enough for her to miss. She knew she was in trouble the moment she
landed, and her suspicions were proven true when Nicholas grabbed her and
threw her to the ground with a belly-to-belly suplex.
"Oof!" she breathed as she was sandwiched between Nicholas' body and
the ground. As much as it hurt, she really couldn't complain about the
situation she found herself in. To be honest, she wouldn't mind staying in
this position for a time. And looking up at Nicholas, she could see that he
felt the same.
Time seemed to stop as they gazed into each other's eyes. Was he moving
closer? She couldn't tell for sure, but the fluttering in her stomach left
her breathless. She licked her suddenly dry lips as her hands snuck up and
around his shoulders. Her eyes slowly closed in anticipation as Nicholas'
head tilted slightly.
An eternity passed and she was afraid that he had changed his mind and
would pull away. Just before she opened her eyes to check, she felt his lips
come down lightly on hers and all rational thought fled. She could only feel,
and what she was feeling was contentment and happiness.
"What is going on here?" a voice yelled, shattering the moment like a
hammer through a glass window.
Nicholas jumped away from her as she sat up. She tried to scramble away
as footsteps stormed over, but she hadn't even gotten two feet when she felt a
hand grab her by the back of her trenchcoat and lift her off the ground. "Um,
hi Vicky," she said sheepishly.
Victoria turned her around to look at her face-to-face, looking every
bit the Lyoness she was named for. "Nicholas," Victoria said calmly, so
calmly that both kids were shaking, "go inside and keep your eyes on Amy.
Lily and I will be along after we have a little talk."
"He doesn't have to leave Vicky," she said with a nervous smile. But
when the doe's hazel eyes hardened, she gulped and stammered out, "I mean
Victoria."
"And don't you forget it," Victoria nearly growled. "Well?" she
snapped when she saw that Nicholas was still there. Nicholas just ran off,
disappearing back inside. "Now then Lily," she continued, dropping the young
squirrel on a nearby tree stump and squatting down in front of her, "you and I
are going to have a couple of talks. We're going to talk about the facts of
life and the facts of our lives."
She had an idea what the first talk was going to be about, but the fact
that there would be a second one surprised her. "The facts of our lives?"
she asked quietly.
Victoria sighed and regarded her with a long-suffering expression.
"Lily, you know of our sacred duty. You may not have been here when I was
charged with it, but you agreed to become a part of it when we found you that
day. To that end, nothing must distract us from protecting the Seer. There
are many enemies who would take advantage of any weakness we provide them.
Any weakness.
"If they knew you had feelings for Nicholas or he for you, they would
try to use you as bargaining against each other. And would you give Amy up to
save his life? Could you shirk your duty that easily?" She couldn't give
Victoria an answer and Victoria sighed again. "Emotion is the greatest
hindrance toward judgement and duty," Victoria continued. "And our greatest
duty is to the Seer."
"I understand," she said softly, the gravity of their lives weighing
down her spirits.
"I know you do," Victoria said, her voice kind now. "But now that you
do understand that, it's time for you to understand about your hormones."
* * *
Angela forced her way from that thought, shoving the pink thought sphere
away from her with a silent cry. She'd already sat through this talk with her
mother; there was no way she was going to sit through it again. Especially
because she wasn't the target of this talk.
She had to suppress a slight shudder. That had been Nadine's first kiss
and the emotions that had run through her because of it were still running
through Angela's blood. It made her long for Juice, the love of her life.
But at least for the moment, until she could get out of here and meditate
everything into its proper place, she knew that she would have some impressed
feelings for Nicholas. And as someone who has never had feelings for anyone
but Juice, that really did not sit well with her.
While Angela recovered and tried to recuperate, the fight between Juice
and Nicholas was in its last stages. Both of them had taken a lot of
punishment, even though Juice looked to be the better off of the two. But no
matter what he did, he could not find the way to keep Nicholas down. It
didn't matter where or how he hit the skunk, Nicholas just kept getting up.
Juice swung at Nicholas' face with a double sledge, but Nicholas
blocked the blow with his forearms and shoved it away, pushing Juice off
balance for just a second. That second was all he needed to grab Juice and
lift him high above his head in a military press. But all the damage that had
been done to his knee proved costly at that moment as his knees buckled,
making him drop Juice and tilt dangerously backward.
"This is it!" Juice realized. Before Nicholas could straighten up, he
locked his arm around his neck and pulled Nicholas' upper body back until it
was almost parallel to the ground. While Nicholas was still reeling, he
hooked his other arm under Nicholas' and just managed to lock his hands
together under Nicholas. It was a move that Bunnie had taught him as a
submission hold, the Dragon Sleeper.
Nicholas desperately tried to free himself, feeling the blood flow to
his brain being restricted as Juice applied the pressure. Normally it would
take him only seconds to free himself. But with all the damage done to his
knees, he just couldn't power his way back up to a standing position. He
still made the effort, using his back more than his legs, but Juice stopped
that by dropping to his own back and wrapping his legs around Nicholas' waist.
Juice held on with everything he had, using every last bit of strength
to keep Nicholas down. Just as he thought he couldn't hold on a moment
longer, Nicholas' body went limp. Juice held the Dragon Sleeper on for a few
moments more, wanting to be sure it was no trick. But it wasn't, Nicholas had
finally passed out and lay completely unconscious.
Juice was only slightly aware of the cell door opening and Antoine
rushing into the cell with about ten guards as he released Nicholas and shoved
him to the side. "Are you all right Juice?" Antoine asked, kneeling by the
prince's side and gently helping him to sit up. Juice wanted to let Antoine
know that he was fine, but could not find either the breath in his body to say
so or the strength to nod his head. "Secure him," Antoine ordered as he
hauled Juice up to his feet. "I have to get Juice to the medical wing."
"Yes sir," the guards chorused, moving quickly to the fallen Nicholas.
Antoine looped one of Juice's arms around his shoulders and supported most of
the prince's weight as they walked from the cell. They hadn't even gotten two
steps beyond the cell's door when a commotion behind them made them turn
around. No longer unconscious, Nicholas was struggling weakly with the guards
as they tried to fit the forearm manacles onto him.
Juice stared at the struggle in disbelief. "After all that," he cried,
tears of frustration and anger leaking from his eyes, "he's still getting up?
What do you have to do to make him stay down?!"
"Don't worry about it," Antoine assured him as two of the guards pulled
out the rarely used lower leg manacles and locked them in place. "They've got
it under control."
"But everything I did was for nothing! He still got up!"
"I wouldn't say it was for nothing," Rouge said from where she still
leaned against her open cell door as they shuffled past her. "After all, to
the victor goes the spoils." Before either Juice or Antoine could ask what
she meant, her hand shot out, cupped Juice behind his head, and pulled the
surprised hedgehog toward her. The kiss she gave him only lasted about five
or ten seconds, but it was Rouge in every way: heated, sensual, seductive, and
completely unforgettable.
Juice staggered back once Rouge let him go, unable to do anything but
watch as she sashayed back to her cot and stretched out on it. Antoine just
steered a still stunned Juice out of the room, hoping that Angela never found
out about this. He highly doubted the planet could survive a Shi-rat lost to
a jealous rage.
Fortunately for everyone, jealousy was the last emotion on Angela's mind
at the moment. She'd finally reached the end of her journey, she was right up
against the black sphere. The only problem was, she could not find the way to
get inside.
She floated all around the sphere, running her hand over every single
spot she could. But nothing happened; she wasn't even drawn into a memory.
"What am I missing?" she wondered. "What is the key?"
Then she saw something she had missed the first time around. There was
a slight bulge in one part of the surface. It was a stormy grey, the same
color as Angela's own eyes. "That must be it," she realized as she reached
out toward it. "The bridge between Lily and Nadine. I just hope I can handle
it."
* * *
Tired. So tired. Every part of her body ached and seemed to groan in
protest when she moved. But she knew she had to move. There was danger
somewhere nearby. She had to get up and get moving before...someone...came
back.
Her eyes slowly opened and she had to blink a few times to clear her
vision. When she was able to see, she immediately wished she couldn't.
She was in a large, dry, dark cavern. Some sparse furniture sat nearby, but
the rest of the area was too dark to see clearly. All she could make out were
a handful of ghostly shapes that flitted through the murky air.
Panic set in immediately and she whimpered, unable to move or talk from
her fear. At the sound, one of the shapes floated toward her. She screamed
in terror, somehow getting her body to move as she scooted backward on the bed
she was on. "Easy, easy," the figure said in a soft and reassuring voice,
hurrying closer so she could see it clearly.
She stopped and looked at the animal in front of her in surprise. It
wasn't a ghost or apparition as her mind had made it out to be. It was in
fact a female rabbit with warm hazel eyes and dressed in the most unusual red
outfit she could imagine. "Who...who are you?" she asked in a small voice.
"My name is Victoria," the rabbit said, slowly sitting down next to her.
"What's your name?"
"I'm...." her voice faltered as she realized that she couldn't recall.
"I don't know," she whined plaintively, her purple eyes filling with tears.
"Shh," Victoria said, pulling her into a warm hug and rubbing her back
soothingly. "It's OK. Don't worry, everything will be all right."
She nodded and sniffled as her sobs quieted, rubbing her nose against
her sleeve. She started to say something, but stiffened in fear as the other
two shadows moved in toward her. "Go 'way," she muttered, hiding her face
against Victoria's side.
"It's OK," she heard Victoria repeat. "They're friends. Do you want me
to introduce you to them?" She shakily nodded and turned to face the two
animals that appeared from the gloom. "This is Nicholas," Victoria said,
indicating a boy skunk with a dour expression who was maybe two or three years
older than she was.
"Hi," she whispered, managing a small wave toward her, to which he only
grunted in return.
"Don't mind him," Victoria said with a smile. "He's always cranky
around people he hasn't met before." They both shared a quiet giggle that was
joined by a third and much younger voice. "And this would be Amy Rose,"
Victoria said between her giggles.
She looked for the source of the giggling and saw a very young pink
hedgehog, five years old at the most, staring at her. As she watched, Amy
walked up close to the head, her head barely clearing the mattress. "You have
a nice laugh," she said in that way that only young children can. "And you
smell like lilies too. I say you're nice."
Victoria cocked her head to the side as she regarded the squirrel in her
arms. "So you smell like lilies, huh? Since you can't remember your name,
how about we call you 'Lily' for now?"
"Lily," she whispered, as if tasting the name. "I think I can live with
that."
Victoria nodded and yawned, something that was echoed by every other
animal in the room. "Lily it is then. But for now, we should all get some
sleep." Victoria kissed her on her forehead and rocked her slowly. "We'll
talk more in the morning," she said softly. It was very soon after that she
fell asleep.
* * *
Angela awoke from the thought and blinked in surprise. Instead of being
in the dreamscape like she'd expected, she found herself standing on a
featureless piece of ground and facing a brick wall that stretched from one
horizon to the other and upward to infinity. "This must be the mental block,"
she thought, running her hands over the rough brick. "I'll bet anything that
Nadine's personality is back there. It shouldn't be too hard to break
through. Or so I hope."
She backed up and held her hands before her, closing her eyes as she
started to summon her energy. "Brightness beyond daylight, azure beyond the
clearest sky--"
"What in the Abyss do you think you're doing?"
Angela whirled around, the spell fizzling out as her chant died away.
"Who's there?" she called, peering out across the empty plain behind her.
"I am," the voice snarled, once again behind her. When Angela turned
this time, she came face-to-face with Lily. "You don't belong here," Lily
said, punching Angela in the face and knocking her down. "I want you to leave
now!"
"Nadine!" Angela pleaded, scrambling back to her feet. "It's me,
Angela. Don't you recognize me?"
Lily's face set into a scowl as she advanced on Angela. "My name is
Lily," she said firmly. "I don't know who you or this Nadine is and I don't
care!"
"Nadine is who you were before you became Lily," Angela said, backing
away and holding her hands up defensively. "I just want to bring her back."
"Bring her back so that I can disappear?" Lily demanded.
"No!" Angela said quickly. "She'll become a part of you, that's all."
"That's not going to happen," she said over Angela's protests. "I'm
Lily now and that's the only person I want to be!"
Angela dodged as Lily attacked, barely able to avoid her kicks. "She's
beyond reasoning," Angela realized as a spin kick caught her in her stomach,
driving her back further from the wall. Then a quiet smirk appeared on her
lips. "But maybe I can use that to my advantage."
"I guess I can't blame you," Angela said aloud, making a show of dusting
off her robes as Lily watched her warily. "I mean, it's only natural to be
afraid of what you don't know, right?"
Lily's eyebrow twitched. "I'm not afraid," she insisted. "I just
happen to like the way I am now."
Angela shrugged slightly, like it was unimportant to her. "Just keep
telling yourself that," she said, walking aimlessly back and forth. "Perhaps
someday you might just believe it."
Lily clenched and unclenched her fists in anger. "You'd better watch
what your saying," she growled. "I don't want to have to hurt you."
Angela sneered and looked down her nose at Lily. "Like you really
could?" she asked in the haughtiest voice she could manage. "I don't think I
have anything to fear from someone who's only half a woman."
"That's it!" Lily yelled, charging at Angela with a wild swing of her
robotic fist. But Angela saw it coming and dodged it easily. "Stand still
and fight!"
"Why should I?" Angela asked while dodging Lily's attacks, talking as
she would to a very small child. "Would it really make any difference? You
probably couldn't bruise a single strand of my fur even if I stood still and
closed my eyes."
"So go ahead and do it," Lily challenged with a sneer of her own. To
her surprise, Angela did just that. "This is some kind of trick," she
muttered, advancing slowly to look out for anything Angela might try.
Angela shook her head, even placing her hands behind her back. "No
tricks. But if you're too scared to hit a woman with her eyes closed, then I
suppose I could turn my back as well."
"You're mine!" Lily yelled, putting all her power into a punch aimed
straight between Angela's eyes.
"No," Angela whispered, dropping into a crouch at the last second. It
was only then that Lily noticed Angela had manuevered herself to be against
the wall. Lily tried to stop her punch, but it was far too late to do
anything about it.
Lily's hand punched the wall, shattering the bricks that it came in
direct contact with. With those bricks gone, the surrounding bricks started
to crumble into dust. Soon the entire wall was nothing but rubble. "What
have you done?" Lily demanded, grabbing Angela by the front of her robes and
hauling her up face-to-face.
Angela regarded Lily with a soft smile. "I've set you free," she
whispered.
Lily raised her hand to punch Angela, but the sound of approaching
footsteps stopped her. "Thanks for getting me out of there Angie," an
eleven-year-old Nadine said as she picked her way through the rubble. She was
dressed in a black vest and a pair of black boots with her black hair in two
long pigtails. Her bright purple eyes just about glittered with life and a
healthy dose of mischievousness. "I gotta tell you, that was not a fun place
to be the last five years."
Lily dropped Angela and stumbled backward, tripping over her own feet to
land hard on her backside. She tried to scramble away from Nadine, but an
invisible force prevented her from going to far. "So," Nadine said, looking
down at Lily, "this is what I've become since I got locked up. Hmmph. Not
impressed in the least. But," she added with a sigh, "this is what I have to
work with."
"What happened Nadine?" Angela asked, trying not to laugh as she
watched the older Lily being cowed by the younger Nadine. "How did you get
trapped behind that wall to begin with?"
Nadine sighed and turned to Angela. "Maybe I should show you," she said
after a moment. "I still haven't figured out exactly what happened myself, so
maybe one of you could fill me in."
"I don't want to--" Lily protested, but was cut off as Nadine's final
memory engulfed them all.
* * *
It was a very special night for her. It was the first time in over a
year that her nightly walks would lead her out of the palace. Since she'd
started training with Bunnie, she'd resumed her sleeptime excursions but
hadn't been brave enough to leave the safety of the palace just yet. But she
was eleven now, no longer a little kid, and she wanted to start acting more
like an adult.
There was just one problem with her plans; she'd forgotten where her
secret exit was. She'd stumbled across it one day, a passage that led out of
the city to the village of Knothole. Even though she knew that place like the
back of her hand, she figured it was a pretty safe place to go for the night.
Now her only job was to find it.
Somehow she had ended up down by the holding cells. It wasn't a very
interesting place so she was going to walk right past it, but the sound of a
struggle from inside caught her attention. She slid open the door a crack and
peeked inside, having to stifle a gasp at the sight that awaited her.
A security guard, one that she thought may have been named Duval, stood
holding down another animal on one of the cots. Duval had jammed a dart into
the animal's neck and was covering his mouth to muffle his screams. It seemed
like forever, but eventually the animal's body went limp and his eyes closed
as death took him.
She couldn't help a scared whimper that escaped her throat. It wasn't
very loud, but it was loud enough for Duval to hear it. He saw her at the
door and pulled the dart from the dead animal's neck, advancing menacingly
toward her. Lily backed away from the door and took off down the hallway at a
dead sprint.
She'd reached the staircase leading up to the main floor when a hand
roughly grabbed one of her pigtails. She screamed in pain and fear, lashing
out behind her with her hands and feet. Duval shrugged off her hits like they
were nothing, shifting his grip to the top of her head and forcing it to the
side to expose her neck. But before he could jab the dart into her, one of
her booted feet managed to connect with his groin, forcing him to release her
as he doubled over in pain. She ran up the stairs, trying to put as much
distance between Duval and her as she could. She had to get to Daddy; Daddy
would protect her.
She had just cleared the first flight of stairs when she felt something
sting her at the base of her tail. She yelped in pain but just pulled it out
and kept running. It was then that the staircase began to swim in front of
her. She grabbed onto the banister and pulled herself along, refusing to give
up. "Mommy!" she moaned as pain wracked her body. "Daddy! DJ!"
She forced herself to keep going, finally stopping as she came up
against a door. She jerked on the doorknob till it opened up and staggered
out into the cool night air. "Someone," she tried to yell, but her throat had
closed up to the point where she could only whisper, "help me. Mommy...
Daddy...please...."
The next thing she knew was that she was falling, tipping head over
heels as she tumbled over one of the roof's raised stones. She didn't even
have the breath left in her body to yell as she crashed through the trees and
landed on the soft grass of the palace's courtyard. Though she hurt from the
fall, the trees she had hit on the way down had saved her life.
Darkness was rapidly filling her vision, no matter how hard she tried to
fight it. This was it; she was going to die. The knowledge that she would
never see her family again scared her so much that tears ran from her eyes.
"Goodbye," she mouthed as the last of her vision faded, barely noticing three
hooded figures that were running toward her.
* * *
Angela cried out in anguish as this memory ended, dropping to her knees
and rocking back and forth as she tried to dispel the feelings of what
happened that night. "So you see," Nadine said, even though her voice had
hitched slightly, "I really shouldn't be alive right now. But somehow I
survived and became that," she added, pointing at the now crying Lily. "Well
Angie, it's been fun, but it's time for you to go back home. Just like it's
time for me to do. We'll see you on the outside!"
"What are you doing?" Angela asked through her tears. Instead of
answering, Nadine just dove at Lily, disappearing inside her. The psychic
backlash from the joining of two minds hit Angela with bone shattering force,
throwing her out of Nadine's mind before she could recover.
Inside the room where Nadine and Angela's body remained unconscious, no
one had moved since the tale had been told. Everyone except Tanis had had a
piece of the tale to tell, but finally all the events from the previous night
were known. Bunnie was inwardly surprised that Nadia had mastered the
Starfire technique enough to use it in actual battle, even though a reddish-
blue version shouldn't have been powerful enough to actually kill someone.
Still, she wasn't about to break the expectant peace that had fallen over the
room since they'd all stopped talking.
That peace was shattered when Angela fell back from Nadine's body with a
terrible cry. Even froze in shock at her cry and then cringed when it was
repeated by Nadine. "Hnnh," Nadine moaned as her scream died away. "Why do I
feel like there's construction going on in my head?"
"You think you have it bad Deena?" Angela asked, using the pet name she
and the others had for Nadine when they were young. "Try having a hundred
Juices tap dancing on your brain all to different rhythms."
"At least it's only your brain, Angie," Nadine retorted. "Remember, I
have two minds inside mine right now." Her eyes snapped open and she turned
her head to look at Angela on the floor. "Angie?"
Angela smiled a small smile and nodded. "It's good to have you back
Deena."
"It wasn't a dream then?" Nadine looked around at everyone gathered
there and gasped when she noticed her family. "Momma?" she whispered in a
small voice. "Daddy? DJ?"
"Nadine!" Nadia and Donovan yelled together. DJ had such a look of
happiness on his face that Nadine wondered if he would burst from feeling that
much emotion.
Nadine's eyes widened as she realized what her family was about to do.
"No," she said quickly, shaking her head from side to side. But it was no
use; the other Osayas all glomped her in one big pile. "As much as I'm loving
this," she managed to gasp out even though she was being hugged a little too
tightly, "I'd love even more if someone could get me out of these restraints
so I could hug back!"
Tanis watched the scene unfold with a quiet smile on his lips. All
those years he'd told Donovan that his daughter was still alive, his faith was
finally proven true. "Almighty be praised," he whispered, gathering his
exhausted daughter into his arms and teleported away in a white whirlwind.
"I think I'll leave you all alone," Bunnie said as the Osayas quickly
released Nadine so that she could hug them back. "And while I'm out I'll grab
you a change of clothes."
Nadine looked down and for the first time noticed that she in her
underclothes. "That would help," she said sheepishly, pulling the blanket a
little higher even as she hugged her family back.
Bunnie walked out with a smile, letting the door close behind her. In
retrospect, she should've known that Lily was Nadine. After all, who else
could have led Alicia to the Gem? She should know after all; it was her that
had insured Nadine had gotten to the Gem to begin with.
It was about one year before she'd disappeared. Nadine had been out on
one of her nightly trips and DJ had chosen that night to follow his sister; he
had had a serious case of hero worship when it came to Nadine. And it was
lucky for her that he did. No one really knew the events of that night, only
that Nadine had been attacked by something she called a monster. DJ shoved
her out of the way but suffered a devastating slash across his throat. Nadine
had somehow managed to get them both back to the palace and DJ's life was
saved though he hadn't spoken since.
Bunnie frowned as she remembered what came next. Nadine hadn't seemed
too badly affected by the incident. At least, no more than anyone expected.
But one day when Angela had messed up in her teleportation practice, she came
upon a horrific sight: she'd found Nadine hanging by her neck from a tree
branch. Thinking quickly, Angela had cut Nadine down and teleported them both
back to her own parents to be healed before any permanent damage was done.
It was an eye opening day for everyone. It turned out that Nadine had
been blaming herself for DJ's condition and had tried more than once to kill
herself as penance. But something or someone had always stopped her from
killing herself. It was almost as if nothing would hurt her.
Nadia had been devastated that she hadn't seen the signs, and Donovan
was more pissed at himself than anyone had ever seen him. They did their best
to break through her shell, but were never sure if they were reaching her;
Nadine had gotten too good at masking her feelings. After a number of
discussions that might be better described as arguements, both Nadia and
Donovan agreed that the only ones who could help their daughter were the
Shi-rats.
With great reluctance, Nadine began therapy with Rosie and Tanis. One
of the first things that Tanis discovered was the key to everything. Somehow,
Donovan's wish had been transferred to his daughter in a corrupted way.
Apparently, Donovan's wish wasn't as foolproof as he'd thought. Yes it was
supposed to protect him, but he never specified a time period for it. As
such, the wish was able to move on to his firstborn and mutate along the way.
Not only did it protect her from harm, it used anyone around to prevent
it. If no one was around, it brought someone in as it did to Angela. As long
as that happened, no one was safe from keeping Nadine safe. And that included
from her own efforts.
It was around this time that a young guard approached Bunnie with some
information. Six years prior, she had chosen this bull to face the Gem of
Enchanted Dreams' challenges. He'd passed, remarkably so, but never revealed
just what it was that he had wished for. But the Gem was back, and he'd had
no idea who to tell about it. Bunnie had immediately suggested Nadine and,
after a bit of coaching as to what to expect, Nadine had set out to make
things right.
Bunnie sighed and shook her head. Nadine had never told anyone what she
had wished, but the change was dramatic. Nadine experienced skinned knees and
scraped chins like any other child. But Nadine could not be happier; no
longer would she be the cause of anyone being hurt like her brother had.
It was still a long road for Nadine. She'd only truly started to make
progress with her therapy and her martial arts training under Bunnie when
she'd disappeared. Her entire family hadn't been the same since. "Maybe now
they can finally heal," Bunnie mused.
After the Osayas had hugged for a while, and Nadine been brought a
change of clothes that was similar to the clothes she had worn before her
disappearance, they made their way back to their suite of rooms. Nadine had
insisted on putting her shades and gloves back on before leaving the hospital
wing. It was too late to keep her family from seeing her hated robotic eye,
but she would not allow anyone else to see it. Nadia was a little concerned
about her vehemence on the matter, but that was to be dealt with later. "OK,"
she said as they reached the front door, a rarely seen mischievous smirk
crossing her lips, "wait out here till we call you Nadine. I want to give
Computer a surprise."
Nadine's eyebrows rose behind her sunglasses, but then she got the same
smirk her mother had. "I'll be waiting," she said, leaning against the wall
next to the door so that she couldn't accidentally be seen when the door
opened.
"We're home Computer," Nadia said in an extremely upbeat voice.
"Your mood certainly has changed," Computer remarked dryly. "Was
Bunnie's news that impressive?"
"You could say that," Nadia agreed, trying to keep from smiling.
"Well, let's hope you have similar luck with her husband. Antoine has
left a message for me to relay to you."
"Later," Nadia interrupted before Computer could tell them. "Right now
I need you to open up Nadine's room and air it out. The prisoner that was
caught last night has been released to our custody and we have to put her up
for the day at least."
The entire apartment grew so quiet you could hear a pin fall through the
air much less drop. "I will not," Computer said in an angry voice. "If I
still had my lasers active I would zap you for even suggesting such a thing.
I will not open that room for anyone, not even if the king and queen ordered
it so."
"That's a shame then," Nadia said, opening up the door and gesturing to
the squirrel waiting outside, "because she is Nadine."
"Hello Computer," Nadine said as she walked inside, in full view of
Computer's cameras. After a pause of two or three heartbeats, she continued,
"Did ya miss me?"
Silence fell over the apartment for the second time in as many minutes.
"Before you say anything else," Donovan said, walking over to a scanner and
placing a piece of paper on it, "you might want to take a look at this. It's
a DNA report that confirms who she is."
Only the whirring of the scanner was heard for a long moment after that.
"Welcome home Nadine," Computer said finally. "I trust you remember the way
to your room?"
"Of course," Nadine said with a smile of her own. They all walked to
her room but someone knocked at the door before they reached it. "I wonder
who that is."
"I'll find out," Donovan said. "You go get settled in." Not letting
anyone argue with him, he walked to the door and opened it, mildly surprised
to find one of his security guards there. "If this is anything but life-
threatening, I don't want to know about it," he said in a calm but firm voice.
"I'm sorry sir," the guard said, a female bear that was nearly his age,
trembling slightly even though she was used to his mannerisms, "but you did
ask for a copy of this tape to be delivered to you."
"Tape?" Donovan asked, his sternness lost to his confusion.
"Yes sir, the tape of the woman who claimed Duval's body."
Donovan's eye lit up in understanding. "Of course, I'm sorry," he said
as he accepted the tape. "Return to your station and I'll contact you if I
need anything else." He waited until she saluted, returned her salute, and
then closed the door.
"Who was it?" Nadia asked, poking her head out of Nadine's room.
Donovan simply held up the tape in answer. Nadia nodded after a moment
and said something to the kids that he could not hear. She joined him as he
set up to play the tape and they watched the footage in silence. "I swear she
looks familiar," Donovan said, peering at the still image on the female
wolverine as she tenderly carried Duval's body out of the morgue. "But I know
I've never seen her before."
"It seems awfully convenient, doesn't it?" Nadia remarked, her features
clouding over slightly. "You don't think she was in on it, do you?"
"Anything's possible," Donovan admitted. He looked up as there was
another knock on the door. "Maybe they found a better shot of this animal's
face," he said, getting up to answer it with Nadia trailing slightly behind
him. He had barely opened the door when it was shoved open and he was pretty
much trampled beneath three sets of feet. "Ow," he moaned, rolling over onto
his stomach to try and figure out what happened.
Nadia yelped and dove to the side as a tri-colored blur streaked past
her, just barely able to avoid getting the same treatment as her husband.
"What in the name of the Almighty...?" she sputtered, picking herself up off
the floor.
"NADINE!" that blur yelled as it homed in on her room. DJ and Nadine
both looked up at the sound, but only DJ was able to step aside as that blur
charged in the door and tackled Nadine onto her bed. Nadine could have had
enough time to step aside, but she'd been too busy marvelling over how her
room was exactly the same as she'd left it. Grey walls with dark blue trim,
her white vanity, even the dark grey blanket she'd begged her mom for when she
was six. Nothing had changed.
"Oof!" Nadine gasped as she was driven into the mattress amidst a
tangle of arms and legs. "Umm, help," she pleaded, forcing her arm up in the
air as if she were drowning.
The pile that had glomped her laughed and separated into three separate
animals. "I can't believe it's really you," Alicia said, wiping tears of joy
from her eyes.
"Trust me Blueberry," Nadine said with a smile, "it's really me."
"I could do without that name though," Alicia grumped, referring to the
nickname Nadine had given her when she'd heard Sonic call her "Baby Blue."
"Are you really Lily though?"
"One and the same. It's a little weird right now knowing I'm both Lily
and Nadine, but I'll find a middle ground eventually. Sorry about that cave
incident though."
"Don't be," Alicia said. "It turned out for the best."
"Well, you're going to have to find a new name for me," Desirée said
with a smirk. "I don't think Broomstick applies to me anymore."
Nadine rolled her eyes as Desirée posed her body with a laugh. "Fair
enough," she said with an exaggerated sigh. Then she got a smirk of her own
and added, "Gwendolyn."
Darrin laughed at the play on his sister's middle name. "Still the same
old Deena," he said, reaching over and mussing up her hair.
"Whatever Tricky," Nadine muttered, flicking Darrin's nose with her good
hand. "But remember to keep those tricks away from me. I can still give as
good as I get."
Desirée, Alicia, and DJ shared uneasy glances as they all remembered the
prank wars that Darrin and Nadine had unleashed on the palace in the past.
"Anyway, it is good to have you back," Alicia said warmly.
"And it's good to be back," Nadine confirmed. "I saw Angie earlier, but
where's Pinball?"
"Juice is recovering from a rough morning," Alicia said. "He got into a
fight with your other half."
"Say no more," Nadine said with a rueful nod. "Just tell me who won."
"I heard it was more of a draw than anything," Darrin admitted. "Don't
worry, I'm sure you can ask him all about it later."
Later was a long time in coming though. That night, Sonic and Sally
ordered a proceeding held inside their throne room. Sally had been given a
clean bill of health by Dr. Gray which was the only reason Sonic went along
with this. And then only if she agreed to return to bed at the first sign of
weakness.
Because this was a royal proceeding, the entire royal family was dressed
in their best clothes. For three members, that wasn't really a problem. For
Alicia, however, it was. She didn't mind wearing dresses on occasion, but not
this monstrosity of a gown. It was light blue, and frilly, and made her look
every bit the princess. And she hated it. As soon as this was over, she
swore she was going to hide this gown, again, and not take off her jogging
suit until sometime the next morning.
Sally sat on her throne with Sonic seated by her side on her right, her
head held high. To her left stood her obviously uncomfortable daughter and to
Sonic's right stood a still bruised Juice. Much of what remained of the day
had been spent gathering information on the cases before them, and she was
confident she knew how to rule in each one. "Bring in the first prisoner,"
she said, letting her voice carry the length of the room.
The doors to the throne room opened and Nadine was brought in between
two guardsmen. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, but that didn't stop
her from walking in proudly. Behind her trailed her entire family, protesting
her treatment the whole way. "You know this is proper procedure," Antoine
hissed to Donovan. "I cannot make an exception for her even though I want to.
You would think less of me if I did."
Donovan couldn't argue that point and quieted down, motioning for Nadia
to stand back and let their daughter approach the royal family. "Nadine
Osaya," Juice intoned formally, "also known as Lily. You are charged with
attempting to assassinate the queen, treason, and numerous acts of mayhem and
violence against citizens of the kingdom. Do you have anything to say in your
own defense?"
"Feeling any better Your Highness?" she simply asked. "Has the
numbness gone away yet?"
Sally couldn't stop the small smile from appearing on her lips. "Still
the same old Nadine," she said quietly. In a louder tone, she continued, "We
have reviewed all the evidence available and the medical records from your
time here. We know now that you were under the effects of Bellethena poison
for the past five years. Because this poison is lethal if uncured and robs
you of your memories if cured, and all of these charges happened within the
five years that you had lost your memories, we have judged you were not
responsible for your actions. We order that you be set free at once."
"Oh, OK," Nadine said, in a bit of a daze as the forearm cuffs were
removed. She was pulled to the side by a tearful hug from her mother, but her
eyes were fixed on the doors to who she knew would enter next.
Sally noticed Nadine's impatience and allowed herself another small
smile. "Bring in the next prisoner," she ordered, letting an emotionless mask
fall over her face. Nicholas was carried in by four guards, a state that
forced a gasp from Nadine's lips. He'd been judged a flight risk and so not
only was he wearing forearm cuffs but also the lower leg cuffs that he'd been
placed in when he was first captured. It was a bit of a struggle, but the
four guards were able to set him upright in front of the royal family and then
step aside. They didn't back off too far though, ready to tackle him if he
tried anything.
"Nicholas," Juice said in a strong voice, "you are charged with
conspiracy to assassinate the queen, treason, and numerous counts of mayhem
and violence against citizens of the kingdom. Do you have anything to say in
your own defense?"
Nicholas just stood ramrod straight, looking at Juice with such
intensity that it took every shred of Juice's courage not to flinch and look
away. "Nothing to say then?" Sonic asked, trying to draw the skunk's
attention away from his son. "The charges against you are quite severe."
When Nicholas did not answer, Sonic sighed. "Then we have no choice but to
pass judgement on you with what information we have."
"We have reviewed all the evidence available to us," Sally said,
watching Nicholas for any emotion shown, "including what Angela Shi-rat has
learned from inside the mind of the one you know as Lily." Just as she
thought, that information caused him to look at her in surprise before he
could cover up his emotions. "From everything we've learned," she continued,
"we've determined that you were not the one behind any of the attacks you are
charged with. In fact, it was you and Nadine that tried to prevent these
attacks."
The shock in Nicholas' face was obvious when he heard Sally call Lily
by the name "Nadine," but he controlled himself enough not to make an
outburst. Sally waited a few moments to see if Nicholas would say anything,
only continuing to talk when it was apparent he wouldn't. "While your methods
may leave much to be desired, your efforts do not. We hearby judge you not
guilty of all crimes against you and order you released from custody."
"Yes!" Nadine exclaimed as the cuffs were removed from Nicholas,
blushing when everyone turned to look at her. "Sorry," she said sheepishly,
taking a step behind her mother.
Nicholas just watched as the guards removed the cuffs from his arms and
legs. When he was free, he walked right over to Nadine and looked her in the
eye. "Nadine?" he asked, quirking one eyebrow.
"Yes," Nadia said, looking Nicholas up and down for the first time.
"Her name is Nadine Osaya, and she is my daughter. As I'm sure you know, she
was under the effects of the Bellethena poison. Angela went into her mind to
break the mental block that was formed was she was cured of it."
"I see," Nicholas said with a slight frown on his face. Then he looked
around the room. "Where is the child?"
"Actually," Sally interrupted, "that brings me to my next point. Please
bring in the child."
When the doors opened this time, Amy Rose walked in between Tails and
Sondra. Instead of the brown dress she had been wearing that morning, she was
now wearing a light grey tank top and a dark purple skirt. She was still
wearing the red barrette she'd gotten as a gift, and she was so happy that she
was almost skipping toward the royal family. When she saw Nadine and Nicholas
standing off to the side, she pulled away from the Prowers and ran over to
them. "Lily! Nicholas!" she called as she stopped in front of them.
"You're finally here!"
"Amy!" Nadine said, dropping to one knee and hugging her. "Are you all
right?" she asked, checking Amy over for any injuries.
"I'm OK," Amy said with a smile. "M3's family took good care of me.
They even got me these new clothes."
Nicholas glanced at the way she was dressed and his frown deepened.
"It's too bright," he said. "It makes you too conspicuous and too much of a
target."
"That's what we wanted to talk with you about," Sally said. "We've
talked it over and we'd like to offer the three of you a place to stay here at
the palace under our protection."
"Not possible," Nicholas said quickly.
Sally just held up a hand to silence him. "Let me finish," she said
calmly, but in a tone that allowed for no arguement. "No matter what, Amy is
staying here. I've granted temporary custody to Miles and Sondra Prower."
Nicholas' face set into the most angry expression Nadine had ever seen,
and she backed away from him a couple steps. "What?" he thundered, not
caring a bit that he was yelling at the queen.
"Travelling in fear is no way for a child to live her life," Sally
insisted. "Besides, we've taken care of one of her main reasons to fear.
Bring in the final prisoner."
The doors opened for a fourth and final time. This time Rouge was
escorted in with her forearms cuffed behind her. Unlike the others, Rouge was
flanked by two female guards to prevent her from using any of her usual
tactics. She seemed really ruffled by the presence of those guards, but was
doing her best not to let it show.
"Rouge," Juice said after a moment to collect himself; he still had not
gotten over that kiss yet, "you are charged with attempted kidnapping,
attempted kidnapping of a ward of the throne, and breaking and entering. Do
you have anything to say in your own defense?"
"Hey, I was just doing my job," Rouge said with a careless shrug. "I
was hired to get the girl so I was trying to get the girl. Simple as that."
"You were hired to steal a little girl?" Alicia asked in disbelief.
"Who are you that you could do such a thing?"
"More to the point," Sonic added before Rouge could answer, "who would
hire you to do such a thing?"
Rouge shrugged again, the motions more exaggerated this time. "I don't
ask for identification when I'm hired to do a job. All I know is that some
weird guy in a black robe told me to bring the girl to him unharmed. If I
did, he promised to give me seven of the largest emeralds I've ever seen.
Once he was done with them of course. Still though, I don't even see what's
the big deal about her anyway."
Nicholas launched himself at Rouge with a roar, but Juice intercepted
him in mid-air with a spear and drove him backward. "Think about this!"
Juice yelled at him while trying to pin him against the wall. "You were just
given your freedom. Do you want to throw it away because of her?"
Nicholas glared at Juice for a moment before regaining his control.
"You don't see what's so special about her?" Nicholas asked in a low,
dangerous voice as he pushed Juice away. "Three Mobians died to protect her
life; one of them at the hands of your so-called employer if my guess is
right."
Rouge seemed genuinely shocked at the news. "Three?" she asked as if
she couldn't even consider that possibility.
"Yes, three," Nicholas confirmed. "Our guardian and the two who brought
her to our guardian."
Any further discussion was cut off by a flash of bright light appearing
in the throne room. Everyone was somewhat used to it except for a handful.
Amy and Nadine jumped away in surprise and Nicholas dropped into a defensive
stance similar to the one the guards were in. "I'm really not supposed to
interfere," Knuckles said once the light had faded, "but I couldn't let this
go on any further without setting something to rights." He fixed Rouge with a
calm gaze, unconcerned by the way her own gaze was appraising him. "You said
that your employer would have given you seven emeralds when he was done with
them, is that right?"
"That was the agreement," Rouge said, using attitude to cover up her
surprise at his appearance. "And those emeralds are more than enough to set
me up for the rest of my life."
Knuckles just closed his eyes and shook his head. "Too bad the Emeralds
won't exist anymore when he's done with them."
Rouge's expression went from a smirk to a scowl in less than a second.
"What?" she demanded.
"Oh you mean he didn't tell you?" Knuckles asked with a smirk of his
own. "The Unholy One is going to use the Emeralds to restore Chaos and plunge
this world into darkness. And once he does, there won't be any more Emeralds
to give you."
"And why should I believe you?"
"The fact that I'm a Holy One isn't enough?"
Rouge's eyes travelled his form again. "A Holy One who doesn't wear
robes? That's new on me."
"I'm also Guardian of the Chaos Emeralds. I get a bit of leeway in my
wardrobe. If you don't believe me, you can ask the others."
Rouge gnashed her teeth together as Knuckles' words were confirmed by
some of the bystanders and her wings flared involuntarily. "That no-good
double crosser," she snarled. "Making me do his dirty work and not even
planning to pay me for it? Well, he will pay once I'm done with him."
Knuckles rolled his eyes as he prepared himself to teleport away. "I
tell her about the world coming to an end and she only gets upset over being
double-crossed."
While Knuckles and Rouge had been talking, the royal family had been
deep in a discussion of their own. When Knuckles disappeared, Alicia dashed
off, forced to fly since she couldn't really run in her dress. "We have a
proposition for you," Sonic said, drawing everyone's attention back to him.
"How about you work for us?"
Rouge cocked her head to the side and glanced at Sonic out of the corner
of her eyes. "I'm listening," she said, and everyone knew she would have
crossed her arms had they not been cuffed behind her back.
"You have interacted with the Unholy One," Sonic said, "you know where
he is. Now if you gave us that information, we could launch an attack on them
and try to end this once and for all. There's no way he could stand up to a
combined assault by us and the Holy Ones."
"And he'll sense you coming miles away," Rouge interrupted before Sonic
could go any further. "When he does, he'll move to one of his other bases,
one that I don't know about, and leave behind a bunch of traps that will
decimate whatever army you send after him. Hey, it's what I would do and he's
far more cunning and evil than I am."
Sonic sighed as he weighed Rouge's words. "It was worth a try," he said
as he turned to Sally. "Looks like we do things your way."
Sally smirked and leaned forward but nearly lost her balance. Sonic
moved to catch her, but she just raised one hand and signalled that she was
fine. "How would you like to become our spy?" she finally asked Rouge after
Sonic assured himself that Sally was all right.
"I don't know," Rouge said after a bit. "It's not my usual thing. I'm
a mercenary, not a spy."
"From everything we dug up about you, you have gathered information for
clients before using various methods. Sonic's parents can show you how to
adapt your methods for a more general use."
"And what's in it for me?"
"If you agree to this, all charges are dropped and we'll pay you your
fee. If you don't, we'll announce the foregone guilty verdict and put you
away."
"Some choice," Rouge huffed. "You know, this could be considered
extortion."
"Or it could just be called offering a plea bargain."
Rouge couldn't help but laugh long and loud at Sally's words. "You know
what? I like you," she said after she'd quieted down. "OK, I'm your girl.
So when do I meet the parents, so to speak?"
"Does now work?" Alicia asked as she strode back into the throne room
with Maurice and Patricia right behind her. "Allow me to present my
grandparents, Maurice and Patricia Hedgehog." She turned around as she
introduced them only to start in surprise when they weren't right behind her.
"Umm, Grandma! Grandpa!" she called waving her arms. "Rouge is over here!"
But neither Maurice nor Patricia were paying attention to Alicia.
Instead, they had crowded close to Nicholas and were peering intently into his
face. Nicholas backed up at first, but when Maurice and Patricia pressed him
he reached for something to cover his face. "Nicholas?" Maurice asked before
Nicholas found anything. "Is that you?"
Nicholas stopped moving as his name was called. "And you are?" he
asked cautiously, looking from Maurice and Patricia and back again.
"You don't remember us?" Patricia asked, sounding hurt by that. "I
know it's been a while and all, but I thought we made more of an impact on you
than that. But maybe, just maybe, I know something that can jog your memory."
"Well, we definitely remember you," Maurice said as Patricia hurried
off. "We visited you and your family every other month until that horrible
day.
"I still remember the day we heard the news," Maurice continued, his
voice growing quiet with sadness. "Your parents thought you'd be safe there,
that no one could possibly make the connection. It only took one to turn the
town against you; one who recognized your father as the son of Alexi Gaspar.
Or should I say Alexi Kavenoff?"
A shocked gasp travelled through the room as all the Freedom Fighters
present could now see the face of one of their most hated enemies in Nicholas'
own. Nicholas turned his face away in shame, but Maurice grabbed his chin and
forced his face back around. "Never hide your face at the name of your
grandfather," he said, looking deep into the young skunk's eyes. "He was one
of my greatest friends before he was possessed by that Abyss-born spirit.
Don't ever confuse what he was forced to become with who he really was."
"Tell that to the mob that found my family that day," Nicholas said in a
thick voice. "They couldn't separate the monster from my family and killed my
parents in cold blood. If it wasn't for my guardian, I would've been killed
just the same."
"Nicholas," Nadine said in a soft voice. "I didn't--"
"Now you know why I always insist on wearing a hood," Nicholas
interrupted, looking over at Nadine. "I don't want anyone else making that
connection and taking their anger out on us."
"I remember this now," Sally said, her eyes closed in thought. She
opened her eyes and looked at Maurice before continuing. "You and Patricia
asked me if you could handle this case personally."
"And we made sure that mob was brought to justice," Maurice said in a
dark voice. "At least, the ones that were still alive." He turned his
attention back to Nicholas. "Your guardian's work, I assume?"
Nicholas nodded but kept his head down. He seemed about to say
something else when Amy latched onto his waist. "I still love you Nicholas,"
she said, hugging him as hard as she could. Nicholas looked down at Amy and
put a hand on her head. It didn't seem like much to the others, but both
Nadine and Amy knew that it was more emotion than he had shown in a long
while.
Maurice smiled at the display. But when he saw Patricia waving at him
from the doorway, he gently took hold of Amy and moved her away from Nicholas.
Both of them looked at him in surprise, but his reasons soon became apparent.
A form glomped itself onto Nicholas' back, nearly tipping him over. The
pulling on his ears almost made him fall over the other way.
Acting purely on instinct, Nicholas grabbed the legs of whoever was on
his back and fell backward, landing on his assailant. "Ow!" a definitely
female voice yelped as he landed on her. "Watch the landings Nic!"
Nicholas rolled off her and stood up. When he looked at who had jumped
on him, he took a step back as deja vu struck him. "You...?" he whispered.
"Where do I know you from?"
Kelly Min smiled up at him as she sat up, rubbing her backside. "Now
what was it your dad told me?" she said, wincing slightly. "Oh yeah. 'If
you can't take the landings....'"
"'...Don't make the leap,'" Nicholas finished for her. The result was
immediate, the recognition clear in his eyes. "Kel?"
Kelly's smile widened as she got to her feet. "One and the same Nic. I
feel so special that you remember me."
Nicholas shook his head as memories long suppressed came rushing back.
"Aunt Patty?" he asked as he looked at the elder hedgehogs. "Uncle Maury?"
Maurice and Patricia nodded, walking over to stand next to their daughter. "I
remember now."
"We'll catch up later," Patricia said. "For now, you've got an offer to
answer."
It took Nicholas a moment to remember that Sally had offered them all a
place to stay at the palace. He looked around at everyone there, his gaze
coming to a rest on Nadine. "You have until the first sunrise of the New
Year. That's all."
"Now wait a minute," Nadia protested. "I just got my daughter back and
you expect me to let her leave in less than a week?"
"You misunderstand me," Nicholas said, falling back into his usual
emotionless self. "She has until the New Year to enjoy a vacation of sorts.
After that, we begin our training again and I do mean at sunrise. I said
nothing about us leaving. Now if you'll excuse me," he said as he walked out,
"I have to examine where Amy will be staying to make sure it's secure enough."
"I suppose that takes care of everything," Sally said. "We're adjourned
here."
"Hey wait a minute!" Rouge cried, startling everyone. "You forgot to
get me out of these things!"
Much later that night, when everything had finally calmed down, Donovan
found himself sitting in front of Computer. He had been present during the
talk that Maurice and Patricia had had with Rouge. Though up to the task, she
had insisted that she not have to do it alone. That was when the most
unlikely one had stepped forward. "I'll go with you," Metal Sonic had said.
"No!" Lissette had protested through a minor coughing fit. "Metal,
you're supposed to stay with me and protect me, remember?"
Donovan had been surprised to see how sad the robot had looked.
"Lissette, you don't need me here. With all the time you spend working with
Sir Charles and fighting with James I hardly even see you anymore. At least
if I go with Rouge I can be of some use. Besides," he continued, cutting off
Lissette's protests, "I'm the only one who can stand her. Any living male you
send with her will never resist her advances, and any female will want to kill
her. I'm the only choice that makes sense."
Even Donovan hadn't wanted to admit it, but Metal was completely in the
right here. So with a lot of trepidation, Lissette had agreed to it. But she
did spend a few minutes reading Rouge the riot act, not to mention coming up
with a few rather unique threats to the bat's well being should anything
happen to Metal.
But that had happened hours ago; there was something Donovan needed to
do now before he lost the nerve to. "Computer," he said, willing his voice
not to waver, "we need to talk."
Computer was silent for a moment before replying. "We do?" it asked
uncertainly.
"I...." Donovan began before taking a moment to compose himself. "I
want to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for blaming you for Nadine's
disappearance and holding a grudge against you all these years. I'm sorry
that I couldn't see that someone had tampered with your program. And I'm
sorry I treated you so poorly."
Computer was silent for so long that Donovan was worried that it hadn't
heard him. "I don't know what to say," it admitted. "But perhaps I should
shoulder some of the blame for not knowing that my program had been tampered
with to begin with. We tried to account for every type of tampering possible.
I suppose we missed some. In our arrogance, we thought no one could. We were
wrong."
"Due to recent events I've been asked to update the entire security
system," Donovan said. "I want you to be hooked up to it from now on so that
you can help my staff monitor things. But in order to do that, I'm going to
have to shut you down for a while so I can find and undo what was tampered
with."
"We have to find and undo what was tampered with," Nadia said from their
bedroom doorway. "I've already done some of the work myself."
Donovan spun his chair around to look at her, but she stood in the
shadows of their darkened apartment. "You have?" he asked quietly.
"Yes, I have," Nadia said, slowly walking toward him. "I couldn't do
much because I don't know what the original source code looks like. But I've
been able to find areas that just don't look like your handiwork. I'll show
you what I've found in the morning."
Donovan smiled quietly at Nadia, but his smile faded into a look of
wonder when she stepped into a shaft of moonlight. The nightdress she was
wearing would be considered flimsy and translucent under the best of
conditions. But in the bright moonlight, it became completely see-through
and only made her seem to glow like some angel come from Heaven.
Donovan gazed her for a long moment in unrestrained admiration. Moving
slowly, as if he expected her to vanish were he to move too quickly, he stood
up and walked to her. "Nadia," he whispered, taking her hands in his, "before
I met you, I was alone and set in my ways. I tried my best not to get
attached to anything or anyone. Now that I've met you, I feel like a part of
me that was missing all these years, one that I never even knew was missing,
has been found. You complete me in all the ways that only you could.
"I know that I haven't and probably won't be the easiest person to live
with, especially when I have my moods. But know this, through everything that
has happened and will happen, I always have and I always will love you. And I
pledge that love for all time."
Tears streaked down Nadia's face as she listened to her husband repeat
his vows to her from their wedding day. "Donovan," she murmured, her hands
trembling as she framed his face with them, "I accept and return your pledge
with my own. You taught me what love is, even before I was supposed to be
able to understand it. My heart will accept no other but you. Our souls are
two parts of the same whole. For now, and forever, I will love you."
Nadia's cheeks were not the only ones wet by tears by now. As one,
their faces inched closer to each other until their lips met. They had kissed
many times over the years, but none save the one they had shared at their
wedding was as full of love and passion as the one they shared now. Without
breaking contact, Donovan scooped Nadia up in his arms and carried her to
their bedroom where they would spend the rest of the night rediscovering and
reaffirming their love in the most sacred of ways.
In a nearby room, DJ's to be exact, a different couple sat side by side
on his bed, cuddling. "A lot has happened in the past few days," Desirée
said, lightly tracing patterns up and down DJ's back. "We were almost caught
off guard and could've lost Sally. If it wasn't for you, your parents
might've been killed. But most importantly, you have your sister back.
"DJ?" she continued, kissing his temple lightly and making him look at
her. "I just hope you know that I will always be here for you. Now and
forever, I love you."
DJ smiled up at her and kissed her lips gently. He swallowed a few
times and then, in a small and raspy voice, he said, "I love you Desirée."
"I know you do DJ," she said, leaning in for another kiss. Before their
lips met, the full import of what had just happened struck her and her eyes
shot wide open. "DJ?" she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion. "Did
you just say...?"
DJ nodded, rubbing his throat a little. He opened his mouth to say it
again, but Desirée stopped him when he winced in pain. "Oh DJ," she breathed,
crushing her lips to his in the most sensual and passionate kiss she could.
All the while, tears of happiness coursed down her cheeks, lending a slightly
salty flavor to their kiss.
When the need for air became too great, their lips parted and she rested
her head atop his. "You have given me the greatest present I could ever dare
to hope for," Desirée breathed in his ear. "And now, I want to do the same
for you."
Desirée pulled away from DJ and stood up, paying no attention to his
wondering look as she walked a couple steps away from the bed, keeping her
back facing him. When she had first walked into the room, she wasn't sure if
she was ready for this. But after what DJ had just done for her, all her
doubts had vanished like morning fog after the sunrise. Slowly and
deliberately, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the root Lyka had
given her. Keeping what she was doing hidden from DJ, she tore off a section
of it and ate it, wincing at the bitter taste.
Desirée slowly turned back around as she put the root in her pocket.
DJ looked so confused that she couldn't help a small giggle that escaped her.
She took a deep breath and reached behind her, unzipping her bodysuit while
holding it up in the front with her other hand. Once the zipper was fully
down, she removed her hand and let the suit fall to the floor.
DJ could only stare in shock as Desirée stood before him, completely
nude. A slight blush seemed to suffuse her entire body, betraying her
embarrassment. But she stood there, letting him look, until his shock faded
away only to be replaced by something else. "Merry Christmas DJ," she
whispered. (
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