#I WANNA SEE U AS MOBIUS AGAIN!!!!!!

[mobiues]

also, i need to applaud owen for being able to produce such a ... quiet representation of grief, yet the audience being able to know and feel that it is a great, tremendous grief all the same. "i mean, you think the tva is gonna miss a tired, washed-up old analyst with a heart of gold?" "christ, it's the best house on the block" "let the time pass" you were so great, owen. mobius was so great.

[ashdreams2023]

could u write mobius x reader with a cockatoo? I wanna see the chaos of this type of bird meeting him lmao

Oh! Been so long since I wrote for him! Yes of course

New friend

"Oh you actually came!" You exclaimed softly as you saw the familiar face of your older partner outside your flat.

"You know I thought of dropping by after drowning in paperwork for three hours" he let himself in and took his shoes off.

You chuckled closing the door behind him "No on the field work today I’m assuming"

"Nope" he clicked his tongue looking around your simple flat, he could smell the scent of coffee being made and could hear the sound of your tv playing a movie in the small living room.

"Come in, did you eat anything? I have casserole  leftovers"

He takes a seat on your sofa and shakes his head "No but I’ll kill for a cup of that coffee I’m smelling"

"Be right back! Make yourself comfortable" you said before disappearing to the kitchen and leaving him alone.

He looked around, the placed was full of personality, your favorite colors popping up occasionally throughout his sighting of the room, there were a few photos he saw hanging on the wall, you looked much younger and different from the person he knows today.

It was when he noticed a small ball on the coffee table that he was startled from a strange sound of a crying baby.

He looked around for the source of the sound and felt confused, your flat is from what he heard was for singles only, there couldn’t be families in the building and you sure as hell don’t have any kids…or do you?

Then sound disappeared for a few seconds then he heard a loud barking sound, mobius stood up at that point with a frown on his face, you never mentioned having a dog and the sound was right in the room, it wasn’t from outside.

"Hey why are you standing? Don’t tell me something came up at the tva" You walked into the room holding a small tray with two coffee mugs.

"No i…you didn’t tell me you had a dog, I’m not against animals believe me" he rubbed the back of his neck.

You blinked then made a face before looking up at the ceiling and screaming "Tintin! What have I told about scaring people?!" Mobius was puzzled until he saw something flying down and it landing on the top of his head.

"What that?-" he glanced up and blinked at the big bird standing on his head so comfortably.

"Tintin! God I’m so sorry, this is Tintin and he finds it funny to mess around with any guests I have, even though i scolded him about it a hundred times"

"No no no!" The bird started saying then mimicked the cry of a baby again.

Mobius sighed and smiled gently finding it the feathery bird amusing "So you’re the one who’s been making think I’m crazy"

The bird looked down at him then moved his head around between Möbius’s hair and made himself comfortable.

"Ok now that’s not what I meant by getting comfortable and I wasn’t talking to you little mister" You gave the bird a pointed stared but he didn’t seem to care.

"Does he poop on strangers heads?.." the older agent found himself asking.

You shook your head "Thankfully he knows better or else he’ll stay in his cage longer than he’ll appreciate"

Eventually the bird climbed down from his head and stood on his shoulder, his white feathers tickling Möbius’s cheek every once in a while and demanding the man feed him crackers.

"Looks like you made a new friend" you giggled at the two.

Mobius chuckled while scratching the back of the bird’s head "maybe…an interesting friendship it seems"

[buckyodinson]

Random request for Mobius.

Can u do one where the reader has been self harming and Mobi finds out and the reader works themselves up into a panic attack.

Its find if u dont wanna do it, I completely understand, it would just rly help me rn.

Hope this helps you somewhat, my lovely 💛 always around to talk if you need it

Warnings: mentions of self harm

Reader is gender neutral (unless I’ve missed anything - if so, please let me know and I’ll change it)

-

You and Mobius were dealing with a variant who was particularly skilled with knives, and you’d both already shed your TVA issue blazers in the scuffle after receiving a few slashes each. Mobius had made a show of rolling up his sleeves during a lull in the fight, making some snarky comment to the variant as he did so. Subconsciously, you copied him, smirking at his antics as you did so.

The variant moved as if to lunge for Mobius but switched back and jumped at you instead, and managed to slash you across the forearm and kick you away. As you struggled up onto your knees, you watched as rage filled Mobius’ features and he launched himself at the variant, swinging his baton and pruning them.

He bent down to pick up his tattered blazer, panting as he pulled a handkerchief out of the breast pocket.

“Here, let me.” He spoke breathily and gave you a lopsided smile as he reached for your bleeding arm.

You started to extend your arm, but quickly retracted it, pulling it back against your stomach, “No it’s fine. I can deal with it when we get back.”

It was too late though. He’d already seen the marks littered across your arm. Damn him and his excellent observation. You froze once you noticed the sympathetic look cross his face.

You felt your heart start hammering in your chest, and the air around you felt like it was disappearing. You couldn’t deal with this right now. You had to leave. You wanted Mobius to see you as a strong agent. Worthy of being his partner. You didn’t want him to know about this. He’d think differently of you. He’d treat you different. Like you were fragile. Like you were weak. You didn’t want that.

You quickly pulled out your Tempad, opening a timedoor back to the TVA and wasting no time, stepping through it immediately. Mobius didn’t hesitate, following you through.

“Wait up, sunshine, please.” Mobius begged as he followed close behind you.

You picked up the pace, but Mobius caught up with you easily and overtook you, coming in front of you and forcing you to stop, “Talk to me, sweetheart.”

The tears brimming in your eyes fell freely and you began to shudder as your breathing became ragged.

Mobius looked like a deer in headlights for a second, not knowing what to do. Then he silently grabbed his Tempad out of his pocket, opening a timedoor and walking the both of you through it slowly.

Through your teary eyes, you noticed you were now in a TVA apartment. Generally, they all looked the same, but you knew it was Mobius’ from the pile of jet ski magazines on the coffee table in the middle of the room.

Mobius gently ushered you to the tiny sofa and sat you down on it, “Is there anything I can get you? Do you want tea?”

You calmed your breathing enough to utter a strangled “water, please”.

Mobius jumped up and jogged over to the small kitchenette and poured a glass of water for you. He rounded the sofa (almost tripping in the process which did make you giggle slightly) and handed you the glass softly. You muttered your thanks as you raised the glass to your lips and took a sip.

After sipping at it for a few minutes, you had calmed down significantly. Mobius sat waiting patiently, wringing his hands in his lap worriedly.

You took a deep breath and reached to put the glass down on the coffee table, wincing at the pain in your arm, suddenly remembering what got you into this mess in the first place. And the mess it was currently making too.

“Gosh, I’m sorry Mobius. I’m bleeding over everything.”

“Don’t worry about that, sweetheart.”

He tentatively reaches out for your arm again, and you let him take it this time. He dips his handkerchief into what’s left of your water and wipes at the cut carefully.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, I completely understand,” his voice is the softest you think you’ve ever heard it, and if that didn’t tip you over the edge, then his words most definitely did.

“But I hope you know that I’m always here for you, no matter what. And I’ll never judge you, or think any less of you for this,” he finishes his work, dropping the handkerchief to the table, but still keeping a soft grip on your arm, “if anything, I think more of you right now. The fact that you put on a brave face for me and everyone else here when you ain’t feeling so brave inside.”

You didn’t realise how much you’d started to cry until he reached up and brushed the tears from your cheeks, “Thank you Mobius. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

“You don’t have to thank me, sunshine. I’d do anything for ya.” He gives you his lopsided smile again and you can’t help but reciprocate it. And his grows even bigger at the sight.

“There we go.” He beams when you let out a small chuckle and shuffle closer to him.

He moves to envelope you in a hug but hesitates, only continuing after seeing your shy nod. He wraps his arms softly around you, pulling you against his chest and placing a kiss on the top of your head, manoeuvring you both so you’re laying down across his sofa.

He finds himself whispering little words of affirmation into your hair as you both lay there, only admitting that he loves you once he’s sure you’ve fallen asleep.

[muslim-flint]

this is the only semi serious post im gonna make about this because i see yall talking about how loki and sylvie potentially being in a romantic relationship is symbolism for self love and self acceptance blablabla. aight.

so first of all, yall really think that the epitome of love is romantic love? like? im sorry but the peak of self-love is being your own FRIEND. like literally thats it. you have to show yourself love, tenderness, support, honesty, patience. all of those can be found in healthy friendships. making them truly close, intimate friends would make so much more sense than them being involved romantically if they wanna go with the symbolism thing.

second of all, IT'S STILL SELFCEST LIEK????#*#*@ IM SORRY they're the same. person. like are yall really gonna fall for the "oh shes a girl tho so its fine" thing liekdkdk i know they didnt have the same life, therefore don't share the same memories etc. but they're two versions of the same person like thats just. im not gonna say it's morally wrong or whatever cause this is basically the whole would u fuck your clone debate all over again but it's just OFF, especially if marvel is genuinely playing into it which is what they kinda did in this episode rip

third of all. im gonna come back to my first point and add smthg : if the end goal is for loki to love and accept himself and allow himself to be good/happy/loved/trust people. then wouldn't it make much more sense for him to have a romantic partner who would be Someone Else than. his literal self. like yea obviously im thinking about mobius especially because of the whole "you can be good" speech but also bc their entire dynamic makes sense. but OKAY okay lets say they dont make mobius a romantic interest, my point still stands like? wouldn't it be profoundly sad if the only love loki can get is from another version of himself? because self love and self acceptance doesnt only allow you to be better with and as yourself, it also makes it easier for the PEOPLE around you to love you, so why wouldnt it close the loop nicely to have someone ELSE fall for him and give him that kind of romantic love that comes from being YOURSELF with SOMEONE ELSE? i mean. do you see what i mean here or what

anyway i cant believe im seriously posting about marvel cinematic universe loki but those are my two cents about this whole mess lmao we'll see how it goes from there ig!!!!!

[stfuhets]

i said i dont wanna make more posts abt the loki show but i just have to share this, cuz it's legit making me dead lmao

so like on the loki show 1ep release day my christian parents were like "uhh not sure abt watching this show cuz i heard rumors he'll be gay" (well, they been both big mcu & loki fans for long time but as u can tell they dont know much abt his queerness in mitology but whatever)

now they actually watched all episodes of it meanwhile i decided to boycott it for obv reasons and they are like "oh thank god he has a girlfriend after all, he isn't gay 😊"

it is not only biphobic but it also made me think, how the writers most likely dgaf about what bisexuals or queer viewers in general want (kate herron might be an exception though). they just want to please the butthurt straights. disney didn't make sylki canon to "represent their bisexuality" cuz u know they also said "he will have both female and male love interest" which would be the PERFECT way to represent his attraction to more then one gender, but then again, where tf is that alleged male-love-interest ? 🤨

cuz pretty sure the cast were telling us not to ship him w/ mobius since theyr plAtOnic so did i miss something...?

so my point is that homophobes or just uneducated hets do not see them as a bi couple, most of them can't even acknowledge their gender fluid identity, they see them as any other str8 f/m hero couple because it was made for their gaze basically.

so uh yeah just gonna leave this here, it is my opinion so y'all can agree or disagree idrc anymore.

[minalblood]

Ok this isnt my usual way of doing things cuz... Well, tbh i dont really care enough to actually make a post bout most things, id just rather reblog shit, but I've now seen several posts comparing the Loki finale with spn's and just... Where?

Spn ended as a show with one of the most hopelessness inducing shit I've ever seen, taking a character thats been consistently seen as at the very least depressed and killing him off with a 'that's what his happy ending looks like' plastered on it, another character who's whole ark was reconciling with himself about who he is only to make him essentially cut half of himself out for a kid and also still be unhappy, and a third who's whole thing was learning what free will is and that he too deserves free will only to have him go back to obeying orders in heaven. It was absolutely against everything the show had portrayed for 15 years, including in the actual season this finale was a part of.

Loki is an on going show (s 2 confirmed), but even if it hadn't been, the shows main narrative themes remained true to the end, Loki did in fact grow as a character, the shows ultimate plot is about free will, tackling also the fact that free will means shit will also happen, its not only roses and happiness and Sylvie stuck to her actual goal and achieved it, aka killing whoever was behing the TVA. Loki's goal throughtout the show wasn't killing the Time keepers, it was having the free will to write his own life story and he's done and doing exactly that, sometimes that means shit happens, no characters died needlessly in my opinion and as I've said, in no way did it go against its own themes that it established initially. Not to mention the fact again that it's ongoing!

Finally to touch on what people are really complaining about (the more vocal post I've seen circulating, I've no doubt some people just genuinely didn't like it and thats fine) which is the Sylvie/Loki thing. Ok lets discuss. Firstly, if it's not ur thing that's entirely fine, its not mine either, but to claim it's a problem for u cuz it's, as Ive seen multiole people say, heteronormative is hella problematic to me since it seems to erase the fact that both characters by their own words are bi/pan. That's shitty. Number 2: 'if Sylvie was male presenting they wouldn't have gone there'... Now while I do think Marvel/Disney wouldnt likely have the balls, I still find issue with this statement since it feels very... Sexist to me. I dunno what exactly about it, but it very much reads like y'all would not complain bout the pairing if Sylvie was male presenting more so than a dig at Marvel/Disney and that is not cool with me. And finally, C the selfcest thing as incest stand-in. Ok so I get that selfcest aint for everyone, which again, fair point if u just dont vibe at all, but the actual issues people seem to have is less with it being selfcest and more that its not mlm, which is highly hypocritical. Now to the people who do just dislike it for being basically incest, ur perogative, ur view , but I'd've hoped that the whole multivers aspect of this show could've made it clearer that while they are variants of each other they are not actually the same person. Also also since the spn parallel is what began this, to the spn fans I ask, how tf can y'all not see this, the multuple versions of Sam and Dean alone should have you realize it's someones history, experience, surroundings, accuaintances that mould a person. We don't even know for sure if they share parents! Its a dif universe they've been born in, oddly enough that means they couldn't be more physically different, even if they may share some personality traits or some history between them. Again, i dont ship it, it feels awkward to me based on their interactions, but that doesnt mean imma say some bullshit bout incest just cuz I dont like the idea. Fact is they're not actually related and, as an aside, the would u fuck ur clone talk has been around for ages with little issues about incest because its already covered in the meme as is the pollar opposite.

Ok this was rambly and well, hopefully some of my points have been made clear. To end I just wanna say I do look forward to season 2, I can't wait to see Mobius and Loki reacquaint now that we have a Mobius that doesnt remember/know Loki it'll be a nice juxtapose to their relation this season (yes i ship it, whatever) and also also wanna see what's gonna happen with Kang overall and with Sylvie. She wasn't having a good time there.

Edited below:

So quick add, I just realised why the comparison fucks with me so much more than other shit and it's cuz it reduces both finales to shipping, thats why it annoys me, it essentially undermines Loki's whole arc and reduces it to shipping and it also undermines just how bad spn ended and why its bad since it also reduces it to a ship. Neither are bad or good because of a ship being canon or not on its own and seeing this comparison makes it seem very much like thats the reason spn ended bad and equally makes Loki ending bad because of course it would if the ship didnt go the way you wanted it. But thats not the way to measure a show like Loki or Spn, or at least def not the only measurement to apply for the end conclusion.

[goosewhisker]

this crooked posture (is all you’ve ever known)

read this on ao3 || read this on fanfiction.net

i wrote this whole thing in a span of about 5 days :pensive: as u can maybe tell i have a lot of feelings abt that one conversation btwn scourge and jules...there is so much potential here and im sad we never got to see it

as far as timeline goes- this would probably take place in the pre-boot universe about six months or so after scourge & co escape from zone jail. the destructix are camping out on mobius for the time being to avoid drawing zonic's attention and knothole has wrapped up the ixis naugus/metal sally arcs.

Summary: Fiona heads off with a wave, and he's left where he started - staring through a window into a nearly-empty kitchen, looking in on a life was never his and never will be. Inside, the robian sets bacon on the stovetop to fry and starts making toast, blissfully unaware of the hedgehog just outside. It's hard to tell on a robot, obviously, but he looks perfectly content with his life. Happy, even.

Pathetic. 

Or: Scourge avoids his problems, Fiona is exasperated, and Jules is mostly oblivious.

It's the early hours of the morning. So early, in fact, that it shouldn't even technically be called morning because it's still basically nighttime and no one sane is up right now.

Which is probably why the idiotic robian is up at five o'clock in the morning, puttering around in the kitchen and making breakfast. There's literally no reason for it. It's not like he can eat anything, after all, and his stupid son lives off chilidogs, so he's not going to eat it. And his stupid wife isn't getting up for like two hours, so she's not eating it either. See? Idiocy.

Yet another thing that their universes seem to have in common.

"What are you doing?"

Scourge almost shrieks - key word is almost, 'cause he's too cool to scream like a dork - and tackles Fiona into the bushes. "Shhh!"

Fiona splutters indignantly and a second later her fist bounces off his jaw, which, ow. "Are you nuts? Get off me!"

"Shhhut up!" Scourge throws a quick glance over his shoulder at the window. No one's come outside to investigate, so hopefully no one's heard. He rolls off her a second later. "You wanna get us arrested, woman?"

"Hey, I'm a legal citizen of this universe!" Fiona protests. "If anything, it's you who's getting arrested, Mr.-Snooping-Through-Other-People's-Windows. That's so creepy."

"We're both wanted criminals here; if we get caught, we're going down together," Scourge points out, graciously ignoring her last comment. "And anyway, I'm... gathering intel."

Fiona snorts. "Pull the other one, Scourge. That's not gonna work on me." Crossing her arms, she adds, "You've been gathering intel every night for the past week. And I know you're technically the same person, but watching Sonic sleep is really weird."

"I'm not watching him," Scourge snaps before he can help himself.

"Oh?" Fiona's eyes glint and it's then that Scourge realizes he's slipped. "Then who are you watching?"

"Uhhh..." Scourge fidgets while trying not to look like he's fidgeting. "No one. I'm just passing through, not watching anything. Why'd I want to do that anyway?" He forces a laugh. "So lame."

Fiona regards him with a flat stare. "Your fingerprints are smudged all over the window."

"What?" Scourge whips around to check the window. He'd been so careful not to leave any traces of his visits, but-

Waitaminute.

"Very funny," Scourge growls into his gloved hands. Fiona snickers.

"Look, if you don't want to tell me, I won't make you," she says, standing up and brushing the dirt off her pants. "But I'll find out eventually. And if this new obsession of yours endangers yourself or the team, I'm going to put a stop to it."

"Yeah, yeah," Scourge mutters, waving her off. "Get lost."

"Mhm. We still on for that movie night?"

"'course. See you there, babe."

Fiona heads off with a wave, and he's left where he started - staring through a window into a nearly-empty kitchen, looking in on a life was never his and never will be. Inside, the robian sets bacon on the stovetop to fry and starts making toast, blissfully unaware of the hedgehog just outside. It's hard to tell on a robot, obviously, but he looks perfectly content with his life. Happy, even.

Pathetic.

Scourge kicks the side of the house, suddenly incandescently furious with everything. Inside, Jules looks up in surprise, but Scourge is already gone.

"I need to stop," Scourge says later. The movie is over - some samurai flick that Simian had picked out and Lightning had ruined with his constant nitpicking - and they'd gone out for ice cream afterwards (read: robbed that nice gelato place downtown). Getting used to having teammates again is... something, Scourge supposes. But it's not completely terrible.

"You need to stop," Fiona agrees. She's texting furiously, slouched into the ratty couch in their current hideout with Scourge's head on her lap.

"It's just weird seeing him alive, is all," Scourge tells the ceiling. "That's all it is. Like, when you see something weird, and you just gotta look at it. It doesn't mean anything."

"Are you trying to convince yourself or me?"

"Not tryin' to convince anyone. I'm just saying what it is."

Fiona sets down her phone with a sigh. "Look, you gotta stop hurting yourself like this."

Scourge sits up a little too fast. "Hurting myself? What? Babe, have you forgotten who you're talking to? I'm Scourge the Hedgehog, I don't hurt."

Fiona gives that all the acknowledgment it deserves, which is none. "I told you about the... the prison, when I was a kid," she says. Scourge falls silent. "I went back there a few times, after I was big enough to handle myself. There wasn't a reason, really. I just thought I had to see it. And it sort of helped the first time - I cleaned out all the bots and made sure that place couldn't hold anyone ever again - but after that, I just went back again and again because it made me hurt and that felt good. Because I was hurting anyway, and being able to make it worse when I wanted to made me feel like I could control it."

Scourge doesn't say anything.

"But that wasn't true," Fiona says. Her voice shakes just a little, and without thinking Scourge takes her hand. It's stupid (sentimental) but she smiles faintly. "I wasn't healing or in control or anything. I was just hurting myself. And I can't stand watching you do the same."

"Babe," Scourge begins hoarsely.

"Tell me it's not the same," Fiona says flatly. "Or tell me- tell me that if I went back to that prison and crawl through that tunnel I dug with my own hands and relive every moment of the hell I went through, that you wouldn't stop me. That you would watch me do it."

He can't tell her that. He can't tell her that and she knows it.

Scourge looks away.

Fiona sighs and runs her hand along his spines. "He's not your dad, Scourge," she says quietly. "He's an entirely different person. Hurting yourself isn't going to make anything better."

"Okay," Scourge agrees. "Okay." Then, after a moment, "Thanks, babe."

Fiona smiles again, and there's something so sad about it he squeezes her hand again (uncool, but it's not like there's anyone else to see it). "No problem, hun."

He goes back again the next day.

This time, the wife is there too.

Scourge crouches in the massive oak tree beside the window, pretending he doesn't feel like a massive creep. His green fur blends neatly with the leaves, rendering him all but invisible to any casual observers, particularly when it's not-quite-light. With luck, it'll fool robian eyes as well.

Anyway.

Scourge doesn't remember his mother. She was simply never in the picture; whether because of death or divorce he never knew. Generally, he suspects the latter - months upon months of neglect, of being constantly passed over and ignored for the more important burdens of the state and the good of the people - yeah, he can see how a divorce would happen. Not that he'll ever know now.

The hedgehog in the kitchen doesn't look neglected. She throws her arms around the robian, not seeming to mind the cold metal, and dances around him as they prepare breakfast. The robian, in turn, leans into her touches and takes advantage of a moment of distraction to dab pancake batter on her nose. It's disgusting. Scourge gags.

Part of him wonders what he's gaining out of this. Hiding in a tree, spying on some losers and their dumb domestic life - not exactly fitting behavior for the former king of Moebius, after all.

It's not... It's not that Fiona's right. It's not like he's hurting himself - like he told Fiona, he's Scourge the Hedgehog. He doesn't do that emotions garbage. That kind of wimpiness is more Sonic's thing.

(Let alone that Fiona had said it happened to her. Let alone that she's usually right, and that she's one of the strongest people he knows.)

He's just curious. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less.

(The voice in his head sounding suspiciously like Fiona whispers, Yeah, right.)

Inside the kitchen, the robian starts flipping pancakes. For a second, Scourge tries to imagine his own father like that: Jules the Hedgehog, king of Moebius, flipping pancakes in a frilly pink apron and laughing with his wife. Arguing over who gets to wake up their son. Talking and hugging and laughing and living -

- and the illusion dissipates. Jules wouldn't set foot in a kitchen. He had servants to do that kind of thing, just like he had servants to take care of his son.

Scourge drops down from the tree branch and lands lightly on his feet. He's done here. He slinks off into the streets, hiding his face from the strengthening sunlight as synthetic laughter rings out behind him.

"Hey, Simian," Scourge says a few days later.

Simian continues lifting weights without slowing. "Yes?"

Scourge likes Simian, as much as he likes anyone. The ape is steady and has a solid head on his shoulders, and while it's kind of a drag most times, he does occasionally have helpful bits of advice. And when he goes loose on the battlefield, he can be really fun to fight alongside.

So that, plus the fact that Hawk doesn't care and Lightning would probably make fun of him and he'd rather eat his own shoes than talk to Fly, makes him Scourge's best option.

Scourge swings his legs back and forth as they dangle off the chair and tries to think of a way to broach it. He just needs to be subtle, right? "When was the last time you saw your parents?"

And maybe that wasn't super subtle after all, because Simian stops in the middle of his workout session (he never stops in the middle of a workout session) to stare at him. It feels... extremely uncomfortable, actually, wow. Scourge hops up and starts his stretches (anything to avoid looking back).

"When I last left my village, I was eighteen," Simian says at last. He sounds thoughtful, which is never a good sign. "That was several years ago... six years, I believe."

"That long, huh?" Scourge moves to quad stretches. "You're pretty old, man. Slowing down anytime soon?"

He's rewarded with a sharp grin. "I'm not that old. Though I suppose most people look slow next to you."

"Damn straight!"

"Why do you ask?"

And that's the issue - when even Scourge isn't sure why he's asking. He takes his time answering. "Oh, you know... just curious. Ever think about 'em?"

There's another ponderous silence, which mostly just succeeds in making Scourge antsy. Well, antsier.

"Sometimes," Simian says. "But I am a dedicated member of this team. You can rest assured of that."

And that's nice, but it's not what he's asking-

"...but that's not what you're asking, is it?"

Scourge freezes. Is he just that transparent? Why can everyone suddenly read his mind now? "What're you on about, man?" he deflects.

Simian shakes his head. "I do miss them, sometimes. It is natural for children to miss their parents."

"Not me!" Scourge laughs, and if it comes out a little too sharp, well, who's to blame him?

"Of course," Simian says, sounding vaguely indulgent. "Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

"Uh, sure," Scourge lies. "A little heavy on the oversharing, but it's cool." And then he scarpers, because if super speed's good for anything it's for escaping uncomfortable conversations. Simian doesn't say anything about it later, and thank Chaos because he doesn't think he'd be able to face Fiona if she ever got wind of that little talk.

The next time he's in town, Scourge picks up a new set of woodworking knives and leaves it on Simian's equipment. It's not like he's gone soft, buying presents for his friends or whatever, Scourge tells himself. He's just... buying Simian's silence. It's a bribe, is all.

(Simian saves him some extra ice cream the night after and that's that.)

It is natural for children to miss their parents, Simian had said. Ha! As if. Scourge hasn't missed his old man a day of his life and he's not about to start now.

... that'd carry more weight if he wasn't spending two or three mornings a week moping outside their kitchen.

Scourge sips his frappe and pretends he's not sulking. Right now, he's outside some random diner in Knothole in full disguise, complete with a trenchcoat, fedora, and sunglasses. He was honestly expecting someone to stop him before now - this kind of garb is about as suspicious as it gets - but no one seemed to even notice anything out of the ordinary. Idiots.

Fiona would kill him if she knew the kind of risks he's taking - which, of course, is why she doesn't need to know.

Scourge checks the time. Seven o'clock, meaning the wife is just getting up and they're having breakfast right now - Chaos, he has their entire morning schedule memorized, doesn't he? Fiona was right, he is obsessed. Scourge slumps over the table and buries his head in his arms.

He can still turn this around. Knowing their schedule is useful, from a strategic standpoint; he could threaten them, take them hostage... even kill them. Sonic would be taken completely offguard. It would be simple. Easy. The smart thing to do.

Scourge's groan is only partially muffled by the table.

"...you alright, son?"

What-

Something electric shoots up his spine. Scourge's claws dig into the edges of the table with a crunch as he bolts upright. And there, before him, with a look so familiar but so foreign in his eyes is-

He's not the same.

His skin is metallic where it should be flesh, plated where it should be furred. His eyes burn a bright pixelated red when they should be brown. That stupid tuft of fur on his head is shining chrome that glints under the bright sun.

But the way he stands - colored though it is with a hint of a soldier's posture - that proud tilt of his chin, the gentleness in his hands as they reach out to him -

It's Jules.

It's different from seeing him in that dim, lamp-lit room. In the daylight, the differences are exaggerated - and so are the similarities.

For a second, Scourge can only see his dad standing there.

He reacts on instinct. Scourge rears back and smacks Jules' outstretched hand away. "Don't touch me!"

Jules straightens up, virtual eyes widening with shock. "I'm- I'm sorry, it looked like you were unhappy. I only meant to-"

"Well, don't," Scourge spits. "Get lost."

Jules looks at him longer and then, for some Chaos-forsaken reason, doesn't leave. Why isn't he leaving, Scourge thinks furiously, and only realizes he's breathing heavy when his breaths start coming too fast and harsh in his ears. Jules says something, but the words don't make sense and he can't tear his gaze away from the polished metal. Beneath his fingertips, the table starts to splinter.

And then there's warm hands on his shoulders, and a steady voice in his ears, saying, "Listen to me. Do you want me to leave?"

Nothing comes out of his throat. Scourge shakes helplessly. He wants him to leave, he wants him stay, he wants to never see him again. He wants his dad.

Jules must take it as permission to stay, because he doesn't leave. The grip on his shoulders is a solid, unmoving presence, and Scourge can't help but lean into it. "I'm going to count slowly. Try to match your breathing to my voice - it's alright if you can't. Starting now. One, two..."

For some completely batty reason, he tries, and it helps some. His breathing is a little too fast and a lot shaky, still, but it settles into a more even pace instead of the uncontrollable rush. Sense comes back slowly, and with it, an acute, uncomfortable awareness of what just happened.

Well. At least he's not crying.

Scourge stands abruptly, tearing himself from Jules' arms. The robian raises a brow but doesn't protest. "Are you feeling better?" he asks instead. It's entirely casual, with no hint of pity, and Scourge hates himself a little for being pathetically grateful.

"Peachy," Scourge snaps and whirls around, hiking up his collar. Jules isn't screaming yet, so he clearly hasn't realized who he is, and Scourge is in no hurry to correct him. Honestly, this hedgehog's stupidity knows no bounds.

"Well." The robian stands up, reaches for a grocery bag that Scourge only just realized was there, and adds, "Stay safe, son."

Scourge's vision briefly whites out from fury. "Don't call me that," he snarls and takes off running before Jules can reply.

He finds a secluded place in a lonely corner, throws his warp ring, and promises himself that he'll never go back.

Scourge does some research.

It's called a panic attack, apparently. Common among soldiers, which is probably why Jules knew what to do - he said he'd been on the front lines, hadn't he? Common among victims of PTSD, the website says, and Scourge scoffs and closes the tab. Trauma - ridiculous. Scourge doesn't do trauma. If anything, he gives it to other people.

He's still snickering at his joke when Hawk comes in to tell him that Finitevus called in with another job. Normally, Scourge would tell him to screw off, but he's offering a massive stack of Anarchy beryl in return - something they've been in short supply of since they ditched Moebius.

Scourge's body itches at the thought of going super again. He accepts.

Thirty minutes later, they're waist-deep in smashed Eggman bots and struggling to fend off a fresh wave while Fiona and Hawk bicker over the terminal.

"I'm telling you, if we do that, we'll get locked out of the system entirely!" Fiona snaps.

Hawk throws up his hands. "Fine! Ignore me! It's not like you literally just have to enter the code or anything!"

Scourge spindashes down the line of Eggpawns, smashing through them like paper. He hits the wall at the right angle to bounce right off and uncurls in midair to land on his feet.

"Wrap it up, guys!" he yells and ducks beneath a stray kunai. "Watch it, Lightning!"

"Thought you were supposed to be the fast one," Lightning calls back.

"And I thought you were supposed to be able to aim!"

"I can." Lightning flicks a wrist and Scourge drops backward into a roll to avoid the next kunai that comes his way. When he springs back onto his feet, ready to chew out the idiotic trigger-happy lynx, there's a Badnik pinned to the wall right where he'd been standing. Lightning shoots him a smug grin.

"Right back atcha," Scourge mutters and barrels through the cluster taking potshots at Hawk and Fi.

"Ugh, fine!" Fiona shoves Hawk away and starts typing furiously.

Scourge drops another five Badniks and skids to a stop as an Egg Launcher smashes through the wall directly in front of him. "Fiona!"

"Give us a minute," Hawk snarls back.

The Launcher brings its arms down to eye level and Scourge leaps into the air as its targeting system locks on - and then Fly drops out of nowhere onto on its shoulders. "Need help?" the frog giggles (sweet Chaos Scourge hates him) and rips the thing's head off. Scourge blitzes right through its chest.

As its body slumps bonelessly to the floor, another Launcher steps through the wall behind it... and another one. And another. Chaos.

"If those things unload all those missiles in here, we're going to have a problem," Lightning says, echoing Scourge's own thoughts.

"Out of the way," Simian grunts, swinging the first bot's disembodied missile launcher-slash-arm onto his shoulder and taking aim.

"Are you nuts, man?" Scourge yells. "Didn't you hear Lightning? You fire that thing and this whole building's going down!"

"Better have the exit ready, then," Simian returns evenly.

"Got it!" Fiona announces, jumping up from the terminal with a chip in hand. Hawk follows, looking severely disgruntled. "Turns out we really did just have to enter the code. Hah."

"I told you," Hawk begins, but Fiona waves him off.

"You were right once, don't go getting a big head. You got the ring ready, sweetie?"

"Everyone over here! You miss the ring, we're leavin' you behind!" Scourge doesn't wait for a response and throws the warp ring. The portal spins into existence, glistening faintly in the electric light, and they all pile in. Simian fires off a final missile salvo before the ring vanishes and they tumble haphazardly into the Doc's lair to the sound of the entire base going up.

For a second, no one moves, too tired and bruised and tangled together to bother getting up. Lightning sighs heavily from the bottom of the heap. Scourge laughs.

"I trust you have what I asked for?" Finitevus asks from literally two feet away, and Scourge isn't even going to question how he knew where they'd end up. After all, they are at his mercy inside his weird evil lair, and Scourge knows how to be tactful.

Scourge props himself up on an elbow. "So do you like, practice being creepy, or is it natural?"

Without looking, Fiona smacks him in the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"We have it," Fiona says, extricating herself from the tangle. Scourge considers tripping her as she walks past, decides against it, and settles for hooking his ankle around Hawk's heel as he stands up. The bird goes down with a satisfying squawk right on top of Lightning and the ensuing chaos lets Scourge hop up onto his own feet.

Fiona ignores it.

"All the files relating to the roboticization process are on this USB," she says, holding it out. Finitevus takes it and, after a moment's inspection, slips it into his robes.

"So why'd you want that, Doc?" Scourge asks, adjusting his sunglasses. "Woulda thought that robot stuff wasn't quite your style."

"It is true that roboticization is a perversion of the natural order and representative of that which I seek to destroy," Finitevus concedes. "But I am not opposed to much that will give me the advantage against my nemeses. And I must admit the idea of enslaving your opponent's will to your own has a certain... charm."

Scourge and Fiona exchange a look - of the literally why is he like this and the why do we talk to him again variety - and Scourge shoves his hands in his pockets and steps up. "Uh... yeah, man. Totally. Anyway, if we're done here, can we have the beryl now?"

"Of course. But first, I have one more task for you."

Scourge scoffs disbelievingly. "Are you kidding? The deal was we break into Eggman's lab, steal your stupid information, and hand it over. We've done that. It took like forever and it was a massive pain in the butt the whole time, we are not adding anything else onto that and that's final."

"...I'll double the amount of beryl."

Scourge hesitates.

... which is how they ended up here. Scourge crouches on the windy rooftop, tugging his dumb fancy suit jacket closer and hoping idly that something happens soon. "Can we go in yet?" he asks.

Hawk, who's busy adjusting his own disguise, shakes his head. "You really have no patience at all, do you?"

"Nope!" Scourge tugs on his overly-tight tie and mostly just makes it worse. "How 'bout now?"

"If you were any good at infiltration, Fiona would've let you go in already," Hawk says. He's typing on his communicator, syncing all their devices into something they can actually use. It's not that Hawk's particularly adept at technology, or anything; it's just that all the rest of them are so abysmal at anything electric that tech duty usually falls to him or Fiona. "Unless Plan C falls through, you're not headed in 'till the last minute."

Scourge sighs loudly, letting his feet dangle off the edge of the building. "I could just walk in and grab him. They wouldn't even see me coming. Then we wouldn't have to spend a million years sitting out in the cold."

Hawk doesn't look up. "And then Sonic would pursue, and then we'd have to fight him off while trying to kidnap a geriatric former soldier without killing him. Which, given our previous track record..."

The bird trails off and Scourge grimaces. Yeah. They'd given up on kidnappings for a reason. They wouldn't have even considered this one if not for the offer of Anarchy beryl - which has been in extremely short supply recently, given they can't hop dimensions without instantly snagging Zonic's individual attention. And it's not like Scourge isn't flattered that the self-important dimensional cop will drop everything for a chance at catching him, but he's not planning on seeing the inside of Zone Jail ever again.

Anyway. It's a small blessing that Zonic hasn't come looking for them personally, or sent Sonic after them, but it's one Scourge isn't willing to throw away just for a power-up. Thus the kidnapping mission.

Scourge swings his legs contemplatively and longs for Fiona to hurry up so he can bash some heads.

Right on cue, their communicators ring. "Alright, boys," Fiona's voice comes through a little tinnily. "You ready?"

"Heck yeah," Scourge says immediately.

"Ready to go whenever," Hawk confirms.

"Roger. Meet me where we agreed." The comms unit crackles and goes silent. Scourge hops up and starts stretching quickly, trying to limber up his half-frozen muscles. Hawk sets his communicator down and picks the lock on the trapdoor they'd been sitting next to. Once it's open, they slip down a small flight of stairs and through an empty hallway. At the end, they take a right through another hall and stop outside a janitor's closet.

Scourge raps on the door. "Knock, knock," he says.

There's a moment of silence. Then Lightning opens the door. "Hurry up," he whispers, peering over their shoulders.

Scourge clicks his tongue in disappointment. "Dude, you're supposed to say 'who's there.'"

"Yeah, Lightning," Fiona says from inside. "You're ruining the script."

"I- what?" Lightning sputters. "You people are so immature. Simian, can you tell them to shut up?"

There's a good fifteen seconds of judgemental silence. "...you should've said 'who's there.'"

Lightning rolls his eyes and Scourge pushes past him into the room. Simian nods as he enters and Fly, who's doing something he can't quite make out, cackles in a corner. Scourge spreads his arms wide. "Alright, I'm here now, the party can start!"

"Good to have you," Fiona says. She's sitting on an overturned bucket, one ankle folded over her knee and eyes glued to her phone. "Alright, so Plan A failed."

"Yes!"  Scourge cheers, pumping a fist in the air.

Fiona shoots him a glare. "We weren't able to get him away from his bodyguards and the speech is about to start soon. I didn't want to do this in front of a crowd, but we may not have a choice. Right now, we only have to deal with the normal security and Sonic. After the ceremony, they're going to meet up with a bunch of Sonic's friends before going back home to Knothole."

"Wouldn't it be better to wait, then?" Simian asks, folding his arms.

Fiona shakes her head. "No for two reasons. We can handle the normal security easily, especially if we use the crowd for meatshields while Scourge is distracting Sonic. Sonic's friends are, frankly, a much greater threat than the security, and they will not be holding back. And if we wait until they go back to Knothole, we have that... woman to deal with."

Everyone shudders at the mention of Nicole. Their last attempt on Knothole is not a memory anyone wants to relive.

"So if we use the crowd for cover and Scourge's able to distract Sonic for long enough, this is doable," Fiona resumes. "We'll just have to time it right. And we can not let Sonic know our target at all costs. If he realizes we're trying to kidnap his uncle, he won't let the old man out of his sight, and our job will get a lot harder. Got that?"

A quick briefing on everyone's roles later and it's time to go. Scourge starts to follow the guys out the door and is caught short by Fiona's hand on his wrist. "Sweetie, can I talk to you for a second?" she asks and drags him back inside before he can answer.

She turns him loose and Scourge spins around, rubbing his wrist. "Alright, if this is about what I think it's about-"

"Don't worry, I'm not yelling at you. Just..." she trails off to stare at him.

Scourge tries not to fidget and goes for a confident smile, propped up against the wall. "Babe, don't worry about me. This'll be a lark."

"It's... you know." Fiona shrugs and apparently decides to just go for it. "You've been having issues about your dad. I need to know if that'll affect your performance here."

"What?" Scourge is almost kind of offended. If it was anyone but Fi asking, he would be offended. "Babe, my uncle was a total nutjob. Like, worse than my old man. No issues here."

Fiona looks at him a second longer. "Alright," she says at last. "If you say so. I'm counting on you."

She brushes past him on her way out, squeezing his hand on the way, which is nice since she's weird about stuff like that. Scourge follows a minute later.

I require one more thing for my research, Finitevus had said. Charles the Hedgehog. Inventor of the roboticization process. He is receiving an award for his technological advancements in Central City in two days. Bring him to me alive and you will have your full reward.

Scourge scans the crowd for Charles now, leaning on the fancy railing of the fancy indoors balcony overlooking the fancy banquet hall. There's a name for a balcony like this - a mezzasomething - but he can't remember what it is. Maybe Fiona would know.

Scourge tugs at the collar of his unbearably fancy suit jacket and longs for his sunglasses.

He'd told Fiona the truth earlier - his uncle was a wackjob. Paranoid, jittery, simultaneously ravenous for power and terrified of it - no one had liked him, least of all his nephew.

Jules had liked him, probably. Enough to give him a home and a laboratory for his crazy experiments and to turn a blind eye when they started getting darker and more deadly. That had gone on up until Charles had invented a machine that turned moebians to robots, and its first (unwilling) test subject had been Jules.

Yeah. After Ivo managed to save Jules' life, they'd put a stop to that real quick.

They'd told Scourge that Charles had gone far away to someplace he could be happy. He still remembers that scene - Jules crouching down before him with mournful eyes, one arm cold and stiff where the roboticization process had gotten it before Ivo had pulled him out. His flesh hand had been warm and comforting on his shoulder, and Scourge had been so distracted by the touch that he hadn't even cared that his uncle was gone. He'd faked tears just to get Jules to stay with him a little longer.

Scourge shakes his head wildly, dissipating the memories. Anyway, it was painfully obvious in hindsight that Charles had either been jailed or executed for treason. Not that Scourge would have cared either way. Mostly, he's just vaguely curious to see what Charles is like in this world. Still a mad scientist, or something more benevolent?

A mass of whispering erupts at the main entryway of the hall. Scourge straightens up.

A bunch of bodyguards in black enter, followed by a few people who could be family or friends. Sonic's there, obviously, and next to him can only be Uncle Charles.

Scourge doesn't really remember his uncle; he was, after all, a kid when the guy vanished, and he avoided him whenever possible. But the face before him is undeniably like his own. He has the same sloping forehead, the same pointed muzzle. Honestly, he looks exactly like Sonic with a mustache.

Scourge leans forward, intrigued, as the old guy says something that has Sonic pitching forward in laughter. It's weird, seeing him. Not like seeing Jules, or even like seeing the mom. Just... weird.

Not the kind of weird that Fiona's worried about, thank Chaos. No, he'll have no problems handing this schmuck over to the Doc.

Charles and his little squad sit down in the front row while the bodyguards split up to cover the exits. Scourge tracks their positions automatically, mostly focused on the target. Charles claps his nephew on the back and leans over to whisper something in his ear. Scourge looks away with a sneer.

The ceremony starts. A bunch of people Scourge doesn't know talk about a bunch of things he doesn't understand, blah blah blah. Scourge yawns and taps a tattoo on the railing with his claws. Luckily, all the civilians seem to have gone down to the seating area, so he's alone on the balcony. As long as the security doesn't notice him, he should have no problem staying under the radar until it's time to make his move. Until then, he amuses himself trying to find the rest of the Destructix hidden in the crowd.

Down below, the speeches start wrapping up. Charles ruffles his nephew's quills one last time and heads up to the stage. Scourge straightens up as he accepts his award and takes the mic.

"First, I'd like to thank you all for being here today," the hedgehog says. Scourge taps his foot impatiently. "I know it's a bit of a long way for a lot of you - we've got some visitors from Holoska, even! - and it means a lot to me that you'd take the time to make it here today. So thank you."

Ugh, so boring. Can't Fiona hurry up? At this rate, they'll be doing the audience a favor by sparing them all this drivel.

"- of the University of Spagonia for funding my research and going out of his way to help me whenever I needed it. Thank you, old friend."

Scourge taps his communicator and almost jumps when it crackles to life.

"Alright, everyone's in position," Fiona says. "On my mark, Scourge, you're going to distract Sonic. Jump down there, challenge him to a fight, anything. His sole concern needs to be beating you up."

"All he has to do is be himself and Sonic'll be jumping at the chance to tear him a new one," Lightning interjects. "Works on me."

"Oh, shut up," Scourge says. "Fiona, tell him to shut up."

"...well, he has a point."

Lightning's amused huff is audible over the comm. Scourge rolls his eyes. Traitors, all of them.

Fiona's voice goes serious. "But for real. Get him mad and get him out of here. Make him chase you 'till I call you back, and don't give him a second to realize there's more going on. If he comes back here before we're done, it's over. Okay?"

"I got it handled, babe," Scourge says. "Worry about yourself."

"Believe me, I am." The comms go silent a second later. Scourge stands up, shakes the stiffness from his limbs, and hops up to crouch on the railing. It's showtime.

On stage, Charles is still talking. Does the hedgehog not know how to shut up? "And finally, I'd like to thank my family, who loved and supported me every step of the way, up to and including being here with me today as I accept this award. Sonic, my amazing nephew - you've grown so much and, while I wasn't there for all of it-"

Well, that's enough of that. Scourge leaps into the air, curls up, and lands a perfectly executed homing attack on the podium. Splinters, chunks of wood, and a massive dust cloud fly everywhere. Someone in the audience screams, and behind him he can hear Charles stumbling back and coughing furiously.

"Uncle Chuck!" In the front row, Sonic rockets to his feet and dashes forward, only to come skidding to a stop. As the dust dissipates, Scourge grins. He can feel the light glinting off his fangs.

"Long time no see, faker," Scourge spits. He pulls his sunglasses out of the stupid suit jacket's pocket and slides them on with a flourish. "Can't exactly say it's a pleasure seeing you... then again, I always look forward to a chance to kick your butt."

"Wh- Scourge?" the blue idiot sputters. The shock only lasts a matter of seconds before fading, as the flabbergasted expression turns into something more like a smirk. "Well, well. I haven't heard from you since I demolished you and left Zonic to drag your sorry carcass away. Did they let you out on good behavior?"

Good behavior. Hah. As if Sonic knows anything about what goes on in Zone Jail. "Please. I smashed my way out of there the first week. The Zone Jail's in shambles; just ask Zonic! Oh wait - you can't." He laughs.

Sonic's smile slips a notch and the quills on his back bristle. "What happened to Zonic?"

Scourge keeps laughing.

"Alright, pincushion. Maybe you'll tell me when I beat it out of you!" Apparently done talking, Sonic curls up into a spindash. Scourge, still laughing, topples off the wrecked podium and leaves Sonic to smash into the stage where he'd been standing. People are screaming, someone's escorting Charles off the stage, and Scourge is reveling in the chaos.

"Slowing down, blue boy?" he mocks him. "You'll never find out about your stupid friend if you can't even touch me." Zonic's perfectly fine, actually, unless you count the truckload of paperwork Scourge saddled him with after his escape from Zone Jail. Not that Sonic needs to know that, 'cause if anything ticks him off, it's a threat to one of his friends.

And, true to form, Sonic snarls wordlessly and Scourge knows he's got him.

"You're looking kind of slow today - let's see if those legs of yours still work," Scourge calls over his shoulder and takes off. The world blurs around him as he taps into his speed, rockets between panicked partygoers and confused waiters and angry bodyguards. Out of the corner of his eye, he briefly spots Fiona crouching behind a pillar before she's blown away in his wake. Like this, outside sounds, sights, everything drops away, leaving him alone with himself and the wind.

It's nice. Peaceful, even.

And then the only other being who can keep up with him barrels into his side, sending them tumbling over each other right through the big open doors outside. Scourge lands a kick to Sonic's chest, sending him spinning away, and sprints down a sidestreet towards the marketplace. A moment later, the sound of footsteps running at 300 mph picks up behind him.

Scourge grins. The plan's working, then - Sonic's so ticked that he hasn't even stopped to wonder why Scourge isn't stopping to fight, or why he crashed the party in the first place. Now he just has to play this out 'till Fiona's done.

"Been slacking your exercise regimen lately? 'Cause I thought you were faster than this!" Scourge calls out.

"That so?" Sonic returns. The sound is unexpectedly close and Scourge looks back to see Sonic running only a few paces behind him. "I could say the same for you."

Scourge growls and vaults a fruit cart, sending it flying with a back kick. Sonic dodges the cart and dives through the onslaught of flying fruit, coming up without a scratch. Scourge's gained a precious few seconds, but in a contest of speed, those seconds mean everything. He blocks Sonic's path - kicking over trash cans, dodging in front of moving cars, knocking a baby out of its mother's arms with a well placed swipe. Sonic dodges the trash cans, goes over or around the vehicles, and loses a good fifteen seconds saving the baby. By the time they've cleared the marketplace, Scourge is about thirty feet ahead and gaining.

"What's wrong?" Sonic yells. "Scared of a little fight?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Scourge yells back. "Dunno 'bout you, but I'm not wasting my time fighting someone too slow to keep up!" Up ahead, a pile of trash bags is stacked against a sloping wall, reaching up to the edge of the roof. Scourge leaps up in a single bound and sprints along the rooftop. Behind, the trash bags crinkle as Sonic races up, and tiles creak as the hedgehog fights for balance. Scourge snorts and picks up speed.

The rooftop run is fraught with near-misses and almost-falls. This area of town has a mixture of buildings; some are modern and boxy, with flat tops, but there's a number of older structures with pointed tile roofs. Scourge skids down the sloping ridge of one of these, slips off the building, snags a flagpole on the way down and turns his fall into a launch point. He lands upright on the narrow ledge of a skyscraper and darts along the line of windows, flashing a mock salute at some goggle-eyed kid in its bedroom.

Sneakered feet hit the concrete behind him as Sonic pursues, grinning despite his ferocious eyes.

Scourge hooks a fast right as the ledge ends and drops down to the top level of the parking garage nestled against the 'scraper. Mostly he's planning on going back down to street level, but Sonic puts on a burst of speed and tackles him right there.

They roll head over heels across the concrete, colliding with a dusty pickup truck hard enough to dent in the side. Scourge throws himself out of the way and rolls onto his feet just as Sonic picks himself up. The blaring car alarm is the only sound as they stare each other down.

Sonic moves first. He doesn't bother curling up, just lunges fist first at Scourge's face. Scourge ducks the punch and goes in low for Sonic's solar plexus, narrowly dodging a knee to his face. Sonic slams his heel down on Scourge's foot and drives an elbow into his neck. Scourge stumbles back, falling into a roll to avoid Sonic's left hook, and comes up on his feet with room to spare.

There's another moment of staring and circling as they pant heavily and pretend they're not.

And then Sonic steps something that crunches and looks down.

Scourge lunges. Sonic sidesteps him easily and snatches it up - and wait, Chaosdammit that's his communicator-

"Is this a mic?" Sonic asks disbelievingly and then the pieces click.

He stares at Scourge blankly, and Scourge can practically see his train of thought - comms means accomplices, accomplices means there's a plan, a plan means Sonic was intentionally drawn out here away from the ceremony, and if Sonic's out here then -

Then -

Scourge swears and moves to tackle Sonic but the idiot's already gone. Instinctively, his hand goes to his ear - "Fiona, he's coming your way, I-" No, wait, Sonic's got the communicator and it's broken anyway, dammit. The plan's falling apart and it's entirely his fault.

Well. It hasn't fallen apart yet.

Scourge takes off, running full-tilt after Sonic. The irony of the situation isn't lost on him, not that he appreciates it. Sonic's trail is a direct beeline back to the hall. It should be easy to follow, but for some reason Scourge can't catch up those last few feet.

"I thought you wanted to fight, you dingus!" Scourge snaps. "Make up your mind already, sheesh!"

"You tricked me," Sonic growls.

"Uh, yeah? I'm the bad guy. It's kinda what I do."

"What's your actual plan?"

"Thought you were gonna beat me up and find out?"

Sonic snarls and, impossibly, picks up speed. Scourge has to drop the conversation entirely to focus on just keeping up.

They hit the convention hall scarce minutes later. There's clearly a fight going on inside; explosions and the faint sound of screaming accompany the flood of people battering down the doors in their desperation to escape. The Destructix are clearly having fun... and more importantly, haven't escaped yet. What on Moebius are they doing?!

Sonic zips through the crowd, dodging panicking mobians with practiced ease. Scourge doesn't bother; he kicks one middle-aged cat into the heart of the rush and vaults over the resulting pileup without missing a step. "Babe! Hope you're wrapping it up in there!" he yells as they burst into the ceremony hall.

The Destructix are more than holding their own. The security has been almost entirely cleared out; fallen guards litter the area while none of their own are even scratched. Fiona, wielding a G.U.N. issue stun pistol, jerks up in surprise as Sonic skids into the room. "Scourge, you had one job!" she screeches.

"So did you!" Scourge rams into Sonic from behind, sending them both flying into a row of seating. Scourge comes out on top. "What happened to Ch- the target?" he asks, pinning Sonic down with an elbow to his throat.

"Escaped," Fiona says grimly. "We've already informed the Doc... and, uh, we have a new objective now."

Sonic makes a choked-off sound and Scourge leans down harder. Something shifts behind him but he ignores it. "Alright, what is it?"

Fiona hesitates.

And then cold metal claws clamp down around his shoulder and tear him off Sonic, lifting him bodily into the air. The hedgehog wheezes for breath on the ground, but Scourge isn't paying attention. He's not paying attention to anything anymore, because in front of him-

"What the hell are you doing here," Scourge breathes.

Artificial red eyes burn into his own. "Don't touch my son," says Jules, and the anger in his voice causes every limb in Scourge's body to lock up with instinctive fear.

Of course Jules is here, Charles is his brother, why wouldn't he attend the ceremony - hadn't the blasted hedgehog said as much during his speech? Scourge should've realized it then. This was a bad idea, they need to get out of here, why did Scourge even come here in the first place-

Something in Jules' mechanical expression thaws.

The clawhold on his shoulder eases as he's lowered to his feet, but Scourge's brain is still spinning in circles. He's gone completely unresponsive, some part of him knows, but he can't think.

"Get away from him!" Fiona yells and plants a high kick right in the center of Jules' chest. The robian goes flying, pursued by Simian, and Hawk swoops down behind them to tackle Sonic away. "Babe," Fiona says, kneeling down beside Scourge, feeling frantically at his shoulder. "Did he get you?"

The world shifts a little bit back into place. "No," Scourge mutters. "Fiona, I don't-"

"Save it." Fiona's eyes are full of worry as she grabs his wrist and hauls him to his feet. "I think you need to sit this one out, sweetie."

"What? No." Scourge grips her hand like a lifeline. "I can fight. I can still fight."

"Scourge... the new target is Jules."

Something in his chest catches. Scourge stares at her, and around them, the noise of the battle seems to fade. "...what? Why?"

Fiona grimaces. "We lost the inventor of roboticization. Next best thing is its last survivor."

"No. We're not doing that." Scourge has no idea what he's doing, only that they cannot hand his- hand Jules over to Finitevus. He catches both her hands in his own and squeezes them tight. "Call off the mission, we're going home."

Fiona stares at him. "What? Scourge, you can't be serious! After all the work we've put into this? And what about the beryl?"

"We already got the beryl from the first mission. We'll be careful and save it until we can restock. We've gotten this far without any beryl at all, we don't need it that badly!" Scourge hesitates. "...Fiona, please."

It's the last word that breaks her. She knows how bad he hates saying it, knows how much this means to him that he's saying it now. Her shoulders slump in defeat. "...fine. But you get to explain this to the Doc - and please, let's try to avoid burning that bridge again."

Scourge squeezes her hand one last time before letting go. "Thanks, Fi. And don't worry about the Doc; I'll take care of him."

"That's what I'm worried about," Fiona grumbles, but she's smiling. "Alright, team," she calls out, pulling out her warp ring. "Mission's off. We're going home."

"Wait, what?" Hawk asks and nearly gets clobbered by Sonic for his trouble. "Why?"

"Ask questions when we get home," Fiona says and throws the ring. As the portal whooshes open, Scourge turns to survey the troops. Lightning and Simian are slowly retreating back to the portal, fighting Jules every step of the way, while Hawk and Fly are trying without much success to fend off Sonic long enough to run.

Scourge spindashes into Sonic, knocking him off-balance. "Get to the portal, idiots!" To Sonic, he adds, "Sorry, but it looks like we're cutting this date short." If Chaos has even a drop of mercy in its unforgiving soul, Sonic will have been too thoroughly distracted by the fight to have overheard his exchange with Fiona.

And it looks like for once, his prayers are answered, because Sonic's grin, strained with exhaustion though it is, hints at nothing off. "I'm not letting you get away this time," he says and launches into another spindash. "I still have some questions for you to answer!"

"Then they'll have to wait for next time." Scourge ducks the attack and slams his heel into Sonic as he passes, boosting his momentum to slam into the opposite wall. "Alright, time to go!" he yells, scrambling for the portal. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the rest of the Destructix doing the same.

Fiona's already waiting at the portal, with one leg halfway through, and-

"-aaaaaAAAUGH, WHAT THE HELL," she screams and falls back, pinwheeling wildly.

"Fiona!" Scourge yells and then the world blurs briefly and he's at her side, hauling her to her feet. "Fi, what's-" and then he screams too, because Finitevus is literally right there, climbing through the ring like a monster in a horror movie.

The battle cuts off. A few feet away, a newly recovered Sonic skids to a stop, staring incredulously. The Destructix are sort of ranged out behind him, looking to Scourge and Fiona for the next move. And who knows where Jules is.

"Dude," Scourge says emphatically, putting a hand to his chest. "Don't do that."

"What are you doing," Finitevus hisses.

Scourge makes a show of looking around. "Uh, escaping? I mean, what does it look like?"

"I should have known better than expect you lot to pull through," Finitevus mutters, and hey, that's actually kind of offensive.

"Hey! Screw you, man!" Scourge yells, shaking his fist. "We're leaving 'cause we want to, not 'cause we're losing!" Fiona slaps a palm to her face.

"Oh? And what possible reason could you have to do that?" Finitevus asks, but he doesn't seem very interested in an answer, because his hands flare with dark energy a second later, and Scourge knows what that means.

"Scatter!" he yells and hits the ground with Fiona as a bolt of Chaos energy goes right over their heads. Fiona rolls out from under him as he leaps to his feet.

Sonic seems to have switched targets. Currently, he's hammering away at Finitevus' defenses, running his mouth the whole time. The ring portal is still open behind Finitevus, but they need to get the crazy echidna out of the way first.

Fiona, as usual, is two steps ahead. "You're going to need to team up with Sonic."

"What, seriously? Can't we just let Sonic take care of the Doc and ditch?"

She gives him a flat look. "I don't know how he did it, but Finitevus must have hijacked the ring's signal and keyed it to his lair. I need time to reset it before we can leave. Just, you know-" she waves a hand vaguely. "Move the fight away. Whale on Finitevus. Keep them both off my back long enough for me to work."

"Ugh. Fine." Scourge turns around on his heel. "Hey, loser!" he calls out, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Five minute truce?"

Sonic uncurls in midair long enough to yell, "Make it two!"

Fiona had better work fast, because this isn't going to take long. "Destructix, watch Fiona's back," he orders and throws himself into the fight.

Finitevus was clearly anticipating something like this, because he moves smoothly into defending against the both of them without hesitation. And it's - frustrating. Whenever Scourge throws a punch, a ring portal swirls into being in just the right place to take his hit. If he tries a kick, the same thing. And Chaos forbid he spindashes, or he'll wind up on the opposite side of the room (or, more accurately, slamming into Sonic).

Between the ring portals and the constant misdirection, the two minute mark passes and they haven't landed a single hit. The guy isn't on their level, exactly, but he's unpredictable with enough tricks that he could probably take either of them on their own. Against both of them, he doesn't stand a chance - or he wouldn't if Sonic would get out of his way.

"Dude, we're supposed to be working together!" Sonic snaps.

Scourge flicks his ear (it's been ringing since Finitevus dropped a portal that sent a spindashing Sonic on a collision course with Scourge's face) and ducks beneath a Chaos-infused punch. "Not my fault you can't keep up."

He sidesteps a second punch and follows up with a roundhouse kick that comes inches from the Doc's face before another ring portal intercepts. Dammit.

Sonic, of course, chooses that moment to go for a homing attack, which takes him right into the portal as Finitevus dodges. From somewhere on the other side of the room, the moron makes a faint oomph sound as the portal spits him out.

Scourge rolls his eyes and sweeps his legs under Finitevus' ankles, forcing the echidna to stumble back. "You make a remarkably disloyal minion," Finitevus says and drops into a portal.

On a hunch, Scourge spins around and slams a haymaker into Finitevus' face when the echidna reappears behind him. "Calling me a minion was your first mistake, Doc," Scourge says. "I'm the king, baby."

Finitevus snarls and vanishes again. "I must wonder at the cause of this particular instance," his voice says. Scourge whirls around, fists up before him, but the scientist is nowhere to be seen. "You were, after all, so eager to serve at first. What changed your mind?"

"You really gotta learn the difference between serving and making a deal, bud," Scourge says. "This why your friends always leave you?"

Finitevus ignores him. "Nothing changed between then and now. Nothing... except the target." Something flickers in the corner of Scourge's eye and he starts to turn, but he's met with a blow to the jaw followed by one to the shin. Scourge crumples to his knee with a cry of pain and looks up to see Finitevus' Chaos-powered boot swing for his face-

And then someone's hand snags his wrist and they're moving.

The world blurs just a little as Sonic hauls him across the room at lightning speed to drag him behind an overturned table. Scourge clutches the lapels of his jacket and tries to force his racing heartbeat to settle. For a second, they just breathe.

"Okay, we need to coordinate," Sonic says belatedly.

"Don't tell me what to do," Scourge says, mostly on reflex.

Sonic rolls his eyes. "If you draw his fire, I'll go behind to take him offguard. Think you can do that?"

"What? No. You draw his fire and I'll sneak up behind him."

"Yeah, maybe I'd do that if I had any faith at all in your stealth. You aren't exactly subtle, bud."

Scourge thinks back to every mission that involved some level of sabotage/stealth/general sneakery and their inevitably disastrous ends and winces. Unfortunately, he has a point. "Fine, whatever. Don't mess this up, dweeb." A blast of chaos energy rocks the floor beneath their feet - time's up. Finitevus is here.

Scourge breaks for the left.

"Hey old man, having trouble keeping up?" He leaps into the air as Finitevus goes for a sweeping kick and curls into a spindash, aimed at the scientist's head. Predictably, he sails right into a ring portal and falls out several feet away. In midair, he uncurls and kicks off the ground to rebound towards Finietvus.

The Doc raises his hands coated in Chaos energy and actually catches the spindash. For a moment, they war against each other - dark energy to living buzzsaw - before Finitevus shoves back and they break apart.

Scourge hits the ground in a crouch and lunges again. This time, he feints an uppercut followed up with a knee strike to the gut. The echidna stumbles back, but recovers almost instantly. As Scourge goes in for another strike, Finitevus snags his collar and yanks him off-balance, slamming him into the dirt. Scourge tries to wriggle out of his grip, but the Doc pins him to the ground with a hand on his throat and a knee on his chest.

"I can't say I haven't been waiting for this," the mad scientist breathes, and raises a handful of swirling black energy.

Scourge scrabbles helplessly at his wrist and wonders, briefly, if this is it.

And then a blue ball of spikes rockets out of nowhere, smacking into the back of Finitevus' head so hard the floor creaks when he faceplants. Scourge kicks him off and rolls back onto his feet, smacking away Sonic's outstretched hand. The echidna staggers upright, but his shield is broken and Sonic and Scourge poised on either side of him. The echidna eyes them warily, rings at the ready, and for a second no one moves.

"Got it!" Fiona's voice breaks the spell.

Sonic's concentration slips. Scourge can see it; the way his posture straightens slightly, the way he half-turns to face her. Finitevus sees it too.

And then Finitevus' hands are up, radiating dark energy, and Scourge drops into a defensive stance 'cause the blue buffoon can get himself killed if he wants but Scourge is going down fighting- but Finitevus isn't looking at either of them.

He's looking behind them.

At Jules.

Jules, who has no Chaos abilities, can't break the sound barrier on a whim, can't dodge bullets point-blank.

Jules, who both is his father and isn't, who's a machine but still alive, who stood across from Scourge in a dark room and didn't flinch though Scourge held his life in his hands, who loves his wife and child and wouldn't hesitate to die for either of them.

Jules, who would walk a random stranger through a panic attack on the street but can't dodge a Chaos spear if it's pointed at his chest.

Time slows down to a crawl. Scourge doesn't think.

He just moves.

The last thing he sees, as pain erupts from his chest like lightning and the world is drowned out by the black of corrupted Chaos energy, is the bright red of Jules' horrified eyes.

There's a beeping noise somewhere near his ear. Fiona's phone, probably (even though it sounds nothing like her alarm). Scourge reaches up to shut it off and is stopped halfway by the clink of cold metal.

...huh?

He opens his eyes to dim electric light and a pounding headache. There's a hard surface beneath his back, thin sheets around him, and a metallic chill around his wrists, ankles, and throat.

Through the haze, something about the last one feels familiar.

Beside him, something rustles, and a soft voice says, "Awake, then?"

"Dad?" Scourge mumbles foggily. For a moment he's eight again, in the hospital after a near-drowning, and his dad took a whole day off from work to rush to his bedside and hold his hand. It was the first time he'd seen him in a week.

Then reality catches up and reminds him that no, his dad is dead and whatever's going on here is something to worry about. The fog is gone in an instant.

Scourge's eyes snap open and he throws himself as much he can to the far side of the bed from the figure standing there now. Jules is there - a little scratched and dinged up but very much alive.

There's a flicker of something like relief inside him before Scourge stuffs it down and crushes it very firmly. Chaos, Fiona was right. He let his stupid hangups about this robian get out of hand, and now look what's happened - the mission went south, Scourge is chained to a hospital bed, the rest of the Destructix are nowhere to be seen, and worst of all, he made a heroic sacrifice like he's Sonic or something.

Chaos, Scourge is never living this one down.

"It's good to see you're moving around already," Da- Jules says in that same too-soft tone. "Some of the doctors were convinced you wouldn't live another day. I suppose any son of mine, even from another dimension, is just too durned stubborn to go out like that..."

"Don't," Scourge rasps.

Jules blinks at him. "Pardon?"

"That." Scourge lets go of the bed's railing just long enough to gesture irritably. "I'm not your son. Don't call me that."

Instead of rearing back in offense or dropping the nice act altogether, Jules tilts his head slightly, as though in recognition. "Ah," he says after a moment. "So that was you."

Scourge freezes and tries to play it off. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"That day in front of Chuck's diner," Jules says. "That was you. I wasn't sure, since you were still supposed to be in Zone Jail then."

"Chuck's diner? What?" Scourge forces a laugh. It comes out entirely fake and just a little unhinged.

"You had a panic attack," Jules continues, unperturbed. "I walked you through it. Honestly, at the time, I thought it was because of me."

It was because of you, Scourge wants to say. Instead, he asks, "Whaddya mean?"

Jules gestures vaguely to himself. "I'm a robian," he says. "Robotnik put Knothole through a lot when the roboticizor was still functioning. Plenty of people have had... adverse reactions to my body in the past. It's unfortunate but can't really be helped, except through time and patience."

...for some reason, that stings. Scourge pushes the thought away and snorts. "Sucks to be you. Don't see what that has to do with me."

"You did ask," Jules reminds him, which is fair. He supposes. They lapse into silence.

Scourge slumps against the bed, a little more relaxed with no attack evidently imminent, and holds up a hand to the light. The dangling cuff glints coldly. He can't reach the collar on his neck, but he suspects it shines the same way - like the inhibitors back at Zone Jail. "You guys already talked to Zonic, then?" he guesses.

He's not really expecting an answer, but Jules gives one anyway. "We did. He gave us that inhibitor collar you're wearing right now." Nailed it. "He wanted to take you back with him to Zone Jail right away, but with the condition you were in, we didn't want to risk moving you until you were stable."

Scourge flexes his fingers, watching the muscles move. He'd suspected already, given how drained he feels right now, but knowing that he's wearing the collar is... disheartening. That level of powerlessness is something he'd never wanted to feel again. "I'm stable now. So when will you be moving me?"

Jules hesitates. "Now that you're awake, we'll probably call Zonic to pick you up sometime tomorrow. It's nighttime right now."

"What? How long was I out?"

"Two days."

Two days, and he's still here? Either the Destructix got nabbed too (possible), are planning a rescue mission (unlikely), or ditched (most likely). That... also stings. A lot. He'd liked Fiona, and he was getting used to the rest of the idiots, too.

"What about my team?" he asks.

"Vanished. They tried to retrieve you but retreated when reinforcements arrived."

It doesn't mean much - he is, after all, their strongest fighter and tactically it makes sense to avoid losing him if possible - but it makes Scourge feel better to know they'd at least tried. He lets his hand fall back to the bed with a metallic jingle.

"I still don't understand," Jules says, and Chaos, why won't he shut up? Is this something inherent to Sonic's family? "Why did you save me?"

Scourge inspects the patterns of cracks on the ceiling. That one looks like Sleuth Dog's face. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he mumbles.

"You took an attack meant for me. That much concentrated Chaos energy would've killed me - it's likely the only reason you survived is because you're a very adept controller."

"Sounds like you already have an answer to me."

There's a brief pause. Scourge continues avoiding eye contact. "I do have an idea," Jules says softly. "But I'd like to hear a confirmation from your own mouth."

Scourge doesn't say anything.

What's he supposed to say - that every time he sees Jules some stupid, long-dead part of him longs for his approval? That Jules is dredging up memories better left buried? That when he saw his dad - any version of him - in danger, that his first instinct was to protect him, despite everything he'd done?

Ha. Yeah, right.

"Think what you want, old man." Scourge bares his teeth. "It doesn't mean anything. It was an accident."

Jules doesn't waver. "I think we both know that's not true."

Can't this guy take no for an answer? Scourge huffs and rolls over as much as he can so his back is toward Jules. "Leave," he says. It's what you're best at, after all.

"Sonic heard that you attacked the ceremony to kidnap Chuck."

Scourge has a sudden, sinking feeling he knows where this is going. "I don't care. Go away."

Jules marches on, implacable. "He said that halfway through, after Chuck escaped, Finitevus told you to switch targets. That the new target was me."

"Shut up!"

"And that when you heard I was in danger, you-"

"So I called it off, alright?" Scourge bolts upright. The handcuffs snap back against his wrists painfully and his ankles scream as the cuffs cut into his skin, but he's too furious and aching and raw to care. "Yeah, I called off the mission. Yeah, I took that stupid attack. It doesn't change anything! I'm still your enemy, I'm still going to kill Sonic, I'm still going to tear apart your world and everything you love! So what if I- if I..."

"Risked all that to save one broken-down, tactically unimportant robian?" Jules finishes quietly.

"Yes! No!" Scourge tries to bury his face in his hands and can't even do that, damn this tiny range of motion. "Will you leave me alone?" Metal glints in the corner of his eye as Jules reaches out a hand. Scourge growls deep in his throat until the hand is slowly drawn back.

Mercifully, the robian is silent while Scourge desperately tries to keep himself from falling apart. Chaos, what is wrong with him?

"What do you want from me," he mutters.

This time, it's Jules who looks away. "There's not much time before I have to call Zonic in," he says. "Before he left the first time, there was talk of... life in solitary confinement. Or execution."

Breathe. It's fine. Scourge has been in worse scrapes before. "I can see where the similarities between you and my dad come in," he says softly. Venomously. "He never hesitated to lock me away, either." Sure, it hadn't exactly been tossing him in a prison cell and throwing away the key, but the perpetual grounding to an empty mansion, the total abandonment of him to an endless stream of nannies... and then, of course, that fiasco right before he died.

Dads. So eager to foist their screwups on other people, wash their hands and move on.

"Doesn't any of this setup seem odd to you?" Jules asks abruptly.

Scourge blinks, thrown. "What? You hit your head somewhere, old man?"

"Think about it. You're a top-priority prisoner. You've broken out of Zone Jail. And yet your only security here is an inhibitor collar, some handcuffs, and a broken-down old robian."

...there's a trap here somewhere, Scourge knows it. "Yesss?" He eyes Jules warily. Is this some kinda reverse-psychology thing?

Jules laughs wearily. "You're not the only one with emotional ties he can't quite cut, son."

"Don't call me that," Scourge says reflexively before the weight of Jules' words catch up to him. "Wait, what? Are you saying-" and then he cuts off, because that's so ridiculous it shouldn't be said out loud.

"Yes," Jules confirms. "I volunteered for guard duty because I had to ask, first. To make sure for myself that something of my son is in there."

"I am not your son," Scourge snaps. Distantly, some part of him recognizes that he's being actively detrimental - that if he plays his cards right he could actually walk out of this free - but he's past that kind of rational behavior now. "You're chasing ghosts, old man! Stop looking for stuff that isn't gonna happen!"

"You're not my son," Jules agrees. "You're not my Sonic. But you're a Sonic, and somewhere... that potential for great good is inside you."

And isn't that exactly what Sonic had said on their last birthday - the day he'd finally ditched that lame Anti-Sonic moniker, had finally stepped out of Sonic's shadow into his own light - that all it'd take is a bit of decency, and Scourge would be just like him? The echo stills him.

"You're making a mistake," he says hoarsely. He's not going back to Zone Jail, he'll die before he goes back to that hellhole, but he needs Jules to understand this. "I'm not Sonic. I'm no hero. If you let me go, I'm just gonna go right back to doing what I did before. People will die because of you."

"No, they won't," Jules says, half-smiling. "I've done my research. The Destructix don't kill. You wreak havoc and destroy things, but... no bodies. I understand it's to avoid trouble with G.U.N.," he adds, holding up a hand to forestall Scourge's protests, "But you don't have a body count. That's important."

Shows what he knows - but Scourge can't bring himself to point out the obvious. "I still ruin lives," Scourge says instead. "There's other ways to kill people without holding a gun to their heads."

"I know. And that's where I'm being selfish." The half-smile turns into a full smile, but it's so sad and wracked with exhaustion and bitterness that Scourge has to look away. "I... I lost my son once. I can't help it... I can't watch a son of mine - from any universe - be destroyed while I can do anything to stop it. I'm not a good person, Scourge. I've lost too much to try. So I'm going to be selfish, just this once, and hope you don't make me regret it."

Scourge is silent. He's silent when Jules stands up and unlocks the cuffs, one by one. He's silent when Jules reaches up to his throat to unlock the inhibitor, and he's silent when it falls away and power rushes freely beneath his skin once more.

His boots are on the floor, suit jacket draped over a chair. He pulls on the shoes and digs through the pockets until he finds his sunglasses, but leaves the jacket behind.

"Scourge," Jules says quietly, as Scourge pushes the window open. He hesitates over the window sill, half inside and half out.

If Jules asks him to stay, he doesn't know what he'll do.

But he doesn't. In the end, Jules looks down and whispers, "If you ever need somewhere to rest, my home is always open. Till then... be safe, son."

The words catch in Scourge's throat. He nods, wordlessly, and drops out of the window to land lightly on his feet on the ground below. For a moment, he dallies beneath the window, waiting for-

For...

He doesn't know. Scourge shivers in the cool night air and starts running.

...thanks, Dad.

He finds the base a few hours later, jogging to the next town over and hopping a train the rest of the way. When he walks in, the base goes dead silent.

Fiona leaps up from the circle of Destructix - planning a rescue mission, he later finds out - and tackles him, hugging and pounding him in equal measure. She cries a little too, which he only discovers when she points out he's tearing up himself. The Destructix surround them, yelling over each other and clapping him on the back until Simian picks them all up in a group hug. It's at that point that Scourge declares he's done with all this mushy stuff and if they don't knock it off he won't bother coming back next time. Fiona announces that if there is a next time he won't have to worry about coming back because she'll kill him first, and Simian gives them all one last squeeze before turning them loose.

Scourge retrieves his leather jacket with a sense of great relief and they all end up watching another trashy samurai movie, which Lightning ruins again. Fiona holds him tight the whole time and doesn't chew him out like he deserves, for which Scourge is unendingly grateful.

He doesn't go back to the house. He pulls jobs with the Destructix, they beat up on Sonic and his lackeys, they have one run-in which Finitevus that they come off much worse for. And they watch crappy movies, eat ridiculous amounts of junk food, and get personally banned from every arcade and amusement park across the continent. He's... not gonna lie, it's actually pretty fun.

But in the back of his head, the house is always there. The robian bustling around the empty kitchen in a pink apron. The scent of pancakes frying. Till then... be safe, son.

It takes a long time - months of denial, of wondering and longing and furious self-restraint - but he caves eventually.

He shows up on a morning he knows Sonic and his mom won't be there. He doesn't knock on the door, or ring the bell. Mostly, he just hovers outside, unable to work up his nerve to do anything.

He's about to leave when the door swings open. Jules stands there, looking exactly the same as he did that night by the hospital bed, with eyes too soft for his wayward not-son. Scourge, half-frozen on the sidewalk, searches for something to say and comes up empty. They stare at each other silently.

Scourge shoves his hands in his pockets and forces back the lump in his throat. "I was in the area, so I dropped by," he mutters. "Don't think this means anything."

Jules looks at him for a long moment and Scourge forgets to breathe. Slowly, softly, his dad smiles. "Welcome home, son."

[mycelium-bf]

SPOILERS FOR LOKI EPISODE 4

ok I'm having so many thought and I may add to this tomorrow but I just wanna get some things down right away

- ok so kinda weird romance implied to be growing between loki and sylvie that all the characters keep saying is gross and perverted which I can't decide how I feel abt other than it made me incredibly uncomfortable

- BUT they did have a scene right before he got pruned (see further below for THAT) where he was like being weird and nervous and like "I'm kind of new to this" and it was actually very cute I love seeing him flustered

- as u can tell I have mixed feelings

- also the scene where he gets beat up by sif over and over and over again until he's begging on his knees and talking about what a shitty horrible person he is and how he'll be alone forever I cried so much I LOVE HIM SO MUCH IT HURTS 😭😭😭😭 I just want to make him happy that's all I want man

- BEIBG PRUNED DOESNT NECESSARILY KILL YOU HOLY FUCK I sorta figured this out when they pruned mobius bc hes like a main character but idk it may not be the same for everyone and Loki may just be a special case

- SOEAKING OF LOKI BEING PRUNED WHEN I TELL YOU MY LIFE FLASHED BEFORE MY FUCKING EYES I literally felt sick like I knew logically like of course hes not dead hes loki but :'(( IT WAS VERY SUDDEN AND THEN CUT TO CREDITS

- and then the FIRST POST CREDIT SCENE WEVE GOTTEN THANK GOD bc he's alive somewhere and that's all that matters ALSO FUCKING NEW LOKIS JUST DROPPED GUYS

- I'm so fucking excited this is going off the rails in the best possible way BUT IM SO WORRIED ABT NEXT EP PLEASE I JUST WANT HIM HOME SAFE 🥺🥺🥺

okay initial thoughts over it is 4:02 am and I need to sleep but I will be back later with more takes I'm sure

[birds-punch]

The One That Got Away

“Summary: Shadow finds himself comforting his arch-rival after witnessing the messy break-up with the Princess.

(Takes Place after issue 134, aka the Infamous Slap.)

Characters: Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sally Acorn (mentioned).

Pairings: Sonadow (Pre-relationship), Sonally (Past.)

A/N: Here’s the next Archie! Sonadow AU fanfic. Sorry for the terrible wait. Hope u all enjoy reading this! 

Shadow skidded to a stop as he surveyed the green vegetation area of Knothole forest, looking for a certain blue hedgehog who ran off in a fit of distress. He did not understand why he wanted to look for the blue hedgehog who is also his arch-rival, but his instincts were telling him to and being the Ultimate Lifeform, he knew his instincts were never wrong.

When the black hedgehog learnt, that Sonic has somehow came back from the dead; or more accurately…came back to Mobius from being lost in space for a year, Shadow has been feeling a strange emotion just like what he felt during that same year. Ever since the day Sonic “died”, he’s been feeling a very strange emotion in his chest which was vastly different, than the warm magnetic pull he felt when the two of them saw each other face to face. It was cold, empty and painful that constantly gnawed at him, much to his own irritation while he kept continuing his ongoing mission of discovering his true purpose in life.

But now that he learned Sonic is alive, that terrible feeling of pain and emptiness had been replaced with the warm magnetic pull he felt before. Which was why earlier that night, he found himself hiding away from everyone’s view in the trees as he watched what had literally played on stage, like a messed-up tragic soap opera that he used to watch with Maria during his time on the ARK.

After going deeper into the forest, he finally found a familiar shade of azure blue in a small clearing, sitting near the lake in a fetal position, his head resting in his arms.

In any different kind of scenario, the black hedgehog would’ve found this scene of his arch-rival wallowing in sadness, rather pathetic. But because of what happened earlier tonight, this was understandable; since it seemed like both him and the princess loved each other very much. Shadow also didn’t understand why he feels that same empty feeling when he thinks of his rival’s now former relationship with the princess at times.

The black hedgehog begins quietly walking closer before he stopped at the blue hedgehog’s side, who either did not noticed his presence or became too emotionally drained to even respond to any kind of sound or movement.

“Faker?” Shadow spoke, seeing if this might initiate a response in his rival.

Sonic jumped from his spot, being rather startled by the voice. He quickly turned his head around to the side, to see his black and red rival standing over him with an unreadable expression. The blue hedgehog made quick work of wiping any eyes left on his face and eyes before plastering on a small fake smile, “H-Hey Shadow, what’cha doing all the way out here near Knothole?”

Like when he was looking for the blue hedgehog, Shadow allowed himself a moment to observe the blue hedgehog. His green eyes that were once filled with life, were now nearly dead and lifeless with a slight red tint and swollen due to crying. Bags also started forming under his eyes and his quills were slightly drooping, along with his ears.

The black hedgehog took a seat next to his rival, much to the latter’s surprise; as he started trying to think on what he should say to him, without showing that he cares for his rival after witnessing what happened over several minutes ago.

“You should be with your friends, blue hedgehog. Not out here alone.” Shadow said, before mentally kicking himself, what the hell was that?

Hearing what his rival just said, Sonic immediately groans as realisation kicked in, hiding his face again.

‘Can this get any worse for me?’ he thought.

He slightly lifted his head, “Did you see all that, Shadow?”

The said hedgehog looked at the blue blur before letting out a sigh, “Yes, indeed I have Faker. I only came out here because I…because I.” he immediately looked away, knowing his attempt at trying not look like he cares, is starting fail.

Oh, fuck.

Sonic blinked for a few moments looking surprised, before he was able to recover some of that cockiness back to make a remark at his rival, “Aww! I didn’t know you cared about me, Faker. It almost makes me see you in a whole different light.”

Shadow only gave a glare his rival, little annoyed that the blue blur was able to figure out his intentions that easily. This only made Sonic chuckle in return as he begins to feel slightly better from the events, that possibly took place nearly an hour ago. It did not last exceptionally long however, as the thought of it made the hedgehog feel sombre again.

Noticing that his rival had become depressed again, Shadow decided to speak up again, while also deciding to give up trying to hide his care for his rival’s well-being. At least for just one night.

“Everything alright, hedgehog?” he asked, despite already knowing what.

The blue hedgehog looked at his rival for a short moment before answering, “Aw, it nothing Shadow. Just thinking about…Sally and everything.” He then lets out a sigh, perking the black hedgehog’s ears a little.

Shadow found himself falling deep into his thoughts as he began to remember…

Sonic’s face became one of sadness, as he gently brushed the princess’s hand away from his cheek.

“Sorry, Sal. I…can’t.”

A loud slap resounded throughout the area, as everyone watched in shock or even gasped loudly. Shadow who was watching everything from the cover of the tress, even looked slightly shocked as he watched what just happened. He felt an extremely dark feeling form in his chest as he watched the princess slapped the blue hedgehog across his face, hard.                                                                                      

“I SHOULD’VE KNOWN YOU’D BE SELFISH!”

As the blue hedgehog held his throbbing cheek, his expression turned to one of great shock, to seething anger. “Selfish…? Selfish?!?”

He then screamed at the top of his lungs in a tone filled with utter outrage and anger, that the black hedgehog has never heard him use before: “I SACRIFICED MY LIFE TO SAVE THE PLANET, ENDED UP ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE UNIVERSE BECAUSE OF IT, DID EVERYTHING I COULD TO GET BACK ONLY TO FIND OUT I LOST A WHOLE YEAR OF MY LIFE AND NOW I WANNA JUST END THIS STUPID WAR! HOW IS THAT SELFISH?!”

The princess already started having tears coming down here, “Do you know what it was like believing you were dead? It completely broke my heart! Watching Mecha hurt you, brought it all back and I refuse to have my heart broken again, Sonic.”

While the black hedgehog was able to understand her reason for calling Faker selfish, he was also fairly sure that she wasn’t the only selfish person here.

“WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT TO YOU, ANYWAY?! PUNCHING OUT ROBOTNIK’S LIGHTS, OR BEING WITH ME?”

A huge heavy silence fell over everyone as the two started to face off against one another. Like the blue hedgehog’s lover, or ex-lover as it seems right now; Sonic also started to have tears running down his muzzle. Shadow’s expression had changed back to his regular cold expression, but his eyes were slightly wider than normal, as he continued to watch the scene.

Taking her ex-consort’s silence as a no, the princess ran off the stage leaving a devastated Sonic.

“THEN HE CAN HAVE YOU,  ALL TO HIMSELF!”

In a matter of seconds, the two tailed fox and the pink hedgehog came rushing to the edge of the stage, asking their friend if he was alright, snapping him out of the depressed trance. The moment the blue hedgehog had noticed that everyone had all been watching, his eyes widen as he began to hyperventilate and started shaking like he was going into shock, before he dashed off into the forest without a single word, ignoring the cries of his friends to come back.

Straight after the devastated hedgehog fled into the forest, Shadow found himself up on his feet and immediately heading for the distressed hedgehog. He didn’t understand why he wanted to, but his instincts were screaming at him to go after him; as well as that magnetic feeling that seemed to be getting stronger. The only thing he knew, is that he must find his rival…

The black hedgehog fell back to Mobius, his flashback of earlier tonight now fading away. After blinking a few times to help clear his vision, Shadow turned his head back to the blue hedgehog. His expression was still quite depressed from remembering what happened, along with his green eyes that are now slightly flickering with light, but not a lot to look completely alive. And unlike earlier when his rival was speaking to him, he kept his head down at a low angle keeping his stare on the ground with a look of sadness.  

Shadow briefly wondered what he should do. Should he tell his rival what he thinks he should do next now that he and the princess are no longer together? Or should he just leave and ignore the small voice, telling him to do the contrary? After considering his two options; the Ultimate Lifeform took in a deep breath. Well, he got himself into this and he should finish it.

Letting out a huge sigh, Shadow started speaking.

“Listen Hedgehog, I’ve never been in a relationship like your former on with the princess, nor do I know why it feels like to be in one; but…” Well, here goes nothing. “I don’t think that you’re the only one who’s at fault like what she had told you earlier tonight,”

Sonic lifted his head to look at the black and red hedgehog, his expression being that of surprise. Is Shadow trying to talk to him about this or…give him his opinion about it? The blue hedgehog wasn’t sure anymore but allowed himself to listen to what his rival has to say.

“It seems like, the princess doesn't know you or understand you enough to know that you’ll do anything to ensure this world’s protection. Even if you must sacrifice yourself for it. Because you believe that if no one else can stand up for themselves, you wonder who will?” The black hedgehog paused to run his hand through his quills in slight frustration. Why did he decided to do this? He’s never had to deal with anything like this or given this kind of talk to anyone before. “And it may also be a good thing that you broke up with her because; now you could find someone who truly understands you, who can keep up with you, someone who’s willing to give you space and treat you like a person instead of an object and…someone who’s willing to let you fight and be with them at the same time.” Shadow averted his eyes away from the blue hedgehog, not sure what else he could say and feeling a little annoyed, that he had to open up his thoughts like that to his rival.

The blue hedgehog looked at his rival in awe as a strange warm feeling in his chest began to bloom just from hearing Shadow’s words. Despite initially trying to avoid showing how much he cares for him, it was quite obvious that he does, even though it’s actually none of his business and that Shadow had a choice if he wanted to try to comfort him or not.

“You really think it was good that Sally and I broke up, despite the slap?” Sonic could still feel that stinging pain on his cheek from it, along with the broken shards of his heart which seem to dull quite a lot, thanks to his rival and the warm feeling that seem to work as a strong anesthetic.

“What do you think, hedgehog?” Shadow responded, arms folded and giving him a look that accurately says, ‘Come on think, you idiot!’

Seeing the look that he was receiving from his rival, Sonic began thinking on Shadow’s words and the breakup between him and Sally. Despite the fact, he declined when she asked him to give up fighting and stay by her side, he does understand her reason why she asked him however, if he imagined he was in the same position where she sacrificed herself and got lost in space for year instead of him. But he knew that if they or anyone is going have a real future; he needs to help fight this war with everyone else too, otherwise there is a possible chance that they won’t be able to win.

And…if he was also being pretty honest with himself; He hated the idea of someone trying to groom him into someone he’s not; like he’s some-kind of pet or fancy toy for them to play with, instead being treated like an equal. Of course, he knows Sally would never treat him like that, but the thought of it really does scare him. Plus, she should’ve known by now what kind of a person he is by now after all those together, even as kids so; it’s just like what Shadow said. If Sally doesn’t understand his need to risk his life in order to help or save other from Robotnik and to protect Mobius, then maybe she isn’t the one for him.

Sonic couldn’t help himself but let out a breathless laugh, from the irony of the entire situation he got himself into with the black hedgehog.

“I never thought I’ll ever say this but, I think you’re right Shadow.”

The black hedgehog only smirked in response, feeling a little smug. “Hmph! So, you are not as stupid as you look, Faker!”

He then stood up, from where he sat next to his rival. Sonic followed him shortly, standing up from the ground before placing his hand on the Ultimate Lifeform’s arm.

“But really Shadow, thanks for that talk you gave me. I appreciate it.”

Shadow’s eyes widen a little from the touch on his arm, as the warmth in his chest, seemed to grow hotter and started going up to his muzzle. He fought hard to keep the warmth away from reaching his cheeks.

“N-no need to thank me Faker.” He took a small pause to calm himself before continuing, “But know that after this, nothing changes between us. After this night is over, I believe that it is best for the two of us, to forget that this ever happened.”

Sonic only smirked back, “Alright then Faker. After this, we’ll leave this little talk between us forgotten and we’ll go back to kicking each other’s butts, the next time we ran into each other again. Not that you ever managed to kick mine anyway.”

The black hedgehog simply rolled his eyes, “Keep dreaming, Faker.” He said before also adding, “You may also want to go and find your friends as well considering how you just ran away from them earlier tonight.”

This made the blue hero pout after hearing that last sentence, his rival had said to him. But he does have a point though (as much as he hates to admit it.). “And I’ll also forget that you’re also the Ultimate Softie too, Faker!” he yelled out, after waving a goodbye and taking off towards Knothole.

As the blue hedgehog ran off, leaving the black hedgehog standing there by himself in the clearing. Shadow places a hand over his chest where the warmth seems to be, briefly questioning what it is. He then lets out a tiny sigh before skating off into the other direction. Time to get back on his most important mission, now that this one is complete.

(END)

[stellawolfe30]

~Divinities~

 Our story begins in a lonely forest where birds sing happily and plant life thrives. the sun has just set with the moon taking its place covering the earth in its silvery light. The stars covering the sky with their white light. The sky itself shone of dark purples and blues.

It had been the a very beautiful night for mobians across the globe but tonight we focus on the lonely forest.

Where the moon seems to have focused its light in a small opening between the trees. It’s light covered the grass as it began to glow a faint white. the light only grew stronger and speks of white magic began to float from the ground into the sky. From this light a form began to appear. The magic fading from the grass and surrounding this delicate form.

The light slowly vanished revealing a young hedgehog boy. His body wrapped in a teal and white kimono. He had soft ivory fur and quills that laid over his shoulder and on the grass  . He laid on the grass as if he was in a deep sleep. Not a creature or force of nature dared to disturb him.

He was truly a beautiful sight to behold, as if an angel and graced the land with its presence.

The young boy began to stir. Slowly opening his golden colored eyes.

He lazily pushed himself up and looked around. confusion lacing his face.

“Wh-what?” he said in a soft and quiet voice. He held his hand close to his heart, tears threatening to fall from the panic he felt grabbing a hold on his chest making it hard to breathe. Suddenly both hands were around his chest. His knee’s close to his chest.

Little did he know blue magic began to illuminate from the ground, surrounding him

*crack*

The magic disappeared as he whipped his head around. someone had stepped on a branch. Another hedgehog with black fur. The boy could hardly see him hiding in the shadow.

But he was there.

They shared eye contact for a moment until he looked behind the ivory hedgehog and instantly turned to shadow and disappeared.

The young boy confused to no end looked behind him and saw yet again two hedgehogs. a young azure and and older looking black one. The black one had red stripes on certain parts of his body and he wore straps holding a satchel on one side and a gun on the other.

The blue hedgehog wore red sneakers and a light blue and white scarf.

The silver hedgehog cowered beneath them by instinct alone.

Although, truly the white hedgehog felt safe not only because they looked at him with a sense of worry and compassion.

But something deep inside

Something told him

In his very core

that he could trust them

That this was only the beginning

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2 Eh? im not a girl!!

a blue hedgehog wearing red sneakers, white gloves and a blue scarf,

A black hedgehog with red stripes who wore red rocket shoes and a belt holding a satchel on one side and a gun

Walked side by side in a lonely forest. The sun had just set leaving the moons out and a cool nightly breeze blowing through thier quills. I seems as if they were in the middle of a conversation

“So, you felt it to, something or…someone calling to you?” He blue one asked

“Yes” she ebony one replied

“But what could it be? The chaos emeralds maybe?” The blue on said

“No,  the chaos emeralds have never called to any of us before why now? Its just illogical” the black one replied frustrated

“…,maybe somethings up…like something really bad” the blue one answered

“No, and the emeralds are all safe on angel island and we are heading in the opposite direction. if anyone you should know this faker!” the ebony one said

“Eh….yeah ok you got me there shadow , I have no ide-“

the two boys stopped in thier tracks.

Suddenly a bright light illimuminated the sky’s ahead of them but vanished just as quickly as is appeared.

But then

A cold feeling clenched thier hearts,

the blue one fell on his hands and knees clutching his heart.shadow rushed over to him, the cold feeling fading from his own chest.

“Sonic!” He yelled

“I-im fine, it just..,startled me” Sonic said out of breath

“What was that?” Shadow asked helping Sonic up but he noticed something, under Sonics scarf. Shadow only saw a glimpse so he wasn’t sure but he could’ve sworn he saw a scar

“I-i think whatever calling us is in trouble” sonic said

“Then we should hurry” shadow replied

“Race ya!” Sonic said before speedin off. Shadow activated his rockets boots to follow sonic but byethe time he caught up sonic was no longer running. He stopped by a clearing where a white hedgehog wrapped in a silky blue and white kimono lay on the ground. He seemed to be looking behind him at...something…a shadow but It seemed to notice shadow and sonic, then disappeared.

The white hedgehog finnaly noticed sonic and shadow and immediately became frightened.

“H-hey you dont need to be scared of us” sonic comforted

“We’re here to help” he encouraged

The white hedgehog put his hand on the ground and raised it back up as blue energy engulfed it and  parts of the ground began to glow the same color and raised from the ground.

“Heeeeey, buddy I promise w-were not here to hurt you” sonic stated

“H-how do I know that!” The white one stressed

“Uuuhh” sonic scratched his head in thought. Shadow stepped up

“You feel it too dont you? Your the one who called us here!” He said

“Wha-no?!” The white one said “b-but I d-do feel…something…”

“Ok, so we can all agree that something called us together. So can u put the big rocks down now please?” Sonic said

“O-okay” the white one said moving his hand down thus the flaoting rocks were set down on the ground

“Phew, ok so what’s your name miss?” Sonic asked

“Miss?!” The white hedgehog yelled confused

“I-im not a girl!!!” He continued to explain. Shadow hit sonics side with his elbow

“Hey! ok ok, sorry I just saw the kimono and-“

“K-kimono, whats that?” The still unnamed hedgehog asked

“The dress you are wearing” shadow said

“I-im not” the white hedgehog finally took a look at himself and was shocked. He didn’t remember ever putting this on. where would he even have gotten something like this back…back home.

Where even was he?

“Anyways what is your name?” Sonic asked snapping the young white hedgehog out of his thoughts. He hesitated for a moment realizing, even if there was a chance these guys were lying to him telling them his name wouldn’t hurt

At least he hoped so

“S-s-sil…Silver….my-my name is silver” he said

“Cool, my name is sonic and this is shadow. What are you doing out here all alone?” Sonic said squatting down in front of silver with shadow standing behind

“I-i don’t know, I found s-some kind of glowing rock an-and ended up here…wherever here is?” Silver explained

sonic perked up “Oh well your in luck, were close to emerald city you ca-“

“Wait emerald city still standing?!!” Silver asked with desperation

“What do you mean” shadow asked

“Its was just destroyed, i barely escaped!!” Silver stated

“Noooo, its still here” sonic said

“B-but iblis destroyed it. Its gone a-and so I-is everyone e-else” silver said his voice getting quieter by the word. His eyes starting to water from he memory of his home being destroyed

“Who’s iblis?” sonic asked which made silver finally snap

“Who’s iblis?!?!? only the creature that’s been terrorizing all of mobius for over 200 years. Emerald city was the last place anyone had to go and now its gone!!!” Silver stressed, tears now falling down his face. He noticed this and buried his face into his hands.

 Sonic stood and turned to shadow “I think we should take him back to my place. This iblis guy sounds like trouble” 

“For once I agree with you faker, whoever iblis is, we cannot allow him to terrorize anyone else” shadow stated turning to the crying hedgehog. Sonic then crouched down again

“Hey silver you wanna come back to my place, I’ve got a couple of friends who can help us and we can figure out what’s going on” sonic asked

“Silver wiped his eyes and looked up at sonic “o-okay” silver began to stand but faltered when a sharp pain ran through his left leg. Sonic though was able to catch silver before he fell to the ground

“Agh!…I-i forgot, my legs sprained” silver said (ignore the wierd text something wierd happened here idk )

“Oh, well I can carry you no problem” sonic suggested

“N-no I can fly” silver said activating his powers as a light blue glow surrounded him and lifting his body of the ground but the glow quickly faded and sonic had to catch him again. It was as if on cue silvers stomach grumbled stating he was hungry.

“Nope…can’t fly, too weak” silver said leaning on sonic

“Well carrying it is” sonic said adjusting silver on his back. Shadow picked up a straight stick and pulled out a small roll of bandages from his satchel. Shadow then put the stick on silvers leg and wrapped the bandage around.

“That should be good enough until we can get you to a doctor” he said

“Th-thank you…both to you” silver said

“No problem, I’m sonic the hedgehog hero of mobius, I try and do everything I can so help people. Shadow here is my sidekick” sonic said. Shadow merely scoffed at the statement

“I am no ones sidekick faker!” He stated

 Sonic chuckled “Whatever you say emo boy” sonic said running off

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if you like my story and want to read more here are the links. i wont be posting more chapters here on tumblr i just wanted to advertise my fic. it only has six chapters so far but if you like this id love it if you checked them out on archiveofourown or wattpad

ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

WATTPAD

[ftxsilas]

HEY FAM IT’S WILLOW AGAIN !!! i play xiao from neo ( winwin fc ) and now i bring you silas, orion’s lead vocal and dos’ main vocal and center in mobius entertainment ! your local videography, variety, and vocal king ! his stats / points / plots ; you can read more about him under the cut ~

as usual, his full bio is on this page and i’d recommend reading that instead of the summary below, but if you don’t wanna read all that gunk here’s a summary of his background!!

this is just background stuff so if u read the post above u can just skip down to where the personality info is!!!

his parents died when he was five and he had to go to seoul and live with his grandparents who were really strict and kept him on a very short leash which he was not happy about

they gave him a strict schedule and he had to keep at it, but he did his best bc he didnt want to upset them.

he did really well in school, was really popular with his classmates bc he was very fun loving and energetic. he was even a favorite of his teachers bc he was really smart and excelled in every subject! he smort

when he was ten his grandparents hired a piano instructor so he could take piano lessons between the time he’s finished doing his homework and dinner time, bc they didn’t like him having so much free time. he finished his homework quickly so he cOULD have free time, and they just. tore it away from him. smh.

i can’t word it any better than i already did so i’m gonna copy this next part from his bio:

“his instructor is immediately smitten with him despite the fact that he’s a slow learner, but when she has him sound out the notes he’ll play, his voice melts her heart. it’s high, and untrained, but she can see potential in him.“

so she tells his grandparents that he has a real potential for singing and that she loves his voice and could tutor him with that as well, but they tell her to just do the job they’re paying her for and dont worry about stupid stuff like that. they want him to play the piano, not to sing.

she says fuck it and starts giving him free vocal lessons alongside the piano lessons, and his voice flourishes under her teachings and she tells him that he could be a big star one day with a voice like his

when he’s fifteen someone came along to a lesson of theirs one day, and she told him it’s just a friend of hers. he paid no mind to it and they went on as they usually do, practicing the piano for a bit and then he goes on to sing a few songs for them. at the end, he gets a business card for killjoy creative and is told to give them a call when he wants to audition.

he does end up calling, but unfortunately for him it’s after they claimed bankruptcy and can’t afford to take in any new trainees. to a fifteen year old, it sounds like they’re just making excuses and don’t want him anymore.

from then on out, he stopped picking up his instructor’s calls, and his grandparents stop paying her when shihyun wouldn’t even brother to come out of his room when she came over for their next couple of lessons. he blamed her for them turning him down, even though it wasn’t her fault.

he gave up on his dream for a couple of years, even though he continued playing the piano and singing in his free time.

a couple of months before he graduated, he got a call from an unknown number and it turned out to be his instructor. he hadn’t heard from her in about three years, and he almost hung up on her but for some reason, decided to listen. a friend of a friend of hers was starting a company called mobius entertainment, and she thought of him to go audition for it. she gave him the contact info for the company and the location of the auditions, and he went for it.

he got it, of course, but his grandpa was lessss than thrilled. he wasn’t happy at all about him pursuing singing, and would tell shihyun that he was wasting his time and would amount to nothing and that he should go for something like making his own business instead. why would he throw away all of his smarts just to become a puppet on stage??

he was only a trainee for a year before orion debuted, and he was given the stage name ‘silas’. it wasn’t exactly his choice. the company thought up the name, slapped it on his profile, and told him that was going to be the name he had to go by now.

he was easily loved for his fun personality and became popular in variety shows! he also comes to love directing, and over the years gets a lot of tips from directors he works with and looks up to and starts building up his resume for it by offering tips and ideas every now and then.

he did his military service from 2014-2015 and since he’s been back, has been focusing on dos promotions, variety shows, hosting, and videography / directing.

during his military service, his grandpa died ( late 2015, and he was discharged early for it ), and silas really regrets shoving his fame in his face instead of making amends, but silas was too prideful ( n still kind of hurt ) and his grandpa was too stubborn to admit that he was wrong. he’s been taking care of his grandma since then, even though he can’t see her as often as he’d like to.

WHEW. THERE WE GO. NOW ON TO THE PERSONALITY STUFF

silas is really funny and with how smart and talented he is, too, he’s majorly adored by the public and i’m gonna try and get ahold of the nation’s husband title bc. that’s what he is ok. he’s prime hubby material.

he doesn’t get incredibly close to people. ever since losing his parents as a kid, he keeps most people at arm’s length because he doesn’t want to deal with loss again.

you have to be reallllllllyyyyyyyy important for him to want to get close to you. he has to like you a lot to want to get over his fear of abandonment to get to know you deeper than surface level and actually care. that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have friends, of course he has friends. he actually has tons of friends and acquaintances, but. a hundred pennies is nothing like four quarters, yknow?

your muse could consider silas to be a really close friend of theirs, he knows everything about them and more, and yet with him they’ve barely scratched the surface and while he’s really fun and funny with them, he never gets any deeper than that. he’s kind of like a dark tinted window, where he can see out but you can’t see in. people will only know what he wants them to know.

he shows affection and remorse and most feelings by buying ppl things. if he hurt your feelings he doesn’t really care that much bc he’s not that close to you to care, but here’s a rolex or here’s a versace dress. material things and money don’t really matter to him at all, but he knows it’s important to most other ppl so that’s why he does it.

he’s kind of annoying and loud and a bit egotistical?? he sorta expects everyone to know him and fall at his feet bc he’s been around for so long and knows what it’s like to be on top of the world w orion/dos

oh yeah he has two cats. they’re his life. one is named cinna and the other is monnie. yes it’s a pun on cinnamon. he knows conversational english and it’s one of his favorite words. he just thinks it’s neat.

for my astrology hoes: he’s aquarius sun, gemini moon, and capricorn rising. yikes.

SO. there we go! he’s very attention seeking and always cracks jokes and tries to be hip like all the cool kids these days but he’s rly just an annoying old man so im sorry for him

BLEASE hit me up on discord to plot!!!! ( warfaire#3147 ) i would love to plot w everyone!!

[thats-a-real-mood]

loki episode 1x01

Im loving the green/gold marvel logo. 

mega spoilers under cut! 

Ngl not sure why the tesserect threw him like that in mongolia. Is there a reason that thanos had better control? (Other than him being a giant grape) Is this what happened with red skull?

Tva introduced. Very mysterious

Aw loki is just done with the avengers and everything else

Why did they have loki’s lips do that for so long? And in 1/16 speed

Reset the timeline? What does that do?

Zooming in on the device on the ground assuming that is going to reset the timeline. Okay so but reseting does that mean that there is now another loki? Our loki we are watching and a different loki who is continuing one the timeline?

A variant skrull?

Loki trying to run and then getting timelooped back to the lady is slightly funny

Aw that poor guy is cheerful and shes all like no i have a job

Deadly consequences huh? Is that gonna come back later? I have a feeling they will never like each other

Aw happy robot

Aw fashionista drama queen loki. I love it

Okay i may be ace but loki looks good!

-honestly in the gray suit he doesnt look that muscular but he is. Its just hidden. It hints at it with his shoulders but he in fine!

I did a get picture of the end credits where it shows what he said

“if it’s all the same yo you know i’ll have that drink now.

“tva? friend i think there has been a mistake. I am Loki,- You will regret this. I am burddened with glororius purpose. I stand on the right side of thanos- pleased to learn you’ve- my father is-”

is all i could read from this

A cat and a cat mug. I like it. This dude must be so tired. And everyone gives him extra work with everything they say even in his room. -does it do this even after they leave? And honestly i thought lokis stack would be bigger

“Do alot of people not know if they are robots?”Hun im sorry but you didnt know you were frost giant..

Now at first glance the whole “what if i was a robot and didnt know it?” Line is funny but you gotta like deeper. Like i said right above he didnt know he was a frost giant for almost the whole time 2012! Loki has been alive.

Ok but why does it look like giant scratch marks in the red rectangle. I think it’s supposed to be like dried blood or whatever but more like scratch’s.

His temporal aura..lots of red,maybe purple and yellow followed by green and blue at the top. I wanna know what it mean. Do more colors get added with more temporal stuff?

That looks like the guy who died in the trailers

He was insistent that he take a ticket. Lokis staring contest with the guy. Passive aggressive loki

Is that PA sound activated by a specific phrase? I think it would be since it probably would have turned on sooner than when loki shouted otherwise

I dont like miss minutes.

Who are the timekeepers? How are they all knowing? Can we get some more lore on them?

Branching off the nexus? That showed in a scene in the trailer..

So do the tva not want a multiverse? But it was canonized in dr strange. And wandavision. Or do they just not want a multiverse war?

Created the TVA and its workers? What do they mean by creating the workers as well?

Wait what that the reset charge i saw in the cartoon? So does that mean that there is a loki that is continuing on the timeline?

Is that how we kept the “sacred timeline”? But how? The avengers dropped the cube and loki got it and left. So how did they fix the timeline to keep him from picking it up again?

The guy doesnt have a ticket and is throwing a karen tantrum. Oop-

Okay now loki is scared.

Is it bad that i saw him hold up his ticket and found it funny? Like see boom i have it totally not gonna get destroyed now

Okay so i wrote the cool “runes” i put them in quotations because i dont know if that is what they are. Ill try to look them up later and post them.

Five dead in france..1549

Sombody got the jump? Its him? Who?

Stab wounds? Reset charge is gone. Sixth attack? That they know of?

Nice satan imagery in the background. First (assuming) micheal first with light shining in this guy and now satan..

I saw her eyes look to the satan and then upwards so assuming she means the horns but it could also be mephisto. But does mephisto stab people? Those horns look loki style

Afraid of them?

Kablooie? Blue gum? Blooeberrie?

-Why was it given away? Is it a sign? Do i need to look deeper into this? It does have that whole look that fits with the tva but im gonna hold on.

Devil bearing gifts?

-What happens when it hits the red line?

They have a FILE? On loki? Where did they get that photo? And HE IS GENDER FLUID

Judges room has the workers mural and the timekeeper mural. So the cut off the branchs to keep it in a orderly timeline?

Push t to those avengers! STEVE👏ROGERS👏IS👏A👏VARIANT

Hun..hun no thats not why they traveled.

Pffrt two tony starks! So he knew tony was there… did thor not smell him as well??

Gods to gods

Is..is this what it looks like when he tries to do magic??

Who are the people watching who isnt the guy from earlier?

So is this gonna be a show of freewill? Like wanda was grief and depression? Or the winter soldier was of —-

If my theory is right about loki being the guy killing the agents and that guy is investigating and has his file then it makes sense that he knows what loki is capable of. I would also like to point out that is it loki killing them, then they are greatly underestimating him. He should use that to his advantage

Chasing a hunch? Going sideways? Bad idea?

And this guy is flirting (i think) but also drinking his respecting woman juice.

Burn down his desk? Ok so ngl its cool outside the window but idk what it is but i can tell its greenscreen. The architecture is great. I love the scene.

A nightmare department??

I wanna know what the buttons in the elevator mean.

Created by the timekeepers? So possibly not human. Can they leave? are they aloud to? What do they mean created? Is there a process? Or are they just never kids?

Trust is for children and dogs? Oka i get the dos. But children? Does this mean that he hasnt trusted anyone since he was a kid? What happened that made him stop trusting people? Does he trust his mother?

Living in his set path? Okay i was part of the son fandom so im getting team free will vibes from loki insisting that he chooses what he does

Wooing someone powerful you intended to betray? Thanos? (Ew giant grape face guy) You, agent mobius? The Grandmaster?!

Are they flirting? I genuinely cant tell? Is this what flirting looks like?

Pursuit in Dangerous variants? So not loki. My theory holds strong for me but maybe its not?Hes a hissing cat? So born to be king?

A fan? Okay..i wanna saw how are you a fan? But you have the file.

Oh

Loki

The wrong path always taken…

“I am smart.” I know

What do u know mobius? Time passes differently…has loki been here before? Have u met him before? How do u know he his smart? Yes you have a file but that doesnt tell me why u are saying for certainty that u know he is smart. And he looks serious. Like he knew something. What are you hiding??

Okay so he heals fast. This couldnt have been hat long since then?

Okay so they bring in phil but they dont even acknowledge that he is still alive (as far as im aware)

The uncomfortable shifting and keeping his gaze away from the screen as new york was shown was kinda telling cause of what he said earlier…

Deflecting to keep from talking..

The FLASHBACK

Why does he need money?

Young..lost a bet to thor… what was the bet???

You just used reverse psychology on loki and it worked

Why do you wanna know about why he does what he does? Are you using him for your other case? (Assuming hat he is killing the guards somehow)

Did his voice crack when he saw his adventure in germany? Anyone else catch that? And the past tense after that. His masks are starting to fall. I think he is gonna lash out soon

Oh

Oh his mother

This is gonna get painful. Im crying already.

Oh frigga. He is tearing up. He is getting agitated now. Dude you just accused him of killing his mother

Okay stop. So others can achieve better versions of themself?

U mean when nat yeeted herself on vormir? Or when clint went around killing people during the blip? Or when cap stayed behind with peggy when he had bucky to come back to?

I can see him planning something but idk what yet

Ok so i already watched this earlier but now that i watch this part carefully i can see his hand pickpocket

Another unit? So thats six units now?

Loki escaped??

Prune? Is that what the stick thing is?

Ok he asked the guys name. I like that. Polite.

I saw him take a breath to get ready for another performance

U..u dont know what a fish is?

Lived entire life behind a desk? How old are you?

Okay thats practical to know what your being threatened with. Informed choices my dude.

Ok is this the room that loki has a desk at in the previews? Also i like casey. He is now my new fav

Whats is the desk? INFINITY STONES?? are you kidding me? So other people have tried to get them but werent aloud because of the timeline with thanos and the avengers???? Why do you have so many of the same stones? And the fact that the time stones as well means something attempted to happen to earth to get them..

They dont work at the tva? You USE INFINITY STONES? AS PAPER WEIGHTS? INGOT OF IMMENSE POWER THAT WERE CREATED SUPPOSEDLY AT THE BIG BANG??

This is giving me (another show that used something important as paperwieghts) vibes

Coming to the realization that this place is powerful? Ok so that is pruning.

His mother, he is crying i cant deal

Oh god im crying again

He just want his parents love and they are dead. He just wanted family to love him. He wanted to so much and didnt ever feel like he had it. But he did.

Oh no

Please dont make him watch his death

Please

The immediate falling of his face, his tormentor, i wanna know what he is thinking when he sees thanos

Oh the bone sound

And loki watched

Not making light of this but they speedrun his trauma and his redemption. He didnt get to see the good parts of what he has done. Just the bad.

Oh his laughing and the bitter glorious purpose

The fight was short but cool

He is being his petty self and i love it

See, don’t underestimate him

That nose scrunch

He looked emotionally drained

Wait why cant he go back? Cause he saw his future? Isnt that the reset? Oh wait if he goes back, he dies and he knows that but he couldnt be able to stop it without ending back up here

Hes opening up. The masks he had are falling around mobius. He sees himself as a villian.

Fugitive variant?

I KNEW IT IT WAS LOKI!

but hold on. If this fugitive is loki, then how? What part of the timeline is they from? Are they a future loki? So the future loki is a dangerous variant and this loki is a cat? What makes the future one more dangerous? We just heard him say he doesnt like to kill?

Okay now oklahoma 1858, if this is loki then how is he goin across time? And what for?

Wait third millenium? When is that?

Okay so we got a 1500 deaths and pieces of gum? And now third millennium thing in the 1800?

Oil? In a field…i get that u would think that but please think about where u are and the fact that other units have been killed in what i assume are regular calls like this as well.

Hooded figure? In a foggy night?with different background lights? I like it.

Told you oil plus field equals fire

Oh big spots of oil and oil leading places

Okay there is the reset charge? Is this important like i said earlier i thought it would be?

Ok if this is loki then what’s with the get up? Where is the drama? The showmanship? And why do you need the reset charges? Assuming this person took them from each scene that is at least six or seven? Or is this eight? Would this be the one that they said earlier with the captain lady interrupting or is this another one after that?

Ok so i took some pictures of the end credits that i think are important. I want to look closer at them before i post them.