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Lucas eyes widened, "Wow..." was the only thing he could say. The maroon kit didn't know what else to say. "You looked evil for a momment there..." he said as he winced - reffering to Rico's malicious smile.

At that momment Kerry would curse as he fell to the ground.

He walked into the open, casually watching Cur take flight with his trophy. Evil spawns evil at times. You can have your hostage for now, pestis. If I find out my hunch is correct you will die like the others. His thoughts turned to the unconscious wolf. "You are interesting, I will give you that. Even in the body of a devil the heart of a canine shines through." He walked over and nudged Kerry, "Get up. I have questions that need answers." He drew his foot back and kicked the wolf harder.

"Get up. I have questions that need answers." He drew his foot back and kicked the wolf harder.
Farlis smirked as he saw Kerry was downed for the momment and took off, Keith over his shoulders.
A few momments later, Kerry's eyes were hazed, hsi view not fully recovered from the tranquilizer dart.
"Far..Far..Farlis.." he moaned as he referred to the blonde fox that was a deep enemy to Breech.
"E....eugh...K-Keith..." he moaned again.
Soon enough the Timberwolf's gaze turned back ot default and he crouched up to the ground and then stood up.
He immediately reconized Trevor. "You." ;is all he said before he queryied and eyebrow. Curtis was gone, and he said Keith would be safe. He hoped that was true.
"Questions?" he asked.

It was like stepping into the Tardis, or a Matrix simulator; the room was far larger than the corridors beyond said it should be. Plus there were other rooms leading out.

It looked like a bachelor's apartment. James wondered what it was about the place that made it Hell for Gus.

"Well, James Prower. It has been a long time. How you've grown," Gus smirked, waiting for his words to sink in, "Your parents... would be proud of you."

"My... parents? You know my parents?"

"Have a drink," Gus picked up a beer and tossed it to James, "The correct term is knew. They died soon after I met them. Quite tragically."

Gus was grinning hugely while he said this. James got the impression that he did not find his parent's death tragic in the least.

James opened the beer, but was hesitant to take a drink. There was no way of telling what would happen...it could poison him, liquify his internal organs, taste really, really bad, or just taunt him and not come out of the bottle at all. His paranoia was only intensified now that he was in Hell.

"How do you know my parents? How...how did they die?"

Trevor scowled, "I do not waste words. Is the boy worth saving and have you turned far enough from evil to be worth the same?"

"I'm his father....I have right to worry about him." he sneered. "And I was never evil. I was just insane." he said wickedily as he wiped his eyes off with his arm.

"....besides I don't hunt children anymore."

"Interesting, you'll live then. I expect that man will use the child as bait to lure someone. It must not be you or we would have killed you here." Trevor eyed Kerry, "Please tell me this isn't another of my brother's victims. Every child he endears is always killed or worse."

"Rico, he does not know my child..nor do I think he has ever met with him before. Though he may of seen him once." he said as he took a breath.

Trevor couldn't believe his ears, but maintained his poise. "It's not like Richard to ignore a child in danger. Either he doesn't see you as a threat, which is laughable considering your past. Or the death of that rodent has affected him more than I anticipated. Troubling..." The fox look lost in thought for a few moments. Then looked back at the wolf, "We should retrieve your son with haste. I find my brothers actions becoming quite erratic, it wouldn't be prudent to the health of your peers to leave him alone for long."

Kerry smiled. "Let us go fetch my boy back, then." he said as he cracked his knuckles and retrieved his weapons from the ground.

"Why didn't you stop him anyway?" he stopped. "Because of my past behavior?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The last thing I need is another child murderer on my hands. Even worse would be a child that hunts other children." Trevor said simply, "Where would that man have gone?"

"To find Breech or go to osme hideout." he said. "Farlis hates Breech, that being hers and my son is a reason he had kidnapped him....as bait." he sneered, his fist clenching. He nodded at the comment about a child who hunts children. "Yes, I understand where your'e getting at." he said as he looked around for Cur's footprints. He afterall, knew how to track.

"Briefly. They were stupid people, good, but stupid. They refused to bow down to a particularly insane sorceress, so she killed them."

Breech sighed, "Give me that," she took the beer from James, and drank it. It was warm, but not actually burning her insides out.

"You have your father's pride," said Gus, "And your mother's forgiving streak."

"You haven't told me anything," said James.

"Your parents died refusing to bow to an evil sorceress called... Sara? Sakiya? Something like that... I tried to tell her it was a stupid idea - misuse of magic is common among mortals. But she neglected to listen."

"...The Guard only told me that they died when I was very young. They never told how. They never even know their names."

James looked down at the floor sadly, quiet for the moment. He looked up again into Gus's eyes.

"I want to know it all. All of what happened to them and everything you can tell me about that sorceress. Also...I wouldn't mind knowing why you had me come here in the first place."

Trevor gave a unconvinced hum and looked in the direction the fox had fled. He pointed and announced it, "His intial path was that direction. Let's finish this quickly, I do not have time for dramatic escapades."

Rico shrugged, "You've probably just never seen me not miserable before. It sucks realizing that you'll never be able to do what you want to do. Tobe tried his best but it was like cutting the leaves off a weed. But... Now I realize what I can do. God if only I'd known sooner I could have saved so many people, I coulda saved Tobe. But he is dead now... and its all Kenji's fault."

Gus smiled humourlessly, "You were about six months old. Your father, I do believe his name was Adamaeus Prower. Your mother... I forget her name. The sorceress... Sanaya... Salenor... something like that... was, if I recall correctly, working for a Daemon."

Gus laughed unpleasantly, and continued, "Your parents refused to bow to her, refused to tell her where the Chaos Emeralds could be found. A magnificent prize to a mortal, but a Daemon would only be concerned with them if its powers had been retricted or depleted for some reason..."

"Like you," said Breech suddenly.

"Yes, like me. As I told her how stupid it was to kill people with magic when there were perfectly normal weapons available, they fled with you into a forest. Using my skills, I found them easily. After I'd sneered at them for a while, your mother gave you to me, forcing me to make a Daemon's Promise that I would take you to a safe place where you would learn to be a warrior with morals. Then I left. Then your parents died, courtusey of Soyabeen... Sairaka..."

"Whatever," said James.

"I dropped you off at Castle Acorn, deciding that it would be far easier for you to grow up clean from magic, so I placed a small dehabilitation spell on you. It would prevent your magical abilities from betraying you to the sorceress. The spell seems to be wearing off now..."

"Why does the sorceress want me dead?" James asked.

"Because she hates you. Hate for hate's sake, it is a vital quality in all potential Daemons. She cannot stand to think that there is any blood left of the Prower line, the one line that dared to stand alone against her."

"Then Tails is danger too!" said James.

"Probably... but she is more concerned with finding you at the moment. I do not advise that you stand against her. Even with your powers at full strength you could not hope to defeat her. She is a most powerful and accomplished mortal."

"My parents stood against her," said James.

"Yes, and they died," Gus pointed out coldly, "Fire against fire is a foolish strategy. She is a mortal; a bullet in the back of the neck would deal with her quickly enough."

Elias looked around. "This is just my opinion but i think we should stop sight seeing and try to find a way home. I don't know what happened to these people," he said pointing to a corpse. "But whatever did this could still be here."

James clinched and unclinched his hands, deep in thought and pulled in differing directions by his emotions. This was one of the last things he expected...the truth behind his parents' murder. And the daemon, Gus, was the one most responsible for him becoming a royal guardsman. It almost made him familly.

"If she is mortal, I can defeat her. I have to. I'll never feel safe with her still out there, seeking to kill off all in my bloodline. And...her victims deserve justice."

He looked down at his open paw and concentrated. A small, blue flame came to life in it; unsurprisingly, his ability to manipulate fire came easier in that place.

"I'll give her something she has never seen before."

He closed his hand around the flame, killing it, and looked back up at Gus.

"But that still doesn't fully explain why you wanted to meet me. Why?"

"Would you believe out of the goodness of my heart?" suggested Gus.

"No," said James.

"Very well," snapped Gus, "If the Daemon Chaos gets all six Chaos Emeralds, this particular Universe will implode. I will die. But as a Rehab, I have strict limits on the advice I can give to others and on my powers. It's AWFUL."

"Oh, so that's why this is a Hell for you?" asked James.

"I used to be immortal, invunerable and I weilded powers that would make most Daemons wet themselves in terror," complained Gus, "Then a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I got busted for trying to set up an Evil Empire! I was 60,000 years old, every Daemon dreams of his, her or its little Evil Empire in the sun when it gets old..."

James realised that the Daemon was crying. It was really quite pathetic.

"Er..." he managed, then said, "So what help can you give me then?"

Gus blew his nose, "I can tell you that the Chaos Emeralds are not safe in Knothole. I can tell you that Malice and whatshername are not Chaos' only slaves, and the one you seek your vengeance on is all too close."

"Right."

"You must not face her. You cannot kill the weed by plucking off the leaves; the root will become stronger and grow elsewhere. Oh, and one more thing," he guided James slightly away from the sofa, "If you allow Breech to come to any more harm, I will personally see to it that your personal Hell is brought into your living life as well!"

James blinked, surprised that this daemon who once tried to dominate a galaxy felt so protective of a mortal like Breech. Wanting to help James so as to stay existing made sense, but this... Unusual, but something that James might have been able to use to his advantage...

"Believe me, letting her come to harm is one of the last things I'd ever do. I was hoping that maybe you would have an answer to a little...problem we have concering her. You see, she suffered a stroke and because of it, has lost a great deal of her memories. Is it possible to restore them?"

"I knew you'd ask me that," said Gus, "You want her to l-l-l- thing you again, don't you? The way she used to."

"Yes."

"I expect you know all about the repercussions for dealing with Daemons?" Gus asked, "There will be a price to pay."

"I'm willing to pay it," said James.

"Yes, I know..." Gus fished in his pocket and pulled out a card, "Ah... I'll take you to this Djinn I know... he should be able to do it."

James nodded slowly, more than a little worried about what the price would be...

"Lead the way."

Gusion nodded, "Breech, we're just going out to get your memories back. Get something to eat from the pantry."

"What? But how-"

Gusion guided James out of the apartment and into the corridor again, then dragged him down it a little way. He soon stopped at a door, knocked, and entered.

Inside the room was a seven foot tall... thing, which looked like a cross between a lizard, a bat, a goat, and at least three spiders.

"Gusion? What Are You Doing Here?" the thing boomed. James noticed a nametag that declared it was Wstfgl, Spawn Of The Pit, and furthermore hoped that the reader would Have A Nice Day.

"Just got another mortal who wants something impossible," said Gusion, "Right, go ahead James, ask."

James looked up at the...thing and struggled to find the words he wished to say.

"Uhh...um, I, ah...could you please restore the memories of a close friend of mine? She suffered from a stroke and has forgotten a large portion of her life."

"What, All Of Them?" asked Wstfgl.

"Yes."

"Very Well." The Djinn waved a finger - or talon, perhaps - and nodded, "It Is Done," it said.

Gusion wondered if he should have warned James that the Djinn always gave you what you asked for, but never what you wanted. Oh well, too late now.

"Now, let's get back," he said, pulling James out of the small room, "I have a feeling Bridget will need us. Or you, at least."

~~~

In Gusion's personal Hell, Breech was trying to make herself a tuna sandwich in the kitchen, when she heard something, like a descending note.

Then every memory she'd ever forgotten hit her like a ton of bricks slamming into a mouse. She fell to her knees and started screaming.

She didn't even notice that her left hand tightly closed around the blade of the knife, and the blood falling onto the kitchen floor.

James walked back towards Gus' hell with a smile on his face, glad that he had essentially done the impossible and got Breech her memories back. But when he stepped into the room and saw Breech curled up on the floor screaming and bleeding profusely from a sliced hand, he realized that maybe things didn't go quite as he planned...

He rushed over to her and cradled her in his arms, looking fearful as he tried to comfort her from...whatever it was that was causing her so much suffering.

"Breech! What happened? What's wrong?!"

"J-James?" Breech looked up at him, her eyes wide and fearful, "I remember... EVERYTHING!!!" she wailed.

All the tiny details that had faded enough to make life bearable, the unpleasant times she'd managed to forget... every swing with the knife, every prick with the needle... she remembered it in all its horror as if it had happened 11 seconds ago - and had been compressed into one single instant.

"She may or may not go insane," commented Gus, "I'll go and get some sedatives off some guy I know."

He walked out, leaving Breech and James alone together.

Breech had started wailing again, her paws firmly clamped over her ears, and blood was being smearerd into her fur.

James groaned deeply, suddenly desiring to plunge his sword deep into his own guts for being such a complete moron. The Djinn did exactly what James asked; he gave Breech her memories back. ALL of them. The truly terrible ones included. And every single one of them were fresh in her mind. In effect, he had her raped and tortured for a month and put her through ten years of servitude to Robotnik in the space of a few seconds.

He promised to Gus that he would keep her from harm just a matter of minutes ago, and he already had screwed up.

He held Breech close against his chest and gently nuzzled her, on the verge of breaking down, himself.

"Oh gods, Breech...its my fault. I'm such an idiot...I didn't think this would happen... I'm sorry..."

"Everything..." Breech whispered.

The coldness of the river. Darkness in a sack. Cries of siblings. A baby's first cry - no, her first cry. And a face.

It wasn't a happy face. It didn't like her very much. It just threw her in a sack with the others and threw her away and it really was her mother who did that, she knew that for sure now.

"Everything..." she whimpered.

Sunlight on hair. The smell of daisies. Radiators. Everything.

She managed to look up at James. Everything.

"What did you do?" she asked him, her voice a croak.

James sighed and looked her in the eye sadly.

"I...I got you your memories back. All of them..."

He closed his eyes and shuddered.

"I didn't think about what that would really mean..."

He held her tighter to him, as if proximity to him and shear will would make it better.

"You're an idiot," Breech managed, curling up very tightly.

"I know," said James.

Breech was busy trying not to close her eyes. She knew that if she did, she'd see in her mind's eye herself, lap-dancing for a Freedom Fighter in order to get essential information for killing more of them.

And she was a different person now... all the stuff she'd done... it wasn't the same... it was evil now... she was evil... Evil evil bounty hunter. No wonder Gus liked her.

"I'm a bad person..." Breech burst into tears again, "I've totally ruined your life... You're nice... I'm a bad person..."

James gently rocked her back and forth in his arms; he wiped her tears away and whispered in her ear.

"Shhh..its alright...You didn't ruin my life; you saved it. You saved me from truly becoming roboticised, some souless machine that only cared about beating the enemy and fullfilling duty. And you don't have to be a bad person anymore, Bridget...I've given you another chance. You have your son now and a world without Robotnik. The war won't be long now... And you have me. Stay with me. Everything will be alright in the end..."

"I... saved you... but how-" Breech thought for a moment, then understood the metaphor, "Oh."

She sniffled qietly and cuddled up closer to James, clutching him tightly.

If she could remember everything, she should be able to remember the good things too, right? Or at least, the averagely bad things.

The trouble was that when she thought of good things, she could only think of James. He was the only good thing in her life.

And all the other memories were pushing towards the front of her mind, railing for attention. A rather more recent one kicked its way forward.

"Oh, gods... I left Keith with Kerry!" Breech wailed, "How could I have been so irresponsible?!"

Elias looked around. "This is just my opinion but i think we should stop sight seeing and try to find a way home. I don't know what happened to these people," he said pointing to a corpse. "But whatever did this could still be here." Blade nodded and took a breath. "Unlogical, but possible." he replied simply. "This fortress, the altar, and these corpes have somewhat proved my supicions. This is an ancient hedgehog temple. I mean....this is before the Rise of the Overlander, Acorn, Adsgarnian, or even the Kitsun Empires.....and they are old in their own right." he said as he took a quick breath. "Besides the Libary Archives will have the info we need to get out of this island, dimension, or wherever we are." he finished.

_______________________

Kerry nodded. "Lets hurry, then. I'd rather not risk that yellow-furred bastard intaking harm to my son." he stated.

________________________

Lucas wimpered. "But...but thats revenge!" his eyes grew wider.

"What is? Placing the blame where it lays? I hardly think so. But if that slimey manipulative old man ever comes near me again, he'll get the same treatment I'm going to give Malice when I get my paws on him." Rico grumbled

James winced; leaving Keith with Kerry probably wasn't the brightest idea either of them had.

"Come on...lets get out of the place and go to him."

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

The bounty hunter and warden, while having the right idea, were a little too late. Curtis, with Keith thrown over his shoulder, walked into a clearing and activated a homing beacon for transport he called for ahead of time. And just on time, one of Robotnik's old hover units decended into the clearing, and two swatbot escorts stepped out. With a look of disgust, Cur handed the unconcious child over to them and gestured for them to get on board. Once everyone was on board, they took off into the sky and headed for their destination.

Curtis looked out of the window at his destination: the ruins of what was once Robotropolis. Malice was thorough in its destruction...not a single structure was left. The place was just one massive hole of molten rock and steel. The outer edges of the city had cooled and hardened into rock, volcanic glass, and ash. Further inwards, there were rivers of red-hot lava crisscrossing the black landscape. Even further in, there were whole lakes of liquid fire. But in the center, it was just an ocean of molten rock with the occational island of steaming hot rock.

It was in the center of this little slice of hell that his destination resided. A huge facility, floating over the ocean of fire with huge thruster engines. A dizzying maze of metal supports, walkways, elevator platforms, conveyor belts, ore processors, and factory buildings. Robotnik had designed it for work over active volcanoes, but it the mineral-rich wastes of Robotropolis, it could do its just just as well. It was a massive ore mining/ore processing plant/robot factory. One of a kind. With Robotnik's death, Snively thought it a good idea to use it to rebuild his heavily depleated forces, but Cur had other ideas in mind. Before his trip to find the emeralds, he had taken steps to make sure the facility fell into his hands.

He had special plans for the place. Some would say overkill, but after Prower's previous success at foiling his plots, he wasn't about to take any chances. The hover unit landed at the appropriate spot and the crew stepped out.

"Take the brat to the detention area. I have some buisness here to take care of.

The blond fox chuckled. It wasn't very pleasant sounding.

Gusion entered the kitchen, holding a bottle of sedatives, "Guess you won't be needing these?" he asked James, "No matter, doubtless they'll come in handy next time you're down here."

He grinned unleasantly.

"In the meantime, I expect you'll be leaving soon..."

"Yes."

"Go to the end of the corridor, take the seven flightes of stairs up, go up the last steps to the right - they're easy to spot, they're carved out of stone - and out the arch with all the things on it."

James nodded and stood up, carrying Breech in his arms.

"I will. And...thank you, Gusion."

He bowed his head for a moment and then walked out the door and into the corridor. And it was a loooong corridor. He could have walked for hours, for all he knew, following Gus' directions. Down the corridor and up stairs that seemed to go on forever.

The last few stairs to the surface were slightly more interesting than the thousands of previous ones.

James stepped onto a massive stone step reading 'I Meant It For The Best.'

The next one read 'I Thought You'd Like It.'

Breech was just behind him, standing on 'For The Sake Of The Children.' She'd just stepped off 'Let's Stay Friends.'

"They're good intentions," said Breech with a dry smile, "Demons are traditionalists, after all."

"Where will we come out?" James asked, "When will we come out?" he asked, after a moment's thought.

"Hopefully in a place where we will be able to survive in all four dimensions at once," said Breech.

While Daemons are irrevocably evil, they are not always bad. This was why James stepped off 'We Are Equal Opportunity Employers' and through a stone arch, which healed up behind him as he left, and into blinding sunlight.

"Well, whaddaya know," said Breech, sitting down on a handy rock. It appeared to be Knothole Forest, though whether they'd arrived back in the same decade as they'd left was still questionable.

Sally held onto the cub tightly wondering what could have triggered this outpour of emotion. She certainly hadn't helped matters by being so busy all the time. "Ast whats the matter? What happened?" she asked softly stroking the back of his head. The cub looked absolutly horrible. He looked worse than she did on her bad days. Something bad must have happened and she wasn't there. She felt badly for him.

"The bad thing happened again. I... I saw it all." The kit wimpered, still clinging to Sally as though his life depended on it "When Rico sent Raven back, I didn't have the rune on an'-an' I saw... eveything. All his pain. It was horrable. I-I tryed, but I couln't get rid of the memories... I came to find you, but you weren't then an'...I done like this place Sally." he added quietly, resting his head against her soft fur and sinking back inside himself to hold back the sobbing that was despratly clawing at his chest.

James took a deep breath and sighed, glad to be breathing fresh air again.

"I think I know where we are; I recognize that rock. And Lothlorien is..."

He pointed.

"That way. Shouldn't be very far, either."

They began walking again, and did so in silence for a long while, each lost in their own thoughts until they could see the village gates. Suddenly, James groaned and rubbed the sides of his head.

"The bike is still in the Great Desert...Tails isn't going to be happy..."

"You win some, you lose some," said Breech, trying to supress a few of the more horrible memories, "And if you ask me, our little trip into the desert was on average a loss. Although you did find out your parents got killed by a sorceress whom you don't even know the name of. Nope, still a loss."

She looked down at her feet as she walked, her memories ganging up on her.

James agreed. He discovered very little, really. He lost another of his son's vehicles. And while they did get Breech's memories back, it was at a great price to herself. It was a loss. He desperately wanted to do something right, for once, but seemed to be stuck in a terrible losing streak.

He put an arm around her shoulders as they entered the village. Avoiding the other residents, he guided them towards his hut and went inside. Almost immediately, he stripped out of his armor, grabed a towel, and started trying to get all the sand out of his fur; the stuff was making him itch like crazy.

Meanwhile, the small Robotnik-issued phone that Breech was carrying on her started to vibrate, indicating an incoming call...

"Huh?" Breech snatched the half-forgotten phone out of her back pocket, "Who is this? And more importantly, how did you get this number? I don't even have it!"

"Hello, Breech. Its good to hear from you, too.", Cur said through the phone, a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

"Is Prower with you? If so, I suggest you get away from him. His knowledge of this conversation could have...dire consequences. So how are you, Bridgy? Had a productive trip?"

"Cur!" Breech hissed at the phone, "This conversation is over!"

She was about to hang up on him, when he interrupted her, "It's not over until I say it is, Breech. Unless you don't want your little brat to come home safe and sound."

"What are you talking about, Cur?" Breech asked him, a sick feeling rising up in her stomach.

"Ohh...you don't know yet, do you?"

Breech could practically hear his grin over the phone.

"Kerry makes a terrible guardian. Your son is spending some time with me at the moment, but don't worry. As long as you do what you're told, no harm will come to him. I promise. Now...if Prower finds out, I'll put a gun in Keith's mouth and send the grey matter back to you in a plastic bag, understood? Go to the edge of the Great Forest near Robotropolis in one hour. An aircraft will be waiting to take you to me. Don't be late."

Click. Curtis ended the call.