The Hell We Live In

Fifteen

__Tails woke up when he felt someone patting his face, urging him to wake up. He saw that it was Sonic. He looked relieved as he helped Tails sit up. "Good! You're okay! It only took you a minute to come to." He then chuckled awkwardly. "Then again it only took Scourge a couple seconds."
__As the other Freedom Fighters came into view Tails suddenly remembered what happened. The monster, The Devil, almost ate his tail. It almost ate him. Tails started freaking out again as he replayed the moment in his mind again and again no matter how much he didn't want to. He felt like he couldn't breathe.
__Sonic looked worried as he tried reaching out to the scared fox. "Hey, what's wrong?"
__Tails could not see that it was Sonic's hand. He saw The Devil's big hand with its sharp claws coming for him. He slapped it away and stood up before backing away. He started hyperventilating and shaking. He didn't know where he was or what was happening. All he knew was that he was scared and needed to get out of here.
__Sonic had stood up and tried walking up to him. "Dude! Calm down!"
__Tails just got even more scared as he started backing away. "Get away from me!" He shouted. He started to run but Sonic had managed to grab his arm and was trying to keep him still.
__"Calm down!" The hedgehog urged. "You're just having a panic attack! You know how to deal with this!"
__Tails could not listen. He was in the clutches of The Devil once again and needed to get away. He began pulling away, but Sonic kept a tight grip on his arm. It took Tails to kick Sonic's leg before he let go, allowing him to escape. But Knuckles was already behind him. He grabbed hold of the fox from behind. He locked his arms around Tails's arms and was trying to get him to stay still.
__"Buddy! We're not trying to hurt you!" Knuckles shouted. "You know who we are!"
__Tails was still hyperventilating and screaming as he tried getting out of The Devil's grip once again. But he found that he couldn't. This grip was much too strong. "Let me go! Let me go! I'm not an anomaly! I'm not! You can't have me!"
__Amy had rushed over and carefully grabbed hold of Tails's cheeks, forcing him to look at her. "Tails, listen to me. You're fine. There's nothing here. It's just your friends. You need to breathe. Breathe!"
__Tails felt The Devil's grip loosen and used this moment to bash the back of his head against its chin. Knuckles had yelled out and let go of him. Tails took this time to run. He had to get away from the demon. But he stopped dead in his tracks when Shadow teleported right in front of him. The black hedgehog brought up his right fist as it started emitting green sparks and punched Tails right in the gut. Tails coughed out all of his air as he collapsed on his knees. He stayed down and was trying to catch his breath.
__Amy was running towards them. She shoved Shadow out of the way and knelt down by Tails. "The fuck is wrong with you, Shadow!? What did you do!?"
__Shadow barely stumbled as he started dusting himself off. "I calmed him down with my Chaos Force. No need to get upset."
__Amy whipped her head around and glared at him. "You didn't have to him him like that!"
__"You guys wanted him to stay still," Shadow muttered. "Now he's still." He then started walking back to Rouge and E-123 Omega.
__Amy turned back and started rubbing Tails's back as he steadied his breathing. "You okay now?"
__Tails finally knew where he was and who was all around him. He was still shaking and scared, but he felt relieved that his friends were here. He then remembered something important as he stood up and was frantically looking around. "The child! Where is she!?"
__"Over here!" Fiona was waving him over with one hand and pointed with the other. She was beside Scourge, now wearing his bloody jacket, who had the little white rabbit. The little girl was still crying as she tried to grab Scourge, but he kept his hand on her chest to keep some distance. He looked like he wanted to push her away but couldn't bring himself to.
__"I want mommy and daddy!" The little girl cried. "I want mommy and daddy!"
__Tails was already walking over to them as the other Freedom Fighters got closer. After Tails sat down by Scourge he took the little girl from him and hugged her tightly. He began to rub her back and was trying to calm her down.
__"Oh my god!" Cream was standing by the large area of blood The Devil had been playing in before Tails fought it. She was staring at a thin piece of flesh on the ground. It was the other half of the little girl's ear and it was all bloody and tore up.
__A horrible thought came to mind. Tails looked around until he saw a body in the distance. The top half was hidden behind some bushes, but the bottom half was clearly a female white rabbit. The body was covered in blood. Tails bit his tongue as he pointed at the body.
__Scourge had looked at what he was pointing at before standing up and walking toward it. No one tried to stop him. Scourge knelt down on one knee and examined the body in front of him. He then reluctantly put his hand on the leg and started shaking it. When there was no response he looked back at everyone else. "She's dead."
__Sonic had finally stood up after he got done massaging his leg where Tails had kicked him. "Where's her dad?"
__Tails didn't realize but Fiona was already searching the area. She went to another bloody area, expect there were torn up organs strung out randomly. "I think this was him." She looked at a large piece of clothing on the ground that had a large lump in it. She picked it up out curiosity when something heavy fell out of the clothing. What landed on the ground was a severed brown-furred arm. Fiona dropped the cloth and screamed as she backed away, causing majority of everyone to holler out and look away. This was when Scourge ran over and pulled her into him as he led her back to the others.
__The crying from the little girl became clear again as Tails looked down at her. This poor innocent child just lost her parents in the most gruesome way possible and almost got killed herself. Now she had a hideous scar that would always be a reminder of this day. The day she encountered the monster that took her parents away. Tails couldn't help but shut his eyes as he held her tightly. Why did it have to happen to her? We were supposed to let them have happy lives. We are supposed to be the ones to suffer. He knew there was no logic in what he was saying, but it was all he and friends ever believed in.
__Tails then stood up as he held her against his chest. She needed a new home, and he'd be damned if he was going to let her sit in a foster home when the Freedom Fighters had the rights to legalize this sort of thing. He knew the perfect option. He turned and slowly walked towards Bunnie and Antoine. The cyborg rabbit and coyote looked concerned as the fox stood in front of them. "I know this isn't a good time, but you said you were having a hard time having a baby. Well, she needs parents."
__Bunnie and Antoine looked at each other. Bunnie had started tearing up as she nodded. She then looked back at Tails when Antoine showed no sign of rejection. "Of course. We'll make sure she's okay." She reached out to grab the girl from him when she saw her left arm. She then sighed as she pulled her arms back. "You hold 'er, Ant."
__"Oh," Antoine seemed a little awkward. "Right." He carefully took the little white rabbit from Tails and held her tightly. Tails could already see the new love in his eyes as he tried to soothe her. "Zere zere. You're safe now."
__Tails backed away and walked over to Sonic and Sally. Both were looking at him in earnest.
__"What happened?" Sonic asked slowly.
__Tails flattened his ears as he crossed his arms and looked at his feet. T-Pup had finally made it's way over to him and he explained. "While you were all arguing Fiona got caught in a trance because The Devil was in the area. She was heading for him so Scourge and I went after her. We eventually came here and that's when I saw him attacking that poor girl. I started fighting it, but he was way too strong for me." He found himself shaking again as he continued. "He kept going on about anomalies. He said my tails were my anomaly and got excited. He tried to eat my tail. I don't know why. I don't even know if he was gonna stop there. Before he could, though, Scourge intervened."
__"Why didn't he help you sooner?" Sally asked angrily.
__"Because I told them to stay hidden while I dealt with it," Tails answered quietly. "I thought I could analyze him while getting the child to safety." Tails suddenly perked up. He looked over at Scourge and glared at him. "You lied to me. That's not a diamond dagger."
__Scourge was still holding onto Fiona. He did not look at Tails. "You still don't trust me completely, and it's the same the other way around. I didn't know how you'd react if I told you this dagger was made out of my world's Anarchy Barrel."
__"You serious? We're fighting the same person here!" Tails then calmed himself down. "Never mind that then. Your dagger actually worked against him."
__Sonic looked confused. "What's happening?"
__Tails turned to look at him. "Scourge has a dagger made out of a Chaos Emerald from Moebius. None of our attacks could hurt The Devil, but Scourge was able to stab him in the abdominal with the dagger before he ran off."
__Sonic stood there blinking for a bit before shouting. "He ran off!?"
__"What the hell were we supposed to do!?" Tails shouted back. "Scourge and I were injured and Fiona had the child! T-Pup couldn't even fight!"
__Sticks suddenly came in between them and shoved them away from each other. "Calm yourselves. No biggie. I can track his scent."
__"No you can't," Scourge sneered as he let go of Fiona and walked over to them. "The Devil has no scent. You can't track shit."
__The badger backed away as she stared at the green hedgehog skeptically. "Oh yeah? What do you know?"
__"More than you!" Scourge growled. "I've known that traitorous bastard for over ten fucking years! He's a demon from hell and all he wants is power so that he can return to wherever the fuck he came from! He is not something you can treat like any other past villain you've faced!"
__Sticks saw there was no point in arguing as she continued to back away.
__"What was he going on about anomalies?" Tails asked Scourge. "He said your anomaly was great and that Fiona had none and was therefore useless to him."
__Scourge groaned as he started rubbing his temples. He was clearly stressed. "I don't know too much about demons, but they can sense powerful energies. It's what he calls anomalies. In my case it's my speed and the power I obtained from the Master Emerald. For you it's your extra tail. He gains more power if he consumes these anomalies. That's why he's here. Not just to kill off the Destructix if he gets the chance. He knows there are lots of people with strong anomalies in this world."
__Everyone was freaking out. Tails saw that behind all of them there was still a few civilians that were brave, or rather stupid enough to stay and watch. Perci and Staci were still there, but they didn't dare to come any closer. They looked very concerned, not that Tails cared.
__Sally started clapping to get everyone's attention. "We'll regroup for now!" She looked over at Shadow's group. "Now you'll have something to report back to G.U.N. Meanwhile I'll have Nicole tell the entire nation about The Devil being here so we can set out precautions." She then looked over at Tails. "We'll discuss what needs to be done. I think you, Fiona, and Scourge need to go home and rest." Finally she looked at Bunnie and Anotine. "Once we're done we'll look into getting the paperwork to have her officially adopted."
__Tails now realized how exhausted he was. He picked up T-Pup and started to cradle the robot dog. I gotta make him to where he can actually fight again. It'll have to be something that will give him a chance against that demon. He didn't even look at Scourge or Fiona. He just started walking. He knew they would soon follow.