Through the Looking Glass: Penance: Chapter 6-A
Miles: Chapter 6
Tai Lung and Miles both trudged through the forest, the snow leopard looking back every few seconds to make sure the kitsune was still following him. The mist was very thick that morning; the leopard knew he could not afford to waste too much time trudging through the forest, even if he knew the Furious Five would likely be as lost as he was at the moment. His eyes were able to see rather far into the mist, but he knew that the five also had Tigress to aid their vision. Thinking of this, he moved quickly.
Miles seemed rather morose behind him, but it was due more to having had no sleep to speak of than the kitsune would have liked to admit. Gingerly, he kept his eyes trained on Tai Lung's tail, knowing that if he followed it he wouldn't be lost.
The silence between the two was rather overpowering, such that it was making the snow leopard nothing short of uncomfortable. He decided to enage in some conversation, hoping the Furious Five were still a little distance away.
"So, why the silence?" asked the snow leopard.
"No reason," replied Miles plainly. "You just haven't asked me anything, that's all."
"And you haven't asked me much either," Tai Lung pointed out as they moved among the foilage. "I don't have to be the one that starts all our conversations, you know."
Miles shook his head. "But I don't really have anything to ask," said the kitsune softly, betraying some sense of shame. "I've had all my questions answered..."
Tai Lung slammed his fist against a tree. The dull thud that resulted from this caused the kitsune to look over to him. Slowly, Tai Lung turned around, anger prevalent in his eyes. Miles braced himself for the worst.
"Damn it, what is with you?" asked Tai Lung suddenly. "I've never seen you smile even once since I've met you! And you're always generally depressed, two years after your friend died!"
"Why the hell are you so angry?" asked Miles suddenly.
"Because you won't say anything about what happened to you!" replied the snow leopard as he began pacing around the kitsune. "If you'd just tell me already, I think it would be better on your end! Hell, I already told you everything about myself! You know about Po, the Dragon Scroll, Shifu, how I hate them all... Why won't you tell me what bothers you? I already did!"
"Even the bits that you deny?" asked the kitsune defensively.
Thrown off by this question, the snow leopard raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.
Miles shook his head, a frown forming on his face. "Damn it, Tai Lung, don't you get it?" he asked. "You weren't proclaimed the Dragon Warrior because your master Oogway knew you woudn't get the Dragon Scroll's secret!"
"Secret?" replied Tai Lung angrily. "What the hell do you mean? There is no secret!"
"There were no words on that scroll!" replied the kitsune. "All the other scrolls you'd seen had words on them! You would have been greatly disappointed and would've gone on a bigger rampage than you would have earlier!"
"That is not true!" cried the snow leopard angrily, slamming his fist against a tree. "If only I had been given a chance, things would have been different!"
Miles shook his head. "But that's the thing," he replied. "You don't want to admit that you would've been angrier had you just seen the Dragon Scroll. You know you would've done the same thing if you had seen it!"
"It wouldn't have wasted twenty years of my life, at least!" cried Tai Lung furiously. "Twenty years of my life that I could have spent defending China, I was given to rot in Chohr Gom with that sick bastard Vachir!"
Miles opened his mouth to speak but found he was abruptly cut off as Tai Lung continued. "You know what they did to me in Chohr Gom?" he asked, his patience having already run its course. "They tortured me! For twenty years straight! They tortured me and tortured me and tortured me! The only reprieve I ever got was when Shifu or Oogway came by to visit me, and even then they threatened to kill me if I told them anything about it. I had to keep all those whippings and beatings and the happenings with the machines to myself! And it hurt me every damn time I looked at Shifu or Oogway and had to hide it! Damn it, Miles, do you have any idea how hard that was for me? Do you?"
The kitsune was silent for a few seconds, azure eyes shining in shock. His mouth hung open briefly, which he then closed and shook his head.
"You still don't have any idea what I've done," he replied. "I should be in your position for forty years for what I did!"
"That is not true!" replied the snow leopard, pointing down at the ground as he advanced on the kitsune. "What you did can't have been worse than what I did!"
"It is so!" replied Miles, obstinately crossing his arms in front of him and trying to keep face despite the tears gathering in his eyes.
Tai Lung paid no mind to the tears. "But you've been grieving the death of the same friend for two years!" he cried angrily. "And you refuse to tell me what happened those two years ago!"
"Maybe it's because it hurts to think about it!" replied the kitsune, getting progressively more peeved by the second.
"And you don't think it hurts me to talk about what happened in Chohr Gom?" the snow leopard asked, nostrils flaring. "Whenever I even think about Chohr Gom, the sting of what they did to me makes my fur stand on end! And don't even begin to ask me about how much I think about everybody's rejection of me! You think your pain is bad? You're not the only one!"
Finally, Miles had enough. Shutting his eyes and clenching his fists, he leaned forward.
"I raped and killed that friend of mine that died two years ago, all right?" bellowed the kitsune. "And I didn't even want to do any of what I did to him! I wasn't strong enough to fight the person who made me do it! I raped and killed my friend, Tai Lung! And it's all. My. Fault!"
The kitsune lost his composure immediately after screaming, and then he crumpled on the ground, sobbing his heart out as he moaned sadly.
Tai Lung was shell-shocked beyond belief. He simply stared at Miles, eyes wide as he looked down at the sobbing kitsune. The very person that had saved his life had engaged in such awful behavior? And against his will, no less. A swirl of questions surrounded Tai Lung's mind.
A feeling of pity overtook Tai Lung upon hearing this. That could not have been Miles' fault if he had not wanted to kill his friend. Thinking of this, the snow leopard knelt down to the kitsune, all of his anger having evaporated and his golden eyes shining in sympathy.
"Hey," said Tai Lung. "It's not--"
"You know what?" asked Miles, standing up, frowning despite his tears. "Just go!"
This threw the cat off greatly, his ears flattening against his head. "What?" he asked. "Why should I do that?"
"Because I'm a monster, and now you know why," replied Miles.
"But Miles... I!"
At this, the kitsune reached into his pack and pulled out the carving knife and held it in front of him. "Go!" he replied. "Or my blood'll be on your conscience!"
"But--!"
"Get the fuck away from me!" cried Miles shrilly. "Or I'll kill myself!"
The snow leopard very quickly dove in, his hand coming to rest on the hand that held the kitsune's knife. However, he found that Miles' grip on the weapon was hard then anticipated, and so the two of them struggled with the blade to the point that both of them lost their grip on the weapon. It then hovered in the air very briefly before landing blade first. The fact that the blade had sunk into Tai Lung's foot did not help matters at all.
The snow leopard yelped in pain as he looked at the blade embedded in his foot. Miles simply looked at the blade, paralyzed from shock. The cat looked to the kitsune, noticing this.
"Miles--"
"Damn it!" cried the kitsune, thrashing around and nearly pulling his fur out. "It's happening again! I only hurt the ones that care about me!"
Tai Lung shook his head. "Damn it Miles, if you had not threatened to kill yourself, this wouldn't have--!"
He was interruped by a roll of bandages hitting him square in the eye. "I'm a monster, damn it!"
Before Tai Lung knew what had hit him, he suddenly noticed Miles take off at superspeed into the fog.
"Miles, wait!" bellowed Tai Lung, taking a step forward with the foot that did not have a blade embedded in it and holding his hand out to the rapidly disappearing kitsune.
But alas, his hand only lingered there, the silence overtaking the Devil's Mouth once again.
Punching the air in front of him, Tai Lung looked at the roll of bandages that Miles had left, and then again at the knife.
"At least he doesn't have anything to kill himself with," he said sadly, shaking his head.
He sat down abruptly and quickly pulled the blade out of his foot. Wincing with the pain that followed, Tai Lung proceeded to wrap a bandage around the injured foot, stemming the bleeding raher quickly.
"I need to go find him," he said as he stood up, testing the bandage on his foot and finding that it did help the pain a little. "And I really don't care if he's with the Furious Five when I do find him. I hope you're all right, Miles..."
Deciding to leave the carving knife where it laid so that Miles could not swipe it from him in the future, the leopard lumbered forward, beginning his search for Miles.
It was quite a bit later when Tai Lung realized that he still kept up a partial limp when it came to his foot. This could not be good; he had only traversed half the distance he had assumed Miles had taken, and he had still not found the kitsune. From the way the light seeped through the mist, he was able to tell that it was late afternoon as well. His mind asked the question of how Miles had been able to run so fast repeatedly, and he always answered himself with 'the same reason he can fly'. He wondered briefly if his friend had gotten over himself and was coming back for him. Tai Lung sincerely hoped this was the case, as his patience was beginning to wear thin.
Something caught his attention from his peripheral vision. Looking to the side, he thought he saw a glance of a bird flying away with a strange girl in tow. Blinking and finding the image disappear ever so quickly, the cat was surprised. The vision he had seen was definitely not of Miles. Shaking his head, he thought to continue.
But then, he looked to the side and suddenly noticed the presence of the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior.
He found Tigress' gaze fall on him.
Tai Lung then jumped back quickly, getting into a fighting stance as Master Monkey jumped out from the fog and slammed a hand on the ground, Po and the rest of the Furious Five jumping into their fighting stances.
Grinning, Tigress was the first to speak. "I knew you'd get into the forest," she said. "It would be good to lose us in."
"But how did any of you get--?" asked Tai Lung.
"Crane," replied Po and the Five minus the avian master all at the same time.
"Yeah, it's not a bad idea to have a bird be part of your fighting clan," replied Po. "I see you don't have your little friend here. Too bad you don't have your bargaining chip anymore."
Eyes widening at this, Tai Lung's fur suddenly stood on end as his eyes widened.
"B-bargaining chip?" he spat out in shock.
"Yeah," replied Tigress, fingers curling a little.
Tai Lung shook his head. "Lady, if I was using him as a hostage, I would've used him to get out of our first fight before it even began," replied the cat matter-of-factly. "I'm not that much of a coward. Besides, he saved my life. I wouldn't even think of doing something like that to a friend."
"Then if he's a friend, where is he?" asked Mantis quickly.
Tai Lung growled in response, shifting on his bandaged foot as he braced himself for battle. "Good question," said the snow leopard, his voice somehow menacing and somber at the same time. "I don't know where he is either. And before you ask, no I'm not making it up."
The Furious Five did not let up their fighting stance. "We'll worry about whether you're telling the truth or not later," stated Po matter-of-factly. "For now, let's fight!"
And the panda jumped towards Tai Lung, the cat jumping back to avoid the paw strike.
Tai Lung bit the inside of his mouth when a pain shot up in the foot that the knife had stabbed. He did not flinch, however, for then he leapt above Po, aiming a kick at Monkey as he had leapt at Tai Lung quickly.
The snow leopard then jumped up just as Master Viper had lashed her tail out at the predatory cat. He noticed Tigress approaching from his peripheral vision, and then he punched her out of the way at the right time.
Unfortunately, he was still in the air as he did this, and so Crane had happened to grab the bandaged foot. Biting his lip so as not to howl in pain, Tai Lung took a hold of a tree branch, which conveniently allowed him to swing full force into Monkey, knocking him back quite a distance right into where Mantis and Viper were.
Landing on his feet again, the predatory cat turned around quickly to see Po right behind him. Quickly kicking the Dragon Warrior with his non-injured foot, the snow leopard used this as a sort of springboard to make some distance between them. He did not expect to bump into Tigress in midair, but when they both crashed into a tree the leader of the Furious Five took a greater blow.
By this time, however, Po was leaping towards Tai Lung, and seeing this the criminal jumped out of the way quickly. The force of the fat panda colliding into the tree caused it to fall over with a loud crack.
Tai Lung had no time to concentrate on this, for then he noticed Mantis leaping at him, legs out. Tai Lung blocked the kick with his fist, proceeding to follow that up with a palm strike that sent the mantis flying back.
However, he had not expected Viper to curl around his leg. When she did, it was only too late that he realized that she was curled around both his neck and his fist. The cat proceeded to hit himself in the face with his own fist.
Noticing something in his peripheral vision, however, he then jumped up, kicking Monkey's hand away as he ended up fending off Monkey's assault with one hand and his non-injured foot. The snow leopard seemed to be doing fine just by this.
Unfortunately, this had given Mantis a brief opportunity to grab the leopard's foot. However, noticing the bandage there, the fighter thought better of what he was originally planning to do and instead delivered a swift kick to Tai Lung's heel. This sent the cat falling down so that he was then pinned by Monkey and Viper. Crane and Po soon joined their comerades in keeping the leopard pinned down. Looking up, the panda looked at Tigress.
"Tigress! The rope!"
Nodding swiftly, the leader of the Furious Five produced a rather large rope. The remaining Five and Po then threw Tai Lung up in a twirling motion, in which Tigress jumped in and quickly wove the rope around the cat while he was still disoriented. This was finished with a kick to a nearby tree from the Dragon Warrior, and then the female cat jumped in and finished tying all of the knots she had tied in the rope.
When she was done, there was a rather long length of thick rope around Tai Lung's torso that was tied so tightly that the cat could do nothing despite his struggles. The rope bound him from just below his hips to all the way up to his shoulders, with a smaller rope keeping his wrists bound behind him. Looking at himself, Tai Lung simply growled.
"Now, you were--?" asked Tigress.
"Wait, wait," replied Mantis, getting onto the cat and pointing to the bandage on the leopard's left foot with an outstretched pincer. "He fought us on an injured foot. That bandage really needs to be changed."
Suddenly, Po and the rest of the five looked down at the foot, and suddenly realized that the insect was right. Viper leaned towards the bandage before turning to Tai Lung.
"How did you get that wound?" asked the snake suddenly.
Tai Lung sighed. "Miles hates himself," he began. "We got into a huge argument this morning about who had done worst stuff. Very long story short, he pulled his knife on himself, and in the tussle that resulted from me trying to get it out of his grip... well, it landed in my foot. After that, he just ran off."
"You do realize that's a very hard story to believe, yes?" asked Tigress, crossing her arms in front of her.
"Maybe," replied the snow leopard. "I suppose this... friend that showed up at the Jade Palace said nothing about what he did two years ago?"
Po crossed his own arms in front of him. "She mentioned something about that, yeah," replied the Dragon Warrior. "But she didn't go into details."
Glancing around warily, the snow leopard nodded. "It's probably better that she didn't, then," he said. "I'll let him explain if he ever gets the chance to run into you guys. I can't put into words how terrible it must be for him to cope with what happened..."
The snow leopard's subsequent frown seemed to put people off. However, when the group that had captured him noticed the piteous look in his eyes, they all knew that there was no way the snow leopard had been lying to them.
"I see..." said Po, arms dropping to the side. "Yeah. While we figure that out, though, we're going to have to take you to Beijing."
Upon hearing this, Tai Lung's eyes took on a look of pure terror. "B... Beijing?" he asked.
"Emperor's orders," replied Monkey simply.
"B... but he'll kill me!" exclaimed the snow leopard.
"I know," replied the avian kung fu master, rolling his eyes at this.
"No!" replied Tai Lung, suddenly getting quite high-strung at this. "That can't be!"
Po nodded, emerald eyes glinting in sadness. "I wish there was somethin' we could've done different, buddy," stated the panda. "But it's the emperor's orders."
The bound criminal was shocked beyond belief at this revelation, so much that he barely noticed when Mantis had changed the bandage on his foot in a flash.
"Come on," said Tigress as she helped Tai Lung to his feet, gripping his bound arm. "We've got a long way to go to get to Beijing.
And with this, the Furious Five and Po walked along with the predatory cat as their prisoner, disappearing into the mist slowly.
Almost as soon as they had disappeared into the mist, Miles came out from his hiding spot in a ditch in the ground, looking on after where the silhouettes of the party of seven disappeared in the mist. His sapphire eyes were awash in new tears that were threatening to spill out.
As soon as he saw this, he fell back against the tree, not even bothering to cover his eyes to cry.
He had seen the entire fight. He had heard all of what the Furious Five had to say. And he had heard Tai Lung talking about him.
And Miles wished more than ever that he had remembered where their fight was.
He hated himself. He was the reason Sonic had died. He was the reason Cream had gone through so much trouble. And he was the reason that Tai Lung was going to die. If only he had stayed with the snow leopard. If only he had never run away. If only he had never killed Sonic. If only he had never even existed at all.
He was so pathetic he could not even put the effort into improvising a way to kill himself.
And so, he wept profusely the entire rest of the day, only quieting when the mist around him became dark to the point that the world was black as night. By that time, he had no more tears to cry, and so he simply slumped up against the tree he had been leaning against and fell asleep slowly.
Miles was greatly purturbed when he had finally sobbed himself to sleep successfully. He had been expecting the dream he usually had.
Instead, he found himself standing by a peach tree that stood by a cliff, light fuchsia petals falling from the tree as he looked around him. Turning around, he noticed the incredible view of a beautiful valley from where he stood. The moon was out, and the moonlight bathed the scene in an ethereal blueish light.
It was a wondrous scene to behold, but it left the kitsune highly confused.
His confusion was quickly whisked away, however, for then he suddenly noticed a small contingent of roseate petals descending from the heavens, almost as if it was heralding the arrival of someone. Confused, Miles' aquamarine eyes looked up as he brushed a strand of fur away from his face.
The petals descended to where the kitsune stood, and suddenly, from the petals materialized an old tortoise who looked upon Miles with gentle eyes and a toothless smile that was fatherly rather than outright disturbing.
"Who... who're you?" asked Miles, a little confused. "What're you doing in my dream?"
The tortoise looked at the kitsune intently. "I am here because there is great torment in your heart," began the tortoise slowly, voice sounding as ancient as the wrinkles on his neck. "I am Master Oogway..."
"Master Oogway?" asked the fox uncertainly. "You mean, the founder of kung fu?"
"Tai Lung has said quite a lot, I must say," Oogway continued.
The kitsune's hair stood on end as he heard this. "What do you mean, Tai Lung?" he asked. "How'd you know I was with him?"
"I am a spirit, my lad," replied Oogway. "The spirits see many things, both good and bad. I think you made the right decision by staying with Tai Lung."
"Why, though?" asked Miles, throwing his arms out as he began to pace around the cliff face with tears coming to his eyes. "We didn't get along! And I forced him to leave! And now the Furious Five have him, and he's gonna die! And it's all my fault!"
The kitsune sat down by the edge of the cliff, shaking his head before continuing. "It's just not fair," he said. "Everybody that's ever become my best friend has had something horrible happen to him. It's all my fault that Tai Lung is gonna die... And it's my fault my big brother died two years ago... I'm just an accident..."
Oogway simply gazed down at the young child as he sat at the edge of the cliff. The tortoise then came forward, standing right beside Miles and patting his shoulder comfortingly.
"There are no accidents," he said. "And even if there are accidents, you are certainly not an accident. It is thanks to you that Tai Lung finally has a visible path to redemption."
"Yeah, redemption that nobody will see..." said the kitsune under his breath as he shook his head. "He's gonna die, damn it!"
"It will happen only if you let it," replied Oogway, his hands gesturing out to the stars as they twinkled brightly in the night sky. "Look at the moon, Miles. What do you see?"
The kitsune's mind was screaming at him not to look, but despite himself he rose his head, looking at the round orb that penetrated the sky. "I see something round... something bright, but sad at the same time... Like it's crying for someone that isn't there..."
Oogway nodded, seeing the fox was getting his point. "Precisely," it said. "The moon, it could be said, is our slave. Forced to shine for all eternity, it only shines in melancholy, for it would do nothing to lift itself up but hate itself." The kung fu master faced Miles, that gentle smile still resting on toothless lips. "The sun, is different. It was forced to shine and revolve around us, too. However, the sun took pride in this; instead of submitting willfully, the sun shines in full radiance to defy the earth. And in doing so, it brings us all the light of happiness. It is all how you look at it, whether to sit in submission like the moon, or to defy the odds like the sun. You can still save Tai Lung; you just need to find the will to do so and it will happen."
Miles was silent for a few seconds, looking out at the moon as he thought of this. After a brief pause, however, he shook his head violently as he stood up.
"Yeah, I can save him," said the kitsune as he walked to the peach tree. "But why me?"
"Because you are the only one who understands him," replied the tortoise as he turned to face the younger fox.
"Yeah, that's true, but he doesn't understand me!" cried Miles as a new batch of tears came to his eyes. "I was mind controlled and I raped and killed my older brother, damn it! I haven't even seen my close friends for two years because they'll never forgive me! I'm unforgiveable! I can't even save myself! What makes you think I can save him?"
Oogway shook his head, his smile disappearing.
"You are being too harsh on yourself," he said gently. "There is always a path to forgiveness; you just have to find it. And to do it, you must let go of the past and look to the future."
"But I did unspeakable crap!" replied the kitsune disbelievingly. "I'm sure my friends never forgave me for what happened! Hell, Sonic... If you're here, he probably hates me right now... If only I had been stronger... None of this would've happened... I can't be saved... I can't..."
Oogway looked up into the sky, and then he noticed a similar set of petals that had heralded his own entrance going down to earth. Miles noticed this too, and looked up, wiping a tear from his eye as he did.
When the petals touched the ground, Miles was utterly shocked to see the apparition of Sonic the Hedgehog standing before him with a bandage wrapped around the katana wound that Miles had caused two years prior.
"S... Sonic..." said the kitsune, casting his gaze down at the earth as he realized what this meant.
"Tails..." said the sapphire hedgehog as he came closer. "Why...?"
"Why do you think?" replied Miles. "I was under mind control."
"That wasn't what I was gonna ask, you know," replied Sonic crossly as he crossed his arms in front of him. "Why did you leave? Why did you miss out on my funeral? Why did you stay away for so long?"
The kitsune shook his head, yet more tears flowing down his cheeks. "I..." he said. "I couldn't bear to look at any of you... Not with what I did... It's unforgiveable... You of all people should know that!" He turned around, not wanting to face the hedgehog he had killed with his own two hands. "I'm a monster, Sonic. I'm hopeless."
The hedgehog was not to be deterred. Shaking his head, he walked up to Miles and surprised him greatly when he wrapped his arm's around the fox, his chin resting on the kitsune's head.
"Tails," he said. "It wasn't your fault that you were the one who was put under that. It wasn't your fault you were given the command. None of it was your fault."
Miles shook his head defiantly. "But I'm still the one who killed you, and I'm still the one who wasn't strong enough to resist it!" he shouted back. "I don't care if it could have happened to anybody else, Sonic. Why did it have to happen to me?"
Sonic shook his head tentatively, holding Miles tighter to him. "That doesn't matter," he said. "You did nothing wrong when you killed me. I forgave you a long time ago, Miles."
The kitsune stiffened at this. The proclamation of forgiveness was surreal enough, but Sonic never used his given name with him unless he was being completely serious. This shock dried his eyes as he broke out of Sonic's hold to look at him.
"What?" asked the kitsune. "But... but how... why...? I don't..."
"Because I love you, bro," said the hedgehog solemnly as he released Miles and turned him around. "Always have. Always will. And I'm not gonna let some mind-controlled murder get in the way of that."
As the bewildered kitsune stood in shock at what he just heard, Sonic continued. "You're my brother, Miles," he said softly. "I would've done anything for you. And I would've supported you all the way. Hell, if you had followed Eggman's shoes, I'd still love you. I'd be really mad, but I'd still love you. Miles... You're everything to me. Stop blaming yourself for what happened. Please. It's tearing my heart apart to see you hating yourself so much. It hurts because I love you so much... Please... It's not your fault. It never was. And if you think otherwise, then you're wrong..."
Miles was simply shocked at this revelation. Somehow, the revelation that Sonic did not in fact hate him lifted a great weight from his conscience. However, there was still another, greater weight being left in its place.
"But..." replied Miles. "You would've forgiven me... But our friends, Sonic! Think about them! They wouldn't have been so forgiving... would they?"
Sonic shook his head at this question. "Your friends forgave you too," he said simply. "You should have seen Amy when she found out you had run away. I'd say my death wasn't as bad as you leaving her behind... And Cream... Cream followed you all the way to China to bring you back. By now most people would have gone nuts. She's still holding on to the hope that you're alive, and that you're safe, and that's enough for her to carry on. Tails... You're not above being saved. The only person who needs to forgive you is you..." The hedgehog knelt in front of his younger brother, the melancholy apparent in his emerald eyes as he looked at the kitsune. "Tails..."
The kitsune was shocked beyond words at this that he was rooted to the spot for a good bunch of seconds.
Something in his mind shifted, and all of a sudden, the guilt came crashing down into a pile of rubble that could never be reconstructed again. All of the guilt was finally released, and it left Miles even more shocked.
And before even Master Oogway could say anything, the kitsune let out a small whimper. That was all the warning Sonic got before he was tackled to the ground by the kitsune, Miles weeping profusely into the bandages in the hedgehog's chest as he cried the remains of his guilt away. Sonic simply patted the kitsune's back, smiling sadly as a solitary tear went down his own tan muzzle.
When the fox found his eyes run dry, he finally let go of Sonic and knelt up, his eyes still sad.
"Damn it," Miles said, softly. "I... I can't believe myself... I can't believe I ran away from everything!"
"In some ways, it is good," replied Oogway, coming forward. "It is good because you can help fulfill Tai Lung's destiny. No one is above redemption, no matter how far they fall. Tai Lung needs you, Miles Prower. He needs you now, more than he has ever needed a friend before."
The kitsune nodded, wiping the residue the tears had left on his fur as he nodded to Sonic and then to Oogway.
"I know," he said. "And I'm not gonna fail him. I can't fail him. Especially not after this."
Sonic placed a hand on Miles' shoulder, a smile on his face. "Go get 'em, tiger," he said encouragingly. "And make sure they know who you are!"
Miles nodded, smiling for the first time in two years. Sonic turned to Master Oogway, nodding as he looked over. "Ready to go home?" he asked.
"Our work here is done," said Oogway. "We might as well."
The hedgehog nodded, and turning to Miles he gave the kitsune a final hug. Miles returned the hug with all he had, such that when Sonic had let him go the kitsune was still clinging to Sonic.
"Goodbye, Sonic," he muttered. "I love you too..."
Sonic smiled as his brother finally released him from his hold. Turning to Oogway, the two of them walked towards the edge of the cliff.
And then, a contingent of rose petals began flowing under their feet, and suddenly the petals seemed to lift Sonic and Oogway off the ground, Sonic seeming to break into a run as he was levitated in the air. It was at this point that a thought suddenly occurred to Miles. Rushing to the cliff face, he looked up to the two ascending spirits.
"Master Oogway!" he cried. "Hold up a second!"
The petals holding the tortoise stopped for a brief second, the spirit of the kung fu master looking down at the kitsune. "What is it?" he asked.
"I wanted to ask you something!" cried Miles. "What was the darkness in Tai Lung's heart?"
Oogway paused before speaking. "He is very much his father's son, both adoptive and biological" he replied, voice ringing out over the valley. "I would tell you more, but the spirits forbid such behavior!"
"So it's got something to do with who his real father is?" asked Miles.
"Yes!" replied Oogway.
"Okay, thank you!" shouted the kitsune.
Oogway seemed to nod, and then Sonic and Oogway both ascended higher, the peach petals eventually becoming just a speck within the vast expanse of the night sky. Miles looked on, a smile on his face as his gaze lingered on where the petals had disappeared long after they had done so.
When Miles woke up, the fog was white.
The kitsune woke up slowly, looking ahead of him as he rubbed his eyes.
It was then that the dream from the night before came back, and with it the recollection of the events of the day before. Jumping up in shock, the kitsune pulled on his bugundy vest as he looked to where the Five had gone with Tai Lung the night before.
Frowning and clenching his fist, the kitsune decided something had to be done about it.
"Don't worry, Tai Lung," he said, his voice full of renewed hope as a determined look overtook his azure eyes. "I'm coming for you."
And with this, Miles set off in the direction that he had seen Tai Lung get dragged to, a plan forming in his mind as he traversed the forest.