Through the Looking Glass: Penance: Chapter 5-A
Miles: Chapter 5
It was more vivid this time.
The blood seemed to spray all over the place.
His cry of anguish was clearer than it had been in a long time.
The tears streaming down Amy's face as she held the one she loved the most. Sonic was already dead by then.
His own gloves... how the blood was pronounced on them.
Miles woke up abruptly, sitting up with wide eyes. He panted softly, a cold sweat having soaked through his fur in his sleep.
Glancing around tepidly, he looked over to where Tai Lung was peacefully sleeping. Shaking his head, the kitsune simply rubbed his eyes.
It was the fourth time that Miles had tried to go to sleep that night. But no matter what happened, he always woke up to the same variation of his recurring dream.
Shaking his head as a tear escaped his eye, the kitsune hugged his legs closer to him, resolving to stay up the entire rest of the night. He had not thought about the incident that had occurred those two years ago so much within the span of a single day. And yet, the recollection was becoming far too much for the kitsune to be able to handle. He had been unable to sleep at night; the nightmares that he had been having throughout his attempts to get some sleep did not want to let up.
Shaking his head and closing his eyes, he took to hugging his legs through the remainder of the night instead, sobbing softly so as not to wake up the snow leopard as his mind addled itself with thoughts of self-hatred and anger.
When Tai Lung had finally woken up, Miles and Tai Lung had both decided to get a move on early; no doubt the Furious Five would try to follow them to where they were, and Tai Lung wanted to stay a couple steps ahead of them so he could separate the Five from the Dragon Warrior should they ever have an encounter again.
And just after the sun had completely risen over the horizon, Tai Lung arrived at a huge valley, the way across dotted by a series of suspension bridges hovering over a very thick mist. Miles looked over from behind the snow leopard, surprised at this.
"What's this?" he asked.
"It's the Devil's Mouth," he replied. "Supposedly, this chasm is supposed to be deep enough to see the center of the earth itself."
Miles nodded at this, sort of out of the loop due to the new waves of depression hitting his person. "That's ridiculous," he replied, trying to sound like everything was all right. "There's nothing that goes that deep."
"That's what I said when I fell under that veil of fog," replied Tai Lung, looking down. "It happened a year ago when I faced the Five on my second journey to the Jade Palace. It's just a bunch of forests down there."
"Hm..." thought the kitsune, the gears in his head turning. "Then maybe we can go down there and get under the radar for a bit?"
Tai Lung glanced at his companion. "Good luck finding a way down there," he said, adding a chuckle. "Only reason I didn't fall too far was because I was tied to the remains of one of these bridges..."
Miles jumped off of Tai Lung and looked down into the misty abyss in front of them. Studying it, a plan formed in his head and he stood up.
"I've got a way," he said. "Here."
Without waiting for any confirmation from the snow leopard, Miles took a hold of Tai Lung's wrists. The leopard was about to object when he suddenly heard a strang whirring noise coming from the kitsune. Before he could say much, he suddenly gawked as Miles was in the air above, flying by the twisting of his two tails. He would have commented, but then Tai Lung felt his feet rise off of the ground against his own accord. Looking up at Miles, the cat smiled, shaking his head.
"You're the sneakiest kid I ever met, you know that?" he asked.
"No," replied the kitsune. "Now hang on tight, and if I tire out, we should be down far enough to land safely."
And then the fox flew over the edge, and with this he slowly descended into the mist below them. Tai Lung looked at the cliff face in wonder as they descended, noting how noble the grey rock seemed to be against the fog beneath them. The kitsune had actually gotten rather deep into the fog when he began to tire out from the constant motion of his tails. Panting, he slowed down.
Thankfully, Tai Lung had seemed to notice when they had started falling a little faster than normal, and so he released the kitsune, and falling through the fog the rest of the way he caught sight of a bunch of trees beneath him. Quickly figuring out where the branches were, he fell through the gaps with stunning grace, and landed on the ground even more gracefully than that. Looking up as soon as he landed, he heard Tails simply fall through the branches, matter raining down on the ground as the kitsune fell just a short distance away from Tai Lung's feet. Somehow, the fox had landed on his feet, and then he rubbed the back of his head.
"Ow..." he said, looking up at the branches that had broken his fall. "That really, really hurt."
"I can imagine..." replied Tai Lung, fighting back a chuckle. "So, we're here. Now what?"
"We get moving," replied Miles with a shrug. "That seems like the only thing to do, at any rate."
Tai Lung nodded, grabbing a hold of the kitsune's wist as he moved along. "Well, then let's go, shall we?" he asked.
Miles stiffened at the snow leopard's touch, finding it to be too similar to Sonic's touch and immediately putting him back in the depression he had been sunk in earlier that morning. "Sure," he said.
The leopard paused briefly, ears flickering briefly as he thought. But then he simply moved on in the fog, the kitsune being held on to as he was led forward by Tai Lung.
When the duo had stopped for the day, Miles had simply sat in the same place, waiting as Tai Lung was breaking off branches from the trees surrounding them to make a suitable fire for them. He said nothing, instead letting Tai Lung collect his firewood. The silence was a little much for Miles, but for keeping everything in
"Well, that was rather cool what you did there with... flying and all," said the snow leopard, trying to lift the kitsune's depression without actually mentioning it. "I wonder... how did you learn how to do that?"
"Beats me," replied Miles glumly as he looked at the fog. "I just... I just know how to fly is all there really is to that..."
"Hm..." grumbled Tai Lung as he arranged the sticks he found in front of him. "I wonder... did you use it all the time before you came here?"
"Yeah," he replied. "It always helped my friends, you know."
The snow leopard had begun to get frustrated with Miles already over his short and overly morose replies. He had taken it the entire day, but Tai Lung knew he was reaching the end of his patience with Miles' depression. Deciding to finally get it over with, the snow leopard found himself kneeling in front of Miles. Before yelling at him, however, the snow leopard hesitated, thinking yelling might do more harm than good.
"You know, you've been sounding awfully depressed today," Tai Lung said. "Is... is it what happened yesterday?"
The kitsune sighed in response, turning around so the snow leopard could not look into his eyes. "Yeah," he replied softly. "I've just been thinking about what happened two years ago is all... It all started yesterday..."
"Really?" he asked, trying to get more into the heart of the matter. "And why?"
Miles shook his head, tearing up slightly. "It's just been so hard..." he said. "I... I've been having the same dream for two years now. Dreams of what happened that day."
"Dreams?" Tai Lung asked, eyes wide in wonder. "That can't be all that bad..."
"But they were more vivid last night," replied the kitsune, shaking his head. "Tai Lung... They're horrible, horrible dreams. I barely got any sleep last night thanks to them. I... I think I might have been thinking too much about the incident..."
"Well, those thoughts are partly your fault, you know," pointed out the snow leopard. "If you hadn't threatened to kill yourself... well, you wouldn't--"
"Be sitting here, I know," interrupted Miles quickly.
Tai Lung shook his head, frowning slightly as he crossed his arms in front of him. "That wasn't what I was going to say," he replied. "I was going to say that you wouldn't be so depressed."
"A little extra depression isn't going to hurt much," replied Miles with a shrug. "I've had my share of it. And I'm sure you have too."
The snow leopard's ears flattened against his head, surprised at this. "Well, I've just been generally angry," said Tai Lung. "Not depressed. And you've been very noticeably depressed since yesterday. Life can't be that bad."
The kitsune shrugged, shaking is head. "You really think it's not that bad?" he asked uncertainly. "I've been wondering the world for two years, trying to get over the death of my brother, and you're angry at everything. And yet you're still saying that it's not that bad?"
"Yes," the snow leopard replied, gestuing with his paws as he continued. "Sure, I was in prison for twenty years, and sure I got defeated, and sure I'm still angry at Shifu and Po and everybody else... But seeing you here... There's gotta be more to life than holding the same grudge against a group of people. Your presence taught me that much."
Miles glanced at Tai Lung briefly as the predatory cat continued. "Sounds corny, I'm sure," he said. "But... I really wouldn't have minded if you were anybody else when you threatened to kill yourself yesteday. But you saved my life when nobody else would. Miles, trust me when I tell you you're the last person who should be depressed. I don't know why I care so much... but Miles... you've effected something in me I haven't felt in a long time. I... I care about what happens to you. I don't know why, or how, but I feel I owe you my life." The snow leopard looked around, trying to find his words. "Life can't be all about holding grudges, Miles. That's nonsense. And it can't be about grieving the same person for two years, either."
The kitsune shook his head at this. "Don't say anything else..." he replied, baring his teeth as a tear rolled down his cheek. "That's a lie, and you know it!"
Taken aback by this statement, Tai Lung's eyes widened in surprise. "But... but--"
"Don't!" exclaimed the kitsune, abruptly cutting the leopard off. "You don't know the monster that I am..."
"Monster?" asked the leopard. "But you're not a--!"
"Good night!" exclaimed Miles, abruptly turning around to lie down on the ground as Tai Lung looked at him bewildered.
The snow leopard looked back to the unstarted fire and the piece of meat that was laying next to it. "But you haven't even eaten dinner yet!" he said.
"Then I'll go hungry for tonight," replied the fox sternly. "I said good night!"
The words hit Tai Lung hard, almost like a touch to his nerve points. Shaking his head and grumbling, the leopard decided to leave it be for the moment. He swore to himself that he would find out more in the morning, however, and so turning around he started the fire and began cooking the piece of meat. As he did, he made a mental note to cut a piece for Miles' breakfast the next morning.
Or would have, if not for the swirl of thoughts inhabiting his head. What could possibly have made the two-tailed fox grieve for far longer than what was really reasonable? What could have made Miles not care about his own self, and yet cared for a criminal like Tai Lung himself? Why did he hate himself so much? And what exactly did he dream about?
Tai Lung shook his head, instead turning his attention to the fire in front of him. He would ask tomorrow if Miles kept up the depression.