Cover Art: Chloe-Su and Edmund ; Artwork is mine
"Chloe-Su the Echidna: The Beginning" is a short fanfiction detailing how Chloe-Su learns a portion of her origins. Again, this is going to be pretty short.
(Notice: This is not complete!)
Author: Julia Finitevus
Family...
"I don't want to go!" Sixteen year old Chloe-Su shouted through the locked bathroom door. "I wanna be a Guardian!"
Lara-Su let out an angry huff and exclaimed, "You're going! This is the biggest night of your life and I don't want you to waste it."
"I know the unveiling is an important event, but I still want to be a Guardian!" Chloe-Su called back.
"Chloe-Su, you know why you can't be a Guardian."
"Because of my powers..." Chloe-Su said quietly.
"Exactly," Lara-Su spoke. "Look, you'd make a great Guardian. But you know that because of your powers and your birthmark, you can't be one. And not going to the unveiling isn't going to solve anything. You'll be missing out on a really big part of your life if you don't go."
Chloe-Su came out of the bathroom, a few tears running down her face. "Alright, I'll go..." Then Chloe-Su said, "As long as I don't have to wear a dress to my unveiling." _____________________________________________________________________________________
"And he said-" "But you-" "Oh for Aurora's sake-"
"I hate crowds," Chloe-Su said to her mother.
"Your fath-" Lara-Su didn't finish the sentence. "Your father used to be the same way," Lara-Su thought.
"My what?" Chloe-Su asked blankly, adjusting her shirt.
"Nothing," Lara-Su replied. "Go ahead and dance."
Chloe-Su did as she was told, but her mind was still on what Lara-Su was about to say. And it had something to do with her father....
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Chloe-Su lay in bed, but was not asleep. She was too busy thinking about what her mother was going to say about her father.
Chloe-Su rolled over, reached under her pillow, and pulled out a photograph. It showed a young male Echidna with glasses and red fur. But it wasn't just any Echidna. "Dad... I miss you so..." But Chloe-Su knew that her father didn't hear. He probably wouldn't care anyway, leaving his wife and daughter behind. "Why can't we be a real family...?"
"Chloe-Su?" A male voice addressed. It was Edmund. "Are you okay?" Edmund asked, entering the room and shutting the door.
"Yeah... just thinking," Chloe-Su replied. But a tear escaped and Edmund knew right away she lied.
"Don't lie to me," the red furred Echidna spoke. "You're not okay. You're crying."
"I was thinking about dad," Chloe-Su responded after a second.
"Which one?" Edmund asked, sitting on the bed next to Chloe-Su. After Chloe-Su's father disappeared, Lara-Su married Argyle and the couple had Edmund, Chloe-Su's half brother.
"My dad." Chloe-Su frowned as she spoke.
Edmund glanced at the picture in Chloe-Su's hand. "Is that him?"
"Yes... it is."
"I wonder what he's like," Edmund remarked.
"Probably a traitor... a villain... a murderer... mom told me he killed his own parents not long before he left us behind," Chloe-Su told Edmund.
"He what?!"
"Keep your voice down," Chloe-Su whispered to Edmund angrily.
"Sorry," Edmund spoke, embarrassed.
Chloe-Su turned over in her bed with her back to Edmund and she hugged the picture close. "No matter what he did... I still love my dad." _____________________________________________________________________________________
"Chloe-Su!" A voice exclaimed. "Wake up!"
"YOW!" Chloe-Su yelped, sitting up in a flash. "Edmund!"
"You're gonna be late for school again!" Edmund continued. Chloe-Su glanced at the clock. It was seven. Edmund already was out the door, so there was no need to kick him out while she changed.
"Aw, crap!" Chloe-Su grabbed yesterday's clothing and slapped it on hastily. When she was finished, the violet female Echidna ran down the stairs and grabbed her toast, planning on eating it along the way. _____________________________________________________________________________________
"Chloe-Su!" The teacher scolded. "Pay attention, please!"
Chloe-Su snapped out of her train of thought. "Sorry, Teacher Stork."
"Well then, stop going into la la land!" The stork teacher replied, irritated.
Chloe-Su nodded in reply, but her mind soon went back to her father. "Why did he leave?... Maybe I'm missing something. I'll ask Great Uncle Dimitri what really happened. I have feeling that mom never told me the real story..." With Chloe-Su's decision clear to her, she paid close attention to the rest of the lecture.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
"Great Uncle Dimitri?" Chloe-Su addressed, entering the house.
"Chloe-Su!" Dimitri exclaimed. "Again with showing up unannounced!"
"Sorry, Uncle. I just... there's something I need to know," Chloe-Su replied, closing the house door behind her.
"What is it?" Dimitri asked, impatient.
"What really happened to my father?" Chloe-Su asked. "Mom said that he left because of a disagreement, but that's not true, is it?"
Dimitri let out a sigh. "No... it's not. Alright. It's high time you knew anyway." Dimitri took a breath and continued, "Your father was a former scientist from Albion and a very good man, but on the night of Lela-Le's unveiling, everything changed for all of us... there was a sniper sent by the New Dark Legion... he was sent to kill both your mother and father. But when he fired... something happened. Your father originally had Chaos abilities, but they were unnatural. They had been removed six years before the incident happened and he was able to live a normal life... until then. The blast that came out was Chaos Energy. It hit your father and he regained his Chaos Powers... but at the cost of his own judgment."
"What happened next?" Chloe-Su asked.
"Later, he escaped from the hospital and was captured by the New Dark Legion and..." Dimitri hesitated.
"Well?" Chloe-Su said. "What did they do to him?"
"They turned him into Enerjak... he took his own parents' Cores, turned them into Prelates... and tried to kill your mother Lara-Su..."
"No... no..." Chloe-Su suddenly felt her heart break.
"Your mother had to use her Chaos Powers to send your father to another dimension," Dimitri finished. "I'm sorry..."
"Tell me it's not true!" Chloe-Su pleaded. "That my father wasn't Enerjak... that he didn't kill his parents, my grandparents just for their Cores!..."
"I won't lie to you, Chloe-Su. It's true." This only made Chloe-Su feel even worse than before.
"Uncle...?" Chloe-Su asked. "Who is my father?"
"It won't help you to know. And it's probably for the best."
Truth to be Hidden
Chloe-Su sat on her bed, pondering. "He can't be Enerjak... could he?... Stranger things have happened here on Mobius lately..." Chloe-Su took out her journal and started writing in it.
Dear Journal,
I don't know what to do. If what Great Uncle Dimitri says is true then... I don't know. I just want dad back. I just want things to change. I want my grandparents back... speaking of grandparents, my grandpa Knuckles might have more information about what happened but... he probably won't even tell me. Everyone is so secretive. So... protecting of their little secrets. I don't want to be lied to, no matter what. It's just not fair. But they don't seem to realise that.
Chloe-Su the Echidna
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"Mom?" Chloe-Su asked Lara-Su at dinner. "What was dad like?"
There was a complete silence at the table.
"Chloe-Su..." Lara-Su spoke warningly, "don't you ever mention your father ever again. You know what he did."
Chloe-Su hesitated, then nodded. She decided not to tell her mother what she knew.
_______________________________________________________________________________
It was cold outside and a breeze was blowing, but Chloe-Su didn't feel it. She was using her astral projection ability.
"I hate having to do this... it always unnerves me," Chloe-Su thought to herself. "It feels... unnatural."
Chloe-Su stood there, wondering whether or not she should turn back. "No... I'll keep going. Tikal will be happy to see me, anyway."
"Chloe-Su?" A feminine voice behind her asked. Chloe-Su turned to see Tikal.
"Tikal... I need to talk to you about something," Chloe-Su responded after a moment.
"Come inside, first. It's very cold out here. Although, you probably don't even feel it..."
Chloe-Su simply nodded, but entered Tikal's house anyway, knowing full well Tikal never liked the cold.
"So what brought you here?" Tikal asked quietly.
"It's about my... my father," Chloe-Su replied after a second of hesitation.
"Which one? Your step-dad, or...?" Tikal didn't finish.
"My biological dad."
Tikal sat down in a chair slowly before responding. "Your father... he had a dark past. But your mother loved him very much, despite his faults. Until..."
"Until Enerjak," Chloe-Su finished for Tikal.
The reddish orange female Echidna nodded. "None of us knew if he was turned into Enerjak against his will or if he did it willingly. It was one of the worst days of your mother's life. She had to seal him away in an alternate dimension for Mobius's safety... for your safety."
"But...?"
"I think she could have done it a different way," Tikal spoke.
"What do you mean?" Chloe-Su asked blankly. "Aurora told mom-"
"Aurora has lied before. She probably told her that it was the only way because your father might have had a greater purpose," Tikal responded. "She lied to Knuckles. She can lie again."
"You mean... Aurora separated my mother and I from my father because of destiny?!" Chloe-Su exclaimed angrily.
"Possibly," Tikal replied.
Chloe-Su cursed after that response, much to Tikal's worry.
"Chloe-Su, you shouldn't be saying such things about Aurora. She works very hard to keep us safe," Tikal spoke, frowning.
"Keep us safe?!" Chloe-Su repeated angrily. "Keep us safe?! If she even cared, she'd have found another solution to the Enerjak problem!"
"Chloe-Su..." Tikal shook her head sadly. "It's probably for the best that she didn't."
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Chloe-Su lay in bed, but she was still wide awake. And random thoughts were running through her head, making most of her thoughts incoherent. "Enerjak... Albion... Aurora... Cores... just... insanity... plain insanity..." Chloe-Su turned over in bed, still thinking, this time a little more coherently. Would she ever meet her father? It seemed so unlikely that the mere thought of having hope for that was laughable. But her thinking became more clear after a moment, and raised a question. "Why...? Enerjak would have turned on the New Dark Legion as soon as he took down the Kingdom of Acorn... the tyrant Shadow had to have known that... right?" Chloe-Su shook her head. She'd have to save her questions for the morning. After all, she had all the time in the world.
___________________________________________________________________________________
"No!" Shadow screamed at Lien-Da. "I will not be defeated now, not when I'm so close!"
"Your Majesty," Lien-Da spoke, not even flinching, "The Guardian has been keeping the New Dark Legion at bay for the past ten years without the help of her idiot husband or her particularly infuriating daughter. We can't keep going like this."
"I don't care!! The next plan had better have results!"
Lien-Da sighed tiredly and responded, "Yes, Your Majesty."
"And if it doesn't..." Shadow spoke maliciously, "if it doesn't work... you know what the penalty is..."
Lien-Da gulped worriedly at that. He meant that if it didn't work, her son Rutan would be in danger. "Y-yes sir..."
"One more thing," Shadow spoke. "Do our operatives have the location of our... little interdimensional traveler?"
"Yes sir,"Lien-Da replied, internally shoving down her nervousness. "Orders?"
"Shoot to kill."