As promised, here is the last chapter! Please enjoy - and read the informations under it, too! Thanks!

Epilogue

3 months later

"Alright, everybody ready?," Tails asked, hovering over the white line, that marked start and finish. His tails had healed completely and he had been shortly after already been able to do everything he was used to – including flying.

The last few months had been hard. Not physically, but emotionally. After recovering his body, the guilt had been overwhelming. It had been all his fault, he had been, for a while, convinced of that. He had, after all, agreed, that Bryan took Sonic in the first place. He felt, as if he had almost dug his brother's grave.

It took a lot of talking with and staying close to Sonic and helping him recover from the whole ordeal for him to forgive himself. He swore to himself, that he would be much more careful with everything he would learn in the future, especially, if it had something to do with Sonic or his friends.

"Ready as I'll ever be!," Sonic declared, taking his position at the line, next to Shadow and Silver.

The last few months had been hell. There was nothing worse than recovering in the blue hedgehog's opinion. Besides the nightmares, that had kept haunting him, it had taken him agonizingly long to get back into top shape. Gaining weight had been the easiest, getting his speed, strength and stamina back, had been more difficult. All the drugs he had been forced to take, had done some damage to his body. At first, he had been barely able to run for a minute at a mobian pace without being out of breath. Slowly (far, far too slow for his liking) but surely and with the help of everyone, he had returned to his normal self, physically and mentally. Was he truly back to normal now? Only one way to find out, with a good old race! Besides, he had always wanted to know, who was faster – he, or Shadow?

Said dark hedgehog just grunted as an answer to Tails' question, his shoes powering up, while the three hedgehogs crouched low at the start line.

The last few months had been intense. Helping Sonic had been his priority for the longest time: holding him in his sleep, waking him up, if the nightmares became too bad (usually, his presence kept them away, but sometimes, it wasn't enough), feeding him, monitoring his diet, making sure, that he ate, when he could eat on his own, supervising his physical recovery, keeping him informed, getting the people and things he wanted, as long as he was stuck in bed, making sure, that he slept, drunk and ate enough and so on.

During this time, he had noticed...that he had strange, rather bipolar feelings towards Sonic. One part of him was just happy to see him getting better, to see him happily interact with his friends, admiring the number of friends he had, listening to his stories, watching his progress in recovery with adoration of his strength and unbeatable will.

Another part of him, however, didn't want him to recover. This part wanted him in his room, in his arms, forever, never seeing anyone but him, never going out, never leaving his sight. And at times, this didn't seem such a bad thought at all, especially, when Sonic told him about his highly dangerous adventures.

It was a good thing, that he had his job to distract himself, otherwise he would have probably forced his love already to things he didn't want. Shadow was still working for GUN – but under a new Commander, an old friend of Rouge.

Commander Topaz had once worked together with the bat, when she had just made a deal to avoid jail for her thievery. The two female agents had started out as enemies, but they had soon become partners, if not friends. And Topaz had learned, that mobians weren't as bad, as Towers had always insisted. While the bat had then been ordered to watch over Shadow (not that she did that, but what Towers didn't know, didn't hurt him), Topaz had started to interact more with the mobian employees of GUN – and soon learned of how most of them had been forced to work here. One by one, the woman had discovered all of Towers' illegal actions and she had let the President know about those. As a reward, she had been promoted to a higher rank and had become the new Commander. She had immediately, after starting her new job, released all of the forced mobian workers and given those, who wanted to stay, better jobs.

Shadow, Rouge and their robotic friend Omega were now the special unit 'Team Dark' – the dark hedgehog absolutely loved this name – and responsible for important tasks, that needed unusual talents. Almost daily, since about two weeks, they were on duty all over the world, helping people suffering from nature catastrophes, freed the victims of kidnappings and destroyed criminal organizations – and thanks to Chaos Control, they were almost everyday home for dinner.

Shadow liked it to help people, he felt, as if he was finally fulfilling his purpose. And it was a bonus, that 'supporting Sonic the Hedgehog in an exceptionally difficult fight' was actually one of their tasks, too. This way, he could watch over his love.

Of course, at times, he would need to leave battles to Sonic, especially, when he was needed elsewhere, but for now, everything was peaceful with Eggman in jail and Perringten dead and the blue hedgehog could take his time with finishing his recovery. And Shadow could think about a way to tell him about his immortality...and Sonic's. So far, everyone was happily unaware of both. Today, however, he would just focus on this race – and on testing, how far his mate had recovered by now.

"I'm ready, too!," Silver cheered happily. "Please be careful!," Blaze warned, while Mephiles, standing next to her among Sonic's friends on the sidelines, just smiled, wishing him luck silently.

The last few months had been...helpful. Since Sonic had been fit enough to walk – running had been still too much for him to this time – he had often been in Silver's room, talking with him. When Shadow had told him about Silver's amnesia, Sonic had been determined to help. For Silver, it had been an honor to be in Sonic's presence – even on the streets, the hero's reputation was legendary – and he had clung to the blue one's lips, as if he had been a god. This worshiping had been a little too much for Sonic, but he had managed it and their talks had had a healing effect: Silver had started to have dreams of the Island.

At first, he had mainly dreamed of Kylie, even though he didn't know her name, but very soon after, Scourge and Sonic had also appeared in those dreams. And soon enough, his memory had started to restore itself.

By now, it was almost back to normal. There were still a few gaps, but the important memories were back. Especially his feelings for Mephiles were stronger than ever and Sonic had the dark being's eternal thanks and the promise to fulfill ten of his wishes of whatever kind whenever he wished – there was no way, that Sonic would want his eternal debt, like he had promised it Kylie – as a reward. The hero had tried to recline any kind of reward, but Mephiles had insisted on it and they had, after a long discussion, come to this ten-wishes-compromise.

Silver had used the last month, after the recovery of his memories, to train his powers and by now, he was handling them pretty well. Blaze had also trained her newly found fire-powers, which had been most of the time very dangerous. Thankfully, the Freedom Fighters were experts in dodging, so if a fireball threatened to hit them and not the target, they could quickly jump out of the way. The cat still had a long way to go, since her fire got controlled by her feelings and stress or anger weren't exactly helping in controlling them. For now, she was simply trying to stay cool.

Tomorrow, she and Silver would move in with Mephiles, who actually owned a house. Shadow, who still didn't trust the peace to last, had tried to get the location out of him, so he knew, where to look for him, should he become a criminal again (even though arresting criminals wasn't his task anymore, he couldn't help it).

The argument, that had ensued because of that, had almost caused some victims, until Silver and Sonic had interfered, who had learned at this occasion, how to keep their semes in line. Silver with puppy dog eyes, small tears in those and a whimpered, "Please don't fight. I don't like it, when you fight.", and Sonic with a stern glare, a growl and an expression in his eyes, that said, "Fight one more minute in MY house, and you will be in serious trouble, mister!". After that, both semes had been avoiding each other for their ukes' sake.

Now, Silver wanted to know, if he could keep up with the two fastest hedgehogs alive, using his psychic powers. It was a little sad, that Scourge couldn't be here, too, but it couldn't be helped. The green uke and the light seme had disappeared two weeks after Sonic had woken up for the first time, just after Scourge had been declared as healthy according to Kylie's definition. The next morning, Scourge's bed had been empty and Fleetway had been nowhere to be found. All they had left were two pieces of paper on the bed, with two messages: Thank you for everything and bye, S. and Thanks and I'm sorry...for everything I'll do next. F. It had looked, as if Fleetway had added the last part of his sentence hastily and squeezed it between the first part of the sentence and his name.

Shadow had expected Sonic to be upset about Scourge's sudden departure, but the hero had been strangely relaxed. He had had the chance to talk with the green uke a day before he had left and apparently learned something from him, that let him believe, that he would be okay. Whatever it had been, Sonic kept it to himself.

"Alright, the race goes to the tree 600 meters away from here, around it and back to here. Rotor has built a camera, that will make a photo the second something crosses its sensor on the finish line.," Tails explained the race, pointing to Rotor, when he mentioned him. The walrus waved and patted the rather unspectacular metal box next to him lovingly.

The last few months had been... informative for the Freedom Fighters. Sonic had never been the type for relationships in their opinion, seeing how he never got close to anyone in a romantic way, neither boys nor girls. To see him with Shadow, had been alien at first, but it soon had become normal and even welcomed. They had the feeling, that Sonic was protected and cared for by him. It was something, that he could need. Someone, who looked after him, when he wasn't well – which was rare, but if it came to this, he really needed someone, who could fully take care of him.

Usually, this was Knuckles', or Tails' job, as the other Freedom Fighters had, since the threat Eggman posed wasn't the only one, scattered around the globe and couldn't be there always. They came only for true emergencies together, like the Island-incident. It was especially for the echidna rather pleasant to know, that they could leave a part of the worry about Sonic to Shadow now – he would have his hands full soon enough.

"Everybody ready?," Tails asked, raising a flag. Sonic bent a little lower for a better start, Shadow's shoes were making noises, showing, that they were ready to be used, Silver's whole body started to glow in a turquoise light, hovering a bit above the ground.

Seeing nothing but determination in the eyes of the three hedgehogs, Tails gave the signal, "Ready! Set! GO!", waving the flag at the last word and disappearing in a cloud of dust, as the trio raced away, playfully competing against each other, not caring for the result.

Meanwhile:

"ELLEN!," the warder barked over the currently dining prisoners. Some of the other women answered mockingly, mostly, because their first names were Ellen. The warder had meant the only prisoner with the family name Ellen, though.

Calmly, Kylie stood up, leaving her tray and her...food...on the table, walking to the warder, wondering, what was wrong now. For some reason, this particular person couldn't stand her – even though she had never done something for this hatred. "You're having a visitor.," the rough woman told the veterinarian curtly and turned around to lead her to the room, where visitors and prisoners could meet.

Kylie followed silently, wondering, who that might be – especially, since the visiting hours had ended three hours ago. So far, she had had only one visitor – her husband, on the second day of her being here. She had explained everything to him and asked him not to bring their children. She didn't want them to see her like this and to learn, how she had ended up here in the first place. Since then, he hadn't come anymore, probably, because he was forced to play the role of father AND mother, which was hard, she could imagine that much. Maybe he had found some time to visit now? But...why should he come this late? And how did he come this late? The current warder would definitely not do her a favor...

Reaching the visitor's room, she quickly noticed, that no one of the occupants was male, or her husband. The ones, who she noticed first, were two well known female mobians. "Rouge, Lupe!," Kylie grinned, coming to them and plopping on a chair to be closer to the two smaller beings. "Hey there, Kylie. You look great.," Rouge grinned, lifting herself to sit on the table in front of the human.

Kylie crinkled her nose. She doubted that. The food was hardly such a thing and she knew, that she had trouble with sleeping. She looked pale in mirrors, had bags under her eyes and her lips were dry and cracked.

"How is everyone?," she asked, instead of answering. "Oh, they're fine. Your three uke-friends have recovered greatly.," Rouge replied, telling her, what she knew the veterinarian needed to know. "That's nice to know.," Kylie nodded, feeling a huge amount of her worry leaving her. "And how are you two?," she continued. "Better. My clan and I are finally free.," Lupe explained, knowing, that the woman wouldn't judge. "I'm very happy for you.," Kylie smiled, getting a smile in return.

In this moment, the third visitor in the room decided to clear her throat to draw attention to her. Kylie looked up to see a human woman with short, light brown hair and blue, almost purple eyes. She wore a formal navy blue uniform and she had several medals on her chest.

"Dr. Ellen, I'm happy to meet you at last. I've heard a lot about you.," she started. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?," Kylie asked confused. "No, we hadn't have the chance to meet, yet. My name is Celia Topaz, I'm the Commander of the Guardians of the United Nations.," the woman introduced herself.

"You are...? But what happened to Towers?," Kylie asked, astounded. "He has been released from his duties." Topaz' answer didn't leave space for any more questions. "Anyway, I am here, because Agent Rouge and civilian Lupe did everything in their power to shorten your penalty.," she changed the topic.

Kylie's eyes widened. "Dr. Ellen, congratulations, you are now officially free.," Topaz declared, giving her a file. Kylie, too stunned for words, opened it and scanned the document in it. Apparently, her penalty hadn't only been shortened to the three months she had already been here, her crimes had also gotten erased. She was completely innocent in front of the law.

With wide eyes, she looked up and into Topaz' eyes. "I-I...why?," she stammered, finally finding her voice. "Why would you do this for me?"

Rouge chuckled. "I told you, she's not someone to trust easily. You owe me 100 bucks!," she cheered.

"Remind me to never bet with you again.," the human sighed, while going through the handbag she had and pulling out three envelopes, that she held out towards Kylie. "Let's just say, that I didn't have a choice in that matter.," Topaz smiled softly, answering the other woman's question, somehow.

Kylie raised a brow and took the envelopes. The first one on top was pretty dirty and there was sloppily written Commander on the front, nothing more. It had been probably thrown in the mailbox of GUN. She opened it, pulled out an old piece of paper and read through the short message. Her eyes started to water the farther she came:

Hey Commy,

I read in the newspaper, that you arrested Kylie. Are you stupid? She's an Angel! An Angel in hell and you arrest her!? You better get her out, or I'll come to you and kick your butt to the moon – and you can quote that!

Scourge

It was a little rude, but she got, that Scourge had tried to help – and hey, he had been pretty civil...more or less.

Putting the letter back, she took the second envelope, that was much cleaner and had a neat handwriting on the front, with an address and a stamp, it had been sent normally. She opened it and pulled out a clean, white piece of paper. She looked to the bottom of the message first and smiled upon seeing the well-known names there, before starting from the top.

Dear Commander,

as we had to learn, you have sent two persons for years into jail, who don't deserve such punishment. Dr. Kylie Ellen and John Perringten may have been involved with the Island-incident, but both have not only rebelled against the institution built on said landmass, they also played important parts in bringing it down for good. We ask you therefore humbly to free those two citizens for their beneficial doings.

Yours sincerely,

Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower, Amy Rose, Knuckles the Echidna, Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, Silver the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat, Mephiles the Dark, Sally Acorn, Rotor the Walrus, Bunnie Rabbot, Antoine D'Coolette, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy the Bee...

There were a lot more names under those, showing off the number of friends Sonic and the others had. She presumed, that Sally had written this letter, it sounded too formal for Sonic's style and – judging by the slightly shaky handwriting – she guessed, that he hadn't been at his best, when the letter had been written. A look on the date in the top corner, that was more than two months in the past, confirmed her suspicion.

The last name on the list let her jaw drop, when she read it. "Uhuh, Sonic has friends in high places, doesn't he?," Rouge smirked, interpreting her gaze right. "Yeah...but...the President?," Kylie managed to get out. "Heroes, I guess.," the bat shrugged. "This was, by the way, just the first letter. We have about two hundred of those.," she added. "And every single one with your name on it, too.," Topaz remarked dryly.

"So...is John free already?," Kylie changed the topic quickly, before her brain exploded from too much information. "Since yesterday. The funny thing is, he could have paid the bail from day one – he's filthy rich after all.," Rouge explained. "He is?," Kylie wondered. She had known, that the Perringtens were rich, but she had never grasped the exact dimension. She would have guessed, that the Island-project had used up most of the money already. "Yeah. The Perringtens are the richest people on Mobius and as he is the only heir, he has inherited all the money. I wonder, though, why he had waited for exactly three months, before he had paid the bail.," the bat mused loudly.

"Three years – three months. Had he killed someone, he would have probably paid to be locked up forever.," Kylie thought, but didn't speak it out. She put the letter back and turned her attention to the third. It was a large brown envelope without any writing on it and in it were a lot of papers. She pulled the amount out and frowned upon seeing the many black stripes replacing the lines she expected, leaving almost no text to read.

Rouge, who looked over her shoulder, frowned at that, too. "What's that, the close-up of a zebra? Topaz!," she complained. "Rouge, these are official documents, civilians could only read those under special circumstances – and you liking someone enough to be nice isn't one!," the new Commander scolded. The bat pouted, while Kylie read what she could (literally), her eyes flying over the paragraphs, that had also short black stripes in them, hiding the names:

...gave to protocol, that Dr. Kylie Ellen had helped him to survive a serious infection and, that she had delayed his return to the island named 'Paradise' for as long as possible...

...gave to protocol, that Dr. Kylie Ellen had brought his young to the world...

...gave to protocol, that Dr. Kylie Ellen should be considered an angel. ...'s brother and mate have agreed to this...

...gave to protocol, that Dr. Kylie Ellen had been "super nice to me and to everyone else, too". ...'s mate has agreed to this...

Kylie's eyes watered again, while she went through the papers, her eyes finding the not-darkened paragraphs by now with practiced ease. She wasn't aware of the fact, that she had helped this much. She had always thought, that it was little to nothing in comparison to how they had to suffer. But here it was, black on white, how much she had actually helped, how much it meant for them, even if it had been two years ago and been only once. She had given them hope...

Rouge waited, until the human woman was done, before she asked, "So, ready to leave here?" Kylie wiped her eyes and nodded. "Yes."

John looked up at the mansion towering over him like a nightmare. Even though he was grown now, it still looked giant to him. He swallowed and made his way through the rusty, open gate.

The old key he held in his hand felt ice cold to the touch and he quickly lost his courage, stopping a meter away from the gate and turning around to the single human waiting there. "I...er...won't you...come?," he asked meekly.

The old man he meant, who stood on the other side of the gates, smiled sadly. "I'm terribly sorry, master John, but I can't. Your ancestors' house is protected by technical barriers, without a special card key, I am unable to move past this threshold without being killed.," he apologized politely, performing a perfect bow.

"C-card key!?," John stammered, patting his body frantically, even though he KNEW, that he didn't have one. He hadn't known, that there was this kind of security system, he didn't remember anything about it!

Heck, he hadn't even known, that his father had had a BUTLER, until Damius had visited him in jail, a day after his trial. Apparently, Jester had fired the loyal man, just before John had come to the mansion.

Damius was indeed loyal, though, he had always waited for the time to return into Jester Perringten's service, never doing any other job in all those years (as ascetic as he lived, his savings out of his former salary would have lasted for a few more decades).

When Jester had been declared dead, he had immediately offered his services to the next and only other Perringten. He was good in finding people, John had to give him that – he himself wouldn't have looked for his employer in jail.

The butler had kept a key to Jester's house and planned to give it to John, together with his being, so to say as part of his inheritance, but John wasn't exactly interested in a butler. He had given him only one order so far – to get him, when three months had passed.

Damius had done this, not questioning him and being as punctual as a clock, and then given him the key, on the young Perringten's request. John had decided, that he needed to return to this place, to find some closure. This was, where it had started and this would be, where it would end. The terror of his father.

He would take one last look at it, free Damius of his service and let someone wreck the house for good. He had a lot of money now, maybe he could build an orphanage on where it stood, or something like that.

Even though he knew, that it was just a house, an inanimate object with nobody in it, he still felt uneasy about getting closer to it, as if its inhabitants had had a deadly disease and the pathogen was still possibly there. The sudden information about this card key wasn't exactly helping with his fear. This thing was a death trap!

"Don't worry, master John, you have a card key.," Damius piped up, his voice as calm as ever. John stopped his hectic search. "H-huh?," he stammered. "Master Jester assured me, that his DNA is the key for himself. If I assume correctly, you are also having this special, inherited key.," the butler explained humbly. Well, he would be dead, if he didn't.

"You...know a lot about my father, correct?," John asked slowly. "A lot, that I will take into my grave, sir.," the old butler replied without a second of hesitation, with an 'I'll never change my mind about that, sir'-tone. "Great. I'll see you later.," John sighed, turned around and weaved his way through the weed, that was by now as tall as he was.

Reaching the front door, he opened it with the key, turning it with great difficulty. The door swung open surprisingly easy and a cloud of dust greeted him. John coughed violently and his eyes started to sting, but he made his way inside nonetheless. He rather got it over with, than stalling time.

A noise at his feet let him look down and blink his watery eyes. He frowned upon seeing a crumbled piece of paper under his foot, that was also dusty. He picked it up and unfolded it. It was a small card out of thick, formerly white paper, on that someone had written. The writing had almost disappeared because of the time and because it had been written in ink, that couldn't withstand the certain humidity in the house.

Still, he could make out the words 'Good luck' and a few names around the obvious message. The names...he knew them...they triggered something in his mind...

His eyes widened – the people from the catering, who had provided them with food! These were the names of a few of the deliverers, he recognized them! Did they...leave him this letter? Because he had been to busy for a personal farewell? They had...really cared about him, hadn't they?

His glare darkened. His father had found the little card first and just thrown it away like trash, deciding, that it was a waste of their time. He growled, folded the piece of paper neatly, with care, and put it in his pocket, thankful, that Damius had provided him with pants with pockets and a sweater for his first day out of jail. With a mental note to try and search out the people, who had been the closest to family and friends for the longest time, he made his way further through the house.

Going through the rooms and examining the dust, he asked himself, just what exactly he tried to achieve here. Refresh nostalgic feelings? What feelings? Of fear, sadness, loneliness? No, for sure not. Then what was keeping him here, let him go on? True, Damius had practically shoved him here by giving him the key, but he didn't have to, did he?

His train of thought was interrupted painfully, when he ran into something hard, that let him stumble back, lose his footing and fall onto his bottom. Rubbing his nose, he felt for any severe injuries, but found thankfully nothing. Groaning, he looked up at what hit him and felt his heartbeat quicken, when he realized, where his feet had carried him. He sat in front of Jester Perringten's office, he had ran into the firmly closed door of it. Looking up at it, he felt like the small boy he had once been, who sat in front of this unforgivably hard door for years, yearning for attention of his only relative.

He frowned, when a memory lit up unwanted in his brain. He remembered, he had been just acknowledged by his father, stepping for the first time into his office. He had felt so happy, so strong and accepted, that he had barely managed to pass the door frame. He still saw the high towers of books all around him, that had almost hidden something else from his curious eyes. Almost, he had seen it anyway. The second door in the room, a simple thing out of wood, seeming so innocent in the room, so unimportant without any kind of decor on it, unlike all the other doors he had cleaned... and yet, it had drawn him to it, as if he had been under a spell. Why had he never tried to open it? Because he had tried it, once and then never again. It had been the first time he had actually gotten his father angry. And he hadn't wanted that, so he had so much refused to touch it again afterwards, that he had forgotten about it all together. Until now.

John narrowed his eyes. He still remembered, how Jester Perringten's face had looked, when he had seen his only offspring standing there, with his small hand on the doorknob, ready to turn it. He had been all red, his features twisted in pure rage, he had shouted at the little boy, forbidding him harshly to EVER touch the door again. And little John, frightened out of his mind, had obeyed.

Slowly, grown-up John stood up, not bothering to dust himself off. He grabbed the door handle with unnecessary force, yanked it down and ripped it open. A few loose papers flew out from the wind he had created this way, accompanied by more dust, but this time, it hadn't an effect on him, he was too distracted. The office looked as untidy as ever, they hadn't cared to take anything with them, not even the files, they had simply gone to the Island. Not bothering with packing. It wasn't, as if John would have liked anything here, that he would have wanted to take with him, anyway.

Determined, he moved into the room, stepping on books and files, just because he had avoided it for years, and turned sharply to the door, that was so damn precious to his father. He shoved the book staples in front of it away, as if they were his father, replacing the man in his mind with them.

He kicked the last book on the ground away, grabbed the doorknob hard, as if he wanted to rip it off, turned it and pulled – only to be met with resistance. Out of pure rage, he pulled on the stupid door again and again, until he lost his grip and stumbled back to crash into some books, the hard edges boring into his back. "Okay...," he sighed, getting over his aggression. It was pointless anyway. "Think, John.," he told himself, while he stood up again. He remembered the strangely hidden elevator button and decided, that there had to be a way to open this door – he just thought too much in the box still.

He straightened and looked around, trying to think like his father...which was creeping him out, actually. His eyes stopped at a small, innocent looking vase on a shelf next to the door. It looked decorative there, like someone had tried to bring a speck of color in this temple of work. And it stuck out like a sore thumb for him. He knew the house, he had cleaned it several times already, seen every inch of it – and this was the only vase in the entire mansion. It had never seemed strange to him, that there weren't any, he himself hadn't cared for flowers, either.

Now, however, he asked himself, why his father had an empty vase in a shelf, where he could see it everyday. Frowning, he grabbed the piece of ceramic and attempted to lift it off. He could only move it a little, it was weighing far more than it should, before he heard a faint 'click' next to him and the door opened a bit. Letting go of the vase, he quickly went to the door and pulled it open – to look in a small, empty room. It was just big enough for him to stand in it, having walls out of wood, that looked well-kept. Not even dust was in the room, as if it had been the only one Jester Perringten had ever cared for. And yet, it seemed to be nothing but an empty broom closet.

John's eyes narrowed. "No way in hell, 'Father'! I won't believe this!," he snarled and stomped into the room, flinching, though, when the door slammed shut behind him, a small lamp over him coming to life, so that he stood in twilight. He turned around to where the door was, but stopped in the movement, when he realized, that he was moving down...with the entire room. He was standing in an elevator!

"Alright...," he slowly said, trying to find his balance, but almost fell over, when the room suddenly stopped and a door opened opposite the one he had come through. Cautiously, he stepped out, into complete darkness, that not even the dim light in the elevator could brighten.

He took a step into the room – and lights flickered on instantly, illuminating a big room, taking about half of the mansion's size for length and width and about two meters for height.

John felt his mouth open, but was unable to close it. It looked like an extended closet at first, until he noticed, that it was filled with...untypical stuff. He could see thick, big stone slabs, leaning against the wall on his right, halfway covered with dirty cloths, a small shelf with colorful crystals, small wooden things he couldn't identify easily from the distance and glasses with different contents filling it next to it, a giant screen and a computer in front of him and an even bigger closed cupboard on his right. Taking in the scenery, John spotted a single, old looking book in the shelf with the crystals and went to it – carefully, just in case. He didn't trust his father not to install some traps.

Reaching the book unharmed, he took it and opened it, starting to read. His eyes widened, the further he came. "W-what the heck is this?," was all he managed to get out for a long time, his eyes glued to the paper. It would be hours, until he would move again, until he wasn't paralyzed from shock and confusion anymore.

Aaaand done! Believe it or not, but 'The Island' is now finished. That doesn't mean, that it's done, though.

Before I come to that, I would like to thank everyone, who ever read, favorited or reviewed my story! Thank you so very much :)!

Now, I would love to announce, that there will be a second part to this story. I won't call it sequel, because The Island isn't a closed story, I left countless gaps in it for the second part. You can expect answers to questions like:

How will Sonadow and Mephilver develop?

Will Fleetourge come to be?

Why did Jester Perringten all that?

What is the role Shy is playing?

Is it really over...?

I know, some of you would love to read it right now (I'll have a suitable title, when I publish it, promise), but I have to ask for your patience, I'm afraid. I want to correct all mistakes I find and made in 'The Island' first, starting tomorrow (This should take 1-2 weeks), because only then, I will consider and mark the story as 'complete'. I will have to publish all chapters anew, I'm afraid, and I'm sorry for the confusion, that might come with it.

When I'm done with that, I will need some time to write at least the first two/three chapters, so that I have some air. It shouldn't take that long (I'm trying for shorter and more chapters, but if I succeed...), I'm estimating about a month, before I will upload the second part. I will write 'Second part of The Island' in the first line of the description, this way you'll recognize it easily.

Thank you again for liking my story! Have a nice weekend and see you with the next story :)!