The Fan

“I want you to tell me all about it,” Tails cried, his eyes shining as he stared up at Umbra. He had pulled up the hood of his coat, obscuring everything but a small portion of his face.

“All about what?” Umbra asked, refusing to look at his new boss. The sun beat down upon his back, the black fabric absorbing an uncomfortable amount of heat.

“Your adventures! Being a mercenary must be so fun!”

Umbra sighed, his frustration growing. “I'm afraid our ‘adventures’ are trademarked information of Alcorith Horizons. Strictly classified material.”

“Okay…” Tails scratched his chin, “How about your teammates? Like, a demon that's the mother to a human? Those two spirits that look like dudes? You guys aren't exactly normal.”

“The family is also classified, kid,” Umbra muttered.

Tails bit his lip. “Can you at least tell me about the ‘necromancer for hire’ that your guild profile talks about?”

Umbra paused, in the midst of clearing brush. “My son is a necromancer. That's it,” he said, his voice guarded. He didn't want to bring up Victor to a stranger.

“I never really got to meet him. He was the little kid with the black hair, right? That was the only person I saw who even looked like a necromancer. He looked like he was going to throw up.”

“He usually looks like that,” Umbra said, a smile accidentally breaking through his gruff exterior.

“That's the first time you've smiled this entire time,” Tails observed, turning to face him. Umbra saw his shoulders fall ever so slightly, and he could detect a note of sadness in his voice. “You must really love him. That's...that's super nice.”

Staring down at Tails, something familiar kindled in Umbra's stomach. That expression... Umbra thought, taking a sharp breath. Quickly, he forced the feeling down, picking up his pace. He didn't want to think about it. He already had enough on his mind.

Falling into silence, Umbra steadily charged through the sandy landscape of the Serpentine Realm with Tails meekly at his heels. The trees and brush began to thin as he traveled forward, and Umbra could hear Tails muttering in uncertainty to himself.

This is going rather well, Umbra thought, straightening his tie. Matthew was right. This is going to be easy.

The sight before Umbra broke him from his thoughts. Exactly six feet in front of him, the ground suddenly dropped off, plunging hundreds of feet down into pure jungle. Far in the distance, he could see the temple Tails pointed out to him.

“What the crap?” Umbra cried, whirling on his heels to scowl at Tails, “You led us in the wrong direction!”

Tails cracked a nervous smiled, avoiding Umbra’s bitter glare. “Ah, okay, um...So like, there's this path I always confuse with the way home, and um, what will you have it, that happened to be the one I picked. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find the right direction this time.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Umbra snapped, taking his frustrations out on an rock, which was sent flying into the ravine. The stone did little to dampen the rage Umbra was feeling.

“Who's there?” a voice called.

Umbra paused in his temper tantrum, grabbing Tails by the scruff of his neck and throwing him to the ground. “Get behind me,” he snarled.

From the brush emerged four serpentine, eyes wild and clutching spears.

Author's Note- ahah ive been procrastinating. but now we're finally getting to the fun parts