A few months after the fall of Arthas

"Ready, Clare?" I said as I opened the maintenance door, accessing the roof of the tall building I was on.

"Ready!" She replied with enthusiasm. Since Clare was a Universal sword now, I was wanting to test out her new abilities, so I figured I would go to Radical City for my first test, seeing how this region is mostly known for earthquakes. I make my way towards the edge of the building, observing the HVAC machines and the gravel surrounding them. With the wind whistling in my fur, I slowly walked and leaned over the edge, observing the streets below. "It's a long way down," Clare remarked with worry in her voice, "I'd be careful not to slip on the gravel."

"Clare, I can fly remember? That's like my best trait." I took a deep breath, gripping Clare's handle before whispering to myself. "C'mon Miles, you got this."

I walked back a few steps, and started running at normal pace, gaining the momentum needed before throwing Clare into the sky. I skidded to a stop, the gravel kicking up as a loud boom shattered the upper windows of the building. I look down to observe the damage dealt, watching as the shards of glass and dust fall to the empty streets below.

"Well shit, I was holding back, but still, that's a lot worse than I anticipated. I better get out of here," I raised my hand to recall Clare, "Please hurry, I kinda don't wanna get caught."

She raced back as I turned around, darting to the other side of the building before jumping off the side, free falling.

"Just past the upper atmosphere!" Her eye looked ecstatic. I grabbed Clare out of the air as she turned into her handle's crystal as a necklace, a disguise for when I'm not in my suit. I put Clare around my neck, continuing to free fall.

"Oops," Clare said as her crystal turned blue, also examining the damage done to the building, "Good thing Radical City is one of the most expensive cities in this wonderful State of New Onío."

Once I was close enough to the ground, I spread my tails apart to slow my fall, eventually spinning them so I don't hurt myself or the pavement beneath me. Of course, someone had to see though. A lion three times my size stopped in front of me as I stood myself up, looking shocked. He had a tuxedo and a brief case, no doubt headed to work.

"Hey it's okay, I'm fine!" I tried to calm down the lion, but instead he gave me a confused look and walked off. It's okay, I didn't have anywhere I needed to be anyways. I began walking down the sidewalk casually, taking in the city life around me. Cars honking in the distance, the smell of freshly cooked pizza and pastries, people chit chatting about nonsense like what they did last night, or how their date went the other day.

"You blend in pretty well for being an ex-sidekick of a world class hero." Clare remarked in my head.
"Yeah, just goes to show how deep of a shadow I was in, in my opinion." I replied in my head, reaching into my jeans, pulling out a box of mint hard candy, popping one into my mouth.

"Well I hope you know you're better than him, right? I mean sure, you only have the weight of safe-guarding the entire Universe itself, but that's a great honor the way I see it."

"Or a great disaster waiting to happen," I added with a little worry in my mental reply, "With Arthas out of the picture, I'm probably going to have to focus on more complex threats."

I maneuvered through a crowd and noticed a coffee shop. Maybe I can get something for Carl and the kids?

I entered the shop and was immediately embraced by the warmth from the hotboxes and the smell in the air. The coffee shop on the inside had brown wooden walls and a more rustic setting to it. If I wanted to, I could sleep in here, easy.

"Hi, welcome to Sarah's, my name's Martha, is there anything I can get for you?" It was a female flamingo, about in her 20's no doubt. I examined the pastry case, and chose a blue glazed donut with sprinkles.

"That one please?" I looked up and smiled. She was in a good mood. "Can you also give me that maple Long John, and two of the New Emerald Creams right there?" I pointed at a maple Long John. She nodded her head and grabbed my donut from the case, putting it in a baggie.

"So those ones you picked are from this morning, if you're willing to wait a little longer, I have fresh ones being made right now?" She sounded pretty bummed out. Yeah why not, I don't have places to be.

"Yes, please, thank you Martha," I gave her my gratitude, paid for the donuts, and walked towards the small table by the window facing the sidewalk. I sat down, grabbing my donut from the sack as I looked at the traffic outside.

That's when the TV in the dining room caught my attention.

"And that's it for the weather, now? Fox News."
The screen switched to another news anchor, with a headline saying Fox News in the front. It was a female Fox with long brownish-blackish hair.

"Hello, welcome to Fox News, my name's Colleen Villard, and today we have some interesting news reports about the "Yellow Blur" being sighted somewhere in Mountain Town, which is halfway across the world by the way! Michael, care to fill us in?" She turned towards the male Rhino on her left, a very big contrast to their sizes.

"Thanks Colleen. As we all know, no one has ever even SEEN this... "Yellow Blur," unless they're extremely lucky. Even the fastest camera in the world can't seem to catch a clear frame of this mysterious hero." The screen switched to a reporter in a laboratory, along with a camera and some scientists.

"That's right Michael, what your seeing here is in fact the fastest hand held camera in the world, called the 'Phantom NB450', which can catch up to 60 or 120 frames per second, and has nearly a 4 million dot resolution, which is one of the best buyers choice yet, especially because of what the Phantom is capable of."

The Flamingo walked up, watching the TV as she handed me a paper bag with the rest of the donuts in it, and walked off. I just sat there and watched the news about myself. Clare was too if felt like. The screen switched to a street, along with some robbers going down the street in an armored truck. In a flash, the truck was stopped dead in its tracks, with its grill smashed in, and the robbers tied up on the street faster than a blink of an eye. I remember that.

"That was about five days ago, in the city of Barnes Town when the "Blur" stopped a massive heist from Barnes local casino. Now if we slowed down the footage about 5 times, we can almost see a blur, but that's about what we got." It showed a blurry image right as the truck got smashed in, but I know enough to make it out.

I got up, bored of the topic, and exited the shop with the baggie in my hands. All of a sudden a new hero turns up and I get all of the attention? Who would've thought it would be this stressful.

"You know they'll never be able to make a camera as fast as you?" Clare continued to speak in my head. I made sure no one was around, and went into the back of an alley.

"We'll see about that, I'm sure there's some inventor out there who's determined to find out my little secret." I got down in my running position, and ran at lightspeed for about three seconds before skidding to a stop at Carl's big red barn. I stepped around the corner to see Carl and his family playing outside in the sunshine when Carl noticed me and walked towards me.

"Thanks Miles, did ye' eat yours?" He held his hand out for me to hand him the sack.

"I did back at the donut place," I handed the donuts, "I knew how much you liked maple, so I got you a maple Long John." Carl took out his and bit the end, shaking his head.

"I don't know how they do it, but that is one helluva good donut, thanks Miles," He looked behind him, "Hey kiddos, come get yer' donuts Miles got fer y'all."

Daryl, the son, and Cammy, the daughter came skipping along the yard, their smiles as big as can be as Carl hands them their sweets. Their mother, Nara, was at work and so Carl was tasked with watching. They thanked me before they ran off, bickering about who got the better donut, sweet kids. I thought for a moment before speaking.

"Y'know, they almost make me want kids of my own," I thought a little more, about how good of a father he was, "I... Slightly remember when my dad was around, but I think I remember him being stressed out all the time. I don't know, I was younger and so I don't remember." I patted Carl's shoulder as he looked back at me. I don't think I remember anything about my dad honestly.

"What happened to him, do ya remember? Even his name?" He asked, cocking his head. I thought for a moment, and yet I can't recall my own dad's name? Damn, I really don't remember anything.

"I... Have no idea actually. I was alone for most of my life when it came to family. Hell I may even be the last Prower alive." I chuckled a bit. That wasn't funny at all Miles...

"Well anyways, I gotta tell you something, follow me," he spun around to make sure his kids weren't looking, and motioned me to the barn. I followed him in before he shut the doors. The cow was munching away at the stocked hay bale as usual.

"Did you hear the news? You were spotted in Mountain Town!" He continued eating his donut.

"Actually yeah I saw that. A new program called Fox News or whatever, something about a new camera called the Phantom?"

"Oh okay, so you know? If they catch who ya are, you'll be in some deep waters." He finished up his donut, and wiped his fingers on his shirt.

"Yeah, don't worry Carl, I'm fine. I have my disguise remember?" I shook my head, leaning against the doors like I was some cool kid.

"Ya mean the disguise that's barely covering ya when you go out? Hell Miles, your belt that covers your two tails jams on you every now and then. If they catch an image of you, and your tails are distinguishable, yer' done for." He also leaned against doors. It's odd, having someone who cares about me like this. "Why not go about and find some better materials? Or at least just fix up your stuff and let my wife sew your robe back in one piece," He squinted as he pointed at a small hole in my shirt near my stomach, "Like that one you goober." He chuckled and opened the doors to walk out.
Damn, he really just called me out and left?
I don't even know where to start without my equipment. I'd have to go back to Sonic's old place and break back into my garage. I sighed, walking out behind Carl. My life would be a bunch easier if I had Silver Bolt with me, I wonder where that old bird went, if he's even alive still.

I tried not to think about it walking back to Carl's house. Carl and Nara were nice enough to bunk the kids together so I could have a room to myself. In return, I help out with the extra heavy lifting, especially on a ranch like this. Benefits of having a super hero as a roommate I suppose. I walked in through the front door before getting jump scared by Cammy.

"Tails, come here! looksie what I have, it's you and Sonic!" She smiled a big one as she held up two figures made up of dry clay. I'm starting to notice a pattern here. Then Daryl came charging in with another figure, which was just a single big red sphere of dry clay.

"I made Eggman!" He exclaimed. Wow, he really got down the fatness of him too. I squatted down to get a better look, obviously taking the mini me. They should make Clare too, that'd be cool to see, or maybe even the Universe herself. Suddenly Nara came through the front door with an arm full of Groceries.

"Hey Miles, hun, would you do me a huge favor when you get the chance and go put another bale down for Murph, so she has something to snack on tonight?" She asked with a pleading smile. I immediately got up to help get the bags of groceries from her, and set it down onto the counter.

"Yes ma'am, let me get something warm real quick and I'll get right to it." I got ready to run before Nara interrupted.

"No powers in the house Miles, our agreement remember?" She said firmly. I suppose we did agree to no running, damnit. "Powers are an outside thing."

"Ooo, Tails got in trouble, Tails got in troubleee!" Clare started chanting as she lifted herself of my neck, floating towards the kids as they started giggling at me, chanting with her. God damnit Clare. I gave Clare a dirty look as I walked past her to my room, quickly grabbing my jacket with a playful attitude.

"Yes yes I got in trouble, I'll just go to my time out barn and make up for it," I smiled at the kids and Nara, who shook her head, smiling back at me. Alrighty, time to head out.

I quickly dash out the front door, Clare obviously following close behind before shutting it behind us. The sun was about to set, so I needed to hurry up with this.

"So, what do you think?" Clare broke the silence as I walked towards the barn. She transformed back into her blade form.

"Abooout...?" I asked with suspense, looking at her, cocking my head. This could be about anything.

"The Universe and Arthas? Y'know, the guy we were originally supposed to kill? How long do you think until she finds out, if not already?" She scurried up next to me as I stopped in front of the barn doors. This again? I already have enough anxiety as is.

"I don't know Clare. I don't even remember part of it. All I remember is me slamming you into the ground and you coming out into.. That," I gestured to her dual blades, "And I partially remember Arthas getting sucked into the portal, but that's about it."

"Fair enough, I'm not trying to stress you out, I just want to make sure you're aware of the gravity of what you did."

Yeah, I know... And it slightly haunts me. I opened the doors and was greeted by the hungry cow, who had eaten all her bales. Great, now I gotta go to the field and grab one.

"Hang on, you and me are going to the outer fields real quick to go get one." I said, holding  Clare before I got in my position, and dashed to the hay fields. Clare continued her barrage of questions.

"And what if she finds out about Frostmourne and his pieces?" Her glowy blue eye squinted at me. I simply lifted a somewhat heavy bale above me and looked back at her, shaking my head.

"Lay off it will you please? I've got this covered. Whatever I did, I knew what I was doing, I hope." I looked ahead of me and spun my tails, lifting off into the air slowly, with Clare trailing behind me. She's about to give me a damn anxiety attack. Of course, she persisted.

"I trust you Miles, but hiding something or someone, as big and important as he was, or still is, especially from the Universe? Oh man, especially the High Eldens..." She floated in front of me as I continued forth.

"Clare, you're about to go into the scabbard for a week, unless you hush it." I gave her a harrowing look, and she finally shut up. Thank God.

"Fine fine, but just know if she ever finds out, I had nothing to do with it." She remarked as she rolled her eye. I finally landed in front of the barn and set down the bale. It's not terribly heavy, but I still needed a work out.

I opened the barn doors, being greeted by the aroma of the barn animal. Eugh, if I ever owned a ranch, I'm definitely going to keep a tidier place. I dragged the bale behind me, leaving a skid mark behind it.

"There, all done. Now you can eat." I sighed, leaning against the bale as Murph munched down on it. Clare hovered next to me to look at Murph, and looked back at me.

"I kinda miss Silver." She looked down, with her crystal turning blue. Yeah, me too Clare. I walked out, wanting to observe the imminent sunset. I will admit, being on a ranch though does produce some pretty scenes. I looked up and flew to the top of the nearby silo, leaning against the railing as the breeze blew in my fur. I wonder what this is like for other
planets.

"I'm sorry I'm hard on you," Clare broke the momentary silence, "I just care about you. You're a Universal Guardian now and I just want the best." She looked forward, also observing the now setting sun.

I just care about you... I don't hear that a lot.
"Thank you Clare," I leaned against her, "I care about you too. C'mon, let's go back down."