Prologue: Discordance of a Fox's Heart
There was no sound of machinery, whether from the great waterwheel that once turned so proudly or the mechanisms built into almost every wall to simplify the life of the mill-turned-workshop's owner. There was no trace of that owner's former cleanly, orderly nature amidst the scattered boxes of takeout from fast food restaurants both eastern and western in nature that laid about the living room and kitchen, nor within the garage at the work bench. Even his once bright golden-yellow fur was devoid of infamous splendor, dirt and oil staining it in patches along his back and arms, his white belly a dingy gray. Yet one would have been most concerned when looking into his eyes, for the fire and light once commonly found within them a year prior was no more.
Miles "Tails" Prower was a broken fox.
Sighing as he set aside another incomplete engine design, sketched haphazardly on the usual dark blue paper, Tails ran a hand through his messy bangs and shook his head sadly. He just couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. For the longest time, he had been able to build the most impressive, expensively designed machines and devices to improve both his planes and his home, but now he could barely gather the energy to lift a wrench or draw a straight line. He rarely had the energy to even properly clean his fur, and the tangles–especially those in the thicker fur of his namesakes–was getting painful to so much as lightly caress. Nothing made him feel any pep or thrill anymore, and the depression was, well, depressing.
If only Cosmo were alive, he thought.
Once more, he sighed. Cosmo the Seedrian–once the last of her kind–was dead and gone almost a year to the day. Sacrificed in the final battle versus the vicious Dark Oak and his Metarex alien army, she was no more, either forever dead or lost somewhere amongst the stars, her only remains, a lone seed, resting in a pot on his living room table. It was, in the end, probably the only thing left of her and the only thing Tails had any energy to tend too.
And he hated it. He hated the lack of energy that had made him leave the water wheel outside to rot under a layer of moss, mold and mildew. He hated that he hadn't been able to properly focus and build anything since returning from space. And he especially hated that he couldn't bring himself to go out anymore and hang out with his friends.
"Sonic," he muttered, "I wish you knew what to do. You always seemed to be able to help me before."
But Tails knew there wouldn't be anyone helping him. Sonic had tried immediately after their return, but nothing that he had said, not even the message he'd supposedly gotten from Cosmo, had been enough to ease the pain. Whoever had said it was better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all was truly an idiot. And now, the young fox couldn't escape, for every single one of his friends in some way made his thoughts inevitably turn back to the adventures in space, to Cosmo and all the fun they had managed to have in spite of the danger, and the pain of his lost love.
Stopping in the heart of the house itself, in the very living room, Tails growled softly and slammed his fist onto the table. "Why?" he shouted, eyes clenched as tight as his fist as tears leaked from their corners. "Why does everything have to hurt so freaking much?"
He didn't expect an answer, of course. No one was there with him, same as it had been nearly every day for nearly a year. Thus, there was no one to answer.
But someone did.
"Alas, but life is pain, little friend. Anyone who says otherwise is either ignorant, stupid, or selling something–best to avoid that last sort."
Spinning around, Tails looked all about, eyes wide and entire body shaking. "W-who's there?"
From overhead the same voice, deep and throaty, chuckled and made a soft "tut-tut" noise, a clawed finger lightly tapping the fox's head and causing him to go still from the rush of fear. "No one that you need to worry about too much, I can assure you. Just your friendly out-of-town chaotician."
Tails gulped and looked up... and stared. The being above him was, simply put, the oddest mix of miss-mashed parts he had ever seen. The arms and legs of an alligator, goat, eagle and lion were all somehow attached to the body of a long, fuzzy brown creature with a fin-tipped snake's tail and a long, almost giraffe-like neck. Its wings, somehow suspending their owner while barely moving, were shaped like a bird and a dragon's, one of each sort, and the antler and horn of a deer and a goat sprung forth from atop his draconic head. Yet what somehow managed to be most disquieting about him were his bright red eyes, each surrounded by a sea of bright yellow sclera, and the snaggle toothed grin that formed just below them.
That and the fact he was idly juggling a collection of expensive-looking vases and a golden-framed hand-held mirror with his lion's paw whilst the eagle talons swished about the red contents of an equally expensive-looking wine glass, all whilst he kept smiling that same snaggle toothed grin with a brow raised over a pair of half moon spectacles.
Strange, it seemed, was likely an eternal understatement for this figure.
Swallowing back another lump of fear in his throat, Tails stepped slowly back and asked, his voice aquiver, "W-who are you?"
The creature chuckled again and–miraculously–caught the vases and mirror on the fingers of his lion's paw before setting them aside. "A friend," he answered finally once the paw was clear of objects. "Just call me Discord, the Draconequis."
As "Discord" sipped his wine glass–somehow quite literally, such that the bottom of the glass itself seemed to melt and be slurped up into his mouth in place of the red liquid–Tails stared, dumbfounded, and struggled to make some sense of what he was seeing as he took in his impromptu visitor's form properly. "H-how did you get in here? The door should still be–"
"Locked?" Discord simply waved his hand about with another chuckle, sipping at his glass again. "Oh, I don't really use doors; they take too much time to bother with, you see. After all, I'm a busy fellow, like a little bee amongst the flowers."
To Tails' continued shock–and partial horror–the "Draconequis" suddenly transformed before his eyes into a gigantic bee perched atop an equally oversized sunflower, the bee's head replaced by that of Discord, his eyes twinkling with glee. "I just can't be bothered to care what boundaries I'm probably bypassing, I just have to get to the nectar I'm hunting! I stop only to satisfy my curiosity, and my oh my, have I found something quite curious today with you, my little fox."
Tails staggered backward, clutching at his head, and muttered frantically, "Th-this is impossible. A shapeshifter–in my workshop–my house! Y-y-you c-can't just waltz in here like this and–good God, is this how you get your jollies or something?!" Fear suddenly replaced with rising fury, the fox clenched his fists and pointed an accusing finger at the intruding shapeshifter. "Scare the living crap out of guys like me?! Because let me tell you something, buster, I will–"
With a sudden, blinding flash, Tails found himself lurching backward, collapsing onto a plush, comfortable leather recliner with Discord seated across from him in a matching chair, the Draconequis clad in a rather smart-looking suit and tie every bit as chaotic in appearance as the wearer himself. A table stood between them, piled high with an arrangement of candles and fanciful foods, and with a flick of his wrist Discord seemed to will the candles all to light, their glow somehow filling the entire room with a warm light.
"...not allow it?" Tails finished lamely, completely poleaxed.
Discord simply smirked and nodded as if in understanding. "Duly noted. However, you should know that I didn't come here to make an enemy of you, Miles Prower–oh goodness, that name really does sound like a horrible pun, doesn't it? No, I came to visit here simply to help you."
Blinking, the fox slumped back in his seat and shook his head before staring with a raised brow at his "visitor". "Okay, first off, how do you know my name? How are you able to do all of this? And what do you mean, 'help me?'"
Discord chuckled as he picked up a sandwich from the table and began cutting away the crust. "Oh, that's all really simple. You see, where I come from, there are a large quantity of beings who–though most are much less powerful, skillful and talented at it than me–who can manipulate the very energy and nature of the world around them to cause all kinds of effects. You might know this sort of reaction, actually, although I doubt a 'scientist' like you would believe it." Tossing the crust of the sandwich into his mouth, the Draconequis grinned and added, "It's called 'magic.'"
Tails stared, his face screwed up in a mix of amusement, irritation, revulsion–due primarily to how Discord's fingers had suddenly transformed their tips into copies of his head and devoured everything he hadn't of the sandwich–and utter stupefaction. "'Magic?' That's ridiculous. There's no such thing as magic!"
Discord's lips flattened out into a thin line and he quickly took off his spectacles, which vanished the moment they were set down on the table, before rising to his feet. "No such thing, eh? Then I suppose there's no such thing as a clutch of seven mystical gemstones capable of granting a person invulnerability and enough power to rip entire planets to pieces if they wanted to either, right? Or a blue hedgehog that can run at speeds above and beyond that of sound? Or a two-tailed fox who can spin his tails like a propeller and fly?"
Speechless, Tails could find no reply, causing Discord to smirk rather smugly. It was certainly true, there were a lot of things in his own world Tails had a hard time explaining through science at times. Often the things that Sonic did, that the Chaos Emeralds caused, or that he himself proved capable of defied the laws physics, but the Emeralds themselves were always answer enough for questions of how and why. Limitless power could, conceivably, cause someone to defy physics if properly utilized. But, at the same time...
"Okay," Tails finally said with a soft sigh. "Supposing I can believe what you're saying is true–that you have magic and that you want to help me. What exactly do you think I need help with, and how would you help me exactly?"
"Cosmo."
That one word–that simple yet precious name–caused the fox's entire body to tense up. For a moment, he sat stiff as death, clenching and unclenching his fists while breathing heavily through his nose. after a few minutes, he slowly relaxed and leaned forward, resting his arms on the table and staring intently at Discord's smirking face.
"Alright," Tails said. "Tell me everything. And you can start with how you know about Cosmo."
Author's Note
And so the first part of the Prologue is complete and you know the identity of the figure from Mobius, but how does Discord plan on helping Tails with his problem? Await the next Prologue fraction to find out!
For this story, I'll be bouncing between events surrounding Tails and those focused on the other "Figure" for first part of the fic, then switching perspective from one to the other once they meet. Aside from that, I give no spoilers at present. You will simply have to read to see how everything pans out.
However, feel free to like, up-vote, comment and Follow if you wish! Let me know what you think of this piece of the puzzle and feel free to speculate who the other figure's gonna be.
