I blinked.

Quite dramatic, I know.

"So..." I turned my head, narrowing my eyes at the jewel. "Eggman's here?"

Tails shook his head. "Not necessarily. This could have nothing to do with him. Or it could have everything to do with him. I'm not quite sure."

"Why couldn't Slade have made duplicates?" He did have a Chaos Emerald.

"I'm not sure he would be able to figure out how this quickly," Tails replied. "Dr. Eggman has been working with the Chaos Emeralds for years, and would have been able to create one fairly quickly. The other thought is that... this jewel was already on our planet, and we just never saw it."

"For years and years?" I chuckled.

"Yeah. Remember, it's not a Chaos Emerald - the energies are in fact quite different."

"Trust me, I know," I stared at the ground, trying not to think about my embarrassing burst out thanks to the jewel.

"Right..." Tails sighed. "Anyway, how it got here doesn't matter right now. Whether or not Eggman's involved can be discussed later. See, with the Chaos Emeralds, since they have the same energies, they usually slightly repel each other-"

"Then how do I Super Sonic?" I asked.

"I was getting there," Tails muttered. "As I was saying, the Emeralds usually repel each other, until they get close enough together. Then, they attract to each other, and their energies work together. Hence, Super Sonic."

"So..." I looked back at the jewel. "With this thing it's the opposite?"

"Well..." Tails grabbed one of his tails, picking at it. "You see, if it was the opposite..."

"Then nothing would really happen."

"Right." Tails nodded, though he was still avoiding my gaze.

"Well?" I asked, looking towards Tails. "Spit it out!"

Tails took in a deep breath. "Well, Chaos Emeralds all have positive and negative energy. You turn into your super form because you can channel away the negative and just process the positive energy from your hopes and dreams."

"Right."

"This one, which is probably obvious, is completely negative energy. That's why, I assume, you felt angry, resentful, and depressed when you held it for long enough."

"Okay, that's all, right?" I asked. "You looked like you had bad news, so that's good!"

Tails looked up at me, his eyes looking watery and puffy. I frowned, concerned for both me and him. "There's more."

"Tell me."

"Because it only possesses one energy, the fake Chaos Emerald has the power to completely take over a normal Chaos Emerald. If you were to hold both a real Chaos Emerald and this one, this one would... take over."

"What do you mean by take over...?" I said slowly.

"Basically, the Chaos Emerald would lose," Tails answered. "I don't know exactly what would happen at that point, but..."

He yawned, and I looked back at the jewel. "Could I get strong like Super Sonic?" I wondered aloud.

Tails suddenly looked awake and alarmed. "I-I wouldn't recommend trying that."

"But, theoretically..."

"If you thought about what I had just told you," Tails spat, "you wouldn't have thought about that for more than a few seconds. The fake Chaos Emerald has more energy - negative energy, no less. The Chaos Emeralds have both. You only harness half of the energy of the seven Emeralds. If there were seven fake emeralds, and you tried tapping into their only negative energy, it might destroy you."

"R-right," I took a step back. "Sorry. Maybe you should take a break for the night."

"What, you think the emerald is-"

Tails paused, his expression turning blank. He looked from me to the fake emerald. "What?" I asked.

"I don't know..." he said. "Yeah, I think I'll go sleep..."

I watched Tails leave, but the emerald intrigued me. Being twice as powerful as Super Sonic - that is, if there even were seven fake ones - sounded incredible. I imagined flying to the bounds of the galaxy, touching a star, flying through the sun... But would I even be in control of myself? Or would dark, menacing, evil thoughts take over? And no one would be able to stop me. Stopping Super Sonic was nearly impossible, so I couldn't imagine someone stopping Dark Sonic-

I blinked. I had even named what I would never be. I shivered, took one last look at the purple jewel, then hastily left the room. I never wanted to think about anything that had to do with that jewel again, even though it was hard to take my mind off of it.

I went to the kitchen to grab a quick snack before going to bed. I was hungry, but I didn't have much of an appetite. I finally submitted to a sandwich, which would at least satisfy me until Cyborg made something yummy in the morning. 

It took me a minute to realize that Robin and Starfire were sitting on the couch silently. They were quite close together, their heads on each others shoulders. Were they asleep, or just ignoring me? I had just yelled at everyone, though Tails hadn't really cared. Did anyone else understand?

I checked to see if Raven was sitting in her usual spot, but she was absent. It was just Robin, Starfire, and the intruding blue hedgehog, loudly smacking my lips.

I looked down at my sandwich, my eyes wide. All these people would be in danger because of me. Of course, they had been in danger before because of Slade. But this was different. They were in danger directly because of me and the actions I might do - that is, if all the fake emeralds came to our hands, how ever many there were.

And it wasn't just the Teen Titans - once again, Tails was in danger. I don't know that he would necesarily care, but I did, and everyone back home would want to hear how Tails...

I sighed, getting up and putting my plate in the sink for someone else to wash. Occasionally, I did my own dishes, but I was usually exhausted.

"Sonic," Robin said, making me jump on my way to the stairs.

"Dude, like," I hesitated, thinking of something to say, but nothing came to mind. "Yeah?"

"Perhaps you should sit and stay for a few moments, if you have time." Starfire's voice also came from behind the couch, startling me much less than Robin's.

"Yeah, sure," I said, sitting on the floor to give the two some space. "What's up?'

"Did Tails figure out the gem we came across?" Robin asked. I should have known that's what he wanted to talk about. Powerful jewels and Slade.

"He figured out some of it," I replied, staring at a spot in the ground. "He figured out enough to know that it's... potentially very dangerous."

"So tell me," Robin said, "what is it?"

I explained what Tails told me, not bothering to leave out the part about the jewel controlling me in a way. I couldn't quite relay it like Tails could, but they got the gist of it - that it was dangerous to everyone, even if it only reacted to me.

"Sounds cool," Robin tried to smile, but there was a kind of terror on his face. Starfire looked like she felt sympathetic towards me. 

"Cool is one way to put it." I replied.

"It sounds interesting," Starfire added.

"Yeah," I said, now staring at the ground.

"Look, we'll be able to tell which is which, right?" Robin asked. "So there's no real problem, right?"

"Well, there's Slade." I reminded him. "That guy you constantly stalk. If he hasn't learned about this, there's only a matter of time. Then only a little time after that until he collects all of the jewels. And who knows what he'll do after that? Maybe he'll tape them all to me or something."

Silence reined over the room for a few minutes. I didn't know whether Robin was thinking or Starfire was trying to think of a way to make me feel better, but I stayed looking at the ground.

"Robin," I sighed, my eyes wide with weariness and confusion. "If something... if something happens... and the jewels do... take care of Tails, okay?"

Robin was looking at me like I was a little crazy, but that he understood a little bit. "If it comes to that, Sonic, yes, I promise."

I nodded and quickly got up, walking up the stairs. I didn't want to be corrupted - I would do all I could to not be, in fact. But I really didn't want Tails' last memory of me to be me trying to kill him or saying something ridiculously mad. With yet another sigh, I went into the room I was now sharing with Tails and fell asleep quickly, glad that another battle wasn't looming in the night.