A/N: I meant to have this up months ago, but couldn't get everything to flow quite how I wanted. But, it's finally here, and I can finally start posting chapters of the prequel. Which I actually plan on doing the moment I'm finished posting this.

The prequel, just so no one's confused, takes place before "Esplouge" (the first part of this ongoing series of fan fictions, not the character himself) and will be titled "Prelude." I wanted to keep up the theme of using one-word titles, and "Prelude" sounded way cooler than any of its synonyms, ha ha. And yes, I will be posting a sequel to this when I'm finished with "Prelude." I've still got a lot of work to do on this story!

"We're almost finished..."

Tails paced around his workshop, hardly able to contain his excitement. He was so close, he could almost feel his success, even if it was still too early to start celebrating just yet.

He had won. It was still a little too early to be thinking about it that way, but he had practically already won. Was winning. No matter how he looked at it, he knew he couldn't be stopped at this point, and that made him feel absolutely elated.

Nothing would stop the wave of pain and suffering that would come crashing down on Esplouge. The revenge for all the wrongs that had been done to him, the kidnappings, the beatings, the friends he had lost, the innocence being torn away from him in such a horrible way...

Tails would avenge himself. He was so close to being able to avenge himself, his past self who had long since died, and this closeness felt so wonderful...

Tails looked over to Metal Sonic, who was focused on monitoring Esplouge's body to make sure everything went smoothly. Only partly aware of what was going on.

Fixing Metal Sonic hadn't been quite as hard as Tails thought. It had taken quite a lot of time, but all Tails had really done was reactivate the parts of the robot he actually needed. Movement, strength, his memory of how he had helped Eggman create Esplouge in the first place...

Any other memories were just distractions. And, of course, he had had to reprogram the robot to view Tails as his master, which hadn't been nearly as hard as Tails had thought it would be. Then again, Eggman had never been particularly good at safeguarding his machines, not that that mattered anymore. Eggman's complete and utter incompetence as an inventor had worked in his favor, and Tails was grateful for that.

"How much more time?" Tails asked, his voice powerful and commanding. Nothing like what it had once been.

"Esplouge's body should be stable within the hour, possibly sooner," Metal Sonic answered obediently.

"Perfect," Tails said, a dark grin on his face. "This is so perfect..."

Tails looked to the door that lead back into the house, subconsciously nervous that Sonic would come in. Of course, at this point, that wasn't something he really needed to worry about. He had Sonic convinced that everything was back to normal, and the blue hero had seen no need to come down here for the last several months.

How much time had passed, Tails wondered? It almost felt like a lifetime had come and gone since he had last seen Esplouge alive, yet it also somehow felt like it had been mere days ago. When he had seen the life slowly ebb away from Esplouge, trying to escape punishment for the wrongs he had committed. To escape facing what he had done and trying to right his wrongs, even though that wouldn't be possible. How could someone make up for torture and murder? Unless they had the power to bring the dead back to life and erase all the scars, that certainly wouldn't be possible...

Of course, none of that mattered at this point. All that mattered was that Esplouge would be alive again. Would have to face what he had done and who he had tortured. Who he had corrupted.

And then the real fun could begin.

"Master," Metal Sonic said, pulling Tails back from his thoughts. How long had he zoned out? "I believe Esplouge will wake up sooner than expected."

"How much sooner?" Tails asked flatly, looking over to Esplouge's body.

It moved. Esplouge's arm moved, as though he was trying to stretch but was too weak to really move. A slight jerking motion, but Tails was sure that it was a sign that Esplouge was waking up here and now, and that made him feel absolutely elated. The sooner he could get to everything, the better.

Tails approached the table Esplouge's body was lying on, feeling his heart pounding with excitement even though he refused to show it. Couldn't act in a way that would make Esplouge suspect anything was wrong.

So close. He was so close...

"Esplouge?" Tails asked softly, forcing his voice to sound as close to what Esplouge would be expecting as he could. Higher, gentler. Innocent. Easy enough to pull off, since it was the same voice he used around Sonic to keep the hedgehog from becoming suspicious.

Esplouge groaned quietly, possibly trying to answer, possibly just trying to stretch a part of his body that didn't take quite as much effort to use. Tails simply watched Esplouge attempt to move and speak, feeling himself growing more and more excited with every passing second. So close...

Esplouge's eyes finally twitched open, appearing dazed and confused. Tails smiled when he saw the color. Violet, the color his eyes were supposed to be. He had discovered soon after Esplouge died that the darker fox's eyes had actually been violet; the energy from the chaos emerald that had been inside his body must have turned them red. That was Tails' theory, anyway, and it was as good an explanation as any.

This time, the energy inside Esplouge's body wasn't so unbalanced. The only way he could become mentally unstable again was if Tails decided not to simply kill him after the torture he had planned.

Esplouge stared at Tails for several moments, seeming confused. Tails stared back, trying not to smirk. Tails let the silence drag on, not wanting to say a word to interrupt this perfect moment. The calm before the storm, the last glimpse Esplouge would see of the past before the fun would begin.

The naive expression on Esplouge's face was absolutely wonderful. The sight of something so innocent about to be corrupted...

This must have been how Esplouge had felt all those years ago when they first met. How many years had it been? It was hard to remember back so far, back to a time where he hadn't known what torture felt like. Before he really learned what fear was.

He had been eight then. Still just a kid. A little, naive kid, just like the creature that was finally starting to move, to sit up, while continuing to stare at him with an absolutely dumbfounded expression on his innocent little face.

Esplouge's body, being artificial, still looked exactly as it had when they first met. Absolutely nothing about him save for the color of his eyes and the expression on his face had changed in the slightest. Tails, however, had undergone several changes. The obvious scars on his arms, chest, and back from the torture, with the only other really noticeable thing being his height. It was kind of nice being taller than Esplouge now.

And, of course, there were all the changes that had taken place inside of him. The innocence had long since been shattered and corrupted, his good nature being replaced by the desire to hurt others as he had been hurt. At times, he felt as though the capacity to feel emotion had long since drained away, although he still experienced flares of anger on occasion that were sometimes difficult to keep from expressing.

And right now, Tails felt joy. Joy at the naive face staring back at him, like a mirror into the past, joy at what he was going to do to that face. Joy that he was going to finally have his revenge after all these years he had lost track of.

Time no longer held much meaning to him. The torture he had been through would never leave his mind, and it didn't matter if it had occurred four or five years ago, or four or five minutes ago. It had happened, and that was all that really mattered.

Tails tried as hard as he could to keep his expression sweet and calm, the way Esplouge would be expecting to see him. It was difficult to stop himself from simply beginning the torture he had planned, but Tails knew he had to be patient.

He was going to toy with Esplouge first. Toy with both him and Sonic before killing them both.

Esplouge simply stared back at Tails, seeming confused and lost. His violet eyes glanced around the room, presumably trying to figure out where he was, probably wondering why he wasn't still dead. His eyes locked onto Metal Sonic for a moment, appearing afraid, before darting back to Tails.

"T-Tails...? What's going on...?"

Tails offered the sweetest smile he could muster. Tried to make himself look friendly, reassuring.

Things were only just beginning...