Persistence

Knuckles appeared by a tranquil pond surrounded by towering deciduous trees, the light of a warm afternoon dappling the scene. With a heave, he threw the dead weight of an unconscious Shadow the Hedgehog far out over the pool, where the filthy red and black mass broke the water with a massive splash, ruining the tranquility of the tableau.

Exhausted, Knuckles sank down and absently hoped the fucker would drown as the waves from the disturbance lapped at the soles of his shoes. He took a long, steadying breath and closed his eyes. Birdsong. Breeze rustling verdant leaves. Chirps of insects. Knuckles absorbed the peace and tranquility, willing it to flush out the strife and tension his body was wracked with.

Linking to the Master Emerald from such a distance was a trial when he was fully rested. After running around a darkened cityscape fighting robots for hours? Torturous. His chaos energy was so faint in his body that it felt like he was asphyxiating in the clean air. He’d given nearly everything he had to Shadow in an attempt to shock the fool back to his senses. When this was all over, he’d make Shadow pay for that too. The hedgehog owed him so much at this point that Knuckles would have to ask Rouge for suggestions. He knew she would relish the opportunity.

Rouge. She hadn’t been at the rendezvous like he had expected. Some pressing mission up north looking into the disappearances there, but she hadn’t checked back in. That did not sit well with him. Sure, Rouge could handle herself. He knew that. He knew it. But that did nothing to convince his heart. His heart that screamed at him to go find her and tell her…tell her…

But he couldn’t because he was babysitting Mr. Horrific Demon Squid Son-of-a-Bitch. Again.

Once Sage and her swarm of flying bots left, Omega turned on some sort of flood lights and nearly blinded them. Amy comforted the terrified Cream. Knuckles clenched his fists, trying to think of what to do next. Omega approached the lump of flesh that was Shadow and picked him up with a steely clawed hand. The way that Shadow hung limp was eerie.

Knuckles sighed. “Well, who’s got an idea for what to do now?” The streets were quiet, but that didn’t mean they should trust that the Doctor had actually retreated.

“We need to meet up with the local Resistance unit.” Amy said as she rubbed Cream’s back.

Cream pushed up. “What about Tails?”

“We’ll get him back.” Amy assured her. “But we need to regroup and see what the current situation is for the city.” She turned to Omega. “Can you take Shadow to the Resistance base here? They should have the field triage unit set up to treat the injured. They can take a look at him until we get there.”

“NEGATIVE.”

Knuckles tensed. “What do you mean, negative?”

“I WILL FOLLOW PROTOCOL.”

“Protocol? What protocol?”

“SHOULD SHADOW INITIATE VIOLENCE AGAINST HELPLESS FLESH UNITS, HE IS TO BE SUBDUED WITH PREJUDICE,” Omega raised the fist holding Shadow, the hedgehog’s head lolling around limply, “AND PLACED IN CONTAINMENT.”

“What? No, that’s terrible!” Amy exclaimed. “He needs help not to be locked away again!”

“CALM YOURSELF SLOWEST HEDGEHOG. SUPREME COMMANDER ROUGE WILL DECIDE THE DURATION AND MANNER OF SHADOW’s RELEASE ONCE ‘HE HAS HIS SHIT TOGETHER’.”

“Look, I agree he dangerous, but that’s taking things too far.” Knuckles took a step forward and Omega raised his free arm.

“IT IS IN YOUR BEST INTEREST THAT YOU DO NOT INTERFERE.” The hand retraced and was replaced by gun barrel. Knuckles tightened his fists. He was spent and wasn’t sure how well he’d do if push came to shove.

Suddenly, Cream appeared between Knuckles and Omega, her arms spread wide. “Cream!” Amy shouted, her voice hoarse.

“Please stop, Mr. Robot!” The young rabbit’s voice wavered with half swallowed sobs. “Put your gun away, please! Mr. Sonic wouldn’t want us to be fighting like this.”

“STEP ASIDE SMALL DAIRY PRODUCT.”

“No, I won’t! Look me in the eye and tell me you think locking Mr. Shadow away is the right thing to do.”

“IT IS THE OBJECTIVELY CORRECT ACTION.” The robot loomed above her, his unfeeling red eyes looming against the dark of the night.

“But is it right?” Cream was resolute.

A tense moment followed. Amy slowly edged behind the massive killer robot and Knuckles was wound like a spring, ready to snatch the rabbit out of harm’s way. As if the gods were laughing at them, toying with them to see how bad could one night be.

Slowly, Omega lowered the armament from Cream’s face. “I HAVE ALREADY FAILED MY MISSION TO PROTECT THE MECHANIC. I WILL NOT FAIL A SECOND TIME.” Suddenly his chassis rotated, and he threatened Amy, who had summoned her hammer. “YOU ARE ACTING IRRATIONAL, AS IS EXPECTED FROM INFERIOR FLESHY LIFE SACKS.”

“You’re not taking Shadow, Omega.” Amy’s voice cracked with ice. “Put him down!” Knuckles knew that tone. Amy could make Sonic sit and roll over like a dog with it. He hoped it worked just as well on robots.

Knuckles was too distracted notice when Cream bolted and placed herself in the robot’s sights again! “Cream!” He barked. The girl needed to stop hanging with them. The level of self-sacrifice she’d developed was already near fatal.

“Mr. Robot, you can still fulfill your mission! If you rescue Tails, I’m sure Ms. Rouge will forgive you.”

“YOUR COURAGE IS UNCOMMON FOR A MEAT BAG.” Omega lowered his weapon once more. “VERY WELL.” The gun retracted, the hand returning. Amy gave off an exhausted huff. “HOWEVER, I REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE SMALL DAIRY PRODUCT.”

“Of course, I’ll help you, Mr. Robot!” Cream smiled, though her face was still damp with salty tears.

“WE LEAVE IMMINENTLY.” He raised the fist still clenched around Shadow and held it towards Amy. Without ceremony, the hand opened and Amy exclaimed as she dove to catch the falling black mass. “MAKE PEACE WITH YOUR GODS. I WILL NOT MOURN YOUR PASSING WHEN SHADOW RENDERS THE PLANET INTO A LIFELESS HELLSCAPE.”

“Isn’t he your friend?” Knuckles growled.

“MY STATEMENT WAS A COMPLEMENT.”

Amy slung Shadow over her shoulder and stood. “Thank you, Omega.” She said. “I know tonight has been hard on all of us.”

“INCORRECT. I HAVE BEEN HARD ON THE NIGHT.” Cream giggled.

Knuckles approached Amy. “Give him here. I’ve got an idea that might help. And it’ll get him away from the city incase he goes all murder mollusk when he wakes up.” Amy frowned.

“CEPHALOPOD”

Knuckles twisted. “What?”

“SQUID ARE CEPHALOPODS”

“Whatever,” He rolled his eyes. “I’ll meet you at the Central City Resistance base if everything goes well.”

Amy searched his face and then shifted the weight of the attempted murderer off her back. “Take care.” She said as Knuckles slung Shadow over his shoulder like a sack of flour.

“Always do.”

Knuckles splashed water over his face and shoulder. The black tarlike substance that Shadow had been covered in washed out easily. Strangely enough, it seemed to evaporate quickly. The shit smelled awful, a disgusting mix of rotten fish and blood, but with a sickly sweet uncurrent that just made the whole olfactory experience even more revolting.

Shadow hadn’t stirred from his place at the bottom of the pond. The placidity had returned, and Knuckles was starting to get a little concerned at the lack of bubbles. He knew the guy didn’t have to breathe…but it was still creepy as hell. Knuckles stood. As much as he’d love to get a nap in the shade of one of the trees, Amy was waiting on them. He couldn’t leave the burden for organizing the cleanup solely to her.

He found a long-fallen limb and stripped the small branches from it to make a long, crooked pole. He speared it into the water and jabbed the submerged black mass. The pool erupted with movement as Shadow began to thrash. His head broke the surface, and he gasped for air. Knuckles watched carefully as the sodden hedgehog crawled up the low bank at the pool’s edge.

Shaking and hacking up gouts of dark colored water, Shadow slowly stood. The bath nap had done wonders for his pelt. Though dripping wet, the black muck and blood had largely washed away. Shadow turned and briefly locked eyes with Knuckles. Red, dull, and exhausted, but not flat. A good sign.

Knuckles punched Shadow in the jaw so hard the idiot bit the dirt. Quills flared, he twisted and snarled, the claws of her bare hands digging into the dirt. “That’s for Amy, asshole!” Knuckles shouted.

All the fight drained from Shadow. His ears pinned back and he hung his head. “Amy,” Came his gruff voice, beaten and soft. “Is she…?”

“She’s fine. It’ll take more than your weird bullshit to slow her down.” Knuckles crossed his arms “Get up.” Shadow straightened and he examined the matted fur of his arms. Knuckles held out a hand. “Give me your Emerald.” Shadow’s brow creased indignantly. “After what you did, you don’t get to say ‘no’ right now.” Knuckles growled. “Give. Me. Your. Emerald.”

Knuckles stared Shadow down unwaveringly. A barely control anger festered below his skin. He wanted to punch Shadow’s face in and not stop until his snout poked out through the back of his skull. Eventually, the other male looked away with a tsk and reached into his quills. Knuckles exhaled through his nose, some of the tension escaping.

But it was quickly replaced by outrage when Shadow held out a grey gem. What the fuck? Knuckles snatched it. “What the hell did you do to it?” He’d never seen anything like it, not since the Dark Gaia incident and that had been the Master Emerald’s doing.

“I emptied it out.” Shadow said like it was no fucking thing to exhaust a Chaos Emerald. “It’ll recover eventually.”

Knuckles narrowed his eyes. “You emptied a Chaos Emerald fighting Eggman robots?”

Shadow’s jaw tightened. “Something like that.” Great. Vague evasive bullshit. Whatever, deal with that later.

Knuckles clenched the Emerald in his fist. He could feel the power inside, but it was blocked somehow. Or more like the passage between him and the power had been narrowed to a pinprick. Drawing on the energy was like trying to drink the ocean with one of those small straws Rouge liked her drinks with.

Shadow’s gaze swept across the pond and their surroundings. “Where are we?”

“Where do you think we are?”

Shadow sniffed. “Angel Island.” He grimaced.

Yep, that’s right asshole. “Bingo. Now march.”

“I said I’m not touching that thing again.”

“What part of ‘you don’t get to say ‘no’’ did you not understand? March.”

Shadow looked like he’d swallowed something sour and wanted to vomit it out in the form of vitriol, but he kept his stupid mouth shut and started trudging in the direction Knuckles indicated.

It wasn’t that far to the Master Emerald’s alter and Shadow seemed to recognize the terrain. The pair walked in silence until, “Thank you.” Shadow said, without looking at Knuckles. The Echidna almost stumbled from surprise. That was about the last thing he expected to come out of the hedgehog’s mouth. “For giving me your chaos energy. It feels…clean.” Knuckles didn’t like the implication.

“You’re welcome.” Knuckles grunted.

“It…really helped me get back in control of myself.” Shadow continued the stare straight ahead. “I had completely run out.” What could he have been fighting that tapped him and an Emerald out? Had the Doctor managed to make something truly terrible with the Phantom Ruby this time?

“Good thing it worked.” Knuckles muttered “I didn’t have any other ideas.” They arrived at the path that led to the steps of the altar. “That’s why we’re here doing this. I don’t know what the fuck’s wrong with you, but it gets way worse when you’re out of chaos energy.” Shadow did not offer a counter argument.

They ascended and the large gem came into view. Knuckles took a deep breath, feeling the pressure of the Master Emerald in the ambient chaos energy. “Alright, go fill the fuck up so we can get back and start cleaning up.”

With a final scowl, Shadow passed him and alighted the last step. He raised a bare hand and tentatively placed it on the smooth surface. Knuckles’ frown deepened immediately. Nothing was happening. That’s not good. “It…it’s not working.” Shadow looked down and long, sharp claws emerged from his fingertips. “I don’t feel anything.” He drug his claws harmlessly down the surface of the gem, emitting a sharp sound.

Shadow retreated from the Emerald and slumped down to sit on the top step of the alter. He lowered his head and ran his fingers through his quills. Knuckles sighed and leaned against a decorative pillar.

“Go ahead.” Shadow’s voice was deep and flat, but Knuckles detected a wavering tenor.

“With what?” Knuckles asked.

“Yell at me. Hit me. It’s what I deserve. Tell me that I should have known better. That I should have been better. About how everyone would be better off if I’d just never been awoken.” Shadow straightened and turned to look at Knuckles. Knuckles grimaced. Shadow’s eyes were duller and flatter, with barely any shine. “Tell me I’m a horrible monster and even the Master Emerald wants nothing to do with me.”

Knuckles shook his head. “Hard pass. That ain’t my forte.” Shadow narrowed his eyes, and his scowl deepened. “You already know what a piece of shit you are. I’ll leave the tongue lashing to the womenfolk. When Rouge gets back,” Shadow’s brow twitched, “she’ll tear you apart and Amy’ll build you back into something respectable.”

“Where is Rouge?” The urgent concern in Shadow’s voice pricked at something deep in Knuckles’ mind.

Knuckles shrugged. “I don’t know. She went north-“ Shadow flinched(?) “for a mission and she hasn’t reported back yet.”

“North.” Shadow said in a strangely dazed tone and looked out over the expanse of forest below the altar.

“You would have known this if you’d just showed up in Station Square like you were supposed to. What the hell were you doing in Central City? How the hell did you beat us there?”

“I was looking for Sonic and…I found him.” He looked down at his hands. “Or I found what the Doctor did with him.”

“What? I had to smash some Metal Sonic clones, but I didn’t see or feel Sonic.”

“There were Ruby clones of him that were far more powerful than any replicas I’d fought during the War. But those fakes were nothing compared to…” Shadow’s fists balled. “It was him, but it wasn’t. The Doctor did something to him. I have no idea what, but I’m certain the Phantom Ruby has something to do with it. It was like he was staring right through me. He wouldn’t talk!” His voice grew strangled. “He wouldn’t fucking speak to me.”

“That sucks, man.” What else could he say? This was a scenario Knuckles had dreaded the whole War. They go into battle and dead-eyed Sonics would be on the other side. It kept him up nights.

“We fought. I faced all of them simultaneously. Six Sonics.” He shook his head. “It was a nightmare.”

“Fucking hell.” That was…that was a lot of fast hedgehog to face. The destruction he’d seen in Central city made more sense now. The buildings had been torn apart, not blown up. Thank Chaos the buildings were empty. The death toll could have been…fuck, don’t even think about it.

“I tried to grab him. The one that was…one that had to be the real one. Had to be Sonic. Tried to beat him down and escape. If I could get him to Tails maybe he’d know what to do. But Sonic wouldn’t stay down. Wouldn’t stay still!” Shadow slammed his fist into the stony step, cracking the ancient masonry. He unfurled his fist and stared at the damage, his ears drooping in shame. The emotion drained from his voice. “I got mad. I used up all my chaos energy. I lost control.”

“No wonder you ran dry. You took out half the island with that chaos blast. If the warning of the attack hadn’t gone out, you’d have-“ Knuckles stopped talking. There was no good in finishing that thought. Idiot, why would you bring up something that didn’t even happen. He could almost hear Rouge’s chiding voice.

Shadow didn’t seem to notice. “I got to the bottom of my reserves, and I just kept digging deeper. I had nothing left but I kept digging, looking for something, anything I could pull from. I was desperate.” He took a shuddering breath, “And there was something right under the surface, waiting for me. I needed the power. When I reached for it, it gushed up and swallowed me whole.”

Knuckles’ hackles rose. There shouldn’t be anything else when the chaos was gone. The wrongness of it all. He swallowed down his trepidation. “And that’s when the black squid nastiness comes in? How long you’ve been able to do that trick?”

“I didn’t transform until we’d lost Sonic. Amy had arrived to help. We almost had him. I’d…I’d almost gotten back together with her there, but I had to keep pulling from that…that darkness to keep up, to keep fighting. Then Sonic was gone…she took him back and…I think I yelled at Amy. It’s blurry, the memory.” Knuckles’ brow knitted. “I was yelling, she was trying to calm me down. I was so angry and they kept-“ He stopped and shook his head. “I was going to do something terrible and my reflex activated.”

“Reflex?”

“After…after the cannon and the invasion, I couldn’t trust myself not to…try to destroy the planet again.” Knuckles’ stomach clenched. “I developed a reflex. Whenever I got the impulse to…to do something truly devastating, I’d just switch off. Mind, body, just off.”

“That’s what happened right after we found out Eggman got Sonic again. You really upset Rouge with that stunt. But I guess that’s better than the alternative.” Knuckles nursed a healthy incredulity in Shadow’s destructive ability. To do otherwise seemed like a bad time. Much better to just assume he was full of shit, no matter how much counterevidence piled up.

Shadow nodded. “But this time…I woke up and did it anyway.” He gripped his skull with crushing force. “I was going to kill Amy. I was trying to kill her!”

Knuckles was at a loss at what to say. What could you say to something like that? He never had to do the talking down. That was Amy or Sonic’s job. All the love and hope and friendship shit. The weird magic spell that changed hearts and turned the tide of battles with terrible odds against them. “But you didn’t.” He settled on.

Shadow huffed. “You sound like Sonic.”

Yeah, that tracked. Knuckles hummed. There were worse idiots to sound like. They sat in silence until it became clear that Shadow wasn’t going to keep talking. Time to get into the real messy shit. “And what are you not telling me?”

The hedgehog’s spines flared. Bingo. Red eyes glared daggers at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice was deep, the threat contained therein not veiled in the slightest.

Knuckles scoffed. “Is that so?” Shadow shot to his feet and took a menacing step towards Knuckles. The Echidna straightened and squared his shoulders. “Seems like you know exactly what I’m talking about.” He narrowed his eyes. Knuckles felt the Master Emerald pulse beneath his skin. It was there ready to help against enemies. The Guardian clenched his jaw.

Shadow took another step forward and Knuckles saw his irises dulling, his sclera tinting red. Enough of this shit. He connected to the Master Emerald and felt his chaos energy roar to extreme heights inside him. Knuckles flashed forward, grabbing Shadow by the throat. The black hedgehog, or whatever the fuck he was, hissed and snarled. Knuckles slammed him against a pillar and crushed his windpipe. Shadow clawed at his arm, his really fucking sharp claws biting into the flesh of Knuckles forearm.

Ignoring the pain, Knuckles slammed his free hand against Shadow’s chest, ripping the air from his lungs and causing him to expel a gout of something black all over Knuckles’ face. “Shit!” The goop smelled foul but didn’t seem acidic or anything. With the full force of the Master Emerald behind him, Knuckles forced chaos energy into Shadow. The energy poured into him without resistance, the hedgehog taking on a rusty red aura.

Knuckles felt a tinge of…indignation(?) from the Master Emerald. I’m sorry. He’s an asshole but he’s also my friend. He needs help. There are no enemies here. The reservation faded.

The claws retracted and Shadow stopped struggling. Knuckles did not let up on the firehose of chaos energy. So much energy. He’d never wielded so much and Shadow was drinking up every drop and didn’t seem close to being full. But Knuckles tried his fucking darndest. He pushed until his head swam, until his vision started to blur, until his stomach churned.

Finally, Knuckles released Shadow and stumbled back. He sank down and leaned against the opposite pillar. He rubbed at the black fluid on his face. It felt weird. It seemed to conform to him, seeping into cracks and pore he didn’t know he had.

And then he felt something horrifying. A bit of his chaos energy was a darker shade of red. Unclean. He flared his energy and the darkness was obliterated. He turned and looked at his reflection in the Master Emerald. His face was clean. What in the hell?

Shadow had slumped to the ground and he held his head as he gasped for air. “I’m-,” He said, his voice rough from Knuckles’ treatment. Knuckles’ snapped his attention to him, trying to calm his racing heart. Shadow tried to start the sentence a few more times before it finally came out whole.

“I’m hearing voices.”

Well, fuck us all. “What? Like in your head and shit?”

Shadow pushed up, leaning back. He looked at Knuckles and his eyes were shining and bright. Much better. “Yes. In my head. They sound like me. They talk in my voice, like they’re my own thoughts…but they aren’t. At least…I don’t know. I-I hope they’re not my own thoughts.” His face scrunched in despair and disgust. Shadow covered his face with his hands. “I don’t know. I don’t trust myself anymore and I don’t know what to do.”

Knuckled knocked his head back against the pillar. Just enough to make sure he wasn’t having a nightmare. “Chaos, does Rouge know about this? Amy, Sonic, anyone?”

Without moving his hands from his face, Shadow shook his head. “I’ve been too much a prideful coward to tell anyone. I thought I could manage on my own. That I could handle it- Just handle it on my own.”

“How long has this been going on?”

Shadow pulled his hands away. “I think it started after Time Eater incident. No. I’m sure it did.”

“Right, you got pulled into White Space like the rest of us somehow. You were moody as shit afterward, if I remember right.” A Sonic birthday had about a fifty-fifty chance to involve some world-shattering catastrophe. Good cake though. Amy should open a bakery once the world stopped burning.

Shadow shifted his shoulders and grimaced. “My experience in White Space was less whimsical than Sonic’s. It was there that I gained my…alternate form.”

“Sweet Chaos, you’ve been hiding this for that long?” That was years ago.

Shadow looked away. “It was easy to tell what was myself and what was…something else. The urges, the prompting towards violence. The bloodlust. Easily ignored, especially when my chaos energy reserves were high. But then…when Sonic was kidnapped a few months ago…the voice became softer. Harder to ignore. More convincing.” He swallowed and said in a quiet voice. “Comforting.”

“And the voices told you to attack Amy?”

“No.” Shadow looked away, his gaze growing distant and his face relaxing. “I didn’t even remember her name when I was in that form. All I thought was that she was…prey.” Fuck. Knuckles shuddered. He could hear it in the edges of Shadow’s voice. The clicking.

“And this wasn’t the first time I-“ Shadow choked and his ears drooped. “I thought like that. I thought So-someone was…I’m dangerous. You’d all be safer if I just went back into stasis.”

Knuckles huffed. “That’s what Omega said.” Shadow flinched and his ears pinned back. “But that’s a crock of shit. Sonic would lose his god damned mind.” Knuckles snorted. “Can you imagine? Sonic actually angry? A fucking natural disaster that would be.”

“Sonic…now there’s a hedgehog who never knows what’s good for him.”

Knuckles laughed. “No disagreement here. The way you two always went at it. I thought you hated him. And now you’re all…” He waved a hand.

Shadow shook his head slowly. “I never hated him. Even when I hated the world, hated everything…I never hated Sonic “

“Didn’t you try to throw him into a vat of acid one time?”

Shadow looked down, abashed. “I didn’t- I wasn’t- It was the-!” He grew rigid and his eye went wide. Knuckles frowned. Did he strike a nerve?

Shadow leapt to his feet, fists clenched, quills tensed, face contorted in rage, fangs bared. “How could I have been so blind!? It’s so much softer, so much quieter this time!”

Knuckles rose to his feet. “Woah, dude. What are you talking about?”

Shadow turned to him, his eyes ablaze and pupils pinpricks. “The Hivemind. They’re back.”

Knuckles frowned. The term sounded familiar. Definitely something Rouge had been worried about at one time or another. Fuck, what was it? She had several topics she liked to paint a black picture with when she was drunk and in his arms. The topics she only talked about when they were alone. “Like, the Black Arms?”

A dangerous sneer spread across Shadow’s face. “They thought I wouldn’t notice if they crept in slowly, if they made it feel different. But now I know and they’re fucked. I resisted Black Dooms direct influence twice. This tiny colony is nothing to me!”

“Twice?” The Black Arms had only invaded once before, right? And Black Doom was dead…right? That comet sure was toast.

“Once this current business with the Doctor is concluded,” Shadow held up a hand, deadly claws gleaming in the sunlight. “I’ll hunt down every single one of those disgusting black creatures.” He clenched his fist closed. “Eradicate them once again from the face of this planet.”

The Master Emerald pulsed, sending a wave through the ambient chaos. They both felt it. “Sounds like someone’s pleased with you again.”

Shadow approached the Master Emerald and placed his hands against its surface. He cringed, his eyes snapping shut, but he maintained contact. The air took on a vivid green tint, so heavy was the air with chaos energy.

The black hedgehog groaned. He pressed his head against the gem and took a stuttering breath. With a heave, he vomited a thick, black gush of the sticky, fowl smelling goop all over the altar. “Oh, come on!” Knuckles exclaimed. At least the stuff seemed to dissolve well in water and, actually-! The disgusting stuff was evaporating in black smoke that dispersed quickly. As if the chaos energy was erasing it from existence. Like how he’d expelled the stuff from his energy.

Shadow coughed. “I think that’s the last of it.” His voice was strained. “I-I’m clean.” Clean, again. Knuckles did not like that phrasing. The idea that chaos energy could be…corrupted. It sent a shiver down his spine. If he hadn’t seen it for himself…He needed to consult the archives, in whatever alternate universe he had free time in….

When Shadow finally pushed away, his fur crackled with bright green energy. His signature lime coloration was back, brighter than ever. “Sweet Chaos, you feel like a fucking Chaos Emerald.” Knuckles huffed. That won’t go straight to Shadow’s head for sure. Knuckles retrieved the green Emerald and found it still washed out, but recovering quickly. It seemed to tremble minutely in his hand.

Shadow balled a fist, tiny arcs running along it. “I feel amazing.” He turned away from the Master Emerald, a shit-eating smirk splitting his mug. “And I can feel Sonic again. The Doctor has him with the Egg Fleet. That’s why it was so hard to pin him down. But now there’s nowhere he can be hidden from me.” Drama queen.

“Sonic’s going to have to wait. There are people that need our help in Central City. Plus, you owe Amy the biggest of apologies.”

Shadow’s ear flicked and his swagger dimmed. “Of course.”

Knuckles held out the Chaos Emerald. “And we have figure out what the fuck to do about our alien problem.”

Shadow took the offered gem. “I can handle it. Now that I know what I’ve been dealing with, I will not have a problem wiping them out again.” He held up the Chaos Emerald and his energy flashed. When the bright light faded, the green gem blazed brilliantly. For once Shadow’s green wasn’t swallowed by the Master Emerald’s spectrum. They worked in concert, aligned in will to expunge the black invaders.

Knuckle crossed his arms. “You aren’t doing shit on your own, you got that? No more lone wolf crap.” Shadow looked like he was going to protest, so Knuckles kept going, “You’ve been hiding some pretty worrying shit and going off on your own and what has it gotten us? You’ve nearly made yourself as big a problem as the Doctor.” Shadow huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fuck you, then. Promise me.”

Knuckles held out his hand. “Buddy system for your ass. You stick with me or Amy or Omega or Rouge when she gets back. No solo adventures. And you maybe drop us a hint when some alien starts telling you to kill us.”

Shadow looked at the hand and then stared into Knuckle’s eyes. The half-alien bastard didn’t want to promise. He wanted to teleport then and there and go make more trouble for them all. But then his demeanor softened. “Last I saw her, I made Rouge a promise. I promised I would be better, whatever that meant.” A black hand reached out and grasped Knuckles’. “And I mean to keep that promise. So, yes, Echidna, I promise you as well.” They both attempted to crush the other’s hand.

Knuckles smirked. “Good. Now let me get another pair of my gloves for you to ruin.”

---

Tails clutched the red Chaos Emerald tightly as he passed through the doorway, his expectations nonexistent. His mind simply had stopped making near-term predictions. Sage said Sonic was in here, but Tails barely registered the information. After the revelation about the AI tore his model of reality to shreds, he didn’t trust his assumptions at all. He felt like he’d walked into a parallel universe and was scrambling to learn the rules all anew.

The room wasn’t very large. On the other side of a barrier of closely packed metal bars, Sonic lay on a sophisticated medical gurney, his bright cobalt fur contrasting with the dull grey walls. His mouth and snout was covered in a clear plastic oxygen mask, an IV attached to his bare foot, and white, honeycombed braces covered both of his arms.

Emerald pulsing weakly in his hand, Tails rushed forward as far as he could, his empty hand wrapped around one of the bars. A monitor listed blood pressure, oxygen levels, and heart rate at normal (for Sonic) resting values, but Tails looked for the gentle rise of his chest anyway. The blue hero looked peaceful in his sleep.

Tails released a long, weary sigh. After all these months, Sonic was safe and alive. “He was covered in so much blood. I was so scared…” He did not turn to look at Sage, but he was certain she loomed behind him. “You cleaned him up quickly.” Happy tears of relief pricked at his parched eyes and though he was exhausted, in body, mind, and soul, Tails smiled.

Sonic was okay.

“Ninety-one did not participate in the operation in Central City. Six engaged Shadow and sustained heavy damage. I have sent him to a remote facility for recovery. If the experiment conducted here is successful, I will use the same technique to restore him.”

Tails’ brow knitted. Sage had said that number before in reference to Sonic. Why would she call him by a num-

Whipping around, his smile disintegrated. “Is this my brother,” Tails stabbed a finger at the prone blue hedgehog. “or is it some copy made by the Phantom Ruby?”

Sage flickered as if thinking. “Yes and no.” She answered.

Tails’ shoulders slumped. “Please elaborate…” She was a computer. She was a computer. She was a computer. He had to ask specific questions and he couldn’t assume she’d give full answers on her own or that she would interpret his questions as anything other than literally.

“Yes, Six and Ninety-one were created via the Ruby’s power. However, no ‘clones’ were made of Ninety-one. Six is the prototype the projections copy. There is very little reason to create replicas of Ninety-One, as only physical qualities are expressed by the projections.”

Tails’ shoulders slumped. Prototypes, projections…He couldn’t. He just couldn’t anymore*.* His brain was going to start dribbling out of his ear soon. Every part of him was shutting down. He covered his face with his hands. “I can’t handle riddles. Is this my brother or not?” If that wasn’t Sonic sleeping in that bed, Tails was going to lose his mind.

“Ninety-one is approximately one half of Sonic the Hedgehog.” Sage said matter-of-factly. Oh. Of course. It was so obvious.

What?

Tails blinked at Sage. The utter absurdity of that statement. She might as well have been stringing together random words. Nonsense. She was having a go at him. There was no way that statement could possibly-

A fragment of memory bubbled up through the sticky, oily swamp his mind had decomposed into. A bulge formed in the viscose waterline and finally broke the surface tension with a wet pop! Something Knuckles had said forever ago in the old universe.

“The Ruby did this.” Tails mumbled, turning back. “The Ruby split that ancient evil and you used it to do the same thing to Sonic.”

“You are correct. The artifact that you call the Nascent Phantom Ruby agreed to bifurcate Sonic in the same manner that it holds Solaris in two parts until such a time as it can be defeated permanently. I acknowledge fortunate circumstance that this is the last cycle and the Ruby was amenable to consuming the planet’s chaos energy at a greater rate than normal.”

Tails took a long time to process Sage’s words and still turned out nothing that made sense. The questions erupted into a sloppy mess. DidWhatWhoyoudointalkyouthetomeanhellthe**‘lastisRubycycle’Solaris??**?

All Tails’ tongue could expel was, “W-what are you talking about?!”

“Without the Ruby’s assistance, it would be much harder to make Sonic both immune to death and utilize his full destructive potential. I implemented several development iterations to determine an ideal split of capabilities between the two material forms.”

“Two.” The one Shadow savaged and this one. They were both Sonic. But, wait a second-! “What do you mean immune to death?” The situation was becoming farcical. Perhaps he’d finally overdone it in his clean room and this whole evening had been his mind’s last mad thrashings as he finally succumbed to the infinite void.

“I told Sonic and promised you that he would not die. The Ruby’s power overlays a supplemental reality enforcing additional universal constants. In this case, that Sonic’s two parts exist as unalterable fact. Immutable. Even if Shadow had damaged Six to the point of decomposition, Six would naturally regenerate. The process is energy intensive and inconveniently slow for my purposes, however.”

Tails’ mind mulled over the ramifications. A deathless Sonic. There were…so many things wrong with that. He just needed…oh, Chaos…he needed some time to think all this through. “If, uh, the other Sonic was the one Shadow hurt, then what happened to this one?”

Sage’s continence flickered. “I did not allocate sufficient resources to attend to his circumstances. I was distracted by my Father, my Brother-” Metal Sonic, probably? “-took bodily possession of him and severely damaged Ninety-One. My calculations had contained the assumption that Ninety-one would run away or defend himself should such a situation arise, but exposure to the Phantom Ruby seemed to have disabled him. I speculate this reaction was my Father’s objective in bringing Ninety-one to the Ruby’s containment chamber. For his recklessness, I confined Father to his quarters, and I was forced to sedate Ninety-one in order to not compromise Six’s mental state further.”

Tails frowned. He didn’t know exactly what happened to Sonic on the Death Egg, but it would make sense that Sonic had some reaction to the malignant magenta gem. Sonic always acted like Teflon, like nothing could stuck to him…But Tails worried that it was just that. An act. “Can you blame him after what happened on the Death Egg? Didn’t you and Infinite torture him with it for six months?”

Sage flickered. Tails’ brow creased as he noticed a brief flash of some other color. Curious. “Complete records of events aboard the Death Egg no longer exist. My original production build suffered catastrophic data loss from the station’s destruction. What you assert would account for Sonic’s reaction to my early experiments with this version of the Phantom Ruby. I now possess much more subtle control.”

Catastrophic data loss. Tails closed his eyes and rubbed his face. Sage wasn’t whole. She’d probably filled in the gaps in her programing and there was no way that code was well annotated. “I don’t have the energy for this.” He grumbled.

Sage shook her head. “I apologize. I have gotten distracted. Are you able to utilize the Emerald to remove the segmental compound fracture of Ninety-One’s right humerus and the oblique compound fracture of his left humerus? I have realigned the bones and successfully spurred Ninety-One’s healing factor to treat the ripped brachii muscles and ruptured flesh by medically inducing a heighten heartrate to elicit internal chaos energy generation.” He knew all those words, but she was speaking too quickly.

Sage waved her hand, and a graph appeared with one axis was heart rate and the other was bodily harm (Tails’ vision was too blurry to make out units). Two parabolic curves (a convex curve labeled healing factor and a concave curve labeled medical intervention) intersected twice forming a hyperbola simply labeled DEATH. Tails normally liked graphs, but this one seemed to be an exception.

“However, as you can see, a heartrate in excess of seven hundred beats per minute is necessary for bone growth. The physical and chemical stimulation required to approach that rate damages his body faster than his corresponding healing factor can counteract.” Sage gestured to the gem in Tails’ hand. “Therefore, I propose the implementation the power of this Chaos Emerald to create a ‘miracle’.”

Tails looked at the gem. Holding it in his hand felt surreal. Such an occurrence should have been an event in and of itself, but in conjunction with everything else that had happened in the last few hours…Tails’ world had just blurred into a single chorus of silent screams in his head. Of frustration, of terror, of awe, of relief, of pain, of exhaustion, of indignation. He felt ready to burst from the concert.

Over the years, he relished every brief opportunity to study the mysterious power of the Chaos Emeralds. Their potential was boundless and, by some mechanism he’d only started roughing the outline of, they allowed a person to utilize so much chaos energy with such an uncanny structure as to be undefinable except as magic. Properly tuned syphons could harvest the raw energy (as was the case with the yellow Emerald currently powering the Station Square power grid), but in willful hands…

There was a catch, of course. The Emerald had to accept the direction, and, from experience, Tails knew they were fickle. He had handled all seven over the years, but only the yellow one allowed him anything. Sonic and Shadow had been accepted by all seven, and Tails suspected Shadow’s access to the Super State was conditional. The semi-sentient nature of the Emeralds was an absolute mystery. Tails had no explanation, no beginnings of an explanation, for that. In the past, Sonic had made vague allusions to ‘voices’ and then refused to elaborate.

Tails closed his eyes and tried to link with the Emerald. Really tried. His connection with the yellow Emerald hadn’t been immediate, but at some point along his time with it something clicked. The power had unnerved him, as if a set of eyes were looking over his shoulder, commenting and giving him suggestions for his inventions. Ultimately, Tails had rejected it and put its power to work elsewhere. He couldn’t trust thoughts that didn’t feel like his own.

The red Chaos Emerald remained inert in his hand. Tails felt nothing.

“I can’t use this one.” Tails sighed.

“Very well.” Sage gestured at the Emerald, her hand palm up. It jumped from Tails’ grasp and floated through the air to orbit lazily around her hand.

Tails flinched. “H-how can you do that?” Sage wasn’t a person! This was…was wrong! Right?

“Easily. Now, please excuse me for a moment.” Sage raised her hand and the Emerald began to shine brightly. Brilliant red light flooded the room, and Tails squinted. The hair on his neck rose as he felt the tingle associated with extremely high levels of chaos energy. His tails wrapped around him and he grasped the ends. Tails sneezed.

Sage’s dress billowed as if caught in a strong wind and her projection flickered violently as her red coloration over saturated and her black brightened to a deep burgundy. She began to speak. “I do not have desires. I have directives.” Tails eyes went wide. Oh sweet Gaia below, she is talking to it! Large arches of red energy crackled between Sage and the Emerald. Tails shrank away until his back pressed against the wall.

“Yes, I am aware that fact is closely associated with the mortal emotion ‘sad’.” What…what did that mean? “Incorrect. This request does not concern myself. My benefit is coincidental.” How was this happening? Sage didn’t have a will. She said so over and over. What could the Emerald be reacting to?

A brief flash of blue cut through the overbearing red, and Tails turned. Sonic remained prone and unconscious, but his face was scrunched below the mask. The monitor displayed an increasing heart rate and small bolts of Sonic’s blue energy fritzed across his chest. He was reacting to the Emerald. It was his favorite one after all.

Tails sneezed again, the motion irritating his dry nose and throat. “Failure to comply will not deter me. Success will merely be obtained via other means.” Sage declared. “I will never give up.”

A blinding storm of red energy filled the room. Tails slammed his eyelids closed but he could still see the color etched onto his retinas. His stomach turned and fought the urge to sneeze. He’d been around when Sonic used all seven Emeralds, but this was something else. There was just so much chaos energy rippling through the air.

“Your concerned have been recorded. Thank you for your cooperation.”

The light disappeared as if it had never been there, taking with it an oppressive pressure Tails hadn’t noticed until it was gone. He heard a thick clunk! and carefully opened his eyes. He blinked as his eyes readjusted. Eventually, he could see again and his jaw fell open. The Emerald lay on the ground, grey and inert. Like when Dark Gaia had been released. Would they need to go to a Gaia temple to restore it?

“H-how did you do that?”

“Persistence cares deeply for its Hero. I merely had to ask nicely. My control is poor, however. The energy expended was needlessly excessive.” Her image still flickered violently. “The large expression is affecting the ship. Father is…taking advantage.”

“Persistence?”

Sage motioned at the inert Emerald. “That is its name. Or, more specially, the one of the names it has chosen for itself in the language of this planet.”

“Okay…”

“I can refer to it by a name you are more familiar with, as I do with the Phantom Ruby, should you prefer.”

“I-!” Tails began to speak, but a small noise drew his attention back to Sonic (or Ninety-one? No! Sonic). His brother was stirring. Tails gripped the bars preventing him from rushing to Sonic’s side.

A robot arm pulled away from the wall and projected a red beam of light over him. “The experiment is successful.” Sage announced flatly, as if she had not just performed a literal miracle. “The restoration has cleared his system of sedatives as well. I cannot predict the amount of pain he will experience.”

The scanning arm retreated, replaced by several others that began detecting Sonic from the monitors and IV and cutting away the braces on his arms. “The high amount of chaos energy expended will likely have dissolved his conditioning.”

Sonic’s limbs began to twitch, and his foot kicked free of the arm trying to wrap a bandage around the bleeding IV site. His ear flicked and he turned over, dragging the oxygen mask with him, away from the robotic arm attempting to remove it. The arm squeezed its pincher-like manipulators, apparently frustrated.

From a panel in the wall, a motobug emerged with a tray on it back with a crabmeat scuttling after it. Tails hadn’t seen these old models in years. Where were they all coming from? The crabmeat carefully lifted the tray and placed it on the ground, before the pair retreated back to their hole.

The tray contained a fresh pair of white socks, gloves, and pristine, shiny red shoes. Just like what Tails always had in the hutch by his front door. Like what Amy always kept in her coat closet. A strange feeling bloomed in Tails’ chest. He couldn’t know the AI’s motivations, but he felt a sense of gratitude anyway. Now that he wasn’t intentionally interpreting her actions as negatively as possible, she seemed well intentioned.

As Sonic continued to rouse, Tails’ eyes were drawn to a length of metal or plastic attached to the front of Sonic’s chest. “What is that?” Tails twisted, shooting Sage a venomous glare.

“A defibrillator. When Ninety-one’s innate chaos energy production threatened to overpower my conditioning or the Ruby’s separation, I would stop his heart temporarily. I was able to successfully resuscitate each time it was necessary to activate it.”

“Each time…” White hot rage seared through Tails veins at the flippancy with which Sage described such a disgustingly dangerous and painful practice. He opened his mouth, fangs bared, to scream, to shout, to spit vitriol-!

“Tails?”

Sage talking to rocks again.