Chapter One: Decay

It was starting to get old... This wasteland that gave off no signs of life whatsoever, yet even the man-made buildings and machines remained intact and untouched, which gave way to dirt and dust that had settled on them from time to time. It was strange, seeing as every living organism-even the plants- lay on the ground, rotting away, inside and out. No one knew that it was coming or even how it happened, how it came into being. There were no historical records or stories about this type of phenomenon ever occurring. It just...came.

Hi. You already know me. It's 'Zenix'. I've been trying to figure out a way to stop this pandemic from spreading even further than it already has. But I can't seem to figure it out. And I'm the only one left now... My mother left us and never returned, so me and my sister, Amy, had to fend for ourselves in this desolate world.

We heard once that some scientists were still trying to figure out how to stop it, that they were hiding in a lab somewhere and performing experiments on the substance. But I-we-tried to be realistic with all the lies they fed us. We knew that some point in time it would have ended badly; someone would touch the substance or it would accidentally spill, they would believe that the specially designed suits they were wearing would ward off the disease, but they were wrong... and by the time they realize it, it would be too late...

We were hiding out in a place where the disease couldn't touch us, sterile and for the most part, empty. But many would argue this statement, noting the shelves stocked with extra food and supplies, stuffed into hand made containers to stay fresh. Although most of the food still looked okay it had for the most part expired over the years, probably because this bunker hadn't been used for quite some time. Still, that was mostly it, aside from a desk pushed against the wall in the center of the room, which was empty anyways.

One day Amy decided it was okay to leave the bunker and explore on her own to see if she could find more supplements. She was the oldest, and I admired her with my very being, usually doing whatever she said, but...this seemed a bit of a stretch. But she came out to be more experienced than I was, so I just shrugged and went back to reading my library book. Said book was now pointless to return, since the library hadn't been open for weeks, and I didn't want to risk going out there without Amy, so I just re-read it from time to time.

When Amy said "See you later" and walked right out the door, I didn't think twice about it.

...

...

...

She never came back.

"Watch out!" a voice cried out and everyone turned their heads towards the direction it came from. They barely had time to blink before a flash of light blue and a gust of wind whipped by.

Blaze was running around, weaving in and out of animatronics in her path, leaping from wall to wall when she couldn't go around them easily. She was carrying an armful of spare parts and paper with strange symbols on them, which was a testament to her high IQ and interest in robotics.

She skidded to a stop at a large metal door-to put it simply, it's what most people would call "that weird science-lab door thingy that has a passcode and everything"-and typed in a few digits, cradling the other items in one arm carefully as she did so. When the door opened, she rushed inside and set the materials onto the lab table, but instead of dwelling over them, she quickly moved to the other side of the room where various tools and books were sprawled out. She groaned at her own untidiness, but at the moment, it couldn't be helped. She was too busy and too stressed to care about cleanliness right now.

A crash sounded and she turned around in a panic, fearing the worst. And... the pile that she had so carelessly set on the table had toppled over. She sighed in frustration; just another mess to worry about.

Just as she was about to take on the disaster of screws and wires scattered all over the floor, Sonic (because this fanfic called Matter of Trust is SO addictive for some reason. And yes, I like Sonadow. Don't judge me) rushed in, making the chaos even worse.

"Blaze, there's somethin' you've gotta see!"

When she'd heard that there was something she "needed to see", she wasn't expecting to see a Warp Ring opened up at the end of the East hall.

"Wha..." She raised a brow, looking seriously befuddled about the situation.

"Yeah, I know," Sonic commented, obviously just as confused as Blaze was. "It just...appeared. We don't know where it came from, but it's been here for quite some time."

"Nothing came out of it?" She asked. This was an unusual occurrence; usually an object or a person would have entered through it by now, since Warp Rings were used for fast transportation. But because of their frequent trouble with teleporting to the wrong place, they were rarely used anymore, unless it was an emergency. Most of the Warp Rings were put in highly secured storage around the year 4100 or, for Silver Warp Rings*, the year 5600.

"Nope."

"Huh..."Blaze trailed off, deep in thought. 'Maybe there's some sort of scientific analysis or equation for this or some sort of historical records on it somewhere deep in a Freedom Fighter or government library somewhere...'

Before she got too deep into her thoughts there was a flash of light from the Warp Ring and the person revealed themselves...

"Uh-ZENIX?"Blaze let out in a choked voice. 'No way. It can be. I saw it. We all did. (Explained later on) And she couldn't just come back from beyond the grave or something... Unless...

'No. I don't want to jump to conclusions. That's not a wise thing to do. Maybe its...not her? But...oh, gosh, that sounds weird with her standing right in front of me... But, maybe she's from another universe? I mean, her clothes look different.'

As if reading her thoughts, the girl-apparently Zenix-looked at her in confusion. "Blaze...?" Then realization struck her. "Oh. Of course. I was told these things were made with a few kinks. Why am I not surprised?" She was just dripping with sarcasm, which made Blaze give an unconscious glare and she shivered-something was not right. "Oh, yeah. I'm from the planet Nashira (Which I had to look up, because names don't come that naturally to me. FUN FACT: When I made Zenix, I was REALLY tired and I was thinking of planets that started with a Z-even though I know there probably aren't. Then, it just popped into my head-ZENIX! And then I realized I had NO FUCKING IDEA how I made that up, so...) and I-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait,"Blaze held up her hands to silence her. "You mean our old planet? No way."

"Well, where I come from, that's MY home planet, so..." Zenix shrugged.

"Ah, right. So you are from another dimension..." Blaze noted. 'Well, that answers my previous question. Now...' She cleared her throat. "How did you get here? You couldn't have just thought it up, right?" She waited for a response. She wanted to see what she would say.

"Oh. Um..." Zenix scuffed her right foot on the floor, suddenly looking sheepish.

'Oh, NOW you're doing that?' Blaze scoffed mentally. 'Of course she wouldn't say. Now I'm even more suspicious.' This was the strategy Blaze always used when something just didn't seem quite right. She would ask who they were (maybe confusing them with someone else), where they were from, and how they got there and then see just how they would respond. Of course, most of the time they never answered her directly, which always frustrated her. 'Well, now I know that she's another version of Zenix, although she doesn't seem to act anything like her, she came from our old planet, which, in this plane of existence should be abandoned by now, and she used a Warp Ring to get here, which doesn't make any sense because they either should be gone already or shouldn't even work anymore. Then again, maybe they still exist in that time? But that would seem much earlier than when I would think the materials to make them would be available. Not to mention that that's a GOLD Warp Ring, not a Silver one, which Zenix used to use...' She had her brain working full steam and it was said that when she got like this people swore they could hear the gears turning in her head. To this she said, of course, was impossible.

"Anyway,"She brushed it off and began walking down the hall. "Come on. I wanna show you something."

"Aaah...Okay?" The other two followed right behind.

When they got to the end of the West Hall, it was dark and quiet, save for the wind that was trying to push itself through the small gaps in the walls. Sonic shivered and walked closer to Blaze.

"Hey,"He whispered. "Are you sure we should even be doing this? No one comes down here anymore. You know..." He cringed at the thought of what lied ahead, hesitant.

"Yes, I'm sure. Besides, she needs to know."

"If you say so." He shrugged.

Blaze grabbed Zenix lightly by the hand and pulled her forward so she was close enough to see. Sonic stood back, trying not to look. "Here." Blaze flicked her wrist once and the whole area of the end of the hall lit up. Candles were spread out evenly, surrounding something. What was that? The other-worldly Zenix leaned in to take a closer look. When she realized what it was, it sent a shiver down her spine. From a distance, it just looked like an ordinary pile of garbage ready to be taken out, but upon further examination...

"...Its...me..." She froze. She gagged for a second, covering her mouth. It wasn't every day you saw a rotten, decaying version of yourself and she didn't take kindly to the sight at all.

Sonic took a gander at the scene and nearly threw up as well. He told himself he wouldn't look again. He didn't want to. But in the end, temptation ruled over his moral thoughts and he did it anyway. He quickly turned around and held onto his stomach while trying not to either puke or go insane. Zenix had helped him and Shadow over the past and seeing someone close to you (even though you barely knew them) die a horrible, gruesome death was just...terrible.

"She's even worse than before." Sonic said shakily. But he didn't turn around.

"Yeah..." Blaze stared at the corpse somberly, unmoving. It was unnatural to see her this way; she was usually very experienced and very analytical, but there were times when even the most strong willed of souls could be silenced.

She shook her head and continued. "So, we were wondering if you knew anything about this?" She patted Zenix on the shoulder to comfort her and maybe coax her into answering. When she didn't answer, Blaze leaned down so they were face to face. "Zenix...?" Now this was new. She had never before seen Zenix cry like this. It was very uncharacteristic of her Zenix, whom she knew to be very serious and even a little bit rude, but still caring. To be honest, this sight softened her a bit. "Are you alright? What's wrong?" She reached up and wiped away the tears (before you go CRAZY, I would just like to mention for anyone that doesn't know that Blaze and Zenix are MOTHER AND DAUGHTER-NO SHIPPING PLEASE!)

"Yes. Although..." Zenix sighed. "I know what this is."