Disclaimer: I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Sonic and company aren't mine. There, my aspires and dreams are crushed. I hope you're happy!
'Sup people? NamelessMoonshine is back! And guess what? I'm actually gonna do something serious for a change! Yaaaaay!!
I'll break it down for you real quick-like, okay? Lately my 'What'd You Expect?' fic has been gathering dust. This is because I have evolved from that style of writing into something with more of a...oh, I don't know...plot? Anyway, I made that fic for completely mindless antics, witty comebacks, and laughs. I haven't been in a particularly funny mood lately (you should seen some of the poems I've written, all suicidal), so I've been unable to continue the storyline.
Now, I could make the story more serious, but then its initial charm would be lost, and we can't have that, can we? So I decided that while I'm in my more 'serious' mood, I should get to work on my 'serious' fics. Namely, this fic, Disappear.
Before I let you read, I'll give you a fast run-down: The basic pairing in this story is Tikal and Chaos. You know, Tikal that Echidna who trapped the water demon thing, Chaos, in the Master Emerald? If you do not like that pairing, don't read. Furthermore, if you cannot take sentimental moments and multiple flashback sequences, plus a little gore and drama, I suggest you leave. Now that I have warned you, if you flame me without good reason or some actual advice on how to improve this fic, i.e. pointing out typos and loose ends for me, you will be laughed at. Loudly and cruelly. Then I'll send ChaosHavoc after you and it won't be pretty.
Thank you.
Prologue - The Ancient Past
The night was beautiful. It stretched across the island like a dark, vast blanket of untold thickness, and wrapped the sky in its coils like a tremendous python or boa, enveloping the world above and below in its embrace of darkness, with the stars shining on like so many eyes, and their light flowing down from the heavens like the blood soon to be split upon our most sacred grounds of our home, Angel Island. Yes, the sky spread above was truly beautiful, the day it all ended.
If the sky was dark, so should have been our island, but it was not so. The fires of a million torches ate into the darkness near the ground of our island, leaping up hungrily into the expansive heavens beyond, gobbling up the dark as they could before being beaten back down to flicker near their wooden roots.
"Hurry! We have to stop the monster!"
The rallying chorus sang through the air in loud rough tones, but at first I myself had no idea what was being done. As was my usual habit, I was tucking in all the resident Chao of our village with a few of the young Echidna children, many of them in line to be priests and priestesses. I was still dressed in my formal wear from earlier that day, the green and pink diamond skirt with trail, the heavy golden jewelry laden down with gems, and a white cloth over my chest that revealed my stomach.
I was working with a particularly feisty young Hero Chao named Quiautl when they came. The little creature would jump up the moment I came near and waddle away a few feet to wait for the next advance before moving again. I was being impatient, having been out for hours chasing the persistent little beast, and the conventional wear was becoming tiresome and a great burden.
"Get her! She's the monster's lover!"
"She must be a witch!"
Now before I go any farther, I will say this: I am not a witch, at least not in the sense they were using. I never have been, and I don't plan on becoming one any time soon. And while it is true that their 'monster' and I were engaged, we never were lovers. That practice was strictly for married couples in our culture, and to make love before the ceremony was a crime beyond any, except treason, which did not fall in the same category.
But without taking my protests in regard, I was snatched up by the raging crowd's rough grasp and dragged from my self-appointed priestess duties with them on their strange path of destruction and revenge.
"Kill the monster! Tear him apart!"
"Burn his wench!"
It should go without saying how frightened I was at that time. It was clear from their mad actions that my fellow Echidnas had been drinking, a good number of them anyway. Echidnas have never been too tolerant of alcohol, and when too much is consumed, it will often bring out the very worst in us. Those that were not drunk were probably too afraid to interfere.
Such was the case with my fellow Echidnas, as they dragged me against my will to receive their drunken justice and their intoxicated punishment. The ground was rough as they yanked me along, cutting my trail to shreds, and jutting deep gashes into the exposed flesh of my legs. They did not notice, or did not care, however, for they kept moving towards their destination.
The temple of the Master Emerald.
They cried their calls of war up the long flight of stairs to the Emerald, challenging their 'monster' to come away from his duties and fight, 'for his whore' they screamed. They jeered and pushed me to front of the crowd, yanking me to my feet painfully, and I did not understand the danger of my presence.
These were men I'd grown up with, second fathers and brothers to me, I could not believe how they were treating me. I could not comprehend that they wanted to hurt me, hurt my affiance, who had always been the favorite among the tribe, hence his honor of being chosen by the Master Emerald's voice as the Guardian.
"Come on, monster! We know you're there!"
They sounded like children trying to taunt their parents into punishing them, expecting to get simply sent away to bed, and not really get disciplined with the harsh treatment they were deserving. They thought they were in the superior class by holding me hostage, but if they had been sober, they would have known it was the stupidest thing they could have done.
When he finally appeared, they gasped. He was no longer what they had expected in their besotted stupors, but stranger and, unknown to them, far more dangerous.
His green eyes had enlarged to take up three times the size of space they should have, and all other features of his faces seem to have been lost in a strange swirling pattern of the watery sludge-like liquid he was now composed of. His dreadlocks were melded together into two tendril-like strands hanging down his back, and his hands and feet were fused jointly into set of three digits each. There was their monster.
His luminous green eyes were scanning the hushed crowd below, and I cowered, praying he would not be able to single me out among the other Echidnas in the mob. Though, he has always had a strange knack for finding me, no matter what.
My hopes of remaining unnoticed were dashed however, when a young male behind me was suddenly stricken with a burst of courage, or lunacy. He shoved me forward so that I fell without warning, and didn't have time to catch myself. The result was a rather ungraceful tumble onto the temple stairs, knocking my forehead against one of the steps, causing the tiara on my head to cut me shallowly, just enough for a small trickle of blood.
As I pushed myself up, my back connected with the sole of a boot, the foot inside belonging to the suddenly fearless, or brainless, youth who had pushed me. Fire rushed up my spine as I was shoved back down onto the stone steps, and a cry of pain escaped before I could quell it. The crowd's spell of silence seemed to be partially broken by this, and a low, rumbling sound of approval reached my ears. I prayed it had not reached my betrothed's as well.
"Monster!" The youth called up to him, as I mentally begged him to shut his mouth and run, else bring death and despair to us all. "Surrender yourself, or your little sorceress dies here and now." I suddenly felt cool steel against the back of my neck. "And we all know what a shame that would be..."
At the top of the stairs, there was silence. For a moment, a hope in my heart stirred, that he had not heard. But I also feared this, for the drunk youth might have decided he had, and cut off my head anyway. Then the blood would be split just the same. I was torn in my hope, and simply began to pray for my village's, my island's safety.
My change in prayers must've come too late, because there was a sudden roar of anger from atop the temple, and my engaged melted, just melted, into a fair sized wave before practically lunging down the steps at my attackers, his bellow of rage loud and terrible.
I was flung away, the mass behind me losing all their remaining intrepidity and fleeing for their lives. It did not matter, for immediately gallons of water erupted from the ground all around us, boiling hot liquid from springs far below, and we were trapped.
He raced past me, relentless in his fury, serving out death for any one of the Echidnas he could catch before they dared to make a run through the torrent of water between them and freedom, some dying in the process, others making it through, but dying of burns afterwards, and still others who went through and might have survived had his hands not reached through after them and dragged them back to his deadly embrace, sometimes dead already, sometimes still alive and struggling.
None of them lasted long.
Their torches were of no use against him, and he continued his slaughter of the countless trapped there. Abandoned weapons and unattended flames strewed the ground, and somehow the fire passed through the water, setting the huts of the village beyond ablaze. I heard the screams of innocent females and children outside of the water and wept.
I still don't know myself where the surge came from, though I suspect it was the Master Emerald. Whatever happened, it flowed through my veins like my own life-giving blood, and flooded my senses with the cries of my fellow villagers, and my heart wrenched. My body was racked with their pain as I felt myself dying over and over again.
My legs found themselves under me, and I shakily rose to my feet, my arms stretched in a perfect horizontal line, palms outward in the position of prayer that the Emerald priestesses use. The prayer came out in our ancient language, which is now long forgotten in these modern times.
"Adlaremse, regetorp son, y ravlas ut Alenitnec..."
"Al arapes se le Soac eteis; le rodaluger etsixe arap rinu arapes. Le Soac se odazirotua rop le nozaroc..."
Everything went still then, as though time itself had been frozen. The brilliant light was a million different colors at once, blue to green to yellow to red, each of which a shade I had never witnessed, and if I looked into its center, I knew I would go blind. Instinctively, my eyelids closed and the warmth of the light encircled me. I did not see him, but I knew he was there with me, him and no other. We were on another plane entirely.
And so, sleep fell upon me, for several hundred years...
So, how'd you like it? I hope you will remember that nice little bluish-purplely button thingy marked 'Go!' down there, because I love getting reviews; they make me feel warm and fuzzy and loved.
And by the way, if there is anything particular that someone wishes to outline about Tikal and Chaos, or Knuckles and the Chaotix ('cause they'll be in here too, hopefully), please tell me. You would not believe how hard it is finding their info on the Net, and I can't get my hands on any comics with them in the storyline. All I know is what I read in fics. -.- Agh, the torment!!