Sorry it has been a while but I had my second batch of mocks and had no time to complete what I started. It is the Christmas holidays now and I will try to get in as much as possible. Sorry you had to wait...but I promise it will be worth it.

The return home

It is now autumn in Soleanna with the summer heat fading away into the past, along with a horrible yet thrilling adventure that had set our hero's on the edge.

An early morning frost had settled gracefully on the many calm rivers flowing through Soleanna and the trees were becoming bare with the coming winter, the brown crispy leaves covered the ground and crunched under foot as a gang of familiar hero's walked down the streets.

The sun was only just rising above the graceful city as Sonic breathed in the fresh air of a new day, they had only just returned from a relaxing month of vacation at Adabat granted by the GUN commander and were now working their way home.

"So...when is your wedding again Knux?" Sonic asked sheepishly, knuckles had told him at least ten times over the holiday, but with a sexy black and ruby hedgehog as your partner it is pretty easy to forget everything else.

Sonic gave a sideways glance at that same hedgehog next to him and he was rewarded with a glance in return by his partners crimson eyes. However, Sonic was not sure if Shadow was also thinking of him in the same way, judging by his rolling eyes and a sigh of frustration at Sonics lack of memory it was clear he was actually thinking` you are such a moron Faker`.

Knuckles growled low in his throat but stopped whatever outburst was meant to be spat by a poke in the arm and a glare from none other than Rouge, his bride to be.

"To save another volcanic eruption from Knuckles I will say this time Faker. We are at the beginning of September now; their wedding is at the beginning of November. Practically two months from now." Shadow said calmly, casually wrapping an arm around Sonics waist, not afraid what passer by's thought.

Rouge gave him a look of gratitude as Shadow returned it with a small smile and pulled his cream coloured rucksack further up his arm since he had a habit of only having it hanging from one arm, the other arm preoccupied with Sonic.

Rouge gazed at the two with adoration, the two hedgehogs were perfect for each other and had both gone through their own share of hard times. Sonic had forbidden anyone to speak about his...disability stage; it brought back bad memories of desperation and sorrow. They had all agreed, but knuckles sometimes let it slip and was earned a good wallop from Rouge for it.

Rouge watched with her sapphire eyes as she raised her left hand closer to her face and admired the giant, sparkling, diamond engagement ring glittering in the morning sun. She remembered when she had admired it exactly the same way as she sunbathed on the beach of Adabat.

During their stay in Adabat not only had they received the letter from Shadows saviours Blaze the reporter and Silver her top photographer, but they had also received a letter from pearl from Apotos. The young blonde haired girl that almost looked like Maria had thanked Rouge for the pendent that she had found in the haunted Village. Rouge shivered as she remembered finding it.

Finally she stopped in the middle of the room...in the middle of the chaos. As she looked at the true horror of what was once a house she finally managed to find what had caught her eye earlier. Bending down onto her knees onto the torn yellow rug of the living room a single tear fell from her eyes. There, on the floor, lay a beautiful pure gold necklace sparkling in the sunlight pouring through the shattered window. It had a diamond embedded in the locket, the golden chain snapped.

Rouge had the vision of Pearls actual past at touching that necklace, her father Simon had told Pearl that her mother was lost at sea...when in fact she was murdered by Mephiles in his wolf form so many years ago. Pearl admitted she was hurt by the lies, but now understood why her father forbid her to go to the haunted village. All was forgiven.

"Hey Rouge, are you alright? You seem distant." Shadows voice was just a muffled whisper in her ears as she forced herself to snap out of it. When she finally looked up at him she smiled at the worry and concern in her friend's usually emotionless mask of a face.

"I am fine Hun, I am just thinking about the wedding." She lied, Shadow saw straight through it but decided against pushing her for information, he knew that she would tell him when she was ready.

Knuckles was being strangely quiet as he was playing with the bone whistle around his neck, he wouldn't admit it encase he hurt Rouges feeling but he missed Tikal and the forest echidna terribly. He had believed that he was the last of his kind; before he met Tikal who had such a similar fate tied to her Spirit Temple...Like him tied to the master emerald. His fist squeezed firmly around the whistle at this thought.

"Where is Tails again?" knuckles suddenly spoke up, trying to distract himself.

"Well you know that old rust bucket of a plane we took from GUN to get to Apotos," Sonic began with his usual cocky smirk as the others nodded. "Since Tails lost the Tornado he is remodelling, upgrading and modernising the old GUN plane. It will look awesome when it's done."

"Wow, those three words are a bit big for you aren't they?" knuckles sniggered as Sonic gave a glare that could rival shadows.

"That is quite a glare Sonic; I see Shadow is rubbing off on you." The echidna continued to mock as Shadow also started glaring at that comment, both ganging up on him.

"Well... at least I don't clutch a bone like it is a security blanket." Sonic spat with venom in his voice, his well known short temper breaking already. Knuckles was about to retort when he realised he was indeed gripping the bone whistle around his neck, he bit it back as they continued walking towards Sonics house.

"Come on guys, we haven't been home for an hour yet and you already look like you are going to murder each other." Rouge broke in, feeling the tension getting so thick between the three boys that she could literally cut it with a knife. She feared knuckles safety the most since Shadow was indeed having a hard time being patient and an angry Shadow was a deadly Shadow.

Silence filled the group and the only sound was the birds singing their morning song, the peaceful atmosphere did not suit the situation at all at the moment. They walked the rest of the way in silence and Sonic put his hand within his head quills to pick out his keys, reaching out to unlock the door with a satisfying click. The door had been replaced by GUN for free since they had broken it down before; it was painted a nice shade of green which Shadow had come to learn was Sonics favourite colour. All came in happily, dumping their bags against the now closed front door. Shadows' cream one, Sonics' green one, Rouges' purple and Knuckles' orange one were dumped down carelessly.

Shadow had to restrain a scream as walking into the cream coloured living room he came face to face with a giant, black, house spider crawling disgustingly slow on the wall opposite the living room door. His normally tan coloured muzzle went three times paler than normal as he forced his muscles to un-tense themselves. Shadow forced himself to move since he couldn't let his reputation slip, Rouge and Sonic knew but if Knuckles found out the fearless Shadow was afraid of puny spiders he would never let him live it down.

Seeing Shadows strange shade in skin colour he followed his partner's line of sight to see what had caused his lover such distress. He immediately spotted it and smiled gently, going over and catching the black insect in his gloved hands before gently putting it out of the window. When he turned back to Shadow his black counter part had a purely thankful look.

Rouge plonked herself comfortably on the cream sofa with a sigh as she watched all three boys travel to the kitchen for a snack; Knuckles had decided to take the bone whistle off by Sonics comment and had placed it on the glass circular table. It immediately caught her eye as she leant forward to touch it.

The atmosphere suddenly felt tense again and she hesitated, maybe it was because she was about to touch something that was not rightfully hers...or it was something else, a warning maybe. Her ocean blue eyes narrowed at the preposterous thought as she swallowed down the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat unexpectedly. She whizzed her head round to the living room door, still open with general conversation echoing from the kitchen. There was a strange sensation of someone else being in the room, someone else's presence, but when she glanced around she was all alone.

Plucking up the courage she touched the smooth white surface of the bone, a finger tracing the air hole where you should blow. Suddenly white filled her vision with a heart stopping white flash. Sickly green eyes appeared. Evil laughter filed her head. Gasping she jolted back as if shocked. Her breaths came in large gulps. Her eyes were wide in disbelief and fear. Her heart pounded mercilessly within her chest. The vision was so quick she swore she never saw it...but it was there, clear as crystal in her minds eye.

"Rouge?" all three males were standing in the doorway, keeping their distance as they stared at something, or someone...behind Rouges sofa. Rouge felt eyes watching her from behind and shivered as she slowly turned her head...