A puppet's dream

Author's notes: Presenting the first story of the puppet trilogy, featuring Reverie as the main protagonist. This story has not been cleverly devised, or left to simmer for eight months during which I debate writing it or not, no way. This was written on a whim, and as such should be read on a whim. Yes, flame me all you like. Yes, Reve seems godlike and immortal (she isn't really, it's just you). Yes, I am thoroughly bored with other Sonic fanfictions found here, and have only found one or two good ones so far.

So now, in response to the decreasing amount of things worth your time, I bring you the story of a puppet. Oh, I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega), nor the Metapsychic Institute (based in Paris), but I do own Reve and Meristo (who I realise, after some debating, might seem a little like Mephiles. Rest assured that he is not).

Chapter 1: Sorrow loves solitude

The white-wash walls gave her the growing sensation of being trapped in an asylum- yet it wasn't that the stucco paint was off-putting, far to the contrary. It was simply the combination of different events happening at once. One, there was as odd silence outside, one that she had never heard before, almost as if the world had decided to hush itself to sleep. Two, she had never seen such a dull sunset- the sun had practically given in to the moon (there was no more fight left in it?). Three, her mind was busily trying to stifle all memories of that horrible beast, and she was trying desperately hard to remember. The prison wasn't in the walls around her, but in the boundaries inside her head. Reve felt her body go limp, felt herself slip down the wall itself and finish as a limp pile of flesh and blood before the window. She couldn't muster the energy to get up, even though she had spent the better part of the day sleeping.

Trouble was brewing, and now that she had seen the heart of it, she felt less than okay. There had to be some way to tell the world, without revealing herself to be a mutant run amok, but unfortunately she was not feeling very enlightened. The white furry heaved a sigh. It was said that a personal journey was often fraught with hardships, but she felt that she had had more than her fair share. Why couldn't someone else have the spooky psychic abilities that allowed her to travel beyond the physical plain?

The anthro's thoughts trailed off as she began to lose herself in her memories. The Metapsychic Institute had… well- they had apologised at the time. They had promised that her case was special, and that she would be unique. No one would have to suffer what she had. Reverie supposed that this, in a way, was good. But she just couldn't understand the point of playing the part of humanity's martyr for the rest of her life.

It was time to act- to change her destiny.

"If I can stop him- stop the blue hedgehog from waking Meristo… then I'll be more than an experiment gone wrong."

The sudden surge of energy was perhaps due to the sun finally setting. Obscurity reigned as the growing clouds shrouded the horizon. The feline human picked herself up, glancing out the window and beholding the fast approaching storm. Fantastic- no one would leave the house with bad weather to come. The corners of her lips twitched into a smile as she stepped towards the small adjacent kitchen. Food was essential for concentration.

After a serving of tuna and tomato, Reve sat down on the varnished floor. The roads outside were still as silent, but the girl didn't seem to care anymore. Her focus was on regulating her breath- in and out. After a few minutes of forced breathing exercises, Reve closed her eyes, and whispered, "Delta Field." She raised her hands as these words were spoken, ignoring the rush of purple energy that suddenly surrounded her body. Her mind was already elsewhere.

The world behind her eyes was dark, but it was a comforting blackness. Reve felt like a ghost- uninvited, but present none the less- unable to get hurt, unable to be touched. Memories that were not her own blurred past, snippets of whispers and muted voices coursed through the air like a breeze on a summer's day. The white furry found herself whirling in the thoughts of others, at ease. Slowly, the longer she played amongst the images and sounds, the more she found herself becoming physically present. Instead of gliding, her bare feet could touch something solid, and she walked. Roads and avenues traced themselves before her eyes, and she instinctively took one that responded to her heart's desires.

A chaos emerald.

The chaos emerald? She wanted to know more- she needed to know more. Violence followed her like a cold draft, and she shivered. Blood accompanied the concept of the emerald- no, emeralds. There were seven emeralds. Their powers were negated by a master emerald.

Reve saw a frozen picture suspended in the air. A red creature stood guard over a big, glittering green gem. She tilted her head, considering the echidna for a minute, before deciding to investigate further. The furry's translucent form approached the frozen image, and she placed her hand on the echidna's unresponsive face. His body was resting right now- the only movement was the dull rise and fall of his chest. His mind, however, was still flurrying with activity, organising thoughts and memories. She let herself become submerged with them until she felt them inside her own mind.

"It's all I ever do… It's what I must do. I must protect the Master Emerald at all costs. Only then can peace be preserved…"

The thoughts were repetitive, like a torturous chant. Reverie got the distinctive impression that his life was based around the sole need to protect the Emerald, and she spared Knuckles a feeling of pity. How lonely it must be, how… boring. Already her mind was wandering elsewhere, seeking more information. She wanted to know about the chaos emeralds, not the Master Emerald. So the psychic furry left him to his sleep, unwilling to remain longer. She re-entered the black dimension of sounds and images, and continued to walk.

The frozen portraits of people with information were the boundaries of her path, yet her curiosity had been piqued by a recurring image. A long nose, an obscene mustache… Reve closed her eyes and sunk into one of the many similar images. Determination filled her, and she was surprised at how persistent the Doctor was. His plans for the construction of a robotic empire concerned her little, and she remained slightly aloof. Reverie felt no desire to melt into this person, and noted that he, unlike the red guardian, was still awake. His thoughts were a whirlwind, roaring past her yet ignoring her all the same. Insecurity gripped her, yet she forced herself to stay. Only by probing would she find what she needed.

People who were still awake had more active thoughts than those that slumber had claimed. The knowledge that pertained to her research would be easier to find in this man, yet harder to access. She would have to tread carefully if she was not to alert him to her presence. As another tempest rolled past her, she let herself fall into it, trying to capture the different aspects of each thought. Her mind froze suddenly- there he was again. That blue hedgehog. She felt the tug of her heart, the thirst to know more, but resisted her own desire. For the time being she needed to know what Meristo was after, not his puppet.

Reverie continued to fall, sinking deeper into the recesses of the doctor's mind, yet keeping a grip on her own mind. She would not allow her thoughts to become his- the twisted concepts of a mad scientist were not appealing to her. The tumble into nothingness soon became more gentle, as she found footing in the deeper, less used recesses of his mind. The thoughts here were more coherent, and easier to follow. She eased herself forwards, alert in the unfamiliar darkness, and followed the fading images that would lead her down memory lane.

The Doctor was older than what she had first guessed: The trek had taken some time. Along the way she had been privy to some important insights into the doctor's mental disposition, and felt less cautious around him. He wasn't mad- simply rejected. The power he sought was not to destroy, but to control. There was still something salvageable, underneath all the savagery. And, of course, there was the blue hedgehog- hauntingly present in all his memories, as if he too were an untouchable ghost. Reve swallowed the doubts and fears she had conceived about the cobalt creature, and plunged forwards.

Finally, her investigation revealed some interesting results. Chaos. She watched the watery depiction with fascination, unable to name it. There was nothing she couldn't answer in this world, yet here was a mystery- standing right before. Reve felt a sudden hunger, due to a lack of knowledge, and let herself drift into the Doctor's memories. She witnessed Chaos, and followed the Doctor's thoughts concerning the use of the chaos emeralds. Chaos fed on the energy emitted by the jewels, that had been empowered by an ancient creature from the past. The vague history lessons weren't quite as satisfying as watching the blue hedgehog battle with Chaos. Reve waited for the battle to finish, before tearing herself away from the memory. The sounds had been blurred, but she knew his name now. Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog.

Slowly she let herself wander back along the path, and found a quiet toss of sounds and images where the roaring storms had once been. So the Doctor did sleep from time to time. She slipped upwards, floating through the memories and slowing thoughts, before releasing him altogether. Reverie found her darkness once more, and breathed a sigh of relief. Her body was tense, her nerves were frazzled, and her bravery and dedication to the task had been tested, but she had succeeded. Now, she needed to find the chaos emeralds.

Everything in this world had its unique signature- a pattern of energy that could be tracked. Reverie had been very young when she had first visited the delta field, so the signals were blurry and unreadable. With practise, she had begun to recognise every independent wave of energy, letting her subconscious explore the source and mark it in her memory for later usage. Every time she submerged into the delta field, there were new waves to discover and learn, and she took an almost savage pleasure at tracking their source and finding out more about the person who emitted them.

The chaos emeralds were phenomenal, however. They functioned on an altogether higher wave than that which Reve was tuned into, and it took her some time before she could properly realise that the power of the emeralds also powered this level of conscious thinking. It was part spiritual essence, part residue of older essences, all combined into one object. Her head swirled with the information, and she found herself struggling not to lose herself in it. Her mind extended itself, and she felt herself creep along, following the energy waves to the location of the emerald itself…

And was surprised to find herself exactly where she had been before. Reve blinked as she forced herself to return to her normal state of mind. The Doctor still had an emerald? Had Sonic not taken them off him? Hum… Then it was clear- she would have to find his one first. The less contact she had with Sonic, the better it would be for the both of them. Reverie still feared the demon who had spoken, or would, with the cobalt hedgehog, and found herself recoiling at the thought of tracking down Sonic's dreams, just in case he did happen to be there.

The white anthro let herself sink once more, a purpose in mind as she dove into the Doctor's dreams. She needed to know where he had hidden the emerald, and a quick search told her all she wanted- his plans for a soul-controlling device using the emerald's power, the technology protecting his domain, the current guardians. The red emerald would soon be in her possession- to keep out of harm's reach.

Reve opened her eyes. The night had cast a dark gloom in the apartment, and rain battered against the wall outside. The window was still open, and a puddle had formed at the base of the wall. She exhaled heavily once more, reaching for her burning forehead. There was so much concentration involved in that activity that it pained her to return to her physical self… yet the consequences of her staying behind were too ghastly to consider.

The girl got up, reaching for the window, her mind forcibly blank as she closed it. The storm was at its climax, the wind pulling at trees and banging around the neighbourhood. The puddle on the floor was ignored, and Reve prowled into the kitchen, helping herself to a glass of water and some aspirin. Having relieved a little bit of the pain, she felt herself ready. The furry drifted through the small apartment, reaching her closet-sized room bearing a single mattress and a trunk full of clothes. The makeshift nightdress would not be alright to go wandering the Doctor's laboratories in, so Reve pulled out her favoured outfit. Soft, light and airy black material reached her knees, ending in balled pants that covered half of her lower legs. A stripy shirt, navy blue and white, kept her top half covered, though she pulled out a large white jacket just to be sure. Trainers clad her feet as she walked into the hallway, and opened a small cupboard from which she pulled a two foot long staff, equipped with a metal claw at the end. When it came to fighting, Reve surprisingly knew enough to get by on. Who knew what was waiting for you in the dark alleyway?

She left the apartment quietly, favouring the neon's glare over waiting for a lift. She tackled the six floors of steps at a quick walk, reaching the lobby just as the rain began to ease off. This didn't stop her zipping up her baggy jumper, though, and she shivered as she stepped outside into the cold. It had to be about three in the morning, and very few lights were still on in the towering blocks around her. She made her way towards the station, but stopped half-way, frowning. Trains didn't run this late, and they wouldn't let an eleven year old take the train by herself- especially an eleven year old with broken English. The laboratories were hidden in some ancient ruins, further to the west, and the train was the quickest way of getting there. With a sigh and a shrug, she continued onwards, vouching train over walk no matter what. The downpour had turned to drizzle, and a few stars shimmered amongst the patches of cloud. Beacons of hope in a dizzying expanse of trouble.

Twenty minutes had elapsed since she had left, yet Reve arrived at the station to find it's doors open and people boarding a train for the ruins- a popular destination for people of every walk of life. The ticket barrier was an obstacle, and Reverie found herself struggling for a language she couldn't quite grasp naturally. "Euh... Sorry... Can I 'ave a ticket for the ruins, please." The nasal accent was still rather audible, and the man did a double take as he started printing out a ticket for her. "Are you sure you're old enough to be traveling alone at this hour?" the guardian of the gate was suspicious, and Reve's chest tightened. She had to subtly control her breathing in order not to panic. "Of course I am. I'm working as an interpreter." her best impression at snobby was pretty unconvincing, but the guard passed her a ticket with a shrug, taking the money with a rueful glance towards the scientists boarding the train. "Never trust a man in a white coat." The white furry glanced at him, unable to hide the surprise that flickered on her face.

The train journey was long and boring. Reve's red eyes grew accustomed to the dim neon light, and she found herself relaxing in the almost-empty compartment. There was only one another man, an old fellow with greying hair and a friendly face, but they ignored one another. He seemed busy reading his book, and she took her time reviewing the half-formed plan in her mind. Sneak in, grab the emerald, rush out. Hopefully, she would not have to use any of her talents. Part of her was curious though, to see what would happen if she combined her mental abilities with the emerald's energy source, and she almost regretted having to sneak away so quickly. But the more she remained a mystery, the more people would ignore her. It was better that way.

The train stopped, and the scenery outside had changed. Wild and overgrown jungles had replaced the suburban buildings, and dirt tracks had taken over smooth concrete roads. There was no turning back now, and Reve knew it. She squared herself, and left the train, trying to be braver than she really felt like. Taking on a sleeping mad genius was perhaps better than taking on a waking one, but Sonic had always had company... Reverie had no one but herself to rely on... Perhaps it was better that way.

Her feet pounded the ground as she started off at a run, loosing herself in the wilderness. She let her mind's eyes lead her, felt her heart tug as she almost slipped into the beautiful river of energy pulsating around the ruins. Before she knew it, she had uncovered the secret entrance- the one that hid the laboratory- and was now working on the entrance code. Her hands slipped over the pad, pressing keys that she picked from memories that weren't hers. The system let her in without any protest.

Inside, it was cooler, and the air was slightly more stale. The first impression Reverie got was one of impatience- everything had been put together without much thought, even though everything seemed perfectly operational and planned out. There was no beauty in the metal panels, nor in any way the security had been fashioned. As she entered, she attempted to let her mind wander, but was met with cold metal walls and uncaring technological brains. Robots were stationed at every passageway. She would have to find another way into the heart of the centre.

The air vents were set out as a kind of parallel level, trapped between various floors. She was small enough to fit into one, and she would go undetected as long as she disabled the motion detectors. Reverie looked around the entrance room, and located a terminal. It accepted her security codes, and the sensors and cameras were deactivated. Robots, unfortunately, worked on a voice key recognition code, and Reve's talents didn't lay in the impersonating department. Instead, she wheeled around to face the closest wall, and began a nerve-wracking vertical climb, using all four sets of claws to grasp badly fixed slates and bolts.

After what seemed like the longest ten minutes of her life, she had hoisted herself up into the vents, wiping away sweat that had collected on her black brows. The girl now cursed her lack of foresight at failing to tie up the white shoulder-length corkscrew curls, but bore the feeling of being dirty and started to crawl forwards. It was a slow process, often having to stop and double back, or to take long detours to avoid large groups of robots. The laboratory slowly began to bustle with life, and Reverie was sure that dawn had been and gone. It was with relief that she slipped past a large panel blocking most of the vent, and found the area with the machinery that was still in the stages of development.

In the middle of the circular room stood a cylinder machine, bearing a large red crystal in its centre. Reve quickly attacked the closest vent, unscrewing the bolts and placing the panel inside the duct itself. She then let herself fall, only to land with cat like grace on the floor. The furry held her breath, perked her ears, but was met only with the sound of silence. It was funny how the worst-laid plans had a habit of working out in the end. Forward thinking had done nothing but bring her pain in the past. With a rueful shrug to her thoughts, she stepped forwards, towards the contraption.

The girl let her bare paws rest upon the controls. It was hollow- devoid of a conscience. She fought the urge to pull back, and merely let her fingers skip across the key pad. After she had pressed a few buttons, the machine made a whooshing noise, and the energy shield surrounding the chaos emerald vanished. She reached into it, and plucked the faintly shining jewel from it's socket. A cruel, cruel machine didn't deserve something as beautiful as this. In an instant she had made up her mind, and after clipping the emerald into her staff (the metal tips had been designed to accommodate an object of her choosing, perhaps in the situation where she would need to carry extra weight, or find something of utmost importance), she crouched. The metal plates had been painted red and blue, but it took her little time to find the bolts and unscrew them.

The machine's real heart lay before her: a mass of wiring, identical in colour. She gritted her teeth, before grabbing a bunch of them and yanking on them. The device issued small, light blue sparks, and whirred in protest, but did little else to stop her. It was with a sigh of relief that Reverie got up, and turned towards the door.

Her heart stopped. Her ears had caught the sound of feet. Metal clunks followed, a step behind judging by the asynchronism of the footfalls. So many could only mean that she had triggered an alarm in someway, and that the robots were coming. Panic gripped her, but instinct took over. She shoved away white curls, let one foot slip forwards, and bent her knees. The staff would be used as a last resort, but she still held it defensively. The snow leopard anthro refused to stumble at the first hurdle.

The doors whooshed open, and the sight that greeted Reve's red eyes could have made her skin crawl off her flesh. There had to be at least fifty robots, all blindly following a single man- a rather round, egg-shaped fellow: one with an obscene mustache, and a long nose. She had seen him many times before, but couldn't help but feel a flicker of fear as she met him for real.

He, on the other hand, didn't seem to be fearing anything at that point. In fact, his only great annoyance was the amount of intolerable surprise that was subduing him. "Who the devil are you? And what have you done with my emerald? And my machine?!" Reve snapped to attention, stomping on her own fear in the process. She was going to get herself caught if she didn't do something! Without a moment's hesitation, she closed her eyes, letting her mind sink into that black nothingness. The purple energy coursed around her body, and in her mind she could sense herself melding with the red chaos emerald's flux of power. Its energy was her own- she could use it, manipulate it, bend it to her own will. It was her. She was it. In the far distance, she could hear Robotnik stammer out a command. In her closed mind, she could only think of two words. "Delta Field." she breathed, concentrating on the chaos emerald within her mind's grasp. She projected an image of how she wanted the power to be used, and felt her arms react. A bubble of pure burgundy energy erupted from the staff's tip, encompassing Eggman and his closest robots. It shimmered for a moment, visible to her mind's eye as though she had opened her eyes for real, before fading. Her conscience twisted with the man's, all resistance ripped apart by the sheer power of the emerald.

There, in its wake, was a sleeping Doctor. She had stifled his mind, coerced his brain into shutting down against his will. Reve then allowed herself to fall back into reality, her heart hammering away at her chest. That was close- exhilaratingly so. She had never felt so much power, never touched something so removed from the physical world. She longed to let her mind touch the emerald once more, longed to flow with it's timeless river of essence and power. It was an object steeped in spiritual energy, the kind that would and could allow her to materialise her thoughts when desired. Her thoughts- and her own power. Was that her true ability? This little excursion had taught her an invaluable lesson.

It was then that she chose to check what was going on, since it seemed likely that the robots weren't just going to wait around for her to finish philosophising. To her surprise, none had moved from their initial point, and those that had been trapped within her small energy dome seemed unaffected by her mental power. She pushed aside the confusion, feeling the fatigue prod her brain and poke her weary bones. There was nothing more appealing than sleep, but it didn't seem like quite the opportune moment. Focusing herself once again, she slipped into a defensive stance and began to edge out of the room.

Creeping past the robots was not necessary, but it thrilled her to think that she had a power over them. Reverie couldn't quite understand why she wasn't being ripped apart by the metal thugs, but thought that it might have something to do with the fact that the Doctor hadn't been able to issue a command in time. Maybe they were waiting on it, which would explain the lack of enthusiasm to attack her, or do anything for that matter. Reve hated to think what would happen if she ever came across an autonomous robot, but decided she would deal with it once it actually threatened her, rather than pretend to threaten her indirectly. The idea caused a slight smile.

Exiting the laboratory was far easy than reaching the middle, and seemed like a pleasant stroll in the park if it weren't for the fact Reve was running. She had no idea how long he would be asleep for, but would rather not be around for when he woke up. Waking up was always less amusing than going to sleep- she knew that much for sure. Besides, he wasn't going to appreciate waking up to a ruined project, so the more she made herself small and non-present, the better her health was going to be.

The entrance was still as deserted, and Reverie found herself almost wanting some kind of contact. The eerie chill was still present, and as the girl slipped outside, she felt a pressure on her chest disappearing. She hadn't realised just how oppressive Doctor Eggman's facilities had been, but being surrounded by unfriendly metal and had definitely taken its toll on her disposition (not that much was required to unbalance her). She heaved a sigh. Crisp fresh air greeted her, and she spent the next few minutes getting lost in the forest. The further away she got, the happier she seemed to be, what with nature all around her. Her stomach grumbled miserably, and Reve decided that it was time to return home. She closed her eyes, and simply followed her feet. In what seemed barely like a few minutes she had arrived at the station.

She completely failed to see the old man, busy snapping shots of her staff.

The train journey home was uneventful enough, as the girl had taken to hiding the jewel inside her overly large jacket. Her tail flickered idly, and she let her mind wander. One chaos emerald... One... Now she needed six more, and she had really no idea where to find them. That one had been simple enough, as the chaos' source of energy practically seemed to dance before her eyes. The others seemed more faded, and would require more time to track down. She hoped the government wasn't hiding any in any secret, well-guarded, underground labyrinth. It would be like a repeat of Eggman's laboratory, minus the relatively easy access.

Oh well. She would deal with it on a full stomach.

Success had given her something to feel happy about.

Arriving home, she pulled out some more tuna, this time combined with mayonnaise, and sat on the floor again. The table and chairs remained forgotten in a corner of her living room. She didn't really enjoy sitting on plastic, since it reminded her of the Institutes's cafeteria. That place would always come back to haunt her in some invariable manner. As Reverie slowly munched on her fish, she studied the chaos emerald. It was slightly bigger than she had first thought, but it was far prettier than anything she had ever laid eyes on. No wonder they were in such big demand.

After eating, she stored it and her staff back in the cupboard, and took a quick shower. Personal hygiene was something she was freakishly obsessive about, and she couldn't bear the thought of being dirty. The steamy cubicle promoted her spreading of thoughts, and she pressed herself up against the wall, letting the water fall around her. Perhaps it would be better if she just located a few people who would soon come to possess an emerald, rather than try to retrieve it from the government, if they had any. She would have to see. She didn't fancy busting into another laboratory any time soon, because fresh air was hard to come by in areas like them. And Reverie was very attached to clean, real air (rather than the stale, oppressive kind).

It was about twelve by the time she had finished, and she retreated into her cupboard like bedroom, throwing on the nightdress she had been wearing before her little adventure. Plopping herself on the mattress, she closed her eyes and let the wave of energy circulate, and let herself fall into the emptiness, watching it fill up with screams and incoherent moving images. Was it any wonder why she preferred night time? Anything was better than having to put up with the storm that was humanity's waking thoughts. Slowly, Reve became accustomed to the rush around herself, even though she found it disarming, and tried tracking down the concept of chaos emeralds once more.

Oh dear... It seemed the Doctor had woken up to a nasty surprise... The girl couldn't stop herself from smiling as he lamented the loss of his machine and precious jewel. There was the acute feeling of vindictive pleasure, and she stored it away to gloat about another time. Instead, she let herself follow the echoes of emeralds, stumbling over torrents that threatened to knock her out of her own dimension. When had the delta field ever been crueler? Locating the most precious commodities on Earth was turning out to be harder than she had first expected, and she practically jumped on the first occasion presented to her, wrestling with a half-hearted desire to obtain a chaos emerald. Reverie just had to find out who wanted one, so that she could keep an eye on them. Hastily, she poked her way into their mind, surprised to find that they too seemed to want to build something based on the emerald's power.

His intentions, however, were pure. He was wide awake, busy with computers and machines that kept him company when that... that blue hedgehog wasn't around. "I could really use a chaos emerald to test out the new additions to the Tornado... I should ask Sonic if he'll come with me tomorrow and look for one..." Sudden fear of the name almost sent her careening out of the fox's head, but she clung to the thought, desperate for more leads. "I think that if we ask nicely... The government would probably lend us one... I think that was what they did to those who truly needed it." She let go of the idea, and waited patiently inside the boy's mind, screening for information that would be vitally linked to tomorrow's outing. She already had a general idea of Tails' mental disposition, and had concluded that he was one who had struck out on his own, after losing his parents, but had befriended Sonic due to this unfortunate event. Funnily enough, his main base of operations also happened to be set nearby the ruins she had visited that morning. It was an amusing coincidence, but not one that surprised the white furry.

He would come to Metropolis tomorrow. She would be there to watch him leave. After that, Reverie would follow him. She needed every possible strand of information on the emeralds, and on Sonic, but one that combines the two... Well, that was a stroke of luck. Reverie opened her eyes, returning to the physical world feeling more drained than ever. She was asleep before she had fully stretched out