A/N: Back from hiatus, and I'm going to try to kick the writer's block by working on this one. Plenty of time before next Christmas right now, but I need to get momentum going before school starts.

One of my challenges here is to keep as much of Shakespeare's plot and dialogue as I can as readable by modern standards as I can. Sometimes that means simplifying things, and sometimes that means keeping the dialogue that sounds really cool and putting in author's notes as necessary. Hopefully I'll be able to strike a balance between the two!

I noticed that the line breaks from the original first chapter didn't translate for some reason, so I've cleared those up and replaced them with /\/\/\ (Christmas trees!)

1vampirealpha52: Thank you! I do indeed plan to continue, as you see now. :D

/\/\/\

"O spirit of love!" the Duchess Rose exclaimed as she rose from her long red sofa. As she took a deep breath and clasped her hands, everyone in the room recognized the signs that she was about to monologue in the high language.

"How quick and fresh art thou, that notwithstanding thy capacity receiveth as the sea… Nought enters there, of what validity and pitch soe'er, but falls into abatement and low price, even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy that it alone is high fantastical!"

The little birds around the room—Flickies, they were called—mostly nodded and pretended to understand everything she said.

But it rang a note for the musicians: the sea indiscriminately swallowing anything, no matter how valuable…

If they had been allowed to finish their song, it would have echoed a story like the one below.

/\/\/\

Shipwrecked in Illyria

/\/\/\

Suddenly, a harsh blast of air buffeted Cream and the Chao, threatening to blow them into the sea. The blue hedgehog quickly rushed to the side of the deck and grabbed her outstretched hand. The rabbit then grabbed Cheese by his hand, who quickly grabbed Chocola in the same way; hence, a chain of hedgehog, rabbit, and Chao was formed that whipped around in the wind.

He hauled the three on board and they all collapsed to the deck for a few seconds.

"You guys okay?" the hedgehog asked.

The girl and her companions nodded.

"Good. But say… you," he pointed at her, "look familiar."

Cream immediately got up. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, you look like the Captainess of this ship."

"Can you take me to her!?" she burst out.

But then she remembered herself. "Oh! I shouldn't have been so rude. My name is Cream," she said with an outstretched hand. "Cream the Rabbit! And," with a gesture to the Chao, "these are my two friends, Cheese and Chocola."

"Nice to meet you guys. My name is Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!" the blue hedgehog replied and shook her hand. "Hey… are you related to Captainess Vanilla by any chance?"

"Yes!" she said. "She's my mommy!"

Uh oh. "You need to leave. Robotnik's been looking for you for a while!"

"No, I can't!" Cream exclaimed.

Suddenly, there was a great crash of thunder. All four looked up and saw the storm approaching faster and faster; Cheese and Chocola huddled together.

Sonic's mouth tightened. "Well… it looks like you're not going to be able to leave anyway. C'mon, let's figure out a place to hide you."

"Yay! Thank you so much Mister Sonic!" She gave him a big hug, Sonic stumbling back slightly before returning it.

After a minute of searching, he was able to hide the three behind some large boxes in the cargo hold.

"Please let my mother know I'm here," Cream whispered.

"Sure." Sonic's mind raced. "I'm going to have to take care of some things first…" His voiced lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. "But between you and me, we'll be able to get everybody outta here, fast."

"Okay!" The rabbit and her friends nodded.

"Be right back." He sped over to the Enchantment Room where Tikal the Echidna was being forced to meditate.

"Sonic?" The echidna neither moved from her place nor opened her eyes as she spoke in a measured voice. "Why aren't you above-deck?"

"Sis... I've found a way to get everyone out of here!"

Her concentration wavered and her eyebrows raised, but she didn't dare break the spell entirely. "What is it?"

Sonic flashed a smile at his adoptive sister she could not see. "We've got some uninvited visitors we can team up with." He punched his fist into the palm of his other hand. "But first the two of us are gonna have 'ta…"

She listened without hesitation.

A minute or two later, the spell flickered. The small animals snapped out of their trance for a brief second before sliding back in.

Vanilla noticed this immediately but said nothing. If any of the animals got out of line she would have to punish them.

However, she also noticed that the rowers were now slightly uncoordinated: the spell must have weakened somehow!

It seemed like the robots, those wooden contraptions powered by other small animals, had somehow sensed this too. They activated and began prowling around the decks.

One of them briefly looked Vanilla up and down as she wondered: were the Chaos Children up to something? Oh, I do hope they're not trying anything too reckless…

Meanwhile, Cream was huddling with the Chao when a beige-cloaked figure entered the room. It walked straight over to the three and immediately threw off its hood to reveal the face of a female echidna.

"Can your Chao fight?" she asked. Cream nodded, Cheese punched his fists together, and Chocola made a kicking motion.

"Good. We're going to rescue your mother." When Cream's expression brightened, the echidna draped the cloak around the three trespassers. "Now, you must stay under this cloak. And stay as silent as you can!" She hushed them with a finger to her smiling lips.

Meanwhile, Sonic attempted to focus the Master Emerald's power in place of his sister. This is hard! I'm not sure how Tikal does this for such a long time… Just hope I'm doing this right.

In one of the hallways, E-101 Beta, one of the two robots on board, changed into his speed mode and rolled on treaded wheels towards a strolling and uncloaked Tikal. It reverted back to its battle mode and stomped its two grey feet once it noticed her.

"You are not supposed to be outside of the Emerald Chamber," it intoned with menace as it trained its crossbow on the echidna.

Suddenly, Cheese and Chocola zoomed out from opposite sides and gave Beta a double-whammy punch to his front. The robot then slumped over, sparking.

Tikal walked up to it and, careful to avoid the sparks, popped open its chest. As Beta collapsed, a tawny-colored Flicky flapped his way out.

"There, you're free!" she said. The bird landed on her arm and nuzzled her with his beak. Then Cream uncloaked, dropped down from the rafters, and smiled.

"I'm so glad that we were able to save that bird!" she exclaimed, and then high-fived each of the Chao. "Good job, Cheese and Chocola!"

"All right, now we need to find the other—" But Tikal was cut off as the boat began to rock more and more wildly. "Oh, no! What's making the boat toss and turn so much?"

While Sonic had been absent from the deck, the boat had entered the storm—and the sails hadn't been lowered as they should have been, putting the ship and its passengers in serious danger.

Once Cream realized this and told Tikal, the two immediately revised the plan. The rabbit and Chao were going to have to go it alone while the echidna hurried to the Emerald Chamber to get Sonic. They were going to have to get everyone to abandon ship, and fast!

Another minute later…

"Sonic!"

The echidna burst into the chamber and distracted Sonic, thereby snapping the spell.

"Whoa, what!?" he exclaimed.

"Sonic, the sails were never lowered and now we're in the middle of a storm! We need to evacuate the boat!"

It was then that Sonic noticed the rocking and rolling. He swore. "How are we going to get everyone to land? Some of us can't swim, y'know…"

Tikal understood his anxiety; she knew he couldn't swim, and wasn't sure if Vanilla or her daughter could swim either. But there wasn't much they could do, unless…

"Listen," she said, "the small animals on board and I can swim, and Cream can fly. She can carry you and the Captainess to some sort of safety."

"But then we might get separated…"

"We don't have much choice, Sonic." She held out her hand. "But if that happens, then we will see each other again. It's a promise."

Sonic clasped her hand and slightly grinned. "Gotcha."

Meanwhile, in a hallway, the other robot was nowhere to be seen as the trio of rabbit and Chao bolted towards the bridge. They busted into the main galley to find lots of small animals roaming around, and…

"Mama!" Cream exclaimed as she zoomed over to her mother and gave her a big hug.

"Cream!?" Vanilla also exclaimed, "When and how did you get here?"

"Well—"

A large flash and crack interrupted her, and the boat began to swing even more wildly.

"Someone was supposed to be taking down the sails," the older rabbit said, and then realized—"Where's Sonic?"

All the small animals snapped out of the trance at that moment and the rowing stopped accordingly. The ship began to get tossed and turned even more; all the former slaves grew frightened and began to travel in little circles.

Tikal entered. "Sonic is on deck lowering the sails," she announced, unknowingly answering Vanilla's question. "Everyone needs to—"

"Abandon ship!" the Captainess finished the thought by ordering. The small animals heeded her and immediately streamed up to the deck. The rabbits, Chao, and echidna followed right afterwards.

Up top, the waves rolled and crashed as Sonic finished his task.

"Sonic!" Tikal called when she got out into the open. The hedgehog landed on the deck, looked at her…

And was swept into the sea when a giant wave topped the ship! Everyone else soon followed as it rolled over, and each one struggled to reach the surface. They all made it except for…

"Sonic!" the echidna cried again as she looked around in panic. When she realized that he was drowning, she quickly dove underwater to find him.

He was trying to pull himself back up, but the wild surf made the task impossible for a weak swimmer such as him. Tikal soon came to his rescue, and began towing him up as the small animals began to swim for shore.

"Over here!" Cream yelled over the roar as the heads of the Chaos Children broke the surface. She flew her mother to them, and the older rabbit stuck her legs out so Sonic could grab onto them. He did so as soon as he caught his breath.

The four turned to catch up with the other animals and the Chao. But as they did so, Tikal began to lag, and when they turned around they saw the reason why: the ship was sinking, and it was starting to pull Tikal down with it!

"No!" Sonic exclaimed. Cream tried to maneuver them so they could pick her up, but the fierce wind opposed them and threatened to blow them back into the water. They would have to keep the wind at their backs and head out of the storm if they wanted to survive. Recognizing this, Tikal lifted her hand and gestured at her to stop.

As the water swallowed her, the wind sped up and Cream was finally forced to turn. Disbelieving, Sonic stretched his arm as far as it would go—but it wasn't enough. They had to leave her behind, and the last thing Sonic saw was her head descend beneath the waves.

"NO!"

…The closer they got to land, the more the storm let up. The Chao and small animals eventually all made it to shore, and jumped around happily. Cheese nudged Chocola and pointed to Cream, Vanilla, and Sonic touching down on the beach. When they noticed there was no Tikal, they looked at Cream in confusion only to be met by a sad shake of the head.

Sonic looked around with weariness and droopy ears.

"What country, friends, is this?" he asked.

The former Captainess took a moment to recognize their surroundings. "This is Illyria, sir," she replied in a musing tone.

"And what should I do in Illyria?" Sonic shook his head, slipping into the high tongue for mourning. "My sister… she is in Elysium!"

He leaned against a nearby cliff, and his face fell into shadow. Vanilla and Cream bowed their heads.

After a few minutes of the sun starting to peek from behind the scurrying clouds, the blue hedgehog looked up.

"Perchance she is not drowned." He turned to Vanilla. "What think you, Captainess?"

"It is perchance that you yourself were saved," she answered.

"O, my poor sister…" he shook his head again, but still held resolute. "And so perchance may she be."

"True sir, and to comfort you with chance," Cream piped up, "Assure yourself, after our ship began to list, and all of us were hanging onto each other, after you looked away I saw your sister get back above the waves and stay there for as long as I could see!"

The hedgehog smiled with gathering brightness. "For saying so," he blinked a ring into existence, "there's gold," and handed it to the young rabbit. She gasped in awe. "Mine own escape opens to my hope (where your speech serves for authority)," he winked at the still-surprised Cream, "the same for her."

The sun came all the way out, and a rainbow formed.

/\/\/\

A/N (again): What's preserved of Shakespeare's dialogue above is playing with the word perchance, which can mean both "perhaps" and "by chance."