The Savior of Light within Darkness

Chapter Two: Pure Heart

=San Miguel, the City of the Sun=

Otenko, Django and Sonic walked into the town and Sonic looked on in wonder.

"Welcome to San Miguel!" The boy and the sunflower exclaimed.

"Whoa, this town is pretty!" The blue hedgehog smiled.

"If you think this is pretty, wait until you see it when the Sun is up." Django stated.

"Hey guys!" A voice called.

The three turned to the direction of the voice and saw a girl with short, slightly spiky pink hair, an orange hoodie, brown eyes, white shorts, pink stockings and black boots.

"Hey, Zazie!" Everyone except Sonic greeted.

"Who's the new guy?" She asked, eyeing the hedgehog.

"My name's Sonic… Sonic the Hedgehog!" He extended his gloved hand for a handshake, "It's nice to meet ya!"

"Back at ya!" The country girl shook his hand, but felt something strange, "(Why does it feel so cold?)"

She withdrew her hand and the hedgehog was confused.

"Uhm… okay…?"

"What's wrong, Zazie?" Otenko asked.

"There's somethin' in his eyes," She began, "Ah can't put mah finger on it, but it's similar to th' Vampires. An' his arm is so cold..."

There was silence in the area and Sonic was worried, "Zazie? Is everything alright?"

Suddenly, she summoned her staff and the blue hedgehog backed away.

"He's a Vampire! Get outta this town! Before Ah blast yer out!"

Otenko stopped her, "Don't worry, he's a good one!"

"Well… if yer say so… But how can he get past mah barrier? Nothin' can get past that!"

"Maybe it's broken." Django smirked. Bad idea.

Zazie smacked the boy upside the head with her staff, "Mah barrier nevah breaks! How dare yer say somethin' so stupid?"

"Heh, heh… ahh, sorry…" The boy said, rubbing his head.

"In any case, how on earth can he get in here? Mah barrier keeps out anythin' dark, 'specially Vampires."

"I think, that perhaps his pure heart let him in." Otenko explained.

Zazie stared at him for a while before saying, "Yer kiddin' me, right?"

"No, totally serious." A frown was visible on the sunflower's face.

She burst out laughing a while later, "Ah don't believe you! This is some kind of sick joke, right?"

The others had serious expressions on their faces, except for Sonic, who was confused about the light barrier.

Zazie slowly stopped laughing and looked at the sky, "The Sun's rising; yer better find some dark place to hide in before yer hide is cooked!"

"Don't worry, I'll be okay." Sonic assured her.

The country girl looked on in fear as the Sun came over the sky and bathed the town in its light. To her surprise, the hedgehog wasn't affected by the sunlight.

"Wha…? But… how? He…" Zazie stuttered in shock.

"Also a result of his pure heart, isn't it cool?" Otenko asked, smiling.

"…Vampires don't have hearts; they're empty, completely empty!" The girl seethed, waving her arms.

"That's not true," Sonic said, a little bit hurt, "We do have feelings. And we're not empty."

The girl grabbed his cold arm, surprising him, "Whoa! Hey!"

"Ah'll prove to yer once an' fer all that Vampires don't have hearts!"

She then pulled him closer and put her hand on his chest, feeling for a heartbeat.

The blue hedgehog blushed out of embarrassment.

"Uhm… you're invading my privacy…" He said, trying to get away from her, but to no avail.

Her angry expression turned into one of shock when she felt that his chest was warm and she was shocked even more when she started to hear a heartbeat.

"He…does have a heart…" Zazie let go of his arm and backed off, "…An' it's so…warm…" She looked at him inquisitively.

"Don't you see, Zazie?" Otenko flew up to her, "He does have a heart, a pure one at that."

"But it still doesn't explain th' light barrier!"

"The light barrier is able to keep out anything with Darkness as its power, but yields to those whose hearts are pure."

"An' th' Sun?"

"Same thing, actually," Otenko began, clearing his throat and donning a teacher's cap and glasses, "The Sun will burn away at anything made up of Darkness, but does not harm those who are pure at heart."

The area was silent once again and Sonic didn't like silence so he broke it, "This sunlight doesn't affect me. But large amounts of it can hurt me, like Django's Solar Gun or the Pile Driver."

"So, how did yer guys meet? Oh, let me guess… this lil' fella here helped yer find th' Master an' he also sacrificed his wellbeing for yer."

"Yeah, that's exactly what happened, how'd you know?" Django asked for Sonic's benefit; he closed the blue hedgehog's mouth.

"Yer should know this, Django, shame on yer! It's me star readin'. Th' stars tell me what happened in th' past, what happens in th' present, and what will happen in th' future," Zazie explained. "Be sure to hang on to this knowledge, Solar Boy."

"Thanks, Zazie. And goodbye!" Otenko exclaimed and the three left.

"(Could this be th' guy who's destined to save this world from th' Darkness? The one from me star readin'? ...What? No, it couldn't be; th' stars said nothin' 'bout a Vampire! However, Ah can't help but wonder…)"