Chapter 10

Screams suddenly erupted in fear all around, and the scene was chaotic: there were people running around in circles, from the shock and fear, trying to get away from the ugly beings; others jumped out of windows in desperate attempts to save themselves; some were just frozen, either with fear or suddenly seeing their hearts' deepest desires in front of them.

In desperation, people were locking their doors, going to the refuge of their homes, trying to run away from the large, dark shadows that were following all of them relentlessly, barring the windows and locking their doors with every known type of lock. Children and babies cried, and frightened mothers tried to comfort their children while the fathers had to put on a brave face, saying that they would be all right, but, in truth, they were just as frightened.

The shadows were unstoppable. They oozed through the paper thin cracks that some hadn't been able to completely shut; they came through the tiniest space where air was allowed to come through, they even just dissolved right through the doors. There was no refuge from these beings, no safe place that they were able to go to, and more screams erupted from the frightened residents of the houses. The screams were piercing through the air, more and more frequently now, in pain and in sadness and grief. Loved ones were dying right in front of their own eyes, and when they reached them, they suddenly turned into an ugly dark thing that bit them and made them scream in pain, and then, when the things wouldn't latch off, they collapsed on the ground, dying from the loss of blood as the creatures slowly drained their life away, and they would soon stop struggling, and their eyes would glaze over, and they would be dead.

It was pure chaos.

And then, they all heard one voice speak this one thing.

"The Darkness is coming."

Over and over it was repeated, in a harsh, grating voice, that if it was raised over a certain level that it would crack. The voice was what seemed to scare everyone the most, the way that it seemed to be coming all around you, like it was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

More screaming, and storms started to blow up in random places, making the people scatter in fear. Hurricanes and tornadoes of massive, unimaginable sizes; snowstorms and burning hail falling from the sky, some pieces as big as cars or as small and sharp and deadly as knives; earthquakes that made the earth shudder; volcanoes erupting, spewing out clouds of gray ash, making people suffocate…

Amidst all the smoke and storms and screams and chaos, there were three, a silver hedgehog, a sea-green cat, and a cherry fox, who were looking for their friend, amidst everything. They were desperately searching for him, and, finally, the silver hedgehog's blue eyes that seemed as undulating as the sea finally fixed on a familiar fleck of gray, and he ran towards it, with the two girls running behind him.

The gray wolf that they had been searching for was lying on the ground, his usually warm brown eyes now shut in pain.

"Gale," the silver hedgehog choked out, shocked.

"Lance…I'll finally be with Amethyst and Kate again…" The gray wolf shut his eyes against the pain. "Turns out that I was too late to ask for mercy from The Darkness, so it decided to end me with the rest of the world."

"Gale, bud, you can't go." The silver hedgehog's voice was full of pain.

"You've gotta defeat The Darkness, Lance. Please, that's the last thing that I'm gonna ask of you, to defeat The Darkness and avenge our world and our home, our people…"

"Gale, just don't go." It was a useless plea.

"You're the best friend anyone could ever have…you never gave up on me, even when I gave myself up…thanks…" And the wolf's eyes shut and never would open again. He was gone.

The silver hedgehog didn't have time to mourn for his fallen friend, because he and the two girls had to go. He was gently pulled by the sea-green cat over to the escape pod that they would use to travel to a different dimension, to seek the help of Sonic the Hedgehog and Blaze the Cat and Shadow the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna. To warn them of The Darkness, so that the world that they resided in wouldn't come to the same fate that their own had come to.

As they were transported to the other world, the chant continued, growing louder and louder as the world crumbled away into lifeless rocks that The Darkness was stripping away, to get to the core of the planet, to steal its energy, to make it more powerful.

And the chant continued…

"The Darkness is coming…The Darkness is coming…"

BACK TO THE PRESENT…

"Oh, my God, Lance," Amy whispered as Lance told her the story, the story of his best friend, Gale, and how he had fallen victim to The Darkness, how the two that he loved, the two girls that were the most precious to him, had been stripped away by The Darkness, how he had given himself up, and how The Darkness had destroyed their world.

"I'm so sorry," the pink hedgehog murmured, her green eyes full of compassion and sorrow for him.

Lance brought his pained blue eyes up to meet hers. "That's the story," he mumbled, almost numb with the pain of the memories. "And that's what will happen to your world if we don't stop The Darkness from taking over the world. Life as you know it will cease to exist, because The Darkness wants the power of the core of the planet, which, in itself, allows the planet to sustain life. It stole the power of our planet, Amy, our first home, and I promise that I will do everything in my power to protect my second home."

"But, Lance, what if…what if The Darkness isn't defeated? Then what?" she asked worriedly. "Will it truly destroy our home? Will our world just fade away as if it never existed?"

The fear that was in her eyes made Lance suddenly feel hate in his system, hate at The Darkness for making others so scared.

"Amy, I promise you," Lance started, keeping his anger inside of him, as he brought her chin up to face him, "I won't allow The Darkness to hurt anyone else that I care about, and I definitely promise to keep you safe at all costs." He saw the tears, the fear in her green eyes, so he pulled her into a hug, and she held him tightly in response. That was the moment that he caught her smell, and it was amazing, like flowers and springtime and everything good…it was so amazing that he wasn't sure if he was going to pass out from the sheer amazingness of the aroma.

"Amy, I promise, I won't let The Darkness harm you," Lance whispered.

"I know that you'll protect me," she replied, snuggling into his shoulder a bit more. It was in that instant, when she turned back to face him, that she realized something that had been nagging at her for quite a long time. Two or three months had passed, give or take, and the three who had come from a different dimension had made great friends here. And in that moment that she looked into his eyes, the eyes that were deep blue but also had lighter flecks of sky blue in them, like the wavy surface of the sea, that she admitted the truth to herself.

But she needed him to say it.

"Lance," she paused, thinking about how she was going to do this, so that what he said would be real. "Why…why are you going to protect me from all harm? Why am I so special to you?"

He looked down at her, realizing the truth as well. He didn't know how to put it, without it sounding really corny. "Because…Amy, from the first moment that I saw you I…I've been mesmerized by you." It did sound corny.

At that, Amy slightly blushed. "Why else?" she persisted gently.

He held her cheek with his hand. "Amy, the reason is because I…I…" He winced, realizing how corny this was going to sound, but when he looked into her eyes again, he suddenly didn't feel afraid to admit it any more. "I love you. Ever since I first saw you, all that time that we've spent together, has only made my love for you grow more and more."

Amy didn't really know what she was doing when she suddenly kissed him as soon as the words were out of Lance's mouth, but it was just so perfect that neither she nor Lance objected. Lance held her in his arms and made the kiss deeper, tilting her head up towards his.

There was silence behind their door for a very long time after that.

"So, the Sol Emeralds are just like the Chaos Emeralds, except for the fact that they are differently shaped?" Rose asked Tails, as she, the twin-tiled fox, Sonic, Aria, and Blaze all stood around the place that the Sol Emeralds were kept, in a safe distance from the Chaos Emeralds.

"Yeah, they both have the same amount of energy and everything," Tails replied.

"If they both come together, a calamity could occur, right?" Aria asked.

Sonic nodded. "The Eggmen tried to get the power of both sets of Emeralds for themselves, to try and create ultimate destruction, and Blaze and I barely escaped those tight situations alive."

"But if the Emeralds are used for good, like when Sonic and Blaze use them, then only good can come out of it," Tails explained. "You see, Sonic and Blaze are very special, because Sonic is able to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds and transform into Super Sonic, his ultimate form, and Blaze is able to harness the power of the Sol Emeralds and transform into Burning Blaze, her own ultimate form."

"No one else can do that?" Rose asked.

"Well, Shadow can turn into Super Shadow, and Knuckles can use the power, as well," Blaze added, "but, besides us four, I believe that's all."

"You're the only girl who can harness the power of any set of Emeralds?" said Aria, seeming amazed.

"Well…I guess I am," the lilac cat answered. She had never exactly thought of that, it had never exactly hit her that way before.

"Knuckles and Shadow and I use the Chaos Emeralds for power, but she's the only one who can use the Sol Emeralds," Sonic added, flashing Blaze one of his trademark grins. "It's cool."

She smiled back at him, but then she rethought the words that he had just spoken, and she realized that no, she wasn't the only one who could use the power of the Sol Emeralds. There was another, one that she would rather not exactly think about right now, but, in truth, he could harness the power of the Sol Emeralds as well. Blaze had never told anyone, not even Sonic, about him, because she hoped that no one would ever have to meet him. So, technically, there were five who could harness the power of the Emeralds.

"But, while they're not being used, we have to be really careful with the Emeralds," Tails explained. "One mistake, like, if we accidentally bring an Emerald of each set too close to each other too quickly, something bad can happen. But if something happens to all seven of them, then Chaos Control can happen, or a huge explosion or something, and we don't want that."

"The Eggmen'll probably be trying to steal them as well," Sonic added. "We should always be on guard, because they can attack at any time, and we still have the problem of The Darkness to deal with."

Bring me the Chaos Emeralds.

The voice suddenly appeared in his head, bringing with it a horrible wave of pain that made his head feel like it was about to explode.

You know, I really hate it when you do that, Sonic seethed in his mind as he struggled to control his face.

Blaze's eyes flicked towards him, and she saw the pain flash across his eyes, the way that he seemed to slightly stumble a bit, closing his eyes, and she knew that The Darkness was torturing him. She stood silent, not drawing attention to what he was doing. She knew that it would pass, that, eventually, The Darkness would stop tormenting him; she just hoped that it would be soon, because she hated seeing him in pain, pain that he wasn't allowed to show.

Don't talk back. The pain stung like a whip, and The Darkness' voice was like acid itself. Bring me all seven of the Chaos Emeralds in a week's time, or else I will hurt those dear to you.

Yeah, you go do that. I'm never giving you the Chaos Emeralds. You were pretty stupid, and you don't know me that well if you actually thought that I would give in to your crap.

Don't worry; I think that you soon will. The Darkness then vanished from his head as soon as it had come, and Sonic was able to breathe evenly now as he visibly relaxed, allowing his originally tensed shoulders to slump in relief.

Just as the attack from The Darkness had stopped, Shadow suddenly burst in through the doors, causing a sudden gust of wind to enter the room that they were standing in. His eyes were wide with what they all presumed to be shock.

"There were no Sol Emeralds anywhere…" Shadow trailed off as he saw the Sol Emeralds giving off a faint glow. "You got them all, I presume?"

All of them but Sonic nodded in unison; the blue hedgehog was still recuperating from the attack from The Darkness.

"The only thing that we can do now is wait," Rose murmured quietly.

Shadow hated feeling helpless like this, so helpless and weak. He had felt like this when Maria had died before his eyes, when the G.U.N. had helplessly murdered the young girl who was like a sister to Shadow, the closest thing that he ever had to family. And now, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance, it was even worse now; Blaze, who had become like his sister as well, may get harmed, and Aria…

He forced himself not to think of that possibility. It hurt too much to imagine any harm coming to her. And after that attack from the penumbrae, when she had fallen down on the ground in some unspeakable pain, he had felt rage course through him, rage and vengeance, the need to kill. He remembered the pain that he had felt as he saw her in pain, her breathing labored, her eyes squeezed shut as she struggled not to let the tears get through…but a few tears escaped and trickled in thin lines down her cheeks, dampening her fur slightly, showing how much pain she was enduring…

It was too much to bear now.

"I have a feeling that The Darkness won't give up that easily; it'll probably come up with something along the way, like another attack from its monsters," said Aria gravely, fear in her voice.

"Then we'll just have to be ready for it," Sonic said, contributing to the conversation once more, so that the others would believe that he was perfectly fine. Blaze shot him a quick, almost unnoticeable glance, but he understood, and his glance in reply showed her the answer: later, he would tell her what happened. Concern had flashed across her eyes for a second before she turned back to the conversation that was taking place.

It seemed that the talk had ended, though, because Tails turned to check on the stability of the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, to make sure that no explosive results would happen, and Rose watched eagerly. Shadow decided that he wouldn't leave right away, because he had come all the way here, he might as well stay. And Blaze urgently wanted to know what had happened between Sonic and The Darkness; she was extremely concerned about him.

A few minutes later, Amy and Lance had finally exited the room that they had been in originally, holding hands, fingers liked together, intertwined, as if they had no intention of letting go.

"Where were you guys?" Rose asked, turning her head.

"Just talking," Lance said, giving a half-truth, as Amy flashed him one of her amazingly beautiful heart-stopping grins. As she looked at him, her eyes shone with a new emotion that none of the others could name, but that she and Lance knew was love.

Rose shrugged and continued to watch Tails, asking him certain questions about the Emeralds as he answered, half-listening. She found this kind of cute as she smiled to herself.

"Sonic," Blaze said quietly, urgently in his ear. "What happened?"

"When we're alone," was all he replied, and she nodded. The Darkness hadn't spoken to her yet, surprisingly, and she was beginning to believe that it actually did want Sonic so badly that it would torture him into it.

Just then, that horrible, sinking feeling that something was wrong, that sixth sense, hit all of those who had been in fights. Sonic tensed, Blaze's eyes widened as flames automatically started to travel down to her palm, Shadow let out a low, almost unnoticeable growl as his muscles tightened, Aria's ears flicked ever so gently as she whipped around, and Lance went rigid as he held Amy around her shoulders, tightly holding her, trying to shield her from whatever harm was coming. Rose sensed the unease in the air, and Tails realized that it was too quiet, and they both slowly turned around, more confused than having the dread that everyone else was feeling. Amy's eyes just widened in fear, confused and scared as she held onto the hand that Lance wrapped around her shoulder.

It was so quick that none of them realized how they got in there, but they did. Shadows oozed through the walls, through the door, seeming to materialize out of thin air, coming off the walls. The clouds of darkness started to collect, gaining mass, thickness, as all eight of them watched in wide-eyed horror as the shadowy beings continued to form relentlessly.

They were bigger than the penumbrae, still gaining mass, but there was definite separation between some of them now. There were about a dozen…no, two dozen…they continued to multiply, getting bigger and bigger, shapeless blobs that seemed to have no definite shape, like the penumbrae, but different somehow…like they had more power, that it was noticeable. It was nerve-wracking as they continued to form, and suddenly it stopped, showing that they were finished. They towered near the ceiling, but they had the illusion that they were wispy and thin but also like they were somehow thick, like fog, flickering like flames in darkness.

Pure terror was the only word that could describe what these creatures meant to give off.

"The umbrae," Aria whispered.

Shadow's ruby red eyes flashed to her. "These are the umbrae? The Darkness' more powerful henchmen?" he asked, his voice automatically low.

She nodded, eyes wide with fear.

The shadow beings—the umbrae—let their white eyes which had suddenly formed gaze over all of them, finally resting on Sonic and Blaze. They seemed to realize that they were the ones that the penumbrae had gotten before, because their horrible, pure white gazes stood level with them.

"The Darkness is coming…" they all said in unison. There were no mouths for the words to come from, and the voice seemed to be just a harsh, rasping breath that threatened to break if they tried to make the volume higher.

On instinct, Lance quickly shielded Amy's body with his own, pulling out his sword and holding it in his right hand as his left arm was in front of Amy protectively as he glared at the umbrae. Tails and Rose were both shocked, both backing up to the wall in their horror and fear. Shadow instinctively stepped closer to the shadow creatures, bringing out his hand, so that he was in front of Aria and that his hand was slightly shielding her; she tensed, getting into a small fighting stance a she glared from over his arm. Sonic had already started to gently bring himself in front of Blaze; once again, he wasn't taking any chances, after that last fight with the Eggmen, where they had gotten her, when she screamed. Just like when the penumbrae sank the white fangs that suddenly had appeared into her flesh, that same horrible scream of pain…

Fueled with this race, he glared at these things.

"Get the hell out of here if you know what's good for you," Shadow growled menacingly, glaring at them with his red eyes which were now suddenly fierce. His fist tightened.

"The Darkness is coming…The Darkness will prevail…and the world as you know it will end," the umbrae said in one voice.

"In its dreams," Lance seethed.

"It already destroyed your home…and it shall gain much more power from this world…" the horrible voice said.

"We aren't letting The Darkness touch our home," Sonic said icily.

"Don't get us angry," Blaze warned, acid in her voice as her flames appeared on her fist once more.

"The Darkness will prevail…and there is no stopping it."

"Not if we have anything to say about it," Aria nearly snarled.

"So fickle…you living creatures…it's so amusing…but, in the end, The Darkness shall rule."

And, with that, before any of them were able to react to the words that the shadows had spoken, they quickly lunged for all eight of them, moving so quickly that they were unseen, just wisps of smoke, shadows, as they advanced towards them, relentless, and having only the idea of bringing two survivors back to The Darkness; the rest of them, they had no intention of keeping them alive.

Sorry it took so long to update, but I kind of had a bad case of writer's block very recently. And I probably will have more time to update next week because I won't have school because of winter vacation. But I may have a serious case of writer's block. Anyways, though, I hope that this doesn't disappoint, and I decided that it was finally time to get Lance and Amy's romance much more obvious. And I can usually write way better, and I'll just tell you that future couples will probably be way better in progressing, but I thought that it was high time for their very obvious romance to finally come to the light. Anyway, keep reading! And all you faithful readers, thank you so much, please continue to review my story! And I think that I'm going to write another story, so please read that as well!