beLIEve Chapter 10: It Begins Where It Ends

No, I'm not dead! Not yet, anyway… Exams, exams everywhere! DX I'm so sorry for having not updated in such a long time! :(

Anyways, your reviews made me so happyyyy! :D Glad you all liked the Dark Sonic parts! :) And haha, one of the reviewers posted the lyrics to a song I was listening to while writing last chapter! XD I always get inspired from songs…especially Shinedown (it's pretty good for Dark Sonic).

Also, I really appreciate AngelicRage0's suggestion for Fleetway—it was really inspiring, so thank you! :D I have ideas blossoming, but right now it all still sounds kinda complicated, so Fleetway will probably not appear in later chapters. …I'll see! But thanks again for the inspiration :)

Anyways, the latest chapter is here! :D

Maurice woke up to the smell of cooking.

He rubbed his eyes sleepily, his feet heavily hitting each of the stairs with slow, sluggish intervals. The child entered the kitchen, following his nose. He was greeted by his mother's warm smile.

"Hello, darling," she grinned as she walked up to the table with a smoking frying pan.

Two bacon strips were slid onto Maurice's plate, a fried egg following soon after.

"Good morning, mommy," the young pup beamed as he hopped onto the chair that was slightly too high for him and stared eagerly down at the wafting goodness.

After she cooked her own breakfast, the sepia hedgehog slid into her own chair and put her plate down on the table. Maurice's vibrant emerald eyes moved to the empty third chair at the table. "Where's daddy?"

"Oh sweetie, he went to work," she said, the smile not quite reaching its usual length on her face.

"Ok," he pretended not to notice.

His fork stabbed into his egg. It began to bleed out.

"Ever since we moved here, he's been trying his very best you know," her deep ice blue eyes flashed.

"Yes."

"We moved here before you were even born," she added a little more warmly.

Maurice wasn't quite sure what that had to do with the conversation. His mother propped her head up onto her hand, those orbs straying almost nostalgically out the window. Maurice stopped eating. He followed her gaze, and then looked back at her again. Mommy had never had that look in her eye before.

"You met daddy somewhere else?"

His mother opened her mouth, happy to answer, before the veil fell over her eyes again as she shot her son a glance, as if remembering he was there. "…Yes."

Her quills had bristled slightly. Maurice looked down at his plate again. There were some things he wasn't sure he was allowed to ask. The egg still bled.

"Why did you and daddy decide to move here?"

She hesitated again. Maurice felt disappointed. Was there anything he could say? Anything at all? The yolk had spread across the entire porcelain. It drowned his bacon strips.

"It's better here," she said finally. "Christmas Island was a fresh start."

A fresh start.

"But daddy said there were more people like us on other islands," Maurice said with an innocent grin.

A flash of irritation that the pup felt was not directed at him. "Daddy says stupid things. Here is better."

"Why?"

The female took a noisy, deep breath. The pretty hedgehog turned her head towards her son, finally meeting his eyes. "Christmas Island is a sacred place. It is said to be protected by the gods. It has purification properties. It's a safe place."

Purification. Safe. Why were all those things necessary? Did they really need all of those? Maurice could feel the strange green gem he'd found the other day burning in his quills. It had rolled out from underneath a dusty box while he had been searching for his old plane…

"Maurice, you better eat up," his mother told him gently.

She had already gotten up and had started doing the dishes. The blue pup blinked, thrown back into reality again. He quickly ate his bacon and cold egg, swallowing painfully before he got up himself. Stepping up onto the small box put up at the foot of the sink, Maurice started helping the sepia hedgehog with the washing up. They did so in silence.

Wiping his hands on his fur when they were done, Maurice moved to leave the kitchen.

"Maurice?" the mother's voice was strained.

He turned with his usual innocently wide-eyed stare.

"When you leave this island, you must never come back."

Mom…

Sonic's eyes were staring sideways at the mattress. They were their usual splendid green, and yet they had never before been so devoid of colour. He could vaguely hear his friends in a distant murmur as they scrambled nervously around him in the room. He blinked slowly, almost sleepily.

He lay hunched over on his side. His left temple stuck to the pillow, both arms thrown out in front of him to lie on the bed. His quills were in an unkempt, frazzled mess. The hedgehog hadn't moved since his awakening. In fact, he had been unresponsive to his friends' worried calls and repeated shakes.

The cobalt blur's muzzle was extremely pale, his frame looking much scrawnier than usual. His muscles ached, his brain had turned into a dazed and painful mush. It was clear to anyone, as they watched the thin frame tremble uncontrollably in the corner of the room, although it was not cold, that the blue teen was not well.

While the real Sonic had indeed come back to his friends, he had not come back entirely whole. Whether the hedgehog had been whole before that, however, was another matter altogether. One his friends weren't particularly keen on answering.

The hedgehog struggled to get up, his skinny arms turned into spaghetti as he tried to drive his weight off the mattress. He managed to sit upright, then lurched dangerously, before regaining his balance again. His emerald eyes, glazed from a sedative, wandered around the room that held him, seeing strange metallic walls with strange grooves and a tray full of… syringes and unused knives.

Sonic jumped with a start, suddenly frightened. Panic. His quills raised defensively, his pupils dilated to make him look like a feral animal.

Where was he? What were they going to do to him? They were here, he was sure of it! Where was everybody? Was it all a dream? He thought… he thought…!

He could see them now, coming at him with the needles, the burning…

A vicious snarl ripped through his throat. "D-Don't come any closer…!"

He grabbed the sides of the bed in an attempt to push himself off, before staring down at the ground as it seemed to move further and further away from his feet. He stared and stared at the floor, his head trying to near itself to it, where he could see his reflection in the cold metal—

His body tipped off the bed, head coming crashing down onto the ground with a dull thump.

"Sonic!" Amy's worried voice sounded, before Sonic heard her move to help him. "Sonic, are you alright?"

He heard Cream and Cheese's distant squeaks of worry. The smack against his head brought him crashing back down to reality. Right now was not…back then. The needle baring individuals became Amy as her hands hovered hesitantly over the weakened speed demon, not sure whether to touch him after his delirious outburst.

He blinked slowly again, remembering everything, from the possessed people of Station Square to Dark Super Sonic's fight with Shadow. He had never before felt so drained. His entire body felt weak and unresponsive…and yet, even before that, despite his best efforts…

I wasn't able to go Super Sonic.

Instead, he had done the complete opposite. He had tried to use the emeralds to counterattack the negative energy that had taken over Station Square citizens and failed miserably. Sonic swallowed bile that had risen in his throat. His tongue dragged through the roof of his mouth—it was completely dry.

I was unable to tap into any light energy.

He stared blankly at the palm of his hand. The glove was torn to shreds at the cuffs. Dark Super Sonic's power must have cut right through it. Sonic's teeth grinded together and he clenched his hand into fist. He hadn't been able to do anything…!

I've hurt my friends and everyone in Station Square.

Some hero.

"Sonic? I'm going to sit you up now, ok?" Amy's voice said distantly as she sat on the floor.

Her hands grabbed the hero's shoulders, pushing him away from his sideways position. The cobalt screwed his eyes shut as he was hit by a sudden wave of nausea, feeling the world turn. His head dropped inertly as he was put upright again, before his forehead fell forwards to limply slump on Amy's shoulder like a lifeless doll. To anyone who wasn't attentive enough to see the rise and fall of his chest, Sonic the Hedgehog appeared to be dead.

There was a deafening silence.

"I…I messed up… big time," he said quietly after a while from his sunken down position.

The voice came out strangled and hoarse, as if the cobalt had been screaming the entire time he had been unconscious. Shadow, who had been drilling holes in Sonic's head ever since he'd been awake, quickly schooled his features. "…Yes."

The ultimate lifeform was standing in the furthest corner of the room, his arms crossed.

Shadow was sure, as he scanned Sonic's prone body, that the negative energy in the chaos emeralds had completely depleted Sonic's own—the light energy he had always lived on. He must be too sapped of his strength, too tired to form complete sentences, to be the moronic idiot he had always been. Shadow had never seen his rival look so…vulnerable.

"I'm so glad you're okay Sonic," Amy sniffled, "You weren't responding for a really long time."

Sonic shook his head and raised still shaking hands to his face, covering his eyes. "Is—Is everyone…?"

The ultimate lifeform was still very, very bitter about his leg. Without it, how were they supposed to leave this place? Shadow hated it. He had been unable to use the tarnished chaos emeralds to heal his wounds. The light energy used to heal them had all but been extinguished—and the ultimate lifeform had no idea how to restore them—or Sonic.

The gems that had been gathered from the rubble had been placed far away from Sonic in the corner of the room under a chair. It had been concealed in the backpack the group had managed to scavenge from the wreckage of Station Square.

"Rouge has recovered from the negative chaos energy. Cream and I are… okay," Amy whispered. "We're all here."

"…Shadow…?"

"My bone hasn't fully healed yet, but it's nothing," Shadow spoke stonily from across the room. "I was biogenetically engineered to heal quickly, even without the help of the chaos emeralds."

He had been forced to set the broken bone back against the other snapped part, before putting up a splint against it. It had been agony, but the hedgehog had been too prideful to let any of the nurses tend to him. Now, he currently hobbled on the mending limb, now able to put weight on it—it had been a whole night for it to heal this far.

"…Sq-Square…?" Sonic's eyelids dropped down in exhaustion.

"Many of the citizens were injured, but no one was killed," Rouge pushed off the wall she was leaning against, taking a few steps towards the dazed hedgehog.

There was a long silence as the hero stared down at the ground blankly. "I'm…I'm sorry."

His words were rasped and his eyes remained flattened to the floor—unable to look at any of them in the eye. Shadow said nothing, helping Amy grip underneath Sonic's arms to drag him back onto the hospital mattress. "Lie down."

Sonic didn't—despite the fact that his entire body was straining all over to keep him upright. He remained sitting on the bed.

"Sonic…you stopped the citizens of Station Square from tearing themselves apart…! You should—" Amy protested, quick to defend her idol, but was hushed by Rouge who simply shook her head.

"Mr. Sonic… are…are you still sick?" Cream asked timidly, her eyes glued to the floor.

The rabbit was clutching Cheese to her chest, standing a little further away from the bed than Sonic expected her to.

The blue hedgehog gave her a brief smile, and then nodded slowly. "…Don't worry."

The rabbit looked up, her big eyes staring at him as if making sure he was really there. Then, slowly, she hesitantly scurried over to him, her eyes still holding that same fear.

Sonic felt a prickle of shame. He couldn't blame her. She had witnessed the evil of Dark Super Sonic after all. But as she approached him, she smiled shyly again. "Thank you for rescuing me Mr. Sonic…from Rouge."

"Man, talk about a headache," Rouge commented. "I chase jewellery, not girls. I owe ya one, Big Blue."

Sonic glanced away, surprised by the unanticipated praise that he normally would be expecting, scratching his cheek. He'd forgotten about that. "No…No problem. Dark…Dark Super Sonic's powers healed my hip during the…transformation."

He couldn't understand why they still wanted to stay with him. After everything he'd done, they still…

Cream crouched next to his bed. "I'm …really scared Mr. Sonic."

He smiled wryly at her as he sat weakly on the hospital bed. "…Of me?"

A short silence.

"A little…" she admitted, her eyes downcast. "But I'm more scared that you'll get hurt Mr. Sonic. You are very sick already. The doctors told me you have a very bad fever!"

"I'm sorry," he said for the second time.

"It's okay. I forgive you!" Cream said cheerily. "We all do!"

He was reminded of how young Cream was—forgiveness was not something that you would give away so easily in these circumstances. He wore an expression of pain and remorse.

He glanced around the room again. "Where… are…?"

"We're in GUN headquarters."

Shadow felt Sonic's muscles immediately bunch up where the black hedgehog was holding him upright.

"Why?"

His tone was fearful. Shadow supposed he had every right to be. GUN were the very people they were meant to be running from after destroying a part of Station Square. But among the debris of the city, the bedraggled, injured group had been unable to escape in time. They had been surprised not to be greeted with handcuffs and guns when GUN arrived to the scene. Medics had swarmed over the mobians, while investigators had interrogated Shadow and Rouge of where the enemy could have fled.

"Dark Super Sonic's energy destroyed every single news-casting program from running—no one knows who or what attacked Station Square. They're all on some wild-goose chase for a criminal who doesn't exist."

Sonic's eyes widened. "They…don't know…it's…?"

"No. For now. It's best for us not to still be here when they find out."

Shadow knew after the recurring incidents of Sonic's…look-alikes that GUN would have been much slower to jump to their usual conclusions even if they had seen Dark Super Sonic. Shadow didn't know what they would do to Sonic once they put the pieces together. Would they kill him? Imprison him? Lock him into a cryogenic sleep like they had to Shadow? The black hedgehog's teeth grinded together.

The cobalt gripped his sheets weakly, his tired eyes tightening. "I-I need to go. I need t-to put a stop to all of this…. But you guys c-can't come with me. I've dragged you into my problems for long enough."

A fist planted itself on Sonic's left cheek, and his head snapped back.

"Shadow!" Amy and Rouge yelled reproachfully.

Sonic held the side of his muzzle, a dark bruise forming on tan skin already, his expression a mixture of shock and anger. "What…the heck was that for?!"

Shadow couldn't help but smile inwardly in satisfaction. Punching Sonic made him happy. Hm. He needed to pay him back for that mending broken leg he was still limping on. Outwardly though, his face remained in its usual frown.

"You really are an inferior hedgehog," Shadow glared frostily at his rival. "You're a defective weapon. Defective weapons don't get a say in what happens next."

Sonic opened his mouth in protest. "I'm not a wea—"

"We all know the risks. But we've decided to stay anyway, because it is our own decision to help you. Disrespecting that is an insult to all of us," Shadow interrupted him.

Sonic looked away again. The hedgehog was still struggling to stay upright—his trembling body wasn't helping voice. "I'm really sorry. I should have told you all before... I-I don't expect you guys to really want to come and do this with me. If y-you follow me, you guys'll be a-arrested for helping me for s-sure. You did nothing wrong back th-there. I've gotta do what I've…gotta do. So if you guys wanna l-lea—"

"Shut up!"

Everyone turned to look at Amy in bewilderment. She was burning a hole in the ground with her eyes, her fist bunched up at her sides. "What are you, deaf? There you go, locking us out again…! What are we, babies who are too stupid to understand what's going on?! We already told you that we know all the risks! We are all here because we want to help you Sonic! We know this isn't like you and we know you need us! That's what friends do! They help each other out! So don't you dare go all macho on me and say that I can't follow you anywhere! I'm going to follow you around if it's the last thing I do!"

Bewilderment was quickly replaced by silence as Sonic blinked once, then twice. His green eyes had widened, taken aback by his number one fangirl's outburst (despite the fact that it sounded extremely stalker-like). It was the first time she had openly criticised him, and also the first time she had ever stood up to him. She had not threatened him with a mallet, nor had she taken the opportunity to snuggle up to him in an attempt to get some alone time with him.

"I…" his mouth opened like a fish out of water.

"Amy's right you know," Rouge intervened. "We're trying to figure out what's going on, and you're not making it any easier."

"Chao chao!"

"We're all just trying to help…" Cream said from her crouched position next to him.

Shadow grunted in assent. "Hmph."

The cobalt hedgehog scowled, staring down at his bed sheets. "But I hurt…everyone."

Sonic's eyes screwed shut and his teeth grinded together. "I just can't believe…"

"We all make mistakes—even you, Faker," Shadow grunted. "I can't say I did the most honourable things in the Black Arms invasion. People died. With you…no one was killed, Faker."

The speed demon was silent.

"No one was killed, Sonic," Amy repeated.

Sonic glanced at them, then turned away again. He seemed to have regained enough energy to speak coherently, but he was still unable to keep sitting up without Shadow and Amy holding him. His eyes narrowed at the floor.

"…Y-Yeah," Sonic finally choked out, cracking a ghost of a smile.

"Now…are you going to tell us what's going on with the emeralds or do I need to force it out of you?" the ultimate lifeform said it like he was talking about the weather as he pulled out a gun from his quills and cocked it. "I've waited a long time for this."

Alarm bells in everyone's heads.

"W-Wait a minute Shads!" Sonic protested as it was pointed to his head, and he put his hands up in the air. "You r-really think a gun will make me tell y-you anything?!"

Amy threw herself at Sonic and practically suffocated him into a bear hug. "Waaaaah! If you want my Sonic, you'll have to go through me first!"

"Okay, okay," Sonic wheezed as he was choked, "I'll tell you everything!"

Everyone else sweat-dropped.

"Gee, if that's all it took to begin with…" Rouge sighed.

"It's…It's not like that!" Sonic tugged at Amy's arms, trying to loosen them from around his neck. "…We need to restore the chaos emeralds' positive energy… which will restore m-mine."

"Which is exactly why we can't stay here. The longer you stay weakened like this, the more likely Dark Super Sonic will take over again. There needs to be a balance of light and dark within the chaos emeralds. Having only one energy within them could be devastating," Shadow growled.

Rouge's eyes moved to the clock. "We've gotta move. The Commander will be here in four minutes."

Amy let go and Sonic drew in some much need air with a frantic gasp. "What?!"

"He'll start 'interrogating' you," said Shadow. "We can't keep lying for you for very long. The Commander is suspicious enough already as it is. He's pretty sure it's you."

Sonic blinked. "I thought you said—"

"They don't have enough evidence to back their suspicions… so even though you're in the medical bay, you're supposed to be in detainment," Amy explained.

"Interrogations take forever," Rouge complained.

"Who died and made you the chaos emerald expert anyway?" Amy asked Shadow irritably.

The black hedgehog glared. "I believe I studied chaos energy with the world's leading scientist. Did you?"

Sonic pointed an accusing finger at Shadow. "What! Did Shadow the boring emo just make a joke?!"

"Enough!" the ultimate lifeform hissed, "We won't be fast enough to leave with Sonic unable to move. Rouge, we need an aircraft to get us out of here. You lead."

The ultimate lifeform then looked around, searching for an escape route. The Commander would be on his way—they had taken too long to discuss things.

"Alright, alright, Mr. Bossypants," the jewel thief whistled in a taunting voice.

Shadow spin-dashed the air vent above them, catching the broken grate before it made a loud noise.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Amy huffed.

"He's coming!" Cream said in warning as she ran away from the door.

"Questions later. Escape now," Shadow snapped at them, taking one of Sonic's arms while Rouge took the other.

They dragged him off the bed. Sonic's legs dangled uselessly.

"Amy, take the chaos emeralds," the black hedgehog ordered.

Amy grabbed the bag without a word and Cream caught the pink girl under the arms and started flapping her ears, carrying her friend into the vent. Rouge flew up into the vent next, barely able to lug Sonic's dead weight, but made it in okay as she laid Sonic down on the inside of the metallic tube. Lastly Shadow leaped into the steel entrance with some difficulty due to his leg, wincing as Rouge had to help hoist himself up through the vent. He shut the opening with the grate.

"Couldn't we have played along until Sonic was healed?" Amy protested.

"No. Sonic wouldn't have healed if he stayed there. There is no physical injury that would explain why he's like this. We need to restore the chaos emeralds' power."

"But how would we resto—"

Just then the door opened below them, and they could hear the steps of the Commander walking in. Then there was shouting and feet of gunned troupes scattered. "FIND THEM!"

"We gotta go," Sonic growled in a strained voice.

The vent's width was just big enough to fit two mobians, so Rouge looped Sonic's arm around her neck and proceeded to lead the way to the aircraft loft whilst dragging the powerless hero along the metal tube.

Everyone else crawled forwards, Shadow at the rear, while Rouge was looking at her GUN wristwatch to navigate through to the aircraft runway. Sonic had never before felt so helpless to protect his friends—he couldn't get past the idea that they were… protecting him. Without his legs, although the hedgehog was hiding it very well, he felt completely helpless—they meant absolutely everything to him—his freedom, his offence and defence… They were still numb as they dragged uselessly against the metallic plating of the vent, the bat helping him along. Sirens were blaring on the outside, the entire headquarters engulfed in panic and disorder although nobody was doing anything to them yet.

"You see? You cannot escape it. You spread chaos everywhere you go. It is in your nature."

Sonic's teeth gritted in anger as he shot a glance at the bag of chaos emeralds currently being lugged behind him by Amy. His eyes darted back to the front again after Amy gave him a questioning look.

The chaos emeralds were still talking to him…

He shivered. He should have known. The chaos emeralds… Shadow was right. They needed to restore the light energy inside the chaos emeralds, or the negative energy would simply take Sonic over again… and who knew what it would do to any unfortunate citizens close by like in Station Square... It was clear that the chaos emeralds had wanted this to happen all along.

"To complete the deal…"

He had been too tired to notice their presence in the room before, but now, in this enclosed space, it choked and smothered—

"…lloooo? Earth to Sonic!"

Sonic jolted out of his mind, turning to look at an irritated Amy. "Are you listening to me? Sonic, we're here!"

He realized they had stopped.

"Sorry," the fastest thing alive blinked.

"I suggest you move your butt before they set the infrared motion detectors inside here too," Rouge said as she pulled the grate out of its slot.

She popped her head out from the ceiling, her teal eyes quickly scanning the area. The docking bay was heavily guarded, GUN men swarming the area as the entire room flashed red. She quickly dove back into the cover of the vent. "There's no way we'll get outta here without a distraction. Shadow?"

"On it," the black hedgehog growled without hesitation, leaping out of their hiding place and onto the ground below.

Immediately there were shouts and yells as guns were cocked and pointed at Shadow. The mobians watched as in a flash, the ultimate lifeform was gone. Bullets hit nothing. The soldiers were barely allowed to gasp before the dark hedgehog appeared behind them to slam his fist into their temples, knocking a few out.

"Alright kids, see that chopper down there?" Rouge pointed at a grey helicopter. "Get Sonic inside, I'll cover you."

"Rouge…wait."

The thief turned to shoot a look of surprise at Sonic who lay slouched against the vent wall. "…Thanks. For helping me."

It felt awkward for Sonic to say this to someone, anyone. He was meant to be the protector, right? Rouge studied the blue blur with her teal eyes for a few seconds, as if checking to see if he was joking, before she cracked one of her usual sultry smiles. "I owe you for saving me, Big Blue."

Then she dropped down onto the battlefield to land right next to her partner, both back to back to face GUN forces.

"You think this'll get us fired?" she said as she roundhouse kicked an officer in the head.

Shadow's chaos spears sliced through the bullets, which effectively went on to cut up the soldiers firing at them. "Perhaps."

"You're not mad?" Rouge asked as she torpedo kicked two reckless soldiers who came too close.

No words were said for a moment, almost as if Shadow was hesitating. He kept dodging bullets at lightning speed, and cancelled out any bullets that might have hit Rouge with his own.

"…Good riddance," the hedgehog said after a while as he nailed three soldiers in the gut with a bullet each. "I've gone against them before. If this is my fate, then so be it."

Meanwhile, Amy and Cream carried Sonic between the both of them, who had his quills bristled up so protectively he could have shielded all three of them as they stealthily skirted behind the crates to evade the cross-fire.

The chopper was in sight, and as they reached it, a soldier came for cover behind the aircraft without seeing them. With one swift hit, Amy knocked him out with her mallet. Then she ushered a stunned Cream and Sonic inside the chopper as she swiped the fallen soldier's key card against the hatch, dragging the powerless speedster's deadweight into the chopper.

Wordlessly, Sonic then dropped against the wall, the light dimming from his eyes. It was as if whatever energy he had managed to get through the entire ordeal had left him. He slumped sideways, exhausted as his already low-lying energy supply hit zero. He sank into unconsciousness.

"Sonic!" Amy shook him worriedly. "Hang in there okay?!"

She had no idea how he had been able to conceal his weakness so well. It was what frightened her the most about him. It made her wonder how long he had been able to do this for. How long he had lied…

She screwed her eyes shut and shook her head sharply, turning back towards a frightened Cream and Cheese. She felt bad for her friend, as Cream was very young and shouldn't be in this mess—yet the bunny had stubbornly refused to leave Sonic's side the moment they had arrived in GUN headquarters. She was a victim of circumstances—at the wrong place at the wrong time—but there was no way the mobians could have left her with GUN.

The girl had her hands over her ears, shaking uncontrollably. Amy moved towards the young rabbit, hushing her with comforting words all while keeping an eye on the hatch, waiting for Shadow and Rouge to fall back and enter the aircraft. She had no idea how to fly it herself. She wedged the chaos emerald backpack underneath the front seat of the chopper.

A bullet whizzed right past Amy's face. She immediately ducked behind the seat, bringing Cream and Cheese to crouch behind it too. She shook uncontrollably, her eyes blank with shock. That had…almost hit…her.

"I understand if you guys wanna leave," Sonic's voice echoed in her frightened mind.

The front glass of the helicopter cracked several times as bullets from the cross-fire continued. The pink hedgehog shot a glance at Sonic, who was lying safely behind the opposite chair of the aircraft. No! She wouldn't… He looked so small, his eyes closed like he was asleep... Almost like that child… Maurice… …wouldn't…ever leave him…!

Adrenaline pulsing in her body, Amy had no time to be thinking about how scared she was, trembling all over, clutching her hammer for dear life. She was the only one who could protect Sonic and Cream—she had to keep it together in case a soldier entered the aircraft. She hoped the bullets hadn't hit the controls on the helicopter. Cream's arms were wrapped around her waist beside her, quivering with fear.

Carefully, Amy moved from behind the seat as bullets stopped breaking into the chopper, and tried to catch sight of what was going on in the fight. Shadow and Rouge were outnumbered, fighting back to back. She caught the bat's eye and waved.

The mission partners gradually began to fall back, firing shots before retreating behind crates and aircrafts for cover as GUN forces swarmed towards them. "Get behind them!"

But Rouge and Shadow were too fast.

"Surround them!"

Soon, both top agents were running into the chopper. Amy promptly shut the hatch as bullets showered the hull of the helicopter. They were lucky the machine was built to be bulletproof.

"Stop them!"

Rouge had thrown herself onto the seat and started up the propeller. The chopper hummed to life. Everyone ducked as bullets splintered the glass of the helicopter, showering its occupants. Amy and Cream cried out. The machine lifted up into the air and off the runway.

With a lurch, it dove forwards and out into the air. Screams and shouts were heard as more wild firing was shot at the escaping aircraft. Then, a familiar sound of a machine gun was audible amongst the chaos they were escaping. Shadow's eyes widened as he glanced back into the side window. "That's…"

But before he could say anything, the entire runway lit up in flames. Aircrafts were sabotaged and blown up. Shrapnel from the loft was sent flying at the escapists. The shockwave collided with the chopper, hurling it forwards ten meters.

Rouge shouted out in shock as she struggled to regain control of their spinning chopper. Amy and Cream screamed whilst holding each other. They dipped dangerously, falling a few fatal feet. Shadow was tossed back, momentarily airborne, before hitting the floor of the back of the chopper and instantly gripping onto it. Rouge's teeth grinded in desperate effort as she tried to pull up the steering stick. It wasn't budging. They continued to nosedive.

But by some twist of luck, the nose of the helicopter was thrown back on balance by another distant shockwave. It regained its ability to hover with its spinning blades. They continued to fly, and another long silence permeated throughout the aircraft as hands slipped down from frightened eyes to see if they were still alive.

Shadow, who had crashed to the floor beside an unconscious Sonic, opened his eyes again, pushing down the feeling of nausea as he got up from off the floor. He winced as his leg throbbed painfully once more. He limped forwards. "…Rouge, are we safe?"

The fight with GUN had not helped the limb's recovery. The thief raised her lowered head, panting.

"Y-Yeah…" the bat replied shakily. "Is-Is everyone alright?"

Amy and Cream nodded as they slowly released each other, both glancing worriedly at Sonic. "He…h-hasn't moved since we left."

Shadow crouched down to check Sonic's pulse.

"He isn't dead," he concluded harshly.

Rouge shot him a disapproving look as Amy and Cream whimpered.

"Rouge…" Shadow said as he moved towards the front of the aircraft where she was sitting. "That… back there was…"

"Yeah, I know."

Everyone's adrenaline level was slowly returning to normal. Rouge and Shadow locked gazes. They both knew that machine gun sound from anywhere. They had fought side by side with it for a long time.

"It was…Omega. He was…covering for us," Shadow scowled uncertainly.

"O-Omega?" Amy repeated shakily.

Rouge grinned. "Don't act so worried. Omega can handle himself. He made sure GUN wouldn't be able to follow us."

Another scowl from Shadow. "I'm not worried."

There was a long silence, almost solemn, as the dazed team reflected on what had just happened, unable to believe the turn of events—and Omega's actions.

"Do you think GUN knows for sure Sonic is responsible now?" Amy asked after a few minutes.

"Either that, or they'll think we're in with the enemy," Shadow asserted. "All newscasting cameras were destroyed, so they have no evidence to say otherwise. All they have are just wild assumptions."

"But there is no enemy," Cream said confusedly.

"They're convinced Dark Super Sonic is another entity entirely," Shadow explained impatiently, before glaring at a prone Sonic, "Which frankly I've been beginning to think so myself lately."

"They were like…two different hedgehogs…" Amy muttered as she stared into the sky.

Sonic shifted uneasily in his unconsciousness.

"Whatever this Dark Super Sonic is, we need to stop it before it does anything worse," Shadow scowled deeply as the dark demon's words echoed in his head from their last battle.

I haven't killed in a long time.

"Where…Where to now?" Amy asked the question everyone had been dreading. "How are we going to restore the chaos emeralds to help Sonic?"

"The Master Emerald is in pieces and Knuckles isn't there to restore them…" Rouge said, her made up face showing hints of a frown.

A muffled moan escaped from the back of the chopper caught their attention again. Shadow turned, glancing at Sonic's feverish form. He had returned into a shivering mess, his pants coming out heavy and rasping. It was a sign that the hedgehog was awake.

The dark rival didn't say it as he leaned Sonic up against the hull, but he had never seen someone operate with no energy in their body whatsoever. Shadow lived on the genetically engineered chaos energy locked inside his limiters, but Sonic drew his completely from the chaos emeralds that produced the chaos energy around him. At the moment, Shadow sensed—nothing. No chaos energy was in the air like it should be—like it always had been.

While rings would be useful in this situation, their energy was finite—and Shadow believed that the rings had been what had given Sonic his little boost of energy to move from the GUN room to the aircraft loft. By now, Sonic must have completely run out of rings. Faker…if Faker didn't find energy quickly… he would die.

Another moan, as if the blue blur was trying to speak, sounded from his lips. Shadow neared his ear to the speedster's muzzle to catch what he was saying.

"Take… Take me to… Christmas Island."

Longest chapter ever to compensate for my absence! :D I know the rest of the gang (Knuckles, Tail, etc…) are MIA in this chappie, but I wanted to concentrate on the 'Present Time' group! ;) Next time, the past will definitely be given the limelight :D

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! I'm doing my best to update as soon as I can—this chapter wasn't meant to come out until next week… Just know that I'll never abandon you guys, so don't worry if it takes a while! ;)

I hope everyone has started off the new term well, and I'll "see" you next time! Fav, follow and reviews apreciated :)