I was awakened by Shadow shaking my shoulder and mumbling my name. I wasn't ready to wake up. I was so tired. I moaned at him and waved my hand in the air, signaling for him to let me sleep longer. He was persistent though.
"Amy, you have to get up."
"Ten more minutes, Shadow…"
"I'll drag you out of this bed if I have to."
"Then do it."
After I said that I knew I was going to regret it, but I couldn't back down now. I felt Shadow get up off of the bed and my instinct was to grab onto the ends of the bed and hold on for dear life. I felt his hands on my sides and then suddenly a tug. It was gentle, so I didn't have to cling too hard.
"No," I mumbled.
I heard Shadow groan in annoyance and he started to pull harder, to which I gripped harder on the bed. I felt Shadow's hands resituate so he could get a good grip on my sides and then with one big heave, he managed to get me out of bed.
When I popped off, I went flying straight at him and the contact made him lose his balance and fall on the floor. I fell down as well and my head bumped into his. I pushed off of him and rubbed the sore spot.
"Ow…"
"If you had just gotten out of bed this wouldn't have happened."
"Don't be a smart ass, I'm just exhausted."
Shadow rolled his eyes and he got himself up onto his feet, dusting himself off. He reached for his cloak that I set on the bed last night and he unfolded it before handing it to me.
"We're going out?" I choked a little on my words and my hands were shaking a little when I reached for the cloak.
"Dust gave me a little info last night when I asked him about the cellar. Spade's going to use the emeralds today, so we need to go now."
I could feel the fur on my arms stand up straight and I frantically began putting on Shadow's cloak. I had motivation to be awake and I was ready to get going within moments. Without thinking I started heading up the dirt stairs but Shadow quickly grabbed my arm and held me in place.
"We need a plan. If we just go rampaging we could both get caught."
"Can't you just use your chaos powers or something?'
He sighed and shook his head. He had that look on his face when he felt that the answer was obvious or something.
"My Chaos abilities are limited when I don't have an emerald in my possession. I'll run out of energy if I use too much of it; and in case you haven't noticed there are thousands of loyal mobians at Spade's disposal. Even if I used up all my energy and you used your piko hammer, we wouldn't last long."
His explanation made sense, but it didn't make me happy. What were we going to do to get that emerald? I had no doubt that security was probably tight around the emeralds.
"Alright then," I took a deep breath through my nose, and let it out slowly as a way to collect myself, "Do you have a plan?"
"Yes," he let go of my arm, seeing I wasn't going to make a run for it and he folded his arms over his chest, "But you're not going to like it."
"I'm just about willing to try anything at this point."
"You're going to turn yourself in."
I scoffed at him and tapped my feet on the floor as I rolled my eyes.
"Alright. Now what's really the plan?"
Shadow didn't say anything. He simply raised his brows at me, signifying he was being serious. My mouth hung ajar and I held a finger up as I tried to process this plan.
"I thought the idea was not to get caught?!"
"Either way, we're probably going to be noticed. If you walk into that mansion and turn yourself in, you just might be enough of a distraction for me to grab the emerald you brought to this time."
"But what if you can't get me out of there? What then?"
He put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a stern look. I probably should have more faith in him by now but this plan seemed a little crazy to me.
"If I have a Chaos Emerald I can make it work. You just have to trust me on this. Have I let you down yet?"
I looked down at my feet and I started shuffling one of them in the dirt, a little embarrassed with myself.
"Well… no," I mumbled quietly, feeling a little defeated. Shadow had a small smile as he reached behind my neck and pulled the hood of the cloak over to be over my head.
"Failure is not an option for me. I'll get you home."
Hearing him say that helped me relax a little about this plan. Shadow seemed to always know what he was doing. I stepped aside so that Shadow could take the lead. When he passed by me, he patted my head, ruffling up my bangs a little bit. I huffed at him and started trying to fix them as I followed after him. I don't know why I did, since my quills would be hidden by the hood anyways. Perhaps it was habit.
We walked through the town as discreetly as possible, diverting from the main path if we saw guards in the area. We never ran though. Running might have made us more noticable, and in this case acting casual amongst the crowd was our best camouflage.
After a lot of sharp turns and hiding behind buildings, the mansion was finally in sight. We started to head for the back entrance we used the day before, but Shadow quickly moved me around a corner out of sight.
"Damn. They have guards here today," he seethed under his breath. I peaked around him so that I could see what was going on. There were two guards at the back entrance. It made sense Spade would order that. They were planning on restoring the world today. They couldn't afford any interruptions.
"We'll sneak in through the window to your room," he explained to me. I looked at him as if he were crazy. The room I was in was on the third story of the mansion. How the hell were we supposed to get up there?
Before I could tell Shadow about my concerns, he pulled me along a different path that led us to my bedroom window. I stared up at it to see how high it really was. How were we supposed to get up there?
Suddenly, I felt me feet whisked out from underneath me. Not knowing what hit me I shut my eyes and braced my head for the fall, but I never fell. I opened my eyes and realized that Shadow was holding me in his arms. Was he planning to carry me up there?
"What are you doing you can't make that jump or climb with me," I frantically explained. He looked down at me with an unamused expression.
"Amy."
"Yeah?"
"I have rocket boots, remember?"
I felt my face flush as I finally remembered that his boots had rockets in them. I covered my face to hide the red and I could feel my ears burning with embarrassment. Shadow chuckled and resituated me in his arms to make sure he wouldn't drop me.
"You're so oblivious. It's cute."
He used the toes of his shoes to kick his heels, which caused the rockets to turn on. We quickly flew up to the window and he signaled me to pull up on the window to open it, since his hands were full at the moment. I pulled up with all my might and the window slid open. We were in.
He set me down on the floor and once he floated inside he kicked off the rockets again, landing quietly. He took a moment to quietly think to himself. I was quite curious about what was going through his head right now. Finally, he looked up at me with a determined look.
"Alright. The plan starts now. Get to the Great Hall and talk to Spade. Keep him distracted as long as you can."
"And what if they arrest me on sight?" I was a little skeptical of how this would all play out.
"You're smart. I'm sure you'll think of something," He took his cloak off of me and put it on himself. He'd need it more than I would since he'd be sneaking around. "You have a way of getting people to listen to you."
I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or an insult, but taking everything that had happened between us in the past few days into account, I decided it was fair to assume it was a compliment. I nodded in agreement and gave him a thumbs up.
"Got it!"
As he was walking to the door to go snoop, he looked over his shoulder as he spoke.
"I only need about five minutes. You should be able to keep him off his guard for that long right?"
"I'll do my best," I said with false confidence. He didn't say anything else to me after that and he snuck out the door and off to go look for the emerald. Now it was time for me to do my part.
I had to make sure I wasn't seen before I got to the Great Hall. It was hard to focus though, since my heart was practically beating out of my chest. So many things could go wrong with this plan. Part of me thought Shadow was winging it, but I couldn't think of a better one and it was already too late to change my mind.
It didn't take me too long to sneak to the Great Hall. Fortunately, I didn't have any crossings with security so I got lucky there. Spade probably had guards dispersed across the city looking for Shadow and I. I peaked my head around the door frame to look inside the Great Hall. What I saw sent my stomach to my throat.
It was just Spade in the room, and he was surrounded by all seven of the Chaos Emeralds. It looked as if he was about to perform the miracle. Shadow wouldn't be able to find the emerald from my time because they were all here! This was bad.
I had to act quick, but what should I do? My body moved on instinct and I sprinted to him. By the time he heard me coming I was too close and I pounced on him, sending us both rolling across the floor.
When he lifted his head he was seething at me, and I knew I had made a big mistake. I tried to get up and make a run for the emeralds, but he got a hold of my ankle, making me fall face down onto the ground. I hit my head pretty hard, which caused my vision to go a little blurry.
I managed to make out Spade crouching down in front of me, and he wiped at his lip which was bleeding. I didn't mean to hurt him, but he didn't know that.
"If you want that emerald you're going to have to kill me first."
My vision was starting to settle down again and I rubbed my head as I spoke, my voice a little shaky.
"I don't want to kill you. And I don't want your city to die. I really don't!"
He huffed at me and kicked my in my stomach. I coughed on impact and I curled myself up in a fetal position to protect myself from any other possible blows.
"You think you can come here, attack me behind my back, and make off with the emerald? You're insane if you thought I'd let you get away with it," he was growling as he spoke, his fangs showing through his grimace. He reached down and grabbed me by my shirt, lifting me up onto my feet. He then proceeded to threaten, "I don't make a habit of hitting women but you're getting in the way of me protecting my people, and I simply won't allow it."
He reached back his hand and balled it into a fist. I knew what would come next, but suddenly I had an idea come to mind.
"What about my people?!"
He froze when I said that, and his eyes squinted as he tried to put together what I was saying.
"Excuse me?"
"I have people of my own. Back in my time. They died because of my mistake. I want to have the chance to protect them, just like you want to protect your people!"
His brows furrowed and he pulled his wrist back again to throw a punch, but I continued to plead with him.
"You would do anything to protect this city. And I would do anything to protect my friends! The only difference between you and me, is I'm offering a chance to save both of our friends!"
"But my way guarantees the survival of my friends."
"Aren't all lives worth saving to you, Spade?"
His eyes widened a bit, and his arm he had pulled back relaxed a little. It was as if something in his mind clicked and he seemed a little disoriented. I could see I struck a chord with him so I kept going.
"Life is full of chances and risks. The easy way isn't always the best way… And I know it's scary. The unknown is terrifying sometimes; but we have to take chances, or else we'll never know what could have been."
As I was saying this, Shadow appeared in the doorway to the Great Hall. He looked shaken when he saw the way Spade was grabbing at me, but when he was about to charge, I held out my hand, signaling him to wait.
"I know you're scared of what could go wrong. I am too. But, I have confidence in my friends. I promise, we can make sure that asteroid never hits this planet. You can grow up in a breathing world. You can have a life that doesn't revolve around survival, but actually living. I know I had my doubts before when we talked last time, but-"
I took a deep breath and I looked over to Shadow, who seemed on edge at the moment. I smiled over at him and I could feel tears in my eyes as I started to get emotional.
"They're my family. I love them so much, and they love me just as much as I love them. They've always come through for me and the world. I know that if they have the last emerald and work together, there's nothing they can't do."
Spade had stayed pretty quiet the whole time. He still had a firm grip on my shirt, but his eyes had hurt in them. Finally, I felt his grip come off of my shirt, and I felt the weight of my body rush to my feet as my heels set on the ground again.
Shadow quickly dashed over to me, moving me back a little bit and putting himself just barely between me and Spade.
"So," Shadow said softly, "What do you have to say to that, Spade."
Spade looked up to Shadow and I, his eyes a little red from holding back tears in his eyes. His ears pinned back against his head and he started breathing heavier.
"This is wrong… what have I done…"
He pivoted away from Shadow and I, running over to the Chaos Emeralds. Shadow braced to chase after him but I put my hand on his shoulder and held him back.
"Wait…"
Spade stopped next to the emerald from my time, the white one. He picked it up off of the ground and he brushed his fingers over it, as if he were saying goodbye to a dear friend. I knew this was hard for him, but at least he was finally doing the right thing.
After a while of him reminiscing, he walked back over towards Shadow and I, taking my hand and placing the emerald in it.
"I may always have my people's best interest at heart, but I've always lacked something that every great leader should have… empathy. I think now is a good time to start practicing that trait."
I brought the emerald close to my chest and I smiled at Spade softly. I sympathized with him greatly, and I would do everything in my power to make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain.
"Thank you," my voice cracked when I spoke.
"Just… save the world, Amy."