a/n: Cool, finished this too. Felt good about this one. Hope you all enjoy, and thanks for the support.

Silver stopped and landed on one of the few buildings still intact in the city, gently letting down Lucy as well.

"How'd she know us, Silver?"

"No clue," he said absentmindedly, watching the explosions rising up from the battle.

"She's not from around here."

"I know. Not even from this time period, either."

"What?"

"Just a hunch. Seems like Shadow's known her from a while back."

"So?"

"So, Shadow was apparently 'born' back in the twentieth century. Most of Earth's well known heroes were killed during the invasion back in the twenty-first century."

Lucy looked down at her shoes, replicas of the ones worn by the famous speedster from that era, Sonic the Hedgehog. There had been many stories about him passed down throughout the ages, and a small hope that somehow he would return to help save the Earth.

However, she knew that after two hundred years, it wasn't possible that he was still around. This strange woman seemed to be from about the same place in time…how that was possible, she did not know. Did she travel here from the past, somehow?

"All very mysterious…but at this rate…"

She watched as another office tower was reduced to dust.

"There won't be much of the city left."

"There wouldn't be much of us left if we stayed down there, you know. I think we should head to the shelter."

"Are you sure we should leave her alone like this?" Lucy asked.

"I'm sure enough. She said that she would find us later. I don't think she'd say something like that without a reason behind it."

"Why won't you just disappear?"

Shadow smashed a fist through a brick wall, barely missing Amy's head as she dodged to one side. Her hammer came around in a wide arc and hit him squarely in the side, sending him tumbling along the ground before recovering quickly.

He jumped out of the way of her hammer as it destroyed the earth below it, sending up dust and debris. He kicked her in the face before she could react and drove an elbow into her stomach, making her stumble backwards in pain. She coughed loudly as he grabbed her by the quills and threw her face first into the dirt.

"Irritating little-"

She lashed out with a kick, causing him to step back for a moment. Using the time wisely, Amy summoned her hammer and swung at his face, barely missing as he jumped back to avoid it. She spun around and placed her hands in front of herself, making a heart shape with her fingers in the process.

"Storming Hearts!"

The pink burst hit Shadow and sent him flying through several walls before he came to a stop. Amy brandished her hammer in front of her as she ran to catch up with the dark hedgehog.

She stopped in her tracks as he suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Nice trick. Sorry that it didn't work out too well."

He fired a burst of energy through her back, leaving her to stagger forward before falling face-first to the ground.

"A pity…you seemed to have potential, Rose." He frowned at the damage he had taken on during the battle. It was far more than he had experienced in the last two centuries, aside from that one fight with Silver years ago. He certainly didn't expect Amy to put up the fight she did, and was surprised when he had to catch his breath for a moment during one of her charges.

The cut from Silver's blade stung his pride, but these wounds…they didn't bother him as much. They were even satisfying in a way. It was a shame that she would die soon. He watched her blood start to stain the dirt around it crimson as she tried to move.

"You're only going to get in my way…a remnant of the past gone by. While your faith and purity are commendable, they are not needed in this world of mine."

"…"

"I'm afraid that this is over."

"N-n….no…it's not…"

Black swirls of energy started to rise from her body, the gaping wound closing itself up slowly. Struggling, Amy pushed herself up from the dirt, spitting the blood from her mouth as she stared at Shadow. His eyes narrowed as the damage healed itself completely.

"You've done something to yourself."

"…This is all that I am, Shadow."

"What?"

"I…for this kind of power, I give up myself. I give myself to that power, no matter what it might do to me, and in exchange, I can do many things that shouldn't be possible. I can…defy reality itself, if I give up enough of myself."

"Yourself? You mean…" He growled at the realization. "You fool! Trading your soul for power? That's just like that foolish echidna!"

"He had a reason to do it. The Master Emerald needed a guardian, and Knuckles felt responsible for that. He made that wish for immortality at the cost of his own existence…because he needed to. That was what he felt. I, on the other hand…I don't really have a reason why I did it. I just gave in to my anger. Eating away at my existence, just for a chance to be stronger. I have a reason now, though. A good one. I have to keep going, and I have to fight on for this future of ours. I promised him…that I would never stop believing in a better tomorrow, for all of us that are left."

"…"

"After all of this wandering, I've finally figured out how to make things right. I know what needs to be done. Won't you help me, Shadow?"

"Help you do what?"

"I want to change the past. Together, we could do it…together we could make a better way, so that everything doesn't have to end the way it did, all of those years ago."

"You can't just erase the last two hundred years!" he yelled at her.

"I know," she replied sadly. "Though I wish I could…I cannot. But at a certain point in time…if we change an outcome…"

"…You…you realize what that would mean, right?"

"…."

"We'd end up fighting that war again, for these worthless, pathetic humans. The ones that would leave us by the wayside if we ever needed help. All they've done is betray us whenever they felt threatened. Even your friend…she tried to take care of things with no regard for your existence. Look where that got you. Look where trusting these humans got all of us."

"Shadow…"

"I won't do it. You'll have to make me a mindless slave before I would ever comply…and I'd end my own existence before it got anywhere near that point. Do you understand me, Rose?"

"I do."

"…I should kill you right here. But I won't." He turned his back on her. "There's a cost to your actions…a price for what you want to do."

"There is."

"I hope you're prepared to pay it, Amy Rose."

"…"

In a flash of light, Shadow was gone.

Amy looked at the blood that stained the ground around her feet, thinking on Shadow's words. She knew what he meant by 'cost'.

"I'm ready to pay in full, Shadow. I just need some time…"

A heavy sigh escaped her lips, and she too vanished in a burst of light.

"Knuckles? Is that you?"

Amy Rose had managed to land on Angel Island, the trajectory of the ship she was in leading towards one of the vast forests that covered the isle. Luckily, she had landed in a familiar place, near the Emerald Shrine. Knuckles stood there, seemingly unfazed by her sudden arrival. He made no movement towards her.

She found that odd, as the Knuckles she knew would have said something, whether it was a simple hello or a scolding for landing the way she did.

"Knuckles! It's me, Amy!"

"…"

She looked at him curiously. "Knuckles…?"

"My apologies," he said tonelessly. "I had to search his memories for your information. Amy Rose…I see."

"Search…memories? Knuckles," she said nervously, "that's not a very funny joke, and not like you at all. What happened?"

"I am sorry, Miss Rose."

"This…this isn't funny. Knuckles, quit it-"

"I am not Knuckles."

She slapped him across the face, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Don't play games with me! We're probably the only two left, and you're playing around like this? Not even Sonic would do something so stupid!"

"I…am not Knuckles. I am the Guardian of the Master Emerald. Knuckles the Echidna no longer exists. I have obtained his body, his voice, and his memories. But I am not him."

The echidna placed a hand on the Master Emerald. "He is now a part of the treasure he so wished to protect. I truly am sorry, Amy Rose."

Looking deeply into his violet eyes, Amy realized he really was telling her the truth. The same presence that she felt from Knuckles…it wasn't there. Nothing was there at all…

"Knuckles is…him too? I can't believe…that isn't possible…that can't be possible!"

"…"

"He…just for this stupid rock! Couldn't he think about anything else? That selfish bastard, leaving me alone like this! I hate him, I hate him, I hate him! I…I…"

She broke down, sobbing into the Guardian's chest as he stood silently. Reaching into his memories, he softly put an arm around the girl, attempting to soothe her pain.

"I'm here."

Amy Rose appeared inside the Paradise Ward, an ironic name for a place stuck in the middle of a ruined city. It was large, large enough to contain the population within with ease. People from all walks of life gathered here in the underground, humans and non-humans alike. Some of the inhabitants were of the planet Gloriole, defectors from their failing army that sought refuge from the fighting. It took several decades, but they were accepted among the displaced resistance as well.

"An underground city, huh…" She turned to face Silver and Lucy as they walked towards her. "Pretty nice setup here."

"It uses a cloaking technology to make it non-existent to Shadow. It took some Chaos Energy and some of his DNA…the latter was the toughest to get, as you can guess," Silver said.

"I can imagine. Are you feeling any better, Silver?"

"A little. I'll be fine, though…"

"Here, give me your hand."

"Uh…"

"Just trust me, okay?" she said with a smile.

"Alright…" She took his hand in hers and concentrated, flowing her energies through his body. Silver blinked as he felt himself return to full strength, maybe even beyond that.

"Whoa. Thank you…I feel like I wasn't even hurt at all! That's amazing!"

"You…what happened to you?"

Silver looked over at Lucy. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"There was a darkness coming from her just now. When she was healing you, Silver."

"I didn't see anything, Lucy."

"…"

She shook her head. "…Yeah. Sorry. Must have been the light playing tricks on me. I think I need some rest."

"You do that. You've been through a lot today. Hey, how about you take Amy with you to your place? I think you've got the space. If not, I'll give up my place for her, since I'll be out looking for supplies this week."

"Is that okay with you, Lucille?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. That's just fine. Follow me."

"I'll see you ladies later, then," Silver said. "Thank you, Miss Rose."

"Call me Amy, both of you."

"Alrighty, then. Take care all the same."

"Goodbye, Silver."

"Later, Silver."

Lucy went on ahead, with Amy following silently.

"…You…saw it, didn't you?"

The olive hedgehog stopped in her tracks.

"I…we found some Chaos Drives at one point. Well, more like a whole stockpile of them. Thought that we could use them to help bring our power up against Shadow and those rival armies that attacked us. But when some of us started using them…it was…really bad. They had this darkness around them."

"Like I do."

"Yeah."

"I traded my heart for power. They must have done it as well. It's the worst deal you could possibly make, but you usually don't realize until it's too late."

"Amy, are you…going to disappear?"

She nodded softly. "Unless I stop using my abilities completely, and use a Chaos Emerald to balance myself, there's really nothing that I can do."

"The Chaos Emeralds don't exist, though…"

"One does, Lucy. I have it with me."

Lucy grabbed Amy by the hand and raced over to her home, which was spaced like a one-bedroom apartment. She locked the door and grabbed Amy by the shoulders tightly.

"A Chaos Emerald? You have…have one?"

"Yes," she replied calmly. "You realize why I can't use it, right?"

"…That makes sense. Shadow would...yeah. I get it."

"If I knew how to bring back the other six, maybe…maybe something else could be done. But that's not the case here. We only have this one to use…and I know how I'm going to use it."

"How? Are you going to defeat Shadow with it?"

"…It's something far bigger than that. Defeating Shadow won't make things right."

"The only way to 'make things right' is to rewrite the past, and everyone knows-"

Lucy stopped and backed away from Amy.

"Oh…oh, no. No no no no…that's crazy. That's impossible."

"Lucille..."

"How exactly do you plan to do something like that? The Chaos Emerald?"

"…You actually need two of them."

"H-huh…really…" Lucy sat down on the nearby couch, her mind nearly fried from all of the information. "Two of them. But you said…"

"Chaos Emeralds have an infinite amount of energy. The Master Emerald, as its controller, has the same properties, more or less. Shadow can't make use of the Master Emerald because of the fact that the Guardian is immortal…but I doubt that he would let either of us try to use it either."

She sighed. "If only for a moment, a power equal to a Chaos Emerald could be generated for a Chaos Control, along with the true Chaos Emerald's power, potentially, a hole in time and space could be opened. Using that portal, and the memories of the past, one could go back in time…"

"…and create a new branch of the timeline. From where it all began. Changing the future by creating a brand new one," Lucy finished. "But then…where can we get so much energy at once from? We have that one Emerald, yeah. We need a catalyst for that other energy source."

"She's right here," Amy replied.

"Don't be ridiculous, you'll most likely die if you did something like that…no." She stared accusingly at the pink hedgehog. "You knew that already. You knew how dangerous this could be from the start. Well, ask someone else. I'm not helping you kill yourself. That's crazy, and you're not exactly stable yourself, if I must say."

She rose and shuffled off her sneakers. "I'm gonna take a shower. You can check out my room if you want, since you'll be crashing there. See you in a few, Amy."

Lucy left Amy leaning against the door, thinking to herself. Maybe she was crazy, and this was a long shot at working.

"…Lots of consequences, huh? Well…you miss all of the shots you don't take."

Nodding to herself, she took a seat on the couch and closed her eyes. Perhaps sleep would clear her head.

On the other hand…she sort of wished it wouldn't.