Chapter 25

Me: The battle is over, and in the next few chapters, the plot is going to take a HUGE turn.

The smoke was clearing, and the unstable energy that had been flowing through the air finally died down. The entire swamp was still now; no sound could be heard, except a gently blowing wind, dispersing the smoke that had concealed that final clash. Everyone looked on, both hoping for and dreading the answer. Janus and Locke were standing there, practically leaning against each other.

Even from a distance, it could be seen that they had dealt each other a mortal blow. Janus' crystalline blade and Locke's flaming sword had pierced the other in the gut. For a moment, the darkness hung over them, but then it faded away. As it did, the crystals all over Janus' body began falling off, slowly at first, then more and more at once, like the start of a rain. They had changed back to normal.

"L-locke…" Janus gasped as he felt his own life leaving him fast. "I…I'm sorry." Locke was silent, and desperately clung to life, while Janus had accepted his imminent death.

"Are we…still friends?" Janus then asked, his voice now a whisper.

"Friends till the end…" Locke replied as well, smiling weakly. Janus smiled back, and closed his eyes. Despite it all, his mind was at ease…or was this part of dying? He didn't have much time to contemplate it before the last breath of life left him, and he slumped onto Locke. The bluish hedgehog held onto to his friend for a moment, relishing the fact that his last moment was spent holding his best friend in his arms. He could not hate him anymore. Finally he let go of Janus, closed his eyes, and fell back into the mud, his face toward the sun.

Nadja had watched their final moments from a distance, and finally got up from the altar and ran over to the lifeless bodies of her brother and his best friend. Icarus was still out cold, but the others quickly joined Nadja. They could only look on in utter shock and disbelief…Janus and Locke…the sons of the greatest heroes in the world…were dead.

Janus' sister, meanwhile, was in a somewhat different state of mind. The coherence of their thoughts was slowly changing in utter chaos. Nothing was making sense to her…her senses, her knowledge, her own ideas; none of them made sense to her anymore. Because one emotion was filling every fiber of her being…it was one she had always suppressed, and that she tried to do so again. But this conflict finally became too much for her. Nadja finally locked up every part of her…except her memories. Her eyes, once shining with happiness and life, dulled to a light grey. By her own will, he had become an automaton, forever to reenact her own memories…the only things without anger. But this all happened in the span of a few seconds, and her friends saw her drop to her knees and stare blankly into space. For a few moments, the group's attention was on her, and they were aghast at her sudden change in mentality. Elias stood up and went over to Nadja and helped her up.

"C'mon Nadja…we have to go," he said softly to her. He started to walk away, but suddenly a new evil laugh pierced the swamp air. The same hooded figure from before now appeared before them. Everyone except Nadja looked up to see this intruder.

"I can't believe it worked!" the figure cackled. "Everything went just as I had planned!" Violet, not about to watch this newcomer gloat, rushed at him with a fist aflame. The figure dodged it, but his cloak caught fire. He tore off the coat, and finally revealed himself. His appearance was very much like a hedgehog, except his body glowed with a very light, almost silvery blue color. His quills were shocked upright, and his shoulders extended farther than normal, as if two blades were implanted in his back. His wrists had spiked bracelets on them, and his black shoes also had spikes on them. But only Miles realized who he was, and the figure knew it.

"I see that one of you recognizes me…but to the rest of you, let me introduce myself. I am Nazo, king of the demon world and soon to be master of all Mobius." The others recognized the name and recoiled in horror.

"B-b-but you're supposed to be dead!" Scarlet exclaimed. Nazo chuckled. He started walking toward them, apparently intending to do something with Janus and Locke's corpses. Anticipating resistance, Nazo waved his hand and forced them all aside, knocking them all into the water.

"…Dead? Yes, I was…but the souls of a certain pair of heroes proved critical to my return. But now I need the souls of these two for the next stage of my plan." JJ, still armed with his weapon, wasn't about to let that happen. He charged the demon hedgehog, but was knocked down when Nazo grabbed the point of his spear and rammed the blunt end into the cat's gut. Without any further opposition, he waved his hand over the two bodies, causing two white wisps to float into his hand.

"Perfect…" he chuckled before setting his gaze on Elias, who was helping Nadja to her feet. "By the way Elias, don't bother trying to use the Master Emerald. It's already in my possession." With a last evil chuckle, Nazo disappeared. Scarlet was now especially grave dismay. The prophecy was going exactly as it would…she could only wonder what "evil's reign" meant. But she could only do what was possible at the moment: help get Icarus and the two bodies back to the village.

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

Scarlet lay curled up in the hut she had been sleeping in two nights before, absolutely distraught. The tears refused to stop flowing from her eyes, and she could barely breathe, she was crying so hard. Never in so long had the fox been this upset. Just thinking about all the times she and Janus spent together was utter torture, but she didn't want to forget either. She remembered the day they first met…

"Can I have a turn?" a young black hedgehog with gold bangs and glasses perched on his nose asked Scarlet, aged nine, while she was swinging on the swing set at the park's playground.

"But the other ones don't have anyone on them…" she replied as she kept swinging. "Why do you want this one?" The hedgehog scratched his head as he thought of the answer.

"I like that one. The others squeak too much. It's annoying." When Scarlet heard this, she giggled and told him that it was the same for her. Janus smiled back at her awkwardly. He couldn't help but find this girl cute.

"My name's Janus. What's yours?" he asked. Deciding that this boy was actually worth talking to, Scarlet slowed down and eventually stopped swinging.

"I'm Scarlet," she replied. "I like your name a lot better."

"Nah, my name's stupid," Janus replied with a sulk, lazily kicking a bit of gravel…

"And I always used to call you J. Anus when I wanted to tick you off…" Scarlet sobbed as if Janus was right there next to her. "You used to hate that…" Her reminiscence brought forth another memory…

"I…I…I brought you flowers," Janus, now twelve years old and at the awkward start of puberty, stammered as he held out a bunch of flowers, which included a large number of roses, with the thorns removed. Scarlet, now aged thirteen, gasped with wide eyes.

"Janus…they're so pretty!" she exclaimed as she took the flowers from him. Janus blushed heavily, and looked away. Scarlet looked puzzled, wondering what this was all about.

"N-not as pretty as you…" he said. "I was hoping we could do something some time."

"But we do a lot of stuff together," Scarlet replied.

"But Locke always comes along…I just…um…want to be with you…"

Scarlet now smiled a bit, but still cried heavily. "You and I…we were so innocent…we had no clue how it worked…" She then turned to a somewhat more painful memory…

Scarlet pushed away Janus' face as he was attempting to kiss her on the lips. It was almost one-and-a-half years later, and she realized now it wouldn't work. "Janus, I really like you…but I don't think I like you the way I thought I did." The hedgehog's ears sagged when he got the message.

"Does this mean we can't be like that couple in your books, Scarlet?" he asked.

Scarlet sighed. "…Yeah. I'm sorry. We can still be friends, though…"

"Why is it that we don't know what we have until we lose it?" That was the question that tormented Scarlet now. She had tried to deny to herself from that day forward, but only now did she realize that she still wanted him all this time. And she knew he still did too. But now she could never have him. She looked into a small mirror near the door, and saw Janus, wearing a goofy grin, in the reflection. She looked away, and the tears, which had been slowing down before, poured forth again. It would be like this for the rest of the day.

-- -- -- -- -- --

Night fell, and the whole village was silent, to respect the dead, except for one person. Nadja was outside, sobbing her head off. For this brief time, she had regained her normal mentality, but she could only feel intense grief. She clung onto her brother's lifeless body, and sobbed into his black fur.

Elias watched this sorry sight, and felt his own heart ache as well…but more for this girl, who had been reduced to a mere shell of the person he was talked with back on Angel Island. She couldn't stop talking about Janus…how he was her whole life, how he devoted so much time to protecting her. But Elias had only seen the evil side of Janus…the one with demonic eyes and consumed by a need for revenge. He couldn't help but wonder if Nadja was only kidding herself.

The girl suddenly stopped crying and walked toward the edge of the large island, and started to wade into the water, then ducked under. Assuming the worst, the echidna got up and rushed to stop her. But when he arrived at the shore's edge, her head suddenly went under. In a panic, Elias stood there, seemingly at a loss of what to do. He had no idea what this girl was trying to do…but it could have been a suicide attempt. Finally, he resolved not to let that happen, and dove into the water after her.

He found Nadja floating there about seven feet down, with her mouth open. Elias, now thankful that he had learned how to swim, dove toward her, grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to the surface. As he started swimming back to shore, a small crowd had gathered, including Violet, JJ and Miles.

Though the others offered to help, Elias was strong enough to pull the girl to shore on his own. He was relieved to see that Nadja was coughing on her own, forcing out the water that had gotten into her lungs. She looked around at the crowd, and started giggling like a young child. Normally this would have been cute, but being that Nadja was fourteen, it was more disturbing than adorable.

"I was bummed to see those two die," JJ commented, "but she's seriously screwed up…" Miles, too, was shaking his head.

"I say she's in no condition to continue the journey," Miles said thoughtfully, "if she's going to act like a child one moment and try to commit suicide the next. We'll leave her with Dr. Lupin." Nadja, despite her child-like mentality, knew exactly what Miles meant, and started bawling.

"NO! NO! I WON'T GO! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" the hedgehog whined before sticking out her tongue. Violet shook her head in disgust. Now she was acting like a brat too, and she hated brats. But JJ again stayed the purple hedgehog's hand. This little gathering was soon interrupted when one of the crocodile villagers came rushing over.

"…The bodies! The bodies have disappeared!"

-- -- -- -- -- -- --

Geof wandered the lonely wasteland beyond Tositox's lair, dragging one broken leg and use his slightly fractured one to move around. Both of his arms were broken, and hung limply at his sides, while the rest of his body was covered in all manner of cuts and bruises. The giant crystal had not only critically wounded him, but had teleported him to some god-forsaken place. Every step was torture to him, and with every step, oblivion seemed more and more appealing.

But he kept going, if only for her…Rydia. As long as she was alive, he had a reason to live. But it seemed like death had other plans. Finally, the hedgehog collapsed to the ground, his limbs utterly incapable of any more movement. Geof just laid there in the dirt, waiting for the end. The one thing he was happy about was that he knew what love was, however short the time it lasted.

But as he gazed up, the hedgehog saw the silhouette of an echidna girl walking toward him, with two strange lights dancing around her head. Soon he got a better look at her. Her body was light brown, almost tan, and she was decorated with the attire from ancient times.

"W-who…are you?" Geof asked weakly.

"I'm Tikal," the echidna girl replied as she bent down and presented a helping hand. "Please let me help you. You still have a purpose in this world." Geof looked at her and laughed weakly before laying his head back on the ground.

"I have no purpose now," he replied, and closed his eyes, waiting for death.

"Please…let me help you," the echidna girl pleaded. "If you don't, how can you save her?"

"I'm a mess…I can't save her…" Geof mumbled. He was sure he was hallucinating now, and that this girl was some figment of his fading imagination. He felt his breathing slow. Any minute now, sweet oblivion would be upon him.

"Just take my hand. Can you manage that?" Tikal asked. Geof finally decided to play along, and extended his right hand toward her outstretched one. He knew death was upon him…but nothing happened. His entire body, instead of feeling cold, felt warm. But his eyes still closed…

-- -- -- -- --

Me: Well, folks...the two male leads are dead and Nadja's finally gone off the deep end. God, I love tormenting the heroes. But fret not my friends. All will be well soon enough.

Scarlet: They better.