Send my Wishes to New Babylon

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Tails, the fortress isn't that big... It's bigger than it looks, but much smaller than what you represent."

Alyne's talking was heard in the whole place, as everybody got their gatherings ready for the rescue. Well, it wasn't sure anyway, but if Alyne said so, it was better not to complain and follow the leads she usually gave.

The redhead wasn't stressed, she was going insane. One of her best friends had gone to search for her, and Heyden had given herself away just to get her out from the psicothic nightmare that almost broke her. Alyne was looking at the sky, trying to descry any smoke sign, or something useful.

"Give up, Alyne."

Five times they told her, five times she didn't obey.

"We're ready!" Alyne got down from the rock she was watching the sky after, and the walking bow merely sighed "Don't stress, Alyne."

She nodded to Knuckles, and the wind's direction seemed to change.

Suddenly, the tent shook vigourously, and a blonde, breathless girl appeared by Tails.

"Alyne!" she hugged the redhead, who struggled to free herself.

She identified her "Grace! What's wrong?" she led the upset hedgehog inside "Get in-"

"It's Heyden!" everybody chimed in, stressing the small Grace with questions.

"Guys, calm down! Let her explain herself!" yelled Alyne. She sat by Grace, and took her hand.

Four times had Sonic invisibly feared for Heyden's life, four times he wasn't able to do something.

"Dyster ha-has her-r..." the blue-eyed female broke down to cry in her hands "He i-is a mon-monst-er...!"

Everybody gasped, and encouraged her to go on.

"It was s-so horrible!"

»Dyster hit Heyden with powerful blasts of dark power of a Myriadth's. She shook miserably, and her upper body was paying the painful concequences of offering ressistamce against his violence. I could see lots of wounds bleeding from each attack. She was chained up, she only yelled and yelled. Heyden was gritting her teeth and eyes strongly, to avoid giving him the pleasure of seeing her suffer.

Her whole body was bleeding after the assault. I feared the she would run out of blood, but ot seems like she didn't. Her blood covered the walls of the prisson she had been thrown into. I was passing by when she appeared. Cassidy and him carried her to a creepy open room, which had a huge window. I heard Dyster comment that he would have the mercy of letting her see the sunshine before she died. But I know that he had darker reasons for that. I had quickly struggled it off when she woke up. I heard him talk to her, and I must say, that Heyden was pretty reckless for the gravety of the situation she was in.

Then, he started to slap her, blast her with-with-

Silver got an arm on Grace's shoulders, as she broke down crying. But she went on.

Three times had Knuckles seen someone break down, three times he was unusually worried.

»Dyster went on blasting her. He even brought a knife, and he stabbed her left arm. The blood splattered in her face. She yelled, as far as I have counted, six times. He left her gasping for air. Once he had left her to die, it greatly surprised me that he didn't see me hidding, and I was crying. When he was definetely out of sight, Heyden opened her eyes. But something looked different on her. Her eyes were dull, yo-ou know? Like when someone is dead... But she was breathing, hardly breathing. Before I completely left the place, I saw her smirk.

Two times had Sonic been given a piece of flashback, two times he was listening intently. But this time, he was shaking a lot.

»I remebered something weird then. As I left the room, I tried to replay a few parts that didn't seem right. I thought about when Cassidy and Dyster had taken Heyden to the room. Cassidy's eyes are forest green, but they looked pitch black right then! Also, she hadn't spoken a word.

I realized that I was so deep in my thoughts, that I was lost. I walked as my heart told me which direction to follow. The corridor was getting darker with the lack of torchs. When I got the thought that it pehaps didn't have exit, I turned the corner to see a lightened, bigger room. I was hungry for light, so I ran to it. And it left me horrified!

The room was five metres high per seven metres of length and another seven of width. The stone bricks that the fortress is made of was replaced with a darker tone of cobblestone in the room. There was nothing in the room. Nothing, except four hings.

There was a pair of flamimg torchs, and between them, there was a body. It was surrounded with a weird machinery I didn't know about. They were attched to her wrists, legs, and clevage. It seemed really painful. The mechanism was connected with a container, that had black plasma inside. I touched the glass of the container, but I instantly removed the hand, because it hurt just to touch it.

I hadn't stopped to look at the body carefully until I was a few steps away from it. It was a girl, with a purple long dress, and black hair that I couldn't completely see. She was unsconsciuous, with lots of wounds on her face. Her dress was ripped in a few parts. Behind all of them, there was a wound, with dry blood that hadn't been properly cleaned on the right time. I titled my head, and I gasped when I recognized the person...

Grace stood deadly silent, head cast down and her hands shivering.

"Who was it?"

The kindness on Eithan's voice made her look up. And her words shook them all.

"It was Cassidy's body."

A great silence followed the confession.

It didn't make sense! Cassidy is Dyster's adoptive daughter, he had no right to treat her like that. That, if she hadn't done something bad. But Cassidy looked like an obedient girl.

Tails almost broke the table in realization.

"How the heck couldn't we see it!?"

Everybody turned to look at him, even the broken Grace.

"This, this, this! It's been a trap all along!"

"What do you mean?" asked Alyne.

"Alyne, Cassidy put the pseudomatic sleep for you, but mostly for Heyden! They knew she'd come to your rescue. So, they programated everything. Heyden landed in the fortress, and they knocked her out. But I have noticed some kind of connection."

Tails went to a big book and opened it casually on the page he looked for.

"You said Myriadth, right?" everybody followed his steps as Grace nodded "Well, that spell isn't a harmful one. It's one that consisits on transferring energies. Like light, darkness..."

"What do-" Alyne brought her hands to her mouth, as did Grace "Oh my God!"

"Cassidy might know that Dyster surely has Amy. She may have threated him, and he punished her. He was extracting her dark essence, so he could use it for Heyden." Tails' voice shook "Cassidy was his power source all the time, so he could take advantage of that. She might have gone against him, so he did all you saw to her..."

"To sum it all up," said Sonic "Dyster has Cassidy, Heyden and possibly Amy. We must get to them!"

"But, what if she gets against us?" said Silver.

"That's not a worry." Knuckles took out a sack, full of something "Here. The Emeralds are here."

"Fine. But how will we get into the fortress?" asked Alyne.

"Sonic and Knuckles installed a dispositive I've working on for a while." Sonic and Knuckles high-fived.

"So... When may we go in there?" asked Grace.

"Grace, you should better go into the fortress... Alyne, you too. We will get into action, and hopefully defeat them all."

"But we have reception tomorrow!" answered Grace to Eithan.

"Perfect then..." said Sonic.

Once he lost someone to the darkness, last time he'd let that happen.

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[Author's note]:

Next chapter's gonna be huge.

Warning of epicness ahead. Or not.

Today: i wrote it yesterday and it's not that awesome.