Ch.3: Arise, Light Gaia!
Trevor, Shelia, and Espio had almost led of all the citizens back to safety when a yell stopped them in thier tracks. Trevor turned to see Queen Alena hutched over on the ground, arms clutching her chest.
"Alena, what's wrong?" asked Trevor, fearing that the Queen might have gotten hurt.
Hugging Trevor, Queen Alena just sat there with the tears rolling her face, and her body shaking like a leaf. To dramatized to speak the sobbing Queen could only repeat the same two horrifying words.
"He's gone...He's gone,"
Sonic and Sonia opened their eyes in fright at the scene before them. Dark Gaia's flame had managed to miss his intended targets, but even in the end someone got burned.
Tears flown down from the siblings eyes as they looked down at the burned and bloodied body of their younger brother Manic. The green hedgehog, in a desperate attempt to save Sonic and Sonia from Dark Gaia's flame, had selflessly thrown himself in front of it.
For a moment, Sonic and Sonia didn't even register that they were free when Knuckles broke the earth-like shackles embracing their legs. The echidna took no offense to their reaction, and joined them over thier brother's body.
Manic's eyes were still open, and his breathing was hard. Giving Knuckles medical experince, the hedgehog only had a few more minutes to live.
"I'm...glad...to see...you're alright," said Manic, his tired eyes looking at Sonic and Sonia.
"Don't worry us Bro" said Sonic, sobbing " we're alright,"
"It's so unfair" said Sonia " we just got reunited with Manic, and now...,"
She couldn't bare to finish the sentence and Manic had to let out a small chuckle in his mind. As the seconds ticked by, Manic knew that his body wouldn't last for much longer and looked up at his sibs.
"Do me a favor will you?" said Manic " take down Dark Gaia,"
"You bet Bro," said Sonic, shooting Manic a thumbs up.
"Knuckles" said Manic, looking over to the echidna " promise you'll watch out for my sibs once I'm gone,"
"I promise," said Knuckles, forlorn.
Smiling that his last words had been said, Manic took in his last breath, closed his eyes, and drifted into eternal sleep. Even when they Manic was no longer with them, Sonic, Sonia, and Knuckles couldn't help but cry a little longer. Dark Gaia wasn't impressed.
"Pathetic," said Dark Gaia.
"What you'd say?" growled Sonic.
"How dare do you talk about our brother like that!" yelled Sonia, glaring at the black dragon.
"Manic told us all about your past" said Knuckles, pointing to Dark Gaia " about how you lost your wife and child to the past citizens of Mobious. This is the present now, your kind has nothing to fear,"
"And how would you know?" said Dark Gaia.
"Because I'm different from my friends and they accepted me," said Knuckles.
"They accepted us dragons as well" said Dark Gaia, growing in anger " then a rumor got spread around that we eat Mobians for breakfast. One thing lead to another, and soon people were hunting us down, trying to wipe us clean from exsistance. How can you know the pain of losing your family and entire race?"
"Because" said Knuckles " I am the last of my kind,"
Dark Gaia seemed to digest Knuckles words for a moment, before focusing back on reality.
"Then for the sake of your race, you shall be spared" said Drak Gaia to Knuckles " but all others must die!"
A beam of white light suddenly launched itself from Manic's medallion, illuminating the entire room. The light bent and took shape of a beautiful, female, white dragon with sapphire eyes. Dark Gaia backed up in surprise.
"Sister" he said " you're alive?"
"Yes brother" said Light Gaia " and it's time I finally put an end to this,"
