About a month passed in a pattern. Everyday, Sally would wake up at the crack of dawn for breakfast and training with Silver until lunch. After lunch, she'd study history and battle strategy with Knuckles for an hour or so. She'd spend the rest of the day in leisure, sometimes exploring the wilds of Angel Island and other times socializing with the local villagers.
The pattern had never been broken. Until today, that is.
Sally had requested that Silver take her to the ruins of Eggmanland. Reluctantly, the time traveler had agreed and telepprted them both there with some chaos energy he'd built up.
The ruins were just as Sally expected, which was not a good thing. The metal paneling of the buildings were either rusted, torn, missing, or had burn marks. Heaps and husks of deactivated badniks and mecha soldiers shaped like humans were strewn about, some with weapons lodged in them. The place itself was silent expect for the cruel howl of the cold wind.
"This place is a dump," Silver stated.
Sally nodded. "Agreed. I can't believe Sonic actually lived here,"
The duo said not another word as they walked around, inspecting the mess Sonic had left the place in. Sally for one still couldn't believe her demise had led her lover to such drastic measures. It was as if something in his mind had suddenly snapped and threw a tantrum. The world just happened to be in Sonic's crossfire and suffered for it.
Out of the corner of her vision, Sally spotted a tower that peaked into the sky. She glanced over her shoulder at Silver, whom was currently inspecting desecrated badniks. Against her better judgement, she slipped past and pried open the metal door, ahich slid open much easier than she'd expected.
She walked inside to find a dark and cold room with a winding staircase in the middle. Something about the atmosphere seemed... off. Like this place was haunted or the sight of something gruesome. Knuckles did say people died in the Last Stand...
Sally slid a hand across the cold metal railing as she walked up the stairs, her feet creating an echo as she went. The stair had a total of ten flights, so by the time she reached the top, her legs ached from the effort.
The room she found herself in was circular with windows winding the whole way around, causing Sally to wonder how the ceiling didn't fall in. The walls were a metallic silver and the floor black tile. In the center of the room was a black rock on the floor. Sally walked forward, bent over, and picked the rock off the floor. A deep crack ran through the center and if the light hit it right, there were red spots that glowed.
This stone felt... odd in her hand. Not necessarily magic, more like it was... dead instead of an inanimate object. It was as if she could feel something through it causing a shiver to go down her spine.
She stepped forward to walk to the window, but stumbled and the stone flew out of her hand, hitting the floor with a loud crack, leaving her to watch the relic unravel in shattered pieces with a suprised yelp.
Then came a concerned voice from downstairs. "Sally? You okay? I just heard glass break,"
"I'll be down in a moment," she called back. She picked up a shard and stuffed it into her vest pocket before descending down the staircase.
Knuckles was flipping through one of his books idly at his table when his door swung open.
"Sally? Silver?" he said gruffly. "What are you doing here?"
Neither answered as Sally pulled out a black shard from her pocket and held it out. "I found a weird stone in Eggmanland. I, uh..." she chuckled sheepishly. "I kinda dropped it, though. Here's one of the shards,"
Knuckles hummed thoughtfully as he took the shard from Sally's hand. "I'll take a look later. For now, take a break. You've been training nonstop,"
"But-"
Silver cut her off. "Sal, listen to him! I'm tired too!"
She winced at the nickname. "Don't call me that," She only let one person call her Sal and he was two hundred years in the past...
Sally was sleeping peacefully when she was rudely awakened by a red glow coming from outside. Grumbling to herself, she set her grogginess aside, crlimbed out of the warm embrace of her cot, and looked out the window. A red light from Knuckles's hut was filling the village, causing villagers to walk outside and look around with tired but confused expressions.
Sally pushed aside her own door and, still in her nightgown, marched across the dirt road and knocked on Knuckles's door. "HEY! You're disturbing the billage with that light!"
No response other than a threatening growl.
Dread creeped into her stomach. "Uh... Knuckles...?"
"GET OUT!" the voice on the other side of the door roared. "I'M BUSY!"
It was only then that Silver fell into step next to her, looking conflicted. "Sally, something is wrong. There's this weird aura coming from inside,"
"What do we do?"
Silver only shrugged.
Sally intook a deep breath and gathered her courage. "Stand back! I'm kicking open the door!"
She stepped back a few yards, and ran into the door as fast as she could. Impact pains radiated though her right shoulder as she pushed the door open.
Knuckles was clutching the shard in his hand, but it was glowing a blinding red. His eyes were wide and angry, his shoulders shook.
"What's going on?" Silver asked from outside.
"The Master Emerald... rejected her... after I worked so hard to train her and now she's gone!" the echinda ranted with a venomous scowl. The shard glowed brighter. "Get out of my house!"
"Knuckles, you're scaring me," Sally stammered. She took a cautious step back. "Just... calm down, okay?"
"How come YOU could defy death?! I mean, you're two hundred years in the future and still fifteen! Lara Su's long dead!"
The shard glowed so bright, Sally could barely see. Squinting, she tried to look Knuckles in the eye on to see that those usually calm violot orbs were flashing from purple to red every few seconds. "The shard... it's changing you! Just... put it down!"
Knuckles took a tentative glance toward his hand before continuing. "And Silver, if you hadn't linked the timelines, you'd be able to go back in time and convince Lara Su not to run away!"
"I didn't know about your daughter, but you can't pin this on me!" Silver yelled back. "I had nothing to do with it in the first place!"
Sally stepped between Silver and Knuckles. "Enough! Arguing will get us nowhere," She added more softly and her eyes bored into his. "Put. The Shard. Down,"
Something registered in Knuckles's gaze. Slowly, he placed the shard on the table and backed away to the doorway. His red eyes morphed back to to purple and he held his head between his hands. "Oh, my head..."
Sally patted her friend's shoulder affectionately. "You okay?"
"What just happened?"
"You went all demetia crazy cause of that shard," Silver stated bluntly.
"Silver!" Sally snapped.
Knuckles shook his head, as if to fight off memories. "That shard... after a while with it, I felt different, like my emotions were on steroids and I started thinking and doing stuff I wouldn't normally,"
"Maybe it's radioactive?" Silver suggested.
Sally picked the shard up, reared back her arm, and threw it out the window with a grunt. "Off with this thing!"
Silver grabbed Knuckles's arm and led him gently to the couch. Knuckles muttered his quick thank you and plopped down carelessly. "So about the shard," the old echinda started hoarsely. "I had my suspicions but this episode confirms it. That shard... was from the Phantom Ruby,"
"That's what the stone I dropped was?!" Sally gaped in disbelief.
Knuckles nodded solemnly. "That must be why Sonic did everything he did after your disappearance. The reason the ruby didn't affect you and Silver was because neither of you were emotionally vulnerable,"
"So... it feeds off negative emotions?"
"Of a high calibre, like grief,"
Silver's golden eyes widened and his posture became rigid. "So... Sonic was..."
"Being influenced by the Phantom Ruby," Sally finished. She smiled like one would after finishing a puzzle. "All we have to do with break it and he'll be back to normal,"
A/ N: Question is... will Sally be able to do that? Welp, my battery is about to give out so that's all for now.