Alexa was both surprised and puzzled at the lack of guards around the ancient temple. From personal experience, a lack of guards typically meant one of two things; they were either walking into a trap or Venice had been successful and all of the Dark Legion were killed. While neither scenario was preferable, Alexa hoped that it was at least the former. But the absence of any resistance from Venice's forces made Alexa very tense. She didn't want Rouge to get hurt in something that had very little to do with her. It was her responsibility to deal with Venice and stop Mephiles. Not Rouge's. Not Sonic's. Not anyone else but Nathan and herself.
Alexa shivered as they approached the nearby 'throne room', she could sense the insatiable, lustful Dark Energy pouring out of the room like a tsunami engulfing the coast. Something felt really...off about this. Alexa couldn't put her finger on it as she tried to get closer to the room, only for her body to weigh her down.

"Ugh..." Alexa groaned as her body began to drop to the withered sandstone floor.

It felt like her bones weighed the same as a huge boulder. The crushing, suffocating sensation spread like wildfire throughout her as body slowly shut down. A wave of nausea came crashing into her as she sat up against the wall, unable to move her heavy limbs.

"Alexa!" Called Rouge as she ran towards the weakened princess.

Alexa slowly moved her head around to see the ivory bat make her way over to her. Alexa hated it when others see her like this. She was supposed to be helping them, not the other way around.

"What's wrong?" Alexa looked at the agent's worried face.

"There's so much...Dark Energy..." Alexa said, struggling to get her words out, "I...can't take it. My body is...shutting...down into...a...comatose state."

Her lips felt numb, frozen beyond saving. Rouge tried to help Alexa up, but the sheer weight was too much for the bat. It felt like she was carrying a corpse.

"Supernova...I need...Supernova..." Alexa trailed off, unable to say anymore.

..

Venice pulled the dark hedgehog out of the basin. The old Solaris statue stood in grandly before them, it's towering and demonic aura made Venice somewhat uneasy. He couldn't explain it, how could he be scared of his own master? It didn't make any logical sense to him. While Venice questioned these...unnatural emotions, Sonic had woken up and walked towards the throne room. Venice followed the darker hedgehog into the room, curiosity getting the better of him. Sonic had picked up the stone that Venice had found five months ago and placed it in a slot in the wall. The stone tablet had fitted the slot perfectly. Using the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic chanted something that Venice couldn't make out, and a dark purple portal appeared out of nowhere.

"Pull the lever," came Sonic's monotone voice.

Venice pulled the lever on the far side of the room which had hidden the portal from view. Venice didn't understand why Sonic had asked this of him.

"Why?"

"Because the Guardian is near and she must be dealt with."

...

Venice had ordered Scourge and Fiona to guard the emeralds in a different part of the temple, mainly to avoid the Supernova Emerald's Purification Aura, which could lure Sonic in and bring his 'mortal' self back faster than a bullet. Venice wasn't taking any chances. He wanted to succeed and as such, he wanted those emeralds as far away from Sonic as possible.

"Y'know what? Fuck this!" Said Scourge angrily, "I'm leaving! This is boring!""We can't do that!" Screeched Fiona, "Venice will kill us!""Yeah right!"
"I'm serious!"
As Scourge and Fiona began to argue, the airtight container toppled over off the table and both the Supernova and Darknova Emeralds landed gracefully onto the floor. The sentient emeralds quietly rolled across the sandstone floor, seeking their Guardians. While the Darknova Emerald headed for the exit, the Supernova Emerald hurried over to its Guardian, knowing for sure that she was in danger.
The bright blue gem toppled its way down the stairs, making its way to Alexa, all the while avoiding the legionnaires. One legionnaire had spotted the emerald and tried to pick the emerald up, only for Supernova to set the poor soul's hands alight. Eventually, Supernova finally reached Alexa, who was slowly losing consciousness.

"How..?" Questioned Rouge as she turned to see the Supernova Emerald hop onto Alexa's lap.
The emerald began to glow, getting brighter until Alexa's eyes fluttered open and she jolted awake shouting something.
"Xander!"
"Who's Xander?" Asked Rouge, clearly confused by Alexa's outburst.

"I...I'm not sure," replied Alexa, who was just as confused as Rouge, "I saw something...like some sort of flashback. A memory...someone else's memory. I was fighting alongside a bunch of knights and I was wearing armour similar to the Fire and Ice Knights but, the armour was golden and I had this white cape...and there was so many of them...these dark creatures that I have never seen before...and I just turned around and saw this knight get struck down by some strange women...then I woke up."
"It sounded like you knew the person," replied Rouge, "whoever this Xander is, you two must have been close for you to shout like that."
"But I don't know this knight," explained Alexa, "I've never met him before."
Alexa tried to stand up, but nearly toppled over onto the floor again. Rouge helped the Guardian stand up as she held onto the Supernova Emerald.
"I didn't know Supernova could move on its own," Rouge said.
"It can," answered Alexa, "when it needs to. It can also talk but it seems only I can hear it's voice."
"It does sound like how Knuckles guards the Master Emerald," pointed out Rouge, "he claims it speaks to him."
"I don't doubt that," replied Alexa.
Once Alexa was able to stand on her own two feet, the princess turned the emerald back into its necklace form before walking towards the throne room.
"The emerald should help me withstand the large amount of Dark Energy," Alexa said, "be careful."
"I should be saying that to you." Replied Rouge.
Alexa and Rouge kicked the door down, being far from discreet. Venice was sitting on his throne, smirking at the pair as both entered the room and got into their fighting stances.
"It's over, Venice!" Shouted Alexa.
"Oh, I'm sure it is," smirked Venice, "as much as I've enjoyed our encounters, Princess, I truly believe it is time for us to finish this foolish game."
"Why are you doing this?" Asked Rouge, "you don't do this, Silver!"
"DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!" Roared Venice angrily, "you mortals are all corrupt. Corrupted by Envy, Gluttony, Pride, Lust, Anger, and Greed. All of you are blinded by his light and fail to see how corrupted you all are. My Master will wipe this planet clean, and start over without sinful mortals."
"You can't do that," replied Alexa, "people make mistakes. Many learn from them, you can't just destroy the planet because some people make mistakes!"
"Oh I can't," said Venice, "but he can!"
The next thing Alexa knew, a dark ball had smashed her into the wall on the left. Alexa usually was able to react faster than this, but she had clearly had given Venice more attention then he deserved. Once she had dropped to the floor, she looked up to see a very angry, very dark blue hedgehog with razor sharp claws and teeth.
"That should keep you busy, Guardian!" Shouted Venice.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Said Alexa.
Sonic lunged at Alexa, who swiftly jumped out of the way before grabbing the corrupted hero and throwing him into the wall opposite her. Sonic gritted his teeth before moving faster than light speed, which had caught Alexa off-guard for only a second before she avoided his attacks. Alexa quickly froze the ground beneath Sonic and lifted her hand up which caused the frozen area underneath Sonic to rise up quickly as it crushed him. Sonic, however broke the ice and began to clone himself until there was about ten Sonics in the room. Alexa transformed into the Fire Knight and drew her blade, poised and ready.
The different Sonics came at different angles at different times. Alexa was quick to cut many of the clones down. One of the Sonics tried to attack Alexa from behind only to break its bones against the unbreakable armour. Alexa quickly dispatched the clone by cutting its head clean off. The real Sonic was the only one left standing after Alexa was finished tearing the clones to pieces. Sonic dashed towards Alexa, who knocked him back with her shield. Alexa switched to the Ice Knight and decided to use her lance's extra range to benefit her. She swung the lance at Sonic, with only the tip of the lance grazing him. The moment the tip of the lance made contact with Sonic's fur, it immediately froze his fur and continued to spread, freezing Sonic in place.
"Sonic, I know this sounds really cliche but," Alexa said, taking off her helmet, "I know you are in there Sonic. I know that you are stronger than this, alright?"
Those words fell on deaf ears.
Sonic broke out of the ice and, while Alexa's guard was down, grabbed her by the throat.
"Agh!" Struggled Alexa as she gasped for air.
Sonic's soulless white eyes stared at the pleading maroon eyes of the girl in front of him. He tightened his grip, and held his prey steady as she struggled to breathe. Alexa could see the environment around her going black before the hand that was firmly around her neck was removed.
Alexa dropped to the floor, gasping for air and coughing violently. She looked up to find Fiona standing in between them.
"Fiona?!" Alexa said, surprised.
Fiona ran towards Sonic and rammed him into the wall.

"Use your divine blade!"
Alexa pulled Mistletome out of its scabbard and impaled Sonic in the chest with the divine blade. A golden light began to spread across his body but not before he clawed at Alexa's face leaving a claw mark that began underneath her left eye and went down her face until it reached the bottom of her head. Alexa pulled the sword out as Sonic collapsed, not wounded, but exhausted.
"He's not dead, is he?" Asked Fiona hesitantly.
"No, he's not," answered Alexa, "there is no blood on the blade. If I killed him, the blade would've been coated in blood."
"I knew this was a bad idea," said Fiona, shaking her head.

"Explain."
"Venice hired us to do some digging into Sonic's past," explained Fiona nervously, "to be honest, I didn't expect to see Venice, since you seemed to have things covered five months ago."
"Yeah, well even the best of fighters fuck up from time to time," replied Alexa, "Sonic was the main priority, as he was the one we were gonna lose that night."
"I see."
"You might wanna bail before Venice-"
"Too late!"
Out of nowhere, Venice stabbed the young vixen in the chest. As Fiona's lifeless body dropped to the floor, Alexa attempted to attack Venice, only for him to hold Rouge in front of him.
"Not so fast, Princess," Venice taunted, "give yourself up now, and I'll spare the bat. If you don't, she's as good as dead. Your choice."
Alexa remained silent. She smirked at Venice as a now conscious Sonic kicked Venice from behind. Venice had pushed Rouge and the ivory bat accidentally landed on a lever, a portal behind Sonic, Alexa and Venice, which pulled all three of them into its dark interior.