Quick AN: Um. Hi. Yeah its been a lil bit cuz I'm a terrible creator that can hardly keep a schedule, BUT we are back baby! Enjoy the chapter! And if anyone hasn't told you already today/tonight: I love you!
End of Enemies
"I think you're forgetting something numb-skull. You blow up this castle, you'll die too," Wave said aiming her weapon directly at Bean.
"Au contraire! Your pet Jet isn't the only one who's cursed! I've been cursed with total invincibility!"
Suspicious of such a powerful ability, the players in this game of chess questioned what the downside of such a curse included. It was nothing visual to be sure. As expected, the duck wouldn't reveal his weakness so easily.
Bean walked forward and picked up a fallen chair that went flying in the chaos. He sat in it and continued speaking about his initial plan.
"I wasn't even planning on giving you a chance to save everyone king-y. I was just gonna blow the place to smithereens, but I thought 'What the hay!' I may as well try to extort you while you're alive!"
"And how exactly do I know you aren't bluffing?" Sonic challenged.
Bean grabbed the receiver at his hip and whispered into it. A few seconds later an enormous bang shook the entire palace. Bean grinned at the fear that painted the faces before him.
"Do you understand the position you're in now? Even if you take my receiver from me, I've ordered all my squads to detonate the palace in ten minutes. So, whaddya say?"
"I say you're crazy!" Sonic said before Bean order another bomb to go off. This time the palace shook more violently and the marble beneath them began to crack.
"By the way, is it chilly in here to any of you, I didn't see any A/C units on the way in…" Bean commented.
From behind, Jet had managed to sneak into the dining room and snatched the receiver from Bean's hand. Jet smashed it onto the floor before Bean could retaliate. Jet was accompanied by Predator Hawk who was initially confused by Jet's actions. They'd lost Block and Kil somewhere in the crowds below.
"What the—Jet?! You're fighting for the wrong side, buddy!" Bean said, "Besides you two shouldn't even be in here! You know this place is rigged to blow!"
"No! Bean forget the plan. We have to escape! The city is being devoured!"
"Devoured?" Sonic said not understanding the context of the word. He sped over to one of the windows overlooking the city and did not see a city on fire, or one being ravaged by angry beasts.
He saw black. His city had disappeared beneath miles and miles of black.
"M-my city…What is the meaning of this?!"
"Your highness, we can explain, but we should get somewhere safe first," Tails insisted.
"Oh, no you don't! We haven't come to an agreement yet!" Bean shouted.
"We can either live helping one another escape, or we can die as enemies, Bean! The city you're fighting over is gone!"
Bean grit his teeth then stomped a foot on the ground. He gripped his face and clenched until his hands were filled with his feathers. He burst into hysteric laughter as he began to tear away the feathers; they fell silently to the ground. All at once his laughter stopped and something in the duck snapped.
"Argh! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Months of work gone in the blink of an eye! Just like that!"
Bean tore off the clothes used to cover his body from the harsh sun and revealed an array of bombs and dynamite strapped to his body.
"Fine! If my effort's just gonna go to waste like this…"
He then began to light them one by one.
"…then I'd rather we die as enemies!"
Bean, unaware of Jet's true intentions, was surprised when he ran to Tails' side, though he shouldn't have been considering that he was strapped with live explosives. Predator Hawk followed Jet's lead.
"Enough Bean!" Jet yelled, absorbing the force in his words and channeling it into his fingertip.
The duck laughed hysterically when Jet pointed an index finger at him.
"Aahaha! What is a finger gun supposed to…do…?" Bean said finally spotting the bright light at the end of Jet's finger.
The hawk looked away and couldn't bear to watch as he fired his sound bomb at Bean. The force sent Jet sliding backward. And the shot hit its mark, burying itself in Bean's chest and propelling the duck far through the stone wall of the palace and over the sea of black. Finally, the sound bomb detonated shattering the glass of all the windows and rocketing Bean even farther out. His fate was sealed.
The most painful part for Jet was hearing the painful scream of the duck as he was shot:
"I trusted youuuu…!"
Jet knew this would hurt him later, but he would not let this stop him from doing what he had planned to do since the others got captured.
"Let's get the hell out of here!" Jet ordered.
The unconscious were quickly resuscitated then friends and foe alike filed down the crumbling staircase where Sally and Cosmo went with the guards. It led to a private garage of airboats. The group rendezvoused with Queen Sally, the prince and princess, Cosmo, and Cream.
They wasted no time in firing up the king's personal airboat, the Blue Wind, which was already filled to brim with supplies. They left the rich city which was now quiet and shrouded in a shimmering veil of black. They even left early enough to watch the last bit of the palace crumble. The city had been devoured.
Sonic stood looking off the back of the Blue Wind. There were no other vehicles in their wake, no other survivors of this catastrophe.
"Hey! Hey! Take it easy!" Wave yelled as they threw her next to Storm and Shadow who they had also subdued.
They were all tied from their ankles to their knees and from their wrists to their elbows. Even Storm's strength wouldn't allow them to escape. They also taped all of their mouths shut so Wave couldn't make any more threats.
Their captors Antoine and Blaze dusted their hands and returned to the king's cabin on the main deck just below the helm. There, Sonic and Tails were planning out the next steps to be taken. Also present in the discussion was Sally, Cosmo, Jet, Predator Hawk, Blaze, and Antoine.
"So, what would be our next move? Is running just delaying the inevitable or is there some way to stop this thing?" Sonic asked gripping his wife's hand for comfort as he sat cross-legged behind his desk.
"I'm not sure about stopping it, but we know a place where the Creeping-Chaos cannot go," Tails assured from his seat on other side of the king's desk.
Sonic raised an eyebrow, "And where would that be?"
"The Sanctuary of Chaos in the center of the desert."
"The center of the desert? Tails, I've been living in the desert all my life and as far as I know, there is nothing at the center of the desert."
"I've lived here for most of my life also and I'm telling you I'm 100% certain that it will be there. I've been there before. I-if it isn't there then…then you can execute me for misguiding you," Tails countered.
Cosmo who was sitting beside Tails looked troubled at his words. He had never told her that he had been to the Sanctuary before. Was Tails lying? He sounded just as uncertain as when he first spoke to Shadow about the Sanctuary.
Sonic sighed, "Tails, we don't want your head. We just want to be sure that wherever we go, our children are safe. We've already lost our entire city and many people that we've come to call friends—" Sonic paused briefly when Sally squeezed his hand signaling him to calm down, "I just need to know this place is real and that it does what you say it does."
"Sonic, I don't have anything that could prove its existence other than my word. The Creeping-Chaos was unbelievable to you at first, wasn't it? Now you know it's all too real. This Sanctuary is the same."
"Fox! You overstep!" Antoine erupted from behind Sonic.
"No. Antoine, it's fine. He's completely right."
Tails continued, "And even if the Sanctuary isn't there we can always continue to head west, away from the Creeping Chaos for as long as possible."
Cosmo's eye twitched. What Tails said just now made no sense to her. If he had supposedly been there in the past, why would he negotiate as if there was some chance of the Sanctuary being gone? Luckily, the king didn't seem to catch that inconsistency. Cosmo was unsure if Tails was lying or simply saying what the king wanted to hear, but for his sake she would not bring it up now.
Sonic took another deep breath. He looked at Sally and Sally looked at him. They shared a worried smile before Sonic's eyes shifted back to Tails.
"Alright, Tails. I trust you to take us to the Sanctuary. We're counting on you to lead us."
Tails smiled brightly before standing to shake Sonic's hand. The king held up a hand as if to tell Tails that the discussion wasn't over. Tails sat back down looking nervous.
"We need to discuss some allegiances here. You insisted we lock Wave and her subordinates up, which we did, but as far as my family's safety is concerned, these Rogues should be in there with them."
"But Jet saved us from Bean who was ready to kill us all! He should be free."
"Regardless of his later actions, he was initially plotting with Bean to kill me and my family. Was he not? Not to mention that the blue hawk was in on their operation as well."
Jet stepped forward to defend his actions.
"Your highness—" he began.
"Not another step," Antoine said drawing his saber and pointing it at Jet.
Sonic did not tell Antoine to stand down this time.
Jet threw his hands up to show he meant no harm.
"Your highness," he began again, "My primary interest was not harming your family, it was saving my friends."
"How would blowing up my palace save your friends?"
"I was planning on stopping Bean before he got to Wave—before he even planted any bombs, but I got mixed up in the crowds below. The protest turned into a riot and Predator Hawk and I got sucked in. He helped me fight our way in to stop Bean before he could do any damage, but we were too late."
"So, you were feigning loyalty to Wave and Bean in order to save your friends?"
"Yes, Your Highness…"
"Then why did you capture and imprison Antoine?"
"T-to keep up appearances, I was setting up a plan to get the others out of Rogue HQ, but when Wave left to see you early it ruined everything."
"How can we be sure this is true?" Sonic questioned. Everything Jet said seemed incredibly farfetched.
"I was that one who let Cosmo out of her cage," Jet said desperately.
"Can you vouch for him, Cosmo?" Sally questioned.
"I…I can't. I never saw him in the room. I woke up to a set of keys inside of my cage that I used to escape," she admitted, her intentions pure as fresh sand.
"I can," Predator Hawk said finally speaking up, "Wave took me prisoner too for botching the mission to capture the fox and the other hedgehog. When Bean's group came after Wave had departed for Sandopolis, I saw that Jet was the last to leave. He was headed from an area that only leads to two places. Wave's office and Wave's room. In my experiences with her. This is where she kept people of interest because those were the two most well-guarded places in HQ."
"Antoine said that he had been locked up with you, right, hawk? Can he back up your claim?" Sonic asked.
"No," Antoine said, "I remember no such thing."
"Yeah, because you were too busy drawing on the damn ground. If you actually took a look at your surr—"
"Enough!" Blaze yelled from the edge of the desk where she sat, "Don't any of you realize how pointless all of this is? There is hungry black sand that is drifting in our direction looking to gobble us all up. It already destroyed an entire city! The only way we'll survive this is if we work together. There are no more enemies amongst us. The Creeping chaos is the enemy now."
The room fell silent as they all considered Blaze's thoughts. It was true that everything they were fighting for had been swallowed up in black. It was now their choice to focus on old feuds or to unite to fight a common enemy.
"Then that means everyone goes free? Including Shadow, Wave, and Storm?" Jet questioned.
"Yes," Blaze said simply hopping off the desk and walking towards the door.
"But she's still threatening Shadow…"
"Then give her an ultimatum. Either she stops with the blackmail and works with the group or we relinquish her to the sands. It's her choice," Blaze said simply before closing the door behind her.
Tails and Sonic stood and shook hands.
"Sorry for my lack of trust, Tails. I will believe in you if you believe in me."
"Of course, your highness."
With the group's objectives clarified they carried out Blaze's idea. Wave, Storm, and Shadow were released.
As Blaze untied Storm's bindings, she relayed a warning, "Don't make me have to put you down again."
The albatross said nothing to her. He simply smirked, fully understanding her meaning.
Nightfall came and tension in the sand-ship had died down. Before the day was over, Shadow had apologized to everyone for his actions, and Wave and Storm had agreed to Blaze's terms.
The ship was large enough for everyone to have their own room including many of Sonic's guards that managed to escape the city as well. Cosmo, at last, retired to her room with Cream. Earlier she said her goodnights to Tails and the others and placed Cream in her bed a few feet from her own. By her tiny snores, she could tell she was already fast asleep.
She plopped down on her mattress. It was soft and inviting. The fabric beckoned her to sleep, but a knock at the door would prevent her from doing so. Cosmo considered ignoring the nighttime visitor until she heard a voice call her name. It was Tails.
Cosmo jumped up and hurried to her door. She opened it and looked at her friend who had a relieved look on his face. He said nothing and only grabbed her hand. Only now did Cosmo notice how tiny her hands were compared to his. His strong hands undoubtedly came from his mechanic work. Their size mirrored his bravery.
She wove her fingers between his right hand then his left. She looked into his bruised blue eye and he into both of hers. Cosmo was expecting him to lean forward, but instead, something seemed to break inside of Tails.
He closed his eyes and tears began quietly streaming. He hung his head. His hands were shaking, and he whimpered softly, so he didn't wake the little one.
Cosmo couldn't bear to see Tails so broken. Did he feel guilty for them getting captured? Was he sick of the death and destruction?
That was likely part of it, but far from the main reason.
Cosmo's mind hovered to what Tails had told the king earlier; where she questioned if he was being truthful with Sonic and all the people he told about the Sanctuary. Whatever he was hiding was the cause of this pain.
Cosmo released his hands and wrapped her arms around him. He did the same then whispered to her as he rested his chin on her shoulder.
"I'll fix this…I promise."
Until the Next Page…