Isaac was in an uncomfortable silence. King Nigel, his own personal guard, and Nigel's advisor, were all present. They were in the war room, where no one else would be able to walk in on them.
"Now, Isaac. I am not one for shouting and violence. But what I am for is knowing exactly what is going on with you and my daughter! What were you doing in her chambers?" He asked.
Isaac, while still embarrassed by the whole ordeal, was willing to explain his side of things.
"I only woke up in her chambers. I do not know how I got there." Isaac said.
"Hmm, I don't know if I should believe you. I have known you for being truthful. But anyone would lie when caught in such a situation." Nigel said.
"My King, I have no reason to believe young Isaac. Think about it. A strong, silent ranger. Always by her side. For all we know, this could've been planned before our offer to employ him." Gregory suggested.
King Nigel responded by smacking the back of his head.
"Do not attempt to undermine young Isaac's character! I believe I can tell the difference between a planned sojourn and a spontaneous happening! Another attempt and you will be demoted to advising the quartermaster!" King Nigel threatened.
"Yes, your Highness!" He said, horrified at such a concept.
"Now, Ranger Abaddon. An explanation is all we required. So, you will be dismissed until we have reached an understanding. But do not worry, this is not a matter of criminal punishment. We will have an answer shortly." King Nigel's guard explained, pointing to an exit.
Isaac walked out, feeling his face still red with embarrassment. But the first face to greet him was Sally's.
"I guess you want an explanation." Sally observed.
"It… would be nice." Isaac responded.
"Sonic and the others carried you inside. They told me you were screaming and passed out! I wanted to keep an eye on you, just in case! So, I helped them put you into bed so you would stay warm. I tried to stay awake, but I guess I fell asleep." Sally explained.
Isaac nodded, understanding her concerns.
"Thank you. But let us just hope that they do not punish me too harshly." Isaac said.
Sally wagged her finger, smiling.
"Leave that to me!" She said, walking into the war room and closing the door.
Isaac couldn't hear outside of the door, only muffled voices. After a few minutes, the door opened. King Nigel wheeled himself out, chuckling.
"Sally, thank you for explaining everything! And Isaac, I wish to apologize for my haste! But understand, it was in the interest of my daughter's welfare." King Nigel said, apologizing.
"Understood, sir." Isaac said.
"But sir, if you will listen to me, you may think otherwise!" Gregory said, attempting to convince King Nigel.
"Gregory! We have the explanation we needed! Now, another word out of you about Ranger Abaddon, and I will not hesitate to send you to the Quartermaster!" Nigel threatened.
"But…!" He began to say, before King Nigel's guard unsheathed his sword.
"Go on! Give me a reason!" He threatened.
Gregory shut his mouth faster than he had opened it. As the others had walked, Sally stayed behind.
"You may be in charge of protecting me, but that doesn't mean I won't do the same thing for you." Sally said.
"Thank you, Sally. I felt like I was burning up!" Isaac responded.
As Isaac and Sally walked from the war room, Isaac's forehead was dripping with sweat. Isaac wiped his forehead with his sleeve. Isaac didn't feel sick, but he knew that something wasn't right.
"Sally, where is the exit?" Isaac asked, feeling as if he was melting.
"On our right. Why?" Sally asked.
Instead of answering her, Isaac charged for the door, pushing through and out into the cold night. The cold air was a relief to Isaac, cooling himself down. As he breathed the chilled air, Isaac noticed that his skin was steaming. He had never seen that before!
"This… is not right." Isaac observed, taking off his gloves.
He looked at his hands, the skin a ghostly pale. His hands felt as if they were on fire! Isaac plunged his hands into a pile of snow, steam emanating from it! Isaac breathed a sigh of relief, believing that the problem was resolved. Instead, the snow pile continued to melt, slowly turning into a puddle of water. His hands were still dry. Isaac waved his hands around, still feeling as if they were on fire!
"Isaac, what's wrong?!" Sally asked, seeing Isaac panic.
"My hands! They are as if they are on fire!" Isaac replied, still attempting to stop the burning.
Suddenly, Isaac's hands combusted, his hands ablaze. Isaac clenched his eyes, bracing for the pain associated with burning. Instead, his hands felt cool, the burning sensation had ceased. Slowly, Isaac opened his eyes, seeing that his hands were holding fire, but were not burned.
"That is interesting." Isaac observed, shocked by this occurrence.
Slowly, the flames died out, leaving Isaac cold in the night.
"I am not burning up anymore! That must have been what was causing it!" Isaac said, still staring at his hands.
"Can you do it again?" Sally asked.
Isaac breathed, closing his eyes. He could feel his hands burn again, but it was only momentary. His hands quickly burst into flames once again, radiating heat. Isaac opened his eyes, seeing that he had control over this new ability. Isaac looked at the melted pile of snow. He extended his right hand to it, his palm facing it. Suddenly, a ball of fire exited his palm, hitting the pile of snow! It was quickly melted, much of the water evaporated from the heat!
"Isaac! You have pyrokinetic abilities!" Sally exclaimed, surprised by this.
"Pyrokinetic? You mean 'fire'?" Isaac asked.
"Yeah! One of my friends, Blaze, she has pyrokinetic abilities! But… you never had them before, have you?" Sally asked.
Isaac shook his head.
"No. But the burning… I felt it when I touched the Chaos Emerald. After my vision, I woke up. I felt my body heat up almost as soon as I woke up." Isaac explained.
"Wait, what vision? What did you see?" Sally asked.
Isaac felt his throat run dry. While he didn't know exactly why he had such a vision, he didn't want to linger on it.
"I would rather not say. It is only a painful reminder of what I have lost." Isaac said, crossing his arms.
Sally nodded, walking closer to Isaac. Without warning, Sally hugged Isaac, bring him closer to her. Isaac, while reluctant, returned the embrace.
"Ah-ha! I knew it!" A voice shouted out.
Isaac and Sally looked around, not knowing where the voice came from. Gregory, the royal advisor, jumped from his cover, covered in a dusting of snow.
"I knew there was something between the two of you! Wait until your father hears this! Oh, I'm going to be due for a promotion! Ahahaha!" Gregory exclaimed, laughing, and running for the door to the castle.
"No! Stop!" Isaac ordered, his hand reaching towards Gregory.
In a flash of light, a barrier of fire separated Gregory from the door. The heat of the fire peeled the paint off of the door! Gregory stumbled back, the heat giving him a welder's flash. Gregory backed up, covering his eyes from the heat. He stepped onto a patch of ice, losing his footing. In his haste to stop himself, he fell backwards, hitting the back of his head against the ground of the courtyard. Isaac ran over to him, crouching down. Isaac felt for a pulse on his neck, greatly relieved to find one.
"He is alive. He is unconcious, but alive." Isaac said, getting up.
"As much as I don't want to risk him convincing my father of getting rid of you, we can't leave him out here." Sally said.
"Way ahead of you." Isaac said, walking to Gregory's feet.
After putting bending Gregory's knees and putting his feet flat on the ground, Isaac stepped on his feet. He grabbed both of his arms and pulled, swiftly hoisting the advisor onto his shoulders.
"We must hurry! He only knocked himself unconcious. I estimate he will wake up in about ten minutes." Isaac said, walking to the door.
Isaac and Sally walked through the door, looking for somewhere to drop him. As they walked, Isaac noticed an open door. Looking in, he saw a counter with large cask of wine behind it. Thinking quickly, Isaac put Gregory onto one of the stools and gently eased his head onto the counter, as if he fell asleep. Isaac ran behind the counter and grabbed a tankard from under the counter and filled it with wine from the cask. He put the tankard under Gregory's lips and tilted it slightly, allowing wine to splash on his lips. Then, he put the handle of the tankard in Gregory's right hand. As soon as the scene was set, Isaac and Sally tiptoed out of the room, closing the door behind themselves.
"Our friend, Fortunato, slumbers after tasting the Cask of Amontillado." Isaac whispered, walking from the door.
"European history, literature, what else are you hiding?" Sally asked, following Isaac.
"And ruin the illusion? Maybe later." Isaac responded, going up the staircase to the throne room.
"But right now, we need to figure out what is happening to me." Isaac said.
Three hours had passed after discovering Isaac's new potential. As the sun had begun to rise, Sally and Isaac had been figuring out the limits of Isaac's new power. While conjuring fire was a given, Isaac needed to know how to implement these abilities in his work as a guard.
"Alright, one more time, just to be sure." Sally said, dousing the wood in the fireplace with water.
Isaac calmly breathed, stretching out his back. He conjured a flame in his palm. Like a baseball, he threw it at the fireplace, the fireball hitting and igniting the fireplace. Isaac focused again and mentally extinguished the fire in the fireplace.
"Awesome! Now, we need to double our efforts in keeping an eye for those Crusader guys! If they didn't think you were a demon before, they definitely will now!" Sally said.
"You know, that had not crossed my mind before… and I am now regretting everything that have brought me to this point in my life." Isaac stated.
"Even meeting me?" Sally jokingly asked.
"Do not ask questions you do not want the answer to." Isaac chuckled.
Suddenly, a tapping sound came from the balcony window. Sally walked over, moving the curtains.
"Hey, Tails! Good morning!" Sally greeted.
"Hey, Sally! Is Isaac here?" Tails asked.
Sally quickly blushed, not expecting Tails to ask.
"What?! Oh no, Isaac isn't here! I'm guessing he's probably still asleep." Sally lied.
"How are you this morning, my friend?" Isaac asked, poking his head above Sally's shoulders.
"I'd thought you'd be here. Sonic and the others are in the courtyard. We wanted to make sure you were alright!" Tails said.
Isaac smiled and nodded.
"Thank you for your concern. I am alright. Sally and I will be in the courtyard in a few minutes." Isaac said.
Tails nodded and flew back down towards the courtyard.
"Why did you say I was not here? You obviously lied to him." Isaac asked.
"I… I don't know! I think all that happened with Gregory made me paranoid! It's just… listen, can I trust you with a secret?" Sally asked.
Isaac nodded.
"The thing is, Sonic and I… we used to date." Sally said.
"I did not know this. Is it really that much of a secret, though?" Isaac asked.
"Well, no. That wasn't the secret. After a year of dating, we… tried to be more intimate." Sally said.
"Intimate as in?" Isaac asked, not fully understanding.
"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" Sally asked.
"I believe you will need to tell me so I can understand. I am not the best when it comes to social cues." Isaac said.
"We had sex, alright?! I told him to sneak into my room, he did, and we had sex! Happy?!" Sally exclaimed, showing frustration.
Isaac didn't know how to properly react to this. Isaac knew what sex was, but his understanding of the possible social stigma in the Kingdom was foreign to him.
"Does… King Nigel know this had happened?" Isaac asked.
"No! And he can't know! If he did, I wouldn't even know what he would do to Sonic! No one can know! Got it?!" Sally explained.
"I promise you; I will not reveal your secret. But I must ask, why are you not with Sonic anymore?" Isaac asked.
Sally rubbed the back of her head.
"Well, that's a bit complicated. You see, after that night, things just got… awkward. It was like we didn't connect anymore. Eventually, we just broke up. It was mutual, but I felt like I ruined the relationship." Sally explained.
"I… really do not have an understanding on relationships, Sally. But my father once told me that once someone lies with someone, they become part of a union under the eyes of Elohim. I believe that everything happened the way it did was because the both of you did not know how to carry a relationship of that.. magnitude, I believe that is the word I am looking for. It is not your fault, or Sonic's. I feel the both of you just were not ready." Isaac explained.
Sally nodded.
"I mean, we were both sixteen. I guess you're right. Maybe I was too young to understand what I was getting into. But that doesn't mean anyone else has to know! My God, Amy would turn me into a pancake if she found out!" Sally exclaimed.
"Why would Amy do that to you? I would not believe she would harm you." Isaac asked.
"Yeah, until you realize she has had a crush on Sonic for years! If she found out that she wouldn't be Sonic's first… she would kill him and then come after me!" Sally exclaimed.
"You are exaggerating. I would believe she would be upset at first but would soon realize that Sonic cannot be blamed for loving someone else when she was not even dating him." Isaac said.
Sally only looked at him with eyes of indifference.
"Sheesh Isaac, I never took you for being naïve. Trusting, yes. But not naïve." Sally responded.
"Call it what you want, but I choose to see the good in others. Not just the bad." Isaac replied.
"Alright but remember: Do not tell anyone else! Okay?" Sally reminded.
"Sally, it is your secret. Not mine. I leave it only to you to reveal your secret. Now, we should not keep Sonic and the others waiting. And to bring you a shred of comfort, I will lie when asked about anything pertaining to you and Sonic's past relationship. I do not like lying, but I will do so to keep your secret." Isaac said, walking out of the chamber doors.