Another iteration. 18,048. Time of morning, 4 AM. Or at least, that's what the colony forced its inhabitants to believe.
Maria sat up in her bed immediately and looked around. She faintly remembered the last few seconds of the dream she'd had before. She sat up in her bed and looked down at her arm, and the number sat waiting, taunting her with its scratchy black text. "I'm still asleep, good," she said.
She pressed her toes into the floor and paused as the same cold from before embraced each digit, but before her body could force her feet back onto the bed, Maria bit her lip and forced her heels to the floor as well. She stood up, and though she could feel her body trying to go through the motions of the past attempts to wake by making her ankle give out, the young girl merely picked up her foot and balanced on the other.
"Easy does it," she told herself. "Time isn't real here, you can take as much as you need."
She carefully went over to the shower in her room and tore her slip away before hiding herself inside. The heat kissed her shoulders, and she focused on trying to remember all of the details she'd learned.
Shadow now knew that she was alive.
She knew that she was alive. It didn't strike her until she had a moment to herself how relieved she should have felt knowing that this wasn't all that there was supposed to be after the bullet. The sting in her left rib pierced her for a moment, but as her fingers played along her ribcage she realized that it wasn't real, either.
None of it was. Not the shower, not the colony, not her grandfather.
Her grandfather. Shadow had said something about the fate of her grandfather. It was seemingly easy to understand, or at least Maria assumed that it would be if she'd had a more articulate speaker explaining it. Even with all her gifts, Shadow's rambling in the midst of his own shock and joy was a language she had yet to master.
Even so, he'd tried to explain it like a computer. The memory could get transferred, but that didn't mean that Computer A was Computer B. While Maria understood that in concept, it seemed the hedgehog himself wasn't sold on the concept in practice.
She wondered what sort of being her grandfather had created. Maybe he looked an awful lot like Shadow. Maybe he didn't. There was no way he had more of the stuff from the Black Arms, not when he was imprisoned. But if he were locked up, how exactly did he even get the materials?
Maria frowned as she parsed through those thoughts. Her grandfather had been imprisoned. He'd loved her so much. She could only venture that when he lost her, he lost everything.
"How he must have suffered those last months," she breathed.
She squirted a bit of her lilac shampoo onto her palm and began running her fingers through her hair. The routine was already out of alignment with the script, but she no longer cared. She only reckoned that if she were going to continue to go through this cycle countless more times, she ought to do what she wanted.
As she looked down to her feet, she spied a stream of black ooze that trailed from her shoulders down to her hip and onto the shower floor as she scrubbed her hair. Her head tilted in curiosity at it- she'd never had that happen to her. There was no reason why that would happen in the first place. But the sound of squelching from out in the halls seemed to bring her mind back into a state of concern.
She quickly toweled off and threw on the most comfortable pair of pajamas she had on her. At first, she wondered if formality was even important, but after reminding herself that nobody here was real, she nodded and reaffirmed that she was going to do what she wanted.
She strapped on her tumble bracelet and wandered out into the halls, trying to focus on where that vile noise was headed. It was like the sound of a growling stomach on loop, and though she'd gotten sick over far less, the sounds made her nauseous as she tried to guess what sort of beast was roaming about.
She walked into the kitchen and began mixing a powdery paste with water from the tap before spreading it on bread. She didn't remember what funny name she'd given it back then, but she could identify what it was roughly supposed to be- sunflower butter. Peanut butter was too risky up here, not only because her grandfather was constantly on edge about what was part of NIDS and what was an allergic reaction, but because others on the Colony had deathly allergies that would spell doom if you opened the wrong thing within a particular radius of the person. Sunflower seeds were easy to preserve as well, so it was another easily importable good.
As she cantered away from the kitchen with her buttered-bread in hand, she felt the familiar chill of the hallucinations kicking in. She shook as the floor in front of her began to leak purple and black, and the ceiling and walls gained the telltale appendages of the thing she was so frightened of. She stepped back a bit and frowned as the edge of her pajama pants began to corrode from a drop in the ceiling, but as she felt the lukewarm wet appendages caressing her ankles, her fear was replaced by a strange and unnerving calm as she continued to watch.
Wherever the tentacles touched her clothes, it would corrode. But wherever they touched her skin, she was left unblemished.
Maria nodded and walked through the ooze barefoot and out the other side, shuddering as the sticky soles of her feet squelched against the floor. She turned and looked at the strange mass and paused, wondering why it wasn't trying to hurt her.
Out of morbid curiosity, she stepped back into the ooze and stood there, kicking away the appendages when she could. At first, the limbs didn't seem to understand that she didn't want to be touched. But as she continued her quiet but frantic dance of nudging them away, their behaviour became passive to the point that their touches no longer took threads with them.
Maria nodded to herself as she stood there. Her pajama pants went from ankle-length to knee length, but otherwise she was still shielded by her matching clothes set. She pursed her lips, trying to understand why the hallucinations had suddenly stopped being so hostile. She stepped back out and turned away, and as she left the beast to itself, the ooze parted from her but left a lingering warmth on her skin.
The girl went down the hall and opened Shadow's door. He was still sleeping on the bed, completely out and snoring with his mouth open.
Maria sat down on the bed and shook his shoulder gently. "Shadow, are you there? Are you still asleep? I…" she paused, trying to make up some excuse for barging into his room, "I had a nightmare and I need to feel better."
Shadow's voice was calm and collected. "You look cold," he said, his eyes cracking open.
"Can I have a sleepover?" Maria asked.
Shadow nodded. "I missed you, too."
"Do you remember what happened in the last dream?" Maria asked.
"Maria, I don't dream that often," he said. "The last one I remember was about getting red crayon drawings all over the kitchen."
Maria shook her head. This wasn't Shadow. Well, it was, but he wasn't real. She crawled under the duvet and hugged him, and yet she still felt cold. He was cold, at least at first. But the warmth came back, and her body instinctively clung to it like a moth to a flame. The unreality of her closest friend was something she knew would only drown the moth in wax, but she still clung anyway.
I have to wake up soon, she thought. I just have to.
She paused as she felt a wave of heat ripple beneath her before her body sank into the warmth of the bed.
Or perhaps she truly was sinking, because as she sat up she found herself slowly going deeper into a pool of thick black ooze that clung to the sheets. She violently shook Shadow awake, hoping to jar him into a state of concern, but as he fully woke, his eyes showed a baseline amount of worry.
"It's going to be okay, Maria," Shadow said. His body was also sinking into the bed as he sat up and looked at her.
Maria frantically grabbed at anything she could use to jar herself from the muck, but as soon as she thought she'd found a good grip with the footboard, she felt Shadow's hand on her shoulder. She turned to see that his fingers were dripping with the same ooze.
"Maria, don't struggle," he said. His voice was pitchy, a far cry from the grumbling mess he normally was upon waking. "If you struggle, he'll hurt you."
"Who… where's Shadow? Who are you?" she asked.
Shadow covered her mouth as his eyes went dark. "Shhh… Father… isn't done with you… he still has something… for you… if you obey…"
Maria panicked as the ooze reached her neck. "Shadow, Doom, whoever you are… please let me go! Let me go!"
The goopy black figure that stood over her shot her a grin. "In time, Maria, in time. But you still have something to offer us."
Maria's mouth dipped under the dense puddle, and she coughed as she tried and failed to open her mouth. As the facsimile Shadow melted away, she raggedly tried to keep her head above water as her nose blew sticky bubbles of ooze. As if the gunk had become as clear as water, she caught sight of the giant black gem pulsating at the core of the colony a mile below her like a tumor.
What did they want with her? What were they going to do to her?: Where was she? As the questions swarmed, she could see a faint white flicker in the oil-slick slime in the bed, but as she turned her head up to see who was there, her stomach contracted, and she felt the nausea return.
As she coughed up black ooze, she realized she was free again, back in the shower on all fours, trying to rid her body of the disgusting liquid that seemed ready and willing to tear her apart from the inside out. But after a moment of hacking, she shakily stood up and looked down into the drain, where the ooze drained away. The lights were bright and the steam was still steady, and the scent of lilac was bleeding back into her reality again.
Blearly-eyed, she cracked open the shower door and took a look at the time; 4:15 AM. She had barely made a dent in the mystery of why she was still asleep. Maria looked down and took note of her wrist: 18,049.
She toweled herself off and went to get the set of pajamas. They were clean and untattered, like she'd never left the room. She grimly nodded, and threw them on before wandering out into the halls again.
Now she had to know. For Shadow. For his friends.
For herself.
Sonic was doing his best to comfort Tails as she held one of her tails to her face. She looked exhausted from whatever scuffle had gone down as she laid on the workshop floor, using all of her extra energy to prop herself up. He could see the singe marks and the small tufts of fur that had fallen to the floor and it made his blood boil. But even with him as livid as this, he crushed the anger beneath his need to be a good big brother.
He gently walked over and offered his hand, to which Tails nodded. Upon closer inspection, she appeared to be shaking, but had fortunately made it out with less scrapes than she thought she should have had. As she pulled herself upright though, Sonic noticed that she was a little spacy, and he stopped her from walking forward.
Gently, he put his arm behind her knees and lifted her up, "Easy, pal," he said. "You look shocked."
"I'm in shock," Tails replied. "I can't feel either of my tails."
"Oh," Sonic said, embarrassed that he'd chosen the most obvious words. "Are you… gonna be alright?" he asked, moving into the living quarters of her workshop.
Tails nodded slowly. "I think that if I'm gonna come with, I need to avoid flying," she said.
"Yeesh," Sonic said. "I can't imagine being made to be less fast," he said.
Tails grinned. "I thought that being Shadow was something that bothered you."
"I mean he's fast, just not as fast," Sonic replied, setting Tails on the couch nearby.
"You said "less fast", so this situation would qualify," she said.
Sonic frowned. "Okay, please change the subject," he asked.
Tails grinned. "Alright, alright," she said. "I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier, I caught him just as he was taking the Emeralds. I just turned around when I heard the slightest clatter and he was there," she said. "He has the same powers that Blue has and then some. That's why my tails are so messed up."
Sonic held up a finger. "Wait one sec."
As the hedgehog dashed into the kitchen for an ice pack, he began to ponder precisely what Tails was thinking just leaving the Emeralds out in the open like that. There was no way that she'd be so careless. Yes, she was a kid, but she behaved and planned so many things ahead that just handing the Black Arms the recipe for killing everyone wasn't in character for her.
"Tails, you wouldn't have happened to put decoys in there, did you?" he asked. "I don't wanna assume anything, but just giving them four more Emeralds seems way too easy for them."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Sonic," Tails said. Her voice was still shaking. "Do you have the ice pack yet?"
Sonic searched through the freezer. "I don't see any, can I use one of these food bags?"
"Frozen peas, please," the fox said. She grunted for a moment before settling down. "Yep, now the pain's coming."
Sonic skated back to her side and handed her the peas. "Thanks," she said. "I take it the others are on their way?"
"Yeah, I don't know what's taking them so long. I mean, those goons could fire any minute," he said.
Tails' eyes shifted downwards, and she paused before letting out a tear. "I'm sorry."
"Oh, don't cry," Sonic said, kneeling closer. "I mean, if you need to cry then cry but… oh geez," he said.
"What?" she asked.
Sonic paused for a moment before wrapping his arms around her, trying his best not to move her in any way that would hurt her tails. "I don't think he'd let you do this but I also don't think he'd blame you, so…"
Tails buried her face in the white patch of fur and let out a single long wail that lasted a good fifteen to twenty seconds before parting. "I tried to keep them away, I just…"
"Tails, it's alright, don't beat yourself up over it," he said. "We'll get there before they know what hit 'em." He shot Tails a thumbs up, which looked not quite as vibrant on Shadow's body.
Tails chuckled. "Even when you're stuck being Mr. Gloomy, you still try to shine, don't you?"
"What else would I do?" Sonic said. "Being mopey isn't my style."
"I dunno, last night begged to differ," Tails prodded.
"Okay, who was crying into whose chest just a second ago?" Sonic asked.
"Alright, alright, I get it, we both have downer moments." She sighed. "Sonic, I seriously had all four Emeralds in there. I'm not joking around."
"Geez, then I guess we'll have to forget about all the legal stuff and just book it, huh?" he asked. "How are we gonna get up to the ARK?"
"Well, I did what I could after I got off the call and finally got through to Briggs. I'm so glad I have brownie points with that guy, otherwise we wouldn't have a ride coming."
"And did you tell them about the Emeralds?"
"Of course I did, I'm not going to not report a threat to international security to the United Federation if they made enemies with the Black Arms. Their involvement last year painted a target on their back."
"Oh, are we gonna have to deal with troops? You know what happened last time, right?"
"They chased you down with a truck, they chased me down with cars and aircraft, and they didn't tell their own citizens the details about a giant Bernal sphere in the sky that anybody with a basic telescope should have been able to see for themselves? Yes, I'm aware that they've got a screw or two loose, but that's on a general scale, not on individuals," she said.
"You still didn't answer my question; are we gonna have to deal with troops?" he asked again.
"That depends- are you and Shadow going to fight this?" she asked. "It's a tall order."
"Well, I can't talk for Shadow, but I know I'm not gonna back down. And he's not gonna back down." He grinned. "If it means saving the world, you know I'm gonna be game."
Tails nodded. "Then G.U.N. will only have the troops come in as a failsafe." She looked towards the door. "We have a visitor."
Sonic glided to the door and opened to see Sylphic. Only Sylphic. "Hey, what gives? Where's everyone else?"
"They're on their way, they just have to make a detour."
Nyx breathed out as she stared at the mural. Two gems, glittering in the light of the glowing mushroom cavern that surrounded her, seemed to leer at the moth. The young girl swallowed the bile in her throat and sat down, cross-legged, in front of them.
"Good evening," she said. "Care to address your crimes? Give up the souls that don't belong to you?" She held up her hands and listened to the voices in the wall that echoed like the inside of her skull was made of brass. The gold eye above Nyx's forehead gleamed in the cave as she leaned in closer. "Speak, cowards."
Aria glinted. "As if I'd bargain with the likes of a puny runt like you."
Requiem sobbed. "Please consider her request, Aria, she's only trying to let us rest."
"I don't want to rest!" Aria yelled. "It's bad enough that sisters like you would turn your back on our kind, Requiem."
"This isn't my fault. You fed him to me."
"I bet it tasted good," Aria said.
Nyx felt the heat coming off Requiem's stone. "You didn't tell me it was him, you lied to me. You lied about this little war, you lied about everything."
"Enough!" Nyx yelled. Her voice bounced off the cavern walls and drowned itself in the glowing pool as she panted from the stress of their hungry calls. "Both of you are to blame for his demise."
She could hear Requiem sniffle. A pang of guilt seemed to hit the young moth and she shook her head. She wasn't going to bear the burden of their pain, even if Requiem had been fooled.
Aria piped up. "Shut up, Requiem, stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something useful. Maybe if you put your two brain cells together you can get us out of this place."
Nyx's eyes narrowed. "You shut your mouth right now, Aria," she said. "You're in no position to talk."
"Oh, look at Nyx! You think that just because your boyfriend meant so much to you, you are suddenly the moral authority? You chose him over your own, you have no sense of loyalty. They were encroaching on our land!"
"Their prior generation was encroaching on our land, Octave wanted to change that!" she yelled back.
"You trusted the word of a feather-born lowlife like him? Have you no sense?" Aria asked. "Don't answer that- it's obviously rhetorical. Of course you don't."
Nyx frowned. "At least I have the sense to try and stop you."
"After eight-thousand years? What a failure streak! No wonder he liked you. Only the likes of him would have such low standards."
Nyx stood up and pulled Aria from her lodging and held her gem tight. Her blood felt like lava and her body shook violently as her grip began to tighten more and more. She wasn't truly touching her gem- she never was, there was always a barrier of magic between the crystalline surface and her skin- but even with that safety measure in place, she felt the heat of Aria's own force radiating down her arm. She swallowed hard but continued to get tighter with her hold on her.
"Oh, what's this? You're finally going to kill your sister?" Aria said. "Go ahead, I dare you."
For a moment, the moth considered it. She considered erasing the biggest bully in her life. She considered ending it right here, right now. But instead Nyx frowned, and a tear slid down her cheek as she placed the gem back in its perch.
"Coward," Aria said.
"Being principled isn't cowardice," Nyx bitterly spat. "But if you insist on calling me that…" She paused to catch her breath. "I'd rather be a coward than a killer like you."
She noticed that Requiem had stopped sobbing and had gone quiet. She was about to open her mouth when the sound of shuffling footsteps caught her attention. The moth turned quickly and held her hand up, prepared to take a shot and whatever was behind her. "Who's there?"
"Relax," a calm voice said. "It's just us." From the only entrance came a familiar orange cat, followed by Sonic and a strange creature that clung to his leg. Awkwardly the hedgehog tried to shuffle, and his expression seemed… wrong.
Nyx eyed him first as a familiar feeling swirled in her gut. "Wait a minute, don't move."
The trio stopped.
"The hedgehog moves away from the other two," she said, flicking her patiently loaded hand like a weapon. Bastette nodded, and as she took the little alien's hand she tried to hide a smile as said entity attempted to escape back to the person she wanted to cling to.
Sonic moved about twelve paces before Nyx lowered her hand slightly. She approached the hedgehog carefully before she took a glance at him. "You've been affected by an Eye," she said.
The blue hedgehog looked side to side before sighing in relief. "Oh thank goodness, I don't think I could act in front of you if my life depended on it."
"Eh, the first ten seconds had me fooled," she said.
"Really?" the hedgehog said, his voice cracking slightly in surprise. He covered his mouth with his hand as he heard the crack echo through the grotto.
Nyx chuckled, trying to set aside the immense anger she'd felt moments before their arrival. "No, Shadow," she said. "Sonic leads with one foot, you lead with the other. Your walk isn't as bouncy, either. Also, those details don't matter because I can sense the Eye's influence on you."
"Can we come back?" Bastette said. "Blue wants to hug him again."
"I don't, I just need body heat and your clothes get in the way," Blue replied.
"It's fine," Nyx said. "I was worried that it was worse, but at least you're safe."
As soon as Bastette let go of Blue, she bolted across the cavern floor. As she connected with Shadow, her shoulder brushed Nyx, who suddenly stood upright with a worried expression.
Bastette furrowed. "What's the matter? she asked.
Nyx was busy processing the sounds that were echoing in her head- a chorus of members, thousands of them. Most were ghosts of voices, lost to time and almost certainly dead. But those that rang out the loudest were strong and vibrant. They sounded cold like the grave, and had Nyx not known better, she would have believed they were dead too.
In the very center of the concert of wails, the glass-breaking pitch that sung out over the lonely sea of despair in the vision only got two words in before she was muffled- a swift and sharp "help me."
Nyx forced herself to converse. "There's a second one," she said. "How?"
Shadow nodded. "We were somehow connected in the Dreamscape," he said. "That's where I found out."
"The way it behaves," she said. "How did you discover it?"
Bastette stepped in. "Tails did some notes and concluded that it's tied to the Black Arms."
"Well, that doesn't exactly give me all that much to go after," she said. "How does it control its victims?"
"I don't think that's the right phrasing, but Black Doom had a Hivemind," Shadow said.
Nyx nodded. "Alright, that narrows it down to… one. Just one." She did her best to hold back her fear as she spoke the word. "Concerto. The Eye's name- the epithet she stole- is Concerto. She lives vicariously through others and takes credit for their deeds. She did long ago as well."
For a moment, Nyx swore she could hear Aria laughing.
"Okay, why is that information useful?" Bastette asked.
"Because you need to know what you're up against," she said. "I don't know if you remember how tough Aria is, but she was one to do everything herself. Concerto will use whatever and whoever she wants if it means meeting her goals."
Blue shuddered. "I don't understand," she said. "Father would never…" She paused. "No, you're right, he totally would. I just… I don't wanna believe it, that possibility is scary. It would be so much easier to believe that he- or rather, she- cared because life would be so much more simple."
"How much control does she have over you?" Nyx asked.
"I… if she wanted to, she could listen in and even incapacitate me," she said. "I… I'm scared." She hugged Shadow's leg.
Nyx watched as the hedgehog squirmed slightly before breathing in and placing a hand down on her head.
"It'll be alright Blue, I made a promise," he said. He shot her the best grin he could, hoping for the best. Thankfully, it seemed she was willing to accept something even if to the other girls it was nowhere near convincing.
"What promise is that?" Nyx asked, trying to clear her head as it swarmed with more voices.
"I want to borrow the Sapphire," Shadow said. "She has a memory that she needs back."
Nyx paused. She wasn't sure how safe that option was, but her instincts told her to at least speak to Requiem. "Give me just a moment, please. I need to confirm."
Bastette raised an eyebrow. "With your sisters?"
"With one sister," Nyx explained. "The other one has no say in the matter." She held out her hand and beckoned Blue to join her. "It's okay, I promise not to hurt you."
Blue nodded and left Shadow's side as Nyx guided her over to the wall. The moth sat down with her legs crossed and breathed out. "One second," she said.
In her mind, she began to hear Aria loud and clear, harassing poor Requiem. Nyx frowned as she focused. "Silence," she said.
Aria turned her attention to Nyx. "Welcome back, coward," she said. "I see you've brought a little guest with you. Finally, another host." She cooed, and Nyx's stomach turned.
Requiem sniffled. "Just leave the child alone, Aria. She doesn't need your muddy mitts on her."
"You're going to have to do better with insults, Requiem. Or maybe you should go back to the hatchery," Aria replied.
Nyx frowned. "Both of you, be quiet. I'm not here to poison another soul with your presence, Aria. I'm here to ask Requiem for assistance. I know she's good at that."
"I-I am?" Requiem asked. "W-Well, of course I am! I'm always capable, always willing to-"
"I need you to help this girl find her memories," Nyx said. "Can you handle that task?"
"But… then you're gonna put me back on the wall with Aria."
Nyx frowned. "Would you rather get passed from person to person so nobody can hear you?"
"No, but I don't want her near me," Requiem replied. "I'll do anything, just please don't put me near her."
"Running with your tail between your legs? You're no better than the brat," Aria said. "Wait, what is she doing?"
"Huh?" Nyx asked.
"She's touching my stone but… oh... Oh I see now…" Aria went quiet.
Nyx opened her eyes and jarred Blue's hands away from the Opal. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked. "That's very dangerous! You could get hurt!" You could get so much more than hurt, she thought.
"I'm sorry, it's just a really beautiful stone, though," she said.
Nyx wondered how close Concerto was to stealing Aria away. "Shadow," she said, jarring the Sapphire from its perch. "This is yours. She can't hold it. I would wait until you're a decent length away from the shrine to use this."
Bastette and Shadow came up to Nyx. The cat offered the hedgehog a handkerchief, and Shadow carefully wrapped it around the gem.
"Take care of her," she said. "She's trying to be better." Her attention turned to Blue. "Please go, he'll be able to show you the truth, just… not here. Not now."
As Blue put a hand on her shoulder, Nyx felt the energy of Concerto's control over her spike. She swallowed down the fear and played it off with a grin. "Be good."
Blue nodded, though it was clear that the moth's grin was a failure. "I will, ma'am."
The trio began their exit, and Nyx frowned, wondering how powerful her sister had gotten to instill that level of power through a mere proxy. That little girl was dangerous as well as in danger, and she only hoped that whatever force had almost stolen Aria was not cognizant of her sister's presence. Aria certainly was already.
When the trio had finally made their way out into the open air, they were greeted by the sound of a helicopter above. Swinging from the rope ladder was Sonic, grinning and holding a megaphone to his mouth. "Grouchy hog to handsome boy, we gotta book it!"
"And I thought he was loud without the megaphone," Shadow said. He put both hands to his face to speak, only to be outshouted.
"Less talking, more climbing!" Sonic said.
Bastette grinned and put Blue on her back. "Alright, hang on tight," she said, grabbing the rope ladder as it brushed the ground. "We got a world to save."