As Rouge returned to the streets of her dream city, she felt the air swirl in discontent around her. Anytime she felt something like that, she knew it could only be trouble. But as she searched for a possible cause, her eyes became fixed on the giant gem that seemed to drape a sickly pall over the sky.

A blue streak passed her peripheral, and she turned to see Sonic. Well, the red eyes gave away that it was Shadow, but… something was wrong with him. For starters, he was clutching his chest and limping, and his eyes were wide as his mouth went ajar with what appeared to be labored breathing.

She quickly crossed the street, shouting as one of the blanked-out cars nearly grazed her. She kicked it gently and frowned, annoyed that even in her own dreams people didn't seem to show courtesy. It's not that hard, she thought.

Shadow caught her in his sights and weakly limped over. The bat thought quick as he flopped forward, catching him before he had a chance to reach the ground. "Shadow, what's wrong with you? You're never this sluggish…" she said.

Shadow continued panting. "I'm dying, Rouge," he said.

The bat frowned. "But you're not supposed to-"

"I'm not in my own body," he interrupted. "I'm able to die, and that's what I'm doing- dying."

Rouge shook her head. "I… I didn't…" She began to shake. "This is all my fault. I never should have messed with the Garnet, I shouldn't have-"

"Rouge," Shadow barked. He grimaced as another wave of pain hit him. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You couldn't have figured out this would happen."

"But I switched you two!" she said. As Shadow walked forward, he fell a bit, and Rouge frowned. "Don't move, I'll get you." She tucked one arm under his legs and the other against his shoulder blades before lifting. "Don't force yourself to walk."

Shadow shot her a rare and gentle smile. "Thank you, Rouge."

Rouge smiled back. "It's what friends are for."

Thankfully, the noodle shop was two blocks down. The bird siblings were sitting inside, giggling and smiling as they spent their last moments together. Rouge felt guilty just interrupting their last few hours, but her friend was dying even faster.

She pushed her way inside and shouted. The rest of the faceless guests didn't even hear her as the birds stood up. The older one laid his eyes on Shadow. "This… this is bad," he said.

"No kidding," Rouge said. "There's gotta be some way that we can save him."

"I mean, my abilities could possibly heal him," Akshi said. He held his arms out. "Chaos-"

"Stop," Shadow said. "Stop trying to save me. All of you. Things are supposed to die. I was supposed to die. And if this is what it takes for Maria to be free, then so be it."

"Maria…" Sonata said. "Did she wake up?"

"Yes," the hedgehog said. "And she's free from that wretch." He coughed, and a bit of blood appeared on his glove. "If it meant trading my life for her freedom, I'd be more than willing."

Rouge didn't want to lose her friend. He'd been by her side in dark times, and likewise she'd been by his. She didn't want that to stop. Perhaps it was selfishness on her part, but there was something else about how he'd said what he said that was wrong.

"That is the most selfish thing I've ever heard you say," she said. "How can you just leave Maria like that? Leave her the same way she left you?" Rouge began to tear up. "You think you're being noble and selfless by passing away but you're leaving so many people hurting the same way you were hurt so long ago. We need you. I need you."

"Why, though?" Shadow asked. "You're a self-sufficient woman."

"You're my best friend," Rouge said. "Even if I'm not yours anymore because Maria is alive, I'll never stop being your friend. You make me feel like I can be more than myself. And yeah, we annoy the crap out of each other but no friendship is perfect."

Shadow chuckled halfheartedly, reminded of the bumps in the road he'd watched Sonic and Tails tread over. "So you need me because I'm your best friend, huh?" he said.

"You're not going deaf, are you?" she asked.

"Heh… who said you were any less of my friend?" he replied.

Sonata looked out the window and nodded. "You three, let's get back to the gem- I think I know what must be done."

As the gems fused beneath her skin, Blue felt the ripple of Chaos Energy crackle over her like fireworks. So this was the feeling Shadow feels without his inhibitors, she thought to herself. No, now isn't the time to ponder- it's time to act!

She unfurled her wings and lifted off the ground. "That body doesn't belong to you, Concerto," Blue said. "You need to let it go."

"Why should I? He's enjoying himself. Aren't you, hedgehog?" she asked. For a moment, her face broke from its unyielding calm to reveal Sonic's panicked expression. Caught in the glimmer of that expression was an alarming mix of fear and painfully restrained emotional arousal.

Quickly, Concerto drowned the muffled shout of her host and tilted her head. "And what do you think you're doing, Blue? Brazen disobedience will be punished."

"I'm afraid the only one who's gonna be punished is you, Concerto. You're not my parent, and you never were." Blue rose a bit further from the floor as her grey skin turned a blinding white. "I'm doing what I must to defend my real family. I'm being brave!"

Concerto frowned and curled her right hand, forming a green spear. "You're a fool if you think I will let you live." She fired the spear towards Blue, but as the little girl flinched from the impact, she noticed that there wasn't a scratch on her. "Huh…"

Concerto frowned. "Invulnerable. Fine, if you wanna play by those rules, two can play." She unlocked the bands around her wrists and dropped them, and a shield of yellow swirled around her. "Chaos against Chaos."

Blue grinned. "You've made a grave error," she said. Quickly, she charged up a firebolt in her mouth and released, only barely missing Concerto as she dodged.

Concerto pulled another Chaos spear and threw, and their game of dodgeball began.

As the destruction happened throughout the room, Bastette and Tails sidled their way over to Sylphic, whose tears were now enough to blind him. As the fox laid her hand on his shoulder, he tore it away and flared the short spines on the back of his head. "Don't touch me. Don't touch me, and don't touch him."

Bastette pursed her lips. "Sylphic, you can't just-"

"I can do what I damn well please, Bastette," he shouted. "I just lost… my… my…"

Tails was sniffling. She'd known Shadow for a few years, but though they weren't close, she knew that this was hardly fair. Had the Garnet never switched them, perhaps Sonic would be the one who was gone. "I-Is…"

Sylphic nodded slowly, and another round of tears fell along his cheeks. "I still don't know where Maria is… he never told us. How will she fare knowing her friend is gone? I mean, I can't comfort her, I'm not the grandfather she knew. Not anywhere close." He began to tremble. "I can't be the person she needs…"

Tails gently put a hand on him, but this time he didn't try to stop her.

Bastette shoved them over as a spear came hurtling through the air. She shouted as it connected with the wall, slicing off about half of her ponytail. As the hair sliced off, she toppled to the floor.

Tails hissed and helped her up. "Your ponytail, it's…"

"It's just hair, it can grow back," Bastette said, steadying herself. "Half a year ago I would have hated losing something like that, but that's not what makes me who I am."

Tails grinned. "Heh, you're more mature about it than I would have been." She looked over towards the fight and frowned. The windows were beginning to clatter, and she knew that there wasn't too much time before they would be sucked out into space. All it would take was the right amount of stress to the windows.

Sylphic noticed as well. "We have to call a pod," he said, shakily standing. He gently set Shadow onto the ground and stumbled forward. "Keep watch on him, Tails- he's still breathing."

As he came towards the fight and towards the control panel, Concerto caught him out of the corner of her eye. She threw a spear at him, which lodged itself in his shoulder. "Stay out of this," she yelled.

"Sonic, can you hear me?" he asked back, completely ignoring the Eye's warning. "Sonic, you're not her, you know you aren't her." He grunted as he pulled the spear out.

Concerto fell silent but turned to focus her attention on Blue, who was spitting globs of spit against the ground. They weren't in flames, so what was she planning to do with them?

Sylphic frowned and stumbled closer to the panel. "I'm not going to fight you, Sonic, I don't have any reason to-"

"Shut up!" Concerto yelled. "He doesn't care! Just let him enjoy this like I am, you wretch!"

Sylphic stood up straight and began typing on the controls. "I'm not going to give up on you, Sonic. Just because it feels good to let her take advantage of you like this, it doesn't mean it's okay."

Sonic's voice broke through for a moment. "What if that were me?" he asked. For a moment, his expression seemed to reappear, but as soon as he had some semblance of control, he was shoved to the side by Concerto once again.

Sylphic called the pod as he noticed the Sapphire lying in the center of the room. He looked at Tails and Bastette and tilted his head towards the pod, beckoning them to go. After careening across the floor to grab the gem and reaching the other wall, he tore open one of the panels on the walls and grabbed the spare materials that were in there. They were always there for "emergency sleepovers", but the blankets and pillows would also serve as padding for the ride down.

Tails set Shadow's head down and rushed to grab the blankets. "What about you?" she asked. "You can't just stay up here by yourself!"

"I'm not by myself," Sylphic said. "I have to stay up here for Blue and Sonic."

"Right," Tails said. "You're not phased by the vacuum of space, are you?"

"The windows have about five minutes before they shatter," Sylphic said. "The slurry that Blue is putting down is going to cause the gas in here to expand and break them even faster."

Bastette frowned. "How are you gonna take Concerto down? We're outgunned, and Blue's doing everything she can to keep the attention on her."

Sylphic smiled. "I have this," he said, showing the Sapphire. "It's gonna be painful, but I know what I need to do. Take Shadow with you."

"Um…" Tails said, wringing her hands. "Well…"

Sylphic's stomach dropped, but he nodded solemnly. "Don't say it, please," he said, trying to fight back tears. "Your hesitation speaks volumes."

Bastette grabbed Tails' shoulders and hurried her to the pod, and the hybrid returned to the panel to prepare them for launch.

Blue grimaced as Concerto brought a leg down on her. The shoes Shadow's body bore were like bricks, and they could easily cause massive damage if she wasn't in a Super State. But Blue took advantage of the contact and gripped Concerto's ankle before flinging her into one of the walls.

As the dust cleared, Blue came closer to Concerto, who collapsed against the floor and panting. The gold glow around the aggressor's body was starting to fade, and her eyes were wide with deep concern for the turn of the fight. "I can't be beaten by you. You. You ungrateful little-"

"I don't have to be grateful to someone who kept me prisoner!" Blue said, slamming her foot into the side of Concerto's face. "You used me like a pawn, like a poker chip! How dare you do that, just to get back at your own flesh and blood."

As the sound of a pod escaping sounded from behind, the little alien looked to see Shadow laying down gently against one of the walls. Her lip trembled, and her eyes began to water- there was nothing left for her to do.

As she looked back, Concerto made a connection with her fist and flung Blue across the floor, knocking her out of her Super State. She approached slowly, clearly labored but not quite down for the count. "Has it gotten through your skull yet?" she said, walking up to Blue. "You'd never be here without my help."

"I had a guardian once, a man who never claimed to be perfect," Blue said, struggling to stand. She wiped the greenish blood from the corner of her mouth. "He's still more perfect than you'll ever be."

Concerto raised her spines. "Then there's only one thing I can do with you," she said. She reached up and held a hand in the air, but something was off. There was a momentary spark of yellow, but little more. "What?"

Blue smiled. "Your powers don't work, I can negate them." She spit a line of fire, springing the trap and surrounding the captured assailant with a ring of flame. "And by removing those bands, you've let your powers run dry."

Concerto frowned as she saw a second figure beyond the flames. "You think that you're going to hold me here?"

Blue watched the hybrid slowly saunter towards the flames, raising the gem to his forehead. There seemed to be a moment of hesitation as Concerto spoke, but as soon as she stopped the doubt left, and he closed his eyes, allowing the gem to fuse to his head. "M-Mister! Wait, don't-" Blue said.

"It's alright," Sylphic replied, tears streaming down his face. "I've felt worse."

Concerto smirked. "Well, this is a surprise. Look who decided to come back from the dead… the old coot who was foolish enough to let me give his research life. Have you come to be ungrateful as well?"

Sylphic looked down towards the ground in silence, expressionless as he examined what he had to work with. Though the globs of spit were definitely on fire, they were still liquid underneath, and he sighed. He raised his hands and began sliding the liquid slightly towards her, closing the circle.

"What are you doing?" Concerto asked.

"Unjoin from him," Sylphic said. "He might be impervious to most dangers but complete and total annihilation isn't out of the question. Fire hasn't been tested."

Concerto laughed. "I have your friend with me. You're really going to let him die with me? I'm going to call your bluff."

Sylphic moved the circle closer, and Concerto hissed as one of her fingers grazed the flames. Blue shook her head and frowned, turning towards him and tugging on his leg. "Don't! She's right, your friend is in there."

The hybrid's voice sounded hoarse as he focused. "Please don't interfere, you wouldn't understand."

"Why wouldn't I understand?" Blue shouted. "Maybe you don't get it- if you hurt her, you'll hurt him. If you kill her, you'll kill him."

"She killed my son," Sylphic said. His voice seemed foreign, but to Blue, the inflection and timbre was uncanny. Though there was a fire in his eyes, the gaze couldn't be colder. His fingers twitched as his tears continued to run, and Blue nodded in understanding.

She pulled his arm again, and his angry gaze turned to her. Even so, she stood firm and looked him dead in the eyes.

"She wouldn't think this was right," Blue said. "She would think this was cruel."

Sylphic's eyes widened. "What would you know about her?"

"I know where she is, because-"

Concerto let out a blood curdling scream that rippled through the air and shook the observatory. The flames around her went cold and she panted as she stumbled forward. "You're a fool if-"

Sylphic flicked open his canteen and pooled his remaining water around her before pulling it apart into four sets of chains, each of which held up a limb. "You're outclassed, and outnumbered. There's two of us, and one of you. You're powerless, you're drained, and you have nowhere to run." The small amount of water he had left was crafted into an ice knife, and he walked forward as he forced Concerto to her knees.

"What are you doing now?" Blue asked. "This isn't much better."

"You asked me to spare him, so I'm sparing him," he said. "But Concerto needs to give up her gem."

Concerto ripped through the chains and lunged, and Sylphic put up one of his hands. "Seven chimes…"

Concerto stopped and clutched her head. "What are you… no, stop, don't act like that, you petulant brat, you…" She began to shake as she collapsed on all fours. "You can't leave me, I'm… in charge of… you…" She struggled to let her words out when the sound of skittering came from the vent behind her.

Sylphic stepped forward and held up the knife. "Give it up."

"You'll have to rend it from me," Concerto said.

"I know how to use a scalpel, and I'm aware that this would hurt much more," Sylphic said.

"Syll, please…" Sonic's voice weakly squeaked out. "I know I'll heal but that would really, really hurt…"

Sylphic shook his head and took a step back, dropping the knife onto the floor. "Concerto, let go of the boy, he's not yours."

"Well, he isn't yours, either, Professor…" Concerto said, equally exhausted as her host. "We're at an impasse- we both wanna play tug-o'-war with the body…"

The vent popped open, and Retrograde rolled out on top of Concerto. Without instruction, he began feeling around Concerto's forehead before digging his fingernails.

Sonic let out a scream, and the windows continued to shake. Sylphic's breath hitched as he spied a long and large crack forming along the edge of the observatory's rightmost glass pane and he instinctively melted the ice knife and used the water to seal it over.

As Retro managed to get his hands on the gem, Blue lunged and began to tangle with him. He clawed and scratched at her as he held it to his forehead. "Game over, Blue," he said.

In a flash, the darkling disappeared, leaving Blue, Sylphic and Sonic alone. After a moment of shock, Blue went over to Shadow, who was still lying on the floor. The teen panted hard and looked at Sylphic, half grateful and half quietly terrified of his glowering tearstained face. "I feel woozy," he said, wobbling.

Sylphic frowned and rushed forward as Sonic began to tilt a bit too far. "Easy there, you're not used to getting all that energy used up." With his foot, he stomped along the edge of each of the stray inhibitor rings to toss them into the air before catching them. He firmly locked them around the hedgehog's wrists before gently reaching a hand up. "Requiem, I need you to let go. Please."

Though the rate at which the gem slid out of his forehead seemed delayed by reluctance, he finally had it back in his hands. "I'm sorry I frightened you so," he said to the teen.

"Intimidation isn't a bad look for you, though I think your color's a little too chalky," Sonic replied. He was smiling, yes, but the hybrid caught his mouth shrugging for a second.

He dared not say anything, though. "Sonic, I don't know how to express this, but… Shadow…" He began to tear up again.

"Wait a second," Blue said, feeling at Shadow's chest. "Hey, c'mere!" she shouted, waving her arm.

As they reached the roof, Shadow felt himself slip through Rouge's fingers and fall onto the ground. "Huh, what is…"

Akshi shook his head. "This isn't good."

"You think?" Shadow said.

Rouge tried to offer a hand, but as his hand passed through hers, it became clear what was going on. "I'm… disappearing."

Sonata shook her head. "No, no, you aren't ready to go, you're still…" She paused, and clutched her head. "Oh… I think I…"

"What?" the other three said in unison.

"You never saw the moth who has me trapped here, did you? One of Luneria's ilk?" she asked.

Shadow shook his head. "I never caught a glance."

"Neither did I," Akshi said.

"Rouge?" Sonata asked.

Rouge frowned. "I didn't see anything malicious here."

"Perhaps it's just a theory, perhaps I'm a bit crazy but… well, there's only one way to find out." Sonata began walking closer to Shadow.

Akshi grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

"I'm following my instincts," Sonata said. "I'm doing what feels right."

"I still don't know what you mean," her brother said. He spun her around and grabbed her shoulders. "What's gonna happen to you?"

"I don't know, but if I fail, it'll be worse than if I never tried," she replied. "I can feel it."

"But what if I lose you?" Akshi said. "I know I wanted to spend your last hours with you, but I'm not ready to let you go."

Sonata chuckled. "I know it doesn't mean much, but…" She paused as she plucked a black feather from the back of her head. She pulled it forward and smiled. "You always complimented me on this one," she said.

"It was one of your baby feathers," he said. "That was your last one. It never went away."

"Well, it never has to. Take it."

Akshi gingerly took the feather and sniffled. "I'm… I'm going to miss you so much."

"I'm not afraid, brother. I used to think that the lilies along my path were stained in red, but I was wrong. I don't expect you to understand, but that's okay- I'm just happy I figured that out before I parted," she said. "Hopefully one day you'll be happy, too." She looked at Rouge for a second. "Though, I think you're already getting there."

Akshi stepped back as Sonata put her hands towards Shadow. He put his arms around Rouge and hugged her close, hoping that the bat couldn't feel him trembling. His hopes were thankfully dashed as she placed a hand on one of his arms and smiled assuredly.

Shadow squirmed. "What are you doing?"

"I can feel it. I should have realized it this entire time, all these eons of wandering without a single conflict in sight," Sonata said. The green crystals spread across the left side of her face and froze it over. "Just relax- you are still needed out there."

Shadow's eyes widened as he spotted the giant Garnet behind her beginning to crack. "Sonata, you shouldn't have to-"

"It's my new path, Shadow, and I'm not scared. I know I'll break, but… I know I'll be put back together," she said. She breathed in, then out. "Seven chimes."

As the gem behind her split in half, the sound of Akshi's shout was drowned out by Shadow taking in a deep and painful breath. He'd woken up on the ARK again, surrounded by Sonic, Sylphic, and Blue. The hybrid was crying, but there was a smile that was breaking over his face like the light of dawn, and Sonic was intently staring at him, half-relieved and half… well, Shadow could tell something was off.

Blue slammed into his chest at full speed, and it was then that he realized he was still in critical condition. He grunted loud in extreme pain, and as Blue scrambled off, Sylphic went to make preparations for calling another escape pod.