AN: Whoo, so sorry for the long delay in updating. I've been crazy busy ever since returning to school from the Christmas break. Normally, I'd update more on the weekends, but I find myself swamped with lesson planning and other BS. Thank you again, to those that continue to leave me feedback, theories, and their reviews on my chapters. I know I sound like a broken record, but I really appreciated.

•~•

The next morning, Sally and Sonic arrived at Shadow's estate to share their good news and update them on the pack. Sonic knocked on the door, waiting for a response until eventually, Blaze opened the door for them. Looking sullen in appearance, she returned a weak smile towards their elated ones. "Oh, Sonic, Sally, please come in."

Realizing something was up; the couple entered the home and was immediately met with a dour atmosphere. As the two headed for the living room, they spotted Shadow, who also looked down in the dumps. The ebony hedgehog sat on the couch bottle-feeding Faith. In one of the far corners, Silver stood by the window, looking out in longingly. Blaze took her seat by Shadow, while Sally and Sonic stood before the group. "Hey, Shadow," Sonic waved, before his eyes set on the infant in his arms. His mouth turned into an even brighter smile. "Is this Faith?"

Shadow took the now empty bottle out of her mouth and nodded. "Yes, this is her, she's growing up fast."

The two walked closer to get a better look and Sally smiled down at the baby. "My goodness, she's absolutely adorable!"

"Mind if I hold her, Shads?" Sonic asked shyly.

"Of course." He handed her over to his blue rival and Faith cooed in Sonic's arms before giving out one large belch.

Sonic and Sally laughed in unison by the noise, making the baby giggle with them. He stroked her cheek with his index finger in admiration and in return she reached for his nose, grabbing it gently. Sonic laughed at her curiosity. "Aw, she's precious, but I can't help but notice Amy's not around," he noted looking around the silent room. Silver, Blaze, and Shadow didn't seem to share their upbeat mood but instead held surly expressions. "Where is she, upstairs taking a shower or something?"

Reluctantly, Shadow rose to his feet. "About that…"

Sonic's expression grew chary just from the mood. "I don't like that tone. What's going on?" he questioned, showing a solicitous expression.

Shadow laid the empty baby bottle on the coffee table. "Last night, Amy concocted a plan for us to make a strike against our mother. She volunteered herself as bait and things didn't exactly go to plan," he began to explain.

Sonic grew distraught as all the possibilities in the world flocked to his mind. "Jesus, Shadow…what happened to her?"

"She's swapped bodies with a mortal and I haven't been able to locate her."

"Why haven't you been out looking for her?" Sonic questioned with urgency. "She could need help!"

"I would be looking for her if I even knew where to start! My mother has no information regarding the body she placed Amy's soul into. Apparently, my brother was responsible for picking out the bodies to prepare for body jumps. Unfortunately, he's now vanished without a trace and he's the only one with the information on finding her."

"Where's her real body now?" Sonic asked.

He beckoned for them to follow. "I'll show you."

•~•

Downstairs, in the wine cellar, Sonic, Shadow, and Sally stood before an open casket, where Amy's original body was now laid to rest. As the three stared down at her, Sonic felt his fists clench by his side. "What if something terrible has already happened to her and we just don't know it yet?" Sonic speculated.

"That's why I'm going to hunt down Mephiles and get some answers," Shadow replied. "He's out there somewhere and I'm going to find him."

"And you're sure you don't need any of our help?"

"I should have it covered, but what about you two? What's been going on with the pack?" Shadow questioned.

"That's why we came over here in the first place," Sally interjected. "Sonic and I have found a loophole in your brother's control over the wolves."

Shadow raised a brow, as his interest peaked. "What exactly?"

"Because Sonic is a hybrid, if he marries the female alpha from the pack, all of his abilities will be transferred to the other pack members. Caleb has already agreed to turn down his title as alpha in order for Sonic to become the new one," Sally explained. "And it just so happens that I once belonged to that pack before I went rogue, but in order to bring unity back, I have pledged to marry Sonic."

"Wait, so you're the female alpha?" Sally nodded meekly, and Shadow looked surprised by the large amount of information. "Fascinating, but I assume there will be more required to officiate this marriage?"

"There is," Sonic concurred. "There are a few rituals and tasks we have to do to make sure the marriage is official, but it's going to take some time to get everything done."

"Then it's settled, I'll work on finding Amy while the two of you finish your ceremonial rituals. The sooner we take away Mephiles' control over the wolves, the better."

•~•

Speaking of Mephiles, the warlock had stumbled across an abandoned and decrepit old house tucked away on the outskirts of the city. It had taken him some time, but after whipping up a hefty location spell, he had found himself at this location. As he walked into the home, he checked, rooms, making sure to do a full sweep of his mother's body. Eventually, he came to one last room in the house: the basement.

Mighty walked down the stairs and looked relieved when he saw his mother sat in the far corner of the cellar. Rushing over, he embraced her; happy to see she wasn't harmed. "Mother, I thought for sure I'd find you dead."

She pulled away from his embrace. "I wish I was dead," she replied weakly.

Mighty shot her an incredulous look at her comment. "Why would you say such a thing?"

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter…How did you manage to find me, anyway?"

Mighty helped lift her to her feet. "I used a locator spell." The two started walking towards the staircase together, "But there's still one thing that perplexes me. I saw Shadow kill you with my own eyes, how are you still in your old body?" he asked just as his foot crunched onto something.

Gala-Na watched as he bent down and lifted up the object that he had stepped on. Mighty flipped the hard plastic bag overseeing it was an empty blood bag. His eyes lifted towards her in disappointment quickly realizing his question had evidently been answered. "You're a..."

"Yes," she answered. "Amy managed to somehow slip some of her blood into my wine." Gala-Na stepped back reluctantly. "I'm sorry, it's just…I was so hungry."

Keeping his hardened expression, Mighty violently tossed the blood bag to the side as he marched towards her. "You are such a hypocrite!" he bellowed. "You speak of purification—of cleansing the souls of our family, and yet, you caved into temptation rather than standing with your principles," he pointed accusingly. Gala-Na bowed her head in shame, cowering before her son. "It was your morality, mother, your conviction that awed me." He reached out and grabbed her by the throat, shoving her up against the wall.

Gala-Na whimpered slightly as she stared back into his eyes. "Please."

"I would have done anything for you. But I know that she would want for me to finish what we started." A sinister thought crossed his mind, forcing a wicked smirk to cross his lips. "I think I can find another use for you now…"

She watched as he raised his other hand, ready to conduct a wicked spell on her. "No, no!" she cried out.

•~•

At the mental hospital, Amy was in the middle of dealing with her own conflict as two male nurses, a pig, and a gorilla, desperately tried to strap her down to her bed. She thrashed about, kicking her legs and trying to move her arms, as the two males held her upper body down, managing to strap one of her wrists down to the bed. "Get off of me, get off!" she screamed.

"Calm down, Rosy!" the pig shouted, while the other proceeded to get her second wrist bound to the bed frame.

Her eyes widened in surprise by the foreign name and she stopped her struggle momentarily. "What'd you call me?"

"Rosy," he repeated.

"No, you don't understand. I'm not Rosy, my name is Amy Rose!" she proclaimed.

The two nurses finished strapping her legs down, ignoring her pleas. The male gorilla dusted off his hands. "Sounds like someone needs more medication…"

She watched as the male pig reached into his pocket and pulled out a small paper cup containing a couple of pills. Imagining the hazards of what those pills were capable of doing to her mind and body, only caused her to panic more. "No, please, you can't do this to me!" she begged.

"Enough!" the gorilla nurse barked.

"Help me get her to take these." The gorilla walked over and held her jaw, opening it slightly. She struggled to keep her mouth closed, but the pills were tossed in before she could interject. After a few minutes, the two nurses held her mouth closed, forcing her to swallow them or allow them to dissolve. Suddenly, her eyes began to grow heavy and her strive to fight back dimmed before she closed her eyes completely.

Seeing they had subdued her, the two nurses unstrapped her and left the room, closing the door behind them.

•~•

Once Sonic and Sally left Shadow's estate, the two headed to the Mystic Ruins to continue preparing for the rituals. After parking his car, Sonic tossed his car door shut, while Sally patiently waited for him on the other side. "So you ready to do this? You know, get hitched?" he cracked with a charming grin.

She laughed softly. "It's more than just that, Sonic. It's a mystical unification ceremony and unlike mortal marriages where we can get divorced if things don't work out, this one is permanent. Which means we have to be together forever in order to transfer your powers to the rest of the pack."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Heck, I realize that Sal. I know we've only been dating for a couple of months, but in that short amount of time, I feel like we've really connected. Every moment that I spend with you, every single thing that I learn more about you, just makes me love you even more."

Sally stared at him, completely taken aback by how romantic and sincere he had just been. "I feel the same way, Sonic."

•~•

A little bit later, after her medication was given, Rosy stirred from her stupor and sat up in bed. She looked to her bedroom door, noticing it was wide open, as a young familiar looking pink echidna stood in the doorway, staring back at her shyly. Rosy stared back, blinking a few times. "Um, don't I know you from somewhere?"

The girl nodded meekly before she took a few steps into her room. "Yes, my name is Aurora."

The name bounced around in her mind as she tried to pin down her familiarity. "That name is not ringing a bell. How do you know me exactly?" she questioned.

The female echidna wrapped her arms around herself awkwardly. "I heard you shouting it from the hall ten minutes ago. You're Amy Rose, the hybrid's significant other."

The pink hedgehog stood from her bed and walked towards her, staring her in the eye. "The medical team don't believe me, yet, you do…why?"

"I happen to know a little bit about people jumping into other people's bodies. After all, I was Ivy's first host that she occupied," Aurora answered.

Rosy blinked a few times as she recollected the time. "Oh, my gosh, that's right, I remember now. But how long have you been here?"

"A month," she replied solemnly.

Rosy stuck her head outside her bedroom door for a moment, making sure no one was eavesdropping before looking back at Aurora. "So, how do we get out of this place?" Aurora bit her lower lip reluctantly making Rosy raise a curious brow by her reaction. "Well?"

Aurora bowed her head sadly. "You can't break out. Once you're in, there's no leaving this place."

Rosy shook her head in denial. "That can't be true. Surely someone has gotten out of here before."

"You're right, people have gotten out before, but not alive," she noted gravely.

•~•

At Shadow's estate, Shadow and Silver patiently waited off to the side, as they watched Blaze draw a chalk spell circle out on their driveway. Blaze knelt on the floor, with a piece of chalk in hand and continued to draw intricate symbols inside the circle. Growing impatient, Shadow paced back and forth behind her, feeling anxious as time ticked on. Blaze had attempted to use a location spell to locate Mephiles, but for some reason they were unable to locate him, making her believe he was using some sort of cloaking spell to conceal his whereabouts. Because of that, Blaze would have to use a different tactic into locating him, but it was going to need more power.

While she worked diligently, Silver leaned against the garage door with his arms crossed and his eyes closed in deep meditation. Seeing how slow Blaze was going with her drawings made Shadow groan in frustration. "No offense, Blaze, but this seems to be taking a lot longer than I thought it would," Shadow complained.

Blaze's ears perked and she shot him a piqued glare over her shoulder. "Excuse me, but Mephiles is blocking my locator spell, so I'm trying something new that I need to concentrate on. It won't exactly work if I rush it," she countered. "Also, it would help a lot if you weren't hovering over me like a hawk! You're making me nervous."

"No need to be testy, sweetheart," Silver mumbled as he stayed in his position with his eyes closed.

"Me?" she repeated in astonishment. "What about him," she pointed towards Shadow. "He's the one getting snappy."

Silver sighed and finally opened his eyes. "Look, getting irritated at one another is not going to help us solve our problems. So everyone just take a deep breath and make up."

Shadow crossed his arms over his chest, before sagging slightly. Silver was right, yelling and bickering wouldn't help find Amy any quicker. He glanced over at the purple feline, who was now in the process of lighting several candles. "Blaze…I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm just worried about, Amy."

Blaze placed one of the lit candles down at a certain point of the circle, before looking back at him. "I accept your apology, Shadow. I can attest to the emotions you are currently feeling. After all, I felt the same things you're feeling now when I was worried about Silver," she spoke, looking over to her own fiancé.

Shadow nodded. "So…how much longer?"

"It's ready now," she replied. Blaze sat outside the circle and stuck her hands out over the circle as she closed her eyes. Shadow and Silver watched as she began to mutter an incantation. As Blaze felt the spell work, in her own mind she saw flash images of Mighty in an unknown location doing a spell of his own.

In the flashes, she could see Mighty standing at a table with a large bowl of blood set out before him. As the armadillo stood there, he wafted smoke away from a blown out candle, with a long brown feather. On his work surface was a wolf's tail, a boar's foot, and a pair of antlers. Blaze's eyes shot open with this new information. "I-I saw glimpses of him."

"What is he doing?" Silver asked.

"He's combining sacred objects, you know, totems. Though, I'm not sure why…"

"How is able to conceal his location?" Silver inquired.

Blaze closed her eyes again, focusing on her magic. Once again she saw flashes where she could lurk around Mighty's location. In the far corner of the room, she saw a body lying on it's back in a spell circle. As she got a closer look, she realized whom it was. Opening her eyes, Blaze frowned at her discovery. "…He's channeling your mother's body for power."

Shadow stepped closer. "Where is he doing all this?"

Blaze closed her eyes again, muttering her spell as she took another peek into Mighty's whereabouts. In her vision, she could see old desks in the background and even a whiteboard behind Mighty. She watched for a moment as he took the wolf's tail and dropped it into the bowl of blood. Blaze opened her eyes again determining his location. "He's at a school."

Shadow looked over to Silver, still leaned up against the garage door. "Well, then, shall you and I go and crash his little party? I know of two schools, one is under construction and the other is abandoned."

Silver watched as his brother began to walk off. "Sounds like a good idea to me," he agreed as he pushed himself away from the wall.

But out of nowhere, Shadow suddenly felt very light-headed and strange. His eyelids lowered just as he felt his knees give out underneath him, causing him to crumble to the ground.

Silver and Blaze gasped at his sudden fall. "Shadow!" Blaze exclaimed as she got up to help him.

Silver rushed over and knelt down to his brother, and flipped him over onto his back. He shook him gently, but he did not wake. "Shadow, Shadow, can you hear me?"

Blaze dropped to her knees on Shadow's other side and felt his pulse, feeling nothing in return. "He doesn't have a pulse."

Silver continued to cradle his brother's limp body in his arms. "What the hell is going on?"

"I-I don't know."

Silver went to open his mouth but was struck frozen and unable to utter another word. He made a small gasp before his eyelids lowered and he collapsed on his side also going unconscious. "Silver, Silver?!"

•~•

In another strange reality, Shadow awoke, only to find himself standing in a strange log cabin. Shadow looked around at his surroundings, noticing the game displayed out on the walls. Heads of animals a hunter may have killed were adorned in glorious fashion above a grand fireplace. "…Shadow?" a familiar voice spoke.

Shadow turned around and spotted Silver standing a few yards behind him. "Silver, what's going on, what happened to us?"

Silver also took in their surroundings, realizing what was going on. "It's a chamber de chasse—a hunt room."

"Actually, it's where witches bring their prey for mental target practice," another voice spoke. "Your bodies are in the real world laid out on the floor, whilst our minds are in here, represented by these animal heads," Mighty answered, stepping out from a dark corner of the room.

Shadow extended his arm out, trying to attack, but was rendered weak and helpless. Mighty chuckled at his attempt. "Save your strength, in here, I am untouchable. My magic, my rules." He walked past the two brooding hedgehogs with a sly smirk. "So, make yourselves at home because we're going to be here for awhile."

•~•

Back at the institute, Aurora gave Rosy a tour of the facility. The two walked down halls, passing the dining room, the game room, and other dorms. Adults of all ages and species roamed the halls, some talking to themselves, while others remained in a zombie-like state. It was all a bit off-putting, depressing, and creepy to see as they explored the halls together. "So, this place is filled with all witches?" Amy asked, taking in her surroundings.

Aurora nodded. "Yes, there are all types of patients here. Some are mentally unstable and others are considered traitors and this is our form of punishment," she sighed.

Rosy stopped by one of the hallway corners and placed her hands on her hips. "So that's it then? They just lock you up and throw away the key if you cross them the wrong way?"

"Sadly," she concurred. "At least, that was my case…"

"What about our magic?" Rosy whispered. "I mean, we're still witches, right?"

She shook her head. "The pills they give us keep our magic repressed. There's no way we can harness it inside these walls. Besides, most wouldn't dare to try to with the staff around."

Rosy frowned at the information. "Well, we can't just give up. We don't belong in here. This place is just…wrong!"

"I'm sorry, Amy, but right now there's nothing we can do."

•~•

Back in the Mystic Ruins, Sally, Sonic, and Caleb met up with Andrew after finding out he had collected all the moonlight rings from the remainder of the split pack. The orange canine dropped the copious amount of rings into a wooden bowl. "Well, that's the last of them. Everyone out here is officially ring-free."

"And better off," Sonic noted.

"Easy for you to say, blue," Andrew scoffed. "You're a hybrid and I'm back to turning every single full moon. So, I gotta ask, when's this wedding happening?"

"Three days," Sally answered. "After that, Sonic's power is your power and the full moon won't control you anymore. So go and spread the word. Any wolf who wants in needs to be here to bear witness to the wedding."

Caleb crossed his arms over his chest and looked to his comrade. "You think you can do that, Drew?"

Andrew nodded. "Yeah, I can do that, but what are you guys gonna do now?" Sonic scratched his head, unsure himself what the two of them would be doing. He opened his mouth to give a response, but someone else was quick to cut him off.

"—They're going to be meeting with an elder today," Caleb responded.

"An elder?" Sonic repeated, a bit confused on the notion.

"We need an old school pack member to conduct your wedding," he explained.

Andrew shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, before turning on his heel. "Well, good luck with that," he waved before departing.

Sally turned to the dingo and tilted her head curiously. "So who exactly is this elder you plan to have us meet today, Caleb?"

"Best one I know around, my grandma," he smirked.