AN: Back at it again with another chapter! I gotta give my shoutouts as always, so thank you, Kimberly Rosivel Lopez, Janttun3n, risingzero1984, shadrougeforever, CrimsonDarkTheHedgehog, MissMJS, Aliciathewolf45, and sad Little Demon for the reviews left on my last chapter. It means a lot!
•~•
Once they returned home, Shadow and Faith spotted Amy and Silver towards the side of the house, working on kickboxing. Amy switched between legs to do a series of hits against a punching bag. Panting from their long training session, Amy finished her last series of kicks before bending over and resting her hands on her knees. "Mommy!" a small voice called.
Amy stood back upright and glanced over her shoulder, only to spot a little pink hedgehog rushing towards her. "Hey!" she smiled, "How was your day with your dad?"
"It was really fun," she smiled. "Daddy showed me his drawings and then we went on a wilderness walk and talked a bunch!"
"Sounds like you two had fun then," she noted. Amy patted the top of Faith's head, before picking up on her chilly body temperature. Her eyebrows raised in concern. "Baby, are you cold?"
She nodded. "Yeah, that's why we came back."
"She's been complaining about it for a while now," Shadow added.
Amy rested her hand against Faith's little forehead. "It's pretty hot out right now, but it doesn't feel like your running a fever…"
Silver walked over, tossing a sweaty towel over one of his shoulders. "I'll take her inside and dip her up some of that chicken soup Blaze made a few nights ago."
"Okay, I'll be inside in a sec," Amy replied. Silver reached for Faith's hand and led her inside the house with him, leaving Shadow and Amy outside and alone.
Once they were left in private, Amy walked closer to her husband. "So, did you enjoy yourself today?" she inquired, curious to hear his side of the story.
"Actually, I did," he replied. "We got to really know each other."
"That's good," Amy smiled.
Shadow crossed his arms over his chest and eyed her up and down. "And what about you, I see you've been training. Anything else?"
"Not much," she responded. "I cleaned around the house a little before Silver and I started working-." She stopped momentarily, noticing Shadow wasn't holding her gaze any longer. Instead, he was practically stripping her down with his eyes, checking out every feature she had on display in her form-fitting gym clothes. "Shadow!" she barked, snapping him out of it.
His eyes shot back to meet hers. "What love?" he asked, almost oblivious.
She huffed, covering her chest with her arms. "Is there something I can help you with?"
He stepped closer coyly with lowered eyelids. "As a matter of fact…"
Amy practically rolled her eyes out of her head, just from where she knew he was taking this. She turned on her heel, heading indoors. "Ugh, you're such a pervert sometimes!"
"Hey, you're already all hot and flustered, why not do some damage outdoors?" he suggested.
•~•
Out in the wilderness with Sonic and Mighty, the two stumbled across a decrepit looking greenhouse. It was starting to get dark now, and their timeframe of rescuing the children was depleting quickly. The two stayed far enough back where they could suss the place out. "So, this is where you think the kids are at?" Sonic said in a hushed voice.
The two stayed knelt in the tall grass as they noticed a figure's silhouette moving throughout the building. "Yes," Mighty confirmed. "I know this is where they are," he replied confidently, in a hushed manner.
"What's the plan then? You even got one?" Sonic asked silently.
The armadillo nodded. "I have an idea in mind. Just listen carefully," he instructed lowly.
•~•
Later that night, Shadow lounged in his bedroom as he flipped through Faith's sketchbook. Amy in the meantime, sat at her vanity, applying creams to her face as her nightly ritual. Sat comfortably on the sofa, Shadow admired his daughter's illustrations, feeling like a proud father with every page turn. "My daughter is an art prodigy," he gloated arrogantly.
Amy smiled at his comment and chuckled by his tone. Shadow was adorable when he talked highly of their child. "She is very talented for her age," she agreed.
"And she's going to be a force to be reckoned with when she's older."
Amy stood from her seat, heading towards their bed. "She'll definitely be interesting once she hits her teen years," Amy conjectured. "That is something I can definitely wait on though," she laughed.
"Indeed," Shadow seconded, suddenly becoming reminded of the teen angst that would undoubtedly come with age.
Amy crawled into bed, snuggling under the covers. "Well, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to bed. I'm exhausted."
"No problem, darling." Shadow stood upright and headed out of the room with Faith's sketchbook tucked under his arm. "I'll head into the study so I don't disturb you, but I shall be joining you in an hour or so."
Amy found her comfortable position, lying on her right side. "Okay, night."
Shadow smiled at her, before switching the flip off by their bedroom door and exiting. "Night," he smiled.
•~•
In the greenhouse, a male chimpanzee in his 30s dunked his fingertips into a cup of blood. In his surroundings, four children stood side by side, in a trance-like state. They stood within a pentagram surrounded by different candles. The chimp brought his index and middle finger up to his lips and muttered an incantation. In response, the four children turned to their side in unison, eyes glazed over and looking like walking zombies. The male chimp walked over and dunked his finger into the blood multiple times as he walked down the aisle of children, marking their foreheads with some blood.
"Get away from them!" Sonic shouted, entering the facility. The chimp didn't seem to be fazed or worried much about Sonic's presence. He glanced over to a corner where a pitchfork laid against one of the walls and directed his hand towards it.
"Soo-fu-la!" he shouted, making it go airborne and strike Sonic in the chest before he could react in time. Sonic gasped as he was impaled by the garden tool and pinned to a pillar within the building.
Sonic struggled to pry the pitchfork out, wedged deep within him. The chimp walked over menacingly to finish him off, but before he could reach for him, he felt a hard whack to the back of his head with a hard punch. He collapsed to the ground, grunting from the smack, but rolled over to get a look at his assailant.
"Good job, man!" Sonic praised, still pinned to the wall.
Mighty stood above the chimp, opening and closing his hand he had thrown the punch with. Mighty wasn't used to physical fights, and it throbbed slightly from his strike. "Wait a second, I know you," the monkey smirked darkly.
"You know me," he repeated, startled. Mighty had never seen this guy before, yet he knew him?
"Don't listen to him Might, just finish him off!" Sonic shouted, still working on freeing himself.
The chimp stood upright and raised a hand, and twisted his wrist. The disgusting crack of a broken neck rang out as he temporarily killed Sonic to silence him. "Yes, you're Mighty Armadillo. It told me you would arrive. It wants you here," he smirked sinisterly.
Mighty furrowed his brows towards the male, baffled by his words. "What are you talking about?"
"The thing that resides within this city. Within all of us," he foreshadowed. "It is in you," he said, pointing a finger at his chest.
Feeling his fists tighten at his sides, Mighty sucker punched the chimp in the face, forcing him to fall back on his back. "There's nothing like that inside me!" he screamed defensively. Mighty straddled him and began to repeatedly punch him over and over again in the face. He bared his teeth through his clenched mouth, as he watched his face snap left and right with every hit. Blood splattered out of his mouth as he continued his assault. The chimp began to laugh, only confusing Mighty more. What was so funny?
Mighty gripped him by the collar and tugged his face closer to his own. "Why are you laughing?"
"Because you are more important to it then you realize," he laughed. "And now, it must be fed." Out of nowhere, he placed a hand to Mighty's forehead, sending a wavelength attack and caused Mighty to faint. He fell over on his side, passed out for the time being. With that, he dusted off his hands and stood back up, staring at the four children waiting for their demise. He stuck his arms out towards them. "Let it be done!"
In an instant, the four children collapsed to the floor in unison as the sacrifice began to unfold.
The chimp began to walk towards them until he felt a powerful strike from behind. He grunted as he felt something slice through his back and out of his stomach area. Looking down, he noticed the pitchfork he had used to attack Sonic sticking out of his stomach along with his intestine. Blood oozed out of his sides and pooled on the floor below him. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed, dead.
Sonic panted as he stepped over the witch's body and quickly ran to Mighty. He knelt down to his level and patted the side of his face. "Hey, bud, now is not the time to take a nap!" he urged.
Within a couple of moments, Mighty started to come to and wake up. "I'm up, I'm up," he groaned, feeling sluggish even from the few moments he was out cold.
Sonic helped get him to his feet. "You gotta save these kids, man. He started the spell!"
Mighty rushed over to the children with Sonic's assistance and he dropped to his knees. Carefully, he turned over the first missing boy, Jay. Just from touching him, his body was cold to the touch. "Damn it, he's ice cold."
Sonic flipped over Sam, another missing child, realizing they felt the same. "This one, too."
"This spell is draining the life out of these kids." His eyes glanced over to a small table set out behind the children. He noticed personal items like a toothbrush, a baseball card, a necklace, a shoe, and a hairbrush laid out on display. "He used their personal items to bind them to this spell. These are totems…" Mighty ran a nervous hand over his head, feeling the pressure kick in. "I know this magic; I-I can reverse it."
Mighty began to lightly tap his hands together over the children as he muttered an incantation. "Metto-ti-moun, say o," he repeated over and over again. Sonic watched him carefully as he placed his hands on Jay's face, gently touching his face with his fingertips before whisking his hands away.
Right after doing so, Jay woke up and gasped as he came back to. The rest of the children did the same in a matter of seconds. All of them seemed rather groggy and disoriented as they woke. Jay looked over at Sonic, looking confused by his sight. "I'm alive?"
Sonic embraced the frightened boy. "You're alive, kid!"
"Do you mind standing for us, guys?" Sonic ordered softly. All the children obliged and got to their feet, steading their standing. Sonic watched as the children started speaking to one another, trying to figure out how they got to this strange location. Sonic smiled; relieved to see they were all in good health. Meanwhile, Mighty's eyes wandered back over to the table where they totems were laid out. He counted them in his head, realizing there were five totems, yet only four kids in their presence. "Wait a second here, something doesn't add up…"
Sonic kept his arms around the children. "What's up?"
"We've got four kids here, but five totems," he pointed.
Sonic scratched the back of his head. "Okay, so who's the other kid?"
He picked up a hairbrush and slowly turned it around to see if he could find any clues to this fifth child. The hairbrush had an engraved name that read, Faith, on the back. Mighty felt his stomach sink at the sight. "We've got a problem here…"
•~•
Back at Shadow's estate, Shadow continued to glance through his daughter's artwork, until he heard someone enter the study. He looked up and spotted Faith standing in the doorway, in her nightgown, and looking slightly shaken. "…Daddy?"
Shadow closed the book. "What is, love?" he spoke softly, laced with solicitude.
She rubbed her left eye tiredly as she approached him. "Something's wrong…"
Leaving her sketchbook on the table, he got up and walked towards her. "I don't understand, what do you mean," he asked, probing her to elaborate more.
She rubbed her left eye. "Well, I had a dream about a bad man," she began. "He was hurting these kids and I think he hurt me, too…" she explained softly.
"Love, it was just a dream," he assured with a smile. "It's not like you got physically hurt. Remember, nothing can hurt you in your dreams," he reminded.
"I know, but this time it felt real," she whined. Just then, Shadow's smile was quickly changed with consternation, as he witnessed a drop of blood ooze out of one of her nostrils.
Shadow reached out and held her face in his hand, looking her over for any other signs of injuries. Perhaps what she was saying was actually of great concern. "What's hurting you right now?"
She closed her eyes, feeling the world start to spin around her. Her face contorted in pain a bit. "I feel dizzy and my head hurts."
Shadow rested the back of his hand against her forehead, and realized then she felt freezing cold. In fact, most of her body was cold to the touch. "…Christ," he muttered under his breath.
Seeing this was critical, Shadow looked over to his open doorway, knowing he was going to need more help. "Rose, Rose, get in here!" he called.
In a few moments, Amy entered the study and rushed towards them after hearing her husband's panic. "What's wrong?"
Faith wrapped her arms around her small frame as she shivered in place. Tears started to well up in her eyes. "Mommy, I don't feel good," she cried softly.
Amy knelt down to her child's level and stared at her daughter in the eyes, growing anxious about these symptoms. She brought her into her arms, trying to use her body heat to warm her. Amy rubbed her back soothingly, trying to ease her worries. "Don't worry, baby, we're going to make sure you feel better." Her eyes locked with Shadow's over Faith's shoulder. What was wrong with their child?
•~•
Back with Mighty and Sonic, the blue hybrid got off the phone, smiling after their accomplishment. "Well, you did it, man! You're the hero here and you saved all those kids. The paramedics just took them away and are heading straight to the hospital to get checked out. I notified Hendrix and Sally so they can meet them there at the hospital," he explained.
Mighty didn't look as stoked about the prospect of being a hero. His mind was stuck on the words that the strange witch had said to him. Was he truly a key in this strange event? "Those kids could have died…If Faith is really connected to that spell, she's going to die too."
Sonics expression grew serious by the notion. "What do we need to do to prevent that from happening?"
"We've got to notify Shadow and get her here so we can cast a cleansing spell on this soil," he answered. "It's the only way we can save her life."
Sonic pulled out his cell phone. "I'll give them a call now."
•~•
Back at Shadow's house, Amy lounged on the couch downstairs in the living room in front of the fireplace. The couple had informed Silver and Blaze about the complication and the two had joined them in order to determine Faith's sudden illness.
In her lap, Amy held Faith close to her chest with a blanket bundled around them to keep her warm. Faith kept her eyes shut as she snuggled into her mother's chest, growing weaker by the minute. Amy looked solemnly down at her daughter, feeling helpless by her growing unknown illness. Blaze stayed knelt by her side, looking over Faith's vitals trying to dictate her sickness. She felt her arm and then her pulse. Standing by the fireplace, Shadow stood staring at his wife and sick child, growing frustrated by the lack of information regarding his daughter's health.
Gently, Amy stroked the top of her daughter's head. "She's never been sick before—ever."
"Well, from what I've gathered, she's not sick. This is a magical affliction," Blaze surmised. "It feels—well, dark..."
Suddenly, Shadow's cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his back pocket and answered. "Hello?"
"Shadow, it's Mighty," he heard on the other end. "Long story short, but I know what's wrong with your kid," he stated.
Shadow raised a brow over the phone call, surprised to know Mighty already knew about their current predicament. "You know she's sick?"
"Yes, I know what's wrong with her and I can cure it," he replied calmly.
"What do we need to do," he questioned, feeling hopeful by his words.
"I'm going to text you my location and I want you to get here ASAP. Don't stop for gas, bathroom breaks, or anything. Just get here," he made explicit.
Shadow nodded. "Got it."
•~•
On their end, Mighty hung up with his phone call with the hybrid and turned to look at Sonic. "They're on their way now."
Sonic leaned casually against one of the walls with his arms crossed, deep in thought. "…There's one thing that's been bugging me by all this mumbo-jumbo crap. Why did this thing choose Faith? I mean, why choose a kid probably 30 miles away for this spell?"
"Easy," he replied calmly. "Because she's a special witch from a special bloodline. A sacrifice like that is something that's going to be rewarded," he explained.
"Don't let anything happen to her," Sonic pleaded. "She's a good kid."
He gave him a weak smile. "Don't worry, I don't intend to let anything bad happen."
•~•
At that same time, the ambulance taking the children to the nearest hospital made its way down a dark empty road. With its bright red and white lights, blaring and brightening its path, the driver squinted as he spotted something up ahead on the road. Carefully, he put his foot on the break, easing down to a complete halt. The driver put the car in park, left the car running, and took off his seatbelt to further investigate this strange occurrence.
Standing in the center of the road, appeared to be a female echidna. The driver hopped out of the car and approached the girl, but made sure to stay cautiously back. "Miss, is everything alright?" he called out, standing a few feet away.
As he got closer, he came to realize that she didn't appear to look threatening at all. In fact, she was quite cute. The strange female wore a long blue sundress, with long sleeves and white heels, but there was something about her eyes that were off-putting. They didn't hold sincerity like the rest of her appearance.
"What's your name, miss? Do you need help," he continued to probe after not getting an initial response.
"My name is Aurora," she replied slowly. After giving her name, she extended her arm out wielding a pistol with a silencer. She took two shots, hitting the driver in the chest. The mortal driver fell to his knees, bleeding out slowly. He writhed on the floor in agonizing pain as she stared down at him, showing no signs of mercy or empathy. "Why?" he mumbled weakly.
Ignoring his questions and confusion, Aurora walked around his crippled body and didn't bother to look back at him. She sauntered over to the ambulance and climbed aboard the vehicle. In the back of the car, the children, still shaken by recent events, looked at their new driver with questionable looks. "Who are you?" Jay asked, feeling nervous about their new visitor.
Aurora put on the best fake, sweet, smile she could muster and turned around to look at them. "My name is Aurora and I'll be your new driver for the night," she explained before turning back around and putting on her seatbelt. "Now don't you worry your little heads, I'm going to make sure you get home safely," she lied.
With that, she took the car out of the park and drove the car over the injured driver on the road, finishing him, and ventured off to a new destination.