Pain exploded in Sonic's head as Infinite cackled, the red glow shifting to bright white. All around him, voices screamed, his name ringing in his ears as everyone screamed it. The first one he saw as his vision cleared was Sonia, her voice raw as she screamed his name, reaching for him desperately, blood running in rivulets down her arm. "Help me!" she cried. "Please!"

"I'm coming!" Sonic said, only to find he couldn't move. He tried to lift his foot to no avail, a cold feeling settling in his stomach as he caught sight of Amy, the wound in her side dripping blood on the ground as she crawled her way towards him. Martin was cackling as he attacked everyone with lighting speed, Sally and Nicole falling quickly. Sonic could only watch as Martin went back to Amy and drove his knife in the center of her back, and her scream sent a chill down his spine.

"Stop it!" Sonic screamed, tears streaming down his face. "Stop it! Please! Leave them alone! Come and get me, just don't–!"

"The time for begging has passed, hedgehog," Infinite said, his tone almost casual. "I showed you mercy the first time–admittedly a mistake, and one I won't be repeating…" Infinite smirked, and his eye glowed red. Suddenly Sonic saw Shadow approaching him, untouched by Martin's blades. Red energy flickered around him, and he looked furious.

Shadow took one look at Sonic and snarled. "This is all your fucking fault!" he bellowed as he launched himself at him, and Sonic couldn't even dodge as he tackled him to the ground. "You dragged us all into this and look what you've done! You killed Rose! You put my entire crew in danger just by showing up on my damn ship and you killed the love of my life!" The glow was getting brighter now, close enough to singe Sonic's fur. He was going to blast. "And you led them into a fucking trap! I should never have loved you!"

The words were like a punch to Sonic's face. "Shadow, please, I–"

"No!" Shadow snarled. The explosion would come any moment now. "I hate you!"

Everything went white, and suddenly, there was silence.

"Sonic," said a gentle voice, and he opened his eyes to find Amy standing over him, tears streaming down her face. Before he knew it he was sobbing, and Amy had her arms around him, holding him tight. He held on even tighter, afraid to let her go. "I was so scared," Amy said, her voice shaky. "I was so worried the spell wasn't going to work."

"Where is everyone?" Sonic asked, pulling away to look at her. Her shirt was still covered in blood, but the stain wasn't spreading, and she was holding the remnants of a spell in her hands.

"They're fine," Amy replied. "Shadow fought off Infinite and Martin and they retreated. But… we couldn't get to Manic in time either… I'm so sorry, Sonic."

"Are Sonia and Tails okay?"

"They're fine. Shadow's still trying to heal Sonia right now, but the knife didn't pierce anything vital. And all Miles got was a nick in the ear. Speaking of, let me see yours…"

Amy reached up towards Sonic's ear, and he winced at the pain. "What about you?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Amy said. "I was able to stabilize myself with a spell. I'll be fine."

Sonic nodded. "Then I need you to do something for me, please," he said. "Help them all get back to Knothole, and you stay there. I'm not going to let any of you get hurt again."

"Sonic, what–?"

"And tell Shadow I'm sorry. For everything."

He left without another word, leaving Amy behind as she called his name.

Sonic didn't even know where he was going. He just ran and ran and ran, never stopping even as dusk shifted to night and night to dawn. He ran to the edge of the island, and then all around it, the sea spray stinging his eyes just as much as his tears.

Manic was… horrible images of his brother screaming and bleeding seared themselves into his mind's eye, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't banish them. And Amy and Sonia and Tails had been hurt because of him. Hell, they all could have died if Martin had really wanted them to. And it was Sonic's fault. His fault for getting captured by Martin in the first place; for making Jet so angry he stole Shadow's ship; for letting them come along when it should have only been him, Sally, and Rouge. No, when it should have only been him.

He didn't deserve to be with Shadow and Amy.

Sonic finally stopped, his knees buckling as he collapsed onto the sand. He retched, though nothing came up; his stomach had been empty for hours. He lingered there, trying to catch his breath. Then, slowly, he forced himself to his feet.

I'm going to end this, he vowed silently. I'm going to find Kintobor and make sure he pays for everything he's ever done. And Martin and Infinite are never going to hurt anyone ever again.

He forced himself to run towards the palace, but he only made it a couple miles before he could no longer stand, stumbling to the forest floor with a painful groan. Voices sounded around him, but his eyes were already closing, forcing him to sleep.

A while later, Sonic's awareness drifted back up towards the surface, though his eyes still didn't want to open. He caught a faint, familiar voice talking to another. "He'll be fine, I'll make sure of it, Rose."

"I know," said Amy's voice. "But he was exhausted, and he looked so… broken when he left. It's a wonder he kept going for that long."

"He's stubborn," came Sonia's voice. "He's always been the worst one about it."

Amy hummed. "Should we take him back to Knothole?" she asked. "We could probably still catch up with Sally and the others."

Shadow grunted. "Knowing him, that's probably the last thing he wants," he said. "No. We'll rest here for the night and hope he wakes up soon."

Sonic felt a gentle touch on his cheek, Shadow's fingers gently caressing it. Then he drifted back into darkness.

The second time he resurfaced, Sonic was able to open his eyes, and immediately he saw Shadow looking back at him with concern and relief and… and love. Sonic could see it, and more tears welled in his eyes as Shadow wrapped him in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry," Sonic sobbed. "I'm so so sorry."

"Shhh," Shadow cooed. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"But you wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me!" Sonic said.

"I'm here because I want to be," Shadow replied. "And so is Rose."

Another pair of arms enveloped Sonic from the other side, holding him just as tightly. "We're not going anywhere, hun," Amy said.

"No! I don't–"

"Sonic, listen," Shadow said. "None of this is your fault. And whatever it is you want to do, we're doing it together. Because if you do it alone, you're going to get yourself killed. I know you don't want us to get hurt, trust me, I understand. But we don't want you to get hurt either."

"How do you know?" Sonic said. "How do you know none of this is my fault? How do you know you won't get hurt if you come with me?"

"Because I know you never meant for any of this to happen," Shadow said. "You couldn't have known these things would happen. And I can't guarantee we won't get hurt because that's just part of doing things of this nature. There is always risk. But Rose and I know what we're doing, and you have to trust us to know what to do in case something does happen."

"I can't lose you guys," Sonic whimpered.

"We can't lose you either, Sonic," Amy murmured in his ear.

They held him for a while, and he tried to calm down, their rose and lavender scents grounding him, the feeling of their arms around him soothing.

When he finally pulled away, he saw Sonia and Tails standing awkwardly nearby, Sonia's shoulder still bandaged, and Tails unharmed save for the blood-stained patch of fur running down his left ear. Sonia approached him and opened her arms, and Sonic didn't hesitate to hug her tight. "You were right about them," she said quietly. "They really do care about you. We spent all night looking for you."

Sonic pulled away and wiped his eyes. "You got hurt because of me too," he said quietly.

"No, I got hurt because of the fox with the knives, dummy," she said. She gestured to her arm. "Besides, your boyfriend healed me up. I'm gonna use this arm to punch the daylights out of him next time I see him."

Sonic laughed weakly, and she pulled him back in. "We're going to get through this," she told him. "I promise."

He nodded and pulled away again, sniffling and taking a deep breath. "Where are we?" he finally asked.

"We're only a few miles away from the palace," Tails replied, and Sonic turned to look at him. "Sally left us a map before she took Nicole back to Knothole. She tried to take me too, but I… I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Warmth flooded Sonic's chest, and he smiled, reaching out to ruffle the fur on Tails's head, careful to avoid his ears. "What about Rouge?" he asked, and Tails shrugged.

"We haven't seen her since we got inside the camp," Sonia said. "I don't know what happened to her."

"She might have gone after the prisoners," Shadow said. "But we'll worry about all that in the morning." He turned to Amy. "You need rest, Rose," he said gently.

Amy nodded, and it was only now that Sonic noticed the dark circles gathering beneath her eyes. "How long have I been out?" Sonic asked.

"We found you this morning," Sonia replied. "Amy's been trying to get you to wake up all day."

Sonic looked up, finally noticing the fading sunlight filtering in through the trees, the sky above fading from green to blue to black as the stars slowly began to appear. "We need to get to Manic," he said. "I've wasted so much time already…"

A hand touched his shoulder, and he looked up to find Sonia. "I know," she said. "Trust me, I know. But we'll all be useless if we don't get some sleep tonight. We're going to get going tomorrow first thing. But right now, the best thing we can do is rest."

Sonic wanted to protest, but when he looked at the circles under everyone's–even Shadow's–eyes, he couldn't help but nod. "Do we have any food?" he asked.

Shadow nodded and pulled pieces of cured meat from his bag. "It's not much," he said. "But it'll keep us going until morning. Maybe we can find something else tomorrow." He handed one to each of them, keeping one for himself.

Amy moved to sit next to him, kissing his temple before taking a bite of her own. "Thank you, hun," she said tiredly.

Sonic stayed where he was, the images of Shadow attacking him in Infinite's illusion coming back full force and putting him on edge. He almost felt like crying again when he wondered if what the illusion had said had any truth to it. But he took a deep breath, and made himself focus on eating. It barely even made a dent in his hunger, which made sense when he realized he hadn't eaten in more than a day at this point. But at least it was something, and already he felt just a little bit better.

"Sonic?" Shadow asked, looking at him with crimson eyes full of concern. "What's wrong?"

"I…" Sonic couldn't get the words out, and even just thinking of them made his heart squeeze painfully in his chest, so in the end, he said nothing, looking away from Shadow lest he start crying again. I'll go after they go to sleep, Sonic thought. Then I won't drag them all into danger again.

They ate in silence after that, Shadow reluctantly leaving his silence alone, and Amy was practically falling asleep on his shoulder. Sonia looked just as tired, and as soon as she finished eating, she lay down on the forest floor and fell asleep, Tails following suit not long after, though Sonic noticed he stayed pretty close to him as he lay down.

Shadow nudged Amy awake and whispered something in her ear. She nodded, and she scooted a little ways away from him and lay down. Shadow stood and walked over to where Sonic still sat on the ground, kneeling down and running a gentle hand through his quills. "You're looking at me like I hurt you," he whispered. "Please, tell me what's wrong."

"Do you regret loving me?" Sonic blurted, then put a hand over his mouth, cringing away from Shadow's touch as he looked away. "Never mind, it's stupid," Sonic said. "I don't think you even love me–"

"Sonic, no," Shadow breathed. "No, of course I do. I– Why would you think I didn't?"

"Infinite," Sonic whispered. "He… You…" He took a deep breath, trying to keep more tears at bay. "You said that everything was my fault, and that… that you never… you never should have loved me… That you hate me, I… I can't get those words out of my head."

Suddenly, Shadow's arms were around him, holding him tight, Shadow's face buried in the crook of Sonic's neck. "Sonic, I love you," he said. "I want you to remember that, please. I could never regret loving you."

Tears trickled down Sonic's cheeks as he buried his face in Shadow's neck. "I love you too," Sonic said, his voice breaking.

Shadow pulled away to kiss him gently, his lips meeting Sonic's softly. He kissed his tear-stained cheeks, his hands cupping his face and pulling him a little closer. "Come on," Shadow said after a moment. "Let's get some sleep. Come over with Rose and I, please."

"What about Tails?" Sonic asked. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"He's got a pretty thick coat of fur, Sonic," Shadow said. "He'll be fine."

"No, I mean… We're going up against his psychotic brother… I think he should go back."

Shadow sighed. "I don't think we could make him even if we tried," he said. "He was pretty insistent when Sally tried to take him back with her. We'll have to keep an eye on him. But… if this is his choice, I think he should be allowed to make it."

Sonic nodded, suddenly realizing just how tired he was now, despite having been unconscious for the entire day. So he nodded and let Shadow take him by the hand and lead him over to where Amy already lay sleeping. She stirred as Sonic gently lay down next to her, and she blinked as she looked up at him. "You okay, hun?" she asked.

"I will be," Sonic said quietly. But he couldn't be sure whether or not that was a lie.

Amy turned over to face him, gently grasping his hand and nuzzling her forehead against his chest. "I love you," she said sleepily. "We're gonna–" she yawned. "-kick Kintober's butt…"

Sonic couldn't help but laugh a little, and he kissed the top of her head and whispered, "I love you too."

Shadow lowered himself on Sonic's other side, laying an arm across his waist and scooting closer. "This alright?" he asked, and Sonic nodded. He could smell both of them, their rose and lavender scents mixing and soothing him, and he felt himself relaxing. Within moments, the three of them were asleep.