Chapter 21: What Now?
Darkness. But that ensured his survival. If it looked like only the solid ground remained, Chaos would leave, so Sonic clutched the orange emerald and held his breath in the darkness. Too bad his communicator was shattered from the attack that actually hit. It was somewhere up above, laying on the surface of the rock that was now protecting him from what was left of Chaos.
But he could still hear them. He heard Tails scream. He heard Rouge's matter-of-fact reprimand. He heard Amy cry. And he heard Knuckles's words. After an offended mumble, he lastly heard Cream whisper, "What now?"
"I'll find you guys… that's what…" He looked up, though only darkness met his eyes. He let out the rest of his breath. He would need to be careful. He would need to get back home without attracting Chaos.
.
Amy dragged her feet as well as her hammer. Tails was still blank and expressionless, and he hadn't spoken a word since lamenting that he had failed Sonic. Cream's tears were still flowing. It was up to Rouge to round them up and get them to safety. Who knew where Chaos was now? Rouge decided her cave was the best bet for shelter.
The first night came in silence. The first to break it was Rouge, and that wasn't until the next morning. "What emeralds do we have?" she asked, eyeing the entrance of her cave. The others barely reacted. "We may need to use them to defend ourselves! What do you all have? Just show them to me!"
Cream was clutching the green emerald. She hadn't let go of it since the previous day. Amy held out the red chaos emerald. Tails had the blue and yellow ones at his sides as he sat, staring out of the cave. Rouge herself put down the purple and grey emeralds so that they could all see them.
"What do you want us to do, Rouge?" Amy asked quietly.
"Me? I just want you guys to snap out of it and face what's coming. Chaos is out there, and it's going to destroy you all one by one if we can't get our heads on right."
Amy glared at her. "We just lost Sonic! We need time to… to… grieve!"
"You might not have that time."
"What do you know? You've never cared about anybody ever!"
This time, it was Rouge's turn for the glare. "You don't know me!"
"Am I wrong?"
Cream whimpered, trying to tell them to stop fighting, but no words came out.
"You ungrateful—"
"Tails!" Cream suddenly yelped. The girls looked at him. He was standing now, clutching the emeralds in his hands.
"Are you going to build something?" Amy asked. "Do you have an idea?"
Tails hung his head. He shook it.
"Tails…" Cream walked over to him. Tears were in his eyes. She hugged him.
Amy sighed. "We need a plan. So what is it, Rouge?"
"Why do you keep asking me? I'm not your leader! Think of something yourself!" she answered.
"Sonic always had a plan…" Amy swallowed.
They stood in silence, the name of the fallen hanging in the air.
Cream felt Tails move away. "We lost," he said.
It was as if his soul was ripped out of him in that moment. He lost hope, he lost ambition, he lost everything.
"No…" Cream whispered. "We… We have to be able to do something… You can build something, Tails!"
"What's the point?"
"Tails…"
"We lost! And I can't do anything… I can't make anything to save us! …to save… him…" He closed his eyes and tears streamed down his cheeks. "It's pointless! We lost!"
Tails had lost his ambition and purpose because he had spent much of his life working with Sonic, following him, building machines for him. What was the point now? Sonic was gone. And Tails felt empty without his best friend.
He was the first to leave the cave.
.
Sonic kept listening, and he frowned at the sound of the group splitting up. If they separated, they would be harder to find. Right now, most of them were at Rouge's cave, a place he should be able to find. Unfortunately, he was so beat up and was being so cautious, he couldn't employ his usual speed. It took him hours to get where it normally took him seconds. He had first reached the house, but they hadn't returned there. No, he had had to turn around and find Rouge's place.
As he headed for that mountain he knew her home was in, he realized he didn't actually know where the cave itself was. Hopefully, he'd be able to call for Rouge without attracting Chaos. But first, he had to get there.
.
Amy and Rouge hadn't spoken much to each other since the argument that morning. Amy needed a plan. She relied on Sonic for the plans. Tails relied on Sonic for the plans. Cream relied on Sonic for the plans. Sonic was the one with the plans!
She swung her hammer down, bashing at the ground.
"Watch it! That ground is still unstable from Catnap!" Rouge shouted at her.
She couldn't stand Rouge. She was never a part of the group anyway. She thought they were all annoying. In fact, it reminded her of Knucklehead. And if her attitude was half as bad as his, it was just a matter of time before Rouge would kick them out.
"Fine…" Amy whispered. "I have a plan then…" She stood up.
"Where are you going?" Cream looked up at her.
"I need to go, Cream… I need to find myself. I need to follow my way."
"I'll go with you!"
She looked down at the teary-eyed rabbit. "Cream… It's dangerous out there. You should stay here."
"I want us to all be together! Please! Please don't go!"
"My life was always about him. I need to find myself now. And I know just where to start looking…"
Only Rouge and Cream remained in the cave.
.
Sonic hoped to run into Amy on her way out, but there was no such luck. She must have been heading in a different direction. For that matter, Tails hadn't come his way either. He realized that Tails was not heading for the workshop in that case. He had to get to the cave so that he could find the others quickly. He tried to speed up his pace. He winced in pain and slowed again. Too slow… he groaned to himself.
.
"I want to go home…" Cream said.
"I don't think there's any hope of that, kid…" Rouge replied.
Silence.
"I'm scared."
"I know… hard for you not to be, I'd imagine."
"Are we really safe here?"
Rouge looked down at the three emeralds that remained in the cave. "Probably safer than Amy and Tails are right now."
Cream looked up at her in horror. "They're in trouble, aren't they?"
"They'll be fine." Rouge quickly changed her tune. Cream needed comfort.
.
Sonic needed rest. He had been walking all this time and hadn't slept the night before. His wounds needed time to heal, his consciousness was waning, and he was starting to feel dizzy. He used the emerald to make himself a safe hiding place. And he fell asleep immediately.
.
That night, while Rouge was asleep, Cream took the green emerald and silently left the cave. When she was a good bit away, she turned back and whispered. "Thank you for your help, Ms. Rouge… Good-bye." She flapped off.
