Chapter 6 – Partings

"ACHO!" cried Alicia as she shook the snow out of her hair, "Oooh my nose!"

"Alicia please. We've got more immediate problems." said Sally.

Sally wrapped the padded coat she was wearing around her a bit tighter. Alicia was shivering almost uncontrollably.

"What is this place?" asked Alicia.

"This is one of the two alternate realities dear. I never imagined this could happen." replied Sally.

Sally reached inside her coat and unclipped Nicole from her pouch.

"Nicole. Scan for Tails bio signs."

"Scanning." replied Nicole.

A few moments passed before Nicole answered.

"Bio signs not detected Sally."

"Try Lavender and Miles."

A few more seconds of silence followed. The wind whistled past them blowing snow in their faces. Sally looked up at the sky. It was dark and grey. Nothing like the beautiful sky she knew.

"Signs not found." said Nicole.

Sally's heart sunk. Could they all be dead? It had been two weeks. She didn't know if anything could survive that long in these conditions. Especially without protection.

"Are you detecting anything?" she asked.

"Affirmative. Power signature detected."

"Display Nicole."

A small green holographic map appeared. A small red dot appeared on it.

"Where are we Nicole?" she asked.

A blue dot lit up a little way from the red one. Just then a set of data came up about the power signature. The green writing scrolled down and Sally just stared at it.

"That's the signature of……..A NICOLE UNIT!" cried Sally, "Nicole confirm."

"Confirmed Sally. Power signature is identical to my own."

"What does that mean mother?" asked Alicia.

"It means we're checking it out." said Sally.

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"LAVENDER DUCK!" cried Tails.

Lavender glanced behind her and then flung herself to the floor. She spun her tails creating a small tornado. The tornado dug into the snow and made a large amount fly into the air. It settled on Lavender, covering her and almost making her disappear from view. Tails leapt out from behind a snow drift and landed with a metallic clunk on the top of the attacking pod. The pod noticed this and sent an electrical surge through its hull. The bottom of Tails shoes glowed absorbing the electricity. Tails leaned forwards and opened a small panel. Inside there were a selection of electrical circuits. He stuffed his hand inside and pulled out several of them. The pod lurched slightly.

"That got you!" he cried.

"Quickly Tails before it redirects power!" cried Sally from behind another drift.

Tails took out a small circuit board and slotted it into the gap. There was a high pitched whine and the board glowed blue. Tails swung round and dived off the pod. He landed with a poof in the snow and glanced round. The entire pod was glowing blue now and the whine had reached a maximum. Seconds later the entire pod exploded sending debris scattering everywhere. Tails picked himself up.

"Everyone ok?" he asked.

"All right here Tails!" cried Sally poking her head out again.

"Ditto here Tails." cried Miles as he and Antoine popped out as well.

"Lavender? You ok Lav?" cried Tails.

A small tornado blasted out of a drift of snow. The snow settled and Lavender stood there.

"WAY PAST!" she cried, "That was kewl Tails."

Tails went over to her and picked her up.

"You did pretty well yourself." he said.

"I told you I could do it." she replied.

Just then Sally ran over to them.

"Tails take a look at this. I can't make it out." she said holding out Nicole.

She was pretty battered and several controls weren't lit but she still worked. Tails took Nicole and looked at the display.

"Nicole do you have enough power for a holo projection?" he asked.

"Negative. Power cells at fifteen percent of normal." replied Nicole.

"If she keeps losing power like that she won't last more than a year at maximum." said Sally sadly.

Tails was looking at Nicole's display. He raised an eyebrow.

"Sal? You sure this is correct?" he asked.

"Course I'm sure. Nicole may be battered but she still works. Why?" she asked.

"Because according to this Nicole has detected her own power signature approximately two miles in that direction." replied Tails.

"That's impossible." answered Antoine, "Nicole is the only one of her kind."

"If that's true what's this signal?" said Tails.

"Let's go see." said Sally.

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Sally and Alicia walked on. The wind had died down now but the air was still cold. Their breath made large clouds of steam as they breathed. Sally was still holding Nicole who was still displaying the holographic map. The red dot had started to move towards them now. This worried Sally slightly. It meant that the person using the other Nicole unit knew they were there. Eventually the red dot was nearly on top of them, literally. The map had zoomed in and showed the dot on a cliff above them. Sally looked up at the cliffs above her. They rose sharply from the ground and were impassable. She shook her head.

"What now mum?" asked Alicia.

"Well that other signature is above us but we can't get up to them." replied Sally, "It looks like we're going to have to find another way up."

She was about to turn when there was a quiet sharp noise. Sally didn't recognise it but didn't really have time to react as a large net flew down at her from above. She screamed and tried to run but it was too late. The net came down on top of her and Alicia.

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"Got em!" cried Antoine, "They won't get out of that."

"Not until we get down there anywhere." said Tails, "Wonder who they are."

"Well get yourself latched on and follow me." said Sally.

Everyone looked over at her. Sally was fastening herself into a harness she had unpacked. She took a piece of rope and attached it to the harness. Tails and Antoine followed suit. Soon all three of them were fastened onto the cliff side.

"Come on kids." said Tails.

Lavender walked over to Tails and Miles to Antoine. Lavender took a firm grip of Tails and Miles to Antoine. Sally leaped off the edge and started to abseil down the cliff. Tails and Antoine followed her.

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Sally tried to free herself from the net but it was fastened to the ground with grapples. Alicia was crying.

"Don't worry Alicia." said Sally.

Alicia wiped her eyes and sniffed.

"Ok mother." she said.

Sally looked out through the net. She heard a noise and looked up. Three figures were sliding down the cliff. Sally tensed. This was it. They landed and she saw that the three figures were actually five. They walked towards her and she heard a voice. At first she couldn't believe what she was hearing. It shouldn't be possible. It was her voice.

"Alright! Who are you? And how do you have a Nicole unit?!" the voice cried.

"Yo cool it Sal. We need to find out who they are before we start interrogating them!" joked another voice.

Sally recognised it. Her jaw dropped and before she could stop herself she cried out.

"Tails?!" she cried.

"Sally?!" the voice cried back.

As Sally watched one of the figures walked closer and became clear. An orange fox with two tails. It WAS Tails.

"Tails it is you!" cried Sally.

Tails was now at the net and staring at Sally.

"Sally! I mean……you…….how did you get here?! I thought only the three of us were here!" Tails said.

Just then Miles and Lavender came into view. Alicia's eyes widened and she leapt to the front of the net.

"Brother!" she cried.

"Alicia?!" cried Miles as he raced to the side of the net.

Just then Sally and Antoine appeared. They stood and stared at the two figures in the net. Tails was busy pulling the net grapples out of ground. He pulled a second one out and Sally was able to push the net out of the way and scramble out. She stood up and hugged Tails.

"I never thought I'd see you again." she said.

Tails couldn't speak. He just stood there staring at Sally. Alicia and Miles were hugging in the background. Lavender didn't know what to do. She was just smiling broadly and leaping around. Finally a voice broke the silence.

"Alright who are you?!" cried a nervous voice.

Sally released Tails from her hug and looked over at the voice. The other Sally was standing there next to Antoine holing a small laser gun. She was shaking slightly and looked almost as white as the snow. Sally almost turned a similar colour. She took a step backwards and stuttered. Tails was alert in a second. He leapt between the two Sally's.

"Wow, wow, wow! Cool it Sally." he cried.

"Your telling me to cool it?!" cried the Sally holding the gun, "Who is this?"

"Erm……this is….." Tails bit his lip, "….this is you."

Tails looked over at the other Sally. She was standing in front of Alicia and Miles in a defensive position.

"Sally? What are you doing here? More to the point, what is this place?" said Tails.

Sally blinked.

"This place is an alternate reality Tails. You were thrown here when Petya and T2's experiment went wrong." She said.

"So…you are…..and she is…….and I am…….." Tails gritted his teeth and closed his eyes hard, "….this is too much. What is going on?"

"Get that other Sally to put the gun down and I'll explain." Replied Sally.

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Sally started to sob.

"So our Tails really is dead!" she wailed.

Tails put an arm around her shoulder.

"So you're story really was true." she continued.

Antoine came over to her and took over comforting her from Tails. Tails stood up and walked over to the other Sally. He sat down next to her.

"That is quite an incredible story Sal." he said.

"Hmm……I can't help feeling sorry for her." she replied.

Tails looked back at Sally and Antoine. Antoine was running his hand through Sally's hair with his eyes closed. Sally was sobbing into his chest. Tails glanced over at Alicia and Miles. They were sitting in front of the fire talking quietly. Lavender was curled up in a ball on the floor next to the fire snoring happily. Tails looked back at Sally.

"So what now?" he asked.

Sally just sighed and looked sad.

"Sally? What is it?" asked Tails.

"That's what I haven't told you."

Tails looked at her. He hadn't seen Sally act like this before. It was as if she was ashamed at what she had to say.

"We tried to rescue you two weeks ago just after you disappeared but something went wrong. This place is……I mean……oh it's no good! This reality has been destabilised. It's going to collapse any time now."

Tails leapt from his seat and stared at Sally.

"WHAT?!" he cried.

Sally and Antoine looked at him startled, Miles and Alicia suddenly stopped talking and Lavender woke with a start. Tails was standing there staring at Sally. She was looking at her knees with an ashamed expression on her face.

"What do you mean collapse?!" continued Tails.

"Collapse?" asked the other Sally.

Tails spun and looked at her. He couldn't believe it. He had spent two weeks gaining these people's trust and now he knew that his rescue would destroy there world. Tails tried to speak but couldn't.

"Tails?" said Antoine.

"Let me tell them." said Sally.

She stood up and looked at everyone. Her eyes watered slightly as she spoke.

"I'm afraid that our rescue mission of Tails has…….destroyed your world." She said.

"It's already been destroyed by Robotnik. What more can you do?" said Sally.

"We have accidentally destabilised your realities foundations. They are falling apart."

"Meaning?" replied Sally not really paying much attention.

"Meaning your reality is going to be destroyed."

Sally suddenly raised her head and stared at Sally. Her fists clenched and she pushed away from Antoine. Her eyes flared and her breathing came in short snorts. Her lower jaw started to tremble. Everyone was looking at her. Sally suddenly leaped at the other Sally. Tails intercepted her and pushed her to the side. He pinned her against the floor, holding her arms down. Sally started to thrash around.

"LET ME GO DAMMIT!!" she cried.

"Sally calm down." said Tails.

"It's your fault! It's all your fault!" she cried.

Sally suddenly brought her legs up and kicked Tails in the chest. He tumbled backwards and Sally jumped up. She opened a small cupboard and pulled out a laser gun. She armed it and pointed it at Tails and then at Sally.

"Robotnik destroyed my world. I can deal with that. He died long ago. But if my reality is to be completely annihilated I'm making sure the causers of it are going with me." she growled at them.

Just then there was the sound of a second laser gun being activated.

"My princess." said Antoine, "Please stop."

Sally looked over to her side. Antoine was standing there pointing a laser gun at her.

"Antoine?" asked Sally quietly.

"I won't let you kill them. Even if they have sealed our worlds fate. They didn't mean it." said Antoine.

"Antoine! Didn't you hear them? They did this!"

"I heard them! I also heard how she said it!"

"I don't care how she said it! I've suffered enough loss in my life. I've had enough!"

Sally suddenly spun back to face. The next events seemed to play out in slow motion to Tails. Miles and Alicia were on there feet and running to Sally. The other Sally fired. Sally suddenly fell to the floor as Miles and Alicia ran into her and pushed her to the floor. Antoine also fired. The other Sally screamed as the shot hit her. She fell to the floor. As she did she fired another shot as her body tensed. The shot hit Tails cleanly in the chest and knocked him to the floor. Lavender screamed and ran to her father side. Antoine threw his gun to one side and rushed to his Sally side. Sally picked herself up off the floor, her face full of panic. Antoine was running his hand over Sally's face.

"Sally? Oh my! My princess please." he wept.

"It's ok Antoine." said Sally slowly, "It's….it's better this way. I love you….I love you."

Sally's eyes slowly closed as her body went limp. Antoine wailed.

"DAD! TAILS!" cried Lavender as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Tails weakly placed a hand on her head and smiled.

"Be strong Lavender. For me be strong." said Tails weakly.

Sally came over to his side, a large tear welling in her eye. Tails looked at her, his eyes only half open.

"Get….get back to our world." he said.

"But….but….but…" started Sally.

"It's no good. I can feel it. Just get everyone else back to our world and tell Amy I'll always be with her." said Tails his eyes closing a bit more.

"DAD!" cried Lavender and Tails hand slid off her back limply, "DAAAAAAAAAD!"

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I can't hold it much longer.

Just hold on Petya.

I'm trying but…..it's slipping away!

Petya. Focus on me. Keep the doorway open!

I'm trying.

Petya I can feel them. There almost there. There almost here.

The red spheres in the room shrunk again. Suddenly one of them glowed. Out of it flew Bunnie, Knuckles and Amy. They landed with a thud on the floor and looked back at the portal.

"Where's Sonic?" cried Bunnie.

"He said he'd be right behind us!" answered Amy.

Just then the other portal gave a flash and Sally, Lavender, Miles and Alicia stumbled out. Amy rushed over to Lavender and hugged her.

"Oh god dear. I'm so glad to see you again." she said.

Amy then noticed that Tails was missing.

"Where's Tails?" she said frantically.

"HE'S D….D….DEAD!" wailed Lavender bursting into tear on Amy shoulder.

Amy's eyes widened as she looked around the room. He eyes finally fixed on Sally. She growled at her but Sally didn't notice. She was frantically looking around the room.

"Where's Sonic?" she cried.

"Amy said he was right behind us." said Bunnie.

T2 I can't hold it.

Hang in Petya.

I can't!

Everyone suddenly looked at T2 and Petya as Petya gave a shrill scream. The two red portals gave a large flash and suddenly shattered into a spray of shards. Both Amy and Sally stared at the portals as they disintegrated.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" they both cried.

Miles and Alicia suddenly burst into tear, joining Lavender. Everyone else in the room closed there eyes and looked at there feet. Sally's eyes were filling with tears. Amy burst into tears as she gripped Lavender closer. Bunnie ran over to Miles and Alicia. Knuckles looked over at T2 and Petya as, in a flash, they appeared again. They both fell to the floor hardly breathing. Knuckles ran over to them.

"They need help. Now!" he cried.

Sally suddenly looked over at T2 and Petya. Her eyes filled with hate and loathe.

"They don't deserve any!" she wailed, "They killed Sonic!"

She turned and ran from the room.