Tails looked into the green pool, started to turn away, and stopped. His reflection was moving, and he was not. Suddenly it seemed that the world around him vanished, replaced by a watery green color. Then it cleared and he found himself standing atop a platform. Millions of people were cheering, and Alene was right besides him gazing at him with an adoring look. Then Tails realized the people were cheering for him. He looked around, and he saw Sonic and Knuckles in the crowd, cheering as well.

He was bewildered for a second, and then slowly gave in to the crowd's adoration. He put an arm around Alene, his wife.

A small voice in the back of his head said, Wife? But the crowd's cheering drowned it out. Tails smiled broadly and waved, causing a greater cheer. He was enraptured. This was what he had always wanted...

Knuckles studied the blue pool, examining himself. He was quite dirty from fighting and digging, and his face a little haggard from too little sleep. Then his image changed, and the world around him vanished.

He saw himself hugging Rouge, and watching their kids play. He saw himself trudging across a hot desert, forsaking all to find a Chaos Emerald. He saw himself rejecting Rouge, telling her he needed to be alone. He saw himself dominating the earth through the power of Chaos.

Knuckles struggled against this, but it was no use. Then came the worst of all.

He saw Rouge teetering on the edge an abyss from which there was no escape, and he pushed her ever so gently over, so she fell, screaming...

And the worst thing was, Knuckles knew that it all could be true...

Retio looked over the stone rim into the green pool, seeing how the waters stayed still even though he breathed on them. Instead, they fogged up as they would a mirror, and the fog spread... It obscured everything, and the land vanished.

Retio found himself in a wooden clearing. He heard a sound and whirled around. Behind him was Saermore.

Saermore? Wasn't he taken? thought Retio. But then Saermore asked, "Want a match? Bet you can't beat me!"

"Oh yeah?" retorted Retio, rising to the challenge. "You're on!"

They play-fought, and Retio beat Saermore easily. They lay on the ground for a minute, panting.

"Hey Retio!" called a voice. Retio looked up. It was Gabriel.

"Your plan worked brilliantly! We won, all because of you! We're having a feast later, and you're the guest of honor!"

Retio got up. Saermore clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Good to be together again," he said, smiling. Retio grinned back, the cries of rejoicing and partying drowning out the voice in his head saying, Gabriel is dead...

Rouge looked at the pools. They were just pools! And yet she couldn't help but look into one, just to see how she looked... then the blue waters sucked her in like a vacuum.

She saw herself and Knuckles saying I do. She saw Knuckles hitting her, saying that he hated her and never loved her. She saw herself having all the jewels in the world and commanding the rest of the races with her power. She made them serve her. Rouge saw herself telling Knuckles she had never liked him in the first place...

And she saw herself shoving Knuckles out of the way, so that he fell into a pit of spikes while she eagerly grabbed a precious jewel.

Rouge cried out in fear and pain.

Sonic strode forward for a little bit after the pools, but stopped when he realized no one was following. He turned around, planning to ask something, but the words died in his throat.

There was no one there.

He ran back and looked around frantically. He looked into the pools, and even ran back a ways along the path. But there was no one there.

He walked slowly back to the pools. He had no choice. He must go on alone.

Sonic tried to go back the way he had come, but purple lightning flashed out from the clouds and struck the land strip leading from the island to the portal. It snapped, and a large piece fell out, preventing Sonic from going back. Now Sonic knew he was being herded forward, but he had no choice. The mists parted before him as he walked, but he still could not see for more than five feet ahead. The land strip became slippery, and soon all of Sonic's concentration was on keeping his balance. So he did not notice that the land strip came suddenly to an end.

Meanwhile, with Harry, Starlight, and Alene...

They rushed to the top of the tower, only to discover the remains of a battle. There were various eagles lying on the floor, some starting to wake up, shredded curtains (and a curtain rod), and many feathers. They noticed an open trapdoor near an overturned throne.

"They must have gone down here!" realized Harry. He grabbed two torches and gave one to Alene, who was finishing putting some salve on Starlight's leg. They started down the ladder.

They soon came to the same portal that Sonic and the others had, although they did not know this.

"Only way to go," said Harry, and he jumped in, followed by Starlight and Alene.

Harry, Alene, and Starlight ran as fast as they were able through the dark tunnel. Alene said nothing, but privately she was worrying about Tails. He was so sweet, and she would never forgive herself if something happened to him.

Soon they reached the glowing portal. Without hesitation, they all jumped through.

They found themselves falling, surrounded by millions of voices of lost souls... and then they landed gently in a gray world. The gray mist swirled around them as purple lightning flickered in the black sky.

"Careful," said Starlight. "The path is narrow here."

They walked, more slowly this time, until they came to a wide gap in the path. Beyond, a little way into the mist, they could see the outlines of two rectangular things.

"There's no way we'll be able to get across this thing," said Alene is despair. "It must have been broken on purpose! To prevent us from following!"

"Or to prevent someone from coming back," said Starlight ominously. Harry said nothing - he was studying the distance between the gap.

"Starlight," he said suddenly. She turned to him.

"Exactly how long is the bandage your leg is wrapped in?" he asked.
Starlight immediately caught on to his idea. "I don't know..." Alene unwrapped it for her, being careful not to jar her leg. It looked to be fairly long, almost ten feet.

Harry took the thick cloth and tied it to the hilt of the sword he was still carrying. Then he threw the sword to the other side. They heard a thunk as it sank into the ground solidly on the other side.

The cloth was not long enough to tie to the other side, and even if it was, there was nothing to tie it to. Harry held one end while Alene carefully crossed, going hand over hand while hanging from the bottom of the makeshift rope. They all held their breath, afraid the sword would not hold, but Alene was light and crossed safely. Then it was Starlight's turn. Alene held the sword to make sure it wouldn't come out while Starlight crossed. The journey was made without incident.

Then it was Harry's turn. Obviously, he could not cross hand over hand, and as she looked back across the gap, Alene wondered how he was going to make it.

"Hold the sword really tight, both of you," ordered Harry. Once both girls had a tight grip on the weapon, Harry jumped off the land strip into the gap. The sword immediately began to slip out of Alene's grasp as the weight of the human pulled it down. Both girls struggled to maintain it as Harry slowly climbed up the cloth to the other side. Then they noticed the cloth stretching thin at one point. Thinner and thinner it got, and just as Harry reached the top, it snapped. Desperately Harry grabbed the edge with one hand as the cloth fell into the bottomless darkness.

Alene and Starlight managed to haul him up. Panting at their close encounter with death, they headed toward the small island that was now revealed.