(Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the games/characters; all credit goes to the original creators at Sega, please support the official release).

~What Would've Been: Another Light of Hope Sidestory~

It was early evening in Sunset Heights as the sun had just set. Nyx had just laid her newborn son, Finn, down in his crib after giving him one last feeding of milk for the night; Infinite slowly walked into the nursery to see her draping a small blanket over their infant son.

"He's finally asleep?", he asked.

Nyx looked back at him and smiled, "Oh he's out like a light! You know once he's got a full tummy, he'll sleep for hours!", she giggled.

Infinite walked over and draped an arm around his wife's shoulders, looking down at his sleeping child. "Look at him, Nyx. He's one of the most precious things in my life, next to you. Could you imagine what would've happened if you didn't save me? Or worse, if the Resistance hadn't succeeded?", he said.

Nyx hugged her husband tightly, "I don't want to think about things like that, Infinite. There's no reason to because everything is alright now: the war is over, Eggman is gone, all the civilians can return to their normal lives, and the two of us, along with our friends, are able to have lives of our own.

"And just look at us, Infinite. We have this nice house, we have each other, we have a beautiful baby boy, we have three little robots that help us out and you have Levi and Tempest, two members of your former squad who you had despaired were dead. I don't think about what would've happened because it didn't happen", she said.

Infinite sighed as he hugged her back, "I suppose you are right. Pfft, I don't know what I'd do if it weren't for you", he said. The two shared a loving kiss before the exited the nursery, leaving the door partly open so they could hear their son's cries.

They went to their bedroom to get ready for bed, they crawled underneath the covers before shutting off the lights.

"Goodnight, Infinite".

"Goodnight, Nyx".

"I love you".

"I love you, too!"

And with that, the two soon fell asleep.

[Dream Sequence]

Nyx stood by her friends on the battlefield as they and their forces were preparing for their final confrontation with Eggman and Infinite; little did they know that this would indeed be their final confrontation.

With a furious shout, Infinite shot a beam up into the sky, creating a replica of the sun with his Phantom Ruby, much to everyone's shock and disbelief.

"Whoa, you've got to be kidding. That's just a special effect, right?", asked Knuckles.

"No, it's not! While we're under the Phantom Ruby's control, it's a part of our reality!", said Tails.

"Unbelievable! What chance do we have against that?", asked Espio.

Just then, Dr. Eggman came flying by in his Egg Mobile. "The sun will fall upon you all. BOOM! THE END! Your pathetic lives are over", he said.

Nyx looked up at the sky in disbelief as she clutched the Phantom Ruby prototype she found earlier tightly to her chest, "This can't be happening! What do we do? How can we stop this-"

Suddenly, she was cut off when the ruby began reacting to her distress. Without warning, Nyx had suddenly glitched out of reality just before the fake sun finally came crashing down in a fiery blaze.

[Time Skip]

"Ugh...my head..."

Nyx groaned as she felt herself coming to, she was lying stomach first on the ground with the Phantom Ruby prototype still clutched tightly in her right hand; she slowly sat up, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

When her vision finally cleared, however, she was utterly horrified by what she saw: the entire battlefield was now a dry, scorched wasteland. The army of the Resistance was gone, there were no bodies anywhere, all that remained of them were burnt clothes and half melted Wispons.

Just then, Nyx heard two evil laughs behind her. She turned around to see Eggman and Infinite standing before her, "Well well, you must be a straggler who got left behind", said Infinite. Nyx only barely registered what he said because she suddenly noticed something out of the corner of her eyes.

Shaking her head in disbelief, she ran towards the object, dropping the Phantom Ruby prototype in the process.

"Infinite, stop her before she gets away!", Eggman commanded.

"She's not trying to run away. Besides, where would she even go? She had no one to turn to now, as she is about to see for herself", Infinite replied.

Nyx ran two feet away from the villains before she finally came upon the object she spotted: it was a single red sneaker with a golden buckle on the side of it. Nyx dropped to her knees as she slowly picked up the sneaker, then she suddenly began crying hysterically.

She was practically screaming up to the heavens as tears cascaded down her face at a heavy rate, her heart felt like it was breaking into millions of pieces and her soul was being torn from her body. The sneaker she picked up had belonged to Sonic, her best friend and hero, and it was the only thing left of him.

Nyx sat there hysterically sobbing for what felt like hours until her vocal cords gave out, her chest heaved from lack of oxygen and she became very dehydrated due to all the tears she shed. Now she simply sat on the ground, rocking back and forth as she cradled the sneaker in her arms like it was a baby.

Eggman and Infinite watched her curiously, "To think after six months of torture, I couldn't break Sonic. But in just a matter of seconds, I had completely broken this one girl's psyche. The question remains though...what to do with her now?", said Eggman.

"Well, you could kill her but that would be too easy. I think you should keep her around, use her as a way to break the remaining populace of the planet. When they find out Sonic the Hedgehog and all the other heroes are dead, and this one girl just barely managed to survive, it'll crush any last hope they have left", suggested Infinite.

Eggman smiled as he stroked his mustache, "You know, Infinite? That absolutely genius! It's the perfect plan indeed! Go grab the girl, once we lock her up, we can get started on our takeover of this planet", he said as he began walking away.

Infinite then walked over to Nyx, who was still rocking back and forth while clutching Sonic's shoe. "You're coming with us, girl. Resist and you will be severely punished! Do as we command and we might go easy on you", he said.

Nyx didn't respond, she simply muttered the words "dead...they're all dead...they're all dead..." over and over again. Infinite reached down and grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look up at him; he stared deeply into her eyes to find no light within them. No shine, no spark. Nyx's eyes were completely blank and lifeless, one would've mistaken her for a corpse if she wasn't still breathing.

"My my, it seems that spark of defiance that was once present in your eyes is now gone. You truly are broken now, my dear", Infinite said in a soft voice. Knowing Nyx wouldn't have the strength to stand up and walk, Infinite picked her up bridal style and carried her back to Eggman's fortress base.

[Time Skip: A year later...]

Eggman had fully established his new empire having taken over the entire planet, many of the poorer citizens were forced to work in his factories. Everyone else were allowed to go on with their lives but if they did or said anything that went against Eggman's rule, the punishment was either death or roboticization.

Eggman had disposed of all the world's leaders and as for G.U.N., with the lost of Team Dark, they were unable to fight back and soon became part of Eggman's military forces.

What happened to Nyx, though?

At the moment, she was being kept in a prison cell within Eggman's main base of operations, that also served as his living quarters. She kept under guard by Infinite, who made sure she wouldn't try to escape, not that that was ever an issue.

Nyx was beyond mentally damaged, far worse than when her parents had been murdered. She lost her old friends just as the war began and the war ended with her being the only survivor as Eggman destroyed her new friends along with the rest of the Resistance. She had soon developed "Survivor's Guilt", which was commonly associated with PTSD, and was described as when a person feels guilty because they survived a life-threatening event that others did not survive.

Nyx just sat quietly in the corner of her cell, hugging Sonic's shoe close to her body. It was the only thing she had left of her friends and Eggman allowed her to keep it, saying the sight of the shoe will keep her from acting defiant because there's nothing left for her to fight for.

Infinite walked by her cell one morning, holding a tray in his hands. "I've brought you breakfast as per Eggman's request. He can't use you as an example if you starve to death", he said. He placed the tray down and slid it through the bars of Nyx's cell, that's when he heard a voice.

"Is this what it was like for you all those months, Sonic?"

"Yeah, but it was little darker in my cell though!"

Then Infinite heard laughing, it wasn't until he took a closer look inside the cell that he realized what was going on. You see, a week ago, Eggman came to Nyx's cell and told her that she had been so well behaved, what with never once trying to escape, that she earned herself a reward.

He told her that, apart from her freedom, she could have anything she wanted. Much to Eggman's confusion, Nyx requested a pack of multicolored sock and an arts and crafts kit; as it turned out, she had used the arts and crafts kits to turn the socks into puppet versions of all her friends.

And now, Infinite was bearing witness to Nyx having completely lost her sanity as she was talking to a sock puppet of Sonic. She then picked up a sock of puppet of Shadow, "I still can't believe you really thought I was working for Eggman! Can't you tell a cheap clone from the original Ultimate Lifeform?", she said trying to mimic Shadow's gruff voice.

Nyx then dropped the Sonic puppet and picked up a Tails puppet, "We're sorry, Shadow. We should've known you'd never work for the bad guys", she said in a high pitched voice to mimic Tails. "Well, I accept your apology but remember that there is only one Ultimate Lifeform around here! Accept no substitutes!", Nyx said in a Gruff voice.

She then started laughing at her own joke before speaking again in her voice, "Oh Shadow, you're so funny! Who knew the edgelord had a sense of humor?", she chortled.

Infinite shook his head as he watched this, he honestly couldn't help but feel sorry for Nyx. She lost all of her friends, everyone she ever knew and possibly loved was dead, and she had been broken beyond repair. Now, she was playing with puppets of her friends due to her insanity brought on by her loneliness and PTSD.

"I...can't watch this anymore! I...I cannot allow this to continue!", Infinite said before he entered the cell. Nyx looked at him with her crazed eyes, smiling widely. "Look guys, its Infinite! Let's all take him down!", she shouted excitedly as she thrown her sock puppets at him.

They all lightly bounced off of Infinite's mask as Nyx started laughing crazily again, Infinite shook his head. "You poor girl. You are now beyond help, beyond sanity. You've completely lost your mind and have become nothing more than this pathetic shell of what you once were! Even I have to admit that this is wrong, its cruel to keep you like this. But at least..."

Infinite trailed off as he walked over to Nyx and wrapped his arm around her neck, "Huh? What are you up to? Sonic's gonna kick your butt!", she said crazily.

"At least, I will make sure your passing will be in peace", Infinite as in one swift motion, he snapped Nyx's neck, killing her instantly.

[End of Dream Sequence]

Infinite suddenly awoke with a fright, gasping for air. He looked around to see that he was still in his bed but Nyx wasn't lying next to him, "Oh no! Where is she?!", he whispered. He sprang from the bed and walked out into the hallway of the house, looking for his beloved wife.

He then found her in the nursery, sitting on a rocking chair as she breastfed Finn. "The little guy woke up crying, his diaper wasn't dirty so I decided to see if he was hungry. Turns out, he was", Nyx said in a tired voice.

Infinite, without warning, walked over to Nyx and lifted her out of the rocking chair. She held onto Finn as Infinite carried them downstairs where he sat on the living room couch, holding his wife and son in his lap.

"Infinite, what's going on? Why did you-"

"I had the most terrible dream! I've never been so scared!"

Nyx was shocked, Infinite sounded like something truly terrified him. "That's awful! Wanna talk about it?", she said. Infinite hugged her and Finn close to his body in a tight but loving embrace, almost as if they'd disappeared if he didn't held them.

"No! I'd much rather try to forget what I saw in my dream! Remember when you said you don't want to think about what would've happened if the Resistance lost? I don't want to think about that either! I don't wanna think about could've beens or maybes, all I want to think about is the here and now!", Infinite said.

He then brought Nyx in for a kiss, pouring all the love he had for her into it. "All I want to do now is forget my nightmare and focus on this dream, this dream that came true", he said through the kiss. Nyx hummed as she kissed him back, she had never felt so much love all at once but she liked it.

Infinite then broke away and looked down at his son, who stopped feeding and fell back asleep. He slowly took him from Nyx's arms and held him in his own, "All I want to think about is how grateful I am that the Resistance won, that Eggman is gone and that you gave me a second chance at life. I am finally happy and I want to stay this way forever", Infinite said as he held Finn close to his heart.

Nyx smiled as she hugged him from the side, "I want that too, Infinite. I want to be happy forever, with you!", she said.

[The End]

(This was basically a dark what if scenario that I felt like writing down. Hope it didn't scare you guys too much or made you cry too much ?)