Amy decided to arrive at Sonic and Shadow's place on time. She hadn't thought of any plan to win Sonic's affection. Today really didn't seem like that kind of day. Plus, Cream was at her side this time, doing whatever it is that Cream does. That blue thing was there too.

They entered Sonic's apartment, greeted their friends, then Amy placed the container of cupcakes she made for everyone in the kitchen. The whole Sonic squad was in attendance. For the first hour, Amy relaxed and talked with her friends. The party didn't really start until two additional guests arrived. Two that she hadn't been expecting.

The princess of Sol and her Death Scythe partner drifted into Sonic's apartment like angels straight out of heaven. Both wore jackets that probably cost more than Amy would ever dream of spending.

"I apologize. I don't know most of your names," Blaze said.

Knuckles, Tails, Cream, and Amy introduced themselves.

"I definitely remember you," Silver pointed at Knuckles before grinning.

"Don't worry, I don't start fights in Sonic's apartment anymore,"

"We're here to sit around and eat food, promise," Sonic added, recalling his first encounter with Silver.

"That's all I dream of doing," The death scythe savored the thought.

Silver sat by Sonic and Shadow and made small talk about Shadow's recovery. Amy was suddenly overwhelmed by the knowledge that there were three cute hedgehog boys attending this party alongside her. Her desire to have a husband, 2.3 kids, and a house burned brighter than it ever had. She couldn't just go over there, though. They'd tear her limb from limb. Plus, she had to stay loyal to Sonic. After noticing Blaze was now alone, she decided to get some intel.

"Hey, Blaze,"

"Hello,"

Blaze's expression didn't change. Amy respected the professionalism, seeing as how this was very serious business. She cut right to the chase.

"So, are you and Silver…"

"Weapon and meister? Yes,"

"That's not what I meant,"

"I know,"

With the room becoming more quiet, her reconnaissance mission was facing exposure. Amy decided to change the subject.

"Blaze, we should spar together sometime!"

The princess seemed surprised now. "Do you mean without weapons or…"

"With weapons! Cream and I can take on a death scythe!" Amy picked up the young rabbit, holding her up in front of Blaze.

"Hello," Cream smiled politely.

"This little bun might seem soft, but she's a lethal weapon!"

"I could say the same thing about Silver,"

The death scythe leaned his head on his hand, then looked over at his meister. "Oh sure, pick on Silver. What else is new?"

"How did you two become partners anyway?" Amy asked.

Silver lit up at the question. "Back when we were kids, I was a weird orphan. I guess I still am, but I wasn't a royal death scythe then. All of the other kids were afraid of Blaze because of her family. I didn't have any friends either, so I talked to her. When she said she could fight I said 'prove it,'"

"How'd that go?" Knuckles asked.

"Don't…" Blaze glanced at her weapon.

Silver chuckled. "She beat me up and called me a peasant,"

"Oh, God," Blaze sighed, rubbing her brow.

Sonic laughed. "I was expecting something a bit more subtle,"

"She saw me partially transform when we fought and asked to try resonating. We teamed up, but her mother shut us down. After that, we would sneak out and reap corrupted souls on her father's list,"

"That's awesome!" Amy cheered.

"Yes, it really was lovely," Blaze groaned.

"Why weren't you allowed to partner up?" Tails asked.

"Weapon selection in my family is a political move as are most things. Not the kind of move I was interested in making on their terms," Blaze replied.

"Now you guys should tell us how you all met," Silver said. "And I want to know why Lord Death doesn't like most of you,"

"They kinda go hand in hand," Sonic began. "Tails, Knuckles and I grew up together. Eggman used to have robots patrolling around areas without official meisters, but they were usually weird and defective. Like, they'd capture animals or harass random people. We'd bust them up, no problem. Tails would use the parts for gadgets and stuff."

"I was there too!" Amy pointed out.

"And Amy was there too,"

Tails jumped in to continue the explanation. "Eggman saw Sonic, Knuckles and I fight together and asked us to meet him in person here in Death City. We agreed, but only if he promised to take back his sub-par robots so they wouldn't interfere with people's lives,"

"And I joined the academy too!"

"And Amy joined the academy too,"

"Why do you call him Eggman?" Blaze raised an eyebrow.

"Have you seen the guy?" Knuckles asked.

"He's a big ol' egg!" Cream cut in suddenly.

"Come on, Blaze. Even I got that," Silver said.

Blaze didn't react to the various chuckles in the room. Instead, she gained an investigative glint in her eye. "Tell me why you partnered up with Shadow,"

Her tone caused Shadow to glance over with suspicion, and Sonic seemed caught off guard as well.

"Well, we were training and it just kinda worked out," Sonic said.

"Becoming a scythe meister takes a lot of dedication. You didn't just decide that on a whim did you?"

Sonic shrugged. "It was kinda sudden, but things went well and I wanted to help with Shadow's goal,"

Blaze's eyes narrowed. "Goal?"

"To become the ultimate death scythe,"

"Ultimate death scythe?"

Blaze stared at Shadow as if she were expecting an explanation for a crime. All he said was:

"Yeah,"

The princess faced Sonic, looking offended. "And that's something you want to help him with?"

Sonic hesitated, and tried ignoring his stunted motivation. "I guess I liked the idea of being the best at something. Now I'm just glad things are going back to normal,"

"Interesting," Blaze thought for a moment, then spoke again without much expression. "I'm glad you're both back to your normal lives. It was good meeting everyone, but I should get going,"

Silver glanced around, feeling a bit dismayed, then joined her. "Take care, everyone,"

An awkward silence came.

"That was…" Sonic began.

"Awesome!" Amy interjected. "Blaze and Silver are so cool! They've been fighting monsters in a distant land since they were kids! No wonder they're so strong! Plus, Blaze is royalty!" She let out an impatient grunt. "I want her to be my rival!"

Amy's ranting drew most everyone's attention away from the odd mood. Sonic couldn't help but wonder about his own circumstance as well as his lack of motivation. Blaze's behavior made him feel even more doubtful. He imagined Shadow might be feeling strange about the princess's departure as well, but he wouldn't dare look at his weapon to confirm that suspicion.

Despite the abrupt departure, the party would continue without further issue for another hour or two. The six friends enjoyed dinner together. Shadow had prepared some kind of curry beforehand, and had it ready to serve after a short while. Amy thought about commenting on how it was strange that Shadow cooked at a party thrown for him, or that he knew how to cook at all. After he seemed to enjoy one of the cupcakes she brought, she decided to cut him some slack. Also, the purpose of the party, or rather, his recovery from a horrific wound he'd suffered less than a month ago, merited a bit of additional leniency.

Outside of the party, in the streets of Death City, walked Tikal. She was wearing her lab coat from work at the DWMA, and seemed very much like the innocent school nurse she portrayed herself as. The sun was going down, and she was on her way home. Entering an alleyway brought forth a guest that wasn't entirely unexpected.

"Your school nurse persona is pretty convincing, I'll give you that much,"

She was wearing a black combat suit that was durable and tight fitting. A black facemask was pulled up over her muzzle.

"Oh my. Is that you, Shade? I almost didn't recognize you through that dreadful getup,"

"You'll be hard to recognize too, once I'm done with you,"

Tikal let out an exaggerated gasp and covered her mouth. "You couldn't possibly be suggesting…"

"Nothing personal. You've become too much of a liability. The other witches and I won't be safe until you're wiped away,"

Tikal moved her hand away and revealed expressionless lips. "If you're so worried about your own safety, you probably should have avoided visiting Death City of all places. A witch won't last long here without soul-protect,"

"It's a good thing my powers allow me to blend in with darkness and shadows. I can also hide my soul in darkness as well. So I'm going to attack you, right here. Escaping with my powers active won't be difficult. The same isn't true for you though, is it? If you want to defend yourself, go ahead and release your soul-protect. I'll be long gone before any meisters show up to wipe you out,"

"At least if I'm dead I won't have to listen to you ramble," Tikal sighed.

"Soul-protect, release!"

Back at the party, Sonic gasped after experiencing a familiar sensation and jumped up from the couch.

"What was that?" Tails sensed something strange off in the distance. He looked around, but only saw his brother dash out of the apartment.

Sonic sprinted out of the building and into the streets. A witch? In Death City? Such a thing was incredibly far-fetched, but he wasn't spending any energy thinking about that. All he could do was run.

"Leeching Daggers,"

Shade manifested her pink energy in the form of half a dozen daggers that hovered around her. She aimed them at Tikal until she felt a sharp pain in her head. She groaned and collapsed to the ground.

"Is something wrong, Shade?" Tikal smiled.

Shade groaned and grabbed at her head. There was a curse one her. It felt like a drill was boring through her skull. "How? You haven't released your soul-protect. When did you…"

"I planted it on you when we spoke at the last meeting. Manipulating spells after they've been planted is easy, and it doesn't disrupt soul-protect. Your plan was impressive, but it was foolish to confront me beforehand. You really gave away the game,"

Tikal heard footsteps and voices nearby, so she turned to look. Shade felt the pain stop suddenly. She just as quickly vanished into the darkness to flee the alleyway.

Sonic was only a block or so away from the witch's wavelength when he ran into Starline and Blaze, who was wielding Silver in weapon form.

"Starline, Blaze! You sensed it too?"

"Yes, but the wavelength just vanished," Starline replied.

Starline, Blaze, and Sonic ran together and reached where the source was before it had disappeared. The three of them entered the alleyway to see Tikal standing by herself.

"We sensed a witch in this area. Are you alright Doctor Tikal?" Starline asked.

Tikal felt a headache coming on. Three meisters were drawn here in such a short time. How annoying. "I'm fine. I came to investigate just like you,"

"We should head after them before it's too late," Blaze proposed.

Starline shook his head. "It's already too late. The wavelength vanished unusually fast. Finding that witch during a hasty search won't be likely. Whoever that witch was, they're quite adept at stealth it would seem. That would explain why they felt comfortable revealing their wavelength in Death City to begin with. We'll send out a team to do a more thorough search, but I doubt the witch planned on staying. The real concern is why they came to Death City in the first place,"

"Was that the witch from Kingdom Valley? The one who created the Darkling?" Sonic asked.

"It's certainly possible," Tikal said.

"No, that's highly unlikely," Starline began. "That witch would need a lot of knowledge regarding weapons and meisters to create something like the Darkling. I wouldn't be surprised if they were living here in Death City to observe the DWMA students. It's worth considering that they've infiltrated the academy itself. Either way, such a witch would need to keep a low profile and avoid detection. They wouldn't risk releasing their soul protect here,"

Tikal kept herself from sneering at Starline out of annoyance. Did he suspect her? If he'd deduced this much on his own after she'd been so careful, he was a real threat.

"Good point," Sonic sighed. He felt the chills in his body waver, and he relaxed a bit. Running here had been automatic, but it almost felt wrong. A new anxiety was brewing inside him until he was interrupted.

"Sonic! What happened?" Shadow approached his meister looking concerned.

"I sensed a witch, but they're gone now,"

"You sensed a witch, but ran off by yourself?"

Sonic stared at his weapon, then felt a wave of shame hit him. He knew that it was stupid to leave without Shadow, but something in his mind kept him from his weapon. He couldn't go on like this. After everything they'd been through, with all the problems that plagued him, Shadow still wanted to help. All Sonic had done was run away, towards a witch of all things.

"I'm afraid," Sonic said.

"Afraid?"

Sonic looked at his professor with determination. "Starline, you said you wouldn't help me until I knew what I wanted,"

"I did," Starline understood the look in his students' eyes. He couldn't help but smile.

"I want the strength to face..." Sonic turned and placed his hand on Shadow's chest, over his healed wound. "This scar. The darkling and the witch that created him. And whatever comes next. I want to get stronger,"

Starline nodded. "We'll start tomorrow,"

Shadow was frozen in place. Sonic hadn't touched him since he woke up in the hospital. For a moment, he didn't feel alone. That feeling went away when he noticed Blaze. She was staring not at Sonic, but at him. Her eyes reminded him of something he'd been trying to forget.

That he was a monster.