Eggman drummed his fingers impatiently on the arm of his throne like chair. It echoed around the empty chamber as the others waited in suspenseful silence. The deck was smaller and far less grand than the last egg carriers. It was going to seem far smaller once the landing party had finally boarded.
Amy stood next to Eggmans chair with her hands in shackles behind her back. Graves stood smartly to attention a short distance away. Amy had been frightened enough of him before she knew the atrocities he had committed. Now she remembered the terrified whispers whenever his name was mentioned. The look of fear in peoples eyes when he walked past. The constant worry that you were the one he was coming for next. But as frightening as Graves was, he was following orders from on high. Although the vile hedgehog enjoyed his work it had been Amy's father making the decisions.
And now he was here, all because of Amy. Her stomach sunk as she wondered if she had done the right think. No, she had to do it. She had to save Sonic. He was the one to stop all of this. The cards were right. She had to trust them, to trust him.
Amy glanced over to the other side of the room where Starline stood glaring at Graves. The platypus' arms were folded tightly across his chest. He watched the purple hedgehog from under a furrowed brow. Starline clearly didn't trust that Eggmans alliance with the emperor would work. Amy was certain that it wouldn't.
All too soon came the heavy footed sound of boots marching along the corridor outside. Amy took a deep breath and tried to steady herself as the doors slid open. Orbot and Cubot came in first ahead of the Parvus soldiers. The little red robot cleared his throat. More for dramatic effect than any practical purpose. After all, the metallic man didn't actually have a throat to clear.
"May I present his imperial Majesty emperor…"
"Amy's daddy!" Cubot interrupted with dramatic flare and Jazz hands.
Beside her Amy heard Eggman groan. The soldiers dressed in black lined the room. The hedgehog army raised their tall halberds and pointed them forwards forming an arch. A tall hedgehog stood at the end in a regal, red uniform with complete with flowing cape. A silver crown was perched on his copper red quills. The Emperors face was stony and unimpressed as he walked towards Eggmans chair. As the Emperor passed Graves the purple hedgehog bowed deeply, earning him an approving nod. Finally the Emperor reached Eggman. He did not turn to greet the human. Instead Emperor Rubrum turned to his daughter, carefully removed his glove and slapped her hard across her face.
Unable to raise her hands to break her fall Amy stumbled to the ground. She felt a metallic taste fill her mouth and was certain her lip was bleeding. She got carefully to her feet and met her fathers eye. Taking a leaf out of Sonics book she smiled sarcastically.
"Good to see you to."
The Emperor ignored her and turned to Graves. The commander nodded and motioned that his soldiers should lower their weapons. The did so but remained stiffly to attention. Their eyes were full of distrust and continued to focus on Eggman and his allies. Graves saluted the Emperor and waved a hand towards the doctor.
"Your imperial Majesty, may I present Dr Eggman." Graves said stiffly. "He is a scientist on this world who has assisted me in apprehending your treacherous daughter."
The Emperor nodded but still did not look at the Doctor. "Pay him for his services to the Empire and we shall be on our way."
He waved to the two soldiers nearest Amy and they stepped forwards to grab her.
"Now hang on a moment." Eggman protested as they started to drag Amy away. "You can't just come in here and take over."
Eggman faltered as the soldiers with sharp pointy sticks turned towards him. "What I mean to say," he spluttered, "Is that you are new to this world and I can be useful to you. Explain how things work around here."
"How they used to work." Graves sneered. "I think you will find His majesty has a very different way of running things."
"Which will go far smoother with my counsel." Eggman said firmly. "I can quite literally give you the lay of the land."
The Emperor considered this. "Very well, you may assist. Prepare a briefing for my soldiers by 0800 hours tomorrow."
Eggman nodded. Amy didn't like the look on his face. The doctor was clearly planning something. He had grossly underestimated the Emperor if he thought he could best him.
Amy was dragged towards the exit. As she passed Graves he smiled wickedly.
"And what of your daughter your Majesty?" He smirked. "She is a traitor to our people after all."
Amy struggled against the guards.
"Me a traitor?" She snarled. "You left half of our race to die on a planet you plundered into extinction and I'm the traitor."
"Survival of the fittest dear princess." Graves smiled, he stroked Amy's cheek with a long thin finger, "Your father has ensured the survival of our race by leading us to this new home. He has eliminated the poor and sick from our gene pool. Now your evil witch mothers blood will be erased from history."
"And your blood to." Amy said turning to her father. "I am the last of your line father. If I die, your lineage dies with me."
Amy's father breathed deeply as he mulled this over. "This is far too great a decision, even for an Emperor. Bring forth the oracle."
Amy's heart sank. Anything but that. They waited a while as the creature was summoned. She heard it before she saw it, shuffling along the corridor and muttering to herself. The old crane was hunched over in a shawl. Now totally blind the bird cast her milky eyes around the room. They seemed to settle on Amy. If Amy hated anyone as much as her father it was the Oracle. After all, the stupid old bird had been the cause of all of this. She had made the prophecy, she had ensured her mothers execution. Amy was certain the old crone had it in for her to.
The bird was led to the Emperor and bowed her long thin neck.
"Wise Oracle." The Emperor smiled. "I have need of your counsel once again. The last of my bloodline stands before you as a traitor. Can my line be redeemed?"
The bird cocked her head to the side. "Bring the child to me." She instructed.
Amy was shoved forwards unceremoniously. The bird shrugged off her purple woolen shall and pulled Amy in close, wrapping the pink hedgehog up in her large, white wing. The cranes bill was inches from Amy's face. She could feel the Oracles putrid breath against her cheeks.
The Crane was still for a few moments and then threw her head back with a terrifying, shrill shriek.
"I see it!" the Oracle declared. "I see your families fate My lord. All is not lost."
Sonic followed behind Tails. As the fox bobbed in and out of the trees Sonic was careful to keep the white tips of his tails in sight. They were moving fast through the bracken. Sonic knew they wouldn't have long once they reached their destination. The pair came to a clearing where a small group had gathered. Sonic scanned the assembled faces.
"Knuckles?" He asked.
"On his way." Jewel replied. "He said he had a surprise for us."
Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. No one else had been taken since their last meeting.
"We can't afford to wait too long." Rouge pointed out. "We cant risk our signal being traced."
There was a sigh from one of the trees. Sonic looked up to see Tangle the lemur resting on one of the branches, her long tail was wrapped around the trunk for support.
"I'm getting tired of all of this running." She said. "Cant we just find a new headquarters?"
"It's not safe." Tails reminded her. "They're tracking us all constantly. Besides the Parvus Empire has control of pretty much every major town now. The outposts are falling day by day. Soon he will have total control."
Sonic felt his knuckles clench at the mention of Emperor Rubrum. Since his army arrived they had spread through the world like a virus. Taking over with greater force and more brutality than Eggman had ever shown.
"They burned down three villages outside Sunset heights." Shadow supplied.
Tails nodded. "Sonic and I have just come back from there." He explained. "We were trying to get to the remains of the old Egg carrier. Couldn't even get close. Graves has it heavily guarded."
Everyone hung their heads sadly. They had never been so low and so without hope. Sonic dreaded the answer but he still felt compelled to ask the same question he asked every time the resistance met.
"Any word on Amy?"
Everyone shook their heads sadly. Initially it had been a subject of much debate between them, how to rescue Amy. Surely she could send her father back to where he had come from? But as time wore on Shadow had been the one to voice what they were all thinking. Her father no longer needed Amy and certainly couldn't risk keeping her alive. In all likelihood she had been executed.
But Sonic still held out hope. He couldn't quite explain it but he felt he would KNOW if Amy was gone. Until anyone offered him evidence to the contrary he was still convinced he would see her again.
"No one's been able to get near Rubrums ship." Whisper said quietly. "Rumors are that's where he's keeping Eggman."
Sonic nodded. The Doctor had been a fool to help the Parvus Empire. It had not taken Amy's father long to exploit the Drs genius and bolster his own army with Eggmans robots.
"Rescuing Eggman is only part of the problem." Sonic began. A voice from the trees interrupted him.
"One that I can help with." Knuckles said proudly as he burst into the clearing. Sonic could see that he was dragging someone along behind him on a long thin rope which bound his prisoners wrists together. A large bill poked out of a hooded cloak.
"Starline?" Rouge growled. "Are you crazy Knuckle brains? What have you brought him here for?"
"I captured him!" Knuckles said defensively.
"Actually I think You'll find I surrendered." The Platypus corrected him. Knuckles cheeks went bright red.
"Why would you do that?" Tails demanded.
Starline raised his bound hands and pushed the hood away from his face. "I need you to set the doctor free."
"So he can try and kill us instead." Knuckles scoffed.
Starline shook his head. "Even you fools have to admit Dr Eggman has never shown this level of cruelty." He said. "The doctor seeks order and control. Emperor Rubrums army kill indiscriminately. There will be nothing left to control by the time he has finished his campaign."
Sonic folded his arms, unconvinced.
"Do you know what happened to Parvus?" Starline continued. "I do. Rubrum drilled deep into its core and sucked out all of the oil. He built vast mines which crumbled the cities they were under in search for precious metals. When the whole world was nothing more than a dried out husk he abandoned his people in search of a new planet to exploit."
"How do you know?" Tails demanded.
"Miss Rose told me." Starline said simply.
Sonic tried to keep his face impassive as his heart leapt. "She's alive?" He said, as casually as he could.
Starline nodded. "She was as of three days ago when I left."
Shadow was clearly still suspicious. He strode across the clearing and poked the Platypus hard in the chest.
"And why exactly did you leave?" He demanded.
"They're exploiting the doctors genius." Starline explained. "He thinks he has found a way out of it but he…"
A sudden light flickered above them. Sonic immediately braced and got into his fighting stance. He saw the others do the same. Whisper drew her gun from its holster.
When the light faded everyone sagged with relief, except for Sonic.
"If you've come to warn us about an anomaly in the time line you're about three months late." Sonic snapped as a white hedgehog floated to the ground. Silvers face fell.
"I've missed the wedding?" He gasped.
Sonic felt his stomach drop.
"What wedding?" He growled.
There was a noise through the trees to their right. Feet marching through the woods, trees being blasted out of the way.
"They've found us." Jewel the beetle squeaked. "We stayed too long."
"Everyone scatter." Rouge instructed.
Silver grabbed Sonic by the shoulders and shook him urgently.
"Listen to me." He hissed. "It's not too late to stop this. You have to take Starline and run. In three days time Amy will be forced to marry Graves. Her father hopes to continue his bloodline through Amy's children. She will have twins and be executed. They will grow up raised by their father and grandfather. Together they will be crueler than anything we have ever dealt with."
Sonics mouth was open.
"You can stop it Sonic." Silver said and then leaned in to whisper so that Starline couldn't hear. "The twins are a fixed point in time. Amy will have them. The only thing we can change is who fathers them. If its Graves then all is lost. If it's the man she loves then the children will bring lasting peace to this land."
Sonic froze as the full impact of Silvers words hit him.
"Take Starline and run." Silver repeated. "We will hold them off."
Sonic looked at his friends. There faces were set and determined as the army marched towards them. He caught Tails eye.
"Go." The fox said softly. "We will see you again. I promise."
Sonic nodded. He grabbed hold of Starlines arm and with one final look at his friends sped away into the trees.
