56 - Beginning Of The End

Scourge didn't move, and instead glared at Sonic down below. He rose his large chaos filled arms, and forced it's claws to come closer and channel power from within it's palms. Another ball of blackness was forming, along with scarlet red aura surrounding it. That kind of power would destroy this entire planet if Hyper Sonic didn't defuse it. The sun was still red, as was the sky, and the clouds were still moving over the world at an alarming rate. The flowers that bloomed in the room became ash, bricks of the wall vibrated or flipped out of place. Furniture toss and swung across the room, shattering upon impact. Everything was in shambles, which was the epitome of Fleetway's power: Utter chaos.

Sonic closed his eyes and tuned into his wavelength. Despite being in the dark mind of Scourge, Sonic could still feel Shadow's wavelength as well. He connected to it, and tried to communicate with him. He was getting a little static, but he wouldn't let that stop him. "Shadow," He said through their wavelength. "Scourge isn't holding back anymore. If we don't do this right, we all die. I need you and Maria to find Fleetway, and force him out of control." He instructed. "Don't be afraid of him, he's not so powerful when a host is using his abilities. All you have to do is disconnect him from Scourge, and I can deliver the final blow." After not hearing an immediate response, he became slightly worried. "Shadow? Maria? Can either of you hear me? Are you okay?"

"We're okay," He heard a deep voice reply, making him sigh in relief. "It's like a labyrinth in here, we can't find the bastard. Everything's a mess and we're getting disoriented."

"Don't play by Fleetway's rules. If you wanna beat him at his own game, you gotta break the rules. Blast your way through, don't do anything rational. Nothing you do can make sense, that's the only way to get to him." He explained. His eyes then glanced at Scourge, noticing that he was about to blast that thing right at him. "Scourge is about to attack, and this one is a doozy. If I can't defuse this, everything's going to hell. I need you to cause some havoc in there, Shadow. Can you do that?"

"Sonic...I don't think this is-"

"Shadow, trust me. This is me you're talking to, not Hyper. Please, just do what I say, I'll stay in contact with you two the entire time." Scourge began to holler as he prepared to launch it. "Do it! Now!"

Scourge's voice became completely demonic. "Black Hole!" He released a pitch black beam of power at Hyper, who was anticipating the collision. As it ate through everything in it's path, most of the castle was gone. Hyper then swung his fist down into the remaining ground on his side of the building, and punched it. His fist became enflamed with a spectrum of power, and he jumped up in the air to meet with the impending beam. He rose his hand high, small white balls of light appearing beside him. They then formed into large blade-like projectiles, that turned and aimed directly at the beam. Hyper then directed the projectiles towards it with his hand.

"Chaos Shower!"

The projectiles rained down upon the beam, stabbing through it and purging it with it's holy essence to disrupt it's energy from the inside out. Scourge flinched and grunted as he could feel the beam become disrupted. He couldn't hold it for long, but he was still standing strong. That wasn't good. If he caught his second wind, he could deflect all of it right back at Hyper Sonic. The blackness pushed back harder and harder, until Scourge began to lose his stance. He yelped as his eyes became crossed eyed momentarily. "..!" He couldn't see straight! He stumbled in the air, almost falling down. He lost control of his beam, and he lost the tug of war of energy. He closed his eyes and shook his head violently to try and fix his irises. Hyper smirked and felt the projectiles successfully cut through the beam. The beam then fell apart into black embers and returned to Scourge.

Though his attack failed, he still destroyed sixty percent of his castle. The only parts that were still intact was the side of the building Hyper Sonic was standing in. "Shadow?" Hyper Sonic tired to speak with Shadow again. "The attack failed, I think you did it. Now keep going, don't hesitate shooting your way through everything. Find Fleetway and disconnect him from Scourge."

"Right."

Hyper Sonic got into a fighting stance. This wasn't over yet-Woah. Holy shit!

Scourge continued shaking his head violently back and forth, mumbling cries of pain. He then tossed himself into an intact wall on Hyper's side, head first. "Get outta my head...!" He mumbled. "GET OUT!" He smashed his head into the wall over and over, attempting to get Shadow and Maria out. "AAHH!"

Shit! That was bad! If he did too much damage to himself, he could hurt them!

"Shadow?" Hyper spoke in their wavelength aloud. "Are you okay!?"

A light golden hedgehog blasted his way through numerous walls as he tossed multiple chaos spears into obstacles constantly. Dam it, this maze was impossible to get through. No matter how many times he destroyed a wall, there was just another one right behind it. There had to be a better way to get through this damn place. "Maria," Shadow called as he skated forward. "Do you sense anyone?" She was silent, be he could feel the negativity from her spirit. In other words, no. She couldn't sense anyone in this damned place. And how the hell could she? This place was literally nothing but corridor after corridor. The second Shadow appeared in Scourge's head, he was met with a scarlet red room with an open path at the end of a stretching hall. Once he walked through it, that same hall just repeated itself over and over again. Sonic told him to just smash his way through walls, but that wasn't working either. It was just the same damn hall with each one that he smashed into.

He was getting irritated and worried. Sonic said Scourge was going all out, and one wrong move could kill everyone and everything. If he didn't find Fleetway, they would all be doomed. Damn it, this wasn't working. Shadow slowed to a stop and stood still. He looked around, seeing that he was in the same hall as he was before. He tried to think for a moment. What did Sonic specifically say? He said that he couldn't be rational, he had to break the rules. That was the only way to get in contact with Fleetway, by fighting fire with fire. If Fleetway was all about mania and chaos, that Shadow couldn't act with reason. He had to do something crazy, something that not even the deity of havoc could anticipate.

That's when it hit him.

The craziest thing Shadow could do, would be to try and use Fleetway himself. This was extremely dangerous and risky, but it was all he could think of. "Maria, rest." She did as she was told immediately, and Shadow's super form faded away. Once it did, he immediately hunched over and puked while falling on his knees. Sweet God, the atmosphere in this corridor was so toxic, he instantly felt nauseous just breathing it's air. Okay, no, he had to fight through it. Now think, besides getting into Sonic's head, what else did Scourge do to summon Fleetway? No, he was an anti, so he had to get Fleetway in a roundabout way. No, he couldn't play this by his rules, he had to do it in his own way. Fleetway was a demonic presence, right? Well, any demonic sacrifice required blood, didn't it?

Shadow spawned a chaos spear in his hand, and shoved it down onto his own wrist. It cut in deeply, blood splattering on the floor below him.

"Where ever you are, I'm sacrificing my blood to you!" Shadow announced to no one. "I want a contract, and I'm willing to die to get it! As your Champion's lover, the last thing you want is for me to die, so show your face in front of me!" He said. Still no answer, and he still couldn't feel a presence. He was being ignored. Fine then. This was for Sonic, after all. Shadow rose the chaos spear's blade towards his neck and began to cut through slowly with a pained hiss. More blood dripped down, his eyes closing shut as he continued to cut deeper. He could feel Maria get highly concerned. If he cut any deeper-

Suddenly, everything went pitch black.

"..!?"

A bright red light appeared in the darkness.

Then...He heard chanting. Who was that whispering? Now it was it getting louder. It was gaining more acoustics by the second. The vocals on whatever was making that horrid racket, sounded ominously distorted. Abruptly, something began to push him forward. Like a strong wind, or a large hand shoving him along. He tried holding himself planted on the floor while trying to figure out just what was going on. Red aura flowed towards the light, making it bigger and brighter. Shadow narrowed his eyes, waiting cautiously for what would come next.

And then, he saw something horrifying.

The scarlet light imploded on itself, making the aura explode all throughout the empty space. In the midst of the light, a large silhouette of pure chaos formed. It was a normal hedgehog figure, like they were in a super form. But then, behind it, was something that was growing much larger. It was some kind of creature he couldn't even begin to describe. It was something straight out of a lunatic's worst nightmare. It had lanky like limbs, sharp long fingers that stretched. Weird swirling red eyes that were hypnotic. It loomed over Shadow like a sparrow, hunched over him. The hedgehog silhouette was no better. It was morphing and changing into odd things he couldn't even understand. This creature, this form, was something truly straight out of hell.

In fact, Shadow felt extreme fear. He never felt this scared of anything before, but his heart couldn't stop pounding. He could even feel that Maria was frightened as well. Shadow backed up a little bit, before stumbling over his own feet and falling onto his bottom. He couldn't stop this fear, this bug of terror crawling through his ears and into his head. He felt sick, he felt disturbed, he felt like crying. This power, this energy was so repulsive and cruel that he almost wished he was dead. He just covered his face with his hands, shielding his eyes away from that nasty looking thing. He couldn't face it, he just couldn't.

"Face your fears, bio-mortal." A hellish voice spoke.

Slowly, Shadow uncovered his face and watched as blood dripped from his eyes. He then glanced upwards at the being before him, and gagged. Oh God, oh sweet merciful God...It was him.

Fleetway.

There was a golden hedgehog surrounded in bright scarlet aura. His fur was roughed up, his eyes were red vortexes that constantly spun hypnotically, his shoes that made a mockery of Sonic's signature footwear were torn up and scratched. And his mouth-God. It was ripped and stitched up at the sides. Jagged and sharp quills, torn socks and gloves that had claw-like nails growing out of them. This was truly a monster. Even as it breathed, a disturbing hissing noise flowed through his nostrils. "Why, you've caught my attention." It said. "Isn't this what you wanted?" Shadow trembled, he couldn't even move. That's how hard the pressure was in this pitch black room. Rolling his swirling eyes, Fleetway snapped a finger, forcing Shadow into his super form instantly. He was now able to tolerate the room's grotesque atmosphere with Maria's protection. "How curious," Fleetway noted. "A human girl acting as a divine spirit? Impressive. Now," He continued as Shadow scrambled to stand up straight while coughing his lungs out. "What is it that you desire, bio-mortal? You tried to get my attention earlier, did you not? I didn't want to waste my time with you, but then you did something quite unusual that I didn't expect." A wicked smile grew on his ripped muzzle. "You nearly committed suicide for your lover, all just to come in contact with me. How reckless."

"I-I," Shadow cleared his throat and settled his eyes on the demonic hedgehog before him. "I want you to cut off Scourge from your power."

"That, I cannot do." He replied while shaking his head. "I've already made a contract with this current host: He brings permanent destruction and misery among multiple realities, and I sit back and enjoy the show."

"But why?" Shadow angrily protested. "Why would you help a rebel cause havoc to your Champion? A rebel that's trying to destroy you all!?"

Fleetway made a smirk. "Silly bio-mortal...I see you don't understand what's happening here. Come here." He wagged his clawed finger at Shadow, beckoning him to move closer. His swirling eyes glinted scarlet, and soon, so did Shadow's. Mindlessly, he walked over closely just as he was instructed, until he snapped out of his control and blinked several times. He just mind controlled him without issue, that fast. "Mmnn," Fleetway made a low moan and he circled around Shadow. "I see why my original host wanted to bed you..." He eyed Shadow up and down hungrily. "You are quite a well-built specimen despite being an abhorrent homunculus of chaos and science. If you had asked me for a contract before the anti-Sonic did, I would have gave you my power without question~"

"Get away from me." Shadow snarled.

"Ah, but you haven't heard my secret." He then bent forward towards Shadow's ear and began to whisper. "..."

"..."

...

...

...

...Shadow's eyes widened. His pupils shook, and he whipped his head at Fleetway. "Y-You can't be serious! All this for that!? Why-How...!?"

Fleetway gently shushed him, holding up a finger towards his own lips with a wink. "Shhh. My current host is not allowed to know just yet."

"But, b-but then why?" Shadow asked almost desperately. "Why!? Why are you still going through with this? Sonic could die thanks to you!"

Fleetway shrugged and crossed his arms. "I suppose I was having fun, a little too much fun watching so many worlds crumble at once." He levitated in the air and crossed his legs. "And, I suppose that's what you want? For me to disconnect myself from anti-Sonic and bring this fight to a close once and for all?"

"Yes!" Shadow yelled.

The demonic hedgehog chuckled. "I see..." He snapped his fingers, and a scroll appeared before Shadow. "This is a contract. Usually, the original host has no need of such a divine document, but anyone that isn't my original host nor an anti who tries to use my power, must sign it in order to complete a deal." He flew over to Shadow's side and placed his hands onto his shoulders while leaning closely against his face. "Now pay attention, bio-mortal, this is crucial. It says here in Chaotic Code, that I will denounce and destroy my deal with the anti-Sonic if you promise to do this one thing."

Shadow's eyes moved from left to right. Wait-What? This didn't make any sense. "I-I...I don't understand. How do you want me to-"

"Shhh, my current host cannot know what we are speaking about." He murmured against his ear.

He wanted him to do that? He didn't know what that meant, but, if it could help Sonic, he had to do it. However, he was no fool. He scowled and looked over at Fleetway defiantly. "...I read something in Scourge's old study," He said. "It said that above all else, you of all the Divine Spirits, are nothing but a filthy liar." His eyes sharpened. "This is a monkey's paw, a trick. There's a loophole in here for you that you'll exploit. I'm not signing this."

Fleetway leaned back with a smirk and tilted his head. "Ah? You who so willingly was just about to give his life for his lover, is now refusing to sign a flimsy piece of dusty papyrus?"

Shadow snatched the scroll from in the air, and tore it in half. "Damn right." He retorted. "I'm here to help Sonic win, not put him in even more danger. I do want a deal, but I don't want one by your rules," He held out an open hand to the side, his palm glowing golden. Suddenly forming from golden and amber embers, a piece of paper appeared, written in straight up English. "If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this my way, demon."

The demonic hedgehog rose a brow curiously. "My," He said. "I see that even without that girl possessing you, you still would defy me even in utter fear." He smiled in satisfaction. "Very impressive." He landed on his feet and placed his hands on his hips. "I must say, this is very interesting, and it does sound fun. But," He tapped his finger against his side impatiently. "What's in it for me, bio-mortal?"

"That thing that you want me to do? I have no problems doing that as long as you promise not to interfere with anything Sonic does from here on out."

Fleetway frowned. "Really? Nothing else? Wealth? Power? The destruction of those weakling humans who took that poor girl away from you? Perhaps," He grinned maliciously. "Bringing her back to life-"

"No." Shadow instantly refused. "You are the Devil, and anything you spit at me that seems attractive is nothing but lies. Either accept my terms, or we can be done here." He threatened.

"Funny, you say that as if you are negotiating from a position of strength."

"Ah, but I am." Shadow retorted. "For one, I am your Champion's lover. You need me to keep him happy. Second, I am the only formidable living creature alive that will give you a powerful offspring, should Sonic try and reproduce." He could see that Fleetway's eyes glinted in interest the second he mentioned that. "Third, as of right now, I'm the only one that can do that thing for you. I am the only other powerful chaotic being on Mobius that can do what you want me to do with Sonic. And for something that ludicrous to be accomplished, someone compatible has to do it with him, not anyone else from any other reality. I am the only one fit for your task." He stayed firm and grounded in his argument. "Finally, four, you're bored." He pointed out. "I can tell you are. Scourge is nothing but a broken record. Sure he destroyed multiple worlds but, for you, is that even enough? You're a God of destruction, a red horse riding through pestilence. Blood lust and chaos is all you live for. You can't be bored. It was probably fun for a few weeks, and then you probably found it all stale and only kept going due to his contract binding you to stay attached to him. Is a broken child throwing a constant tantrum for years what you really want? Or, do you want to return to a host that won't disappoint you?"

Fleetway's grin faded. "How do you know he won't disappoint me? He hasn't used me in years. The second I return to his body, he'll keep me locked away all over again." He scowled at Shadow, and his presence was becoming irritated. "Why should I listen to your feeble words, bio-mortal?"

"Because it's your fault that he won't use you." He curtly pointed out. "All you and Dark do is invade his mind and force your influence onto him. Slowly but surely, Dark began opening up to both me and Sonic. If you did that, perhaps he'd be more open to using you in the future." He pointed to the floating paper. "My contract says you can't interfere with whatever Sonic does from here on out, it doesn't say you can't be in his life anymore. Besides, my contract is forfeit the second Sonic comes to you personally, isn't that right? As the original host, his word overrides mine."

Still not completely persuaded, Fleetway squinted his eyes. "So you're telling me to have faith that my original host will one day come to me on his own?"

"Yes. Maybe if you all didn't shut Sonic out so often and actually communicated with him beyond cryptic dreams and whispers in his head, he'd try and come to you a lot more willingly and not waiting until his nineteenth birthday just to come and say hi for a power upgrade." Shadow's fierce stare eased and softened. "Do you understand? Forcing it on Sonic isn't the way to get what you want. Take it from someone who's hopelessly in love with him," He placed a hand over his chest, fondly thinking of his lover. "That hedgehog, he's too damn stubborn to do what anyone wants. I've found that living beside him, the only way to get what you want, is to feed a nest of bees with honey, not vinegar. If you want him so badly, you have to do what he wants for a change and stop fighting so much in his head all the time. Hell," Shadow said. "Did you notice that Scourge had to rip you out of his head? He struggled to penetrate himself in his mind, he didn't want him to steal you away from him. Doesn't that mean anything? If he really didn't want you as a burden anymore, don't you think it'd be easier for him to give you up, get Hyper to activate his full power then destroy you both in one go?"

"..." Fleetway didn't know what to say.

"Even now, he wanted me to disconnect you from Scourge, not fight you or try and incapacitate you somehow. He wants you back in his head where you belong, with the Champion. Not the head of some rabid animal that needs to be put down." The demonic spirit looked down at the floor with, what appeared to be a genuine somber look. Wow, this thing had feelings? "I see now that you all aren't without emotions. I found that out through Dark, and now I see that through you, too. You all do love and care for Sonic, you just want his attention. After all, he's your child, right?"

"...Yes. Yes, he is." He then closed his hypnotic eyes and sighed. "Fine. You've got yourself a deal, Project Shadow."

The striped golden hedgehog almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. He did it! He convinced him!

Fleetway snapped his fingers, and a strange illegible signature appeared on Shadow's contract. He hissed in pain as it corrupted the paper. It shriveled up in scarlet embers, sealing the deal. "However, I'd like to tell you one more little secret." He floated over to him, and leaned forward to whisper in his ear once more. "..."

After a few moments of silence, Shadow nodded. "I understand, and honestly, I'm not surprised."

"Indeed. Now understand," Fleetway held up a finger. "I have a plan, and you better follow it accordingly."

"Of course."

"Ngh...!"

"You did this! You bastard! I'LL KILL YOU!" Scourge hollered as he swung wildly at Hyper with his gargantuan arms. They threw several black beams at him, that wasted away anything it came in contact with. One already grazed Hyper Sonic on his leg, and it burned painfully. It was like it was eating away at his flesh, and it was hurting with waves of pain over and over. Hyper Sonic dodged over and over, jumping and flipping, sometimes flying in the air to dodge these attacks, but he wasn't able to avoid all of them. He got grazed once more on his shoulder, and he cried out in pain. Scourge was overestimated, he was going crazy with power. His eyes were bleeding scarlet tears, and he was angrily throwing his power at him in a fit of pure rage. "I had it all! I had everything! You ruined it! YOU RUINED ME! I only fell for you because I wanted to be you! I should have been you! I should have been the fucking Champion! I should have been adored! I should have been loved! ME!"

Hyper fell down to the ground, gritting his teeth in both pain and anger, but then he saw the expression on Scourge's face. His face, it was all red and puffy. His teeth were painfully clenched, his eyes were more than damp with frustrated bloody tears. Hyper was going to get back up but, seeing Scourge like this, it was boring him. His lust to continue this battle was diminishing slowly. So he just leaned back against the wall, placing his hands on his knees as he watched with disdainful eyes as his anti made his move. Scourge hesitated in finishing his attack, the room seeming to fall into silence, minding the faint humming of chaotic power buzzing from his body. Scourge sniffled, before growling and looking Hyper Sonic in the eyes.

"Why? Why would you fuck with me like that?" He whispered. "Sonic would never do that, you know, and I know for damn sure you're not him anymore."

The divine hedgehog sighed curtly and pursed his lips. "You done yet?" He asked rhetorically. "Chaos, you're such a fuckin' buzz kill. I was getting pleasure from this fight, you were entertaining me..." Hyper placed a hand underneath his muzzle and leaned his elbow against his knee in boredom. "But now you're just an emotional mess. Try me when you get serious, buddy. Oh and, let's get something clear." Hyper added while raising his voice. "I am still me, Scourge. Just because I've gathered the balls to get on your level, doesn't mean I've lost sense of who I am. No, I'm still in control here." He stood up and casually began pacing across the room towards his anti who was still in the air. "But see, that's so text-book villain of you. The second the hero wants to get down and dirty, now I'm the bad one. Now I'm the one who's lost his shit, now I'm the one who's crazy. Now I'm the fucking bad guy." He stopped moving, and spat on the ground in front of him to get some blood out of his mouth. "Yeah? Well no fucking shit, Sherlock. You wanted this. You wanted me to break, right? Well guess what baby," He rose his hands with a bitter smirk. "You've got what you always wanted. An angry, bitter, pissed, and enraged Sonic, who doesn't give a flying fuck what you, or anybody else in this fucking universe thinks of him anymore. My guilt, my anxiety, my fears, they're nothing to me anymore. I just want you dead. And every tear you shed like the bitch you are, makes me fucking ecstatic inside."

Scourge was, speechless at this. He just, continue to float there perched near a wall, his body not moving to make any attack.

"You know something else?" Hyper added as he began walking around again. "Love is a funny thing. You fall for somebody, think they're perfect without flaws. You get in that puppy love stage, where everything's amazing and all you wanna do is fuck until your legs give out." It sounded as if he was speaking from experience. "Then they start living with you, and you get to see their true colors. You question yourself, 'do I wanna stay tied down to the image of something I thought was perfect and live in fantasy land', or," He turned to Scourge and rose a brow. "'Do I wanna except their flaws, and keep fighting to love them?' See, the difference between you and Shadow is that he fought to accept me, no matter how hard I fucked up. And I did the same for him. But you?" He made a cocky laugh. "Please. You couldn't stand me when I was in my Dark form in No Zone, and you damn sure can't handle me as I am now. If you can't handle someone at their worst, you don't deserve their best, you don't deserve whatever you deem as 'perfection'. All you wanted was the fantasy you thought up in your head, instead of what you're actually getting now even though this is the very fucking thing you thought you wanted." Hyper scoffed and made a pitiful smile at him. "You're just like Fiona, Scourge. A lost fucking cause who doesn't what the hell he wants, so now he's lashing out like a fifteen year old girl on her fucking period."

Something in the anti snapped for the final time.

With a barbaric scream that resembled a cornered animal crying out to attack, Scourge unleashed a black beam of corrupting power towards Hyper, who unfortunately took the brunt of the attack. Howling in agony, Hyper Sonic hit the ground while landing on his back, screaming in pain at the energy that was eating away at his flesh. He quickly put up a multicolored shield around his body that thankfully protected him from the rest of the wave of the beam, but it was too late. He was severely injured and he couldn't move to heal himself. Still, he didn't regret saying all that. This is what he wanted, to break Scourge. The more he acted irrationally, the more time Shadow would have to destroy his mind from the inside out. He could feel it, it was almost time for the final strike. So Sonic continued to lay on the ground, and closed his eyes to concentrate on healing.

Scourge stomped down onto the remainder of the floor, and rose up his giant oozing arms to attack the force field protecting Hyper Sonic. As he swung at it, he screamed things that Hyper couldn't hear from the other side. His voice was muffled from in here. Scourge hollered angrily and pathetically, screaming and cursing his name over and over. "Don't you fucking lie to me! This isn't Sonic! I refuse to believe that bullshit! My Sonic would never talk to me like that! My Sonic would never give up who he is just to win! My Sonic wouldn't do this! He wouldn't do this! He can't do this to me! Not to me!" He closed the large fists together and swung them down onto the force field. "Sonic let me in, he saw me at my worst! I was his friend! We could have been best friends! He talked to me, he played the piano with me-He let me kiss him!" He swung and swung and swung..."He let me in...He let me in..! He let me in! LET ME IN!"

A white flash appeared in front of Scourge.

Sonic was no longer in that force field, and was now right in front of him.

Scourge's mouth slightly gaped open as his eyes became miniature pupils of absolute shock and fear. "I-I...Wha...?"

Hyper just gave him a warm smile. "Scourge?" He asked gently as he slowly placed his hands over the gigantic oozing arms. "Die for me." And right after he spoke those words, he sharply rose his arms up, revealing the chaotic swords that were in his hands. Scourge wailed with pain, as Hyper Sonic just swiftly sliced his gigantic arms off. Since they were attached to the real deal, Scourge was now permanently armless. With black blood splattering everywhere, Scourge's ear shattering hollers of pain broke the glass windows again. Hyper still had many wounds, but he healed himself to a point where he could move effortlessly and continue fighting. He then swung his leg, kicking the bleeding Scourge into the air, before chaos controlling high above in the sky. As he began to descend down to him at rapid speeds, time seemed to slow down for Scourge.

As he watched Hyper charge towards him with power developing in his arms, he saw how beautiful he was. Even as he said those awful things to him, even as he hurt him without mercy, he still looked so perfect. So beautiful. So gorgeous. Even though he hated him, even though his love for him was all mounted on a monstrous form of jealousy, he still loved him. He still cared for him. He still didn't mind, if he took his life and lost everything. Bloody tears floated in the sky above him as he fell in the air, the scarlet red sun's painful rays shining down upon him.

Time sped back up, and Hyper slashed down at Scourge with his dual chaotic swords. But he didn't stop. After he slashed his chest, he spun himself into a ball and made rapid circular attacks all over Scourge's body. The chaotic swords cut through it all. They slashed his arm stumps, his legs, his quills, his head, his face, his muzzle, his shoes, his knees, even his ears. The room was decorated in black splatter, as Hyper Sonic continued to spindash-slash him into oblivion. After finally giving Scourge yet another coat of slashes from his swords, Sonic uncurled himself and held out a hand above him. "Hyper Blast!" The namesake of the attack blasted through Scourge like a vaporizer. A rainbow energy beam of heavenly yet devilish power could not be countered, nor could it be avoided. He couldn't chaos control away, he couldn't move his arms. He was in despair, he was stuck. It was over.

It made a devastating hole through his entire torso, and he fell down onto ground.

Hyper Sonic chaos controlled in front of him and instantly reached down to seize and yank his body back up from the ground to his level by pulling on his collar. He then made his swords disappear, and used his free hand to slap it on top of Scourge's forehead. Hyper Sonic's eyes became fully hot pink as he stared into Scourge's fading irises. "Shadow, now!" He yelled.

Scourge suddenly found his voice. "No...!"

"Chaos-"

"NO!"

"Reduction!"

"NOOO...!"

Hyper roughly retracted his arm back from his head, his fingers holding onto something as he did so. He ripped something out of Scourge's head, the scarlet red silhouette of something demonic and immoral. It screeched in pain as it made contact with open air, and faded away back into Hyper Sonic's figure. Scourge's eyes were fully white, with no pupils nor irises visible. His screams instantly cut off as his brows furrowed in silent pained despair. His body lifelessly but slowly, flopped onto the ground. His clothes were in tatters, as were his shoes. He had no arms, with black blood spewing out of clean cut stumps. There were many splatters on Hyper's body as well, but his aura just caused it to steam off to clean his fur. The divine hero just stared down at his body in a strange sense of emptiness. He held no particular expression. Was it of disappointment? Disgust? No, neither of these things. He was just...

Bored.

Hyper sighed and got down on his knees to look closer at the body. Scourge wasn't dead, not yet. He could still feel his life force. Scourge's fur faded back to a murky sickly green, and he was no longer in that stolen form. He was now nothing but a weak mutated hedgehog. Or, wait, he could fix that and make things even more accurate. The hero snapped his fingers, and in a white flash, Scourge's fur became a dull blue. Now he was no longer mutated, back to his original self, before this all started. At least he could die as the true anti-Sonic. That'd be the only mercy he could give him, living a lie but dying as who he truly was. As the hero stared at the bleeding body, he realized what happened: He won.

He won.

It was over.

He made a stifled laugh, before making a small sob. His eyes quickly became moist, as he chuckled a little more. He placed his hand over his mouth as he closed his eyes and looked away. His body still shaking as he cried while laughing. It was done. It was finally fucking done. It was finally over. This nightmare, was over. He sniffed, rubbed his arm across his nose and stood up over the body. Scourge still wasn't dead just yet. Hyper Sonic then held out a hand in his direction. "Removal." He commanded. Just then, amber and gold embers appeared. They swirled around before mashing together and forming a familiar silhouette. Now materializing in the real world, light golden fur appeared, along with bright red streaks running along the figure. Hover boots stepped aside from the body, and ruby eyes met hot pink. Super Shadow was back.

The room was understandably, utterly silent.

...

"...Hey." Hyper Sonic greeted softly with tired eyes.

"Hey." Super Shadow greeted back with a similar sense of exhaustion. He slowly glanced down at Scourge's body, noticing just how mutilated it was. Sonic really didn't hold back. Shadow closed his eyes with a long heavy sigh. "You did it." He said.

Hyper nodded. "Yeah...Yeah, I did." He looked down. "Thank you, for trusting me."

Shadow nodded back. "Of course." He opened his eyes and turned his attention away from the corpse. There were so many cuts and slices all over his body that Shadow stopped counting at eighty five. Sonic decimated him, and yet he was still bleeding out. "What do you wanna do with him?"

"Um," Hyper slowly shook his head, slightly out of it. "I don't...I dunno, um," He raised his hands up to his face and turned his back on the corpse. "Just, gimme a minute..."

Shadow noticed his discomfort and stepped behind him to place a hand on his shoulder. "Sonic," He addressed warmly. "Hey, look at me." He gently commanded. He turned him around and pulled him close in a strong embrace. He heard the hero's soft cries against his chest fur, his face hiding against him. He was in shock, he was just starting to register what he did: He took the life of another living being, brutally. Sonic was right, he'd need a few minutes at the very least. Shadow rubbed his back while letting him nestle against his fur. His fingers calmly stroked through his quills, his lips just barely pecking his head for affection. "It's okay," He whispered. "It's okay." It didn't matter what else was happening right now, he needed to comfort him. So, Shadow scooped him up in his arms and rose into the air. As he ascended, he sat down on air and placed Sonic in his lap to cry.

The sun was beautiful, right now. It was a pretty golden yellow, the sky a perfect sky blue. The clouds were a fluffy white, slowly inching their way over the atmosphere. As Shadow hugged Sonic close to him, he could feel Maria rise behind them, and wrap her arms around the both of them with a smile in spirit.

The ultimate life form closed his eyes, breathing in the clean air.

Time passed.

Not a lot, only by about, maybe fifteen minutes. Sonic stirred in Shadow's hold, and the biohog could feel Maria's presence disappear. Hyper Sonic continued to rest his head against his shoulder as he sat in his lap, and opened his eyes to the new healthy sun of this world. He rubbed his hand against Shadow's chest, his fingers looping through strands of his fur. "Shadow," He whispered. He felt his lover reach down and raise his chin. He leaned closer and they both shared a passionate kiss. It wasn't rough, it was calming, and long. Hyper closed his eyes and he deepened the kiss while wrapping his arms around his neck. "Mmn," It was becoming heated, and Sonic found himself wrapping his legs around Shadow's waist as well. And then, tears fell down his muzzle as he broke the kiss. "I'm sorry," He murmured. "I'm so sorry..."

Shadow shook his head at him. "Stop apologizing." He replied back. "It's not your fault," He kissed him again, ending a lot more quickly this time. "It's not your fault, Sonic." He kissed against his head again. "I love you, never forget that. I love you so much." He repeated. "You're so strong, you fought so hard, all by yourself. You were all alone, you were getting hurt, bleeding. You nearly died so many times, I'm sure." His ruby eyes held some empathy, and sorrow. "But it's over now," He said. "It's over now, and you can rest. You can finally rest."

Hyper Sonic sniffed a bit more before replying, "Not yet," He said. "Not yet, I can't. We still have worlds to restore." He placed his hand over Shadow's, and held onto it tightly. "I have a plan."

Shadow nodded. "Alright, I'm with you until the end."

From afar, one could see a beautiful multicolored light shine in the sky. From the window of a small young fox, he watched as the world that he knew as nothing but ruins, slowly began to restore into a place he could no longer recognize: A normal looking world. The old castle, was standing tall and no longer decrepit with age. The castle town wasn't falling apart anymore, and it almost seemed like the place was full of life again. Houses were built back up, trees regained their leaves. Birds chirped and flew back in the air, animals howled into the sky to announce their return. Somewhere out there, an echidna was watching this before his eyes as well, knowing something miraculous in the world must have changed.

No longer was they sky void of light, no longer was everything dead and filled with misery. The world of Moebius, was restored. Sadly, the many lives that were lost here couldn't be returned, but at least any and all survivors could try and actually live a normal life again.

Hyper Sonic looked around them, realizing his power worked. He looked over at Shadow with a small sad smile, still holding his hand. "Let's go to No Zone next."

Shadow was going to agree, until he thought back to what Sonic did only half an hour ago. "You sure you don't want to do anything to the body?"

As they spoke, Hyper could feel that Scourge's life force had died out long ago. He was dead for sure. So he just shook his head, his eyes lowering sadly. "No."

They warped out of sight, leaving Moebius for the final time.

As Scourge's body laid against the floor, his dead eyes watched his entire pitiful life play out before them. A familiar voice echoed in his head as he felt his soul fade away. "This was your ultimate punishment, anti-Sonic. I played along just so you can feel the essence of this despair. You failed, and you were always meant to fail. I was never on your side. I let you use me, just so you can get your grand plans into fruition, just to have them ultimately fall apart in the end. Soon, your soul and spirit will return back to us, and we shall devour you, just like we do all naughty dead children. Your family will join us in our stomachs, so at least you won't be alone. Let this be a lesson to you, in the next life. Goodbye forever, Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog." The demonic voice disappeared.

...

A weak smile.

"...Goodbye, Sonic."

And in his dead dreams, smiled a blue furred green eyed hedgehog, who placed a golden crown on top of his head. He shook the hands of Mobius' hero, and waved to the crowd of cheering civilians.

Because in his dead dreams, he was finally the hero.

Coming back home, felt really strange.

Especially since a good chunk of the population was gone. But, it didn't matter. Because the second Super Shadow and Hyper Sonic stepped down onto the planet, life returned. All they did, was hold hands as they slowly walked down former barren streets and forests. Red mist became a light pink, that disappeared into the thousands of bodies that covered the pavements. All Hyper had to do to any town, was graze his finger tips across a building, and a percentage of the world was restored. Street lamps flickered back on, skyscrapers returned to life with neon lights. State bridges rose high, fountains spewed waters of life. The oceans shined a gorgeous sapphire, and the moon's evil scarlet red, became a neutral blinding white.

The stars twinkled with many colors, as they began to rain down upon the world. Living Rain, was the name of Hyper Sonic's power. What it did, was that it collected dead stars in the sky and forced them to become nothing but hot balls of life that could reanimate anything that died in the last two weeks. But since Shadow was slowly feeding him his and Maria's powers, his power could extend even farther than that. Now, he could bring back anyone that died in the last month. He did this in No Zone, which took him only minutes since it was smaller than Mobius prime. About ninety percent of the population came back to life, and anyone affected by the travesty of Scourge's reign was rejuvenated.

Now on Mobius prime, Hyper and Shadow just chaos controlled from country to country, spreading their essence of life and tranquility across the globe. They passed Sand Roads, zones of Stardust, the empty shivering fields of Pressing Gardens. Metropolis, Soleanna, Babylon Garden, Empire City, Chun Nan, Apotos, Spagonia, Mazuri, Holoska, Shamar, Adabat...Angel Island. When Shadow and Sonic teleported here, they realized that no one was around. This didn't make any sense, he told Tails to come here and hide out until they returned. Where were they? The golden hedgehog let go of his hand and glanced at his divine lover. "I can feel their energies, they're not too far. They're safe." Hyper nodded at his words, before glancing at the Master Emerald above on the altar. He saw flashes of phantoms in that giant gem, and he knew of whom.

The entire world was going back to normal, there was just one more place they needed to hit.

Feeling each other's wavelengths, the two held hands once more, and chaos controlled down to the city they both knew and loved. Once they appeared, it was like time stopped, and it did. Shadow saw that nothing was moving, not even the wind. Trees with it's now beautiful green leaves didn't blow from the air, the now strong and tall grass didn't move. The animals that crawled and stood back up on their four legs weren't able to frolic around. He saw that people who used to be dead in the streets, had been frozen in time just as they were starting to get back up. Time was literally still. Shadow blinked, before looking over at Hyper Sonic. He must have did it.

Letting go of Shadow's hand once more, he placed his hands against his own chest. He gradually rose into the air, his quills flowing from the growing pink aura forming around his body. Stars rained down onto the planet, continuing to give life to the frozen world. Hyper closed his eyes and concentrated. He focused, and breathed. Everything that Sonic's ever went through flashed through his mind. Christmas Island, the kidnapping, the torture room, Moebius, his spars with Shadow, his nights with Shadow, the war in No Zone, the conquering of Dark Sonic, the appeasement of Dark Sonic, the fusion of Hyper, the kidnapping in the royal castle, the starvation, the fear, the crying, the rage, the final battle...

He opened his eyes.

The freedom, he now had.

The pink aura imploded high into the night sky, wrapping the entire world in it's glow. Hyper Sonic held up his hands, allowing time to move forward again. The multicolored stars of life made it's final collision with the earth, giving the planet the rest of his power. As he stood in the sky, and as he watched the world come back to life in real time, he could feel the lunar rays of the moon hit his back. His fur changed from blue to red, purple to green, blue to white. His hot pink eyes mirrored the stars of the galaxy. Suddenly, Hyper Sonic turned to the side, and looked down at the world below him. His eyes zeroed in on someone in particular, who was looking up at the sky in amazement. With a proud smile, the divine hedgehog chaos controlled in front of this person, and tilted his head.

A golden yellow fox stood before him, his ocean blue eyes tearfully looking up at him in pure happiness and relief. Hyper Sonic got down on one knee and held up a hand to place on top of his head. His eyes moistened over as well, as his smile twitched. He couldn't help it, he was gonna end up crying again. He placed both hands on the sides of the kitsune's weeping face, caressing his muzzle softly, before pulling the fox against his chest for a strong hug. Hyper Sonic nuzzled his face against him, chuckling to himself as he heard the boy cry against his body. He felt him wrap his smaller arms around him, shoving his face deeper into his pale fawn chest. A golden flash appeared behind Sonic, revealing Super Shadow's presence. He smiled down at them, before bending down and patting Tails on the head as well.

Before they knew it, many others had rushed up to them to crowd them in embraces.

A pink hedgehog bawled all over the white furred hedgehog, her hammer forgotten on the ground. A stubborn red echidna shamelessly released his tears as he roughly pulled both Tails and Hyper Sonic into a bear hug. A now fully awake and joyful small rabbit with a bouncing healthy Chao, ran towards the hero with a happy face. Her mother was running along with her, crying out in joy for their faithful return. An ivory bat hugged Shadow from behind, her tears and running make up staining his back.

From afar, Zonic fell to his knees with the brightest smile Zhadow ever caught on his face. He sat down on the ground along with him, watching as dozens, soon hundreds and then thousands of Mobians, Overlanders and No Zone soldiers, crowded around the heroes of Mobius. And no one dared to disturb the sound of peace.

Behind the shadows of GUN HQ's building, was a limping anti-Shadow, who moved passed a red furred vixen.

They glanced at each other, warp rings in both their hands, before disappearing without a trace.

And just for a split second, the white moon sparkled a faint pink.

END - 56

Looks like it's finally over...

...Or is it?