QAN: Hi everyone, apologies for not having updated sooner. I was a little nervous about writing this chapter, because this is the first time I've ever written in Shadow's POV. So, I'm hoping that I managed to keep him in character. Although, if he is out of character in this chapter, do let me know and I'll try and fix it. :( Anyways, we have five parts left to go before the end, so things are gonna get super crazy for Sonic, Manny and their friends. :)

Feel free to leave a review and hope y'all are enjoying the story so far! :)

Chapter 49: Crimson Tome

M-Sh

"Thanks for ... helping Faker."

"No problem."

...

I was very surprised to see Sonic in a positive state, after learning about his attack. Tails and I didn't know how we got to the otherworlds. One moment, we were chatting in St. Jerome's Hospital and the next, we found ourselves exploring an incredibly dark forest with thick grey fog nearly preventing us from coming across the building.

But, we did hear two voices. One belonging to Faker.

Megan seemed like a nice kid. Sure, she was a little shy but ... she was the type of person who anyone would get along with easily. To tell the truth, I was rather disappointed that we didn't get enough time to know each other better. I also felt a little ashamed that I wasn't able to push her out of the way during our fight with Andrew DeSalvo. So, I decided to finish the job for Megan by pinning down the 18th victim ghost with our sword of obedience. Now, that little girl was trapped underneath us and in danger, searching for those she loved.

And we were going to get her out. Like I said before, Megan's stuck with us, no matter what happens to her parents.

The good thing was that Manny, Sid and Diego were reunited with those they held close to their hearts. The next thing we had to do was unlock the superintendent's room and get the small box Joseph mentioned back in his version of Room 302. We didn't know what Henry's version looked like now but we had a feeling that it was not going to be pleasant, due to what occurred 3 weeks prior. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it didn't appear inviting, since the otherworlds we travelled through were rather unsettling to begin with.

"So, what did we miss?" Flynn asked after a while. "Anything important we should know?"

"Yeah, er, we found a lot of important stuff," Sonic answered, with concern overwhelming him due to letting a certain young girl drift into his thoughts despite not showing it. "We know who our stalker is, the reason why he trapped us all here and a way down to where Megan is now."

Whilst we revealed to Buck, Ellie and the others what we discovered, I couldn't help but let an old friend of mine drift into my thoughts; Maria. She didn't deserve to die at all. Even though several years had passed, I still remembered that dreadful moment clearly. The two of us were just about to escape from the ARK and make her dream become a reality. Maria always talked about the earth and how much she wanted to see it...

But ... my friend never got the chance...

"Man!" Buck groaned, after taking our information in. "I ... I don't know what to say, honestly. Man..."

"I'm gonna have to agree with the weasel here," Granny added, feeling just as shocked as we were. "Why would that cult brainwash the madman into believing that he had to kill 21 people in order to reunite with his mother?!"

"And then kill 7 more so she can wake up!" Eddie put in with fear overwhelming him. "We have two of them with us right now and we all know where the other three are!"

"Guys, can you please quiet down for a second!" Elise interrupted, sending a concerned glance towards Faker who responded with his trademark grin to reassure that he was fine. "I don't think the ritual's going to be completed if Megan's parents end up getting killed. And before you ask why, there's an order the victims have to go in, just like the 21 Sacraments."

"Elise is right," Sonic continued, allowing his smile to widen slightly as he realised an important piece of news. "Megan, her parents and myself are the only ones left. And I'm the first one to go out of the four of us. So since I managed to make it through the attack, it's bad news for Walter no matter what happens."

Now normally I wouldn't say this, but ... Faker did have a point. He would have to be gone first in order for the ritual to succeed. Since he survived and was still with us, that meant that it wasn't going to end positively. This was good news, but we didn't want to escape from these worlds without our human friend and her family...

We all had a limited amount of time to get down to the prison, and we weren't going to waste it.

After our discussion, we explored the second floor of South Ashfield Heights a little further. Whilst searching the rooms for anything that could help us, Diego discovered that '207' used to be where Richard Braintree, the ghost we encountered back in the previous world, lived. Upon entering, we all felt startled coming across a burnt chair with handcuffs standing a few feet away from 207's door.

Electrocution ... What was occurring in Sullivan's mind three weeks ago?!

"This Walter guy is nuts!" Knuckles exclaimed in horror, staring at the burnt piece of furniture. The red echidna's eyes then travelled to a large brown box with bloodied clothes inside, leading him to take a closer look and back away seconds afterwards in disgust. "Ooooh! Don't look in there! Don't look in there!"

Damn it... I wish you guys would just focus! One of our friends is in trouble!

"Knuckles, I'm sure it's nothing too bad," Amy said, sending a worried glance towards Sonic, Tails, Elise and myself. "Let's just continue on and get down to the first floor."

"Agreed." I muttered calmly, nodding to reassure the pink hedgehog that we were doing well. "I think I'm done with this floor, anyway."

Hearing this, Faker instantly bolted out off the room, shouting: "Last one to the first floor is a rotten egg!". I sighed with slight amusement and annoyance, following him as I did so.

Even though Sonic got on my nerves all the time, I respected him as an ally. I still remembered working with him and Silver to defeat Solaris years ago, and I was beginning to suspect that we'd have to work together again to help Megan defeat Sullivan and vanquish his influence over South Ashfield Heights and Silver Lake. If the situation came down to that, I'd be willing to do it. By the time we made it to the staircase which lead to the first floor, I noticed that Sonic was at the bottom, waiting for us with Tails, Knuckles and Amy. "I knew it..."

"Shadow, our friend is the fastest thing alive," Elise said, softly chuckling with amusement. "He was going to beat us to the first floor anyway, which is understandable."

"Hmph, good point." I muttered as we began to make our way down. Suddenly, we froze in our tracks when a tiny voice began echoing throughout the apartment, sending cold chills running down our spines.

"Dad...? Daaaad...? Where's Dad? Daaaaad ... I can't see your face!"

My allies and I knew straight away that it wasn't Megan. The voice sounded like it belonged to a young boy, probably a lot younger than the former. From the volume of his cries, we could tell that he was close by, maybe even in the main lobby. Manny, Diego and the Herd were a few feet behind us and they heard the kid too. "Mum, should we help him?" Peaches asked Ellie with worry overwhelming her. "I feel like we should..."

"I'm afraid I don't know, honey," The older female mammoth replied, gently. "Although, we should find the child and ask him what the problem seems to be. He could know something about how Megan is doing, and if he does, he could help us too."

I'm going to have to agree with that. The kid could assist us in return, if he knows anything about what's happening to Megan. But first, we'll have to track him down ... Hopefully, this is going to end positively.