Chapter Thirteen – The Heart Of Gold
The next few hours in Charlie's office was a complete blur for Sonic. He spent most of the time thinking, staring out of the window down at the now, darkening city below. It was sunset and the day was slowly becoming night.
His life was now changed forever. But was it for the better? It came down to one thing.
The Choice!
He was grateful that the choice he'd made was the correct one. He was alive because of it, but now he had to live with it. He felt very different. A very large part of his being was now missing. It was going to take some getting used to.
To say he'd survived was an understatement.
This was rebirth!
A new life now lay ahead of him, and he was desperate to do it better. He'd been given a second chance and was very much eager to right the so many wrongs of his past. Charlie had been constantly talking at him ever since he woken. But Sonic hadn't been listening, the large hole inside of him, kept distracting him. He only paid attention when the door flew open and Manic ran in.
His brother ran straight for him and threw his arms around him. But the large embrace was incredible short. Manic let go and immediately backed off, staring at Sonic. Charlie frowned, confused but Sonic knew why. The two brothers stared at each other. Manic began to cry, as Sonic stared back out of the window, folding his arms.
Now Charlie was really confused. What was going on?
"This is Sonic, isn't it?" He whispered to Manic, fearing an imposter.
Manic nodded. This was definitely his brother alright but he'd changed. Changed beyond anything he could imagine. He'd backed away because he'd immediately felt that change as soon as he'd embraced him. Manic may not have been able to wield Chaos, but he could feel it. The Chaos powers that Sonic had were completely and utterly unique him and they were now gone, forever. He was incredibly grateful this brother was alive but was the price-tag too high? He was struggling to believe it. He cried. But Charlie was still confused.
"What do you mean?" He asked. "If he's your brother, then why did you back off?" He frowned.
"He's changed!" He spat. Charlie was stunned.
"What!" He gasped. Sonic looked perfectly fine to him, no visible difference. He looked at Manic but the green Hedgehog was still upset.
"It's his Super-Speed!" He spat. Charlie shrugged.
"What about it?" He asked. It was what Sonic was famous for. But Manic was still reeling.
"It's gone!" He squealed.
Charlie's jaw dropped. Both of them were absolutely gutted that Sonic had made such a sacrifice. They began to have a go at him. But the Blue Blur was getting more and more frustrated. They were forgetting one major thing. His temper flared. He turned towards Manic. Immediately, the green Hedgehog was thrown up of his feet, across the room and pinned up again the wall. Sonic growled.
"I am NOT powerless!" He spat. In fact, it was very much the opposite. His eyes were no longer green. They were silver. The iris' shone with swirls of liquid metal, barely hinting at the incredible power that lay behind him. They glowed and the silvery hue that surrounded Manic told him how it was done.
Chaos Sorcery.
Magic!
Manic stared but Charlie backed away. Sonic's temper was still flaring but for the first time ever, he had complete control. Casting was ruthlessly easy and his powers were growing exponentially, and yet, they never overwhelmed him. He didn't even need to raise his hands to throw Manic across the room, his eyes did it alone. But Sonic was struggling to maintain he temper. But he couldn't be angry at his brother forever. Walking towards him, Sonic finally released Manic and he fell to the floor.
He got to his feet, still staring at his brother. He was absolutely stunned at Sonic's shear power. The ability to threw him off his feet, was not easy and yet his brother did it as easily as blinking. But how? Then he remembered what was said.
"The Choice!" He gasped. Sonic turned away, he didn't answer. In fact, he walked back to the window. He stared out of it again. Charlie was a stunned as Manic, but he was also confused.
"What choice?" He asked. Sonic didn't answer, he was still getting to grips with how easy it was to cast Magic and yet still remain in complete control. His brother answered for him.
"It was something a friend said." He sighed and turned to Charlie. "All powerful Chaos-Sapients are born with only one Chaos power, it is all the body can handle. Sonic had born with two, which is way too much. He said that at the point of death, he'd have to choose between them." He explained. The impact with the train, the disappearance, it all made sense. Charlie gulped, he looked at Sonic.
"And you choose Magic!" He spat. Sonic growled. He faced them. He'd had enough of being ridiculed over this.
"It was my choice to make!" He hissed and then he sighed. "Actually, it was my heart who made it. It wanted the change. I was done with the Super-Speed, time to move on." He spat. But thinking about it. Did he regret his choice? Considering that Super-Speed was his life, potentially very much, but he was also incredibly desperate to explore the new and exciting potentials that the Chaos Sorcery offered. That's why he made his or more specifically, his heart made that decision. He turned back to the window again. It was dark outside and the street lights lit up the entire area. Sonic knew Robotropolis. He'd grown up here, and noticed the Museum way off into the distance. It reminded him of something, which to be honest, he'd completely forgotten about until now. He sighed again, still staring out of the window.
"Yes." He said "It is indeed time to move on." He paused, turning to Manic. "Which means we need to finish what you started!" He hissed. Manic frowned, and moved beside Sonic. He pointed out of the window.
"What?" Manic frowned. "The Museum?" He asked. Sonic smirked as he watched the cogs in Manic's mind turned as he slowly worked it out. Suddenly, he gasped, swore, and put both hands over his mouth.
"The Diamond!" He spat. Sonic nodded.
The Heart Of Gold Diamond!
Manic too have completely forgotten about it. He panicked, and swore again.
"Oh hell, I'd better put that back." He stammered. Both Sonic and Charlie agreed. Manic then looked at his brother. "Can you get me in there?" He asked, gesturing of the window, to the Museum. He seemed to have temporarily forgotten about Sonic's change. He now had a job to do. His brother smiled and nodded. He felt like he could do anything now with his Magic. He had no reason to say 'no'. Getting into a building should be relatively straight forward. Manic was relieved.
"Awesome." He said. "Look, I'll meet you there. There's something I need to get first." He added and promptly disappeared out of the door. He left confusion behind him. But Charlie came beside Sonic, at the window. The Blue Blur looked at him, something was clearly brothering him.
"What's the matter?" He asked. Charlie shifted, somewhat uncomfortable. He been clearly thinking this through.
"It's just something that Manic said, that all powerful Chaos-Sapients are born with only one Chaos power, it is all the body can handle. Doesn't Shadow have more then one?" He asked. Sonic smirked at Charlie.
"Shadow was created in a laboratory, he wasn't born. The normal rules don't apply to him." He sighed. Charlie gasped.
"Wait!" He stammered. "I've heard that rumour. Are you telling me that its..." He paused, letting the sentence hang. Sonic grinned.
"Completely true." He said. "Yes, all of it, and Silver being from two hundred years in the future." He giggled.
Charlie was gobsmacked. There had been rumours flying around Sonic and his friends for years, some incredibly far-fetched. Was the Blue Blur actually saying there was some truth to them? The chestnut Hedgehog was stunned.
"You've got some seriously powerful friends." He declared. Sonic gave him a sideways look. To say friends was going a bit far, but then he sighed. What would they make of him now he'd changed? He genuinely didn't know. Charlie sighed, looking out of the window again.
"You better go. Manic will properly be waiting for you, by now." He sighed but Sonic giggled.
"Oh, I doubt it." He smiled, and promptly concentrated on the Museum, through the window, and vanished. As it happens, he was right.
Normally, Sonic would have Super-Sped to the Museum, but without that power anymore, he had to think of an alternative. Then he thought of what Magical spells and castings he'd used in recent weeks since his powers started to grow. He'd picked locks, Chaos Controlled, suspended people in the air, exploded, healed, and defended himself. Was anything useful there? Sonic smirked. Yes, there was. He wanted to try Chaos Control or Teleportation, but this time without the baggage of his Super-Speed or any passengers. It should be simple. It was, ridiculously so.
With a flash of silvery-white light, Sonic's teleportation landed him exactly where he aiming for. Outside the front of the Museum. He looked around. Two things immediately struck him. Firstly, was how incredibly easy that was. Teleporting. In fact, using any of his Magic. There was no exhaustion. No Drain. Hell, his powers now could be potentially limitless. Sonic shuddered. He really didn't want to go there. He feared the destruction he would cause. That was not his way. He sighed, and looked around again. The second thing was that he was completely alone. The street where he stood was dark except for a few streetlights. It was deadly quiet. A stark contrast to his previous visit.
It was only two weeks ago but it felt like a lifetime. Technically, it was a lifetime ago. So much had changed. He waited for Manic. His brother seemed to take an age, until he finally showed up grinning, throwing, what looked like a black rock, up and down in his hand. Sonic frowned.
"What's that for?" He asked. Manic's grin broadened.
"You'll see." He smiled. "Can you get me in?" He asked, looking up at the Museum.
Sonic nodded and held out his hand. Manic stared at it. It wasn't quite what he was expecting. He was expecting to be grabbed by his brother and ran up there at Super-speed. That wasn't going to happen. He still wasn't used to the change. He was frightened. Sonic knew it was a big ask.
"Trust me!" He said, softly. "My powers may have changed but I haven't. I'm still me in here. Still your idiot brother. Still trying to save the world and failing more often then not. Still getting by butt kicked by you and everyone else." He sighed. "I may not have the Super-Speed anymore, but you know." He said, grinning inanely, as he fed some of the ridiculously large quantities of Chaos that now flowed though his veins, towards his hands. The now familiar, ka-ching sounds as the rocket boosters in his hands engaged. He winked.
{I can still fly!} He giggled, straight down the ether. His brother heard him.
Manic immediately grabbed his brother and pulled him into a deep embrace. He believed him. It was the wink that did it. Sonic was right, and Manic just didn't care anymore. The Blue Blur was still his brother and that was all that mattered. Maybe it could be fun. He would have smiled at that thought except for the fact that he was beating himself up severely for doubting him. He apologised. Sonic huffed.
"Don't!" He spat. "It's a massive change." He said. He let go of his brother and looked at him. "It's going to take time." He sighed. Manic smiled in return.
"And we'll do it together." He said, holding out his hand. Sonic smiled and nodded. Yes, together. He needed his brother now more then ever.
He took Manic's hand and concentrated. The Museum was divided into galleries and Sonic was aiming for a very specific one. He was going on the memories of his last visit. With another flash of silvery-white light, they both vanished, teleporting. They landed inside a gallery and were forced to immediately hide because of a passing guard. Sonic was panting, it seemed teleporting a passenger was surprising tiring, but nothing he couldn't quickly shake off. But after looking around, Manic thumped him.
"This is the wrong gallery!" He whispered. Sonic looked. Portraits hung around the walls here. Definitely wrong. Manic now held out his hand again, winking himself. "Try again." He grinned.
Sonic took a deep breath. He took Manic's hand again and they vanished.
Another gallery.
"Guard!" Sonic gasped and he immediately pulled Manic out of sight. They looked around, this gallery contained artefacts from ancient Mobius. Manic thumped him again, still wrong. He was finding teleporting with a passenger easier but he was beginning to question his own memories. Every gallery looked identical to the next in the dark, and Sonic had to admit he couldn't remember where the Diamond was supposed to be. Manic grabbed Sonic's hand again and growled, gesturing for them to move on.
Sonic sighed and they vanished.
Another gallery. Third time lucky.
"Guard!" Manic spat. This time, it was him who pulled Sonic out of sight. The Blue Blur had had enough. He swore
"Is this place crawling with security?" He hissed, but Manic grinned.
"No!" He giggled. "It's the same guard. You keep following him about." He laughed. Sonic huffed, throughly unimpressed.
"More like, he's following me!" He spat. But then Manic thumped him, yet again.
"What?" Sonic growled, rubbing his arm, he'd had enough of that as well. He was staring at his brother. Manic gestured to the gallery they were in. It was exhibiting very rare and highly exquisite pieces of fine bone china. Sonic heaved out of shear frustrated and put his head in his hands, rubbing his silver eyes. Could he not get this right? He looked at Manic to try again, but his brother turned him down.
He'd spotted something. Through the open doors at the far end, he could see across the corridor. A closed gallery, barred with blue and white tape police tape. He'd found his quarry. He smirked. Enough of his brother's Magic, this was close enough. Time to do things his way.
He watched the guard leave, and proceed to grab Sonic and head straight towards the exit doors. Confused, Sonic objected. It was only until they were out in the corridor, did he notice the police tape for himself.
Oh!
He felt very stupid. He'd been concentrating so much on his Magic that he just hadn't noticed. Beating himself up, he had to get his head around this and quickly. He just couldn't afford to do that. He couldn't get so distracted, so easily. Breathing heavily, both Hedgehogs ran across the corridor and turned, to have their backs against the doors, staying out of sight. Manic tried them.
"Locked!" He spat. He swore. But Sonic grinned and before his brother could do anything, he'd snapped his finger. Silvery hue instantly appeared around his hand and the lock.
"Not anymore." He giggled, as the doors immediately clicked open. Manic stared at him, stunned. He was casting like it was nothing. He would have said something, but the guard was coming back around their way again. It forced them in through the doors, past the police tape and into the closed gallery. Sonic closing the doors behind them.
The gallery was pretty much exactly how Manic had left it. Well, almost. There wasn't so much police tape last time. At the far end of the gallery was the police cordonedarea. Inside it, was a the singlal pedestal, surrounded by reenforced glass case. The glass case itself was still inside a drop down solid titaniumcage and the Lasers Alarms had been was where the Diamond was supposedto be.
Around the pedestal, the very large hole still remained, with cracks still extending out from it. The pedestalhad dropped into the hole and only to top six inches of it was showing. On top of the pedestal and still scattered all around inside the glass case, there was still a large amount of black powder. It was very dark in there, so was difficult to see.
Sonic was surprised that it hadn't been removed but Manic wasn't. He still had the black rock in his hands. Concentrating extremely hard, he proceeded to crush it between them, as he walked towards the pedestal. More black dust exploded from them but didn't immediately fall to the ground. It swirled around his hands as further dust from around the entire area began to lift off the ground and gravitate towards his hands.
Sonic watched him absolutely had only ever seen Manic do this once before. It was how he knew it could be done. Once Manic had all of the dust in his grasp, did he bring the cloud together very quickly creating a extremely bright flash of intense light. Sonic defended his eyes. When darkness returned, Manic was holding a a very large heart-shaped Diamond in his hand. The Heart of Gold. Well, almost. It started off clear, until Sonic reminded Manic it was supposed to be yellow. A snap of a finger from him, quickly changed the colour.
Sonic smirked. So that was what Manic has brought with him. A piece of coal. He giggled, the Diamond did look bigger. Diamond and coal were both made of the same molecules. Carbon, and yet a simple change in the arrangement can turn it from priceless to worthless. That was how Sonic knew Manic had never stolen the Diamond, it had been here the whole time.
Now no longer coal dust, Manic proceeded to return the Heart of Gold Diamond to its display and the gallery back its former state. Sonic watched as he did this, and couldn't help but shake the feeling that he'd come full circle. The last time he was here, he was a very different Hedgehog.
Thankfully, no one noticed the blindly flash of light when Manic remade the Diamond. But him returning the gallery to former state, did make the entire room shake. He filled in the large hole, and cracks. Replaced the floor and returned the single pedestal back inside thereenforced glass case. This time with the Heart Of Gold Diamond inside. He also repaired the drop down solid titaniumcage and returned it back into place. By the time he was finished, it never looked like there had ever been an incident there.
However, before he could finish, there was commotion outside of the closed doors of the gallery. The Guard they had been avoiding all evening, had found them. He had come running when he'd felt the room shake. He'd knocked on the door, and tried to open it. Bt Sonic had instinctively Magically locked it again. There was swearing the other side and an immediate call for backup.
"Oh, hell!" Sonic said. "Come on, Manic. Quickly!" He added. Manic was so very nearly done, but the sounds of sirens told them they had to move, fast. Manic was bending as quickly as he could to get the job done. But not before several more people appeared the other side of the gallery door's, trying to break them in. Sonic could have used his Magic to hold them back. But thought it would be quite funny for them to barge in and find the gallery in perfect condition, the Heart Of Gold in position, standing proud. It seemed Manic had the same thought as he worked his Chi, and was done as soon as the doors gave way.
He ran for Sonic and the Blue Blur teleported them out of there before anything could be said. The intense flash of his teleportation, temporarily blinding the oncoming police. He landed on the streets outside, but this time round the back of the Museum. Almost at the same place where Sonic originally entered the Museum with Charlie. Sonic knew that if the police had already arrived, they were almost certainly parked up front.
The two brothers looked at each other and giggled. Mission accomplished, but what would the Authorities make of it? People don't normally break into Museum'sto return items. The whole situation was completely absurd, but they had no time to hang around. Further sirens were sounding. Extremely loudly, and almost immediately, police cars appeared at either end of the street where they stood.
Manic panicked. He may have not done anything wrong this time, but he didn't want to caught by the police either. He instinctively fled.
"Run!" He screamed.