Chapter 9

Secrets Revealed

"Sonic, come on! Hang in there a little bit longer! Don't die!" Tails yelled at Sonic who was unconscious on a bed in front of Tails. A big nasty purple stripe ran down his arm where the sword had struck him, but Sonic was far too exhausted to know nor care.

"Sonic! If you give in I'll never see you again. Never. Fight Sonic! Fight it!" Amy shouted at Sonic.

"According to the X-rays, it is a curse. I can't detect any real wounds on him! He's not going to be living for much longer… Sonic, you are the most stupid, brainless, idiotic, hero in the world, but you still are the most heroic and the best hero in the universe. It was a pleasure to fight along beside you and maybe even a pleasure to fight against you… Sayonara Sonic the Hedgehog…," Knuckles said before leaving to check on the master emerald.

"I was able to get him the antidote for the bite and sting, but there is no cure to this curse…," sighed Tails sadly.

"Maybe Elise can use her magical kissing powers to revive him!" Amy tried.

Sonic screamed in terror and jumped out of the bed. He groaned in pain on the floor. Sonic was still all white and shaking from the impact of her words reaching his ears.

"N-no thanks. I'm not that desperate! I'd rather die again! Oh wait, Sonic 06 never happened…, but still, please don't call her to save my life! It was horrible last time!" cried Sonic in panic, but then he collapsed on the ground.

"Suppose that maybe Kaira could use a healing spell on him? She said that she could use magic. I bet that the magic could fight against the curse if it were strong enough," Amy said hopefully.

"Worth a shot I'll go get her," said Tails running off to get her without a minute to lose. However, he returned within two minutes.

"She's gone! There's no trace of her! I don't think that she was with us during the battle in the underground metarex base! I asked the metarex prisoners if they saw her, but they didn't see anyone like her," Tails replied.

"Speaking of which, how are they?" asked Amy.

"They're fine, but at the moment I'm more concerned about saving Sonic because without Sonic, it'd be a lot harder to save the universe and keep up this story without him," answered Tails.

"Good point! Did you check the security cameras for her?" demanded Amy with an irritated expression.

"I'm doing that now… WAIT! Who's that at the chaos emeralds?! Short hair, brown eyes, roundish and pointed wings?! I can't believe it! Kaira stole the chaos emeralds and fled!" yelled Tails in alarm from what the footage showed.

"Guys! Guys! The master emerald's gone!" screamed Knuckles in panic as he barreled in and nearly fell on Sonic.

"SHE STOLE IT!? Great! Now, we can't leave this place, the chaos emeralds are gone, and Sonic's gonna die! What next?!" demanded Tails.

Cream came rushing in all of the sudden. Cheese was following and they had urgent news. Cream looked up at Sonic and then at Tails. "Kaira's back!" she said in her high voice.

"Knuckles…, why don't you go…," Tails stopped and glared at the wall, "...welcome her…"

Meanwhile on Drolica,

It was early in the morning, but Zaira was already up. Rouge and Shadow were still out. Zaira shook her head with annoyance and impatience. Rather than waiting, she walked off and hopped into a tree. A bird chirped at her and she blinked at it.

"I don't have time for birds! Actually…, what am I doing?" she asked herself and stared back the bird. It tweeted happily.

"What do you want? I can't exactly have a friendly conversation with you. I'm not in the mood for singing either," Zaira said to the bird. It shot back a sad look and sang a sweet little note.

"You want me to sing." Zaira looked at the bird and tried not to feel flattered at the fact that something wanted to listen to her.

"Okay, fine what song?" asked Zaira with another irritated look at the bird. It flapped its wings and started singing a pretty song. It took Zaira a second to recognize it.

"Well birdie, I'm impressed. You've managed to find a song in your brain that I really like. 'I Need a Hero' isn't a bad one." Zaira smiled at the bird at it chirped happily.

"I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'till the end of the night. Oh, he's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight. I need a hero. I'm holding out for a hero 'till the morning light. Oh, he's gotta be sure and it's gotta be soon and he's gotta be larger than life. Larger than life…," Zaira sang along with the bird's tweets.

"Zaira?"

Zaira froze and nearly fell out of the tree. Shadow. She shooed the bird away and stared at Shadow from the tree.

"Were you talking to a bird earlier and did you just sing a stupid romance song?" Shadow demanded with a disgusted look.

"...Yes…," whimpered Zaira pitifully.

"Idiot… Why didn't I kill you last night?" he asked himself.

Rouge by then was up, so they continued walking through the trees and Zaira was as annoying as ever.

"Shadow, you are like a leather jacket! Soooooooo cooool! How about Rouge…? Maybe… an elegant purple gown that is all shiny and stuff… Or… A BATH ROBE! That's perfect!" Zaira exclaimed.

"I think that I liked the gown better… It's not fair… She said that you would be a leather jacket!" Rouge sighed.

"Are you actually paying attention to her? I don't think that you would want to listen to her too much or she might start talking to you in your nightmares," Shadow replied.

"What? She's talking about clothes! It's another one of my weaknesses. Wait, did you dream about her last night causing you to bring up the whole talking to you in your nightmares thing?" Rouge asked him.

"...Yes… Anyways, to change the subject, don't tell me that you are going to take us all to the mall! I might say some mean things to you for it, but first I'd kill Zaira." Shadow snapped.

"Of course, shoes are important too… I don't know… Should I change the subject?" asked Zaira to Rouge and Shadow.

"... LISTEN! I thought that I told you a thousand times to shut up! I'll tell you the reason that you don't have any friends! You are the most annoying person in the universe and I don't want to see your face anymore! You've driven me too far and I can't keep this in any longer! I hate you and everyone else in the world does too! Why would they like a selfish, careless, annoying, irritating, stupid, ridiculous person like you! Just leave us and don't come back ever again because if I even see you once more, I swear that I'll kill you, crush you, and drown you! Maybe even burn your body if I'm in the mood! Just get out of my sight!" yelled Shadow storming off, but before he could successfully do that, Zaira grabbed his arm with remarkable strength and her bangs hung over her eyes.

"Is that what you think…? Okay, I get it… I'm supposed to walk away while you and Rouge go live happily ever after huh? Don't think that's gonna work Shadow," Zaira said in a deeper voice as if she suddenly grew three years older. Her hand seemed to start burning as she held on to Shadow.

"What-?" he started, but Zaira jerked her hand closer to herself and Shadow was dragged closer. He suddenly felt the feeling of dread and terror for the first time ever. Not the same kind of terror that he would get whenever Sonic wouldn't stop talking, but the kind of terror that said that he was going to die. Shadow shivered despite the fact that Zaira's hand was almost literally burning now…

"I have a question Shadow. If you knew about this, would you have been so nasty? I loath you when you insult me Shadow. I loath you with the fire of a million suns… Maybe even more… You don't know what it's like to be hated so much that everyone whom you turned to wouldn't even give you a chance. Sonic gave you a chance, Rouge gave you a chance, Dr. Eggman even gave you a chance, Molly gave you a chance, Maria gave you a chance, but who gave me the right kind of chance. You can't judge someone by how they look, but what's on the inside is what counts. Am I right Shadow?" she asked with a tone filled with envy.

"I didn't-" Shadow started, but Zaira interrupted again.

"Why Shadow? You have it all so good in your life… What do I have? NOTHING!" she yelled finally letting go of Shadow's arm. Shadow could see the heat drift from his arm and he couldn't suppress his shudder. Not while he was this frightened of what she would do.

"I'M SORRY! I had no idea that you were actually a monster or that you were going to kill me if I insulted you one more time!" Shadow said.

"Liar… You aren't sorry at all. I've seen the near future, but I can't see the far future. I've read your mind so many times that I know it like the back of my hand. You would only start insulting me again after a while. There's only a couple things that I can do that'll really affect you. Let's do my favorite… WE FIGHT!" she yelled charging at Shadow and slammed into his chest.

Shadow let out a yell in pain and fell to his knees. That one blow seemed to take everything out of him.

"HEY! Leave Shadow alone!" yelled Rouge who was only observing up until this point. She glared at Zaira.

"Aw… How nice… The bat wants to save her boyfriend! I refuse to let you interfere, but I do want to see Shadow's response. What do you think Shadow? She likes you and wants to save you. Is the jury in or out?" she asked suddenly sounding a little less mad from the one battle move on Shadow.

"Rouge…, is… that true?!" he demanded.

"It was the only reason I would beg for help from that stupid Dr. Eggman!" she said in reply. After saying it she looked away.

"Rouge, you're the closest person I have to a friend. I'm not sure if I ever thought of our relationship that way, but…," his voice faded away.

"I hate to break up a good romantic scene, but we are also in the middle of a big dramatic fighting scene! If you don't mind,-" she snapped her fingers and Rouge was turned to stone.

"Huh. I should've seen that. It always happens. Well, in everything else other than this, but now it is. How do I reverse it?" asked Shadow who was finally recovering from the blow to his chest.

"I have to turn her back by my own free will. In order for me to do that, oh wait, I won't," Zaira replied.

"Go figure. Fine we'll fight, but you aren't going to like it!" Shadow snapped.

"Hmph! Oh please, ladies first!" she added and then they charged at each other.

Shadow jumped backwards when she aimed a kick at him, but instantly her wings allowed her to recover balance while still in the air. She glared down at her opponent and he glared back, but he took a step back in surprise when he realized that her eyes changed to his own and when that happened, he saw himself. It was like looking at a reflection, but someone else was your reflection. Time slowed and he could hear his heartbeat.

"Greetings Shadow," she said with his voice.

"How- Wait… You were the one who dragged me out of that pyramid temple thing weren't you? Imposter!" snapped Shadow.

"Now, where does that sound familiar?" asked Zaira thinking back to the Sonic X series. "Oh yeah, Sonic calls you his imposter. Right. Well, back to the fight.

They probably fought for another five minutes sending punches and kicks and insults back and forth at each other. It all ended with Zaira pinning down Shadow and smirking. Her eyes were a bright red and she looked ready to kill him right then and there, but some force stopped her. She sighed and let go of him. Shadow looked up at her and didn't know what to say to this.

"It's a shame… The plan, it'll be ruined if I did kill you… Okay, instead of killing you, I'll show you something. Although, you can't flee and you can't say anything about it to anyone," said Zaira. She looked as if she were casting a spell with her hands and it seemed to swallow up everyone. Then, it spat them back out onto the floor of a well made fortress.

"Where are we?" asked Rouge (who was no longer stone) standing up from the floor.

"Welcome to my home! It's only a metaltron base! Come on!" shouted Zaira impatiently.

"You are working for the metarex?!" demanded Shadow.

"No. I'm leading the metarex. I'm working with the metaltrons. Two completely different ball games. You however, I've been keeping an eye on. I never said anything about being on your side. In reality, I've been collecting data on you that may just help us take over the universe. Your chaos control powers for example. Teleportation, attacking, slowing down time, defence, time travel, and even more than that… You have it all Shadow. We want it…," Zaira explained while looking into Shadow eyes directly.

"Why did you bring us here?!" demanded Shadow.

"It had nothing to do with her. I couldn't possibly care less about Rouge. This is all about you… I want your chaos emerald and I wanted to steal your heart, but apparently Rouge beat me to it… I want it! Would you be so kind as to hand it to me?" asked Zaira holding her hand out.

"My heart or the chaos emerald?" asked Shadow.

"The emerald." Zaira glared at Shadow with annoyance and then smiled an evil smile. "You would always call me annoying, but now it's you who's being annoying!" she laughed.

"Shadow…?" asked Rouge and he only looked up at her with an unreadable expression. She'd never seen him like that. He gazed back down at his chaos emerald. It gleamed.

"I've never… Given up before… It feels wrong… I hate it, but surviving sounds great too… Rouge, what would you do?" he asked looking back at her.

"I have no clue…," Rouge replied.

"Give it to me, or the bat dies!" Zaira snapped.

"Nevermind," Shadow replied with a defiant look at Zaira.

Shadow slowly walked up to Zaira and held the chaos emerald for another second. After an awkward silence, he simply threw the emerald at her and she caught it easily. Shadow then backed away with a blank expression.

"Yes! Chaos emerald number six! Now I need the last emerald from the metarex! Thank you Shadow! You make me very happy, but I still hate you," said Zaira.

"Why do you hate him so much?! He didn't know anything! Don't you know how to bury the hatchet?" asked Rouge with confusion.

"That's not how things work here with us. We learn how to hold grudges rather than letting go of them, but since I was the best at it and had the greatest plans, I became the leader. I actually have one emotion stronger than my hate," Zaira said with a slightly sad face.

"That is?" asked Rouge.

"Envy. You ever wonder why my wings are green? It's because I'm green with envy! You know, I should just show you what I mean!" snapped Zaira casting another spell.

A few seconds later, Rouge, Shadow, and Zaira were standing in a place that was completely dark, but there were… voices…

"Welcome to my past. All dark at the moment, but you'll see something in a moment. Of course, you'll learn something that to me was completely ridiculous," said Zaira glaring ahead of her.

"Is she really the one from the prophesy? I heard that she'll have power beyond us all and will grant us either good fortune or bad fortune. Do you really think we should do this? Maybe we should just smash the egg and never have to worry about this ever again," said a voice from outside.

"NO! We can't. Let's just not tell her about it for now. About everything else, all we can do is wait and see," replied another voice.

"We saved her from the destruction of Draynia, but will that be enough to get her to listen to us?" asked the first voice anxiously.

"Don't worry! She'll be great. Hey! I think she's hatching!" exclaimed the 2nd voice.

The scene changed, this time further forward.

"Hey, look who it is! The walking green winged fleshy thing!" screamed a metaltron that was still in training to join the army of metaltrons.

"Oh please, just be quiet. I could say that I hate you because you're the most stupid ro-butt in history!" a younger Zaira snapped back.

"Well, at least I fit in with all the others! You'll never be able to say that about yourself! All you are is a stupid, mindless, misfit!" yelled the younger metaltron at her before storming off.

"Ouch! Those words must've hurt!" exclaimed Rouge.

Shadow remained silent.

"Stupid, mindless, misfit…," mumbled Zaira. "I'll show him one day…"

The scene changed once again to a later time and Shadow was half tempted to ask Rouge to talk for him. He couldn't possibly even think about talking at a time like this. All he did was look at the ground.

"All hail Zaira!" yelled a metaltron behind them.

"What?!" demanded a slightly older Zaira.

"Aren't you the one who destroyed the planet known as Draynia? I heard a rumor and I wanted to see if it was true or not," said the robotic being.

"Why would you even have the nerve to say something like that! Why would I?!" she demanded, but the metaltron suddenly lost interest in her.

""Well, if you didn't do it, then there's no point in at all liking you! You are in no way bad, but also in no way good. All you are is neutral, so how about we make up the fact of you destroying it just to give you a purpose in this world to keep you here!" it replied.

"That's all that they would ever do back then. Either comment on how useless I was or make fun of me and occasionally make up stories of me doing things that I'd never do! I envied them because they respected each other, but not me…," said modern Zaira.

"Zaira, we think that you could use some softening up!" said a metaltron. Its pals grinned and they all aimed punches at her. They didn't leave her alone 'till she had two black eyes and a broken collar bone. Zaira whimpered pathetically.

"You are only a disgrace to the metaltrons! How could you be destined for greatness?"

Then, a gal with short brown hair and bright pink wings appeared making friends with Sonic like it was nothing! She was the greatest respected person who's ever been among the metaltrons. It was clear to see that Zaira envied her the most.

Then there was when she became leader because she was so clever and had so much envy. She was always able to find a reason to envy anyone. It was crazy! She had been dumped, insulted, beaten up, laughed at, and made a fool out of more than once. She finally in one part just fell to her knees and vowed to make everyone in the universe think that she was the most amazing person in the galaxy. To do so, she made herself into the most evil person she could.

"If this is what it takes…, I'll destroy everything! EVERYTHING! I'll be the leader! I'll kill Sonic myself! I'll kill Kaira and destroy everything! Why, I don't even care about anything anymore!" yelled Zaira and a new side of her was born. One that only wanted revenge… Although, she then met… him.

"I met you Shadow and instantly fell in love because we could compare so much. I felt all of your pain Shadow… I felt everything… It was like reading the saddest book in history, but I wanted to read it for all of eternity! Your soul seemed to be falling apart, but you wouldn't let it and I admire strength like that. However, I still envy you because I wanted your power. I could only see you use it if I gave you the chaos emerald… Well, now I know that it's true. Everyone I know has left me at some point, but now, I'm ready to fight back. I just need the last chaos emerald and…," she said.

"And?" asked Shadow.

"Your power!" replied Zaira.

She flew far faster than Shadow could ever run or see and conked him and Rouge in the head. Everything went black…