9.
"What… What happened?" A genuine question, indeed.
For some reason that went beyond her understandings, she was now fully awake and she could see her surroundings…
She noticed the ice and the crystal shards…
She noticed the coldness and dread emptiness of this ancient charade of a world…
She noticed her immobility. She's been frozen. She's been encased inside a frosted coffin…
But why was she there? Where was Tails? Where were all the others? Where was her? No… She didn't die, did she?
She remembered the missile… She remembered the shining road… And the tender moment she had with her favourite vulpine.
The tears.
The kiss.
The goodbye.
What occurred after it… Was a total void in her mind.
Void! That name again! Just… Who was Void? A relative? A son!?
And then, clear as the day went… Everything came back in her mind. The numbness was gone. She could see the truth…
She's been tricked… She's been lured into a trap by this ancient entity who lied to her, who said he was going to save her from her demise… Instead, he trapped her inside this pod against her own will.
She could still feel his laughter and maniacal blabbering going throughout her own skin… Scaring her beyond reason.
She needed to get out from there. She needed to breath some air again. Most of all, she needed to see Tails, again!
Because she was alive! She wasn't dead! She could return to him and grew up with him, be happy with him…
Be her true self… A child in love.
Suddenly, everything started to shake violently, as if the whole place was about to vanish into nothingness…
And then, it came the Light.
And then, she was in the Sanctuary no more.
Cosmo the Seedrian has returned to her own dimension… Her own world… But she was still stocked inside the icy coffin.
Although being un-capable to utter a move, her blue eyes could very well take a picture of the new location she ended up in.
She could see an altar, not so distant from where she used to be, and on the top of it… The biggest, and most beautiful gem she'd ever seen in her entire life… Which wasn't much of a big deal since she'd never seen jewels before this one!
A great deal of power and raw energy was emanated from the mastodon green rock… More power than anybody could realistically ask about!
And she felt it all too well… And feared it even better. Now, she finally understood the true intentions of her impolite host…
If she could… Cosmo would have cried.
If he could… Tails would have cried. Cried like a little kid after seeing the Boogeyman coming out from under his bed. Instead, he stood there, erect, unable to utter a single movement… Almost lifeless… Petrified by fear.
He was right in front of him, not even a meter away from where he was. The sight of a genuinely scared soul pleased the old sorcerer who hadn't stopped, not even for a second, to grin. His unnatural, dead like eyes fixed themselves over the terrified Kitsune's.
While receiving such gaze, Tails had the sincere feeling that his own life was about to be sucked from his body… It was no fun.
Ixis Naugus started moving closer toward the statue like kit, who braced himself, excepting the worst. The sorcerer simply walked past him, completely ignoring the unwilling Vessel of Intelligence… His lifeless glare had found another object to suit his interests… The Iblis Trigger.
Somehow, Tails resumed his previous motion abilities and slowly, but still trembling, turned again to follow Naugus's movements with his gaze.
By now, the crab-handed sorcerer was standing tall, observing his adopted prodigy and best servant right into his black, wide eyes.
Void bowed himself before his master in sign of devotion and respect.
"You've made it, master… I'm so happy for that." He said while performing the reverence.
Naugus seemed satisfied by the respectful gesture and for the first time since his return to this planet… He spoke.
"And so am I, son…" He had a deep yet, asthmatic tone that fitted well with his true age.
"… You can rise, now."
The Seedrian did so. His expression immediately changed from worshipping to enthusiastic.
"Can you heal Cosmo, now? Can you?" He begged like a little child who wanted a new toy.
Tails' ears, from the distance, perched at this. He was definitely interested in the argument.
"But of course, young one…" Ixis started to say.
Void, in his mind, was already dancing like an imp on spring time.
"However…" The sorcerer continued, a serious expression on his twisted face.
Void's mental display of happiness stopped immediately.
"In order to successfully heal your mother from her disfiguring disease… I'm going to need your help, Void."
The Seedrian put on a determined gaze.
"I'll do everything, my lord! What do you need from me?" He mindlessly replied, too much caught in is own eagerness… For noticing his lord's sudden change of his facial features.
Naugus put his normal, right 5-fingered hand on the plant boy's shoulder. Void seemed to be a little confused by this act but he still trusted his adopted father.
He's been the one who took him under his protective wing…
He's been the one who taught him everything… How to control his powers and what to believe or not…
Void would entrust his life to Naugus…
Void was a Chosen by Nature but still a mortal… And mortals make mistakes.
He did.
Slowly, the sorcerer's head turned to his back and glanced fiercely at the still petrified figure of Tails, who by now was shaking madly.
Naugus just smiled at him. A mischievous smile. An evil smile.
And then… Realization dawned inside the vulpine's mind.
The ancient god turned his head again and stared at the now doubtful teen he was holding by his left shoulder… Finally answering his previous question.
"All I need…" He paused. He smirked. He grinned. "… IT'S YOUR OWN LIFE FORCE!!!"
And then…
And so…
The Iblis Trigger fulfilled his role…
The first Seedrian sealed Naugus away… And the last one freed him…
And fed him.
He could not feel anything… The scream of terror of his younger father… The laughter of his traitorous master…
And Naugus's huge clawed paw…
Right in his chest.
Blood. Green blood all over. He could remember that. It wasn't even painful… It was peaceful, instead.
He closed his empty eyes… A single tear came out of them… He fell to the ground, Completely drained of his own energy.
He fell… Like a dead leaf in autumn.
And this… Was NOT a pun.
The murdering hand was engulfed with the boy's vital fluid. It's owner was still laughing his lungs out of pure evilness when Tails finally managed to understand what had just occurred in front of his young blue eyes.
He witnessed the cold assassination of his unwilling son…
He saw his killer spear him with his claw and drain the energy out of his body…
He saw the demon laughing madly at his handy work…
He also saw himself… Standing and doing nothing…
Nothing!
It seemed to be the story of his life. He would try and fight for what he believed… Try and fight for defending the people he would love… And every time, he would miserably failed.
He couldn't save his parents.
He couldn't save Cosmo.
And he couldn't save her son.
Tails fell on his knees. Just like before, if he could… He would have cried.
He couldn't do it…
"NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
… But Someone could very well.
Before Tails or even the bloody handed Naugus could even register it, the sorcerer's body was suddenly engulfed by flames. Flames that Tails immediately recognize.
Blaze came out of nowhere. She was visibly traumatized and enraged at the same time. Her whole body was surrounded by flames and her once yellow eyes were now red like the Hell she brought with her… Her fur was red.
She was Blaze no more.
The cursed Bakeneko, the Monster Cat, the beast of flames… was back.
Her fury was a sight to behold… Among other things.
"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!!!!" It cried, the vengeful being, while mercilessly launching it's fireballs to the already burning sorcerer.
The sheer force of such blazing rage was sufficient to send the malicious entity far away from where Void's body used to be.
When the flames settled down, the familiar form of the lilac feline kneeled down to the limp form of her companion… The one who saved her soul from eternal damnation… The one that captured her heart…
The one she loved.
Blaze took one of Void's ugly excuses for an hand in her own… And cried. Tears descended from her now bloodshot eyes like waterfalls… Waterfalls of pure sadness and despair.
She was too absorbed in her own pain to notice Ixis Naugus's still blazing body right behind here, not that she would have cared. Nothing mattered to her anymore.
He stood tall and grinned maniacally as if the flames that were devouring his flesh weren't even there.
"Aaaah, such superb fury… Something that I can admire." He said while extinguishing the fiery "threat" with just a wave of his hand. "… That's why I wanted you to play a major role in my novel… By making you burn your own kingdom!"
At this revelation, Blaze's cat ears straightened themselves. He now had her attention.
His grin went even broader.
"That's right, my dear feline, your 'curse', the Bakeneko, all your sorrows… Have been caused by me! I've been observing you since your birth… You've been gifted with those powers… And I've just… Gave you more of it!" He chuckled. "OH! I'm also responsible for that silver hedgehog's sudden madness! It was fun to watch, indeed… Eheheheheheheheh!!" He added, clearly glad of himself.
All Blaze's sufferance and misfortune, all the pain and the solitude, all the emotions that she's been forced to deny… It was all the doing of one, deranged, individual. The cat girl's eyes were wide open, the tears had stopped and her body felt pain no more.
"Why?" She simply asked, without diverting her gaze from her beloved Seedrian.
"Because I can… Because even a God can be bored… Because everything exists for my own amusement!" His simple answer.
"YOU BASTARD!!!" A new comer's voice roared and Knuckles's out of nowhere, pissed off-able form darted toward the deceiving God with murderous intentions depicted in his amethyst eyes.
With a single move of his human hand, Naugus was able to block the enraged echidna in midair.
"WHAT!!?" Shouted the now bewildered red rodent while desperately trying to reach the sorcerer's face… To no avail.
"I've already told you, Vessel of Strength… I CONTROL CHAOS ITSELF!!!" Yelled the single horned dark mage.
With another move of his hand, the poor echidna's neck started to be strangled… By his own dreadlocked quills!
"Let him go!"
The ever so grinning Naugus turned his head toward the voice's direction. In the same time, Sonic curled himself into a ball and performed his Spin Dash attack, willing to hit his target dead on.
While still holding the strangling Knuckles in the air, Ixis's crablike hand clapped and the speedy hedgehog ball's run tragically ended on the heavy surface of a sudden ice-made wall. The impact was violent and Sonic found himself unable to move after it. The fact that he was not anymore made of flesh and bones, didn't help him greatly.
Naugus laughed again. His evil, loud laughter echoed inside the sensitive foxy ears of a certain two-tailed kit not very distant from where he used to be… This particular fox finally decided that he couldn't take it anymore.
"NAAAAUUUUGUUUUS!!!" Cried Tails right before spinning his namesakes and launching himself toward the object of his current misery at break-neck speed. Tears of rage were loosed from his aqua eyes.
Ixis Naugus looked absolutely un-fazed by the boy's outburst and with a simple blink of his lifeless eyes, Tails's body froze in place… Literally.
Only his head was left free by the un-merciful frostbite.
"Such courage… And such foolishness." The sorcerer taunted with Knuckles still in his grasp.
He got bored of the echidna and decided to shot him over his previously placed anti-hedgehog wall. Once again, it was a violent impact and the red warrior immediately lost his consciousness.
"Damn you… WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO VOID!!!?" Cried the un-frozen head of the desperate Kitsune.
The ancient entity looked down at the former Iblis Trigger's body and at his feline companion, who was still mourning on him, not caring about anything else… Not even about the awful truth she just received from the devil's mouth.
The demon then looked back at Tails again, answering his question.
"You should thank me, Vessel of Intelligence… For I am going to save your precious love from the premature embrace of Death!" He solemnly pronounced.
Tails was dumbfounded by that remark. Naugus continued.
"When she broke the inter-dimensional rift, she sacrificed her own life force… Therefore, in order to survive, she needed a new one… From someone like her!" He smirked. "As you could see, I now possess the required energy and I will be able to heal her… And after that…" His eyes glowed in pure eagerness. "… She will become my bride… AND RULE THIS WORLD AT MY SIDE!! AHR AHR AHR AHR AHR AHR AHR!!!"
To say that Tails was feeling sick and disgusted beyond any form of conceivable reason… Would still be not enough to describe the vulpine's true feelings in that moment. He was desperately trying to free himself from the ice… in vain.
"By the way, fox… She never visited you in your dreams!" He suddenly declared.
Tails was now even more shocked.
"In order to successfully play your role in this novel… You needed the proper motivation… That's why I impersonated your beloved Cosmo and told you everything you needed to know about me and my scheme… And when you tried to stop me, you caused my liberation… EVERYTHING YOU DID WAS PART OF MY PLOT!! YOU NEVER HAD FREE WILL!! ALL OF YOU WERE JUST PUPPETS IN A GOD'S HAND!! IN MY HAND!!!"
That sentence basically destroyed what was left of the frozen Kitsune's spirit, who by now had stopped his attempts to escape from his prison…
Naugus was pleased.
Someone else, however, was not.
"Enough with this!"
The sorcerer's gaze was now fixed on the new comer.
"Aaaah, Shadow the Hedgehog… I was starting to wonder about your sudden missing…" He said casually.
The black and red Ultimate Life Form wasn't impressed by the mage's fake display of concern.
"It's rather difficult to find your way on this island without Chaos Control!" He sorely replied, disposing of the two lifeless emeralds his used to hold.
"What can I do for you?" The other asked.
"You have a debt with me, Naugus… You promised me to revive Maria!" He practically yelled, clearly annoyed by his employee's short memory.
At that, Ixis Naugus put on a diabolical smirk.
"Well, not exactly, my dear ally… I did promise that I was going to REUNITE you with Maria… I've never mentioned a resurrection affair, did I?"
Shadow's crimson eyes widen.
Naugus's deadly brown ones glowed.
And a thunder hit the not so Ultimate Life Form dead on…
Shadow the Hedgehog fell on the ground without a lament.
"Now, you two can finally be together… IN HELL!!!" This world's Iblis, laughed.
Something went horribly wrong… Amy Rose could feel it. Something happened to someone, somewhere. She couldn't tell what, who or where… She just knew it… And feared it…
And Fear, happened to be the key word in that moment.
The blood.
The dead.
The screams.
She was surrounded by all of this… All these contorted faces and twisted corpses. In the middle of this conflict, her mind has isolated itself from the rest of her body… She stood still inside the battlefield… Covered by blood, both robotic and Mobian's…
She suffered a Trauma, that was painfully clear. She could still, however, see her surroundings…
They were all still fighting around there… Espio had several wounds on his body and his chameleon horn was broken, but he refused to surrender… Uncounted mechanical corpses lied on his feet and even more were about to join the improvised junkyard.
Rotor lost one of his legs and was currently out of commission.
Amy Rose tilted her head to see the sky.
As if on cue, the rain started to fall… Giving to the scene it's proper tragic tribute.
Thunders cracked all over, some of them even hitting many of Eggman's robots… And the unfortunate beings that happened to be nearby them…
All in all, nothing would have changed the fact… That the resistance was losing the battle.
G.U.N. has been able to destroy the perimeters' defenses of Robotropolis but the doctor's army was still to great to overcome…
They were out-numbered and out-matched… They were starting to retrieve.
In the midst of that mess… Sally Acorn had one thing in mind and that was her son… She could not communicate with him via wrist com. from where he was and therefore, she couldn't know if he was fine or not…
One thing was certain, though… Their only hope to win, now, was the power of the Chaos Emeralds. If her son and his friends would fail…
She didn't even want to finish that thought, she trusted her boy's abilities and courage…
And just like she promised earlier… She would have been alive for his return.
"Chaos be with you… Tails." She preyed, before resuming her escape.
Ixis Naugus was still laughing when he said what he said.
"I'll be at the Master Emerald's shrine if you need me… And so, will Cosmo… Farewell!"
Then, he just disappeared.
In the same time, both Knuckles and Sonic regained their consciousness and Tails's frozen prison melted, freeing him.
The three of them exchanged looks with each other without saying anything… Without wanting or having anything to say… Their sore gazes spoke for themselves… Then the group diverted it's attention over the seemingly carbonized body of what was once the most feared and misunderstood being on Earth… And on the two lonely figures right in front of them.
Tails immediately darted toward the mourning Blaze and dieing Void.
Sonic rushed to the blacker hedgehog's side, instead.
Knuckles decided to stay were he was… Giving them their deserving space. He knew that his innate healing powers would have been useless this time… After all, he couldn't do miracles.
Sonic kneeled in the vicinity of his son's body, clearly desperate about his departure… Their departure! In one single shot, Naugus killed both the dark brothers… Both Mephiles and Shadow, were gone…
Or so he thought.
In his fatherly despair, he didn't even considered the idea of checking the hedgehog's pulse.
"I really wish… I could cry." Muttered to himself, the robotizied, fur covered hedgehog.
He then slowly raised and looked behind him… Over the small group of three persons not so far from where he was.
Somehow, Void was still alive… Not for long, though. The hole he had in his upper body has been a lethal shot. Green blood was still erupting from it.
His viewing sight was starting to abandon him but he could still recognize the two figures that were there for him, desperately trying to alleviate his sufferance.
One was the un-mistakable silhouette of her feline companion, his best friend and confident and… As he finally realized it, the woman he loved with all of his might. The only one who understood him and cared for him… Besides the other one, of course.
On his left side, was the now tearful figure of the two-tailed kit that claimed to be his rightful father… The one who tried to warn him about his former master's real intensions… The one he chose to ignore…
He was feeling sick with himself for letting his real father down… For letting Blaze down… For letting everybody he considered important down!
He felt bad even for Shadow and that Silver guy… In the end, all of them have been nothing more than chosen characters of a novel… As chaotic as it could seem.
He tried to spoke.
"I… I'm… So-sorry… COUGH!!" He spat some blood.
"No… No, don't force yourself…" Tails pleaded through his tears while holding his son's other 3-fingered hand.
"P-please… S-save mother… Save Cosmo!" He managed to say.
"I will…"
"NO! IT WON'T END LIKE THIS!!!"
Everybody fixed their bewildered gazes over the now flaming form of Blaze the Cat, especially Tails and Void.
She transformed again.
Her fur changed from violet to red and her eyes became full white… This time, however, the Bakeneko was not driven by fury… Only by sadness and love.
She quietly smiled at her long time foxy friend and former Freedom Fighters' comrade.
"Tails… It's better for you to stay away from us, now." She suggested, without a threatening tone.
Tails, although bemused, did as he was told and went far away from the two lovers.
She muttered a "thank you" to him. He nodded and then, he just observed the scene along with Sonic and Knuckles.
The blazing princess was caressing the Seedrian's forehead.
"Don't worry…" She said while the flames started to encircle the both of them. "… We will remain together, my love, no matter what!" She sweetly reassured.
Void smiled at her and his black, namesake eyes, were shining with new re-found strength and will to live.
"I entrust my own soul to you, Blaze." He replied with conviction. "I love you, my fiery princess." He concluded.
"I love you too, my charming prince."
And with that said, their respective lips united themselves in a sweet and quiet kiss that would seal their unique love for the ages to come…
By now, the flames had already embraced the two soul mates and once they were dissipated…
Nothing was left of the two of them…
They were simply gone… Escaped from this reality… Left for a different place or dimension in which they could finally be happy…
The Blazing Princess and her Charming Prince.
Alone, together.
Forever and eternally.
Only three remained.
The original trio, the Vessels of Intelligence, Strength and Speed.
The three main players of this story.
In the minutes that followed the latest tragedy, Tails, Knuckles and Sonic, had little time to none for doing the following things:
1) Mourn about their recent losses;
2) Recover their collective determination and will;
3) Retell their own versions of the whole plot, from their point of view, to each other for no logical reason… Then again, Logic was not key word here, as we already know.
Sonic and Tails told Knuckles everything that happened to them.
They told him about Sir Charles's ransom and Eggman's plan, the truth about Sonic's origins, Bunny Rabbot, Snively and the, hopefully, last assault to Robotropolis… Tails even mentioned the infamous woodcutter and the Mounties chorus…
Sonic nodded.
Knuckles blabbered… probably because of the astounding news he just received… or maybe because of the Mounties? Who knew?
Then, it was Knuckles's turn to tell his tale.
He told them how he's arrived on the island, found the Hidden Palace and the Master Emerald, the truth about Ixis Naugus, the Chaos Emeralds, the four mages (including the story between Merlin Prower and Gaia Earthia), the roles of the Vessels, his recent demonic possession… Everything! Well… He wisely omitted the part when he got raped by his own sister… And his baffling encounter with ghostly Fang… It's easy to imagine why.
Sonic was mouth agape.
Tails was simply shocked… Once the gruesome and rather improbable news managed to sink inside the fox's brain… A very interesting theory started to take shape… And a whole new confident expression crossed the vulpine's face.
The other two noticed it and nodded in approval, confident as well.
They exchanged looks and smirks, they would not go down without a fight, that was for certain!
Their respective minds were focused and settled on the very objects that would have provided them, the motivation they needed.
Tails was focus on Cosmo… Not even in his wildest dreams he could let himself to hope that, one day, he would have been with her again… And hug her again… And kiss her again…
But in order to do so, he would have to deal with one, nasty obstacle… The evil sorcerer that threatened not only his soul mate but the world, as well.
Sonic wanted to win, to survive this battle so he could come back to her… That sweet, hot example of feminine specimen that Bunny Rabbot was… Sure, he would have to tell her the truth about him… The fact that he was not a Robian like her but a full robotizied hedgehog with fur… But the simple fact of thinking about her perfect, slender body, it gave Sonic all the will he needed.
Knuckles's mind wasn't troubled anymore… He has finally realized his true feelings about her sister, Tikal. He loved her, not in the usual brother-sister way, he really loved her… Mentally and physically… And he could not tell the reason of this passion… This forbidden passion… Then again, as we know, emotions and feelings have nothing to do with Reason…
Certain things, just happens.
Despite what people like Naugus want us to think, Control and Order are not everything in Life.
Even in the perfect form and structure of a well written novel… Where everything is already decided by its Author… Its God… There will always be Chaos. The Chaos in the Author's mind when he suffers writer's block or when he has to deal with his own emotions and feelings that his work demands… The sickening fear that a single line could very well ruin an entire chapter, if not the story itself and, finally, the complicated and suffering relationship between the Writer and his characters… Whether being original or not…
In the end, is it the God that controls his world… Or is it the world that controls his God?
I tried to find this answer… I tried to achieve absolute control! To avoid Chaos… And it is because of my undeniable sin… That Naugus stole my role.
I've understood one thing… Anything of this would have ever happened if I just would have accepted the Chaos that lives inside of me… The Chaos that this fascinating yet, uncomprehensible world is made of…
And therefore, the Freedom that we all could have if we ONLY wanted it… And fight for it!
We should all fight against all those Eggmans and those Nauguses that want to enslave us and negate our Freedom… Negate the endless possibilities of Chaos… And all in the name of their precious Order!
The same Freedom that these three characters, along with all the others, have been battling for, in the past, and will continue to battle for, as long as they can!
All I can do for now… Is to narrate their gestures… And hope for the better.
And so… Tails, Knuckles and Sonic darted toward the Hidden Palace and Ixis Naugus… Ready for the final battle.
Go guys! For what it could matter, I'm still with you!
GO GET HIM!!!
TOGETHER, YOU CAN!!!