Sonic the Hedgehog: Blood Pact

Copyright info: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or any other character used in this story. If I did, though, you can bet there'd be a super cool Sonic game with SatAM characters for the Wii (and since they already used "Sonic Heroes", I'd call it "Sonic Legendz".)

Author's Note: Haven't had a lot of time to work on this lately, so I'm sorry for another late update. Hope you enjoy it anyway, though.

Continuity info: This takes place in the Archie comic's continuity immediately after the infamous #134("Say You Will", featuring what Dan Drazen aptly titled "the slap heard 'round the fandom" and Sonic and Sally splitting up…again…). Everything that happened after that issue is disregarded. The events depicted in this story act as a substitute for the events that take place at this point in the comics.

Where once was light
Now darkness falls
Where once was love
Love is no more
Don't say goodbye
Don't say I didn't try

-"Gollum's Song", Emiliana Torrini

Chapter Six: Into the Darkness

By Blue Eyes Shining Dragon

Everyone was looking at them. Standing on that wide open stage, the only light the firecrackers bursting in the night sky, Sally looked at Sonic warmly. After a year of hoping he would return, constantly telling herself he would, the Princess had been rewarded. He was finally home, and she had been given a chance to take what had slipped through her grasp before. More than anything, Sally wanted Sonic to be with her, now more than ever. Watching him vanish on that fateful day so long ago, seemingly never to return, had made the squirrel realize just how important Sonic truly was to her. Hands clasped to her heart, Sally spoke softly, "Even though my parents are still the official monarchs of the kingdom, I'll be overseeing the daily operations of the city."

It had been a surprise to Sally, to learn her parents planned to leave Knothole for a time to explore the world. Once she had learned her father had chosen her to rule in his stead, however, Sally knew she could not do so alone. "They've given me a tremendous responsibility, and it's going to be a big mantle to bear." Her heart began to beat faster as the next words left her mouth, "That's why I want you to rule by my side while they're away."

"Me?" Sonic responded in surprise.

"You are my consort, after all..." came her shaky answer; the situation was tense enough without him having to act so off-guard.

For a moment, the hedgehog said nothing. The silence was deafening for Sally as she anxiously waited for an answer, any answer, to come from him. At last, Sonic smiled and, giving a big thumbs-up to her, laughed, "For you, Sal? Anything!"

Tears of joy welled up in the Princess' eyes. "Oh, Sonic..." she spoke shakily.

"I love you, Sal," Sonic said, placing his hand upon the squirrel's, still pressed over her heart. "I want to be with you, no matter where you go or what happens."

Without another thought, Sally wrapped her arms around the hedgehog and pulled him into a warm embrace. "I love you too, Sonic..." she whispered to him, "I love you so much..."

Sonic returned the hug, nuzzling Sally's hair gently. Placing his hand on her chin, the hedgehog then lifted Sally's face up to match his own and gave her a passionate kiss. Their spirits feeling as tightly locked as their bodies, the lovers tuned out the loud cheers of the gathered crowd, focused solely on each other. It was then that Sally realized she could not remember a time in her life when she had been happier. Just as that feeling of overwhelming joy began to emerge, however, it all seeped away. The sky, the forest...Sonic...all of it seemed to turn to dust and blow off into oblivion. "No..." she whispered in terror, her tears of joy turning to ones of sorrow. "NO!!!"

Blackness consumed Sally's vision, and with a terrible jolt she found herself back in that damned altar. Racked with the same anguish she had felt upon returning from the memory of her first meeting with Daxis, Sally coughed and shuddered. No longer able to hold it back, she began to cry. Miserable, broken, and ashamed, Sally cried freely, even though the squirrel knew she was being watched by the same entity that had delivered that cruel vision. "Futile Tears..." his accursed voice spoke mockingly, "They earn you nothing..."

Even though the words reverberated inside Sally's very mind, she paid them little heed. All she could hear, all she could see, was that face...green eyes, a loving smile with the promise of adventure in it...that voice, which spoke with a strength Sally desperately wished she could possess at that moment. "Why..." she sobbed, thoughts and feelings confused and dizzied, "Why couldn't he have just said yes...?"

"None of this would be happening if he had just said yes!!!" Daxis finished for Sally, a voice of rage that the squirrel feared reflected her thought too well. "Selfish, stupid, immature..."

"Stop it..." the Princess coughed as she recognized her thoughts were being put into Daxis' words. "Please...stop it..."

From within the ever-shifting vortex that was his only link to the living world, Daxis could not help but feel great exhilaration at her plea. It had been so long since he had felt at all, and now that he could again, it was beyond his wildest imaginings how rapturous it was. Picking apart this pitiful flesh creature from the inside out, feeling her every doubt, fear, sorrow, joy...it was delicious. Now, at last, the Walker had begun to crack through her defenses, and watching them crumble added one more layer of pleasure to the experience. Speaking through the portal, he answered at last, "I can not stop now, Child. There are far too many things left for you to feel...for me to feel..."

Storm clouds gathering over his head, Sonic rushed back toward the temple. The cut on his cheek still stung lightly, but it was nothing the hedgehog could not handle. Far more frustrating to him was the mysterious nature of the enemies he had fought. They had seemingly come from nowhere, attacked, then vanished before it seemed they had accomplished anything more than cutting his face and getting him angry. "What did they want...?" was the question that still floated around Sonic's mind as the entrance to the temple came into view. "Enpo Os We Aym Ssap!" the speedster shouted just as he was about to collide with the painting that hid the temple's entrance.

Melding into the painting and entering the torch-lit hallway, Sonic started to laugh. There was no game more fun or exciting for him than seeing just how close he could come to slamming into the wall before activating the gate to the temple. Each and every time, the hedgehog would try to cut it just a second closer. His amusement offset his frustration over the strange attack a bit, but it was still prominently on his mind by the time the hedgehog screeched to a halt in the main chamber. Spinning around to face where he had come from, Sonic's spirits lifted a little more when he saw Lilith fly down from the ceiling to greet him. "That was quick," she observed as the two embraced.

"Like everything else I do." Sonic responded with a wink.

A loud crack echoed across the chamber then, causing the two to separate in surprise. Sonic did not need to turn around to recognize the sound as Amodeus' staff slamming into the floor; the hedgehog had heard it so many times over the years he knew its every nuance. "And so he returns..." the goat's biting voice came. "I specifically instructed you to stay here, did I not?"

Giving the shaman a flippant wave of his hand, Sonic kept his back to Amodeus as he answered dismissively, "I'm here now, ain't I?"

Exhaustion exacerbating his frustration at the speedster's attitude, Amodeus shouted out "YOU WILL FACE ME WHEN SPEAKING!!!", crashing his staff to the ground again, its power causing the whole room to tremble.

"Do it, Blue..." Lilith whispered with a twinge of fear in her voice. "Before he gets really angry..."

One aggravated groan later, Sonic raised his arms in surrender. "OK, OK..." he muttered as he turned to face Amodeus.

"Ah, that's more..."

The shaman's calmer sentence died in his throat as the cut on Sonic's cheek entered his vision. "Where...did you...get that wound...?" he asked haltingly through gritted teeth.

Noticing Amodeus' darkening mood, the hedgehog quickly uttered out "Nowhere, just...y'know...a little cut on, like, a rock or somethin'..."

Sonic reasoned it better that Amodeus think him a bit clumsy than to learn of the scuffle. No sooner had the lie left his lips, however, then Sonic felt his feet slowly rise off the ground. Looking up at Amodeus, the hedgehog's heart chilled as he saw the shaman's hand opened up at him, a frightful red glow surrounding its finger tips. "LIAR!!!" Amodeus roared, pushing his palm forward.

Sonic was then sent flying upwards through the air, stopping only when his back crashed into the chamber's giant gate with such force the hedgehog could feel the wood behind him break apart. His own quills keeping him stuck to the gate, Sonic was left jarred and hurting from the unexpected attack. Before he could get up to react, another surprise came to him in the form of Amodeus' hand around his throat. Floating in front of the dazed hedgehog, Amodeus' grip tightened as he hissed, "What happened? Tell me the truth!!!"

Within a heartbeat, Lilith had flown up next to them. "Leave him alone!" she shouted.

"His blood was shed, you fool!" the shaman roared at her. "He has placed everything we have fought for in danger!"

Sonic expected Lilith to defend him. His heart sank when, instead, the bat placed her hands upon her mouth in horror, a terrible realization evident in her eyes. "What. HAPPENED?" Amodeus repeated his query even more forcefully.

Struggling just to breath through the iron hold around his lungs, Sonic barely managed to choke out, "Spiders...buncha ninja spiders attacked me..."

Amodeus' rage immediately hit the boiling point then. Slowly backing away from Sonic, the shaman seemed to quiver with anger. "You..." he rasped, "You FOOL!!!" A powerful wind curled around him as his whole body pulsed with crimson energy, pushing even Lilith away with its force. "Do you have ANY idea what you've DONE!?!"

"Not...really..." Sonic coughed with a defiant glare.

The red light around Amodeus died down, giving Lilith a chance to return to the goat's side. "He didn't mean to, Amodeus..." she said pleadingly, "He couldn't have known..."

"The ninjas took the weapon that gave you that cut, didn't they?" the shaman asked with a frightfully calm tone.

Sonic nodded. Amodeus mimicked the gesture derisively, and slowly turned from the hedgehog in disgust. "Those spiders are agents of the Source of All," he intoned gravely, "and you have just given them the key to our sanctuary."

The air hung silent with that statement. Even though he did not fully understand, it was not hard for Sonic to grasp the general meaning of what he had just been told. It left a crushing guilt in his heart, the knowledge that his recklessness may have endangered the Order and its sacred mission. "Forgive me..." he croaked after what felt like an eternity of haunting quiet.

"I forgive you," Amodeus answered after a moment. "However, I am afraid you must still be held responsible for your actions."

With a predator's grace, the goat turned to face Sonic once more with his hand open. The hedgehog then floated from the broken wood, lifted into the air as a crackling energy surrounded him, the same red energy that again emerged from around Amodeus' hand. "Amodeus..." Lilith begged.

"Stand aside, child." he answered sadly. "You know our laws are absolute and must be upheld without fail."

The bat bowed her head in shame then, slowly backing away. "Lil..." Sonic whispered in surprise and sadness.

Before either emotion could go much further, the hedgehog was overwhelmed by a far more powerful feeling. Pain. Burning, searing, cutting, crawling pain. Gritting his teeth, he tried to be strong then. Yet the harder he tried, the greater his suffering became. "Go," Amodeus spoke to Lilith without taking his eyes off the anguished Sonic, "We must prepare for our enemies to arrive...you know what to do."

Though it broke her heart to leave Sonic as he was, Lilith knew it was necessary. "I...I'm sorry, Blue..." she whispered sadly before flying through the gate.

Shaking and shivering in agony, Sonic heard the words, and wished he could let the bat know he understood. Yet his attempts to speak as she flew away were met with failure. "As for you..." Amodeus hissed once the bat was gone, "Your punishment can now begin in earnest!"

The shaman's open hand clamped into a fist, and it was as if it was closing in on Sonic himself, crushing and breaking every inch of his body and soul. Unable to hold it in any longer, the hedgehog released a terrible, agonized scream as he felt the entirety of his being break and crumble into nothingness. As all thought and feeling left him, a final, desperate wish for the strength to fight back crept into Sonic's mind, and the hedgehog could have sworn he felt a comforting hand on his own answering that wish. "I believe in you, Sonic..." a voice...the Princess' voice...came from somewhere deep inside of him.

It was the last thing the hedgehog was aware of before his world was consumed in nothingness.

"The Arachne...You expect me to trust Uma Arachnis' children? They're just as dangerous as their mother!"

It was the response Tails expected from Geoffrey, and this time the commander did not surprise the young fox. Though they were still pursuing Sonic's signal on the tracker, the small group from Knothole had slowed the hovercraft down a notch in order to have time to contemplate the offer of the three Arachne ninjas, who still waited upon the ship's roof. "Sally trusted them with the Sword of Acorns," Tails responded to Geoffrey. "If she could trust them, so can we."

"Besides, if what they told Tails is true, the Sword's the one ordering them to help us; if we can't trust the Source of All, who can we trust?" Knuckles added.

Rotor, Julie-Su, and Hershey all nodded their agreement, prompting Geoffrey to massage his temples for a moment. Once he finished, he said with a sigh, "Alright, alright...we'll bring them along. However, I expect all of you to keep as sharp an eye on them as you can; at the first sign of a double-cross, we take them out. Understood?"

Another wave of vigorous nods came from the team. "Good," Geoffrey said, turning around to face the control console again and deactivating the auto-pilot. "Tails, inform our...guests...of the decision."

"Got it." the fox answered simply, again exiting the ship through its oval window.

Rotor was unable to suppress a chuckle as the fox left. "What?" Geoffrey asked without looking back at the walrus. When no answer came, he continued, "What is so funny?"

An uncharacteristically large grin on his face, the inventor answered, "You're getting soft in your old age, Geoffrey."

"I'm not that old..." the skunk groaned, then turned quickly to Hershey and hastily asked, "...am I?"

The cat gave him an odd look at the question, but no answer. Instead, she faced Rotor and said, "Instead of badgering my husband, Rote, could you give me a hand with this tracker?"

Rising to his feet, the walrus moved over to the front of the ship. Its floors shaking with movement made it a bit of a task for the cumbersome Mobian, but eventually he succeeded. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked.

"I had Sonic's signal a second ago," Hershey answered, "but just now it disappeared. Did I do something wrong?"

Taking the device into his hands, Rotor looked at it carefully for a moment. "No..." he spoke as he looked at the tracker's back, "it doesn't appear damaged, and the battery should still be good."

"Then what happened?"

"If I had to guess, I would say Sonic's ring aura receded somehow, which is to say it became so faint the tracker can no longer detect it. But..." Rotor stopped himself then, a small grunt signaling the end of his sentence.

"But...?" Hershey prompted him to continue.

Scratching the back of his head nervously, the walrus answered, "Well, there's really only two ways I know of for that to happen to Sonic's aura." One more pause later to take a deep breath, he finished, "Either he's unconscious...or he's dead."

"He is not dead." Knuckles blurted out emphatically.

Julie-Su placed a comforting hand on the red echidna's shoulder. "That's the spirit, Knux..." she said with equal measures of pride and embarrassment.

"We'll maintain course for where his signal last was before we lost it," Geoffrey said, "and assume he is still alive. With any luck, that'll take us where we need to go."

Meanwhile, Tails had reached the roof, only to find the three spiders huddled together as if discussing something. "Hey, guys!" the fox spoke up as loudly as he could, flying alongside the ship.

The ninjas dispersed and looked at Tails. "Forgive us, Chosen One." they all spoke at once, again bowing to the young boy.

It still felt strange for Tails to hear them address him by that title, to speak to him with such deep-seated respect. Not that the fox did not appreciate it; there were times he wished his friends would treat him like that. Here, however...it just felt like a burden. "Y'know," he said kindly, "you could just call me Tails. Or even Miles. Just...don't call me that, OK?"

With another bow, the three gave a united answer again. "As you wish...Miles."

At first, Tails was surprised at their obedience. It did not take long, however, for the fox to gain a grin worthy of his species. There was now a deep-seated temptation to give the ninjas a string of ridiculous orders, just to see if they would follow them. However, Tails still remembered the stakes of their mission, and quickly buried his excitement at having his own personal ninja troop for later. "What were you talking about?" he asked.

"Planning."

"The enemy will soon learn of what we have done."

"Once that happens, we must be prepared for a very difficult battle."

Tails was still not quite used to the successive manner in which the Arachne spoke. Regardless, he asked, "And what did you do, exactly?"

"Our brothers took some of the Blue One's blood."

"They are following us to deliver it to you and your friends."

"You can use it to enter the temple where the Child of the Source is being held."

Tails was wary of their words; they had not told him HOW they'd gotten Sonic's blood, or how much of it they had. Indeed, he was rather uncomfortable at the thought of having to use it as some sort of key. How was that going to work? "I probably don't want to know..." he answered himself.

The Arachne recognized the discomfort on his face, placing their hands together as if in prayer. "Forgive us, Miles." they said. "We did not wish to upset you."

"It's fine, really!" Tails assured with a silly smile to drive his point home.

"We thank you for your mercy." the Arachne said with another bow.

The fox couldn't help but roll his eyes at the formality. "Anyway," he said, "I just wanted to let you three know Geoffrey says it's OK for you to travel with us."

"We thank you for your kindness." Another bow.

"Maybe having my own troop of ninjas isn't such a cool thing..." Tails thought, but spoke instead, "You're welcome. Feel free to join us inside if you want to."

The Arachne made no move to follow when the fox returned to the window to re-enter the hovercraft, leaving him to assume they would prefer to stay outside. As the sky began to darken with growing storm clouds, the fox guessed that preference would not last long. The longer he looked at those clouds, the more Tails felt a chill run up his spine. Opening the window, he silently hoped they were not as sinister an omen as they appeared to be.

Sally's breath was ragged and forced. Sweat drenched her fur. Daxis had subjected her to vision after vision. Some were memories she wished she did not have, some were truths taken and twisted in the cruellest of ways. Others were wholesale illusions. All of them, however, served one purpose: to make the princess experience the greatest depths of her love, hate, fear, pride...all the emotions Sally always took such care to keep in check. "You are very amusing, Child..." Sally felt the words creep through her. "To think such simple tricks could elicit such powerful emotions...your kind is even more lost than I believed if this is your state of being."

Looking once more into the princess' mind, Daxis felt a great satisfaction when he found it lacked the fire it had possessed when he had started. Dim, dull, and tired, Sally's mind could barely focus enough to begin to think. It was the dark deity's first conquest, and he reveled in the feeling of it. It was his triumph, and he looked forward to many more like it. "Soon...soon this fate shall greet all who defile this wondrous world..."

The thought filled Daxis' spirit with a wicked delight as he imagined it. Mobians, Overlanders...all would quiver in his presence. For now, however, he could settle for this. Sally, for her part, could only stare blankly into the endless void that still rested above her. Light. Dark. Light. Dark. It just kept changing with a hypnotic rhythm, further dulling her senses. "Perhaps..." some deep, instinctual part of the squirrel thought, "Perhaps...if this is the end...that is acceptable..."

To be part of that rhythm...to never again worry about the burden of leading a kingdom, fighting a war...of feeling...perhaps being freed of all that would not be such a terrible thing. "Yes, Child...I see you've begun to understand..." Daxis gloated as the thought entered his perception.

Sally's breath grew more even as she felt an eerie calm slowly close in on her heart. Eye lids heavy, exhaustion overwhelming, the squirrel found herself comfortably falling into a deep sleep, something she had not had in so long. A small part of her still tried to hold on desperately to the waking world, but found itself pushed further and further into the recesses of Sally's mind. It tried to think of something, anything, to keep the Princess awake as she felt herself slipping away. That was when it came to her: a memory from a time so long ago, she had almost forgotten it had ever happened.

A beautiful day...fields of blooming flowers...she was only a child then, picking flowers idly. Looking around, the young squirrel sighed in contentment. If she could stay like this forever, she would be happy. That soon became impossible, however, when to her surprise she found herself pushed into the ground. "You're it!" a young boy's voice called out to her from the distance.

"SONIC MAURICE HEDGEHOG!!!" Sally cried out in frustration, knowing how much the speedster detested people using his full name. "I TOLD YOU ALREADY I DON'T WANNA PLAY TAG TODAY!!!"

Though Sonic was nowhere to be seen, Sally knew he was close enough to hear her. If he was set on playing tag, he would give Sally a chance by not speeding away. He always did. Sure enough, the hedgehog rose out of his hiding spot among the flowers with a sheepish sigh. "Did you really?" he asked timidly.

Folding her arms sternly, she answered, "Yes I did. I told you back at the castle, I wanted to pick flowers for Dad today."

With a guilty chuckle, Sonic responded, "Oh...I kinda stopped paying attention when you told me you were going to the field, so I sorta figured that was just where you wanted to play..."

"Sonic, you...you're nothing more than a big fat hippo-crit!" the squirrel blurted out angrily, leaving the hedgehog with a bewildered look on his face; Sally always enjoyed using the words she picked up from her father's royal meetings to stupify Sonic.

Scratching his head in thought, Sonic mumbled, "Hip...hippo...hippo-crit..." He paused for a minute. Then, snapping his fingers, he cried out excitedly, "Oh! That means I'm really hip, right?"

Sally had to resist the urge to slap herself in the face. She didn't know what the word meant either, but she knew it didn't mean that! Still, the longer she thought about it, the less angry she was with the hedgehog, and decided to let him have his moment. "Yes, Sonic," she laughed, "that's exactly what it means."

Sonic immediately proceeded to do a dance, bouncing up and down joyfully. "Oh yeah!" he boasted enthusiastically to the tune of a song that existed only in his mind, "I'm hip! I'm awesome! I'm so hot I'm cool! Oh yeah!"

In spite of herself, the squirrel laughed. As much of a pest as the boy could be, Sonic could always make her feel happy in a way no one else could. Sonic's dance grew more and more absurd, with the hedgehog leaping around on his hands, and Sally could only laugh harder, so much so she fell to the ground, arms wrapped around her sides. "Sal?" Sonic noticed her fall, still standing on one hand with his feet split in the air. "You OK?"

When the only answer the hedgehog received was more laughter, he tip-toed over to where Sally had fallen. Seeing her laughing on the ground, Sonic grinned; if Sally was happy, he was happy. "C'mon, Sal," he offered the giggling young girl his hand, "I think I can help you pick all those flowers in no time flat, but you gotta get up."

"Get up."

"Get up."

The remembered request soon became Sally's own spoken words. Slowly, the fog clouding her thoughts began to recede, though pushing it back was hard. Shaking it off as best she could, Sally focused on the memory as hard as she could. It was her anchor, a reminder of happier times to push her on to a future she would strive to make just as bright. "A sweet sentiment, Child, but one you will never be able to realize," Daxis rumbled. "Still, perhaps the future I intend to make can comfort you."

A horrid vision of Knothole in ruins, corpses strewn across the ground, fire and blood covering the land, forced itself upon Sally's thoughts. Tails...her parents...all her friends...Sonic...all dead, all staring at her with empty eyes. It chilled her, but to her surprise, Sally could tell it was not real. Every other time Daxis had created such horrible illusions, he had been able to make Sally believe it to be her current reality, yet somehow...somehow this was different. The scent of the flowers she had fallen into as a child were still fresh in her senses, a glint of the gorgeous sunlit sky shining upon the horror she now beheld. "Get up..." the voice of the past spoke again.

Even as she stared into the face of her worst nightmare, Sally knew she had to heed those words. Though aware of its futility, Sally resumed her struggle to break free of the altar in which she was still embedded. The illusion began to fade, and slowly but surely Sally felt it happening. Her arms were rising, not through hard stone, but through water. "No..." Daxis hissed. "It's not possible!!!"

With one final burst, Sally fell to the floor. The altar that had been her prison melted away, receding into the walls from which it had come. "I'm..." the squirrel gasped, lying on the floor tired and more than a bit surprised. "I'm free..."

What had just happened was still sinking into her mind, but Sally had no time to waste. She had to get out of that place, as soon as possible, and she had to find Sonic and she had to...

"You're not going to do anything!!!"the roar of Daxis' command shook the room.

Rising unsteadily to her feet, leaning on the wall for support, the princess looked up at the glowing void, then down at her feet. The skull Amodeus had placed on her at the beginning of the ritual stared up at her, a reminder of the being Sally might still summon if she did not act. "Yes," came her answer to Daxis' scream, "I am. I'm going to stop you."

Praying that she knew what she was doing, Sally placed her hand upon the wall and focused. "This is not a wall," she thought, "this is water. This is something I can walk through..."

And with that, she felt herself begin to melt into the bone that formed the surface.

To Be Continued...