A/N: Hey, this chapter is finally released! Sorry about the delay... (geez, I'm always apologizing for this!), but... well, to be honest, I wanted to write something with Nathaniel and Naomi in it, but I couldn't, so in the end, I wrote something different. So if anyone is looking forward to some little children kawainess, you're not gonna find it today.

Also, I gave myself mild food poisoning. I cut open a bad mango, then, FORGETTING TO WASH THE KNIFE, proceeded to cut, and eat, a "good" mango. Yeah, that's right. Aces injures herself doing wild, awesome stunts, and I injure myself through stupidity. I am so smart XD

Enjoy the chapter! Oh, and yeah, there's such a thing as "Canadian Idol." I like to compare Canada-United States relationships to Sega-Nintendo relationships. We come up with good stuff, but then screw it up by trying to copy others (badly).

I still love you, Canada!

And can't you see it everywhere
The moment is alive
So why don't you
Shine, cause I've been waiting for you to try
Set your sights high
And elevate yourself to the sky
Just rise and shine.

"Shine" lyrics by Brian Melo, Canadian Idol winner

'Amy, I love you.'

Sonic smiled as her warm lips pressed against his, as she laughed and cried and shouted at him for making fun of her all at once.

'No matter how much I start hating you, I go right back to square one. This is love, isn't it? This is you, isn't it? Without knowing it, I fell in love. This is all so… confusing… but I'm sure we can get through it.'

He smiled again. "Amy, I-"

He was cut off when his face was slammed into the bars of the door. His quills were pulled painfully backwards, and he caught a glimpse of Amy's horrified face on the other side of the door, before he was flung far away to the other side of the room. Robots and machines crunched under his weight, mechanical limbs snapping like twigs as he landed in a bed of ruined machines. He heard a pop and a strange sigh as a frozen robot, now missing a leg, fell on its face and shattered its eyes.

"Sonic, Sonic! Get up!" he heard Amy scream. He heard loud clangs as she took out her hammer and furiously beat at the bars to no avail.

"Sorry, Amy. I had your hammer in mind when I built that… but I expected you to be on this side."

Sonic got up, pieces of metal falling off as he did. "Hey, Tails. Long time no see."

The double-tailed fox raised an eyebrow. "You're okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for worrying," Sonic quipped, brushing off the last of the metal. He ignored the fox rolling his eyes and gave him a smirk. "But I'm surprised that you could throw me so far."

The fox shrugged. "I learned how to do a lot of things when you were gone." He spread his hands. He was taller now, almost Sonic's height, his fur perhaps a shade darker. "Anyway, you should also know that Ruby is safe and sound. Looks like Vanilla didn't agree with some of the… things I needed to do to study the Chaos energy inside her."

Sonic breathed an internal sigh of relief. "So why are you telling me this?" he asked.

"Oh, just so you don't try to use any psychological crap on me to get Ruby back." Tails spread his legs and barred his teeth in what would never be mistaken for a grin. "I'm really not in the mood for any patronizing speeches about who's right and wrong today."

Sonic smirked. "I'm getting tired of long speeches myself." He cracked his neck, the pops sounding loud in the face of Tails's glowering silence. "By the way, nice broadcast you sent out. How long did it take you to write that speech?"

Tails growled. "Shut up, Sonic. I'm not the kid you knew back then. I'm much better than you now!"

He charged at Sonic, who dodged only in the nick of time. 'When did he get that fast?' he thought to himself in surprise.

The yellow-furred fox seemed to read his mind. "I grew a lot when you were gone, Sonic." This time, it was he who smirked. "You on the other hand…"

Sonic stiffened when Tails suddenly appeared behind him. The fox leaned forward so that he was inches away from his ear. "… You haven't changed a bit." The fox kicked him in the back, sending him flying into the wall. Machinery flew in all direction, clanging as they landed on the floor.

Sonic heard the fox approach slowly, kicking aside robots in his way. Each flew into the wall with a crash, leaving holes where they landed.

"I'm finally going to end this, Sonic. So please stop struggling so I can get this over with."

Sonic chuckled. The fox suddenly stopped. "And you're still laughing? You seriously haven't changed a bit!"

Sonic just kept chuckling, but it sounded considerably darker. "Don't let your guard down, Tails." The hedgehog flew to his feet, a broken robot arm in his hand. The end glinted sharply in the moonlight, shattering Tails's vision for just a second. Then, with a yell, Sonic thrust the arm into his chest.

Tails's eyes widened in surprise. He coughed, silvers of blood dripping out of his mouth. "What the…" He staggered backwards, falling with a thud onto the ground, clutching the arm stuck into his chest tightly.

A shocked silence blanketed over the entire room.

"… Is… that it?" asked Amy, still behind the bars.

Sonic looked down at the fox, who was still breathing hard. "No way, that was too easy." He scanned the room around him. "Amy, this could get dangerous. You should find a way to get out of here."

"What?! But…"

"How are you going to help me standing over there?!" Sonic snapped.

"Well… I'll just have to find a way to get in!" Amy turned around, leaving before Sonic could say another word.

"Amy! Wait!" he yelled, stepping towards the door.

"… Hey, Sonic. You're right. I was being too easy on you."

Sonic froze, and slowly turned around.

Tails gurgled out a laugh, wiping the blood that was bubbling at the corner of his mouth off with his arm. The robotic arm in his chest was now in his hand, but there was no gaping hole where his heart should be. Tails laughed at Sonic's surprised face, flinging away the arm so that it knocked down another mechanical structure in its path. Pieces of machines flew everywhere as Tails continued to laugh.

"You know… Nathaniel's powers to bring people back to life are almost like a phoenix's." Tails touched the part in his chest where the hole should've been. "Legend has it that when a phoenix dies, it bursts into flames, and from its ashes, it is reborn again. And this cycle continues forever and ever and ever, and therefore, the phoenix never dies." He pressed a hand into his chest and smirked. "Nathaniel's powers aren't… quite so miraculous. When he brings someone back from the dead, he is charging them with Chaos energy so that they can move and continue living. But every now and then, he has to recharge that person with energy, almost like recharging a battery of a machine."

Tails took a menacing step forward, his tails stiff behind him. "Do you see why I took Ruby for studying now?"

Sonic took an unwilling step back. He thought that his battle was too easy, but he wasn't expecting this! "I thought you wanted to bring everyone back to life."

Tails shrugged. "I did, at first." He scratched the back of his head. "But then I stumbled upon this discovery. Imagine if someone – or something - could recycle that Chaos energy in your body for the rest of your life? Imagine if you never needed Nathaniel – or something like him – to recharge for you? You would never, ever die. Chaos energy can do just about anything – repairing wounds is just one of them. It can keep you young, it can give you powers – it's almost like constantly being in super mode, but you don't need any Chaos Emeralds." Tails smirked. "Some people say that Chaos energy could even grant wishes."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, hiding his profound surprise – and fear. "Oh, so that's why there are rings around your wrists."

Tails held them up. Two heavy looking gold rings were clamped around his wrists, and they glinted brightly in the light. "You just noticed them?"

Sonic laughed mockingly. "Well, I thought that Shadow had a bad influence on you or something." Sonic stepped towards Tails.

The fox looked surprise. "So even after learning that I'm basically immortal, you still want to fight me?"

Sonic shook his head. His eyes softened. "Tails, you want to be with Cream, don't you?"

The fox flinched, and he bared his teeth in anger. "How did you…?"

"I'm your brother, of course I know." Sonic took a deep breath. He himself couldn't believe that he could still say that after all they had been through. Maybe he was more of a fool than he thought. "If you're immortal and you can't die… how are you ever going to meet Cream?"

"… You still don't see…"

Sonic looked up. The fox… was shaking?"

"You still don't see… you still don't get it!" Tails snarled, the sound slashing the night. "If I can't die, then the only way I can see them all again is to bring them back to life! I'm going to take Nathaniel so that I can bring them to life… I'm going to…"

Sonic cut him off. "And you're willing to kill some more people for it?"

Tails glared. "So what? I don't care about your judgment," he spat.

"…" Sonic closed his eyes briefly. "… I know that I have no right to judge you," he conceded. "But… I know I can still help you."

"The only way you'll help me is by handing Nathaniel over," Tails answered.

"No… there's another way." Sonic opened his eyes, his green eyes hard emeralds without a sparkle. "I'll kill you so that you can see Cream again."

Tails bristled. He snapped, zooming towards Sonic at full speed. "Don't you get it? I can't die anymore!"

Sonic tried to catch Tails's fist with one hand, but he wasn't strong enough to hold it back. He felt his fist imprint painfully itself into his cheek, before another kick to the stomach pinned him to the ground.

Tails was breathing hard, his face inches from Sonic's. "I… can't… die…" he uttered, sweat dripping down his forehead.

Sonic looked at him sadly. "Actually, you can." He threw both his hands up, wrapping them around the gold rings around Tails's wrists.

Suddenly, white-hot pain shot up his right leg. For the first time, he screamed. It felt like every muscle was on fire, as if someone was trying to eat his leg. He blinked away the whiteness creeping in from the side of his vision and forced himself up, the sound of his own gasps drilling into his ears.

"You… think you can take this ring off?"

Sonic struggled to stand, but found that his right leg refused to move.

Tails had broken it.

The fox was now glaring, his blue eyes cold and beyond recognition. "The only way you'll get this ring off is to rip my arm off." He touched the rings on his arm, which seemed to shiver in response. "Do you think I made it that easy to take off?"

Sonic struggled up onto his left leg, balancing and ignoring the pain in his other leg that shot up like a fierce wildfire. "Heh… so you broke one of my legs." The hedgehog shrugged, smiling weakly. "I can still run faster than you hoping on one leg."

The fox seemed to compose himself. "Care to test that theory?" he challenged, before rushing at him once again.

Sonic ducked the first blow, and managed to elbow Tails in the face. But Tails recovered quickly and knocked him to the ground. Sonic yelled in pain as shard of rocks embedded themselves into his cheeks.

Tails laughed harshly. "You can't beat me like this."

"… Oh yeah? Watch me…"

He grabbed onto Tails's ankle.

Tails blinked down at him, and scoffed. "So what are you planning to do down there?" He raised his other foot, and without mercy, stomped down hard on Sonic's head.

Sonic felt his face slam into the ground. The salty taste of blood spilled in his mouth, and his vision darkened a little. His eye was probably swollen now. But he wouldn't let go.

"Sonic… you are beneath me." Stomp. "I can't believe that you would sacrifice the whole world for just two kids." Stomp. "I can't believe that you abandoned all of us!" Stomp. "Maybe I was just stupid to think that we were your whole life!" The ground broke beneath Sonic, and he yelled again in pain.

Tails glowered. "Nice knowing you, Sonic."

He raised his foot again…

"Wait."

His foot stopped in midair. "What? You're still alive?" he mocked.

Sonic turned his head up painfully. He looked pathetic, one eye swollen and blood running out of the corner of his mouth.

But he was still smiling.

"You spent way too long gloating, Tails. I actually feel better than ever."

"What are you talking about?" Tails's demanded.

"I'm talking about this!"

Tails felt himself being thrown off. He was slammed into the wall, but then he felt Sonic pin him there, his arms holding his wrists firmly at his sides, and his right leg digging into his stomach.

"What?!" Tails's coughed up blood as Sonic dug his knee deeper into his stomach. "How…"

"Tails, you probably didn't realize it, but you're like a walking emerald now."

Tails's eyes widened.

Sonic smirked at him. "I don't know the scientific stuff, but since you have all that Chaos energy circulating in you, you feel a lot like a Chaos Emerald. So then I absorbed some of that energy to fix my leg. You said that they could fix wounds, right?"

Tails could only stare in shock. Without any scientific equipment, without any studying, Sonic just knew all that. "How did you know?" he asked.

Sonic shrugged. "I just feel it. That's all."

Tails bristled. How dare this swollen-faced, traitorous thing even dare say, "I just feel it?" How dare he have a better understanding of… of everything? How could Sonic just look at him and see right through his ploy? How… How…

"How come you always beat me, Sonic?" he yelled, his screaming filling the room. He flailed, though it was futile against Sonic's grip. "You just… through everything… you always…" Tails panted, suddenly losing all strength. "Somehow… you always come out on top," he whispered.

Sonic blinked. He never realized how confused Tails was. He was always the one with answers to all his questions. He was always the one with ambitious goals, while Sonic just wanted to enjoy life. He was… well, he was always there. Until now.

"Tails…" he said softly. "I… I really don't know how I can answer that question for you." He laughed sadly. "I never thought of myself as someone who always comes up on top. I never saw myself as a person who wins every time. I just knew that… that I hated seeing people sad." Sonic laughed again. "I know, I sound so lame… but I just wanted people to be happy. That's all."

Tails laughed too, but it was more bitter than sad. "What about me? I wasn't happy when you left."

Sonic looked away for a moment, surveying the machines around him. All built by Tails, it seemed. "… But you still had other things to make you happy, right?" Sonic looked back at him. "You were always happiest when you were building things, weren't you?"

Tails stared. After a few moments, he shook his head. "You're wrong, Sonic," he answered, weakly. "I was always happiest when I was building things for the both of us." Tails felt tears well up in his eyes, and felt them run down his face as they silently fell. "I was always happiest when I was with my big brother…"

Sonic felt his breathing catch. "Tails… I…" Tails… he was still so fragile! If Sonic squeezed his fist just a little harder… he could imagine it snapping under his fingers. "Tails… I really don't know what else I can do."

Tails looked away from him. "I… really hate you, Sonic."

"Why don't you look at me when you say that?"

Tails swallowed, but said nothing.

"Look at me when you tell me you hate me, Tails."

Tails pressed his lips tight, ignoring him.

"Tails…"

Tails squeezed his eyes shut. Colour dashed across his vision for a moment as he took in a deep breath. Then, he screamed, louder than he thought was possible, letting all his rage into his words, willing them to stab into the figure in front of him. "I hate you. I hate you, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"Look at me when you say that!"

Tails glared at him, and the hedgehog glared straight back.

Suddenly, Tails relaxed, sobs choking in his throat. "Sonic… Sonic!" The hedgehog let him go, and he slumped to the ground, scattering debris. He didn't even try to stand up. "I can't… I can't even hate you right." He wiped his eyes with his arm. "Sonic… I'm just so happy around you; I can't even hate you right. Even though you took everything away from me…"

"He has a way of doing that."

There was a distant clang, and Amy seemed to drop from nowhere.

Tails smiled weakly. "Got in through the ventilation system?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah…" She kneeled down in front of the young fox, touching his head lightly. The fox didn't move away, but he didn't go any closer to her either. "Listen, I know what you mean about Sonic. He always seems to do the worst things possible to you, and he always seems to hurt you… but in the end…" She looked up at him and smiled. "In the end, he always finds some way to save you. Because… you know…" she hesitated a little. "He just wants us all to live…"

Tails looked down at his lap. "To live… huh…" His voice got a little quieter. "Hey… Sonic… take Amy and step back a little, will ya?"

Amy blinked curiously, before letting herself to be led back by Sonic.

Tails didn't get up. Instead, he fiddled with the rings around his wrists for a moment. "… Sonic, Amy…" He smiled at the two of them. "Do me a favour… and live, okay?"

Sonic opened his mouth to reply.

But then, there was an explosion.

He felt Amy pull him down and cover his head. He felt the waves of head pour over their heads, the shrapnel getting stuck into the walls. As time slowed until mere seconds felt like hours, he saw the machinery around him melt, their bare skeletons screaming into the night; glass exploding like fireworks around them; the rock they were now hiding under barely hanging on to the ground. And yet, he felt completely numb.

Then, silence…

Sonic and Amy both stood up slowly, looking towards where the fox was.

Around him lay a ring of waste and destruction. The rings were now melted, misshapen shapes beside him, dull and caked with soot. Tails himself was untouched… but he was dying.

"Chaos Blast…" Amy whispered.

Sonic nodded numbly. "He got rid of all the Chaos energy inside him… so that means he's going to… to…"

He left the sentence hanging. Amy tugged at his wrist. "Hey… he's still moving."

They both approached him slowly. Tails's eyes were looking at the sky, still and peaceful. "… Guys…" he croaked. He turned his head in painfully slow motion to look at them, but his eyes still would not move. "Why… are you still here…?"

"Tails…" Sonic collapsed beside him. "Tails… hang on, hang on…" he muttered, yet he knew it was useless. Tails had decided to kill himself, and nothing was bringing him back.

"Sonic… Amy… don't worry about… me…" His breathing was getting shallower, and air whistled in and out of his lungs. "Nathaniel… and Naomi… are in the building… Eggman…" He gasped, his eyes starting to roll deliriously.

The pair shot up. "Eggman?" Amy asked.

Tails nodded. "Save… them… live…" His voice was barely above a murmur now, harsh and low in his throat.

Sonic swallowed. "Tails… I… I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want you to die." Sonic shook, his heart breaking in a new way he didn't think possible. Could there actually be different ways for your heart to break? Was that why you could never get used to the feeling of your soul being smashed into a million pieces? "I… I just wanted us all to live…" he whispered.

Tails shook his head, but managed to grab onto Sonic's hand and pulled him a little closer. Sonic bent his head down to the fox.

But the fox didn't say anything. He just stared at Sonic for a long while… and smiled.

Tails's grip loosened, and Sonic stood back up. His hand fell to the ground with a dull thud.

The smile stayed on his face as they left.

"Kid… looks like you lost."

Tails opened his eyes, and found two pairs looking down back at him.

"Knuckles… Shadow…?"

He shot up, looking around himself. "Where… am I?"

"Well… you're dead. Does that answer anything?" asked Shadow.

Tails stood up, confused. "Umm… well…"

"Sorry, Tails. Shadow likes to be cryptic." The red echidna nodded at the dark hedgehog, who turned around and said nothing.

Tails blinked a few times. "… Hey, did Shadow just disappear?"

Knuckles shrugged. "You can do that when you're dead."

Tails scratched his head, getting more confused by the second. "So… where are we?"

"We're in the place where you go when you die."

"Which is…?"

Knuckles shrugged again. "Here." Knuckles caught Tails's questioning look. "What does it matter? The point is that you're dead. And now… you're here. Call it heaven; call it hell… whatever you want. Being dead is what you make it."

Tails cocked his head to the side. "When did you get so wise, Knuckles?"

Knuckles chuckled. "Heh, as I said, being dead is what you make it." He turned away from him. "Now, isn't there someone you want to meet?"

"I…"

Knuckles left, and Tails was left to walk around for a little while.

"Hey, Tails! Over here!"

Tails froze. 'That voice…'

He whirled around. Cream was standing right in front of him, a sad smile on her face.

"Hi," she said with a little wave.

"Cream… I…" Tails swallowed. "Cream… I'm sorry that I lost."

The rabbit shrugged. "That's okay. We all lost, in a way."

Tails blinked. Then, a smile stretched over his face. "Well… I'm glad that we lost, then."

He felt her smile and put his arms around his middle. She hugged him tightly, and he could hear her inhale deeply. "I'm glad that we lost too…"

Some distance away, Shadow and Knuckles watched the two embrace.

Shadow gave Knuckles a sidelong glance. "I thought you said that the dead couldn't affect each other."

Knuckles huffed, and turned away from them. "As I said… being dead is what you make it…"

A/N: So... how was it? I actually tried really hard to make it epic... but, I dunno, it wasn't exactly the best chapter I had ever written in the world. It did make me sad though. I mean, losing your own sibling... it's like having your arm torn off. I had a few close calls before with my sibling, so I know from experience.

Oh, and some people seem to be confused about the whole "dead" thing. I hope this answered some of your questions. First off, yes, they are dead. They are, by no means, "floating" in some sort of limbo. Asides from the fact that I didn't want to offend anyone who didn't like the idea of heaven or hell, or having it being described wrongly or something, I wanted to leave just enough to all your imaginations. I didn't want to write something like, "this is what heaven is like. You must believe me for now." XD

I tried to describe how I see Chaos Energy being used as clearly as I could, but if there's things you don't get, feel free to ask! I'll try my best to answer!

And by my estimation, I say this story may last for another two to three chapters.

Thanks for reading! We really love you all! And thanks to the people who read the last chapter twice!

Anonymous Reviews:

Saint of Me: Whoa, a month to read?! What the heck?! YOU GET EXTRA COOKIES! (don't worry, it won't poison you... I hope). Niagra Falls is a cool place... pretty rainbow coloured waterfalls make me happy inside. Though I have to admit that it's really the arcade and rides that make me wanna go... though I guess the Falls themselves are a plus XD And as I said, probably around two to three chapters, and then, LA FIN! The thought sort of makes me relieved, in a sad way :( Thanks for reading!

kitsunepowaa: Hee, really? Aces is really good at Nathaniel and Naomi scenes. I, on the other hand, butcher those scenes pretty thoroughly... Oh, and I think the Hedgehog Engine was actually in development for three years, sorry about the wrong number. And yes, I SAW THAT FREAKING CUTSCENE! I was like, "WTF?! THIS IS A JOKE, RIGHT?!" Or maybe it was just a marketing ploy to get us SonAmy fans to buy the game... Heh, anyways, thanks for reviewing!

Ytin: Heh, you know what I just realized? Your name backwards is "Nity." That sounds so cute! Err... yeah... thanks for reviewing! It always amazes me when someone reads the WHOLE ENTIRE STORY to catch up. It makes me really happy too! Hmm... Vanilla and Amy... I dunno, I myself never felt any sort of hatred of sorts between them. Yeah, she did kill Cream, but... how to put this? Amy is sort of like Vanilla's "daughter" as well, and, let's say you're a mother... you have two daughters fighting for opposite sides, and one kills the other, what are you supposed to feel? You can't truly say you hate one or the other, so... Huh, I can't really explain this right, but I hope that might've cleared up that question a tiny bit, at least. Thanks again!

The Queen of Aces

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