Tick… tock…

Would the clock ever get to 4pm? Mollie was anxious to get to Flash's house to see if she'd woken up yet. Tails was exploring the classroom as Mollie's French teacher explained the function of direct object pronouns. Boring.

One minute left… Mollie watched the teacher, Ms. Cowfield, begging her to tell them to pack away.

"And now, just quickly, I'm going to ask Miss Daydreamer, Mollie Esworth, a question. How, Mollie, would you say 'I look for it'?"

"Um…" Mollie hated speaking in front of the class.

"If you get it right, the class can go now. If you don't, the class has to stay behind for five minutes."

Mollie's stomach churned. "Je le cherche?"

"Correct!" Just then, the bell rung. Ms. Cowfield didn't even get a chance to congratulate her; she and Tails had already raced out of the classroom.

"Your Mum walked for G.U.N, which is a secret organisation that Shadow and Rouge work for. I worked with her once on a mission to collect a chaos emerald. Then, one night, she rang me and said, 'Get to the flat now. I need you.' I asked why, and she said, 'Your future will be falling forty feet from this collapsing block of flats in here minutes.' I was in the city, so I pegged it over there, and saw you falling."

"I saw you. After you slowed me down and before I was surrounded by paramedics. I saw this white figure in the distance with a weird hairdo," said Flash.

"How come you just remembered this?" Silver asked.

"I dunno," Flash shrugged, "I think the way you were looking at me before was similar to your expression when we first saw each other."

"What was that expression?"

"Relief. Relief that I'm still alive."

Gemma took ages, as usual. Toby, Craig, Mollie, Sonic, Knuckles and Tails were all waiting impatiently by the school gates. They did not notice the fifteen year old boy standing by a motorbike with a helmet under his arm.

What seemed like centuries later, Gemma and Amy appeared. She looked pale, like she had seen a ghost.

"G-guys," she said, "One of the girls in my French class passed out and started speaking really weirdly."

"What happened?" asked Mollie, as they hurried along the road.

"Well, she just randomly passed out and then with her eyes closed, started talking. She said "the chosen will pay for their actions. The girl who has lost so much has so much more left to lose.'"

Craig, Toby and Mollie shivered.

"That's Flash," said Craig, "Isn't it?"

Tails solemnly nodded. "And if that prophecy is real, it means she's going to lose more."

"That'll destroy her," Amy whispered.

"We're here," said Mollie miserably. They looked at the pretty little house and wondered how to drop the bombshell."

Flash and Silver were sitting on the sofa in the living room, eating ice cream.

"Hey guys," Toby couldn't even smile, "What's up?"

"Not much." Silver scrutinised Toby's face.

"You guys look like you've been sucking lemons all day," said Flash.

"Well," Amy looked at the others, "We've got bad news. One of the girls was possessed in Gemma's French class and, well…"

Then they told Flash and Silver about the prophecy. Afterwards, there was a long pause. The silence went on forever.

Nobody heard Shadow enter the house. He always lived up to his name when it came to breaking and entering. Standing in the hallway, Shadow heard voices coming from the living room upstairs. The house was quite strange, compared to some other places. Flash's bedroom, and her Dad's, were both on the ground floor along with the kitchen and the conservatory. Upstairs was the living room, a bathroom and a storage room. Shadow crept up the stairs and listened. The voices were coming from the living room. All of a sudden, there was a silence. He paused, but sensed that it wasn't because of him; shock tingled in the air.

Now would be the perfect opportunity.

"I need to speak to Silver. Now," said a quiet and dangerous voice.

Flash paled at the sight of Shadow. Slowly, Silver got up from the couch.

"Okay, but make it quick." He gave Flash a reassuring glance, and left the room with Shadow. The nine of them heard them go down the stairs and out the front door. Then they raced to the window in the living room, which looked out into the front garden.

"What is it, Shadow?" Silver demanded the moment the front door had slammed shut. He folded his arms and gave the hedgehog one of his famous stares.

"The flames of disaster have been spotted orbiting the Earth," said Shadow.

"What? B-but that's impossible! Sonic and Princess Elise blew the flames out when they were the size of a flicker!"
"Then if all the stuff in the future didn't happen, why didn't you see Blaze again?" Shadow shot back.

Silver was lost for words. He had never thought of that before.

"Because we have reason to believe that Blaze, after absorbing Iblis, sealed herself in an alternate dimension, where time does not exist. Therefore, Sonic and Elise's journey back in time didn't affect her. Now the flames are beginning to get angry after a year in imprisonment, and are forcing their way out of the alternate dimension."

"But... what about Blaze?" said Silver hoarsely.

"She will be destroyed if we don't get there soon."

Silence.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" said Silver.

"Don't you want to say goodbye to your partner first?" asked Shadow.

"Hang on" said Silver. He focused his hand, and a ripped up piece of paper came floating out of the house before him. Leaning against a rock and taking a pen out of his pocket, Silver began to write.

"What's he doing?" Mollie whispered, as she watched Shadow re-enter the house with a piece of paper in his hand. Silver was pacing the driveway.

All of a sudden, Shadow appeared in the living room doorway.

"Silver wanted me to give this to you," he said, handing Flash the piece of paper. Fearfully, Flash began to read.

FLASH,

I'M WRITING TO TELL YOU THAT I'M GONNA BE AWAY FOR A WHILE. I DON'T KNOW HOW LONG, BUT IT'S GONNA BE A WHILE. THE FLAMES OF DISASTER, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS IBLIS, ARE ORBITING THE EARTH, AND IT'S UP TO ME TO STOP THEM. BLAZE ABSORBED THEM AND SEALED HERSLEF IN ANOTHER DIMENSION. THAT'S HOW SHE DIED. BUT SHE IS THEIR VESSEL, AND THEY MUST HAVE BROKEN OUT OF THE ALTERNATE DIMENSION. SHE'S ALIVE. SHE MUST BE.

WHY ARE YOU NOT COMING WITH ME? BECAUSE YOU'RE A MAGNET FOR TROUBLE. FIRST YOU ABSORB A CHAOS EMERALD. THEN YOU GET KIDNAPPED BY MEPHILES. AND YOU MET ME. WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT YOU REMIND ME TOO MUCH OF MYSELF. IT'S LIKE LOOKING IN A MIRROR.

I'LL SEE YOU AROUND. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

SILVER

The paper floated to the floor. Or in Flash's case, it crashed. The others all crowded round it to read. One by one, they all stared at Flash with concern. She was staring into space, too much of her ripped apart to even feel alive anymore. And when they looked out of the window, Silver and Shadow had gone.

They tried, they really did. That weekend, Gemma organised a bumper day out, just Flash, her and Mollie. First of all, they went to see a movie, meeting p with Toby and Craig at the cinema. It was a cheesy comedy, so sugary sweet that Flash had to run to the toilets to be sick. She, Gemma and Mollie then went to the burger bar, but Flash didn't eat anything. She was deathly pale, and her emerald green eyes were so cold and empty. After that, they went shopping, Flash flinching as they passed any item of clothing that was white. She sat by the pool while Mollie and Gemma went swimming. That night, at Gemma's, Flash was awake long after Gemma closed her eyes, and long before Mollie reopened hers in the morning. She shuffled home, muttering a 'thanks' on the way out. Gemma looked up into the sky and cursed Silver.

The weeks flashed by like pages flickering through a book. Flash wandered around, avoiding everyone. Which was why it was no surprised for them to discover one morning that Flash had gone missing.