Speedy's note: A last time, I'm writing a note on a chapter of this story. It's always a weird feeling... almost a little sad, but it's cool to have it finished, too.
There's not much I want to say, I think it's best to let the epilogue stand on its own. I'm just here to say thank you, to all readers, to those of you who faved this story, and especially to the wonderful people who reviewed it. Thanks, guys and gals! Maybe some of you will find the time to do me a special favor and read this story the way a story is meant to be read when it's finished. From the beginning to the end. That'd make me really happy. :)
Of course, it'll also make me happy if some of you leave some feedback on this now completed piece of writing. Did you like it? The concept, the characters, what I made of them? What didn't you like?
And maybe I'll see you on another story some day. Take care!

Epilogue

A soft breeze was brushing through his quills and Sonic felt them gently move in reply to its touch. The blue hedgehog let his gaze slowly wander around. The sky above was still cloudy, but the sun was shooting glimpses through the clouds every now and then and the air was mildly warm. Apparently the night had gone by without rain and the forests and meadows were dry.

Sonic guessed it was around midday now. He'd slept through the past night like dead and when he'd woken up he'd found Knuckles was already having breakfast. Sonic had quickly seen to he got some of it as well before the echidna could finish it all without him. The hedgehog smirked at the memory, pondering for a moment if there was any chance Knuckles would manage to eat all the food before he did. Probably there wasn't.

After they finished breakfast Knuckles had claimed he'd go for a walk around the island and Sonic had tagged along without asking where exactly the guardian was planning to go. He'd found out about an hour later when their rather quiet walk ended at the temple ruins Sonic had seen already.

Now they were seated at top of the long stairway, on the highest of the treads. Sonic leaned against the remains of a kind of pillar next to the right end of the stairs, his legs stretched out over the two treads below the one he sat on, feet relaxedly crossed at the ankles. Knuckles sat at about the middle of the broad stairs, feet one tread below him and his forearms leaned onto his knees. He had not spoken much since the morning, but Sonic had gotten used to the fact the echidna could go without words for a lot longer than most other people he knew. Maybe it was just because he rarely had company to talk to and was quite used to not saying much, Sonic thought.

The hedgehog himself was another matter; there were quite a few things he wanted to ask the guardian while he still had the chance and he cast about for a way to start a conversation without seeming too… obnoxious to the silent echidna. Once more his eyes trailed over the ruins, the fallen pillars, over the few lines of golden, spinning rings that floated between the stony remains, back to the large altar they sat on and he thought he had it.

"You… like this place a lot, don't you?", he said quietly, watching his companion for a reaction.

Knuckles' head turned to him, his gaze returning from some unknown place between the ruins to meet Sonic's. "Yes. Is it that obvious?"

"Well, kinda." Sonic shrugged. "Last time you brought me here, okay. You wanted to show me this writing on the wall about chaos and power… But if you had any reason to bring me here this time, I fail to see it."

The red echidna chuckled briefly. "I guess you're right. I could have gone anywhere on the island with you… but you said it, I like this place. I guess I like it a lot." Knuckles' eyes moved away from Sonic to roam over the ruins again. "I come here quite often, just sit at the altar's top. Sometimes I try to imagine what it was like, thousands of years ago when all of this was brand new." He pointed an arm at one of the still partly upright pillars. "Each of those seven pillars around the altar held one of the Chaos Emerald at its top. And right there," he turned over his shoulder, indicating the pedestal at the shrine's middle, "right there the Master Emerald was kept. The carving in the stone where it's supposed to be sitting is still there. Like new. As if it waited thousands of years for the Master to return to its place again."

"... Wow." Sonic looked at his friend. "That was… about the longest speech of you I ever heard that wasn't to explain me how Chaos Emeralds work. You really have to like this place a lot." He grinned.

Knuckles shrugged a little. "Yeah, I think so..."

For a moment Sonic was silent. "Then… I guess it's kind of an honour you brought me here."

The echidna smirked, but didn't say anything.

Sonic tilted his head at him when there came no other reaction anymore after a couple of seconds. "Are you going to do it?"

"Do what?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow.

"Bring the Master Emerald back here. I mean…" He shrugged, looking around again. "A bit of weeding and stuff… and this place probably doesn't look like new but pretty damn awesome. It has much more… uh… atmosphere than these dark tunnels and caves. You'll get depressed sitting down there all the time."

A small smile was on the echidna's face now. "And that's of your concern why?"

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "You know what you told me. Power enriched by the heart. What are we gonna do if you get weird ideas because you're sitting in a dark, lonely cave with that big Emerald of yours? Besides, I don't like my buddies being sad or something."

"I'm not your buddy, hedgehog," Knuckles grumbled, but the little twinkle in his eyes didn't match the tone properly.

"Whatever." Sonic grinned. "But since we mentioned your giant Emerald already… There was something I wanted to ask you."

"Yeah?" Knuckles leaned on his knees again.

"You said there are things you can do with it I wouldn't believe. I'm quite sure if I ask for most of them you're gonna tell me right in the face I should mind my own business." The hedgehog twitched his ears. "But since it kinda concerns me as well… Say I come and take the Chaos Emeralds to do… something. Could you stop me from doing it?"

"Yes." The guardian's sole word was spoken almost softly, but there was something very definite about it.

"How? What could you do if I – or someone else – just came and took the Chaos Emeralds to turn super?"

Knuckles smirked, a small, almost hidden smirk, but it was giving his face something superior Sonic had never seen on it before. "I can take them from you, or that imaginary someone else. If I don't let it, if the Master Emerald doesn't let it, nobody does anything at all with any Chaos Emeralds. If I had wanted, I could have knocked the Emeralds right out of you after you turned super in the Hidden Palace. I wouldn't even need to turn anything like super myself for that."

Sonic blinked, for a few moments just staring at Knuckles. He remembered how much strain it had cost him achieving control over the Chaos Emeralds, and there Knuckles was saying he could just take these Emeralds from him anytime he wanted without breaking a sweat. It took another few seconds until the hedgehog realized something else that followed this concept and he almost glared at Knuckles. "You know, you could have told me."

"No." The echidna shook his head, not seeming to mind being glared at.

"I was scared out of my mind!" Strangely, it didn't really mean much admitting this aloud now. It was over. He knew he wouldn't ever need to be scared of the Chaos Emeralds again. He'd won; and now being scared of them in the past was… well, the past. Still, he remembered how being scared felt quite well, and Knuckles could have greatly reduced that fear… if he'd just hinted at what he could do. "If you had just told me you can always stop me from doing anything bad, I wouldn't have –"

"That's exactly it, Sonic," Knuckles interrupted him. "Had I told you what I told you now, you probably wouldn't have been as scared of the Emeralds, of turning super as you were. And that's why I couldn't say it. Chaos is power enriched by the heart. I gave you all the knowledge you needed to learn controlling the powers. I told you how to use your talent. But there was something I couldn't tell you, I couldn't really help you with. There was something you needed to do alone. When you came here, I could see the panic in your eyes when I just spoke of the Chaos Emeralds. You were more afraid of them than the mouse is afraid of the hawk. It was your biggest obstacle, all the time you were here. You didn't only need to control the Emeralds; you needed to overcome this fear. On your own. It had to be a fight. There was nothing I could do to get you around this. You needed to beat your demons alone."

"Hmm…" Sonic nodded slowly, beginning to get the echidna's point.

"Maybe it helps you now that if you had failed in the end, there wouldn't have been a crazy Super Sonic wrecking havoc on the planet. I could have put a stop to it. But I didn't need to. I knew I wouldn't need to." The guardian smiled and suddenly Sonic felt proud. Suddenly he realized how much he'd achieved. Maybe it needed a little time for all of that to sink in…

The hedgehog grinned. "Was that a compliment, Knux?"

"Take it as you wish." Knuckles eyed him for a moment. "Any more questions?"

Sonic blinked. "Actually… yeah. You think there's any chance I could learn the teleporting thing?"

The echidna chuckled. "If you find those Emeralds you scattered back…"

"Bang. I probably deserved that…" Sonic grimaced.

Knuckles' eyes surprisingly softened. "Nah. I'm just kidding. I couldn't expect you to know when to stop. But like most things, also chaos control gets easier the more often you do it. If you're ever to turn super again, you should be able to do it faster, and it shouldn't feel as complicated as the first time. You should also be able to feel when you're beginning to run low on energy." The guardian paused briefly, looking Sonic over. "You got the talent, sharp senses for the powers and a mind that proved it's strong enough to bear them. There is much you can learn if you try."

Again a wave of pride washed over Sonic. "Like for example?"

"Maybe one day you'll learn not only turning yourself super, but also transferring a bit of the energy to someone else to give them something similar to a super form as well. It's possible, and you're strong enough for that. You just need practice. You might also manage the teleport thing. In theory, it works like any other chaos move. You tap into the Emerald's power and strongly focus on what you want to do." Knuckles shrugged. "But trust me, a teleport is told to be complicated and difficult to do. You should start with something easier if you want to keep practicing on your own."

"I'd have never thought I'd say that, or even think that, but I almost find this chaos stuff cool. A little too complicated for my tastes, but still cool." Sonic grinned.

Knuckles shook his head a little, chuckling quietly. "Well, when you got some free time, you can try a few basic things. You don't need an Emerald for it, just pick up a good amount of rings."

"Rings?" Sonic quirked one eyebrow.

"Yeah, rings." Knuckles nodded. "A ring is the most basic form of chaos energy. They're everywhere on Mobius and actually rather easy to handle. Next time you pick up a few, just try to concentrate on feeling their energy. Each ring contains a little bit of each sort of chaos power. Most obvious are the healing and life energies; that's what everybody knows. But also the other powers are there. In your case, as it's the one you handle best, try finding the speed fragment of the power. You managed to use the dark blue Chaos Emerald to boost your running speed. You should be able to do the same with the blue part of the rings' energy. In fact, I assume that's at least partly what your ring dash move does. Or the jump dashes in mid-air and your crazy homing attack… Did you ever notice the blue trailing you when you do these things? I'm not the only one using chaos energy on instinct. You've been doing it for quite a while without knowing."

Sonic stared at the echidna. "Oh... Really? I can't actually see these things, you know? But if you're right, that's kinda cool." The hedgehog was growing used to the idea quicker than he would have assumed. In his mind, he was already enrolling scenarios of him running around collecting rings, breaking speed record after speed record. "That sounds like it would be pretty useful… and a lot of fun."

Knuckles smiled. "I should have known for you it'd all be just a ticket for a crazy ride…"

"Hey, is it my fault these things are so much fun?" Sonic grinned.

The guardian shrugged. "Probably we can say you deserve a little reward after saving the world."

"Again." Sonic was still grinning. "It's almost becoming a routine."

"Show-off."

"Party pooper." Sonic stuck out his tongue.

Knuckles frowned for a moment, then another smile fought its way through. "I didn't oppose to your barbeque, did I?"

"To my endless surprise, you didn't, no." Sonic laughed. "A few more years of hard work and maybe you'll become a social person."

The echidna folded his arms, grumbling under his breath.

"Chill out, I'm just kidding." Sonic felt another grin tug on his lips. His green eyes moved from Knuckles to the ruins at the stairway's end again. There were still the same scattered lines of golden rings like before. The blue hedgehog rocked his right foot a little where it rested over the ankle of the left, again shooting a glance at the rings. "I'm wondering…"

"Don't. It probably won't even work."

"What?" Sonic looked back to the echidna.

"If you were thinking about giving the ring thing a try, wait. At least a few days, better a week." Knuckles' head was tilted aside slightly as he watched Sonic, one of the long spines half falling over his face.

Sonic's ears tipped backwards. "Why?"

"You gravely weakened your chaos field while you were turned super. You can think of it like almost a sort of injury. It needs time to heal. That's actually normal." Knuckles shrugged. "The Master Emerald's energy level is just enough to keep the island afloat and everything working on it after I used it. The Chaos Emeralds got drained so much you lost your super form." The echidna's amethyst eyes roamed Sonic. "In a way, the same applies to us. We're drained after what we did with the Emeralds. That happens all the time when you do some complicated, big chaos controlling thing."

Sonic blinked slowly. He remembered how awful he'd felt when he had woken up in Knuckles' hut, and how fast he'd slept the last night. He felt almost tired even now. "I think I get that… Makes sense, I guess."

"Good." Knuckles leaned backwards, placing his hands on the rock behind his back, and tilted his nose upwards into a few shy beams of sunlight that were falling through the clouds.

For a moment Sonic watched him, then the formulation the guardian had used sank in. Us. We. "It's not just me? You too?"

Knuckles gave him a side-glance. "Yes, of course. Probably not as badly, but of course I don't get around after effects. It's natural they're there."

"Ah." Sonic shrugged, deciding he wouldn't give the matter too much thought. Instead, he looked around again. Knuckles had closed his eyes, clearing enjoying the warm sun on his face. It was actually pretty cozy, Sonic thought. He could imagine pretty well doing a Knuckles and kick back for the rest of the day here. All that was missing was a little snack.

Knuckles lifted one of his eyelids when he heard Sonic stand up and gave the hedgehog a questioning look.

"I'm hungry. I'll go pick up a few of those fruits that look like giant green apples but totally don't taste like apples. I saw a tree in the forest when we came here." Sonic smiled down on the red echidna. "You want some, too?"

The Emerald guardian nodded. "Yeah, if you're asking like that, I'll take some. Thanks."

Sonic grinned and slowly strolled down the stairway, for a few moments leaving the echidna to his ancient temple.

A disaster. A total, terrible disaster.

Robotnik glared out of the small, round window of the escape capsule. Outside, there was nothing but water to see and the capsule was slowly bobbing up and down, tossed around by the waves.

Out of all places… why here? And, while he was at it, why him? Why him again?

Just two minutes after he had lost his last battle ship to that terrible pest of a blue spiked rodent, the escape capsule had landed almost gently in the ocean, impact softened by the perfectly timed firing of parachutes.

The only thing that had worked perfectly that day. Now, his portal was gone, his fleet was gone, the Drakons were gone. But, at least, he'd had his revenge! As far as Robotnik was concerned, those traitorous fish had been hit even harder than him – if that was possible. The portal was gone, and they had been sucked through it as it collapsed, back into their universe, together with tons over tons of other, equally useless wreckage. In Robotnik's mind, they could rot there. For now, and forever.

He'd lost a lot of material, a lot of badniks, a lot of plans, his assistant. Dismissively Robotnik noticed he would be probably better on his own. A one man show. His show. And the world would watch.

After all, he was still here. Still on this planet with all of its idiotic little critters, blue hedgehogs on top of it… but this planet also had the Chaos Emeralds. Resources. Waiting for him…

Robotnik slumped back into the actually somewhat comfy seat. Two days had passed since the landing. Two days he was being bumped around by the ocean in this tiny capsule. He guessed it would be another few until he reached the shore… somewhere. What left him with another few days to think over his work, his past, what exactly had gone wrong. What he had to change, necessarily.

He'd once had control, over the entire blasted planet. But Sonic had taken it away from him again. The Mobians didn't fear the fearful dictator anymore. They didn't fear him anymore. It was driving him nuts! He'd had all this attention. This world had been going round on his bidding. Or that was what he liked to think.

But this time had passed, and he couldn't get it back the way he wanted. Apparently no-one shivered at his sight anymore. Actually, it was even worse. They were making fun at his sight. They were calling him names. 'Eggman' was the most famous one. The hedgehog had thought of it, his friends had quickly adapted it, and now when he looked at the news it was as if the entire world thought that mocking ridicule was actually his name. They didn't want to fear him anymore; they wanted to laugh about him. About his robots, his plans, his looks.

Well then. Robotnik suddenly found a grin on his face. Let them laugh then. Let them make fun of him. He'd even go with it. If he had to call himself by that ridiculous excuse of a name, then be it. He suddenly saw a benefit in it all, even in the shame. If they made fun of him, they would lower their guard. If the world thought of him as a crazy madman, it would be all the easier proving them wrong and claiming back what was his in the end.

Robotnik nodded to himself. He would start a campaign. An image campaign. He'd give them the ridiculous maniac they were looking for. And while everybody was laughing, he'd show them what he was made of. The robotist laughed, crossing his hands over his 'namesake' belly. While everybody was laughing, he would start another project. Another plan. One that wouldn't fail him.

For months it lingered on in the back of his mind. He had just never had the time to go through it all. He'd found, or rather re-found, his grandfather's diary. Gerald Robotnik's diary. The diary of a genius par excellance like himself, and of this genius' plans, projects, weapons. And if Ivo wasn't mistaken, it would give him exactly the thing he needed. Right in his hands… It was like an invitation, wasn't it?

Robotnik grinned. He'd prepare himself. And in the end, he'd make his move. The world would watch. At his mercy.

Some people think a beautiful sunset naturally belongs to a beautiful day, Knuckles mused. But while it was indeed true that the sight of a clear blue sky slowly melting into a haze of yellow and orange was wonderful, you rarely considered the amazing, dramatic beauty of a cloudy sunset.

The center mountains were beset with thickly stapled clouds that then covered the entire sky, just small gaps between them adding a touch of blue. The clouds themselves seemed to form a board above the world, ending slightly away from the horizon; and from underneath that layer the complete sky was glowing orange; somewhere at the half of the round the light starting to fade into yellow, then white and a soft bluish grey. In the middle of the brightest shine, a big reddish ball hung seemingly tied to the Island's edge. The hazy air let thick beams of warm light appear like lances aiming for the floating island's forms and stabbing into the clouds above. As if in answer to that, they glowed in all shades between pink and purple, dowsing the landscape with a warm light.

A warm breeze caressed his face and beside him, Tails took a deep breath. "You know, I'm just starting to pity all those people down on the surface," he said quietly.

"Huh?" Knuckles made an irritated sound.

"They can't see this. You've been in the cities; they all just rush from one place to the next, always in a hurry to get somewhere. Not many people take the time to look at something like that." Tails indicated the beautiful sky. "I mean, in a few minutes this will all be gone forever. And everybody who didn't see it missed on a hell of a beautiful sight."

Knuckles turned his head towards the little fox. "You've just phrased something very wise, Tails." The echidna paused for a short moment and then decided to phrase his thought aloud. "Old philosophers of my people once said: Life is not a chain of events, it is what happens in between."

Tails blinked, blue eyes thoughtfully looking up at Knuckles for a moment. "I think I will have to remember that."

The guardian smiled silently, eyes returning to the spectacle of light, suddenly pondering if the sunset would have been the same without that young fox standing aside of him, if that thought about life would have come to please his mind if he'd been by himself. Who knew? Maybe something else would have come to his mind, maybe he wouldn't have gone here and missed on the view like Tails had said many people certainly did right now, maybe he would have seen something else instead. The power the world was based upon was chaos, and there was no way predicting how something that happened influenced anything else that happened as a result. Maybe the sun was just setting right there, right now because he and Tails stood here. Would it be the same without anybody seeing and musing over it?

"We should tell Sonic when he comes back," Tails interrupted Knuckles' thinking. "It sounds like something he'll like."

Knuckles turned back to the fox. "It's something to say in the right moment. And in just a few minutes, the moment will be very likely over."

"Hm."

The echidna smiled softly. "But I'm sure he knows anyway. It means you should enjoy the moment when it comes and Sonic always lives the moment, doesn't he?"

Tails' face lit up. "Where is he anyway?"

Knuckles turned around to look down on the clearing Porker, Amy and Sonic had been about to prepare a campfire. The pig and the hedgehog girl were standing beside a considerably high heap of wood; Amy gesturing wildly at the clouds and the slight, beginning rain, and Porker hurrying around. Sonic was nowhere to be seen.

The echidna smiled and turned back to the fox cub at his side. "I think I have an idea."

Tails beamed. "You might be right there." Both of them started to laugh.

Flickies Island was a peaceful place.

The little blue bird flicked its wings, gliding on a soft wind through the skies of its home. The gentle wind ruffled the grass and the leaves in the forests, white waves softly rolled out onto the sand, hundreds of small, colorful birds sang their songs to the peaceful morning. Flickies Island's nature was glad to have its solitude restored after everybody who didn't belong here had left again.

Below the tiny creature's flight path, the forest was a colorful beauty with light green meadows under dark green trees, sapphire lakes and clear creeks, and here and there a couple lines of gold spinning rings twinkled mystically in the sunlight. From time to time one compound would just vanish, to let others appear someplace else.

A never ending circle.

On a small clearing, a single ring materialized, transparent at first, the golden color growing only slowly, until it was a fine gold resembling its smaller brothers, just its size indicating its different nature.

The little bird chirped. Everything was back to normal.

Flickies Island was a peaceful place.

For now.

Sonic slowly wandered away from the group, chuckling to himself as he heard Amy complain loudly about the inappropriate weather for that kind of celebration. Stopping after a few more steps, just out of earshot and still already on his own, Sonic didn't much mind the rain now. Sure, for the barbeque sun would have been the greatest thing, but the rain had something about it, too.

The hedgehog stretched both arms out, palms upwards, and tipped his head back, sticking his nose into the light shower; green eyes closing with content as the tiny, cooling droplets hit his face, rolling down his warm cheeks, slowly, one by one.

For almost a minute he stood perfectly still. Then, out of sudden, simple urge to do so he couldn't explain where it came from, he ran out onto the field before him, leaning forwards into the wind that was growing stronger quickly.

Faster. The image of the surroundings melted into a blur of colors at the edges of his vision, like a tunnel that didn't know branches or stops. There was just forwards.

Faster. Into the wind. Pushing closer to that spot somewhere in space in front of him that always kept fading into this twirl of impressions to be replaced by another, as unreachable one.

Faster! Giving in to the frenzy of speed that had so easily caught him now; his body warm and filled with that exact kind of feeling that said: 'Everything working, everything perfect, now go and RUN!'.

And following this command, Sonic felt the smile already flash over his face. His entire body was filling with every step with a sense of satisfaction he'd experienced just rarely, the one you normally got to feel when you've finally gotten out for a run after days of suffering from the cabin fever, when it is as if you've been filled with bottled-up, explosive energy that finally can get out. Just that he hadn't known anything like it was there until a moment ago.

Almost enchanted by them, Sonic listened to the small sounds of rain falling onto the ground around as he ran, barely audible over the rushing air about his ears. He took deep breaths of the crisp air, for just a second wondering how long his nose hadn't really tasted the wind - and just the wind. Nothing else. The smile grew to a bright grin.

By now he was beginning to get soaked and had no real clue where exactly he was running anymore. He didn't care. It didn't matter. Without knowing it, this run, right here and right now, was just what he'd needed all along. And somehow he hadn't felt that good in…yeah, centuries at least.

With every thud of his feet on the ground, with every fast beat of his heart, with every drop of rain falling onto his skin, he felt alive. And at that precise moment in time, nothing else mattered.

Right now it wasn't important if he got wet or not. Not even to Sonic. It didn't matter if their victory was possibly just a temporary one, if in a month or two Robotnik would pop out of some hideout and start another attempt taking over the world. Right now all of his usual worries were so far away nothing mattered.

And if it was really just for a few days, Sonic found himself feeling the maybe only way he'd ever really wanted to feel.

Free.

The End