Notes: Happy December everyone! I'm pretty happy with how this chapter turned out, so I hope you all enjoy!

Knock knock. Tails opened the door slowly, his eyes still only half-open. "What is it, Soni- Scourge?" He furrowed his brow, squinting further. "Uh, what's up?"

The hedgehog took a deep breath in and out. It would be best to just get this over with, like pulling off a bandaid. "Tails, I need your help," he said. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, and he found that he wasn't able to maintain eye contact. 'I just saw this kid get beaten within an inch of his life,' he remembered all too clearly. 'He should be dead, or at the very least, terrified of me. But he's fine. That was way too real…'

"You… wait, what?"

"Don't make me say it twice, kid," Scourge said, keeping his voice down. He didn't want to risk anyone else waking up. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah," the fox nodded, stepping inside the room and holding the door open for Scourge. "So… what's going on?" Tails asked quietly as the Moebian entered the room. He closed the door behind him, leaving them both in the dark save for a sliver of moonlight poking through one of the windows. Tails lit the candle he'd brought in with him earlier, letting the two see. Scourge sat awkwardly at the edge of the bed, trying to think of what to say. Tails still had a hard time believing that Scourge of all people had just come to him in the middle of the night asking for help with something. "Does… this have to do with my past self?"

"Uh… no, not really," the hedgehog scratched the back of his neck. "I... think there's something wrong with me. It's like… well, it's a lot of things actually," he huffed. How would he explain all this…? "I'm not really good at stuff like this, so…"

"What, are you hurt? Or is it a timestream thing? Like what happened to Sonic and Z?" the young teenager asked, placing the lit candle on the nightstand and plopping onto the bed himself.

Scourge scoffed. "Heh, I wish. If this was 'cause of the Time Eater, I'd know why this was all happening, I'd have someone to blame. So far the only theory I can come up with is that I'm goin' crazy." He shook his head. "I'm having nightmares. And I'm hallucinating, and havin' flashbacks. I dunno what's causin' them, or how to get them to stop, or anything. I'm freaking out."

"I... whoa," Tails muttered, eyes wide. "That sounds bad. How long has this been going on?"

"I started getting the nightmares a few days before you guys picked me up. Everything else started a little after," Scourge said quietly. His mouth was dry, and he found that his hands were starting to shake. Talking about this stuff out loud made it all seem more real, more of a threat. Why did people always insist that talking about your feelings and problems helped you? "And it's all happening more and more often. The nightmares are every night, and I've hallucinated stuff more than once since we've been on Moebius."

Tails studied the hedgehog with his eyes. He'd seen that worried look before, but not often. Sonic (and likewise, Zonic and Scourge) almost never admitted fear or vulnerability, and if he did, most of the time he'd just brush it off like it was no big deal. But recently, hiding general anxiety had been hard for everyone. Guess it was Scourge's turn. "I think we should take this one thing at a time," the fox said, crossing his legs pretzel style and leaning forward, elbows on his knees. "Hallucinations first."

"Okay," the green one said, eyes pointed to the floor. He crossed his arms, fingers gripping the goosebumped skin tight. "The first one was in Twinkle Park, when Z and I were lookin' for the Chaos Emerald there," he said, his voice low and tired. There wasn't a lot of intonation in his words, as if he was just trying to tell his story without even thinking about it. "We split up, and I ended up in a mirror maze. And the reflections... they weren't me. They were all Sonic. Looked like him, sounded like him, definitely did not act like him. They kept taunting me, callin' me Sonic and sayin' that deep down I wanted to be like him. Which I sure as fuck don't, by the way," he glanced sideways at Tails. "Just 'cause I'm givin' up on the villain biz doesn't mean I wanna be just like Blue, got it? But still... it was freaky. I thought it might've been because there was a bunch of Chaos Energy bouncin' around in that room, but I think I was just tellin' myself that to make me feel better. I ended up bustin' every single mirror in that place. I'm still nervous about lookin' into the mirror in the bathroom."

"Holy…" Tails gasped, not quite sure how to respond.

"And earlier today, I ran into Fiona when I was out. She was fightin' me, and all of a sudden, I legit thought I was back in Zone Jail, about to get beat up by my cellmate. So I may have gone a little overboard in taking Fiona out, but she'll be fine. Probably."

"What'd you do?"

"Uh… spindash her into the ground."

"Jeez," the fox grimaced. "Yeah, that sounds like a bit of a problem. I can see why you'd be so freaked out, I heard you had a rough time in prison. Well, rougher than what one would expect."

Scourge nodded slowly. "I got beat so bad, I got bruises in my first few months that are still there. I didn't even know that was possible 'til recently. And bein' your cellmate's favorite punching bag means you're never safe, you can never sleep easy, you never get a fuckin' break…" He shuddered, remembering his most recent nightmare. Smalls had been huge, and Scourge had been totally helpless stuck in a kid's body. Not too far from reality, really.

"No wonder Sonic felt sorry for you when he saw you in there," the two-tail breathed. Scourge had indeed been covered in bruises and cuts when he'd first been brought to the workshop, but most of them had at least partially healed by now. Fighting monsters and running around all the time tended to slow the healing process, but there did seem to be a few marks on the hedgehog's body that hadn't changed at all. 'He must've really been kicked around pretty hard, and pretty often for that to happen... not to mention, hallucinating vividly about being back in Zone Jail... Hm...' Tails looked into the flickering candle, observing the bouncing light on the walls. He wished he had his Miles Electric with him. Psychological problems weren't really his forte, and he would've loved to do some extended research on the subject right then. But unfortunately, he'd left the device back in the workshop when they had all gone to find the final Chaos Emerald. Dang. It would have been really nice to have some outside information right about then. "Um... You mentioned nightmares too, right?" he said, getting the conversation back on track.

Scourge's eyes, which had been pointed in the fox's direction, turned back to the floor. His muscles tensed, like he was afraid to even think about his nightmares, let alone talk about them. After a moment of silence, he nodded.

Tails pushed further, trying to get the green one to open up just a little bit more. "And you said they were every night, right? I take it they're pretty bad."

"Y-yeah," the hedgehog said shakily. "An' they keep gettin' worse. Every night, just more bad shit happening to me, and now they're starting to feel real. When I woke up just now, I thought everything I'd dreamed really happened. A-and not just for a split second, either. I still kind of thought it was real until I saw you were... Um."

"Until you saw I was... what?"

"... Alive."

Tails blinked in surprise. "Whoa. Must be really bad then. If this has been going on the whole time you've been here with us... And you didn't tell anyone 'til now, right? I'm the first person you're telling all of this?"

"Yeah. I can't do it anymore. I can't take this shit anymore, I can't take seein' things and thinkin' things are real when they ain't. An' since I don't have an answer for any of it, or any way to make it stop… Well, here we are." He laughed, kind of sadly. "This last one was the straw that broke the camel's back, I guess."

The fox hesitated before speaking again. "... Are... you okay?"

Scourge huffed, pulling one knee up towards his chest and letting his other leg dangle off the bed. "I'm tired. I just want a good night's sleep. I want all of this to be over, so I can take a vacation and relax and not feel like I'm in constant danger of someone wanting to kill me." He shook his head. "But no, all the shit I'm afraid of most keeps coming back to haunt me every night, and apparently one of the things I'm scared of most is myself, and… and…" He tightly gripped the leg he'd pulled up to his chest, clutching it like a lifeline.

"Hey," Tails said, his voice quiet. He instinctively reached out a hand to grab the older hedgehog by the shoulder, but he stopped himself. He wasn't sure how well Scourge would react to touch. He might lash out, or think he was being attacked and reflexively attack back. "It'll be okay, I promise. Things always get worse before they get better, right?"

"I don't know if I can handle things getting any worse," the green hog said softly. "I was just getting my ass kicked by Smalls, the Time Eater, and my dad all at once. They turned me into a tiny little brat and they were going to kill me, and it all felt real. Then, I thought I woke up, I thought everything was going to be okay. But none of you could see me, and that other me came in and went Super, and… you were all gonna die thinking I killed you."

"We were… what!?"

"Yeah. There was another me, another Scourge. He had a fist full of Anarchy Beryl, he went Super, and he started beating the shit out of everyone and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I know, it normally sounds like it would've been a good dream for me," he sighed. "But now, it's the worst one I've ever had."

"Well, if it's any consolation," Tails shrugged, "I think any doubts I had about you are gone now. Pretty safe to say you don't intend to turn on us…"

"Yeah, y'think?" the nervous hedgehog said. "You guys are the only people I've ever hung out with who don't wanna kill me, backstab me, whatever. As much as you all get on my nerves, I don't… I…"

"It's okay, I think I understand what you're getting at," Tails smiled. Scourge looked relieved that he didn't have to continue talking. 'It's kind of weird that Scourge, of all people, would have nightmares about us getting hurt. Of some twisted version of himself hurting us, no less. I never thought he would ever care about anyone other than himself… This really must have scared him. His ego is even bigger than Sonic's, and he still asked for help…' The two-tail decided to go for it, and put a hand on Scourge's shoulder. He felt unbelievably tense, but the hedgehog didn't flinch or pull back. "It's okay, we're all alive. No one's hurt."

Scourge sighed, shuddering. "Good. But there's still the problem of what the fuck is wrong with me. Why am I havin' these dreams, why am I seein' shit?" He turned his head to look at Tails. He looked worried, desperate even.

The fox shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't know, and I don't really have a way of looking into it. All I can do is guess."

"So guess."

"Um… The only thing I can really come up with is that you might have some form of… PTSD?"

Scourge's expression went blank. "Uh, I think I just hallucinated again, because it sounded like you said PTSD."

"I… I did," Tails said sheepishly.

"But… no. No, that can't be right," the green one shook his head. "You only get that from… from bein' in wars and stuff, right? That can't be me…"

"Well… you were in prison for a year, and from what you told me, about constantly being in danger… That can't be good for your mental state."

"Yeah, but… but… Shit," the hedgehog said weakly. The two sat quietly for a few moments, each struggling to think. It was a lot to process. The light from the candle on the nightstand flickered dimly, and the old house creaked. 'Shit,' Scourge thought, even his thoughts feeling quiet and nervous. 'Shit, shit shit shitty shit fucking shit. I was really hoping this would be an easy fix. Y'know, along the lines of "kick the Time Eater's ass" or "get all the Chaos Emeralds" or something. But if Tails is right, then… This is serious. Really serious. What am I gonna do? I can't live like this for the rest of my life! I… fuck, I could really use a drink right about now. What am I gonna do… shit, what am I gonna do…'

"But, I mean…" Tails crossed his arms, "it hasn't even been a full week since you got out. You could very well be fine in the long run. I don't know."

"Thought you were supposed to be the smart one."

"Fixing a plane and diagnosing potential mental illness are two very different things, Scourge," he said sarcastically. "But in the meantime, we should really tell the others about th-"

"No," Scourge said sternly. "You're not telling them anything. If they find out, it's going to be from me, got it? Tell them anything, and you're a dead man."

"I thought you didn't want any of us killed?"

"I'll get over it," the hedgehog smirked. Tails snickered.

"Okay okay, I won't tell anyone. But you need to tell them before this gets worse. 'Cause if we're fighting some monsters or something and you have a flashback in the middle of it, and you get hurt… Y'know, maybe that's something we can prevent!" he said hopefully.

Scourge felt his stomach twist the slightest bit. It still surprised him every time someone expressed concern over him. It was definitely weird. He shook his head. "There's already too much going on. If we're going back to Mobius tomorrow, we all need to be focused. I had to tell someone, but I can't tell everyone. Not happening."

"That's a dumb reason and you know it."

"Look, what do you want me to say? I didn't want anyone knowing about all this! I'm freakin' out like a wuss over these nightmares, and I don't need to get babied about it."

"I guarantee none of the others will think any less of you-"

"I don't care. Don't tell them, end of discussion," Scourge growled, crossing his arms and hunching forward.

Tails sighed. "Fine, you win. But… will you tell me when this happens again?

"Yeah, fine," the hedgehog grunted. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, kiddo."

"Cool," the fox smiled with satisfaction. "Look, you're not alone in this anymore. I'll help you out as best as I can, if you let me."

The Moebian felt relief at hearing those words. 'You're not alone,' he repeated to himself in his head. "Okay. Um… thanks, Tails."

"Hey, no problem. You feeling okay now?"

"Probably not okay, but… better than before, I think." Scourge slid off the bed and stood up. He yawned. "We'd better get some sleep. Big day tomorrow, after all. I'll see ya in the morning, kid," he said, leaving the bedroom and closing the door behind him. It shut with a click, and he turned toward the stairs, intending to head back to the living room. Back down there, alone… Images of Super Scourge flashed through his mind, and he got the chills. Something primal within him didn't want to go back down there, didn't want to move, afraid that he might see his alter ego down stairs, standing on top of everyone's bodies.

After a minute, the door behind him opened again, Tails peeking his head out. "I didn't hear you go downstairs… are you sure you're okay?" he whispered. Scourge said nothing, but he stared, frozen, at the staircase. "Scourge? … Do you want to bunk in here for the night? I don't mind. There's plenty of chairs in here, one of us could take the bed and the other… could…" he trailed off. The hedgehog was still silent, but he turned to Tails and nodded. He shuffled back into the room, feeling simultaneously defeated and thankful, as Tails shut the door behind them.

ooo

Everyone woke up groggily the next morning, as apparently none of them had gotten a good night's sleep. Whether it was nightmares, old memories cropping up, or just general anxiety due to the stressful situation they found themselves in, the group of six slowly trickled downstairs the next morning, each of them feeling tired and grouchy. The Sonics were the first ones awake, both excited to be going back to Mobius. They weren't too excited about what they might find there, but at least they were getting a second shot at saving their world.

"Hey, Sonic," the youngest hedgehog said as he entered the living room and collapsed into one of the chairs. His voice was still raspy with sleep, and his eyes still half-closed.

"Hey there, Sonic," his older self replied, feeling a bit more awake. He'd been up for a little while, and had been borrowing Zonic's helmet to check on the news from other dimensions; the Zone Cop had taught him the basic functions of his helmet's on-board computer the day prior. He pulled the helmet off and set it down on the couch next to him. "So. Today's the day."

"Yep," the kid replied, as if on instinct. "We got any pizza left?"

"Nah, I think we finished that off yesterday."

"Aw. Bummer."

"Hey," the older Sonic said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. "Are you okay? We're not usually this out of it when we wake up, what's buggin' you?"

"M'fine," his past self said simply, not even looking up at him.

"You don't seem like yourself, and that's coming from the guy with the spooky evil eye and increasingly short temper. You worried about the Time Eater?"

He sighed. "What do you think, man? Of course I'm stressing out about the Time Eater, I'm in way over my head here. I save small islands from robots, that's my gig. But now I have to save the entire multiverse from a creepy time monster from outer space? With alternate dimension versions of my future self? That's kind of a big leap to make. Sure, I'm not fighting the guy alone, but… I'm still just a kid, y'know? This is a lot to handle."

"Yeah… Yeah, I feel ya," his older self chuckled. "Trust me, I've never had anything get this weird or out of hand before. I save the world a bunch, yeah, but it's usually just our world. And this is the first time I've teamed up with Zonic and Scourge, too. Wasn't exactly sure what to expect there, but I think it's turning out alright, right…?" His voice faded as he noticed the death glare the younger Sonic was giving him. "Ah, right. Almost forgot you hated Scourge for a second. How silly of me."

"Yeah, no duh I hate him! You know about some of the crap he's done?"

"Yeah, and I've experienced it first hand."

"He's evil. Not even Robotnik would murder someone in cold blood, at least not in my time!"

"Hmm… Eggman's thought about it a couple times since then. Dunno if he ever actually went through it, but I see your point. Yes, Scourge did a lot in his past that leaves a nasty taste in my mouth, but you don't know him yet like I do. You didn't see him in Zone Jail."

"So? I've seen him be a total asshole, snap that weird inhibitor collar on you- he lured us to a murder house! We are in his murder house right now, and all you can do is go on about how poor, lonely, misunderstood Scourge really can be a good guy if he just tries hard enough. It's bull."

The older Sonic frowned. How was he going to get through to this kid? He used to be stubborn as hell. "Okay, point taken. Can I tell you a story, though?"

"It won't change my mind, but sure, go ahead."

"Alright, well… A couple years ago, Scourge and I were fighting each other. He hadn't been green for long, and I think he was just starting to think about conquering the multiverse. So he was trying to convince me to join him, ragging on about how we would be "twin, unstoppable kings" or something like that. But then, he said… He said that all it would take is one bad day, and I'd be just like him. I'd turn bad."

"Yeah, right."

"That's what I thought. I didn't even give it a second thought. But then I turned it around on him, I told him that all it would take is a little selflessness and decency, and he'd be just like me. And then… he just had this look on his face, like he was afraid that I was right. I was totally sure of myself, but he… wasn't. What I said stuck with him. We fought again a year later, and he still remembered what I said, even though I didn't remember the conversation at all first. I think… Maybe Scourge isn't as confident in himself as he lets on. Back then, he wasn't sure if he had what it takes to be a bad guy, and now he's not sure if he has what it takes to be good."

"So the guy has low self-confidence, so what? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Look, the point is, the guy is trying. He might not believe he can do it, but he's trying anyway. And I think he can change- has changed- for the better."

"I don't. People don't just change, not that easily."

"Why not? We all grow and develop, dude. I've changed since I was your age."

"Yeah, and that's what scares me," the kid said quietly, not intending for his future self to hear. He wasn't quiet enough.

"Wait, what?"

"Hm? Oh, uh, nothing."

"No, what did you just say?"

"Maybe I don't want to change! Maybe I don't want to be you!" the lighter blue hedgehog cried, his eyes wavering. "I've always been the guy with a plan, who was careful going in, who hated fighting against Robotnik. But you love it, you trash robots and monsters for fun! You don't care for collateral damage, you always just run in guns a-blazing, you're so willing to trust and forgive literally anyone, and I just… That can't be me. How the hell can you be me?!"

The older Sonic was shocked to say the least. He knew that his younger self didn't exactly agree with his ways of doing things, but to be this concerned about who he was going to grow up to be… Honestly, now the elder of the two was wondering how he used to be such a worrier, someone more concerned with the past and the future than with the present. "I… wow," he said, unsure of what to say after that outburst. He felt a little offended, that his past-self didn't want to grow up to be him. What was going through that kid's head…? "You're right, we are different. Ridiculously different. But now I guess I know why you're not willing to forgive Scourge and let him move on from his past mistakes. You don't want to believe that you'll change, so that means you don't think Scourge'll change either."

"Shut up," the kid growled, his hard, black eyes piercing into his future self. "Don't bring him into this, this has nothing to do with him!"

"I think this has a lot to do with him, actually."

"Don't argue with me, Sonic. Just because you're older doesn't mean you know any better, don't give me a reason to be mad at you too! I'm freakin' sick of being mad at people!"

"So stop. Just calm down, and think things through. Hey."

"I don't even know what to think through anymore! The time stream is shattering, Tails and I are stuck in the future, I'm going to turn into a robot-beating psycho, and we're in a murder house in an alternate dimension. This… this is all too much, dude. I can't…"

"No, hey, hey, hey. C'mon, look at me," the scarred hedgehog said, placing a hand on the smaller one's shoulder and getting his attention. "You know everything is going to turn out okay, right? Listen to me. You're Sonic the Hedgehog. Nothing gets you down. How do I know? Because nothing ever got me down. And even if it did, we faked it. And when you fake confidence enough, you fake that taking down Robotnik isn't hard, but a fun pastime… I faked it enough that it became true. I got more confident, I got more skilled, I got better at beating Egghead and it started being fun. It's not something that happened overnight. I didn't even realize I used to be so different until we met," he cracked a small smile. "You're so worried about changing, and not being yourself. But I never even noticed anything about me was different, I still felt like me. I'm still Sonic, just as much as you are. It's… something that's gonna happen naturally, kiddo. It's going to be okay. Take it from someone who knows, you're going to be more than happy with the person you'll become."

"You… you mean that? You're not just telling yourself that, you're… I'm gonna be okay?"

"More than okay. We're way past cool!"

The twelve-year-old snorted. "Oh gods, I take it back. I so don't want to be you." The two laughed as Scourge and Tails entered the room, with Zonic and Lil' T trailing behind.

"Well," the oldest fox said, "you two seem to be in a good mood today."

"Oh, no, I'm stressed out like you wouldn't believe," the younger Sonic joked. "This whole Time Eater business is putting years on my life."

"I can confirm," his older self raised his hand. "I have in fact, aged significantly since this kid showed up."

Zonic shook his head. "Don't even joke about that stuff, Prime," he chuckled, stretching his arms out behind his head. "So. We doing this thing, or what?"

"Uh, right," Tails rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "We left the backpacks by the fireplace. They should be all loaded up and ready to go, food and water included. Not all of them have flashlights though, I think we could only find enough batteries for three. Zonic, your helmet has a light already, right?" he asked as everyone started picking up their packs. It was a lucky thing that Scourge had had a different backpack for every year of school he'd attended when he was little. The packs were small, but the plan was to travel light anyway, so it worked out.

"Yeah," Zonic answered Tails's question, "so I don't need a pack with a flashlight in it. Looks like they all have a candle or two in them anyways…"

The fox nodded and started listing off on his fingers. "Mmhmm. Food, water, flashlights and candles, some of them have multitools inside, those we found laying around the house… Lil' T and I were considering grabbing blankets or sleeping bags or something, but those would be too bulky to carry around. Oh, there's some first aid supplies in each, and one of them has a flare. Because this seems like the kind of scenario where a flare would come in handy."

"Cool," Mini-Sonic remarked, digging through his bag's contents. "Nice work, guys. Who's carrying the Chaos Emeralds?"

His older self swung one of the backpacks over his shoulder and picked an Emerald up off of the coffee table. "There's six Emeralds, six of us. One for each of us. Simple." He slipped the gem in between his quills and tossed another one to the other Sonic. "So is that it? Are we… ready to go back to Mobius?"

Scourge shrugged a backpack onto his shoulders. "I'd say breakfast first, but… Don't think I'm in the mood to eat anything. They always say eat your Wheaties the morning of something big, but…"

"Yeah, Wheaties are gross anyway!" the younger Tails piped up excitedly, before he remembered that he was supposed to be mad at Scourge. "And I'm not hungry, either," he said much more calmly, turning away from the green hedgehog.

"You guys sure?" Zonic asked, putting on his helmet and gauntlets. He tightened up the straps, and while they were still a little loose, they would have to do. "This is probably going to be a one-way trip. Once I open the portal, we have to go through, and we might not be able to get back until we defeat the Time Eater."

They all looked around at each other. This was it. They were all saddled up, all ready to go. It was time to get the last Chaos Emerald and end this nightmare, once and for all. The Sonics nodded, everyone else following suit. None of them were sleepy anymore.

"Okay," the Zone Cop nodded with them, hand on his belt buckle. "Then here goes nothing…!" He pressed the button on the buckle and an orange portal opened in front of them with a zoop! It seemed to be shaking and flickering slightly, as if it didn't want to be open at all. "It's unstable, probably because it knows that Mobius is a hellhole right now. We gotta get through, now!" Zonic led the charge through the portal, everyone holding their breath as they passed through. What would they see on the other side?

The unstable portal, once they had all crossed through it, collapsed on itself and vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The good news was that they landed on the ground (still rumbling slightly, but otherwise stable), and there was breathable air in the still-existing atmosphere. But other than that, Mobius was not looking good at all. They had landed somewhere completely unrecognizable. There was little plant life anywhere, and the ground was barren and craggy. There were small pits of lava bubbling up here and there, and deep crevices that scarred the earth. Sticking out of the floor at odd angles were buildings and monuments from all time periods, from all areas of the globe. Ancient echidna temples, futuristic skyscrapers, country farm houses, famous statues, all scattered about the place in a huge mish-mosh of eras. The sky was dark, with ominous storm clouds swirling above and lightning crackling high up in the atmosphere. The harsh winds that had plagued the Marble Zone as it fell apart were gone, leaving the world feeling deathly still. Everything was silent. Even with the occasional pool of lava around, Mobius felt cold, sending a shiver up everyone's spine.

"What is this place...?" Lil' T wondered aloud, staring wide-eyed at the clashing bits of architecture. "Where... When are we?"

His brother walked slowly ahead of the group and stooped low to the ground, running his gloved fingers through the fine layers of dust and dirt that coated the ground. He felt the grains run through his fingers and frowned. He looked up at his surroundings, trying to remember what he knew about Mobian history. "I'm not sure," he said sourly. "It's almost like... all of time is happening at once."

"All of time?" Scourge asked, raising an eyeridge. "If I weren't seein' this with my own eyes, that would sound like the stupidest thing I've ever heard," he muttered. "So is time just not working here anymore? Like everything condensed, and then just kind of... froze?"

The older Sonic shook his head. "I gave up on figuring out whacked out time physics a while ago," he sighed. His world... It was still there, still alive, in the most basic sense of the word. But everything that made Mobius Mobius was in the process of being erased forever, and his planet was a confusing jumble. He was glad it wasn't gone, but to have it like this wasn't much of an improvement. "So. Seventh Chaos Emerald. Anyone have any ideas where we should start looking?"

"Not one," his past self groaned. "We can't sense anything with the planet like this... With everything happening at once, the energy is so out of whack. It's a total crapshoot."

"Well," Zonic said, flipping his visor down over his eyes and scanning the area, "we know the Time Eater and its goons feed off of Chaos Energy. If we find the monsters, we find the Emerald." Something on his visor pinged and lit up. He was picking up life signs in the distance, but he couldn't see anything from where he was. He zipped up the nearest building, perched on the roof of an old stone house. He had the visor zoom in to amplify his vision. "What the.."

Tails flew up next to him and looked in the same direction. "So Legolas, what do your elf eyes see?" he asked, unable to see anything himself.

"There are people alive over there, but…" Zonic frowned, flipping up his visor. "Just follow me." He hopped back down the floor and sped off, leading the rest of the group towards some mountains and skyscrapers in the distance. Sonic had to pretty much be dragged along behind everyone else, his own legs not wanting to move fast enough to keep up.

Even though their destination wasn't exactly close, the fact that they were traveling along at several hundred miles per hour should have meant that they arrived there rather quickly. But since the 'per hour' part didn't apply anymore, it felt a heck of a lot longer. As they went, they passed giant nests of dinosaur eggs, Gaia temples, crashed bits of the Space Colony ARK, and other artifacts from different times and places. It was almost like walking through a giant history museum, only this museum included exhibits on the future as well as the past. If the world as they knew it weren't on the verge of ending, it would have been fascinating.

The figures that Zonic had spied were finally coming into view. They weren't time monsters, but people, frozen in time. Not completely frozen though- they were moving, albeit very, very slowly. They were all porcelain white, reminiscent of what happened to the people the Time Eater abducted when it was in Eggman's control. They looked like they could have been statues.

It was a whole crowd of people, all seemingly lost in their own world. The small group of zone-hoppers infiltrated the crowd, looking around at everyone and trying to get someone's attention. No one paid them the slightest attention; it was like they were invisible.

"What happened to all of them?" Sonic grimaced, looking at all the faces. He managed to recognize a few as citizens of Station Square, and he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He knew these people. And now, they were like ghosts. Maybe that's what they all were... simply living out their final moments before Mobius was consumed by the Time Eater. "Are they... dead?" he asked quietly, his spines quivering.

"No, I don't think so," Zonic said. He lifted up to his gauntlet up to one of the wandering people and scanned her. "No, they're all definitely alive. I'm picking up life signs, although it seems like their vitals are all extremely low. Then again, they all seem to be operating at a much slower clip than we are."

Sonic sighed with relief. They weren't dead. And if the people of Station Square were still alive, there was hope for everyone else on Mobius, too. If they could just undo the damage that had been done, maybe they could revive everyone. He wandered through the crowd some more, silently wondering if there were any clues lying around about where the Chaos Emerald was. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two people running, albeit at a snail's pace. Curious, he turned and looked, his eyes shooting open. Without hesitation, he ran as fast as he could over to Amy and Knuckles, both of them turned completely white. He wasn't sure whether to feel happy or sad. Glad that his friends were still alive, upset that they were practically frozen in time and had no idea what was happening. Their faces were determined, like they were on a mission. Did they know what was happening?

"Knux… Amy…" he breathed, reaching out to grab their shoulders. He suddenly felt something pull him back.

"No!" Tails yelped, yanking him away. "You don't know what'll happen to you if you touch them! You might become like them," he said, feeling just as conflicted about Amy and Knuckles as the hedgehog did. He hated seeing his friends like this, but it was better than not seeing them at all.

A sigh. "You're right, kiddo. I just… I wish they could be here." He stepped away from his friends, guilt rising in his chest. It was his fault they were like this, after all. "We should probably get out of here. I just hope they're both okay."

A low roaring noise suddenly hit their ears, coming from the other side of the nearby mountain. The mountain was incredibly tall and steep, and looked like something that couldn't exist in the real world. Something huge and dark started to descend its cliffs at breakneck speed. The further down it went, the clearer it became that the something wasn't just one thing. It was like a tidal wave, a wave of time monsters flying towards them.

"Yeah, I ain't fighting that," Scourge said, looking up at the oncoming swarm in disbelief. Everyone else quickly agreed with him and immediately began to run in the opposite direction. Sonic and Tails had to be pulled away from Knuckles and Amy ("They'll be fine! There's nothing we can do!" Zonic had told them), and the group suddenly found themselves being chased.

"Just find the monsters, eh?!" Mini-Sonic yelled over the roar of the monsters. The beasts were running faster than they had ever before; whether it was because they were more powerful here or just because there were a lot of them using their powers at once, no one could tell. But they definitely meant business, and there were way too many to ever hope to take on.

"Well, they found us and our Emeralds instead! So sue me!" Zonic yelled back, clearly not in the mood for discussing this. He glanced backwards to see that the wave of monsters was gaining on them, and fast. "We've got to find a place to hide! We can't run away from these goons forever!" he said, directing the others.

"But where?!" Lil' T asked, clinging to his older self's back. "We have six Emeralds, they'll find us if we try and hide anywhere near here!"

"We don't need to hide," Scourge said, "we gotta go somewhere they won't, or can't. I'll be right back." Without warning, he accelerated to max speed, flying past the sound barrier and leaving the rest of them in the dust. Before anyone had the chance to consider the possibility of the green hedgehog ditching them and saving his own skin, he returned, joining back up with them and matching their running speed again. "Cave coming up in about two miles" he said, completely focused. "It looks deep, we can escape through there."

"And when the monsters inevitably follow us in?" Mini-Sonic asked.

"Easy. I'll spindash the cave walls, make enough debris that it blocks off the entrance. We can plow back out later, when the coast is clear. Even if it doesn't stop them, it'll slow them down."

No one exactly liked that their best plan at the moment was to trap themselves in a cave and hope the monsters didn't break through the walls, but there was no time to argue or to come up with something better. The three hedgehogs still capable of supersonic speeds grabbed a hold of Sonic and the two Tailses before blasting off in the direction Scourge had indicated. They blew through the two miles in no time, and made a sharp turn to make it into the cave. As soon as they were inside, the green hedgehog blasted himself into the walls and ceiling, causing parts of them to collapse. He jumped back away as rocks tumbled down, forming a wall between them and the outside.

Everything suddenly went quiet, save for the sounds of coughing on dust and debris. It was pitch black, and none of them could see a thing. The atmosphere was tense, and no one moved a muscle. Had the monsters seen them come in here? Or would they run past the cave, not suspecting a thing? Would they turn back around, realizing they had somehow run past the Emeralds they were chasing?

Zonic placed an ear to the collapsed wall and listened carefully. He heard the trembling sounds of the hoard approaching and held his breath. He slowly released it, though, as he heard the sound fade away into the distance. They had lost the monsters. They were all safe, for now at least. "They're gone," he said, stepping away from the wall. "I've never seen that many time monsters at once... Guess it's to be expected, now that they've turned Mobius into their own personal playground."

"I want to know what happened to all those people back there," Sonic said, sounding tired. "My friends were back there. Why were they all... ghost-y? And were they hurt by the monsters when they barged through there?"

"I don't know," Tails said, breathing heavily after the intense sprint. "At least we know they're alive."

"HEEEYYY!" Tails' younger self suddenly yelled into the the cave, listening to the echo that reverberated off the walls.

"Shh!" Mini-Sonic hissed, clapping his hand over the fox's mouth. "Do you want those guys to come back? What are you doing?"

"This place must be reaaalllyyy big!" Lil' T said, wriggling his way out of the hedgehog's grip. "Maybe there's something cool in the back! Sonic, can we 'splore it?"

"I don't think so, kid," the light blue hog said. "Remember what we found the last time we went exploring?" He turned his head a fraction of an inch and glared at Scourge through the corner of his eye.

"Guys, shh," Zonic whispered, holding a finger to his lips. "I think I hear something out there." He pressed his ear up against a small hole in the pile of rubble and listened closely. At first he heard nothing, but a dull rumble slowly came to his attention. He looked out through a small crack, and saw plumes of dust in the distance that were getting closer. "I think they're coming back," he said harshly. "They must've figured out that we didn't outrun them. We don't have a lot of time," he said, stepping away from the wall and turning back around.

Scourge pulled a flashlight out of his backpack and switched it on, the small halo of light illuminating the inside of the cave. "Sorry, kids. Exploring it is."

They had started off down into the cave at a decent clip, but had to slow to a walk when the older Sonic couldn't keep up anymore. The scarred hedgehog wasn't happy about his lack of mobility, and was in a sour mood. The two Tailses tried to keep the mood up, but seeing as they were fleeing into a deep cave on a broken, confused Mobius that was overridden by time monsters, there wasn't much of a bright side to be found.

Zonic took the lead, the headlamp on his visor powerful enough to cut far into the darkness. The rest filed behind him, occasionally mumbling "careful, there's a hole," or "jeez, this is getting steep." They were definitely heading downward, deep underground. Whether the cave would stop abruptly or actually lead anywhere was yet to be seen.

After walking for a while in silence, the younger Sonic brought up the fact that they didn't have a plan for what they would do once they found the seventh Emerald. The group tossed some ideas around on how to handle the Time Eater, ranging from sneak attacks to all-out charges to traps. Unfortunately, planning an attack on a creature that could easily alter the flow of time wasn't simple. Even if they came up with a plan, there was no guarantee it wouldn't fall apart halfway through. Plus, they didn't even know where the Time Eater was, and they currently had no way of tracking it down. Plotting a sneak attack is impossible if you don't know where your enemy is, or what the terrain of the fight will be like. Even coming up with an idea of how to trap the beast was tricky, since Chaos energy was a fickle thing. The Chaos Emeralds held unlimited power, unlimited potential. The only limiting factor is the wielder's own energy. A person could theoretically use the Chaos Emeralds to create entire worlds, create life. But the strain of having all that power coursing through one's body would be too great, and the wielder would probably die in the process. Knowing one's limits with the Chaos Emeralds was something that came with years of experience, something only the older Sonic had. Using the Super form to fight the Time Eater was entirely possible. Using the form to entrap something so powerful was a lot riskier.

"So basically," Scourge said, "We don't know what the Time Eater is capable of, where it is, or how to kill it. And we also can't use the unlimited power in the Emeralds to do whatever we want to the thing. Great, we are so prepared!" he said sarcastically, throwing his hands up. "Not to mention, we can't leave this cave unless we want to fight a lifetime's worth of monsters, but we'll probably need to get out of here if we want to find the last Emerald. Someone tell me how we got into this mess, because we must have fucked something up at some point in this whole adventure."

"Scourge, shut up," Zonic groaned, trying to tune him out. They all knew their situation was bad- they didn't need reminding.

"Sorr-ee. You're the one with the magic teleport belt, you want to get us out of here?" the green one rolled his eyes.

Zonic turned around to face him. "I could barely get us to Mobius in the first place! We knew this would be a one-way trip, so unless someone wants to risk using Chaos Control to get us all out of this place, we're just going to have to suck it up and stick this out."

"We can't stay in this freakin' cave forever!"

"You're the one who said we should come in here in the first place! You're the whole reason we're stuck down here!"

"Guys," Sonic said, "calm down, alright? Fighting isn't going to fix any of this."

"Oh, and what do you suggest we do?" Scourge glared. "Sit around and just twiddle our thumbs until something happens?"

"I suggest we figure out a way to go from here," the injured hedgehog said, pointing to the fork in the road in front of them. There were three different ways to go, each one leading further down into the earth.

"Oh, good. Not only are we trapped down here by the freakin' ocean of bad guys at the surface, but now we have the added bonus of being able to get lost!"

Lil' T marched up and pushed Scourge, causing him to stumble backwards. "Stop yellin' at him, you, you… you asshole!" he shouted.

The others all erupted, yelling choruses of "I ain't yellin' at him!" and "Tails, don't say words like that!" and "Guys, shush! We need to keep moving!" The echoes shooting around inside the cave were making it hard to hear who was saying what, and all the voices blended together into just noise. The only person not yelling was Sonic, who was standing back from everyone else and clutching his head in his hands. The noise pierced through his ears, hurting his head. He couldn't think, he couldn't concentrate. It felt like someone was taking a hammer to his skull and pounding away.

"Guys, stop," he groaned quietly as the tunnel shook the slightest bit. No one heard him though, and the five others continued yelling and arguing amongst each other. "Guys," Sonic said a little louder. Still no response. He clenched his eyes shut. The pain was too much, he couldn't take it. "Guys!" he shouted, his voice towering over those of the others. The rest of the group immediately stopped talking and turned to look at him. Before Sonic could say anything else, the ground started to shake. Violently. They all tumbled to the floor as the entire cave quaked. Small rocks began to break off of the ceiling and fall to the ground, and cracks began to appear in the roof of the cave.

"It's gonna cave in!" one of them shouted, no one paid attention to who. "Move, move!" They wasted no time scrambling to safety, barely even getting to their feet. Huge chunks of rock began raining down on them, sending dirt and dust flying. The way back out was blocked as the ceiling completely collapsed.

The rockfall ended as soon as it started. A few small stones tumbled down the impenetrable pile of rock.

Everything was quiet.

Notes: Well... they're all back on Mobius. But are they okay? Dun dun duunnnn! We're entering the final stretch! I'm really excited for it, I hope you all are, too :) And Scourge is finally starting to really open up, too! I see the beginnings of some beautiful friendships on the horizon. Okay I'm really tired and I dunno what else to say, soo expect another update next month! Don't forget to leave a review if you liked this chapter! BYEEE