Author's note:
Hello everyone! We now have reached 12.5K views for this fanfic! I know I say this a lot, but it really makes me happy to see people read this. Thank you all so much! :) Anyways, we are almost done with this fanfic! I believe we have at least 3 or 4 more to go including the epilogue. So, it won't be long now, but there is still a lot going on in this fanfic. All we can do now is observe. ;)
Shout-outs:
RagingWolf2124 - I know it may sound deep as well, but I wanted to point out more of what Infinite thinks about his squad. We don't know if they really are or not. I also always wonder that question too. I was hoping they would explain it or perhaps a sequel DLC for the game. I hope they start talking about that soon.
Bajy - Yes, Shadow what have you done! And yup, he's still there! Now the question is: how do we get rid of him... if Saura wants to let that go. We shall see what will happen.
Thanks for reading and Please review!:)
Chapter 24: Opening the Heart
Infinite and Saura are now back in the room they were in before. Unfortunately, Infinite couldn't shut the door since Saura broke it. So, he created a new one with his red cubed auras from the Phantom Ruby. Once that was taken cared of, the jackal gently places the wolf down. He watches Saura look at him as she stands on both feet. The two stared at each other for a bit in silence. Finally, Infinite sighs as he looks to Saura with worry. "Saura, are you alright?" he asks. The memory of Saura almost died quickly played back in his head. The jackal shivers, but he quickly ignores it.
Saura tilts her head in confusion when Infinite asked if she was alright. She believes she is okay. She looks around a bit at herself to make sure she is. "I-I think so," she replies with a little uncertain sound in her voice.
Saura suddenly feels Infinite's claw hands on her arms and noticed the worried and serious look. "Please Saura, I need you to be honest with me. Are you alright?" he asks the wolf in desperation.
Saura flinches a bit at Infinite's sudden desperation. "I-I'm fine Infinite," she replies again with the same answer. She noticed Infinite frowns as he starts to investigate her by checking for any wounds on her. The wolf shivers a bit as she has her hand on the jackal's shoulder. "Infinite, I said I'm okay," she says with a worried expression.
"Are you?" Infinite asks as fear starts to rise in his voice. "You could've been mentally hurt by your uncle while you were talking," he added. The jackal noticed the wolf shows a shocked look. So, it did happen just like when Saura told him to attack her! Nevil is still mentally attacking Saura even as they speak. Infinite had his hand on to Saura's cheek. "Now, are you alright?" he asks again.
Saura frowns a bit as she looks down to Infinite's hand. The last conversation they had still rings in the wolf's head. Saura mentally shakes her head to ignore that memory.
"Go on Saura, tell him how you feel or remain silent... Then again, he rejected you... No matter what answer you choose, it will still hurt you.."
Saura looks down for she honestly hadn't thought of her answer. "I… I don't know," she answers. "I don't kn-know how you want me to answer th-that," she added as she sighs a bit. The wolf looks back up to the jackal's blue and yellow eyes. "B-but I can tell you that I will be. If it weren't for Sonic and his friends, I wouldn't be able to speak to you in that arena," she then says.
Infinite growls a bit at the thought of Sonic. He moves his hand from Saura's cheek to her shoulder. "Don't mention that blue nuisance's name nor his friends! They are nothing but insects," he says to the wolf. "He and his annoying resistance group are in the way of my world domination," he added.
Saura flinches a tiny bit in surprise when Infinite got a bit angry when she mentioned Sonic and his friends. It was almost like he was… jealous. However, when she heard Infinite's last sentence, the wolf frowns at the jackal. "Are you sure that's what you really want?" she asks in concern.
Infinite looks to Saura with an eye narrow. "Yes, it is. And once I get rid of the resistance and their blue savior, I will take out the old man and rule this world," he replies! The jackal then has his other hand on Saura's cheek. "And you will be there by my side ruling with me," he then says to Saura as he gently pets the wolf's cheek. Infinite then releases Saura to look at the red cubed door. "Together, we shall show the world what it means to have fear and pain," he added.
Saura cringes at the thought of hurting the resistance. She would never do such a thing!... The wolf then remembered about the jackal wanting to get rid of the resistance first. "B-but, I'm part of the resistance too. Wh-which means you have to kill me too," she says to Infinite as the frown still remains on her face.
Infinite stood there stunned after Saura spoke as the memories from the first arena took place. He looks to Saura in shock and disbelief. Kill Saura because she's in the resistance… Never! The Phantom Ruby starts to glow rapidly on the jackal's chest as he uses it to slam Saura to the wall and traps her in between there and himself. As he deep breathes, Infinite watches the wolf stare at him with extreme shock and slightly shivering. "I… will never… do such thing," he says while deep breathing. Seeing Saura raise her hands a bit, he remembers the grabbling hooks on her wrist bands. Quickly, the jackal grabs the wolf's wrist and holds her hands up above her head. "You… are mine… mine alone," he says to Saura as two red cubes appear next to him. Infinite soon has the two floating red cubes transform to handcuffs. The floating red handcuffs then attached themselves on to Saura's wrists and the wall. Once the cuffs are on the wolf and attached to the wall, Infinite lets her go.
Saura starts to freak out a bit as she tries to break out of the handcuffs. "I-Infinite, wh-what's going on?" she asks as she continues to try and break out of the handcuffs. The wolf then noticed the jackal had placed his clawed hand on the wall close to her face.
Infinite soon has his other clawed hand on Saura's cheek. "I said… you… are… mine," he says as he leans closer while deep breathing. Suddenly, the jackal slams his lips to the wolf's. Saura blushes, but also flinched at the kiss. This isn't like one of those romantic nor gentle like kisses Infinite used to do. This kind of kiss is rough, almost animal like which is something Saura isn't used to. The wolf tries to break free, but the jackal had moved his hand from her cheek to the back of her head. Infinite then hears Saura whimpering, perhaps she's low on air. Slowly, he releases the wolf's lips and watches her.
Saura deep breaths as a blush continues to remain on her face. She looks to Infinite with a shock and somewhat scared expression. "Wh-what are you… d-doing?" she asks quietly. The wolf suddenly feels the jackal nuzzle to the right side of her neck that caused her to shiver and hold her breath a bit since she's trying to stop herself from moaning.
Infinite noticed Saura preventing herself from moaning; this caused him to growl a bit. "There is no need to resist Saura. I know you like this," he says to the wolf. The jackal soon starts placing kisses on to her neck and continues up to her cheek and forehead. He then looks to Saura as he gently pets her cheek with his clawed finger. "I know I do," he whispered. Infinite then places his lips back on hers. He hears the wolf trying to say something. Instead of listening, the jackal takes that advantage to shove his tongue into the wolf's mouth. He then releases her and watched her deep breathing with a trail of saliva connected to the wolf and jackal's lips. Once Infinite gave Saura a small peck on her lips, he wraps an arm around her waste to bring her a bit closer without hurting her arms. The jackal feels their bodies touch a bit which caused the wolf to gasp. Smirking, Infinite moved closer to Saura to have their bodies closer as he tightens his hold a bit. Now, he starts hearing the wolf moan a bit. "Yes, that's it," Infinite whispered again as he starts showering Saura's neck and chest with kisses.
Saura continues to moan a bit as she feels Infinite really close and kissing her. "Wh-wh-why are you- ah... d-doing- o-oh... th-this?" She asks between her gasps and moans.
Saura hears Infinite chuckle a bit as he moves up to her ear. "I told you Saura. You are mine," the jackal continues to whisper. Infinite then gently nibbles the wolf's ear a bit and stops to look at her. "After all, you did say you love me. Is that true?" he then asks.
Saura blushes red when Infinite brought her confession up. "Y-yes," she admitted while looking away embarrassed.
Infinite purred at the answer with a pleased look. "Then that means, you belong to me now," he says with a smirk. The jackal nuzzles to the other side of the wolf's neck as he inhales her scent. Infinite moves his hand, that was on the back of Saura's head, to her upper back. "Jackals may not be the same as wolves, but they do share some things in common. One is when they bond with someone, they are paired with that individual for life. You are no different despite being a wolf; which means, you are mine," he added.
Saura continues to blush and stiffens when she feels Infinite holding her a bit closer as he looks at her with want. As Infinite leans closer to Saura's face again, they suddenly hear something outside of the room. It sounded like lasers are shooting the red cubed door. Infinite glares at the cubed door and growls at the interruption; but before he could do anything, the cubed door was already destroyed. Omega was the first to walk in to the room. "BLOCKAGE HAS BEEN DESTROYED," it said while walking in. The robot soon noticed Infinite and aims its laser arm at the jackal. "TARGET HAS BEEN FOUND. EXTERMINATION INETABLE," it stated as it got ready to fire.
Infinite growls more at Omega as he gets ready to dodge the upcoming attack until he remembers Saura right beside him! When the robot starts to shoot its lasers, the jackal quickly has his Phantom Ruby create a shield around him and the wolf. Once the shooting was over, he glares at Omega as the shield remains up. Just then, Infinite noticed Shadow and Rouge coming in as well which caused him to growl madly at the black hedgehog. Noticing the danger, the jackal turns to Saura with a gentle expression. "You stay here my chosen one while I take care of these insects," he says to the wolf as he gently places his lips on her forehead.
Saura blushed a bit when Infinite kissed her forehead; but the moment ended as she sees him glare madly at Shadow and his friends as the shield fades away. The wolf tries to break free from the handcuffs but with no success. She watches the jackal walk towards the black hedgehog and his friends with worry. Saura thought about shouting to Infinite to stop, but seeing Shadow, Omega, and Rouge in front instead of behind made her stop. Whimpering a bit silently, Saura said nothing.
Amy and Silver soon arrived in the room and noticed they were a bit too late to stop Shadow and his friends. The white hedgehog then noticed Saura and her hands trapped by red handcuffs. "Saura," he calls out to the wolf!
Saura jumps a bit when she hears Silver. She looks towards where she heard it and noticed the white and pink hedgehogs behind Shadow and his group. "Silver, Amy," she calls out to the two hedgehogs in response! The wolf then hears the jackal growl a bit at her which caused her to shiver a bit.
Infinite slightly glares at Saura for speaking to Amy and Silver. He glares back at Shadow and his group as he starts to spread the red aura, from the Phantom Ruby, around the room. Everyone held their ground as the area turns red. Shadow glares at Infinite. "Chaos Spear," he shouts as he throws out yellow energy spears at the jackal.
Infinite counters Shadow's attack using red aura cubes. The two then began to start fighting. Omega and Rouge tried to assist the black hedgehog as much as they can. In the meantime, Silver and Amy got to Saura without being spotted by Infinite. The white hedgehog approached to the wolf first and noticed the handcuffs. "Saura, what happened?" he asks the wolf.
Saura watches Silver try to get the handcuffs off her as he waits for her answer. "I-Infinite wanted to take you guys out; a-and once he does, he's going to take out E-Eggman, so he can rule the w-world," she starts to explain. "When I told him that I-I'm part of the resistance which means h-he'll need to get past me, I-I think I got him angry and jealous. B-because he told me that I should be h-his alone since I told him h-how I felt for him," she added as she looks down in shame.
Amy listened to the conversation and frowns. She then sees Saura look down in shame. She can't let the jackal play with the wolf's feeling like that! Until, she remembered the actions the jackal showed at the first arena. If so, then jealousy is definitely one of the reasons for his behavior now. She has to find a way to see if Infinite likes Saura the same way she likes him. The pink hedgehog looks back up to the fight between Infinite and Shadow, Rouge, and Omega. The jackal had just summoned strange floating cannons out of nowhere to start firing them at the black hedgehog, white bat, and robot. Infinite then looks to her direction and glares more.
Silver sees Infinite glaring at him and Amy. Quickly, he finally frees Saura from the handcuffs. This got the jackal more angry as he makes a few of the cannons aim at him, Saura, and Amy. The white hedgehog gets ready to use his psychokinesis to protect him and the two females. He waited but nothing popped out. Curious, he watches Infinite and noticed he's holding back his attacks as he only looks at Saura. Amy is right! The jackal is in love with the wolf, that's why he can't hurt her! Silver looks to Saura. "Saura, can you try to talk to him again? Maybe you can convince him to help us stop the war and change his mind about world domination," he says to the wolf. Saura looks away from Silver as she remembered how she tried before and got backfired.
Shadow, as he and his team tried to dodge the cannons from Infinite's cannon illusions, noticed the other set of the cannons aimed at Silver, Amy, and Saura and yet not attacking them. He watches carefully and finally understands why; It's the wolf! In fast speed, the black hedgehog got behind the other two hedgehogs and wolf. He forced Saura to turn around and look at him as he ignores her flinch and shiver a bit. "You! why is he not attacking you?" he barks out his question. Shadow watches the wolf look confused as she shakes her head like she doesn't know. This got the black hedgehog to glare at her. "Answer me," he demands as he grabs the wolf's arm tightly.
Infinite glares at Shadow and it deepened when he sees the black hedgehog close to Saura. The jackal growls madly at the black hedgehog once he grabs the wolf… his mate! With the Phantom Ruby, Infinite got behind Shadow and grabs him by the neck that forced the hedgehog to release the wolf. "Don't. Touch. Her," he says to the black hedgehog with anger while the Phantom Ruby glows brighter! The jackal then throws Shadow to a wall with red aura.
When Shadow's back hits the wall, four red binds held both of his hands and feet to the wall. He tries to break out of it but is having no luck. "Damn it," he cursed out while trying to break out of his binds. The black hedgehog glares at the jackal as he continues to try and break free.
Infinite lets out a dark smirk and then turns his attention to Rouge, Omega, Silver, and Amy. He launches red aura like spheres at the four, trapping them the same way he did to Shadow. Amy drops her hammer when this happened and now tries to break out of her binds with the others. "Hey," she exclaims!
Saura watches the Silver, Amy, Rouge, Shadow, and Omega with worry. They increased when she sees the cannons increase their number until there is one for each of the others and aimed at them. She has to do something or else they'll be killed! The wolf looks around the room and noticed her Lightning wispon lying on the ground. Infinite must have dropped it when they returned here! Quickly, Saura uses her grabbling hook to grab the wispon. Once the weapon is in her hand, she destroys all the floating cannons in the room in one swing. When the cannons are destroyed to tiny red cubes and vanish, the wolf goes to Amy, since she was the closest, and tries to help remove the binds.
Infinite watched Saura with surprise as she took out his cannon illusions. He wasn't expecting her to quickly take them out that fast. His thoughts were interrupted when he sees her trying to help the pink hedgehog. Growling a bit, the jackal uses his Phantom Ruby to get close to the wolf and grabs her from behind. Why are these insects always taking her attention away from him? Saura belongs to him only! He hears Amy call out to the wolf. Infinite's growls increased as he moves away from the group with Saura. The wolf started to struggle but she couldn't get out of the jackal's hold. Infinite traps Saura to the wall that does not hold Shadow nor any of his friends. And instead of using the Phantom Ruby, he used himself to hold her down. "Why do you keep protecting them?" he asks a bit in anger. "I told you Saura, you're mine," he says while growling a bit possessively!
Saura, now recognizing the kind of growl he's doing, tries to look at Infinite with a disappointed look. "I-I'm not some kind of p-property Infinite," she says to the jackal. "I am a l-living creature," she added with a bit more determination as she tries to break out of his hold.
Infinite humphs as he pushes Saura towards the wall a bit more, so she can't escape. "No, you are more than that," he says to the wolf in a whisper. Little did he know, Rouge is able to hear him since she's closer and can hear well thanks to her stealth skills. The jackal starts to pet the wolf's left cheek and neck as he nuzzles to the other side of her neck. "And I will do anything to keep you," he mumbles out. Infinite stops petting Saura as he holds her closer while shivering a bit from the memories of losing his squad and her almost died. "I've lost my squad and almost lost you once. I will not let that happen again even if it means taking you away from the resistance," he added. Infinite then flips Saura until her back touches the wall.
Saura listened to Infinite with a shocked look. What could she be that is more than a living creature? And what about almost lost her once? The wolf was then flipped around, so her back is touching the wall. She looks to Infinite and sees the scared look on his face. Saura remembers Silver asking her to talk to Infinite. The white hedgehog did say something about the jackal can help them. Figuring it's worth a shot, Saura looks to Infinite. "Wh-what if you don't have to rule the world and take me away? Y-you can help me, and my friends defeat E-Eggman," she says to him. The wolf noticed the jackal look at her with suspicion. "W-we all have an enemy in c-common now and that's Eggman. With all of u-us working together, we can s-stop Eggman from his world d-domination," she tries to explain. "And once th-this war is over, everyone will go th-their separate ways even me. Wh-when all the cities are rebuilt, I-I want to see more of what I've missed from this w-world," she added. "It's true I-I've given that part a shot and… well, I've already told you what happened," she says while looking down. Saura flinched a bit but shakes her head and looks back to Infinite. "Now, I'm ready to give it another chance to see what it really is. Why can't you do the same?" she then asked with a bit more confidence despite flinching a bit from time to time.
Infinite widens his eyes a bit as he slowly releases Saura. Backing up a bit, he watches Saura flinching as she continues her speech. There is no doubt the wolf's uncle is attacking her, but why is she ignoring it?! Right when Saura asked her question, Infinite growls a bit. "Why should I do the same if it will only happen again?" he asks.
"Indeed Saura, why should he continue to try.. It will only hurt him even more.."
Saura frowns a bit as she walks a little closer to Infinite. "Then learn from what happened and use that knowledge to think of a new strategy and try again," she replies. "Not only that, try to make some new friends and it can help you understand what went wrong so you don't have to worry about making the same mistakes. I'm sure your squad would want you to do that. And I will do the same starting now," she added. The wolf holds her hand out to the jackal. This brought back to the time Infinite rejected her at first which got her to frown a bit more.
"I told you no more SPEAKIN-"
"Don't let your fear own you."
Saura's confidence returned when she remembered what Sonic told her. She continues to watch Infinite as she held her hand out to him. Amy watched Saura and Infinite as they talked. The way Saura worded her speech had her smile a bit. She must have learned it from her and her friends. But when the wolf held out her hand to the jackal, the pink hedgehog's smile faded as she watches the two with hope. "Come on," she mumbled a bit with hope.
Infinite looks to Saura and noticed her hand. He looks at the group he had trapped. The pink and white hedgehogs appear to be watching with hope. The white bat is just watching with a surprised look. Shadow and Omega appear to be just watching with no expressions. Just seeing the black hedgehog makes the jackal angry. He refuses to help Shadow not after what the hedgehog did to his friends. The moment he looks back to the wolf, memories of what the Phantom Ruby prototype showed him and Sonic. All of those dead mobians, voices of disgust, and of course… Nevil. The wolf who was the cause of all the torture at that tower. Just thinking about the brown wolf, Infinite imagines him just right behind Saura in her shadow. That terrible wolf just there laughing, mocking, and attacking the poor blond wolf from behind every time she opens her mouth… and yet, she's ignoring him. Why… why is she doing that now after everything that's happened?!... Looking back at the wolf, the jackal slowly raises his clawed hand. Can this wolf really help him?... So far, she seems to have been a bit. She listened to his story, shared hers with him, and admitted her feelings for him… Infinite sees Saura more than just a living creature… he loves her as his mate... and friend. Finally, he places his hand on the wolf's hand with a small smile. When this happens, the Phantom Ruby on Infinite's chest stops glowing and the red aura starts to fade around the area.
Once the red aura around the area faded, everyone's binds had disappeared as well! One by one, everyone dropped to the ground and watched Saura and Infinite. Amy smiles brightly while Silver watch with shock. Omega gets ready to shoot lasers at the jackal but was stopped by Rouge. Shadow watches with his arms crossed. The black hedgehog wanted to finish off the jackal for what he did seven months ago; however, seeing the white bat stop Omega and looking at him, he stayed put. Shadow looks back to Infinite and Saura as he watches them. "That wolf better know what she's doing," he mumbles out to Rouge.
Saura watches Infinite have his clawed hand on her hand. Smiling, she looks up to the jackal and sees him smiling a bit. The wolf starts blushing with a little nervous look but continues to smile. Infinite catches Saura blushing which got him to blush a bit. Remembering Saura admitting her feelings to him, he decides to do the same. "Saura," he calls out to the wolf. The jackal places his free clawed hand on to the wolf's cheek gently. "There is something I need to tell you," he says as he starts to feel nervous a bit.
Saura looks to Infinite to hear what he has to say until she starts to feel the ground start shaking. Before she could ask what's going on, the wolf hears the jackal start groaning and growling in pain as he falls to his knees. Worried, Saura lowers down to Infinite. "I-Infinite, what's wrong?" she asks the jackal. The wolf noticed the Phantom Ruby starts to glow a bit as the sound gets louder, the one she always hears when she's with Infinite.
The moment Amy feels the earthquake and smiles more. "It's Sonic! He must have destroyed the reactor," she says to the group. Saura looks to the group and then to Infinite. After all, it doesn't explain why Infinite is suddenly in pain.
"Then we need to get out of here before we get caught in the explosion," Silver says to everyone.
Saura watches the group nod in response. "Saura," she then hears Infinite mumble out. She looks to the jackal with worry to let him know she's here. "The items… get the items," he added while pointing to the table that held his red sword. Nodding, Saura gets Infinite on her back, so she can carry him and goes to the table while holding her wispon with her arm. She grabs on to the sword and then noticed something else on the table, her necklace! Well, the crescent moon that held her necklace attached to a black string. She looks to the jackal and back to the necklace. Quickly, the wolf grabs her necklace and has it in her pocket.
"Saura, come on! We need to get out of here," Silver calls out to Saura! Nodding, the wolf quickly keeps her hold on Infinite, his sword, and her wispon as she starts running to keep up with Silver, Amy, Shadow, Rouge, and Omega as Infinite held on to her and the Phantom Ruby on his chest.