a/n: It seems I'm not nearly far enough, am I? Well, let me tend to at least that much. Shall we continue?
"Is this what you wanted?"
She left the mask on the ground behind her. White light pierced the darkness and surrounded their forms. It became brighter as she drew closer to him.
"You don't believe yourself invincible. But you realize that you can no longer die," she said with her ruby red lips. "Because you say to yourself that you're already dead. A part from when you took that child's head from his body. A part from when you gave yourself to Rouge. A part when you heard what happened to Amy. And a part that you dispensed of yourself. What was it that you let her consume, that woman?"
She reached up to touch his face, knowing he wouldn't speak.
"Your light, wasn't it? Or...that light that you carried along with you. You held onto the darkness and despair. You used it as a trigger, as a reminder, as a punishment. Bigger than yourself...because you no longer had a self to ascribe things to. You became hope itself. A thousand brilliant suns, shining in the sky. And at a distance, too. All of the warmth was something that you could not direct. A shining star to all those in need. You're going to burn away this despair with your own body. You realized it, didn't you?"
"How much more?"
Rouge's voice cut through the darkness. Amy stood beside her, tears spilling down her face.
"How much more are you going to give up?" she asked. "How much more are you going to do, Sonic?"
He stood, not turning to face her.
"Are you going to die? Are you the one doing this? Are you going to cleanse us? Or have you already?"
"I don't want it. I want to die," Amy said. "I don't want this."
"Me too. Me too," Rouge said. "I'm the same. I'm just like her, because I'm trapped with a piece of you in my heart."
"Don't do anymore. It's enough!" Amy cried out before calming down. "It's enough, alright? You're already...you've already become our light. Don't burn up. Don't disappear."
"All you have to do is say the word, and everything will be drawn to you," the woman in black said. "And you can make it all fade away into oblivion. Do you still believe it? That it's all bigger than yourself?"
"...I'm sorry that it hurts so much," he said.
"Sonic...?" Amy asked.
"That pain will disappear soon. And you'll have your life...you'll have each other. And you'll remember that warmth."
"I don't want memories," she said, shaking her head. "I don't want memories. I want you. Even if it's just as our sun...I want you."
"I'm-"
"You're still the man I fell in love with. And the one she fell for, too."
"Amy. It's not-"
"It is. It's like this. It's like that. And everything besides."
"I want you to live. Both of you," he said.
"That won't be life," Rouge said. "It won't be anything without you."
"Are you wondering? Why they can't just let you disappear? Do you see it now?" the woman asked with her ruby red lips. "Do you understand your place? You're him. No hero. No saviour. No punished soldier. No champion. Aren't you beyond all of those things? Aren't you beyond possibility? Aren't you something else?"
"..."
She licked her lips and smiled her wily smile.
"Don't you hate me, Sonic the Hedgehog?"
"..."
"Hate. Yes," she purred. "Hatred. You bottled it up. You pushed it away and let everything else take over. You made everything about a time and place beyond the you that only was held up by that pretense of hope and justice. But you want to, don't you? Don't you?! You want to make me feel it! You want to make it flow into this shell of mine!"
"There's no place-"
"There's always a place," Rouge said. "There is always a place for it."
"Rouge."
"There's always a place for the hatred burning inside. I want to see it. I want to feel all of it," she said with determination. "Let me see all of you, Sonic. Let me see the man that was sealed away because of your fear."
"All of it has been fear," Amy continued. "And you carried that in your heart. Used it to drive you, to try and make the light brighter. And you never meant to push me away, to push us away, but fear makes us distant in ways we can't understand."
"We accepted the darkness when we followed you."
"We accepted your light."
"But you sealed away the fear."
"You poisoned yourself."
"Do you want this?" the woman in black asked, with her ruby red lips. "Do you want to face death as you are now?"
He turned and looked at the women standing behind him. It took only a moment for them to smile.
"Do you want to die? Do you love me? Will you embrace me?"
He turned back to the woman in black and pulled her close to him. Her breaths were warm and fleeting.
"Does any of it matter to you?" she whispered huskily.
"It never did."
"Sonic?" she whispered gently.
"..."
"Sing me a song of miracles. Before I go to sleep...sing for me."
The world was instantly
rejected.
"All bets are on."
The young fox looked to the sky and ran his fingers through the fur on his head.
"What's one more wager, anyways? It's Sonic after all. So what if the house wins this time? Easiest way to lose a game is to refuse one in progress."
He closed the program on the laptop and opened a document file.
"She sent me a few goodies. I can use this."
"Nine seconds. Eight. Seven. Six."
The being with bleached white fur withdrew his hand from the spire.
"Five. Four. Three. Two."
His green eyes glowing, he grabbed the girls by their necks and tossed them down the tunnel.
"One. Zero. Maximum power achieved! Ultraviolet pulse discharge!"
A robotic voice bordering on excitement.
"Maximum output! Fire!"
The world shook.
An invisible pressure tore through the tunnel. The spire shattered into atoms before disappearing completely.
The undead turned to dust, bodies thrown into the air and fading into nothingness.
Amy and Rouge could barely gather their own existences as they were tossed down. An inky white smoke streamed from their bite wounds and underneath their bandages. They hit the ground and rolled through the dirt. Dust swirled over their heads.
Omega lowered his arms with satisfaction. He surveyed the world around him.
"No hostile lifeforms detected. Mission complete."
He swiveled his head.
"Hero of Earth. Do you copy?"