Sally stood over the stove at Sonic's house with a pot of chili cooking in front of her. Fiona was busy rummaging in his fridge and Gedic had wandered off almost as soon as they had returned. Sally hadn't been worried at first but after their second day back she couldn't help it. Fiona had assured her that Gedic could handle himself and had either gone back to Azosarria or was staying out of the way until he was needed. And considering that the worst thing to happen to them on Angel Island was getting lots of sand in uncomfortable places his skills had gone to great waste.

"How long do you think it'll be until lunch, Sal?" Fiona asked as she opened a bottle and took a quick sip. Sally glared at the fox who stared back at her oblivious. "What's with the stink eye?"

"Why do you still act like you live here?" Sally asked finally as she put the lid on the chili pot. "And just how do you know Sonic again?"

"He saved my life and he offered to let me crash here until I found a place of my own," Fiona quickly explained as she took a long draw from the bottle. "And that's it. Mostly."

"Mostly?" Fiona smirked at the curious chipmunk and wondered just how much she should let her know.

"Well, without getting into any sordid details," she started as she began to make herself a sandwich, "we were just friends...with benefits."

"Being friends with someone always has benefits," Sally replied unaware as to what Fiona meant. "Just what made your friendship so special?"

"Oh you have no idea, Princess," the former thief said with a chuckle. "Anyway, shouldn't they be back by now? If they left just after Kiarra dropped us off then that would mean they've been gone for three days looking for this thing."

Sally brushed her hair back over her ear, a telltale sign that she was worried but trying not to show it, as she rummaged through the cupboards for more spice. "If I remember right weren't you two gone for a little over two weeks in the Northern Tundra? A few days is no big deal."

"So you have no problem leaving Sonic alone with two beautiful women, one of which owes him her life?" Sally gripped the container of cayenne tightly.

"He's not my fiancé anymore," she told Fiona, unsuccessfully masking her anger. "Why should I care who he spends his time with?"

Before Fiona could answer a blast of wind rattled the windows of the house. The girls ran to the window where they could see Sonic and Mina walking toward the door, each of them supporting the other. Both of their clothes were almost completely torn to shreds but despite that both looked rather relaxed. Fiona made it to the door before Sally just in time to let them in.

"You two look like hell," she told them as they walked past her.

"There's a good reason for that," Sonic replied, exhaustion evident in his voice, as he and Mina collapsed onto the sofa. "How did things go on Angel Island?"

"It's a long story," Sally said as she checked on the chili.

"Too tired for that," Sonic interrupted her as Mina dozed off onto his shoulder. "Give me the highlights."

"Okay then." Sally added the extra spices to the chili and pulled up a chair. "We met Knuckles and Ara-ne and convinced him to help us. He seems pretty sure that finding the Somes Arcanum is an extremely bad idea but is willing to trust you. He then took us to a giant desert that covers almost half the island and we trekked through burning hot days and freezing nights until we reached the center."

"Turns out the desert is actually a city called Sandopolis," Fiona cut in, "so Knuckles reconstructed it using those Guardian abilities you guys have and, voilà, we're standing in the middle of an ancient Echidna city."

"The Scrolls were just sitting on a pedestal in the central temple. No traps, no tests, no guards," Sally said, taking the conversation away from Fiona. "Knuckles took us back to New Mobotropolis where we had to hitch a ride back here." Sonic nodded but Sally couldn't tell if he was acknowledging her story or falling asleep. "Zeta said she lost contact with you guys just after you left so she put down you applied for some vacation time. We brought everything here but neither of us could bring ourselves to add our scroll to the other two." She took a deep breath and exhaled. "So how about you guys? Did you find the scroll?"

Sonic nodded and reached back into his pack to pull them out. "These were not easy to get," he told Sally as he handed them to her. "Much harder than a stroll through the desert."

"Hey, that was far from easy, you hear?" Fiona retorted. "That place made Albion look like a field trip. Well, it made the weather look like a field trip."

"Imagine boiling oceans surrounding you on all sides," Sonic explained as the two girls were silent, "putting out so much heat it makes your eyes just want to boil out of their sockets. Then take that heat and add it to absolute darkness along with hallucinations and nothing to eat but freaking rations. Compared to all of that your jaunt through a desert was downright pleasant." With that he fell asleep, his head resting on Mina's.

"After that I would have to say that Hell doesn't even come close," Fiona said as the two of them slept. "I don't think I've ever seen Sonic this exhausted, not even after Albion."

"I'm still trying to get used to the idea of how much he's been through since he left Knothole," Sally admitted as she checked on the chili again before turning the fire down. "Even after seeing the fight at the Tournament it never occurred to me just how hard he's had to push himself just to keep up with his enemies. It's also the first time I've ever seen him truly afraid."

"Well then nothing to do but add these scrolls to the others," Fiona said as she unrolled the scrolls. She matched the symbols up with what they had already, cut the ends off and slid them together. Just as it had before the scrolls lit up briefly and merged to form a single page. Much to their surprise two hand-sized circles had formed on the page instead of the characters they'd been expecting. There were Magan symbols on either side of the circles but neither of the girls could read it. Under the circles was line with an 'X' next to it.

"What did you do?" Sally asked as she stared at the paper.

"The same thing we did earlier," Fiona answered as she tried to figure out what had actually happened. "But what's this crap? Of all the weird things we've seen the last few days this has to take the cake."

"Maybe Sonic can make some sense of it once he wakes up," Sally said gathering up the remaining scrolls. "In the meantime I'll prep two of these to go back to New Mobotropolis and you can take the other two back to the A.R.C. office. I can't believe I'm saying this but I doubt they could tell that they're from two different sets."

"Looks like you're taking a page out of my book," Fiona remarked with a smirk as she placed the scrolls in the stone container. "I guess it doesn't really matter. It's not like they'd believe us if we told them the truth. I'm sure magic scrolls that only one person on the planet can accurately read is a totally believable story, never mind about them fusing together to form a single piece we can't even figure out." Sally couldn't help but giggle as they two of them headed out. Fiona hopped on her hoverbike as Sally took to the sky.

It was a couple hours before they both returned but Mina was still asleep on the couch with a blanket covering her. Sonic was busy doing one-handed pushups without his shirt and for the first time Sally saw the scars he'd collected so far. There were several sets of what looked like claw marks on his back and she could see the edge of the one across his chest. She got the full view of his chest when he flipped up and began doing one-handed vertical pushups like they were nothing.

"I'd forgotten how tiring it is watching your workout," Fiona commented and Sonic chuckled.

"I'm taking it easy right now," he admitted. "By this point I'm usually just using my thumb."

"You didn't sleep long," Sally pointed out.

"I haven't slept well since Mina and I escaped the Highwind," he said, still doing pushups. "Besides, I work better with only a couple hours under my belt." He did one last pushup and flipped up to his feet, a light sheen of sweat across his torso. "So what's up with the scroll? I can't make any of it out." The two girls stared at him in shock.

"We were actually hoping that you would know," Sally said. Sonic grabbed several bottles out of the fridge, tossing one to Fiona and offering one to Sally who politely turned it down.

"If I had to guess it's something that I have to take on good faith that it's not going to kill me," Sonic guessed as he sipped at the beverage. "All I need to do is sign my name in my blood and press my hands onto the circles but I don't know what will happen once I do. And before you ask how I know let's just leave it at that I do. It would take way too long to explain the whole thing." Sally and Fiona just stared at him in shock, more for the fact that he seemed to have no objection to signing in blood than anything else.

"You, uh, seem awfully calm about this," Sally told him. "Is this really not that strange for you?"

"Compared to the last couple days this is downright normal," he replied but then heaved a sigh. "Man, my life must suck if this is normal. No point in bellyaching about it, I guess. Let's just get this over with." He took off both of his gloves and drew Kaiyō Mujō, bringing the blade across his left palm just enough to draw a small pool of blood. He then dipped one of his pens in the pool and signed his full name on the line. Lastly, he rubbed his blood across both of his hands and pressed them into the circles. The paper flashed, nearly blinding the three of them and stirring Mina from her sleep. When the light passed the paper was nothing but a pile of ash on the table. "Umm, whoops?" Sonic said blinking several times. "I, uh, don't think that was supposed to happen."

"And all you can say is 'whoops'?!" Sally nearly yelled but anything else was cut short as Sonic turned around.

"What was that light and why is Sally shouting?" Mina asked groggily as she rubbed her eyes and pushed the blanket aside. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and blinked again as she stared at Sonic's face. "And what the hell happened to you?"

"Do you really need to ask?" he replied. He looked at the other two girls who were staring at him with slack jaws. "What's up with the three of you? Is there something on my face?"

"Well...yes," Fiona answered as Sonic began to rub his cheek, "but I don't think you can rub it off. You should probably take a look in the mirror." Sonic cocked an eyebrow at her but went upstairs to the bathroom.

"It seems that the two of them are finally moving," Gedic said from the back porch door, leaning against the frame. "It is good to see you again, Miss Mongoose. I hope your trip was uneventful."

"It was the furthest thing from," the mongoose told him as she yawned and stretched. Before she could continue Sonic's yelling filled the house. "Looks like he found what we were staring at."

Sonic slowly walked down the stairs and even Gedic's eyes widened. His entire body (or at least what they could see) was covered in black Magan symbols as well as several sweeping black lines. The symbols on Sonic's hands were softly pulsing yellow.

"I have to say that look doesn't suit you," Gedic told him.

Sonic glared at the human. "That's probably the first time I've heard you make a joke and while I normally approve of such things right now you can bite me," he snapped. "I look like a freaking...I don't even know what!" He ranted for a minute or so more before finally calming down enough to sit down. "Can you call Venusia and ask her to bring that ship of hers here?" Gedic was motionless and Sonic could only guess that the human was looking at him curiously. "I'll explain everything after you ask her, alright?"

Gedic pulled his phone out and walked out to the back porch as he began talking with Venusia. While he was doing that Sonic pulled on a shirt but it did little to mask his new appearance. He sat down on the couch trying to focus the inane whispering in his head to something other than nonsense.

"You okay?" Sally asked as she and Mina sat down beside him.

"I'm trying to make sense of this whispering," Sonic explained, "but so far all I can hear is random crap that has nothing to do with anything. It's like reading the foreword in a book: It's nice information but it doesn't really say anything about the story itself." He started massaging his temples. "I know that it has to mean something but I don't know what and that just makes it worse."

It was several hours before Venusia arrived and she quickly commented on Sonic's appearance much to the hedgehog's chagrin. As they began to board the shuttle Fiona elected to stay behind and cover for the three of them in the event someone came looking.