Chapter 19

They sat that way for a very long time. Eventually, Amy fell asleep, and so did he, resting his head on top of her own.

They both awoke at the same time, just as the sun was beginning to peek through the trees. A quick survey around her told Amy that everyone else was still asleep. Sticks was sleeping with her back to Rouge's in the grass. Shadow was curled up in a tight little ball, near the fire he had made last night, and Silver occasionally drifted up off the ground, his telekinetic energy uncontrolled.

"Sorry. I didn't wake you up, did I?" Sonic asked quietly, her hand still clutched tightly in his. She shook her head absently.

"No, you didn't wake me up," she replied.

"Amy, can I tell you something?" Sonic asked, gathering a breath in. She gazed at him and nodded. "I know…. I know that this is something you have to do. But I need you to know that if you change your mind or you can't do it… nobody's going to be mad at you."

"I'd be mad at me," she admitted with a small smile.

"I'm just saying," he continued, shaking his head at her. "If you change your mind… just tell me. Will you promise me that?"

She was quiet for a minute before she nodded. "Yes," she whispered.

"Okay," he accepted, nodding back. He put his fingers under her chin, tilting it up so that her sad eyes met his own before closing his eyes and brushing his lips against hers gently. She closed her eyes as well, capturing his lips in a sweet kiss. It wasn't like the other night, full of passion and anger. This was a sad, loving kiss. This was a goodbye kiss.

The two pulled apart and stared at each other. "If you tell anybody about this I'll kill you," Amy murmured, smirking slightly.

"I don't doubt that," he grinned, pressing his forehead to her own, a hand on her cheek, for a moment before pulling back from her entirely. He stood and offered her his hand, pulling her up beside him. "We should probably go ahead and wake everyone else up."

"Yeah, probably," she agreed.

She made her way over to the camp and gently shook Sticks and Rouge, who both looked up at her sleepily. "We have to go," she whispered.

"I'm awake," Sticks promised, sitting up and stretching.

"I'm not," Rouge grumbled, but she pushed herself up off the ground anyway. Looking behind her, Silver and Shadow were both awake now, too. Silver looked markedly better, much less exhausted. Small blue waves of energy occasionally emanated from his hands. Shadow also looked a little more steady today, Amy noted with some relief. It would have been a tough blow to lose him.

"Amy?" Sticks exclaimed urgently, pointing to something in the distance flying towards them. Amy quickly unsheathed her knife, gripping it tightly, but after a few seconds…

"I don't think that's… what is that?" Rouge squinted.

"Tails?" Sonic questioned. The golden kitsune quickly came into focus, and Shadow shared a worried look with Sonic. Tails wasn't supposed to be back.

Tails landed gracefully, but he was obviously in a hurry. He rushed up to the group and met Silver's gaze. He didn't even have to say a word.

"Blaze," Silver whispered, looking back to the group in obvious conflict. Amy stepped forward and took his hand.

"Go be with her," Amy commanded with a kind smile. "We've got this."

That was enough for Silver. He took off after Tails, back towards the shack.

"You don't think she's…" Amy couldn't finish the thought.

Rouge came up behind her and squeezed her shoulder. "No. Tails would have told us. But I think we need to hurry."

"Rouge is right," Shadow agreed. "Time to go finish this."

"Right," Amy faltered, and Sonic almost reached for her hand, but he restrained himself. "Right," she repeated, stronger this time, still holding her knife. "Then let's go."

"Um, I don't mean to be a bitch, but this doesn't really seem like an arena for a fight to the death," Sticks quipped. Hours later, the group had finally made their way through the trees and out onto the beach, where a long sandbar stuck out into the ocean.

"Maybe not, but I definitely feel something out here," Shadow muttered, leading them. They made their way down the sandbar, looking every which way on high alert. "We're right on top of it."

"Then something big's about to happen," Amy promised, crouched down into a fighting stance.

As if on cue, the ground beneath them began to shake violently, almost knocking all of them off their feet, but they stood fast, backed up against each other in a circle.

"How convenient," Rouge grumbled, notching an arrow into place.

Horrified, Sonic watched as an all-too-familiar figure energy from the ocean waters, staining them dark wherever he touched them. It was another hedgehog, but he was black as could be, darker than Shadow, with ice blue creeping up his legs and around his body. His eyes were red, narrowed at the group, full of hate, and his presence sent a wave of terror and uneasiness through all of them.

"Mephiles," Shadow exhaled incredulously.

"It knows me," the dark form acknowledged. It didn't have a mouth, but it somehow spoke with a deep, terrifying voice. He was cold and unemotional. "I feel… flattered."

"Don't be," Sonic snarled. "We've all met you. Unfortunately."

"You'll pardon me if I don't remember," Mephiles snorted. "Never mind that. I'm here for a reason. Iblis is coming."

"And you'll be gone before it gets here," Amy glared. She launched herself at him, knife in hand, an attack that would have been fatal for any other living being, but Mephiles seemed to know it was coming and countered, creating a sphere of pure energy and blasting her backwards.

"Ugh," Amy grunted, pushing herself up on her elbows where she had landed in the sand, her right cheek cut and bleeding.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to beat you again in this lifetime," Shadow sighed, narrowing his eyes and grasping the Chaos Emerald that hung around his neck, disappearing in a flash of blue light and reapearring behind Mephiles, a Chaos Spear clutched in his right hand, crackling with energy. Mephiles turned quickly, ducking and avoiding Shadow's first blow.

"Sonic!" Amy yelled. He turned to see her standing and pointing to a glowing object just barely visible in the water.

The last emerald.