Chapter 68: Fix
As the sun was about to set over the sea west of New City, a cluster of dark clouds suddenly appeared out of nowhere and blocked out the fading light. Amelia and the others watched this from their hotel balconies, and then the sky was ablaze with unnatural fire. A mysterious figure was briefly seen hovering in the air surrounded by seven bright lights in different colors before the flames completely engulfed him. This was followed by a bright flash, which blinded everything in sight, and then afterwards the city was replaced by a dark blue void with floating structures here and there.
One such structure that remained was the altar at the center of the city's main canal where several figures were gathered. Three of them were Amelia, Chuck, and Miles who looked around with confused looks. Then Amelia noticed Silva standing nearby looking down at his palms in confusion.
"Where did the Chaos Emeralds go? They were here in my hands just a second ago, and now they're gone," Silva muttered to himself.
"Silva," Amelia said with disbelief.
In response, Silva turned to face Amelia with wide-eyes. "Amelia."
"What are you doing here?" Chuck asked as he started to crack his knuckles.
"I'm not sure," Silva answered nervously. "But I'm not here to kill Sonic. That was a mistake on my part."
Chuck glared at Silva and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "You'd better have a good excuse, kid, because I'm not the easily forgiving type."
"Easy, Chuck," Miles said pinching Chuck's shoulder. "Let's hear what he has to say."
"I agree," Rouge Baxter said standing across from Chuck and Silva with Shawn and Omega next to her. "Being brutish to little children is so uncharacteristic of you, Chuck."
"Rouge," Chuck said in irritation. Then he sighed and let go of Silva.
After Silva straightened himself out, he looked toward Amelia. "I know you probably won't forgive me for what I did, Amelia, but you were right. Sonic wasn't the one who was going to destroy the world."
"He was tricked into thinking Sonic would destroy the world by Mephiles the Dark," Shawn said abruptly. "But since Silva failed to kill Sonic twice, Mephiles decided to finish the job himself."
"And it seems he has succeeded," Omega said and stepped aside to show Sonny's limp body lying next to Elise who was bent over with her arms wrapped around her blood-soaked dress.
"Sonny?" Amelia said and dashed over to him. She knelt down and tried to wake him up but he didn't move.
"I'm so sorry," Elise muttered, then she started to cough up blood.
"Elise!" Amelia exclaimed as she got up and sat down next to Elise to examine her wounds. "What happened to you?"
"After Mephiles killed Sonic, he stabbed me in the gut several times with his hands," Elise said quietly. "I tried not to, but I cried and released Iblis from within me."
"So that explains our present situation," Dr. Robotnik said, appearing from the shadow of the altar. "Mephiles must have summoned the Chaos Emeralds to him and used them to join with Iblis after Elise's seal was broken. This in turn caused Mephiles to become Solaris, which is that blinding light above us. He is currently destroying all existing timelines until time itself collapses into nothingness. Fortunately, the natural instability of time created the time-space rift we are currently standing in. But it won't remain for long, unless Solaris is defeated."
"Then what are we supposed to do about it?" Shawn asked. "Without the Chaos Emeralds or Sonic, we're pretty much doomed."
"It's all my fault," Elise said as fresh tears rolled down her face.
"Stop talking, Elise," Amelia said sternly as Elise coughed up more blood. "You need to save your energy."
"There must be some way to fix this," Silva said.
After a long pause, Miles suddenly exclaimed, "Hold on a minute!"
"What is it?" Chuck asked.
"Tails just remembered that when this happened before, the Chaos Emeralds were spread across the rift. So he and the others collected the Emeralds and used them to revive Sonic before his spirit passed onto the afterlife. Maybe we can do the same."
"But how would we know where to look, assuming Solaris has scattered the Chaos Emeralds?" Rouge wondered.
"My glasses are equipped with special scanners that can pick up the signal of any Chaos Emerald within the entire world," Dr. Robotnik said, using his hand to adjust the dark lenses. After a few minutes, a wide grin appeared on his face. "It seems Miles' hunch was correct. Solaris has spread each of the Chaos Emeralds throughout the rift."
"Then we should split up and hurry if we're to save Sonic's spirit in time!" Miles said as he transformed into Tails.
The others followed Miles' example and went off in different directions from the altar after transforming into their spirit counterparts. Dr. Robotnik stayed behind to give each group instructions on where the Chaos Emeralds were via phone hacking while Amelia tended to Elise's wounds the best she could. Using strips of her own dress, Amelia was able to use them as makeshift bandages around the parts where Mephiles' hands pierced Elise.
"Amelia," Elise said weakly.
"Don't speak," Amelia responded. "Unless you really have to."
"Why are you being so nice to me? I don't deserve it after what I've done."
"It wasn't your fault, Elise. Whoever sealed Iblis inside you is really to blame for all of this."
"My father…he sealed Iblis inside me during Sonic's time and ten years ago when I was a little girl," Elise looked down at her exposed mid-drift and painfully sighed. "But strangely enough, I'm not angry at him for what he did."
"Well you should be mad at him because if he hadn't, none of this would've happened."
"But there's nothing we can do about it now, except to fix his mistake." Elise suddenly gasped and passed out.
"Elise," Amelia said, but heard no response. "Elise!"
Upon hearing that, Dr. Robotnik walked over to Amelia and Elise.
"What is it?" Dr. Robotnik asked.
"Elise passed out, and she's not responding," Amelia said anxiously.
Dr. Robotnik then knelt down and felt Elise's palm. His brows furrowed after a few seconds. "Her pulse is dropping rapidly. She doesn't have long to live."
"Is there anything you can do for her?" Amelia asked.
"My specialty is robotics and engineering, not healing."
"What about the Chaos Emeralds? Could they possibly heal her?"
"They might, but I'm not sure how Emerald-related miracles work. The previous ones were possible through Sonic's connection to the Emeralds themselves, but now that he's dead we're going to need someone with a similar connection to perform the miracle. From what Dr. Eggman can recall, Elise was the one who brought back Sonic before because she channeled everyone's thoughts into the Chaos Emeralds through prayer. Yet in her present condition, I doubt she will have the strength to do it again if she doesn't die first."
As Dr. Robotnik got up, Amelia put Elise's head in her lap and said, "Hang in there, Elise. We're all counting on you."
###
A few minutes later, Tails and the others showed up with the Chaos Emeralds intact. They then placed them around Sonny's body in a circular formation while Amelia tried to revive Elise. Elise's eyes fluttered open, and then she tried to sit up. Amelia then helped Elise to her knees and joined her in a praying position. The others did the same except for Silver and Shadow who closed their eyes and spread their arms out which caused the Chaos Emeralds to glow in response.
"Sonic," Elise said in a hoarse voice. "If you're still with us in spirit, please come back. We need you, and…so do I."
The Chaos Emeralds grew brighter as Sonny was lifted into the air. Elise was helped to her feet by Amelia, and they walked over to Sonny's body. Amelia then helped Elise lean forward to kiss Sonny, but Elise stopped midway.
"What's wrong?" Amelia asked.
"Are you sure you're okay with me kissing your boyfriend?" Elise said nervously.
"If it will bring back Sonic, then I'll let this incident pass," Amelia responded.
"Thank you," Elise replied, and then she kissed Sonny on the lips.
A few seconds went by, but nothing happened.
"He should've been revived by now," Shadow said.
"Did we miss something?" Silver wondered.
"Maybe I should try," Amelia offered. "After all, this is Sonny I'm kissing and not Sonic."
Elise stepped aside as Amelia did the same act. This time, a bright light flashed as Amelia's lips touched Sonny's. Once the flash subsided, Super Sonic appeared in Sonny's place and levitated down. While the others cheered, Elise grinned as she became limp and fell into Sonic's arms.
"Thank you, Elise," Sonic said. "Elise?"
Elise did not respond to Sonic's words, and her eyes weren't blinking. In response, Sonic lowered Elise onto the floor of the altar and closed her eyelids. After a brief nod, Sonic got up and turned to Shadow and Silver. He stretched his hands out to them and the same gold-colored energy that emanated from him spread to Silver and Shadow who transformed into their Super forms as well. Then together, the three flew up toward the blinding light above them and came face-to-face with Solaris. He was a towering figure with a star-shaped structure that spun rapidly behind his bird-like head and staff-like body which held a bright red orb that was shielded by two massive arms.
"You ready for this?" Sonic said as he made his signature sideways grin.
"Absolutely!" Silver exclaimed with a tinge of excitement in his voice.
"We need to destroy Solaris' core two times if we're to win," Shadow responded firmly. "Once in his current state, and again in his second phase."
"Then let's get right to it!" Sonic cried as he flew straight at Solaris with Shadow and Silver following behind.
Once they got close enough, the three split up as Solaris fired lasers from his body at them. While Silver blocked the various stones Solaris sent at them with his Psychokinesis, Shadow used his Chaos Spears to distract Solaris so that Sonic could ram into Solaris' core at top-speed with his Homing Attack. This pattern continued a few more times until Solaris fell apart only to reappear as a bird-shaped figure with talon-like hands and flapping wings. Sonic and the others promptly followed the same pattern only more quickly than before so Solaris couldn't block them with his hands.
Once Solaris was defeated permanently, there was a bright flash of light which engulfed Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. As their Super forms died down, they found themselves floating in an endless blue void with one bright light shining in front of them. Sonic immediately flew into the light while the other two followed. They soon found themselves in a dark hallway with pillars on either side and marble flooring. The only source of light came from a single white flame inside a glass container that was being looked at by the Duke of Soleanna himself and a younger version of Princess Elise.
"This is it, Elise," the Duke said proudly. "The Flame of Iblis, which took me almost a decade of research to recreate."
"It's so pretty," Elise responded cheerfully.
"With this Flame, I will be able to create Solaris which will allow us to travel through time and fix past mistakes so that there is less suffering in the world today."
"Will we be able to see Mom?" Elise asked with a tint of sadness.
"Yes, Elise," the Duke answered as he gently rubbed Elise's head. "We will even be able to see your mother again. Now, off to bed with you."
"Okay," Elise said reluctantly as the Duke led her away from the Flame by the hand.
Once the Duke and Elise had left, Sonic Shadow and Silver walked up to the glass container.
"What are we doing in the past?" Shadow wondered out loud.
"Yeah, I thought we defeated Solaris for good," Silver said folding his arms.
"Not completely," Sonic said as he waved his hand over the glass container, which vanished, and pulled out the candleholder that held the Flame of Iblis. "This is exactly what happened to Elise and I when we defeated Solaris the first time. In order for Solaris to be truly destroyed, he had to no longer exist and so the Flame of Iblis had to be blown out in order to accomplish this."
"What about Mephiles?" Shadow intervened. "Wouldn't he need to be destroyed as well?"
"Mephiles is only a threat if he's released from the Scepter of Darkness," Silver said. "So I don't think we need to necessarily destroy him. Besides, he can't become Solaris if Iblis is out of the equation."
"Exactly," Sonic responded. He was about to blow out the Flame but hesitated. "Once Iblis is gone, everything that has happened up till now will be erased entirely."
"Including Elise's death?" Shadow asked.
"Yes," Sonic nodded. "But it will also mean that Elise might never attend Central City High School since her father won't die and therefore never meet Sonny in person."
"She also won't become friends with Shahra, Merlina, and Maria if that happens," Silver added.
"But isn't that how it's supposed to be?" Shadow suggested. "Maybe you and Elise were never meant to be together considering that her love for you caused our timeline to nearly collapse in the first place. The same applies to this timeline, though the circumstances have been slightly altered from the last time."
Sonic said nothing as Shadow walked toward him.
"To put it another way, would you rather have the world be destroyed because of a girl you barely knew or keep the world intact even if it means never seeing the girl in person?" Shadow said as he put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "The choice is yours."
After a pause, Sonic nodded. "You're right, Shadow. Elise and I weren't meant to be together. The pain of what happened made me forget about her until I saw her reincarnated self. If I had known what was going to happen sooner, I would've told Sonny to not go to Soleanna with more certainty. But now that I have the means to fix everything, I want to spare Sonny from the misery I went through and prevent Elise's reincarnation from suffering as well."
As Shadow stepped back, Sonic looked down at the glowing white flame once more before he blew it out.
To be continued…