"Sorry? Sorry for what?" Sonic exclaimed.
"I'm sorry I was too negligent to warn you about the dangers of your powers. Just like I did for Manic…"
Sonic knew something was going on with Manic but he didn't know he had some kind of power. That must be why he's not acting like himself recently…
"What are you talking about? What's wrong with Manic?"
"Sonic, I- Ah!"
Aleena flinched and carefully gripped the bandage on her right arm. Fresh blood began to spill from it. Both froze staring at the wound as the blood flowed down to her hand.
"Mom…"
Sonic carefully placed his hands around her hand covering the wound.
"Sigh… Mom, I should be the one that's sorry. All of this wouldn't have happened if I just finished what I started…"
Aleena looked away from her wound to her son's sad filled eyes. Tears still formed down her cheeks.
"All the times I've come face to face with Eggman, I'm reminded of what he's done to our home. But every single time that I'm about to beat him, I pull back and he gets away. There were times that I almost killed him whenever I stopped one of his plans to take over the world! I don't know why I stopped and let him go just to have him repeat this all over again!"
Aleena's frown became more prominent and she noticed a tear forming in Sonic's right eye. Unbeknownst to them, a faint blue glow starts to illuminate the hand Sonic has over the wound on Aleena's arm.
"GAH!"
Suddenly, he started to writhe in pain. He let go of Aleena's arm and clutched his own. His right arm felt like someone was slicing it open. It all happened so fast he thought it was a trick of the mind. That was, until he saw a long laceration down his arm. Blood pouring down like a river.
"S-Sonic, your arm!" Aleena shrieked.
"Grh… w-what? How?"
Both were at a loss until Aleena realized something. She completely forgot about her bleeding arm but it didn't hurt anymore. Confused, she carefully unwrapped and removed the bandages and the wound that was there a few seconds ago had vanished! There wasn't a single scrap on the arm anymore. She looked back at Sonic and figured out what just happened.
"The spell…"
Sonic looked at Aleena with his face showing confusion and pain. Blood dripped down between his fingers as he continued to hold his wound.
"Spell? What spell? What just happened?"
"It's called "Transference of Vitality." Only the most highly skilled magic users could use this spell besides royals. It transfers any injury from the mobian to the user."
Sonic could only stay confused about what he did given that he's still fighting the urge to scream from the wound.
"What? How did- How the hell did I do that?! You know what? It doesn't matter…"
Sonic clutched his arm hard with his dark aura around the wound. A few seconds later, it fades away and his wound is gone but blood still stains the area.
"I just need to know, what is Nyxus?"
Aleena takes a deep breathe and answers,
"Nyxus is an ancient power that only brought horror and darkness to Mobius. So ancient that it precedes the Echidnas by a millennia. It is a being of pure darkness itself. It manifests in dark energy which might possibly come from the chaos emeralds. It once reigned over Mobius for many years and many eras. But the chaos emeralds were used by a single mobian to bring light and defeat the darkness. No one knows who or how this Mobian did it but they spoke of some kind of powerful seal that made the darkness disappear in a flash of light. Soon after, it was gone. Not a single patch of darkness remained on the planet."
"Wait, it came from the chaos emeralds? I've lost track of how many times I've used them. But why am I now being affected?"
Both sat in confusion with Sonic misunderstanding the emeralds and Aleena trying to solve it.
"Have you felt any negative emotion when you use the emeralds?"
"No, not really. Any time I use the emeralds to go super, I have to think positive thoughts or I would lose the form. I mean, I did feel some rage during a few of my fights but it was from my friends getting hurt. It wasn't anything big."
Aleena tried to think of another reason this could be happening. Only one possible conclusion appeared in her mind. The moment he went dark…
"Sonic, the night you went dark, you must've felt nothing but negative emotions."
He shivered when he recalled that moment. Everything felt cold and dead as he lost control of himself.
"Yeah, I did. I felt anger, fear, vengeance… I would do anything to get back at Robotnik for what he did…"
Aleena froze and her eye went wide as if something just struck her. Sonic saw this and already knew it was going to be bad.
"Mom, what is it?"
"It's my fault… I broke the seal…"
"Hold on, what do you mean you broke the seal?" Sonic started to sound panicked.
"You alone couldn't have had the power to break the seal. You're too young to have that kind of power. But… I do…"
"You didn't break the seal…" He countered.
"But I gave you my powers. My powers combined with yours are more than powerful enough to break the seal. By giving you my powers, I caused the seal to break and it chose you as it's host… I'm so sorry, Sonic. It's all my fault you're in this mess."
She felt horrible. How could she have let this happen to her son? She looked away in shame and Sonic could only stand there and say nothing. Everything she said was still processing. He was going to attempt to try and cheer her up, but he heard her mumble something that he did not want to hear.
"What kind of mother am I?"
"Stop."
Aleena lifted her head in surprise and saw his serious expression.
"You shouldn't beat yourself up, mom. I did this and I did it alone. I'm tired of everyone blaming themselves for problems out of their control… I'm tired… tired of all of this…"
Aleena didn't say a word and Sonic continued.
"I just wish I could help everyone, help more than just stopping Eggman. All the pain he's caused us… the pain he caused to you…"
"Sonic…"
Aleena placed her right hand on Sonic's face while carefully moving it down to his cheek.
"You've done so much more than any mobian I've ever known. No matter how many times you face enemies stronger than anything, you've always found a way to win. No one could do what you do."
Sonic looked back at Aleena, slightly confused but didn't say anything.
"You've done what others thought was impossible. You've defeated Robotnik countless times, You soothed a being of pure chaos, You stopped our planet's darkness with your light… And above all, you helped those in need."
"Huh…" Sonic looked away unimpressed. "Anyone knows about that. It's nothing new, Eggman was the reason all of that happened…"
"Well, what about the times you bested your friends in other activities? Or you messed with them with jokes or names? I know that sometimes you like to sleep outdoors while holding your medallion close to your chest."
Now Sonic was really confused, she knows about that? How?
"How do you know about that?"
Aleena smirked, "Did you really think a queen mother would cut all contact with her son? I've had a few scouts outside the kingdom to recon and report back to me."
"Mom, I love you but that is creepy…"
Aleena chuckled. "What would you do if you were in my position?"
Sonic thought carefully about that. If he was king and had a kid of his own that had to leave to protect the kingdom, he would've most likely wanted some kind of way to make sure they were alright. But it was a bit creepy nonetheless.
"I see…"
Sonic looked out the window and into the starry night sky. Not a word was spoken for what felt like minutes before the silence was broken by Sonic.
"Mom… A lot is happening right now and I have a lot of questions…"
Aleena nodded, understanding his confusion before he even made a chance to show it.
"I'll answer as much as I can…"
Sonic turned his head back to Aleena and pulled a chair for himself to sit.
"First, How was Sonia and Manic during my- absence?"
Aleena sighed, she knew he would ask this at some point.
"Understandably upset, we all were. We understood why you left and we never held it against you. I suppose Manic had the worst of it."
That caught his ears. Manic had the worst of it? That would make sense given his behavior before they rescued Aleena. He still needs to find him after this talk is done…
"What do you mean? What happened to him?"
"Over time, he became more distant. He started to not attend any meeting or any gathering. One time, I went looking for him in the castle when he wasn't seen by anyone that day. Sonia and I started to get worried…"
Aleena was walking down the hallway to the royal chambers in hopes of finding her youngest son. None of the guards have seen him for days now and it's starting to worry her. Not even Sonia has seen him like this even when they first met years ago. She called off any meetings or visits just so she could have time to find out what's wrong. Then, she reached Manic's door and knocked softly.
No response…
She tried again, "Manic?"
Again, no response.
She opened the door and noticed all the lights were off and the curtains blocking sunlight from reaching in. She looked further and saw Manic laying on his bed on his side with his back towards her.
"Manic?" She called out, her concerns growing.
"Yeah?" His voice was low and strained.
Aleena moved towards him and stood next to his bed frame.
"What's wrong, Manic? You've not been acting like yourself lately."
"Yeah, I guess I'm just tired…"
Aleena sat down on the edge of his bed while keeping eye contact with his face which showed nothing but sorrow.
"Are you sure there's nothing? You can tell me anything that's on your mind."
"It's nothing, ma'. It's nothing…"
She noticed Manic's medallion held in his hand close to his chest. It might mean only one thing…
"It's about Sonic, isn't it?"
Manic didn't say a word and it was all the confirmation Aleena needed. She sighed as she placed a hand on his leg.
"Manic, I understand how much this hurts you. I know you miss him, Sonia and I as well, but hiding in the dark won't do anything to help. He will return one day, he promised that, right?"
Manic thought about the last few moments he had with him on the day he left. It hurt him badly. He tried to look away and Aleena did the same. She knows he's hurting but is hesitant on how to help.
"I just-"
Her head turned back and stared at her youngest, waiting for him to finish what he was saying.
"I just don't get why he didn't want any of us with him. He was so serious about us staying here with you. After all that we've done, I never thought he would just abandon us-"
"He did not abandon us." Aleena told sternly, "You know Sonic had a good reason to leave."
"But he didn't tell us that reason, mom!"
He sat up quickly and jumped off the bed. His quills and hair were visibly messy. His tired expression worried Aleena but not as much when she saw his eyes flash to crystal for a brief moment.
"He just ran off to fight that crazed man and left us here! What possible reason could he have to do that?"
Aleena was stuck. She needed to calm him down before his 'situation' got worse. But how could she answer someone else's motive? Then, she was struck with an idea.
"Did you think I abandoned you when you were born?"
Manic stopped and looked at her in confusion.
"What? Ma, come on. You didn't abandon us. You gave us to other families to protect us until the time was right."
"Then, how is this any different? He left so he could protect us from Robotnik just like when I left you with caring families all those years ago."
Now Manic was stuck.
"I- never thought of it like that…"
He slowly sat back down in confusion. Aleena wrapped her arm around his shoulder into a small hug, attempting to show compassion. Manic returned the gesture and for a while they both stayed that way. Then, they both disbanded the hug and Aleena stood up.
"Sonic wouldn't want you to act like this. He would want you to be happy, to enjoy being together with us."
Manic didn't look up to her eyes. He still needed to process everything that was said.
"But we aren't together, Sonic's not here…"
"If it wasn't for Sonic, he wouldn't have found you, your sister, and all of your friends. More importantly, he would have never brought all of you together to find me when the time was right. None of this would've been possible without him. Would you really risk all of that again just so Sonic would be here and not protect us?"
He froze as the realization kicked in. She was right. If Sonic was still here, they would've been under another attack by Robotnik with twice the force than his first attack. Maybe it was supposed to be like this.
"Let's go, Manic. Sonia's worried about you."
She stood up off the bed and reached her hand out to which Manic slowly took and followed her out of the room.
"It broke my heart every time I saw him act that way and with that power with his emotional state, I needed to watch over him constantly before something bad would happen."
"The white glowing eyes…" Sonic turned his head away as he recalled the memory of him taking Eggman away from him.
"It's a dangerous power, we call it "Upliftance." It corrupts the mind and judgment with unbelievable power. It's extremely rare that any royal could inherit this power." Aleena continued.
"And now he's loose somewhere out there."
Aleena snapped her head to him with an expression of fear.
"Sonic, you have to find him. He needs help before his power consumes him."
"I will, mom. Don't worry. You, on the other hand, should get some rest. It's way past our bedtime even for you. Will you be alright sleeping in that chair? I could find you a bed-"
"It's alright, dear. I don't think I'm getting out of this chair anytime soon. I've managed worse."
Sonic smiled and yawned. He needed sleep too, you know.
"Alright, I'll see you later. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Sonic."
He walked towards the door and closed it behind him as he went to his room nearby.
"You didn't tell her about your sister? I'm surprised…"
"Shut it. She's already in enough pain as it is for one night. I'll tell her tomorrow…"
Little did he know how much Aleena really knew about her…
