Chapter 36 PART ONE
Fallout
Cream's eyes were as dry as the patch of burned grass she sat in. Hot wind blew against her cheeks and stung the streaks of dried tears that stained her face. Her insides felt hollow. An emptiness seemed to have expanded from the place her heart had been and consumed her stomach.
She was hardly aware of the Hard Boiled Heavies as they worked tirelessly to repair their ship. A haze had seemed to dip over her eyes making it difficult to focus. No one paid her any attention nor did her captors bother to set a watch on her. Cream did not have the energy to run away. She felt more tired than she had ever done in her life, but she knew she could not sleep. Any time her eyes closed she felt the flash of that intense light.
Cheese thrashed inside the pocket of Cream's dress. She carefully removed the Chao and set it on her lap. Cheese's grief had sent the Chao into a prolonged slumber. When they saw the smoke rising from the boiled river bed, Cheese had passed out and had not woken again. Cream wished she could have done the same. She wished more than anything that she could part from herself, shred her identity and become anyone, anything else.
Yet, wishing did not change the fact that she had never felt more trapped inside her own body. It had always been easy for Cream to escape the dulldrom of everyday life by escaping into fantasy or imagination. Now she could not tear her mind away from the images of the broken mountains, the burned away forests, and the empty river bed.
Hot Crater, Leaf Forest, the river, the village, her neighbors, her mother…they were all gone. Burned away in a blast that had devastated an entire countryside. Cream finally understood, with a piercing realization that left her heart torn into pieces, why her elders had feared humans so much. Their weapons, their power of destruction was beyond anything Cream had ever imagined. It was worse than any nightmare, worse than darkness, worse than apathy.
All her former memories seemed tainted now. How could they think they could have lived such simple, peaceful lives while such horrible power existed? What did their laughter, community, and familial ties matter against a blast that could upend nature itself, that could melt rock, eviscerate forest, burn water, and poison the very air?
No amount of virtue or courage could withstand the weapons humans employed. That explosion had swept away more than just Cream's home and loved ones, it had stolen her hope, her oppostism, her memories. The foundation of who she was shattered, and Cream fell through the abyss. That expectation that things would be better, that tomorrow was worth waiting for passed away, forever irretrievable.
What happened now did not matter. Cream did not have the slightest interest in what the Heavies were doing. There was no point in escaping, because she had nowhere to go. So she simply sat and watched the hot winds blow tufts of the dead grass into the air. Perhaps, Cream would be carried off as well, born up into the sky and away from everything.
"The ship is ready," Emerl's shadow fell over Cream. She did not look at him.
"King insists that we go to the village. I don't know what he expects to find, but he wants you to show him where it…was."
Cream maintained her silence. "I…I am sorry." Emerl continued. "Aurora was designed to be the most advanced A.I ever created. I don't understand why she did what she did. I…I'm sorry that you and your people got caught in the middle of our war." Cream would not look at him. She felt like screaming at him, but she feared that if she opened her mouth she would break out in a fit of dry sobs.
"I am supposed to bring you inside," Emerl said. "Will you come in?"
Cream rose unsteadily to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly and she wobbled slightly. Cheese fell out of her lap but Emerl caught the Chao before it could fall to the ground. Emerl held it up and whispered something Cream could not hear. Cheese's eyes fluttered open. It let out a heavy yawn. Emerl handed the Chao back over to Cream and turned away to lead her over to the Heavy Brigadier. Cream followed meekly after him. She said nothing to Cheese and the return of her friend was a small comfort.
The two prisoners were again stationed inside the hull of the ship. This time, Emerl did not join them. Cream felt the ship shudder as its engines fired to life. For a split second, she felt herself hope that it would not work. That something would go wrong and that the ship would explode. The thought passed in an instant, leaving her with a bitter taste of shame in her mouth.
What would her mother say if she could see her now? Nothing. Cream thought as a tear bubbled in the corner of her eye. She can't say anything anymore. No one remained to either admonish or support her. She and Cheese were completely alone now.
The hull of the Heavy Brigadir grew dark. Though it was only midday a permanent cluster of black clouds hung over the once clear and beautiful vista surrounding Hot Crator. Cream did not mind the lack of light. She felt absorbed by the darkness, tucked in as if by a blanket of her own despair.
"Chao…" Cheese moaned softly. Cream felt the Chao shift over and wrap her hand in a tight embrace. She wanted to squeeze back, to make some kind of reassuring gesture, but she felt powerless to do so.
For how long they sat in the darkness of the hull, Cream did not know. Time was acting very oddly ever since the blast. Part of her felt that she had waited weeks for the Heavies to finish their repairs, yet another part of her felt that it had only been a few hours. Eventually, the doors opened and Heavy King strode towards her. Emerl followed close behind.
"We need you to identify the village," He spoke softly but without a note of genuine empathy. "Once we have the emerald, then you may go."
"If the emerald still exists," Heavy Magician interjected as she came hovering up behind King. Heavy Gunner, Rider and Shinobi followed after her.
"A Chaos Emerald cannot be destroyed," Emerl informed her. He moved over so he could stand beside Cream. "If the emerald was here before the blast, then it may have been moved by the shockwaves, but it cannot be unmade, save by a far greater power."
"I'm counting on it," King growled. "We need that emerald and we need it now. We cannot afford any delays. The sooner we have them all the better."
"What's the hurry?" Magician asked.
"Look around you!" King bellowed. "Aurora just destroyed an entire countryside! If it wasn't for Sonic she would have destroyed all of Emerald City as well!"
Cream's ears perked up. Sonic? Had Sonic been near her village before the blast? "The humans won't give a damn that Aurora caused it, you can bet they will launch an all out war against mechs as soon as they can," King continued.
"Let them fight Metal for us then." Magician said with a shrug. "Why should that matter to us?"
"Fool. The humans won't know that we weren't with Metal. They will want blood for this. Any blood will do."
"Is this a bad time to point out we don't actually have blood?" Heavy Gunner quipped.
SLAM! Heavy King swung his rod and struck Gunner in the head. He fell with a crash onto the floor. "This is no time for jokes! We need the Chaos Emeralds and we need them now."
"Sonic…" Cream whispered. Her voice cracked when she spoke. It felt like it had been days since she had last used it. The Heavies all turned to her, shocked to hear her speaking. "He…he saved the city?"
"Half," King answered. He shook his head as if wondering why he had even bothered answering Cream's question, before resuming his speech. Cream, however, lost track of the conversation. Sonic…he was right there…Had he remembered Cream and her village? Was there a chance he had sped by and saved the villagers before going to the city?
A spark of hope lit in Cream's chest, but keeping it burning physically pained Cream. However small the chance was, she had to hold onto it. The next thing Cream knew, Emerl was picking her out of her seat. "We are going down to the surface. There is nowhere to land so the ship will stay airborne. You'll need to wear this." Emerl handed her a heavy iron mask.
It was bowl shaped and several inches thick. Cream strapped it around her face, covering her eyes, nose and mouth. It was so heavy she immediately felt herself lose her balance. "Let me." Emerl walked behind her and Cream heard several bands snap shut. The mask tightened around the back of her head. For a moment, Cream gasped for breath. Fog blurred the clear viewfinder of the mask. Hissss. Cream felt a surge of relief as fresh air came pouring into the helmet.
"The surface may still be covered in radiation. This mask will keep you safe." Emerl tried to take her by the arm but Cream pushed him away.
"I can fly by myself."
The hull doors opened and Heavy King prodded Cream with his rod, forcing her to stand at the edge. Below her was a barren wasteland. Where once there had been a lush forest and a deep river, there was nothing but dirt, rotted trunks and a river bed only partially filled with a liquid that looked like poison.
"Are we close?" King asked.
Cream did not answer. She felt panic creeping up her spine as she tried to look through the small glass opening. But she did not want to see anything. Unbidden tears were flowing down her cheeks. The sheer gravity of the destruction made her want to turn around and run away.
Memories came flowing into her mind. She saw herself and Tails flying over the tops of the trees. A fresh, wholesome air filled her lungs, the scent of the forest making her smile as she flew. She saw herself as a child sitting on the roof of the main hall in her village. The expanse of the forest and the distant vista of the mountain filled her little heart with awe. She never imagined that something so large could even exist.
All of it was gone. The forest had burned away, leaving nothing green but the horrible reeking liquid at the base of the river bed. Hot Crater had been flattened, leaving nothing but a smoldering pile of charred rocks. How was she supposed to recognize this place? Cream knew where her village was by heart, knowing the exact turn in the river that would bring her home. Now there was nothing, no marker to distinguish life in the midst of the dead desert.
"There." Emerl stood beside her and pointed outward. Cream could not see what he was pointing at. The Gizoid's eyes were narrowed and his yellow eyes glowed softly in the gloom. "I see the remains of a village, and I can feel the Chaos Emerald is near."
"Well go down there." King insisted.
Emerl leapt out of the plane. Cream cried out as he plummeted downward. Suddenly, jets of flame exploded out of Emerl's feet and hands. The propulsion allowed him to straighten himself out and soar rapidly through the air. He gestured to Cream to follow him. She remained rooted where she was. Cream did not want to go down there. She did not want to see the ruins of her village. But King had put his hand on her shoulder and was pushing her forward. Cream let out a small scream as one leg fell out of the plane.
"Don't!" Emerl protested, but it was too late. King gave her another hard shove and Cream fell face first into the open air. Wind rushed into her face and Cream screamed as she fumbled to hold onto Cheese. Her ears extended and fought to catch a draft that would bear her upward.
"Take my hand." Emerl had raced to her side and had his hand outstretched. Cream ignored him again. Her long ears finally caught the wind and in an instant, Cream went from falling to drifting peacefully in the air.
Emerl turned away from her and shot down towards the surface. Cream watched him go and finally saw what he had been pointing at. She saw what remained of a fence encircling a wide clearing near the bank of the river. Within were the roofless foundations of homes. Cream felt her insides go cold.
She hung suspended in the air. How long would it take the Heavies to catch her? Emerl could fly faster than she could, but would he chase her down if ordered? Maybe I can hide? But one look around told her how hopeless a prospect that was. Everything around her was flat and broken down.
Resigned to her fate, Cream flew slowly over to Emerl. He stood in the midst of the village. Cream landed beside him and forced herself to look around. The town hall had been completely broken down. Its walls lay in pieces around it leaving its foundations bare and exposed. Cream's house had been torn clean in half. Everything was buried in debris and the scattered remains of trees.
The flicker of hope that had burned inside her died in earnest. Sonic had not come. He had chosen the city with the humans, over Cream's mother and the villagers. A fierce hatred rose in Cream. Rage was not an emotion that she felt often. She did not know how to deal with the twisting in her gut, the boiling feeling in her blood. The sensation made her feel immensely frustrated and powerless. Why hadn't Sonic come here? What made the city worth more than Cream's village?
Cream's legs wobbled beneath her. She dropped to her knees and dug her nails into the dirt. Why had she allowed herself to hope? It would have been easier if she had just accepted the truth before she had come down here. Now she was feeling the rush of grief wash over her like waves on the beach.
It was eerily quiet. Not even the wind seemed to rustle through the bones of her former home. Emerl's footsteps crunched unnaturally loud on the dead grass. "The emerald is not here." He said.
A shadow fell over Cream and she looked up. The Heavy Brigadir was hovering directly above them. Seconds later, the rest of the Heavies had dropped down. Heavy King hurried over to Emerl. "Well? Where is it?"
"The emerald is not here." He repeated.
"Destroyed, is it? Like I said," Magician said with a scoff. "Nothing could have survived that blast."
"The emerald is not here." Emerl said for the third time. "It is not in this village, but it is nearby. I can sense it."
"Perhaps someone tried to make a run for it?" King pondered. He spun around to tower over Cream. "Who was in charge of the emerald?"
Cream did not care enough to lie. "The village elder and my mother. They were using it to power a machine that could clean pollution out of the river water."
"And where was this machine?"
"Here." Cream answered, indicating the center of the village. "At least it was, when I was here last."
"Fan out!" King ordered. "Search just beyond the village. The blast probably moved the emerald." At the command of their leader, the Heavies all scattered to start their search. Emerl went off as well, but he did not leave the village. He started searching among the ruins of the houses and the town hall.
Heavy King remained by Cream's side. "Your people seem primitive. How is it that they had a machine capable of harnessing the power of a Chaos Emerald?"
"It was a gift." Cream felt dazed. She wanted to sink into the dirt, to vanish.
"From who?"
"A fox named Tails. I went looking for him when runoff from Doctor Eggman's base started to pollute our river. He stopped the pollution and gave us the machine as well as the Chaos Emerald."
Heavy King slammed the pommel of his rod into the ground a few times. "Tails…I see. My maker has had troubles with him in the past. I wonder…" But before he could explain, Emerl had returned. "Well? I thought you said it wasn't here, why are you searching the village?"
"There are no bodies." Emerl explained.
"Of course not. They were eviscerated."
Cream cringed. She did not know there were still depths of despair she could descend further into, but the idea of not even being able to bury her mother tore what shreds of heart she still had left.
"Perhaps," Emerl agreed. "But there are other signs as well. It seems that there was an attempt to leave the village in a hurry."
"I imagine so. It was about to be destroyed."
Emerl shook his head. "There would have been no time for that. The blast would have destroyed everything in mere seconds. I think there is a chance that there was an evacuation before the blast."
Cream's heart skipped a beat. She looked up longingly at Emerl. The Gizoid refused to catch her eye, however, and continued to address King. "Aurora's armada fought a battle at Emerald City. Many people survived the explosion because they had already taken shelter due to the battle. Perhaps the people left the village for a place of refuge when they saw the armada flying overhead. They would have taken all essential valuables, including the Chaos Emerald."
King looked down at Cream. "Is there such a place? Where would your people go in a time of crisis?"
Cream struggled to answer. She felt hope warring against her grief. It was possible. They may have survived if they reached the cave in time. But Cream had no idea when they had left. The cave was not terribly far away, but the journey there was arduous. "The cave…it was in the forest behind the village. There is a path that winds down into a ravine. At the base there was a deep cave."
"Is it far?" Emerl asked.
Cream shook her head.
"Then the emerald may be there." He told King.
The Heavy King tapped his wrist. "Heavies, return to the village. We think we know where the emerald is."