As with every time he returned to the future, the sky was the first thing that Silver noticed. There were no clouds today, nothing to be pushed around by the gentle breeze currently rustling his fur. The sun was glowing warm and bright, in a close to noon position. His view of the blue above wasn't perfect however; a series of skyscrapers were still stretching toward the great golden orb above, but none were without blemish. Windows were shattered, roofs cracked, and some had even collapsed. His most recent efforts hadn't saved the world, it'd fallen to ruin once more. A new apocalypse had taken the place of the last.

The hedgehog slouched, his gaze dropped to the ground. Cracked tarmac stretched beneath him, it looked to be more weathered by time than anything else. He heard no panic or monsters. The air was cold, there were no signs of magma. He had endured harsher realities than this; he could survive a world like this.

Stretching, feeling the weight of the rucksack on his back, the hedgehog looked forward- taking in his surroundings proper. There were no signs of life but, equally, there was no grand devastation. The time traveler found himself staring out across empty city streets, cars abandoned by the roadside. No corpses sat behind the wheels and, besides a few obvious bent bumpers and shattered windows, the vehicles looked to be in good, albeit weathered, condition. The buildings were the same; broken down yes, but not devastated as he had seen in timelines prior. Perhaps there had been looting, but widespread panic couldn't have lasted for long. Things were relatively intact...

He adjusted the straps of his rucksack and began to walk, scanning both for signs of movement and any immediate clues as to the world's state. Nothing looked immediately suspicious, the damage to buildings could be explain away by the wear and tear induced by the passage of time. Something felt off though, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Was he being followed?

The hedgehog spun on his heel, eyes scanned the empty street behind him. There were plenty of places to hide, from the abandoned cars to the buildings, and the alleyways between them. It wasn't unthinkable that this was a world where Eggman had succeeded- not all of his machines were bumbling peons. He knew better than to underestimate what remained of any apocalypse generating armada. Whether a fighting force had manifested in the wake of the end times, or been the one to cause it, most anything that had survived this timeline would surely have been strengthened by it.

Reaching out a hand, the psychic cast cyan energy to cloak the cars. With no more than flick of his wrist the vehicles were tossed skyward, spinning as they went, before crashing down to the ground. No cowering figures had been revealed by their removal; nor had any forms fallen out of the debris. The echoes reverberated through the long dead city, no response came to the sound.

"It's just quiet," He sighed to himself, "It's just quiet"

Station Square had seen better days, but he had seen it worse. The ground was solid, the air was clear. Perhaps, for once, this city wasn't at the heart of all that'd gone wrong. Maybe instead his investigation would take him to Spagonia, perhaps even off planet. Regardless, he knew where to begin. The trail would be weaved by evidence; he had to find a newspaper.

Having walked this city across so many realities, Silver quickly realised what street he was on. Office buildings all around, this was a commercial district- there weren't any newsagents nearby, but there was a subway two blocks away. The stations would tell a history in and of themselves, in prior timelines he had seen them used as shelters against devastation on the surface, but there was almost always an errant pamphlet tucked into the luggage storage or a pile of papers bound in twine- never sold.

While the psychic had recently learned of journalistic spin, there were factors that always told a true story regardless of the publication's quality. The date would tell him when the last papers were printed, giving him a rough estimate of when things had gone wrong and society broke down. The overall tone of the print would indicate if the world's end had come as a surprise or been forecast over prior days.

With all that in mind, the time traveler began his march- eyes still scanning to his surroundings. Even having cleared that street, he still felt something nagging at the back of his head. He knew what it felt like to be watched, he had been stalked by all manner of beast. This current sensation wasn't quite the same, he saw no signs of life, but there was a certain... dread hanging in the air.

He tugged at his chest fur as he paced, the subway entrance was already in sight- a set of steep stairs leading into the underground. The entryway didn't look particularly damaged, at least not more so than the cityscape that surrounded it. It was average he supposed; that was until he drew close. The subway map had been defaced, words had been scrawled into it with a blade or some sort of talon.

"Not here," Was etched into the protective plastic over the map, "Here," An arrow was pointing to the next station on the route, heading west.

He'd just taken that in when the sound of a footstep spiked his ears. The hedgehog turned to the stairs; something was moving down there. The sign read not here, but he could travel safely through the underground- flying down the tunnels. If a group had survived in hiding within one of the stations then the evidence they carried would be crucial. He took four steps down before pausing.

"Hello? Is someone down there?" Psychic power was already crackling at his fingertips, he took three more steps.

Two red orbs were gleaming out from the dark; a pair of eyes staring up at him from the tunnel at the bottom of the stairs.

"Shadow?" His surprise drew no response, "Shadow, is that you?"

The black hedgehog had lived far beyond his allies before, it was possible he had survived this time to-

A snarl cracked the air and footsteps pounded; racing toward the time traveller. The hedgehog threw himself backwards, tumbling up the stairs on a gale of psychic energy. He hovered at the top of the entryway, hands raised and ready to strike... but no foe arrived. In the wake of his effort there was only silence. No further growling, no more footsteps, and no other signs of life.

Hands still thrumming with psychic might, the hedgehog dared to descend the stairs- hovering to the edge of the dark. The red eyes were gone, as was the sound. Whatever was down here- it'd been running toward him, it hadn't fled. Where was it?

A sneeze rocked his body; regardless of who or what had been down here, it'd certainly left things dusty. A fine layer of grey particulate coated the staircase; it'd caught on the wind and blown back into the subway. Even as the hedgehog sent a psychic glow into the manmade cavern, it revealed no hiding figures.

He ascended backwards up the stairs, refusing to look away from the darkness. Red as they were, those had been the eyes of a person rather than a monster. Still, it seemed wiser to heed the sign's instructions. After all, devastation could so easily turn friends into foes. His gaze lingered on the defaced map, it took no more than a moment for him to make up his mind.

Silver took to the skies, feeling the warmth of the sun wash over him. He had a specific heading; having heard the growling in the depths, it was obvious this world was still in some way occupied. Whether people or monsters claimed the surface, he had to keep his wits about him. There was no sense in walking the ground when the skies were so clear.

In barely a minute he had landed by the entryway that map had indicated. Despite it being pointed to as the correct path, this staircase was in a far poorer condition than the last he'd visited. The roof of the entryway had completely collapsed, fully blocking access to the lower layer. While some of his friends could have still dug their way down there, most of them would have struggled at the job for a good hour or so. That was, assuming they hadn't collapsed the roof themselves...

His attention turned to the subway map; it'd been defaced differently; "Truth lies within," Read the text inscribed atop the plastic protector, again arrows were pointing to this station.

Had the burial of the staircase been intentional? Regardless, the psychic flexed his hands and the stonework rolled out of the entryway. There was scorch marks on the underside of the rubble, had there been an explosion? A glance down he hallway suggested that, if there had been, it was very well contained. Someone had done this intentionally. Whoever had blocked the staircase had plainly still wanted the space behind it to be accessible, they hadn't risked destroying the whole subway station...

Using his psychokinesis to cast light ahead of him, Silver made his way down the stairs and into the hallway proper. There was dust down here, though none so thick as on that first staircase. There were no red eyes in the dark and no sounds of oncoming footsteps. To be honest, the hedgehog was just glad he hadn't come across a corpse yet. He'd found himself pushing through settlements that survived the apocalypse; all too often he'd found himself amongst the bones of those who'd lasted beyond the end.
Something glinted against his psychic light, there was an object in the end of the hallway- just before another set of stairs would lead him down to the subway itself. As he drew close its form became obvious, that of a tall glass. More writing; this time etched into the cracked tiles of the subway floor.

"Your blood is key. Fill this glass," The damage instructed, "Go no further before you do."

Was he really going to do this? There was a multitool in his rucksack. The glass wasn't that big...

A sigh slipped from Silver's throat as he shrugged his bag off, rummaging through it. The others had left him evidence of the end-times before, intentionally and otherwise. He'd read Amy's diary countless times and gone through Omega's memory banks. Tails had left him data on computers before, but he always seemed to hide them behind some kind of puzzle. The psychic failed to solve them in prior realities; maybe this was going to be like that? Would some device identify him by blood and provide information in turn?
The hedgehog flipped the tool's blade out, wincing as he drew it across his palm. It took more effort to fill a glass with blood than he anticipated. Granted, he'd never really considered how much it would take to fill such a glass- but it took him a good five minutes of wincing and gripping his wrist. The moment the job was done he staunched the bleeding with a cloth; taking a seat to catch his breath. Immediately the whole effort felt a more than a little foolish, but it was done now.

Rummaging through his bag, he opened up the nicest of the food he'd brought with him. Unlike the more logical dried meats, fruits, and pulses that made up the bulk of his rations, he'd worked with Blaze and Marine on the first meal he'd eat in this reality. The youngster had insisted he take some sugary waffles with him, those would be good to get his blood sugar back up. Something similar could be said for the iced tea Blaze had contributed, insisting it was safer than letting her cook anything despite his praising of her skill.

He swallowed the last of the morsels before rising, slinging the backpack back over his shoulder and taking the glass in hand. He floated his way down the stairs; casting his gaze across the station as soon as it properly came into view. This was the inner city line, the carts went in a circle across Station Square to help with daily commutes.
Well, in the state it was in, the station clearly couldn't do that anymore. Both ends of the tunnel had been blocked with rubble, owing to a series of tremendous collapses. On both sides of the track the trains were present, though one of them had been completely destroyed and the other looked... different certainly. It took the hedgehog arriving on the platform to truly discern what had changed. Through what had clearly been some great effort, someone had taken metal from the destroyed train and used it to reinforce the one that remained intact.

The windows had been sealed with metal, seemingly welded to ensure no one could see in or out. All of the doors had been sealed in a similar way, as if to make sure nothing could escape or enter. The only exception was the door in the middle. It had been sealed most of the way but a hole, smaller than the hedgehog's fist, had been cut where the doors met- relatively high up the would-be entryway.

"Pour here," Was scratched into the metal, a word on each door.

Well, he'd already bled. It'd be foolish not to go the full way with this. If Tails had built some strange device that would read his blood then it certainly didn't look like his usual handiwork. Then again, it was the end times. Resources were limited.

The psychic acquiesced, reaching up and letting his blood flow. Almost immediately there was a response; he heard something shifting within the container. It wasn't the sound of metal moving... it was a creature. No, it was a person. Silver stumbled back as he heard crawling, panting, and then... scraping? Clawing? Licking? Coughing?

"Of course you found me..." A whisper echoed.

The hedgehog was suddenly alert, psychic light flared in his palms, "Who are you, how do you have that voice?!"

"I'll tell you, but first we need to establish some rules," The void responded, "All has been accounted for, I have prepared for your arrival and lain in weight for centuries. Your safety is my concern, above all other matters. I won't allow myself to harm you,"An instruction finally came, "You will not draw any closer, you will not attempt to open these doors, I forbid it."

"If you've prepared so thoroughly and my safety is what matters, then why would you harm me," He countered, fists balled, "Why have you locked yourself in there?"
Her answer came quickly, as if long prepared, "My self-control is diminished, I am a slave to my hunger. If give me the opportunity, I will kill you for your blood."

His response was slower this time, "Did I not give you enough?"

"You did, and as such I am presently lucid," Again, it was as though she was reciting from a script, "But if I am granted the freedom to strike, I can only quell my instincts for so long. The more time we waste, the more ravenous I'll become, and your mere presence is accelerating my appetite."

A thought entered the hedgehog's mind. He had received countless injuries, been made to bleed across dozens of timelines. How much of his own blood could he stand to shed? Who was he willing to shed it for? Was she really who he thought she was?

He knew better than to do this, but he couldn't help himself, "How much would it take to quench your thirst?"

"Silver, that's foolishness," She knew his name, his certainty was only growing stronger.

"I don't care if it is, give me an answer," He snapped back, "I need to get you out of this. Either you tell me how much you need, or I'll break down the door right now."
"You're so naive, I forbid it," She had foreseen this too, he could tell by her frustration, "I require enough that it would exhaust you. Enough blood that it would put you in danger. Even if I drank my fill, given time I-

Silver gripped his wrist, "Just tell me when to stop."

Blood began to flow once more; a thin stream of red took to the air on a psychic wind, channeled through the hole in the doorway. The form in the subway cart shifted; though he couldn't see the inside, Silver could tell they were just by the doorway. No request for repositioning came, nor any other blood related complaint for that matter. As the flow diminished once again however, words sounded from within the metal casket.

"No matter how thoroughly I planned..." She grumbled, swallowing loudly, "You truly shouldn't trust me this much."

"The way you set all this up, whether you're who I think you are or not, I think I have good reason to trust you," The psychic pressed on his forearm again and gave it a shake. Blood splattered to the ground before the flow resumed; he channelled fresh blood to her once more, "All signs point to this being you, Blaze."

A deafening quiet filled the space, had she not expected him to recognise her voice?

"We've been tricked before, you should be more cautious,"His lightheadedness told him that she was right, "Please cease your efforts."

"Either you come out, or I'm coming in," Silver insisted, binding his wound shut with psychic light, "Those are the only choices I'm giving you."

A second silence claimed the air, his psychic aura flared to life.

"It would be safer if I exited," Her response sounded, "You'll have more routes to escape me when I lose control."

"Very well, stand back," He instructed, matching his own demand.

Silver reached out with his left hand, the light from his palm engulfed the welded doors of the subway cart. He flexed once and the sliding doors bludged, with his second tug they buckled, but on the third they finally clattered to the ground. In the wake of the crash he heard the familiar sound of heeled steps... but the hedgehog's fists clenched and eyes narrowed as a figure emerged from the cart.

At first she looked to be wrapped in black from head to toe, almost as if the very shadows of the tunnel system were clinging to her fur. With every step she further emerged that darkness seemed to peel free; rolling from her frame to sink into her shadow. Purple fur and fabric gradually revealed itself, presenting the feline he had expected to see, but the hedgehog's attention was fastened to the cat's eyes. He did not see the amber glow he had anticipated; but instead a pair of sharp red eyes. Though he loathed the thought, the change did conjure the memory of Mephiles' own harsh green stare that had shone through his mimicry of Shadow.

"Is it daylight outside?" The cat asked.

"Yes," He could hear the trepidation in his own tone.

"Then, for now, I believe we are safe," A sigh breached her lips, "But keep your wits about you. It has been over a century since I was last free. Others may have joined me in this tomb."

She lowered herself to sit on the ground, leaning back against the dented metal of the subway car. Red stained her white muzzle, though it did not linger for long. An ungloved hand traced across her face and managed to separate out the blood- draining it from her fur as if it were oil atop water, entirely separate. She cupped the vital essence in her hand, raising it up before leaning her head back. The liquid trickled down her forefinger, dripping free from a claw and into her open mouth. Blaze's fangs caught his eye each time she had graced him with a smile, but now those teeth had grown much longer. They had always been sharp but-

"It is wise to keep your eyes on me," Her eyes reopened, still shining red, "But, I would ask that you do not commit this sight to memory."

"I'll try not to, but it's going to be difficult," He admitted.

She didn't answer that remark, instead taking her time to sup every loose drop of his blood. The word vampire did immediately come to mind, her now red eyes reminded him of those he'd seen shining from the shadows at that first subway. That figure had run out into the light and vanished; down here their surroundings were only lit by his psychic glow. The feline wasn't in perfect condition, her clothes were frayed and shoes scuffed, but she looked no older than she had when he had departed the Sol Dimension. It was as if her ageing had completely halted. She'd claimed to have lived down here for centuries...

"I presume you have questions, hurry and ask them," She wasn't looking at him.

"This isn't right," The hedgehog's brain was misfiring, "Wh-What happened to you? I-

"After waiting for months for your return, I noticed that our friends had not reached out to me. I dared to visit, presuming the worst, and was proven correct. My kindness was rewarded with a bite to the neck, delivered from behind by one Rouge the Bat," Her tone was ice cold and well rehearsed, "I burned her her head from her shoulders on instinct alone, but my retaliation did not stop there. I only realised who I had killed once I had drained every drop of her blood- stolen from me and others," Still, the cat did not flinch, "If things don't go as planned, you should note that. Fire is especially effective on my kind... though I am uncertain if I am an exception to that rule. Exposure to sunlight also means certain death, no matter how minor."

Silver could feel the weight of the frown on his face. Why was she talking like that? She'd just professed to killing Rouge without so much as flinching, instructed him on best methods to destroy others sharing her fate. How could she-

"Destruction of the head or heart is the only other certain way to kill one like me. Removal of the head is not enough in and of itself, the skull and brain must truly be crushed or otherwise destroyed," Bones clicked as the cat rolled her shoulder, "Body parts separate from the whole can still attack. In the presence of enough blood they can reconnect; I experienced that firsthand on several occasions."

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"It only takes one of me to sew disaster across the world," She had ignored him, "A single bite, no matter how long it lasts, is enough to turn any person into a killing machine with an undeniable craving for blood. All it takes is a single prick or scratch from a fang, the change is instantaneous. There is no cure."

"Blaze, listen to me," She finally turned to him, "I know it was self defence but you killed Rouge, I know you-

"None of this is going to matter," She coldly insisted, "You'll go back in time and this reality will never come to pass. Her death, and those of the others my instincts claimed, will never happen."

"Others?" Silver felt his fists ball.

"To keep my bloodlust sated such that I could create this tomb, sacrifices had to be made," She immediately answered, "There were cases where no one was willing or able to offer their blood. Still, it was taken as required, I did not have the capacity to hesitate."

"What's wrong with you; you're not talking like yourself," He sounded angrier than he'd expected, "Why are you being so blunt?"

"I'm not the Blaze you knew, you need to accept that," His partner responded, uncaring, "She has died. She is dead. Only a corpse remains. I am simply relaying the facts, per her dying wish."

Now he was angry, "I don't believe that, I won't-

"Well you have to!" She cut him off, harsh emotion in her tone for the first time, "I am here to deliver her final will; if you don't want to listen, then leave her body to rot in this pit. Find someone else to foolishly give up your blood to."

Silver was stunned, "Do you want me to leave you here? To let you die?"

"I'm already dead, my life ended two hundred years ago," She bluntly hissed, "Listen to me, you're wasting time. The longer this takes the more danger your in; both from me, and those waiting in the shadows. Night will fall and death will follow."

"No it won't!" He barked back, "Not as long as we're together. I won't lose you again."

"The Blaze you knew is already lost, get it through your thick head," Blaze hissed, "I'm not her anymore."

"You wouldn't have set this all up if you weren't yourself, you wouldn't have tried to talk to me," Silver insisted, "If you were just some bloodthirsty monster then you'd have set a trap, you'd have-

"It's precisely because I'm not myself that this was done. I cannot be trusted to stand in your presence. I can hear your heart; every beat is pushing me closer to madness," Her eyes shut, her fingers rubbed at her temples, "You forced my hand, you drew me out here. I wanted to relay my truths through the door and send you on your way; back to save the world."

She had given up. He had seen the feline struggle before; he'd seen her at her lowest. When they'd first met, when she'd seen herself as a monster- as one of Iblis pawns. She was older now, she was stronger, she knew she wasn't a monster; she had to know! If he had to show her again, make it as blunt as possible, then he would!
His hand found her shoulder, "Blaze, I-

"Don't touch me!" The cat bristled, "Get back, now!"

He did flinch, he did stumble back, but he would not take a step further. The cat turned to him, the red in her eyes somehow brighter than before. Bones clicked as her position adjusted; she'd was crouched low, limbs coiled, she was going to pounce! The hedgehog braced, psychic light flaring as the cat leapt; but she was not jumping toward him. Blaze had thrown herself to his side.

She crawled across the floor, dragged her tongue across the ground. Her eyes were still feral and wide when she turned back to him, still on all fours, but her gaze again quickly tumbled to the ground. She lapped up another of his crimson droplets; those that had fallen when he'd resumed his bleeding. This profane hunger was plainly overwhelming her, but the feline was wrong. She was still the Blaze he knew.

His hand had been close, there was still blood running through his veins. The cat could have struck before he'd have even noticed and yet she'd forced herself away to sup from the sullied ground. The princess had debased herself to protect him, fighting against the corruption roiling in her form.

The hedgehog took a step, his partner's now crimson eyes leapt to him. He pressed on his wrist, bursting the clot at his palm; the cat's shadow began to stain her gloves, quickly twisting its way up her forearms and toward her neck. Psychic energy surged, but not to hold her back- red flew through the air like bullets. Self control lost, she'd rushed toward him in the blink of an eye, but come to a paralysed halt at the bloodying of her clothes.

The long coat was torn from her body; she suckled at the frayed fabric without hesitation. It took more of his blood floating close for her to give up on the garment, wandering as if in a daze from droplet to droplet as she consumed without question. As she drank and drew closer, the shadows again slipped free from her form.

"I've got you," Still in that feasting stupor, though now free of shadow, she'd stumbled straight into his arms, "You're here with me."

"You wouldn't have to have me if you'd stuck to my plan," She was cold, colder than he'd ever felt her, "This is all so wrong."

"We're going to fix this," He told her in his most serious tone, "Just like we always have. I promise."

"Let me go," She instructed, though she didn't try to pull away, "This isn't helping like it should."

After one last hug he did release her, the moment his arms were open she fell back to the ground. She was still cleaning her muzzle, careful not to waste a single drop. He gave her space and a moment to breathe, but the cat did not take it.

"Ask your questions, before that happens again," She shuddered.

"Why are you a vampire?" He flinched, "I mean, why are there vampires? How did this happen?"

"So blunt, that's more in line with what I'd expected," The cat baulked, "We swore off using that term, but could never come up with a better one," Who was we? "The Chaos Emeralds have been tainted, they corrupted those who used them. Through those corrupted, their pollution has been spread to impact the whole planet. At this point, it seems certain every remaining person is like me."

"Yeah but..." His brain was misfiring, "Still, why vampires?"

"The last time the chaos emeralds were corrupted Sonic became a werewolf like creature," Blaze bluntly put, "This is worse than that, though I suppose it follows a similar train of logic. Through the tainting of the emeralds, those who use them in turn become tainted. I suppose the form that pollution takes depends on how they were tainted. Twice now Eggman has been responsible for that..."

A realisation quickly dawned on him, "Wait, if the emeralds are corrupted, how am I going to get back to the past?"

"If I use the Emerald to send you away, then you will be spared the corruption as I take it on," She deftly explained, "That is why I waited for you Silver. We all did."
She'd used we again? Silver blinked, "Wait, the others are alive? They're here?"

"No, not here," She shook her head, "We couldn't be certain where you would return so we spread across the globe. Amy entombed herself in Spagonia University, along with a lot of extra literature- to provide context even if she turned against you. Tails rests in his workshop, his situation is similar- with data entries on what came to pass. Sonic settled in Eggman's base, where this all began," The cat stopped herself, "I could go on, but you already know our time is limited. We settled in urban centres and locations we thought you'd likely visit early into your investigation; so as to speak with you as quickly as possible- before any other lingering dead could find you. The whole dead world was reshaped in an effort to have a meeting like this."

"So it was just luck that I ended up here with you?" The hedgehog realised.

"Considering our history, it seems more like fate," She snorted, "We planned contingencies with what little time we had. Thankfully, in finding me you've arrived very close to a Chaos Emerald. There's one buried in here with us."

"Alright," He felt a weak smile cross his lips, "Then what do we need to do, how do we stop this from happening?"

"It should be simple, though of course you'll only have one opportunity to right things," The cat reached into her long coat, drawing out a newspaper clipping, "Interrupt Eggman before he can gather the Chaos Emeralds, he won't be able to use his device- he won't taint their power. Then you can focus on destroying that very machine he'd use to cause this. You must ensure that it is never rebuilt."

The clipping had a date, that most important aspect held his attention more than the headline or attached image. It scheduled the current end times at eight weeks from when the last apocalypse had occurred; his allies hadn't endured for long this time. The image depicted a ruined castle, modified by machinery and bearing Eggman's Insignia. Nearby text gave the location, as well as further information- by the time this newspaper had been published there were already disappearances in the surrounding areas, not to mention talk of strange people stalking the night. They would want to arrive a week or so before this happened. It would be easy though, they just had to prevent him getting the emeralds or destroy his device before it could be used. They could manage that... right?

A grimace claimed his face, something was nagging at the back of his mind.

"This really wasn't easy to set up, was it?" He grimaced.

"Sacrifices had to be made," Her tone remained cold, "It required a lot of blood to remain lucid enough to constructor our tombs, let alone create the signage that would lead you to us..." She spoke up again, "If not sated sufficiently, the hunger has even the dead turn on each other for want of blood."

He shouldn't have asked, "We'll make this right. We'll make it so none of that ever happened, I promise!"

Quiet filled the air between them.

She shut her eyes, a plastic smile claimed her lips, "You're so naive."

Blaze was hiding something from him.

"They do rely on you quite a lot, you know," She informed him, "Being them, they never plan for this eventuality, but when their backs are against the wall like this..." Her eyes were still closed, "I'd always imagined they knew how reliable you are, but it was strange to see in person."

"I'm relying on them just as much," He responded, "If they don't save the world in their present, the future will be doomed no matter what."

"I knew that would be your response," Now her grin was genuine, "You never could take a compliment," Well, he wouldn't deny that, "There is a Chaos Emerald buried in the rubble on the left side of this track. It will require your power to unearth it. Can you manage that? I hope you've not given up too much blood..."

"I'll get it," It was a good thing he'd eaten earlier, "Thank you for the iced tea."

"It only took you two centuries to learn some manners," He could practically hear the cat rolling her eyes, "Hurry up. I'm getting hungry again."

The hedgehog floated his way toward the tracks, reaching out with both hands. Almost immediately the earth began to shift. Quickly he felt an emerald's presence, its energy resonating with his own. Almost immediately he isolated his power to that point and pulled the emerald free- a cyan gem landed in his grasp.

By the time he'd turned back, Blaze was already standing. The cat had dusted off her tattered long coat and was adjusting her gloves. Despite all she'd done, she was still Blaze. She'd isolated herself from the world again, but this time with purpose. He would could not let that be for nothing, they would fix this.

She'd said there was no cure to what was ailing her; but that couldn't be true. If Sonic had recovered from his prior affliction, then there had to be a way to revert the princess to her true state. Until such a time came, he was more than willing to give himself up as her blood bank.

"Let's do this at the surface," The cat instructed as he reached her, "I would like to see the edge of sunlight before we go."

"There will be plenty of sunlight in the past," Immediately Silver was suspicious, "That's a thought, we'll need to arrive at night, right?"

"Indeed," Blaze took the gem from him, "I just want to say my good riddance to this world properly."

She didn't elaborate further, simply beginning to stride toward the first staircase. He quickly caught up, walking beside her through the quiet. How long had she lain in pure silence, waiting for him? It would have been centuries; at least one, if it'd taken their friends decades to come up with a proper plan. That thought made him feel the need to make more conversation.

"So, what about your world? Will we have to save it too?" He dared to ask.

"I abandoned my dimension, I had no choice," The cat informed him, "I disposed of the Sol Emerald I'd used to travel here; I had it placed beyond my reach, just as we did with the Chaos Emeralds. Whenever it was in hand I knew there was a whole new world filled with blood to drain. It tore away at my sanity. I had to keep them safe."
"So it never spread to your world," He sighed, "I'm glad."

"As far as I'm aware, everything is peaceful there," She dreamed aloud, "Marine is probably still waiting for us though."

"Well, we'll make it so she never has to wait," He promised as they reached the top of the staircase and into the subway's initial tunnel, "Are you sure it's safe for you to get closer to the light?"

"I just want to get a little bit closer. It looks like sunset is on its way..." She again ordered, still stepping forward.

The hedgehog kept walking, past the words she'd scrawled on the floor and where she'd set the glass. Despite scarcely being in this reality for more than an hour, he already had all he needed. They had a date, a point to strike, and proof to show their friends. With Blaze by his side things would-

He'd made it to the edge of the sunbeams, just at the foot of the staircase. Silver froze, the clicking of her heels had halted behind him.

"Blaze?" He turned, "Are you co-

She'd pushed him, he fell backwards into the light. All he could do was watch as she held out the emerald; he heard the thrumming of a portal behind him. She took another step forward, her fingers caught in a sunbeam. The last thing he saw was light dancing a jagged path along her forearm, up her chest, and into a blood red eye. For a single moment, in the sunlight, he saw the amber warmth he had come to love shining from that orb.

Then, he was gone. He landed on his back, looking up at a cloudy blue sky. He sat up; his surroundings were that of a grassy field. A plane was flying overhead; the Tornado. This absolutely was the past.

It had all been a trap. She'd tried her hardest to make him hate this version of her, to accept that her erasure from the timeline would be a good thing. She'd been cold and violent, she'd spoken so bluntly of the awful things this reality had forced upon her. Despite all her hissing and fighting, he'd tried to believe that she'd be coming with him. Of course he had. He really was an idiot.

His grip tightened on the scrap of newspaper. He had to do this. Her sacrifices would never be in vain. That reality would never come to pass. She would never suffer such an evil fate.