Chapter Twenty: What's At Stake
When I see Shadow carry Nova back onto the Blue Typhoon, my brain turns to ash. She's unconscious and soaking wet. Did she wake up? Did she leave the ship only to pass out again? I know better than to ask Shadow what's going on, know he won't answer my questions, whether or not he has the answers himself, as long as his focus is on Nova.
Instead, I stay silent as he cradles Nova's unconscious form, and I follow them to the infirmary so I can see for myself if Nova's okay. But when I turn into the infirmary, I see another fairy standing there.
One that doesn't exist anymore.
Amy stopped in her tracks at the sight of Angel—the daughter of Sonic and Nova in another timeline—standing right there in the middle of the Blue Typhoon's infirmary. She looked…watery? Like she didn't quite exist in this plane but was growing more solid by the second. Though Amy had seen Time Whisperers before, she had never seen one of them looking quite like this. Angel's eyes found Amy's immediately, as if Angel had been waiting specifically for her.
"How are you—" Amy gasped.
"There's no time!" Angel snapped. "Tails is in trouble, and he needs you now!"
-X-X-X-
Tails's View
Tails's mind froze. The Metarex—Sonic—rushed straight for Tails and Tails's thoughts simply evaporated. Only at the very last moment did Tails's body snap to react. He dove straight for the dirt to the right. He smashed to the ground on top of his arm just as Sonic tore through the spot Tails had been a moment ago.
Tails scrambled back to his feet. Pain sparked through his arm, and he cradled it against his body. The pain kept him present. Woke his mind up. He spun around just as Sonic the Metarex swung out his arm to hook around a tree trunk, which stopped him before he blew past. And then he snapped back around to face Tails once more.
Tails took a startled step backward. The sharpness and speed in Sonic's movements cut through him. It was so undeniably Sonic. But with the Metarex armor shielding Sonic's face, Tails couldn't see if there was any shred of self-awareness left in his brother's eyes.
"Sonic, please," he begged anyway. Because whether or not Sonic was a Metarex, Tails couldn't hope to win a fight against him.
The Chaos Emerald glowed still brighter in the claws of the Metarex. And Tails took it for what it was: a warning.
Tails's namesakes spun behind him. Sonic jolted toward Tails once more. The spin of the fox's tails yanked him up into the air with hardly a second to spare. The Metarex skin brushed the inside of Tails's ankle as it tore through the space he had just vacated.
Tails looked down at the scene below him as he continued up into the air. His heart wrenched in his chest such that he could feel it in his throat when he swallowed. His entire body shuddered. And he couldn't explain away such a violent shake by blaming the chill that came along with the increasing elevation.
What do I do? What do I—
Sonic skidded to a stop. Paused. Tiled his head back to look up at Tails. And for that moment,
time
slowed
d…o…w…n…
Tails's best friend, his brother, again trapped, facing the only fate he feared. Because they had left him. His friends left him behind on that space station. How much of Sonic still remained inside that Metarex shell? Tails couldn't be sure. Sonic always kept the details of his time with the Metarex during the Changed War close to the chest. To protect them. To protect himself? And they had never pushed the issue. Because why would his friends make him face that memory again?
All to end up here.
"Sonic, I know you're still in there!" Tails cried. His voice cracked as he spoke. His injured arm dragged out the Chaos Emerald, even as the pain of it dragged across his skull. "Sonic, I can help you, I—"
The light of the Chaos Emerald in Sonic's hand exploded outward, blinding Tails. He threw up his arm to protect his eyes against the light.
Enough of Sonic must still be awake in there, if the Chaos Emerald's responding like—
The Metarex burst out from the light and crashed full-on into Tails. The force knocked them both out of the sky. Air rushed past their bodies, dragged through Tails's fur. But Tails's eyes held locked only on Sonic. Even as the claws of the Metarex wrapped around Tails's shoulders, Tails's gaze tried to bore through the Metarex visor to see his friend beneath. But it was just black. Empty. Just as if Sonic had—
Tails's back smashed into the ground and the weight of the Metarex crushed him only deeper into the dirt. The air exploded from his lungs and into Sonic's face. But the hedgehog that had once been his big brother offered no reaction. Except to drag his clawed hands from Tails's shoulders
to Tails's throat.
Tails hardly had the time to gasp in panic before the metal fingers crushed down against his windpipe. His last panicked gasp wasn't enough air for even an instant. He choked. Black spots burst before his eyes. With his free hand, he grabbed at the arm of the Metarex. But his hand just slid uselessly against the metal. The muscles in his arms melted away. The Chaos Emerald warmed in his hand, like it was trying to remind Tails of something. Something important. Something—
CLANG!
The hands at Tails's throat fell away. If only on instinct, Tails sucked in a wheezing gasp. The black spots before his eyes dissipated enough that he could see the Metarex was no longer on top of him.
Tails shot upright choking, gasping. A hand grabbed him beneath his armpit and yanked him up. He stumbled for a second before he could manage the brainpower it took to get his feet beneath him. He twisted around. And saw Amy standing just behind him, hammer in hand.
"Amy," he gaped through his strangled windpipe.
"Go!" she shouted. She pulled her hand away from Tails to wrap it around the handle of her hammer. She hoisted her hammer up and narrowed her eyes at the sight of the Metarex she had just knocked away. "I've got this one."
But Tails scrambled to grab Amy's arm. "Amy, no, that's—"
Movement at the corner of Tails's eye stopped him short. In time to focus his gaze on Sonic the Metarex climbing back to his feet, seemingly unharmed despite the blow of Amy's hammer. Even without being able to see Sonic's face, Tails shivered with the sense that Sonic's gaze did not waver from the pair of them. "Does it have a Chaos Emerald?" Amy exclaimed incredulously.
Tails blinked at Amy's sudden question. The nightmare ended and restarted in that single moment. He woke up only to find it real. "It's Sonic!" Tails finally managed to choke out. "The Metarex took him and made him one of them, like in the Changed War!"
Amy stiffened. She glanced at Tails, then back to the Metarex. "No," she whispered, like a plea, like a prayer. She wrapped her hands more tightly around the handle of her hammer.
Tails pulled the Chaos Emerald in toward his chest. He thought he could still feel Sonic's hands around his throat.
Sonic's hands…around his throat.
"Can you use that Chaos Emerald? Get us out of here?" Amy demanded.
But Tails didn't have a chance to reply. Because that was the moment Sonic the Metarex rushed toward them once more.
-X-X-X-
Amy's View
One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three—
Amy ripped her hammer around like a baseball bat. It smashed into the side of Sonic's Metarex shell and knocked him to the ground. Her heart ached even before the blow of the impact shuddered up her arms. She wasn't sure if it was her heart or the force that sent her body shaking.
But even as Sonic hit the ground, he was already climbing back to his feet. Amy planted her own feet, gritted her teeth, and raised her hammer once more. "We saved you once, and we can do it again," she growled, even as the glistening of unshed tears blurred her vision.
She remembered how, during the Changed War, the Metarex that Sonic had become invaded their home. How Amy used her hammer to tear away the metal shielding Sonic inside. Maybe she could do it again.
Amy sprinted forward with a battle cry, unleashing her anger and anguish in her scream. She pulled her hammer back, readying her swing. She threw her hammer out in front of her.
And Sonic leapt just out of reach.
Amy's hammer dragged the rest of her body through its follow-through. She stumbled sideways. Sonic's fist smashed into Amy's shoulder from behind. The force knocked her from her feet, but Tails caught her before she crashed to the ground. Tails steadied Amy, and she scrambled to spin around.
To see Sonic racing toward them.
Tails and Amy threw themselves to the ground just in time for Sonic to rush through the space they had just been. Amy twisted to watch Sonic's back as he skidded to a stop. Her eyes zeroed in on the Chaos Emerald in his clawed metal hand.
"We don't stand a chance as long as Sonic has that Chaos Emerald," she snapped. He was too fast, too powerful with the Emerald's Energy pulsing through him. The thickness of tears built up in her throat. We're going to have to leave him behind, she realized. Again.
Tails reached out and grabbed Amy's arm. She allowed him to yank it away from her hammer, and he wrapped it around the Chaos Emerald he held out in front of him. "Help me!" he cried.
"I—"
"I know you don't know how, but I can't do it alone. And if we don't try, we won't survive long enough to save Sonic at all!"
Amy twisted her head toward Sonic.
The Metarex.
The hero.
The love she'd fought for through multiple timelines.
He watched them now. Watched the Chaos Emerald between them. Rather than rocketing toward them this time, he just stood there. Still. Silent. Like the sight of Tails and Amy with the Chaos Emerald between them was enough to wake up Sonic inside that Metarex shell, if only a little bit, if only just enough to stop him short. Sonic was still in there.
And they were going to abandon him.
Amy threw out her other hand to wrap around the Chaos Emerald. Tails's hand clamped on top of hers. She didn't know how to use Chaos Control on her own. So Amy did the only thing she could think to do:
She prayed.
Please. Just give me the chance to save him.
And warmth burned beneath her glove.
-X-X-X-
Sonic's View
Kill them.
No. Sonic refused. Existence and life around him was nothing more than a dream he'd once had. But then there was the warmth of the Chaos Emerald burning in front of him. It woke him up enough that he also saw Tails's and Amy's hands wrapped around it.
The Chaos Emerald in his metal hand glowed in kind. Maybe it was in response to Amy and Tails's call. Maybe it was the Chaos Energy waking Sonic up from within this Metarex coffin. He couldn't trigger the truth of the Chaos Emerald as long as he was locked within this shell, but at least a shred of the Energy still called to him.
Maybe it would be enough.
He stiffened every muscle in his body. The Metarex shell encasing him tried to drag him forward, back on the attack. They are not paying attention. Now is the opportunity to strike. To end your prey.
No. No. He refused.
Sweat rolled through Sonic's fur, the first sensation of touch he was aware of since being forced inside this metal skin. He embraced it. He clung to that tiny shred of reality. He stiffened his muscles with all the strength he had.
My name is Sonic the Hedgehog.
I am not a Metarex.
Not yet.
Not yet.
Not—
The Chaos Emerald between Tails and Amy burned brighter and brighter until even the Metarex skin encasing Sonic wasn't enough to shield his eyes. The Chaos Emerald in Sonic's hand tried to draw him toward the light like a magnet. It joined the Metarex shell in the war against him. Together, despite his resistance, they dragged him forward. Inch by inch by…no no NOT YET!
And just like that, the light of Chaos Control swallowed itself. And took Tails and Amy with it.
Sonic stopped resisting the pull and his abrupt release sent him toppling forward to sprawl in the dirt. Sonic gasped for air. His sweat soaked him. The metal encasing his body offered him no relief.
But they were alive.
Tails and Amy, they were still alive.
But then a chill shot through Sonic's body, freezing his sweat to ice. Because, would the Metarex know that he had fought back against their control? Were they watching through his eyes? He didn't much care what it cost him.
But what would it cost Cosmo?
The Metarex shell forced Sonic back to his feet. Not that Sonic had any strength left to resist it. Not that he would, with Cosmo in his thoughts. This hunt wasn't over yet.
Sonic knew that Chaos Control with a single Chaos Emerald couldn't have taken Amy and Tails far. Which meant the Blue Typhoon was close. Which meant Sonic had to at least try to find it. Which meant Sonic still had to try to hunt down the friends he loved.
Lest Cosmo paid the price.