Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Blaze

Violet's childhood room was...well, if Whisper had to guess it was like that of a child. It'd been far too long for Whisper to remember what it was like.

Small crayon drawings were on parts of the wall, and others were complicated schematics that also looked hand drawn, but using specialized tools. The carpet was a dark purple, and the walls were a sky blue with gray clouds swirled in. There was a single bed in the far corner, looking neat as if it hadn't been slept in recently, and there was also a large desk on the other side.

There was a small nightlight of some kind of pony. Whisper thought she recognized it as a dis-morphed form of a character from some children's show that had been on during her time.

"Um...yeah. This was my room," Violet said softly. "Mata's was across the hall," she said. She looked over the long forgotten room, frozen in time. "I miss it, sometimes."

"I think you're allowed to," Orange said softly, hovering over Whisper's shoulder. "It's never easy to lose a parent. To lose both..."

Whisper nodded. Her own family was a screwed up mess as well, and there was a reason she was on the other side of the planet. "I know. It's just...am I though? My parents are both still alive, just...not here."

"Doesn't matter," Whisper answered. "The fact remains that you miss them. That alone is enough," she said.

"I guess so," Violet answered. She looked around a bit, going from an old bookcase in the corner filled with children's stories to an old box that had a bunch of sports equipment. All of it was much too small for her now, but for a child...the perfect size.

"What were they like?" Whisper asked suddenly. "When they were here?"

Violet nodded. "It's...hard to say? Dad was always one step ahead of me, whenever I came to him with a question he'd let me ask it, and then ask me questions to let me come to the answer myself. Unless he was in the middle of a project, then he'd just flat out say the answer before I could ask. He was...attentive, I guess. Mom was...a bit more. She was always making sure I wasn't hungry, making sure that I was playing outside..."

"Sounds about right for both of them," Whisper smiled. Blaze was an unknown to her, almost never actually having met the 'princess of Sol'. Would that make Violet and Mata princesses as well? Or had she forsaken that title when she married Tails? Or had they even married? There were no wedding pictures, Whisper realized, throughout the house.

"Aunt Amy and Mr. Sonic were much...less. But they also had to deal with Velocity and Thunder, and those two are a handful," Violet said.

"Amy said that you were a major help with dealing with both of them," Orange supplied. Violet nodded.

"I just emulated my mom. Made sure that they were playing safely, not getting into trouble..." Violet said. She sat down on the bed, pulling her shoes and socks off.

"Have a good night, Violet," Whisper said. Violet smiled at her, waiting for Whisper to leave.

"There's a guest room, another one, just down the hall. Or I suppose you could take Mom and Dad's room..." Violet said. She laid down on the bed, and realized with a frown that it was kind of small for her. Her feet would hang off of the edge.

Whisper nodded and slowly shut the door. Without Violet and her constant talking, there was almost an impossible darkness that seemed to invade every corner of the house. Green popped out of the canister, letting a bit of light come out from his hover rings to help guide her. It almost felt trespassing to turn the lights on now, with Violet in her room and Shadow in the family room.

The small green light was enough to lighten it up, but not enough to make it seem that it was any more approachable. The house was silent, dreadfully so, and the light actually made the pictures seem worse than they were in the full light, full of harsh angles and narrowed eyes.

She was a trespasser, here. Both in time and in place. This was not where she belonged.

There was a door, right where Violet had told her, that led to a much more...normal, room. She flicked on the light, and after a moment of being blinded let her eyes adjust to it.

One bed in the center, with two dressers. A large closet on one side, and another room that was probably the bathroom. There was no door there, although Whisper thought she saw singed marks where one would be. The bed was a neat maroon, with hardly any mess to it. It'd been made neatly, and if she looked at the corners she could see burn marks.

One of the dressers was neat and tidy, every picture or thing on it was orderly and well thought out. Sonic and Tails, mostly, with a few of Tails and the others. A map of Angel Island, complete with a small mark in a sudden scrawl 'Don't tell him you have this' in words that didn't look like Tails'. There was a picture of Tails and Blaze, smiling together, with a small violet fox running between their legs.

The other dresser was much less orderly. Some pictures were tossed down face down, and Whisper could see some of Blaze and Silver, and Blaze and Tails. One of the pictures was of a younger Violet holding Mata carefully, the two-tailed cat's tails tickling the fox's ears. Small pieces of mail sat down, old bills that had small singe marks on them. A neat mark on one corner, 'You know it's much easier to burn these fully than it is to let me recycle them?' That seemed much more like Tails'.

That said volumes about what type of relationship the two had. "Ooh, look at this! Full suite!" Green said as he hovered to the bathroom. "This is massive!"

Pink and Cyan came out a moment later, checking out the bathroom as well. Whisper rolled her eyes, but checked it out as well. It really was large, with a shower that was almost as big as a hot tub, and a full counter with two sinks in it. The tile was freezing cold, Whisper could tell even through her boots.

"We're heading out early, so try to get some rest," Whisper said. The wisps nodded, not trying to fight back. Whisper doubted that they wouldn't stay up late, they had practically a full sauna to work with.

It would feel weird to sleep in the same bed as Tails and Blaze had, so Whisper compromised and simply fell on top of it. Her cloak would act as a blanket if she got cold, but with the wisps around she doubted that she would. Cyan, especially, would start to trigger the heat if she got really cold. She made sure the pillows stayed far away from her head, and she curled up into a small ball. Orange turned off the light, keeping the bathroom light on as the wisps played in it.

Even with the wisps causing noise in the other room, she was exhausted, and she wasn't sure how long it took before she fell asleep, but it couldn't have been long. An inky darkness seemed to ease its way into her mind. She was alone now, but she wasn't worried for some reason. She barely even recognized where she was.

"Whisper..." a voice called. Her head turned, and despite the impossible darkness she could see quite easily. The doors were open, and there was no light. Even the nightlight in Violet's room was missing.

She forced herself up, looking at the time. The clock was a mishmash of numbers that made sense to her, constantly changing. Odd, but not the weirdest thing she'd seen. "Whisper." the voice said again.

The floor was freezing cold, but warmed as soon as her feet hit it. The area was not creepy anymore, but rather inviting. The dark was still there, slight noises echoing into her ears. Whisper nodded, pushing the mask up her face a bit as she started to walk down the hall. She didn't need to see now, for some reason.

It had been dark and dreary earlier, but now it seemed...not bright and cheerful, but the dark was much less oppressive. The shadows had no edges to them, rounded and soft. "Whisper. Really."

The voice was seemingly getting annoyed at her actually looking around. She didn't know why. She was at a friend's house. Actually, what was she doing?

And why was she now in front of what used to be the steel door? Which, like almost all the other doors, was wide open.

The inside of it was a pure white, an endless expanse that made Whisper wonder about how much of Sonic's story of the "End of Time" was real, and how much of it was right here.

Blaze was standing in the middle. She was much taller than she had been, the last time Whisper had seen her. The jewel on her forehead was still as bright and red as ever; a sign that lacked on both Mata and Violet. Her face was older, her fur a bit darker, and she was clad in some kind of yellow toga. "Whisper. Really?" she asked, her voice echoing throughout. She had a look of disbelief on her face, as if her calling out to Whisper was something that should be 'hurried'.

Whisper tilted her head as the dream started to crash down on her, walking in through the door. The instant she was through, the door slammed shut behind her, and Blaze gave an honest sigh. "I was hoping that wouldn't happen."

"I'm not trapped in here am I?" Whisper asked. Her own voice echoed throughout, which appeared to be just a thing that happened in dreams. That also explained the numbers randomly changing to everything she could think of. Hadn't she read at one point that letters changed around during dreams, making it impossible to read?

Blaze shook her head. "I doubt it. Shadow's been here before, although he may not remember it. His mind is strong, but it fights the Sol Emeralds with every breath."

"Are you here actual, or is this a dream?"

"And why could it not possibly be both?" Blaze asked. "Just because it may be a dream does not mean that I'm not actually here."

"Then I should tell you off for abandoning Violet and Mata."

Blaze winced as if she had been struck across the head. "...I didn't want to. I especially didn't want to. It was supposed to be for a day. For me to contact Miles like this, and then...the door locked. And unfortunately the Emerald Chamber's override code is only in Miles' hands. We...never thought that it would happen when he wasn't here."

"That doesn't excuse you."

Blaze gave another wince. "Nor should it, I suppose."

"How can we free you, then?" Whisper asked. There were sounds of roaring around them, as if something was trying to get in.

"There are two ways. One is to fix all trans-temporal issues. That should let the Emerald Chamber let me out, because Miles made it far more sensitive than I had initially requested. The other is to grab the override, but it's more than just a code. It's a physical key, a code, and a soul. Miles, Vio, or Neko should be able to handle that part. It doesn't hurt, and it doesn't affect anything, but those three are the only ones who can."

"Why them?"

Blaze blinked at her, tilting her head. "Because who else would I entrust the Sol Emeralds to?" she asked. The Emerald Chamber contained the Sol Emeralds? In hindsight, Whisper thought, that made perfect sense. Also why Cyan and Orange couldn't get in when they tried. Needing a soul lock though...that was the type of thing she had no information on.

"...Also, Neko?"

Blaze gave a soft smile. "It means cat. Mata. Everyone refers to Tails by the nickname, so instead my name for him is his real one. Violet and Vio is obvious, but Mata...well, cat. Neko."

"She was told it stood for nekomata."

"Cat monster? Really? No...if anything, I am truly the only monster here," Blaze said. "Please...keep an eye out on Vio for me, since I cannot."

"Mata told me I must undo-" Whisper said, before the white of the dream Emerald Chamber started to shake and crash. "That didn't sound good," she stated, before realizing her voice was no long echoing. Was she starting to wake up, just by uttering the word?

"Oh yes, that's quite bad," Blaze answered still just as serenely as before. Her voice wasn't echoing either. "That word though...I suggest you not say it again, and I certainly won't. The fact that it has power though...that worries me."

"Why?"

"You said that Mata has told you. You understand the meaning of the word better than most, and the spirit world seems to agree," Blaze said, motioning all around them. "Please. I don't have much time. Promise me you'll take care of them."

"If I don't," Whisper started, before she mouthed the word she shouldn't. Blaze nodded. "I will. Don't worry. Where is Tails?"

"Miles was trailing an old kingdom. Apparently, the King and Queen disappeared for years and months on end, before suddenly reappearing many years later. They found followers of their old comrades, and took over the city they were in by themselves."

"That doesn't sound like the Restoration. Especially Tails."

"They claimed to use magic. Specifically magic to bring people from out of time to now," Blaze said, looking ominously at Whisper. "I think you can put the pieces together."

He'd gone to them...to try and bring her back. "And Tangle went with him," she summarized. Blaze nodded.

That explained a lot. Tangle probably found out first, and then like the pseudo-Sonic she was dragged Tails along with it, and then something happened and forced Blaze to go into the Emerald Chamber, and now Mata and Violet were stuck without their parents, Sonic was horribly permanently injured, Belle was...locked away in the Restoration HQ with only a movie account to keep her company, and who knows what the others are going through.

"Where is this...kingdom?" Whisper asked. "If you managed to contact Tails you must know."

Blaze shook her head. "They got caught halfway. There were no road signs, and Miles was asleep when they were caught. Blindfolded the rest of the way. I'm afraid I can't contact him except through physical messages, and those are barred from me for obvious reasons."

"Where were they headed to then? And where from?"

"From Fern Valley, heading to King's River," Blaze said. Fern Valley, she knew that place. Hard to get to, she'd went there with the rest of the Diamond Cutters at one point. The original squad. Forested, easy to get lost in. Small streams and bridges, well traveled.

King's River was...nearly two, three hundred miles away from there. The road was windy at the best of times, and had hundreds of various small roads that led off to the bushes from what she knew. That meant the area she had to search was somewhere between there and there. She had a solid starting point. Now she had to convince the others to take her there.

"Follow your path, Whisper. Time isn't a loop. It is not yet set in stone," Blaze said softly.

Whisper nodded. "I know. I'll undo it all," she said, the word causing the world to crack and shake. Blaze smiled softly, even as she disappeared from view. The Emerald Chamber was next, collapsing into an abyss. The darkness overloaded her vision.

And Whisper woke up, lying on top of Tails and Blaze's bed, which was still just weird to think about. Shadow was at the door, his eyes shut. Whisper rolled over, quickly putting her boots back on.

"Oh good. You're awake already. I was trying to figure out how to wake you up," Shadow said from the door. "Violet's in her room?" he asked.

Whisper nodded. "Easiest way to wake me is to ask Cyan or Orange. They'll scream at me if they need to," she said. Shadow rolled his eyes, but he gave a shrug and headed over to Violet's room.

"Alright, so we caught some weird stuff a while ago. Everything alright?" Orange asked from the bathroom. She had a small crown of bubbles on her head. Pink was next to her, a large scarf made of the same. Had they been having a bubble bath in here?

She looked inside, at the two sinks. Sure enough, one had been filled to the brim with bubbles, and between Cyan and Green were slowly carving them to make various shapes. "Oh yeah, she's awake! Alright, what's going on?" Cyan asked as she excitedly came up.

"Tails and Tangle were going from Fern Valley to King's River. Caught halfway, after a kingdom specializing in magic, supposedly had time magic," Whisper summarized.

The five wisps stared at her, blinking in unison. It was kind of creepy, if the wolf had to be honest.

"Time magic," Cyan answered.

"Really? Why on Earth would anyone mess with Time of all things?" Green asked.

"Maybe they just specialize in temporal distortions. That's what white wisps do, anyways." Orange brought up.

"There's also the rhythm guys. They do weird things like that too," Pink suggested.

"Time magic. Can others actually do anything with it?" Blue asked the other wisps. Whisper rested her back against the door. Sometimes part of gathering information was just...letting the wisps talk it out.

"Some can, but it's rare. Sonic can use that Sonic Wind thing, and Shadow has the Chaos Spear, and they both can do Chaos Control," Orange said.

"Chaos Control and magic are two very different forces though," Cyan said. "Magic is literally 'there is no explanation for this' whereas the Chaos Control is contorting the global chaos field into collapsing into a single point, bringing that point-"

"We get it, you know how to Chaos Control," Green said. Cyan answered by sticking out her tongue.

"It wouldn't be the first time for this kind of thing. Remember, certain electrical outputs can do the same thing," Pink said. "That's why Sonic can do the ascension thing, and our own energy is akin to magic at times."

"Yes, but we can explain our energies," Orange answered. "You're suggesting we try to find...please tell me you aren't telling us to."

"It does make narrative sense," Blue piped up.

The other four wisps let out a low groan. "We're not in a random story found on the internet," Orange said patiently. Blue rolled his eyes. Had they been having this discussion before, when she wasn't there? When would that have even been?

"No," Whisper said, bringing their attention back. "We go to Fern Valley, and from there we take the same road they took. We'll fight them off if need be."

The five wisps nodded and flew into their canisters on her cloak. Shadow entered the doorway not a moment later. "Still here? Violet's up. She's refueling the Tornado, has been for a while. She says it should be packed and ready to go whenever you are," Shadow said. Whisper nodded, grabbing the variable wispon and making sure it was secure on her back.

Whisper followed him back through the house. The Emerald Chamber was still sealed shut, and she could imagine Cyan drooling over it if she revealed to her exactly how the door worked.

"Sleep well?" Shadow asked. Whisper glanced at him, surprised at the small talk. Sounds from the garage were getting louder, and Whisper could hear the sounds of a fuel tank slowly filling up.

"For the most part. Dreamed of Blaze."

Shadow nodded. "I've never gotten a restful sleep here, even before Tails and Blaze disappeared."

"Blaze says hi, by the way. To free her, we need Tails and the override code, the key for it, and one of the girls or Tails directly."

Shadow stopped, staring at her harshly. "And...you know this how?" he asked.

"Blaze told me."

"It was a dream, Whisper."

"That's what I thought too. But...she also said Tails and Tangle were checking out on an old kingdom. Rumors of magic-" Whisper started.

"Of course they checked out the Acacia Kingdom. Certainly has nothing to do with rumors of people disappearing for years at a time."

"The only other lead is the clock. Any update?"

"Belle's translated it," Shadow admitted. "But...it wasn't good news, so we weren't going to let you know."

"Let me hear it anyways."

"Fine," Shadow shrugged. "It was only for your benefit anyways. We who watch Time's End push into the time is needed. All can be undone, all will be undone, and The End Time has come."

That word. Whisper memorized the statement, and she glanced at the mask to make sure it had recorded it as well. She was to undo it all.

"We don't know of any of this 'Time's End'," Shadow said. "We put it down to gibberish, recorded it anyways, and now the thing is lying within one of the Restoration's vaults."

Whisper nodded. "It fits, from what I know. Keep it there."

"That's what we were going to do anyways," Shadow said as he opened the garage door. The Tornado sat there, it's fuel tank shut. The violet fox was slowly putting in small boxes and crates into the back and underneath where they had sat.

"Oh good, you're both up. Who decided to pack the Tornado the way you did? That was some of the sloppiest packing I've seen," Violet asked, pushing another box out of the way, more towards the front. "You want the weight to be distributed, not all in the back."

"You do if you have Omega with you," Shadow defended himself instantly.

"We didn't have a two ton robot," Violet answered instantly. "Besides, Omega...he's gone, right?"

"There have been attempts to bring him back, but yes his memory core collapsed," Shadow said.

Whisper winced. Another two people whose lives would be better was she had undone it all. Omega and Rouge. "How...?" she asked gently.

"Not in front of the kid. It's not a friendly story," Shadow answered.

"I can handle it. I'm older than Sonic was when he first started."

"And how much death did Sonic have to worry about? The only death I remember is that of Metal Sonic, which quickly went away because he was remade."

Violet seemed to wrack her brain a bit. "In the stories I know the only one I remember is that of you. And obviously, you're not dead."

"I'd like to think not. I feel rather alive actually."

"But you know I have a sister who raises the dead," Violet deadpanned, "so I think I have a bit more experience with death than you do."

Whisper winced. She was trying to convey that saying that to someone like Shadow was just asking for it. Instead of exploding like she thought he'd do, instead he simply closed his eyes and gave a sigh. "I wish you did," he said simply. "You don't. But I wouldn't want to wish my knowledge and memories onto anyone."

Violet stared at him. "Right," she said after a moment. "Sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up. Tornado's ready to go. Spiral Hill next."

"Fern Valley," Whisper interrupted just as Shadow nodded and jumped onto the Tornado's wing.

"Fern Valley? Why are we going there? There's nothing there now. The entire thing got destroyed like five years ago," Violet asked.

Whisper stared at her. That...hadn't been accounted for. "To Spiral Hill, to get maps. Whisper thinks that Tails and Tangle went out to the Acacia Kingdom."

Violet nodded, before she turned to Whisper in amazement. "Wait, we're going to the Acacia Kingdom!? That's awesome! No one's ever been there that's made it out, aside from that one guy who said it was the nicest place he'd ever been to!"

"Scenery. He said it had the nicest scenery," Shadow said. "The people, he said, were enslaved, beaten, downtrodden, and much like the people of Green Hill were."

"That's okay, we have the wisps! The saviors of Green Hill Zone!" Violet smiled. Whisper felt the back of her head start sweating.

"Please don't call them that. They don't need more pride," Whisper admitted. Violet shot her a glare, before she hopped up onto the Tornado, starting it up with a few simple button clicks.

Whisper climbed up into the other seat easy enough. "Shadow, are you going to ride on the wing?" she asked.

The black hedgehog nodded. "Faker does that all the time, and that was before he knew to magnetize his shoes. Or before he knew how. I'll be fine."

Whisper didn't want to admit it, but a part of her was rather eager to get the Tornado flying, if only to see the black hedgehog fly off the wing. Violet hit another button, and they watched as the main garage door opened up.

The Tornado slowly started to taxi out of the house. "Got everything you both need?" Violet asked through the radio. "Because this thing is a pain to turn around," she said.

Whisper nodded. "Yes. We're fine. To Spiral Hill," Shadow said.

"...I thought it was Fern Valley. Come on, we going west or north here?" Violet asked. "Whisper, come on, you're the navigator. Tell me, Fern Valley or Spiral Hill?" she asked.

Whisper looked at Shadow, who shook his head. "Spiral Hill. But we'll check out Fern Valley afterwards," she admitted.

"Got it! Course plotted...and here we go," she said, making sure there were no vehicles on the road before she pulled out. The small fox turned it, aligning the plane to the road, before she gunned the engines.

Whisper took a deep breath as soon as they were in the air. Sure enough, the black hedgehog had fallen off instantly. Cyan mimicked taking a picture.

The main theme in my head when I was writing Blaze and Whisper's part was Phendrana Drifts, from Metroid Prime. It fit rather well, actually. Second of two chapters today.

Until Next Time!