Sonic and the Harmony of Chaos (UNDER EDITING)

by CGMayra

An ancient trickery has caused the Gods of Order to be separated, but believing in an old Echidna fable, Eggman discovers the lost 8th Emerald, the Harmony Crystal. History reveals heartache, and Chaos is desperate for Sonic's aid to free his friend from her long-suffering and bring Balanced Order back to the world as one. (Sonamy, ChaosxHarmony) CONTAINS:Mentions deaths/Sacrifices

8. Chapter 8 UNEDITED

Sonic and The Harmony of Chaos - the 8th Emerald

Ch. 10 (Unedited)

By: Cutegirlmayra (I'm still so, so burnt out from everything going on in life, especially creatively. Though I did get some stuff done, I've also been editing like crazy when it comes to my old works and have had little time for Tumblr Prompts, it's been a lot. I appreciate so much that all my Cuties -followers and readers- have been incredibly supportive and patient with me. I love writing, and I just need to write by and for me. It's getting over the hurdle of the initial starting, and actually doing it. I've been re-reading old works while I've edited, and write new stuff while editing, but… it's not the same as freely typing whatever comes to mind and looking back at notes to make sure you're somewhat on the right track for the story. You've all inspired me with how caring you are to someone who just wrote Fanfiction for fun practice in what was my only creative outlet as a kid. I struggle with things due to a disability, but it's always beautiful to see how much people love my mind and making up new stories, character development routes, and interesting takes on things that end up lasting in someone else's mind for years to come. I write for me, but I want to share it in case anyone was looking for that sort of thing I just happened to think of and enjoy with all my little heart. I write because it brings what's in my head out, and this author's note is getting far too long xD I love you guys, you make me so emotionally ecstatic to write and see what you think. Your reviews keep me going in my imagination some days, when other days, I just wish I could turn my brain off. Stay tuned, my Cuties, and know that each one of you has the potential to reach a heart. Since my stories have already done that, and I've already told you you've touched my heart, you can't really argue with that mutual experience, now, can you? Lol

On with the show!

-Game voice from Mario games- Start!)

-Eggman's False Zone…-

Shadow, since he had given his Chaos Emerald to Sonic to help him fully take on Perfect Chaos's form, reared back his hand as though to summon his Chaos Spears and 'tsk'd as his eyes swiped back to his hand flinching to only have air.

"Shoot." He jumped to dodge what he thought was an attack by the Elemental Robots, thinking they'd see him readying an attack, but… "Hmm?" He was surprised, it just looked at him, two glowing pink eyes before picking up a steel beam and dragging it to where his robotic programming told him to set things up. "... They're non-hostile?" he looked to see the rest of the men, fighting and pausing to realize the same thing.

"Not a violent bone in their… uh… bodies?" Silver put down his hand, watching as he had already crushed a few Elemental Soldiers into just stacks of metal and boulders crumbling down over each other. Pink light flew gently from their beings as their eyes dulled but any electrical component still worked, and they sparked.

One even had a red eye still glowing… showing that their 'cyborg' parts that weren't magically lit up by Harmony's animation powers were still operational, although damaged by the attacks.

"What's going on?" Frustrated, but also gritting his teeth at the odd spectacle, Knuckles held up his fists after crushing ones rocky head and watching it slump over without a fight, its light flying to Harmony… "They won't even fight back…" He had that very same fusion of earth and rock, steel and electricity, right in front of him as the other Elemental Soldiers carried on with repairs and building.

"... Are they… mindless?" Storm asked, looking back at the others with a once thrown fists slowly being pulled back as the robot's crushed chest released Harmony's power and it flew away into the sky…

"Does it matter? They aren't actually alive, everybody!" Jet, without hesitation, was hitting down more and more, spraying rocks and rumble as he used his Extreme Gear to use wind and force to hit them rapidly down. "Quit standing around! They're killing our friends, remember?!" He gestured his hand with a few short pumps, looking to his teammate behind his shoulder and then standing firmly on his board to address the others, "You sacks of lose weight can't get that in between your skulls or something!?" He bent his knees, and like a horse, the Air-Gear reared up and blasted more wind out, theatrically.

However, it had purpose, he was blasting–with the stored up air he had from following Sonic's turbulence beforehand, the remains of those he had busted to fly out and shoot into the ones still trying to work.

"We have clean-up duty, Storm!" He angled everyone back on-track, as Shadow, Silver, and Knuckles looked back at the horde.

"He's right, we can't think morally on this one." Knuckles concluded, hitting his fists into the other. "They're holding back Harmony's power at Eggman's doing…" He held up a fist, "And in order to save the girls, we have to give that power Eggman forced out back to Harmony!" he threw the fist forward.

"... Harmony… maybe, the life and organisms she controls can't be violent?" Shadow looked to Perfect Chaos, still trying to dodge beams of spiraling, bright white light angled at him from Harmony. She rested still on her pillared, swirling throne of wind… her one wing flapping majestically. "This world's fate… rests entirely upon Chaos not destroying her." Shadow realized his own error, looking down and away as though cricking his head at his own folly. "Foolish-… I should have known. According to what we dug up, she was never meant to a weaponized device… that's why the Echidna's moved to Chaos… Realizing she was useless in their war efforts." He pulled out a device and started to work on it, making Silver, who was midway about to take a cluster of Elemental Soldiers and crush them in the air, shooting their parts like Jet did at the rest of the horde working, before looking back at Shadow.

"Is this really the time to be looking up something?" He asked, almost innocently inquiring before shooting the mass of Elemental Robots into others without crushing them, watching as they sprang with pink light like exploding, clay balls.

Shadow ignored him, his eyes searching through the depictions. "Harmony didn't take those lives…" He looked back at the girls, "... They did."

-Eggman's Destroyed HQ-

"Grah… They busted everything!"

Eggman hit his fists to the computer. Did he know Harmony would have to drain all life to give him what he wanted? Yes. Did he feel remorse..? Well…

He looked up slowly to the damaged computer screens…

"... How did they live?" He asked himself, and turned to Orbot and Cubot, walking briskly up to them cowering together before grabbing their steel, stem-y necks and hoisted them up off the ground and raising them up his tall and large body. He shook and yelled at them in front of his large mouth, spraying out spit as he shouted out his question again, "How did they do it!?"

Orbot grabbed his gloved-hand, "I-I don't know, Doctor! I don't know!" He shook his head profusely, as Eggman dropped them and looked disappointedly upset, seeing he wasn't gonna get answers from those bozos, he rubbed the bridge of his nose… thinking… tapping his foot on the ground below him.

After years of hunting down Sonic, he had gained that further impatient gesture from him… though, the two were naturally impatient people.

"There must be something I'm missing… something about Harmony I overlooked…" He walked up to his chair and sat in it, as though exhausted over a long work day, and rested back… before leaning forward with his hands together by his nose… deep in thought…

"... The Echidnas had to work with what god they had… So? They knew she was an endless fountain of life… Or did they?" He spun in a swirling loop to a side monitor, cracked and burnt, but still visible with some screen left.

He typed in some things, and hit the keyboards in annoyance, "Exactly! She wasn't limitless!" He peered over the far corner of the screen, his mouth slightly opened as he tried to see what little of the screen he could… even leaning his big rhombus butt up off the large chair to try and see better if possible.

"According to these readings… the stats…" He looked down to the keyboard and up again, typing without looking. "Yes…" His glasses had unreadable text moving across them, showing what was on the screen.

Both Orbot and Cubot, rubbing their heads or their steel, stem necks, looked to Eggman and then themselves.

"Harmony… ain't all-powerful?" Cubot asked, still a bit shaken up from before. "As in… She isn't like Chaos?"

"The Echidnas plans were never her… it was to use her to weaponize Chaos." Eggman continued typing, smirking. "Yes,... Yes, of course… I thought I could do what they couldn't… I thought I could help Harmony gain the missing power she had lost… but that's just the thing. When Life ends… it can't be restarted… not that easily, anyway." He clicked on more screens and shortened their frames to fit in the only viewable part of the monitor, having multiple screens as though many tabs open as he investigated further. "There are signs of Harmony all over the world's cultures… I thought to look into them, but none showed that Harmony was limited…" He looked back at the window that showed Harmony's graphs and statistics. "Harmony… can store the powers of creation into a mass… She can 'transfer' life… So long as that life force remains somewhere in the universe…" He continued to write, "Yes… Yes… I get it now! Hoho! Only Chaos can fully destroy anything! Leaving it completely outside Harmony's domain!" He flung his arm out, "In that case, I should have used Harmony… to imbue me with Eternal Life!" He was giddy again… before realizing… with a slight adjustment to his weight on his feet… he slowly twitched his outstretched hand as his face was fixated on his keyboard.

… Realizing his own flaw in his plan, he smashed the keyboard excessively with that raised hand, grunting in great power as the two robots held one another.

"THE TWILIGHT CAGE!" he almost roared out, shaking his hands to the monitor, "THEY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE! It's why Chaos had to banish them, there! It's why normal decay didn't affect them in that dimension! Harmony… has her power source in EVERY dimension!"

He shook his hands more and more, enraged at his own lack of knowing how Harmony's powers worked.

"Harmony… She had her limits, but every account of her made it seem like she had unlimited power, was the perfect counterpart to Chaos…" Orbot looked to Cubot, "In reality… she is only the pencil that marks a new creation, and he is the eraser that ends it."

Eggman smashed his palms to the now scattered pieces of the keys, and their old board. It hurt his hands, but he didn't care. He let out a long exhale… his frustrations finally subsiding as he tried to recalculate…

"... What are Sonic and his friends doing?" He had had the power to travel his life force throughout creation, and he used it instead to try and 'build' instead of 'conquer' all of life.

He could have been sucking Harmony dry of her power… The Emeralds… they were only created to harness the power of Chaos, because even the Echidnas had already concluded her use had peeked for them and their schemes.

It was Eggman… who was late to the ball game.

"Gahh… no use looking on the past." Eggman was used to rolling his shoulders back as though tossing off one failure to plan for yet another conquest. He looked over to Orbot and Cubot, "If Sonic is planning to fight Harmony… then we all–in every dimensional plane that life is sustained in–... is doomed." He crunched up his fist in the air, holding himself at his full height. "... Confidence, Eggman." He looked to his busted screens. "... Confidence."

He marched out of the control room, making both Orbot and Cubot worried about what he was planning to do… now…

They rushed after him, weary of what he may be scheming this time…

-The Skies of Dread-

Harmony roared out a gruff grunt, shaking her slender snake-like neck till her dragon head swayed. Amy's voice mingled with the sound, showing frustration.

"I held out hope… but I should have known your anger would lead to this, Chaos!" Amy's eyes were wet with tears, but her face showed only the angular, sharp edges of rage. "You would destroy every piece of me! Bit by bit! Until nothing remained in any of the worlds we've nurtured!" Amy's eyes were bright, fuchsia pink. Compared to her pale, light pink, it was easy to tell she was being manipulated by Harmony having possessed her.

"I agonized over the day I would have to face you again…" Her quills rose with the wind around Harmony's gooey body, "I slaved in my mind over how I would plead guilty… how I would seek mercy in my unknowing indulgence in the creations of my heart… But now, I see they were right about one horrible thing..!" Amy opened her mouth and moved her head back, as Harmony reared up her neck to almost lay upon her pudgy body, looking like the dinosaur liopleurodon in shape. Except, without fins, replaced with wings, and a long neck like the lochness monster.

However, Harmony's Perfect form did show the same head as Chaos, more feminine and dragon-like with almost beautiful features like a head piece that showed the tentacles that matched Chaos… also beneath her, small appendages like tiny tentacles except for the ones that had combined to pierce the ground below, making her look like a one-winged kite.

Chaos Sonic remained silent… his heart aching at her words… Did she really believe that?

That he would… be so angry with her… that he'd destroy everything they've ever created together… the worlds without number… the life and fusion of elements to create planets through the Planet Eggs…

His time spent with her… How could she think him such a monster?

He saw the beam get launched towards him again, her body completely being thrown into its descent towards the ground, and moved like a rippling dolphin over the earth to dodge the explosion nearest him.

"W-Woah!" Tails grabbed hold of the top sticking, clear-fluid of Chaos's head. Sonic was at his chest, the brain still lighting up down there… but Tails wasn't sucked into the water.

Instead, he grabbed at what looked like a vein, as Chaos's eyes turned to him and he tilted his head while speedily making his retreating dodge.

"Wa-ahh!" Tails, freaked out by seeing a literal god of destruction's slitted eyeball wide and staring at him kicked out his feet and swung his body to cling more to the base of the strange appendage. "You have to talk to heerrr!" Tails cried out, closing his eyes as he tried to hold on for dear life, now on his knees. "Do something, Chaos! Don't just stay silent!"

Sonic's body, looking like he had gritted teeth from emotional restrained, looked up as though showing what Chaos was doing. It was as though Sonic was looking up towards the top of his head, before looking down in great pain of heart.

"... How?" Chaos answered through Sonic's form.

Tails, surprised to hear the strange sound of emotion from Sonic's voice, looked over to Chaos's head, seeing he had re-aligned himself to the front, bouncing up and down like a creature of the water, but also slithering at times to change directions and dodge more of Harmony's attacks.

"She believes me to be a monster. That I am created to destroy her and nothing more. When… in reality… there was so much more." Sonic's voice sounded with so much longing, it pierced Tails's ears instantly, never having heard such tenderness and heartache from him like that before.

"... Chaos." He bent his eyes, "You really do love-" He stopped when Chaos was thrown to the side by a white, blaring beam of light. "Ye-AHHH!" Tails lost one grip but used his twin tails to fly him with the tumbling Chaos. "Chaos!" He cried out, seeing the supposed god hit the side of the ground with the explosion so close to him.

"I may not have the power to end all and any life…" Harmony 'flew', or rather, used her perch of endless wind in the sky to swish her form to be in the direction Chaos was traveling while trying to scale his form along the ground in large bodies of rushing water, "But I do have the power to protect it!" With Amy's voice ringing out, Tails also had never heard such dire urgency in Amy's voice… that pain… that fear…

With a great scream of tortuous decision-making, as though having steeled her mind to fate, Harmony blasted another beam towards Chaos and simultaneously pulled life from around her and from the black, dripping sun like running paint along a wall…

"No!" Sonic spun his head around, Chaos doing the same as they were one, and fired off a blast to collide with hers while still on his side. "HARMMOONNYYY!"

The blast vaporized the earth in between the blast zone, which immediately destroyed a good quarter of Eggman's forces.

Her power was being restored… but at what cost?

Silver had used his powers to pull the other men back to the cliffside, Jet and Storm still on their Air gears; but while Jet crouched on his, holding it with a hand gripping its edge, Storm was barely up with a leg on it.

His eyes… twitched with seeing a massive crater in the ground… and the clouds having been caught up and vaporized in the blast as well… empty… it all just looked… empty.

Harmony swung herself in the air, groaning and crying out.

"... See what you're doing, Harmony…" Sonic's voice took on a tone of disbelief, as Chaos rolled his body to be on his belly again, his tentacles slamming against the ground as he tried to turn back to her, his head reaching up with his large mouth slightly open.

"Harmony… Beauty…"

Amy's eyebrows continued to twitch down.

"All the beautiful things of nature… They remind me of you… I thought you were fully destroyed by my power." Sonic put a fist to his chest, "Do you know… how that wracked me? For millennia… I only sought revenge… for what they made me do to you." He reared his chest forward, as though to have Sonic's voice carry his message for him. "To us!" He moved forward as Sonic's body spread out his twitching arms, as though truly trying to convey what he felt.

Harmony turned her head a few times, as though trying to comprehend what he was saying.

"I wanted to look for you… any remnant of you… but every cruel reminder of what they made me do to you… It was tortuous to exist without you!" Sonic's voice was growing almost raw, his eyes bending in such great emotion as he spoke. Chaos moved forward again, as though inching closer to where she was above the sky. "I have been trapped in that Emerald… Trapped in a cage that only reminded me of what was used to hurt you… to attack you… to end the one thing that gave me solace in the endless expanse of time and space…" It was scratchy, hoarse, as though desperate to speak but not knowing what to say…

"From my mind… I relived that memory… before this entity brought me and my rage down." He gestured behind him, but it was clear he meant Sonic. "He had a righteous fury for this world, a sense to protect it. Through him, I realized my rage could be kindled against your creations… No, our creations." He gestured to himself again, "... Amy…" Sonic's voice rang more through, his eyes twitching as though fighting Chaos's control.

It was barely a whisper, but Tails looked down from the dragon's–god's–head, "Ah! Sonic, let him speak!" he cried out, "Don't-!" he almost slipped and had to reach back for the appendage, feeling Chaos move and swivel.

"No… I need to tell Amy..!" Sonic tried to reach for his head, "Chaos… Let me… Let me speak..! Let me help you!" Sonic fought the control as Chaos shook, his host resisting him.

Tails was also trying to hold on, "W-Why!? Can't it wait!?" Tails looked at his monitor, throwing it to one of his tails as they both caught it and he was now free to grip Chaos's head with both hands. He squinted an eye and looked to see the readings. "She's… gaining so much power…" He looked at the plants below them… their greens, browns, and all manner of color being drained and turning to ash around them…

"Sonic… hurry." He looked worried, as Sonic finally broke through a bit of Chaos's mind pulsing against him.

"GRAAHHH! Amy! You have to help Harmony understand! Show her what you know!" he cried out, "You're the most empathic person I can think of! Show her all you've felt from Chaos's Aura beams!"

Amy looked completely absent, Harmony and her still one, gritting her teeth.

"Try." He voiced out, holding out a fist, "Amy, TRYYY!"

With Harmony gaining so much strength… could Chaos's words even reach her in time? And his emotions… his feelings…

Were they enough to stop the end of all worlds… and eras of Peace and Order?

-Back on the Ground-

"There," Shadow withdrew his hand as the last Elemental Soldier fell to one knee… then… slowly hunched over and fell as pink lights flew like a refracted glimmer in the air to fly to Harmony's heart and side… "That's the last of them." He looked to the others, huffing and puffing, but noticed Jet eyeing the jetstream of Harmony's winds…

"... Don't do it." Shadow barely narrowed his eyes, it was a millisecond of understanding what he was thinking…

Jet smirked, "Heh, you think you can read minds now?" He looked over to him, "If that thing is hurting Wave…" He was cut off as he glared towards Shadow, "... Can you really read minds?"

"Can you really defeat a god?"

Jet chuckled again, shaking his head a little as he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Haven't tried."

"B–Boss…"

Storm bumbled a little, but came up to his Air Gear and gripped it, looking up as though trying to calm him down. "We almost lost Wave today… d-ah… Don't make me lose you, too…" He slowly lowered his head, bowing it as though unable to bear the thought onto the front of Jet's Air Gear.

Jet looked at him, bobbing with the fast winds near them… thinking… before turning his head and frowning, "Tsk… Gah, fine! You gosh darn, sap!" He bounced his Air Gear, making Storm rear his arms up in the air in a goofy manner.

"Ah-ah-aaah!" He regained his balance as Jet put his hands on his hips and turned the Air Gear around slowly.

"Hmph,... you twist my arm and words, why don't'cha?" He looked to Knuckles then, "Hey, your kind started this… why not end it?" The wind blew by each of them… but Knuckles looked still as he faced the ground.

His bundled hair swayed… as he looked up from closed, reserved eyes. "I'm aware… but I'm not who they were." He strode forward, placing his feet deliberately below Harmony's winds and looking straight up through the hurricane tunnel… They weren't even in the eye of the storm, but close enough to its edge to feel the razor sharp tearing of its shrieking sound, ripping earth from below its scraping, airy nails.

"... I am the future of the Echidnas." He looked back to the men, "That means… I'm their last hope at redemption." He then fully turned his back to the air. "... I accept… that I'm not one of them." That… was an extremely hard line for Knuckles to swallow.

"I am a new breed. I have accepted my fate." He gripped his fists tightly against the fabric of his gloves, as Shadow lowered his head and narrowed his eyes, as though testing Knuckles's resolve, he wanted to be proven that was true… "My ancestors left me this duty… This weight that is unparalleled to any deed done in history… I understand it's foul curse upon this world… and I accept the responsibility as though it was my own doing." He stepped forward, eyes as deeply invested in this acceptance of his grief at what his 'revered' ancestors have done. "I will atone." He repeated Shade's words, and held his stance…

The ground moved all around him… but Knuckles stayed strong and true in the howling winds… and Shadow… his judging gaze staring him down with such instilled hate and intent…

But at last, Shadow blinked and smiled, looking up with a newfound respect for Knuckles.

"I know that how feels." He smirked, and held out his hand to him.

Knuckles smirked back, lightly 'hmph'ing at having won over Shadow's confidence, and gripping his hand firmly in brotherhood.

"Let's put an end to Harmony's discord." Shadow looked up at her, "We must make her hear him… Sonic… and Chaos combined… Their voices can't reach through all this turmoil and heavy, traumatic sounds." He looked at the winds, "If this reflects Harmony's mood… we can safely discern that she's guarded. Above the chaos, quite literally, she's protecting herself and trying to defend what she knows is a lost cause already…" He looked back to Knuckles, "She thinks she's going to die in this fight… and might want to… trying to be the martyr and take the full blame for what she has done… As I once did… following the orders still of men already long gone from this world." He shook out his head slowly, remembering his own past. "I admit, I hated her… I even hated you and Chaos…" He nodded once with a sharp look of reprimand for himself, "But that was also a self-reflection of how much I hated the actions of my past… how I have… not truly forgiven myself… no matter how much I strive for the world's peace," He looked at his hand, "... I seem to only bring the end to it." He curled his fingers in to make a lose fist.

Jet and Storm watched, as Silver flew a little closer… all were listening to his silent confession.

"I know what I did was wrong…" he lowered the hand, as though defeated within himself, "But I refuse to let the world Maria adored end." He opened his eyes to the rest of them, still a bit hunched in his honesty. He looked to Jet and Storm, "I… know how Chaos felt… waking up and wanting revenge for the wrongs done to him… and… someone he loved, cared about even-" He turned to Silver, who tightened his lips as he listened in concern but respect. "Enough to want to die with the world he tried to destroy."

Shadow walked in an arch as though giving an empowering speech now, "Come on… now that I've accepted the truth, it's time to make two gods kneel down and accept their own flawed feelings, too…. If not, the world is going to end." He looked up, towards Sonic this time… and Perfect Chaos. "Along with all our feelings… taken with it."

-The Cliffside-

Bashing away debris from the roaring winds, Vector held up a hand and punched another rock from hitting the fallen girls.

They breathed lightly, still pretty weak and passed out, almost all their colors gone and turning to white…

Stirring, Vanilla tried to open her eyes, and Vector turned from the flying debris control and noticed her awaken.

He looked back several times over the horizon, trying to be ready to defend again, before rushing to her side and cupping his hands with some water in a nearby puddle, pouring it over her head to try and keep her cool.

"You okay?" He asked, looking to the other girls and seeing their faint breathing, flushed faces… as though sick.

"Emm…" She tried to smile up to him but coughed, "Death… doesn't always look very beautiful, does it?" She tried her best to be brave in front of him. "Guess I can't say that…" She coughed again, rolling to lay on the back of her head instead of on her side where she was. "Technically… I've already died once." She tried to tease, but shook her head, "Peaceful… but still quite scary. I wonder if that's what Harmony is… That… strange, lulling peace that still makes you fear the life you've lived… question your decisions… wonder… if there was another way… before the end?" She looked up at the swirling mass of wind that kept Harmony afloat in the air, and the clouds–looking as though they were trying to flee from being sucked in any closer to her. "I wonder if that's why… we say we love life… but we really fear every choice made within it. Even though life… is very much unpredictable… making chaos in its wake." She coughed harshly and Vector tried to pull her up to himself again, just like before.

"Please…" He begged, "Stop talking, you're hurt… injured… you're something bad about ya!" He really looked sympathetic, but worriedly, he knew he had no idea what was going on.

"Shade explained more to me." Vanilla comforted him, patting his resting arm over her body to keep her held up. She looked for Cream, patting her head as well when seeing that Cheese wouldn't leave her side... They had fought the debris until Cream got faint... "It's funny… I didn't like death." Vanilla chuckled lightly, a bit morbidly as Vector held his mouth open a second, but she stopped him from scolding her.

A dainty finger went to her mouth, winking faintly in her lack of strength, "I know… I like the terror of life far more than the peace I felt being pulled from it… I felt I could do more… I felt there were so many options I haven't thought of before… roads and routes left unmarked… things I still wanted to try and do… like raising dear Cream… and seeing how strong she and Cheese became." She closed her eyes softly, "And what kind of woman… she would become…"

"Vanilla…" With crocodile tears, Vector worriedly thought he was gonna watch her die again.

She giggled weakly, "No need to fret." She tried to reach to his arm and rubbed her thumb against it, humming lightly before coughing and dropping her hand, in pain from her lack of strength again. She winced, and smiled again, making the slow death look beautiful, even in itself. "Vector, dear… You've been so good to us… Me and Cream can't thank you enough for checking in when we called… I'm sorry we've scared you."

"Vanillaaaa…" He really was sobbing. "I'll hold ya up, don't be afraid to go limp in my arms now." He adjusted his hold on her, closing his eyes as his lips trembled all the way down his muzzle, "You'll be okay this time… Sonic's on it… he and his friends… they always work things out… somehow."

She nodded lightly, "That's right. They'll never give up on life." She looked to Harmony, "I wonder… if that's how she feels… Staring down her own death..? Or looking into the face of one she loves..?" Vanilla's eyes opened just a bit more, though her chest bounced as though she was struggling to stay conscious. "I… I believe… she's just like any other woman…" She reached a hand out to her, as though trembling with every ounce of empathy, to reach out to her… "She just… wants to live her life… watching her children prosper… keeping them safe-" She fainted as more color drained from the girls.

"NOOooo…!" Vector's cry wasn't enough, he gently cradled her in his arms, rocking up and down, "Vanilla, don't go again… please..! Cream needs her mother… I… I need you, too…" He sniffled, putting her down gently and rubbing his eyes, "No… I can't let this stand! I can't just stand here any longer!"

"Vector!"

"H-huh?"

Surprised by his name being called, he saw Charmy and Espio rushing back with something being dragged in a black bag behind them.

"Wha…"

Vector rubbed his eyes, having a little squeaking sound effect with it as he blinked them open again, seeing his trusty teammates… but...

"Wha… WHHHAATT? Aren't you guys supposed to be fighting with the rest of'em!?"

His mouth opened wide as they rushed to him, dragging the heavy object.

"Shadow had a brilliant back-up plan!" Charmy grinned from ear to ear. "Heee~" He chimed.

"What do you… have?" Vector held out his arms, as though something was gonna jump at him.

"A way to stop the world from perishing under Harmony's confusion." Espio pulled the tarp off the object, revealing that the bag was just a improvised, last-minute thing.

Vector's eyes… sparkled at the green of the Master Emerald.

"Oh my gosh…" He opened his elongated mouth wide, "You're gonna seal Harmony and Chaos away again!"

The two nodded in unison, "Hmph!" Showing their plan.

"With the Harmony Crystal being broken, like the girls told us before, we have no other device strong enough to hold them." Charmy basically repeated Shadow's words.

"Therefore, if they do make nice, Shadow proposed Knuckles's idea of sealing them away might not be a bad resort." Espio gestured back to the Master Emerald, "It's dull right now, but with the seven Emeralds in hand… Ah… Where's Sonic?" He looked around before Vector had a bead of sweat slid down his face, awkwardly.

"About that…" He scratched the side of his chin, "Ahh… just look!" He pointed out as the two both stared at Chaos Sonic… Against Harmony Amy!?

They made goofy faces of alarm and cried out, jumping to Vector.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEIR ALREADY FIGHTING!?" They said together, Charmy by Vector's neck, pulling on his chain and hitting his chest, while Espio was on the other side with his feet still on the ground, shaking his belly.

"Are you saying the end of the world is already happening!?" Espio stated, "I thought they were going to talk?"

"Did it not go well? WHA-HAH-HAAA!" Charmy began to cry like a child, as Vector held him up with him sitting in the palm of his hand and then put another comforting hand on Espio's back.

"You both know that ain't true." He looked up, "See? They're trying to talk… but Chaos is getting no where with her all the way up in the air like that." He removed his hand from Espio's back, trying to remain strong, and pointed to Harmony. "That's our new target!" He looked to the Master Emerald. "We gotta get that thing below her somehow. Right in the eye of her storm!" Vector then gestured his head between the two crew members of the Detective Agency.

"What do you say boys? Up for one more delivery?" He smirked widely with all his teeth spread across his face, as the two nodded eagerly.

"Right!"

Vector looked one last time to Vanilla,... he walked over and put a hand to her neck, feeling for a pulse.

Before he could get a reading with a feel, his hand gently twitched slightly from reaching and pressing against her neck to hear faint breathing again.

He sighed in relief.

Espio took the black tarp and put it over the girls, almost like a blanket or covering, as Charmy flew about and tucked them under it.

"That should keep them warm!" He tried to speak over the winds, which were gaining more and more range as Harmony flew up into higher altitudes.

"Does she not want to talk?" Espio held up a hand over his eyes, "Why is she attacking?"

"I think she thinks Chaos is here to finish the job… hurting her won't solve anything, though. And I really doubt the big lug knows how to effectively tell her that!" Vector admitted, looking to Chaos.

"I can't hear a word their saying…" He gripped the ground a second, "But someone's gotta get that Emerald to the base of her feet! … Er… Tentril… things!" He tucked the tarp below Vanilla's feet carefully.

The three then moved back away from the girls, checking to make sure the tarp stayed on, and instinctively holding their hands out in case it flew off.

Seeing the tarp shake heavily in the wind, but not go anywhere, they gasped as more light flickered from the black tarp and was pulled to Harmony.

"They aren't being drained as much as like beforehand." Vector explained, his speech showing his care in his voice. "There weren't many rocks heading this way either." He looked up to see the boulders and things were flying far overhead, the winds becoming that powerful now.

"... Them Babylon people ought to like this weather." He commented, and looked to his team with an arm around each of them, "But we gotta dodge these obstacles and get to the prize! Who's up for another team building exercise!" He pumped a fist up and the other two looked just as riled up to succeed.

"Alright… now get that thing behind me!" Vector took a strong stomp forward and bent his knees, holding his hands out behind his back.

Hurrying, Espio and Charmy rushed to both sides of the large, imposing Master Emerald. Tucking their hands under it, they began to try and side-step in a crab-like walk towards him.

Once in his hands, Vector rose up, and the weight of the Master Emerald was child's play to his strength.

Now just supporting, Espio and Charmy's faces lit up.

"That's our boss." Espio praised.

"Nothing can stop him! Speed train ahead!" Charmy flapped his little wings and kicked his feet out.

Vector, blowing out some gust of air from his nostrils like a bull, swung his mouth around in flaps of encouragement and power, "Then let's gooooo…!" He cried out a battle cheer as the two also followed-suit with their own cry.

The three then, just as Charmy described, full-steamed ahead. Dodging left and right as they raced down the cliffside and jumped..!

They had managed to dodge the flying earth pieces… but how were they going to land!?

"AHHHH!" Their eyes shrunk as Vector admitted,

"I think I might have not planned this through!"

"Vector!" the two cried out in shock and scolding.

As they all began to fall, helplessly, a green Aura flickered weakly around them.

Silver, on his hands and knees, squinted through the pain of trying to summon a failing power, and held out his hand, "Come on… For my last… stretch of… strength..!" His hand flickered with green light, holding the trio and the Master Emerald… guiding them down to a safe descent before his hand burst into what looked like pixelated dots…

It flew like sand… and he watched as time was rewriting him out of history… as the world was turning infertile… he would have never been-…

"Born…"

Silver looked in horror as he suddenly… disappeared.

The others stared in terror.

Shadow rushed to his side, looking around for evidence of him… but the earth only showed where his knees had pressed into the ground, and where his nails had gripped the earth in strain to save Team Chaotix and the Master Emerald.

Shadow looked back and forth at the three marks on the ground… before shaking his head and gripping his fists. "We can't be too late." He looked to Vector. "Where are the girls!?" He cried out.

Vector and the others had fallen the rest of the way, but although aching, weren't hurt enough to not respond.

Vector got up and rubbed his butt, "We covered them in a tarp… They were still breathing when we-" He looked up… seeing the steady stream of colors… "Ah no… Ladies…" He looked back up at the cliff… when the last of the faint colors… ended at last.

The men remained silent… mourning yet again.

"Are we… really too late?" Knuckles looked to Shadow, "We can still seal her… We can control and command her to use her power to bring them back… Like Shade did!" He narrowed his eyes, "They did so much for us to get this far..!" He was also trembling in his fists…

Shadow just held his head down, his eyes blocking all light from them…

Silence… except for a roar form the wind's master, as they all looked with anger towards Harmony's outstretched wing, absorbing the powers, charging up another attack.

"Then why are you here, Chaos!? What have you come for..!? If not revenge!" Harmony was powering up into a large ball, radiant as a prisms colors, but as brilliant and large as the sun she had dimensionally blew a hole in.

"Ahhh~" Amy charged up power and held her one hand up, the other flopping about in the wind as though unable to be used… "HAAAA!" She flew herself down, going to attack.

Chaos shook his head, wanting control of Sonic again, but Sonic just stood his ground, crying out with a more commanding voice this time.

"Stop this right now… AMMMYY!" His call to her suddenly made Amy twitch.

"N-No…" She weakly tried to speak for herself, the heart pulsing with colors on her chest trying to squeeze at her and keep her in control. "No… I won't let you… let me … hurt SONICC!" She cried out and pulled up, as Harmony faltered from her swan dive and arched back, the blast that surrounded her backfired into herself, and she began to be pulled by the wind to safety, away from Chaos, Harmony shrieking in pain.

Chaos responded, lurching out his neck and crying out for her, with her…

He moved to catch her, but the wind was pulling her away.

"Now's our chance," Shadow grabbed Jet and Storm, "Go! Ride the wind!" He shoved them back to their Extreme Gear, making them collide with it to fall somewhat on their backs to it, surprised by his sudden hold on them and being thrown.

"Go!" Shadow ordered, "Do what you do best! And steal us some time!" He flung his arm, then looked to Team Chaotix with the Master Emerald, "I'll protect you." He looked to Knuckles, "We can clear a way and get the Master Emerald beneath her safely, we can seal them both through you, Knuckles." He waited until Knuckles nodded.

"For Shade and Rouge." He stated, "And every innocent female that ever had to deal with this horrific event…" He looked down, shaking his fists, "The selfishness of man ends here…" He turned to glare at Harmony, "Harmony… goddess of suffering for life… We deserve to livvveee!" He reared forward and began to make a trail in the earth, digging vigorously with a loud voice, "URA-URA-URA-URAH!"

"Now!" Shadow swung himself back, gesturing for them to move, "Vector!"

"Right!" Team Chaotix hoisted the Master Emerald up back into position, without Vector's strength, they'd have had to drag it yet again the whole way.

They went down the path Knuckles carved for them, as Shadow couldn't teleport without a Chaos Emerald in his hand, he kicked and punched away while skating by their sides to keep them running. "Go! Now! Don't look back!" He then looked over his shoulder, as Knuckles shouted out from still trailblazing the earth to make a curved walkway for them, beneath all the dying vegitation and tearing earth.

"ROOGGGUUEEESS!" Knuckles swung his head up from digging, rearing himself to let his mouth open as far as it could to cry out to them. Flying in dancing trails overhead his call, the remaining two Babylon Rogues flew through the whirling, vicious streams of air currents.

"We hear ya, we hear ya!" Jet smirked but also looked as though concentrating, straining to keep his board under his feet. "These are the most wildest winds we've ever rode, Storm!" He bent his back and gripped the Air Gear's side behind him, moving more like a skateboarder to get better control of his Extreme Gear.

"Just how we like'em, Boss! Dah-haha!" Storm cheered with support from behind, as Jet chuckled and did a tight tuck-and-roll maneuver to try and start scaling upwards from the downward moving winds.

Surprisingly, they moved so fast that they were like streams of their original forms, blurry and without a trace besides the stream of lights behind them.

Like ascending to the heavens, they rode the wild air currants, masters of their craft. Using their wings feathers, they spread out their arms and navigated their balances, coming up to fly around Harmony, stealing her attention and making her head swish about.

Storm looked to see Amy doing the same motions as Harmony, being her 'voice of her heart' as it were. He flew back around and looked down to Sonic, a speck within the blue menace, but his eagle-eye vision helped to see the details of his own expression.

He was 'speaking the mind' of Chaos… How interesting these metaphors he created in his inner-thoughts were.

Profoundly, he looked up as though realizing how difficult this all would be. Not only are they trying to save the world, but they're also trying to save a relationship.

Between, likely, gods-like entities…

He gulped, looking over to see Jet making faces at Harmony's angular eyes, spitting out from his tongue some raspberries and having his palms outstretched and up to the sides of his head like a moose.

Was this… the only way?

Storm gazed back down at Chaos, his heart now feeling the brisk air of the swirling wind… Harmony's anxiety manifested, and Chaos's grounded appeal void to her airy 'high and mighty' resolve of staying far above the actual issue at hand…

He looked to her as he rounded her again and again, avoiding the swishing of her massive but concaved and holed wing, then the thrashing of her long and slender neck to swat at them. They were like flies around a swan…

"We have to ground her, too." Storm deduced, looking at them trying to get the Master Emerald in place. "Jeeettt!" He called out, trying to fly close enough for the wind to not drown out his sound, "Booosss!"

Finally, getting close enough, Jet looked over to him, "Can't you see I'm busy?" He snarkily replied, only looking at Storm from the corner of his eye behind him.

Jet flew down her body and did a 360 full spin as though going up a ramp and flying back down the liquid spines of interconnecting webs along her wing.

She tried to trash her head back, almost like a giraffe swatting its neck around. He laughed as he flew to dodge, "Your head may be massive, but I'm much faster!" he sneered in delight.

"D'ahhh…" Storm realized Jet wasn't in the mood to hear reason, either…

"I don't think we should seal her away, just yet, Jet!" He tried to cry out his alternative thinking, "Maybe… we just need to sedate her long enough to hear Chaos's pleas for peace?" He arched his eyebrows, a feeling of something being right sitting in the large cavity of his chest.

It made his whole soul burn as though he truly felt that peace of mind, the peace that Chaos was aiming for, was after all right and correct.

"The truth is…" Seeing Jet wasn't listening, he looked up at Harmony as she swung her neck back forward, and turned her head slightly as though picking up on Storm's feelings, "He just really doesn't want to lose you again…" He looked as though understandingly… He halted his Air Gear, pivoting it in hopes she was listening to his own heart.

He held up his hands, trying to plea to the defensive goddess, "I know you're upset, but… Because of you, we were really upset. You took our friend away from us, and it was definitely the hardest thing me and the Boss had ever had to overcome. We had to fight those robots with your power inside them, and we were so angry and distraught, we bashed and trashed them without a second thought. In reality… they were apart of you, and we wanted to hurt you for hurting us… and our own people." Storm moved his Air Gear and little more forward, directing it at her as she whipped her head about, roaring as Amy's voice cried out from her center chest below.

"Harmony… you're the one wreaking havoc because you think that's what Chaos wants to do. He wants to hurt you for hurting him… but that's just not true!" He swiped out his hand, then bundled his fists together. "You're the one he's lost! He's already hurt the world, through the city, I-I think?" He looked up a second, trying to remember what he overheard through his travels with Sonic's friend this whole adventure. "A-And he's trapped the Echidnas..! S-Somewhere..?" He looked at the sky, pointing to it lightly as though still unsure, but certain he heard something about that..? "We're descendants of Aliens, too!" He then proudly put his hands to his chest, trying to find common-ground with her, "Which means… our life might have been granted by you eons ago, too… Harmony, not all your creations seek your destruction… and not all destruction… is coming from Chaos's wrath." His face turned so truthfully tender… as though he really wanted to convey to her that–

"You're… Your safe, Harmony… If you just calm down, and listen to what we have to say… you'll realize no one really wants to hurt you… we just want our lives back. With our planet, our friends… Our… treasured family." He lowered his head with a smile, as a stroke of light came up from Harmony's heart. Purple and light, it graced over Storm's neck…

"Storm… It's working..! She can feel what you're saying…"

"D'AH! Wave!?"

Storm looked around, back and forth, before opening his mouth wide at seeing the purple hue of his friends colors.

She giggled, as the light returned to Harmony's core… which was now Amy, being her host.

He looked down through the clear liquid fluid, a light pink, almost obscuring where Amy was due to her blending in.

He looked worriedly at Amy, realizing that Harmony was using her, but then nodded as he also came to the conclusion that his friends weren't dead and gone.

Just like Shade had proven, they can come back… So long as Chaos doesn't permanently destroy their life force, it exists still in Harmony's power.

"Harmony doesn't have the power to take life…" He looked up, realizing what Eggman had. "She only has the power to store it… to remove it and place it elsewhere… Only Chaos can destroy life." He looked over to Chaos, "That's why she fears him… she fears a resounding death."

With newfound understanding, he looked to Harmony and turned his Air Gear around, surfing back over to Jet and rushing into him, grabbing him and his Air Gear in one swift retreat.

"W-WHA!?" Jet was so disoriented, as Storm began to dive back down from the hurricane, gliding through the eye-of-the-storm…

He was so determined, his eyes fixed on the Master Emerald… He had to stop it… there had to be another way to get Harmony to remain still and speak to Chaos head to head… heart to heart…

"What are you doing!?" Jet cried out, "She killed Wave!" He reminded him, his voice shrieking out her name in his usually shrilly, bird-like voice but carrying the emotional weight of his message.

As Jet kicked out his feet, his arms locked under Storm's massive, muscular wing, it was clear he wasn't willing to listen to reason either.

"She's still here." Storm spoke with absolute certainty, which paused Jet as he opened his mouth, still in anguish but now in full disbelief to his words.

"Are you… stupid or something?" Jet's expression softened, "How can you be so sure?"

Storm tucked his head for forward and down, one fists bent and ahead of himself, guarding against the heavy winds as Knuckles had made a path beneath the winds to get the Master Emerald into position.

"We can't let them seal her away yet… or they'll end up like that girl they told us about." He looked back at Jet, "Ti… Tea… Teal-kala..?"

"Tikal?" Jet raised an eyebrow, "I vaguely remember they had a vision from a ghost girl who-" His eyes widened.

The two said in unison, "Dwelt in the Master Emerald!" Jet kicked his feet out, finally convinced their was a way that wave was still in existence with them. Storm, overjoyed he understood him now, laughed cheerfully as he held him out in front of himself, no longer restraining him or his Air Gear.

"D'ah-haha! See? But if we don't get Harmony down from the sky, we can't see her again like last time she died." It was weird saying that line, but maybe…

"Storm, you're not as dense as you look." Jet smirked, only joking, but Storm nodded with his eyes closed as though understanding the compliment was just Jet's way of showing affection with sarcasm.

"Let's get those blokes to hold off… at least, until Chaos can charm the dickens out of that hysterical woman!" Jet nodded, having Storm help him back to his Air Gear and them swerving down the airstreams full-forward dive to where Shadow, Team Chaotix, and Knuckles were…

They had to bide time away, alright! But not from Harmony… they were interfering too much with 'political conferences' being held by superior beings of the universe's creation and cycle of life..!

During the time that Storm's emotions had connected with Harmony, it was enough of a distraction to allow Amy to break free of Harmony, looking around the strange fluid and realizing she could breathe just fine. She looked at her hands, moving through the light and fluid… she then put a hand to her throat as instinct of drowning, but realized it wasn't necessary. "Sonic..?" She looked around, as the heart in her chest thumped against her own heart, causing pain as she gripped her chest with both hands over the other, "Ugh… all this… fear and… sorrow…" She knew this regret… "You… You have to let Chaos back in your heart again… realize he had never left it to begin with… Chaos… he rampaged for you, but we all didn't realize it. We were told it was because of the Echidnas that a great wrong was done to him… but now, we have the full story, Harmony… he fought so hard because he felt he had lost you… it was never about him, it was always about his anger at losing you." She tried to sway her hand out into the fluid beside her, as though trying to calm Harmony's fears down.

"He could never hurt you of his own, free will and accord, Harmony… Storm is right, you're safe. You're alright. He's not going to betray you… Augh!" Amy was wracked as Harmony's form violently shook herself, as though trying to expel Amy's feelings from affecting her.

Amy was controlled again, possessed as Harmony's heart beat wildly over her own, not allowing its calming and peaceful tempo to affect itself.

"I betrayed him!" The voice carried far over the smited earth.

Amy was led into a memory, Harmony growing glowers and having Chao walk behind her as she bubbled in joy at their presence, looking behind her and swaying her two arms out in joy.

But then she stopped to see Chaos bending down to an Elderly Chao, who was weak in his knees, his back crooked and hunched all the way over, carrying a cane barely visible under his long, white mustache and beard combination. His eyes were barely able to stay open, as he willingly laid his head to Chaos's hand… finally… closing his eyes as he dropped his cane while Chaos…

Took softly his fading light… and as Harmony's fluid withdrew from her crystalized, dried blood eyes–her blood bubbles boiled frequently throughout her body in alarm.

Chaos, still kneeling, erased the life she had given right before her eyes…

The Elderly Chao disappeared… and in a desperate attempt to save him, Harmony tried to suck what remnants of his life remained, and reformed an Egg to give him reincarnation.

Chaos, pulling his arm gently back, saw the Egg form and looked surprised, getting up to look to her.

He had no idea… how she then perceived him since…

As the Echidnas pleaded for mercy against death, against destruction from their enemies and to save their tribes… she remembered how Chaos could make all her power go into nonexistence… he could make it so that she couldn't suck the life back and reform it again… How all her precious creations… what she once thought were their own… could be stripped from ever having existed at all.

Like a painter watching someone destroy their beloved craft… she would not stand for such a sight again.

Draining the Echidna women wasn't death, it was displacement. It strengthened her, and she could always reform them once Chaos was sealed.

She would protect her children, she would make it so that death could never prevail.

She would defeat Chaos… so that her creations need never fear such a sight, such a…

Permanent… destruction.

"Harmony…"

Amy's eyes watered at such a sight, seeing Harmony admit to her being the cause of so much pain.

She may have been fooled… but that was only the excuse.

She wanted to put an end to Chaos's power,... She was at fault-

After all.

"All things have to come to an end," Amy put her hand to her heart in the vision, "If they don't… new life can't be created… The same picture remains posted for forever… and no new creation, better and even more grander than before, can take its place… all creatures deserve to live, Harmony. And death is not always a bad thing… it can be gentle, and it can be good for those still living as well. Compassion… mortality… realizing we only have so many days and nights… It brings us all closer, it makes us all care more about one another… It reminds us to not take for granted what was given, and pave the way for new life to discover itself and what the world has to offer."

Amy spread out her arms, "Harmony..! Your anger towards Chaos was unjustified! He may have the power to destroy your creations, but that is so that a new life can be created instead of recycling the same mistakes by the old generation time and time again! He was washing away the past by carving the way for future enlightenment! One generation even more prepared and better than the other!"

She was thrown out of the memory as Harmony dove to crash into Chaos, "NOOOO!" Amy cried out, but this time, it was Harmony speaking, repossessing her. "I will not let you destroy my creations!"

She clung so tightly to the souls she loved and cherished, it didn't matter about being fooled…

All that mattered now… was that she didn't want Chaos to destroy what she had already made.

She refused to see life and the planets without end as their creations… not just her own.

Chaos Sonic then braced for impact, "If things weren't displaced and taken from these worlds… then you'd have no more power to give life… You're even more limited now than you were then..! Harmony! If I didn't take the life you have given, then eventually, you'd have run out of power to create anything ever again! You would have spread your power too thin!" He swiped out his hand, then bundled them as he prepared to catch her.

Chaos's tentacles spread out in front of him, as though to catch a 'ball of light' as she thrust her head and ball of light surrounding herself from her decent–pulling from the worlds and dimensions through the dimensional leak around her–to collide with him and push him back against the ground.

"At least she's on the ground," Jet… teased at the most inopportune time.

Storm watched with horror shaking in his eyes how Harmony pushed back Chaos against the land, leaving a wake of mayhem and desolation in her comet-like trail.

Chaos, forced to fight back, reared his head and grabbed her body with his appendages, throwing her like a body-wrestler to the ground and biting her neck, draining her power as he shook his grip around to leak out light from her… which… permanently was taken from ever existing again…

Harmony cried out as her power leaked and was destroyed, thrashing her being around on the ground while Chaos tried to get a hold of her… Tails's voice growing hoarse as he kept trying to convince Chaos to speak more than take action..!

"She'll destroy the world…" Storm realized, "All worlds… her power will be spent and there will be nothing left to repair it…" He realized that the more she fought, the more Chaos had to permanently destroy her power to defend himself, and with her already weakened from him destroying 1/3rd of her power beforehand… the more crueler the reality of them possibly losing the remaining life force of-...

"Waaaave!" Storm's eyes shook in terror, moving so fast down that he almost flew off the Air Board, trying to get to Knuckles, "STOOOPP!" He cried out, tears spraying from his eyes as the wind flapped against his feathers and body.

Team Chaotix set the Master Emerald down, wiping some sweat off their brow before looking up at Storm and Jet flying back down.

"Uhhh… Are they supposed to be coming back?" Vector asked, putting a hand over his eyes to look from the blinding light show to see them hurling down from the within the eye of her hurricane, and turned to see Knuckles positioned a ways out from the Master Emerald, taking a deep breath and then holding out his arms skyward, preparing for his chant in a reverent manner.

"Oh, great Master Emerald-"–"Stop..! Cease your prayer!"

"Huh?"

Knuckles turned to see the apparition of Tikal, her hands tightly clasped together, fear and worry stricken upon her countenance.

Shadow, seeing her as well, immediately stepped forward.

"What's wrong? Don't stop him!" He swiped a hand out, annoyed.

"Harmony has heard one of your hearts," She gestured to Storm and Jet, now landing in a big, windy pile as they braced for impact by releasing all their stored up air to propel them from a harsh landing.

"If she can hear all your combined feelings… from all the worlds and creations of her heart… then she will know that what she is doing is wrong."

"But… she's on a rampage!" Knuckles threw his arms out towards Tikal, having lowered them from his previous stance. "How do we get her to listen to us? If she won't even listen to Chaos! She can't see reason!"

"She's blocking her heart from us," Storm, a little nervous to speak to a ghost, took his Air Gear in front of himself, holding it in place a bit tilted, as though shyly hiding some of his face from her. He peeked around the Air Gear, "D'ah… Miss Ghost Lady?"

"Tikal," Jet coughed into his hand.

"R-right, Miss Echidna Tikal?"

She turned to him.

"D'ahhh… You see," He shyly dipped his head a bit, blushing, before gesturing out a hand again to continue this train of thought. "I tried to reason with her, she felt my emotions, Wave told me so."

"Wait, Wave told you?" Jet looked at him, incredulous. "How?"

Storm looked between him and the ghost, "H-Hold on, Boss, Please." He politely shut him down as Jet folded his arms, annoyed he had to wait on that answer.

"If Harmony is closing off her heart, and guarding herself with her walls up, how is anyone or anything supposed to penetrate to her heart?"

He then ducked and hid behind his Air Gear a little, sheepishly having only one eye peek around it, "M-Ma'am."

Tikal, looking concerned, nodded to his fears. "You are right, Harmony has steeled herself from her creations and even her most beloved friend." She turned to Knuckles, "... Which is why… Sonic is the only one that can even begin to open her sealed heart…"

She held out a hand to Knuckles, gently, "You know this… I have spoken to you before about it…"

"Sonic?" Knuckles looked confused, "I-... I thought you meant Sonic as Chaos's host..?"

Tikal smiled sweetly, tilting her head in a type of nod, her lower eyelids bunching up slightly to show great care for Knuckles's confusion. "He is." She replied, "But his heart is now within Harmony's power…" She looked up to see Harmony Amy's motions within Harmony, mimicking her actions as though one and the same, and Chaos Sonic doing the same but for Chaos.

"Together… He will help Chaos reveal the inner-workings of his mind, where the chemical emotions are produced, and Harmony, will have to accept the feelings of her heart, and overcome the body's weaknesses of fear and power… She has been corrupted by life, and only through Order will all things be restored to their proper, renewed, and restored forms… for all truth is this, that Life and Death have no bounds. Forever shall they reign and rule… side by side… till the very eternal song is sang to its last, unmistakable trumpeted reply."

"...What?" Vector looked a little lost.

Charmy put a hand up and whispered into the side of Vector's head, "I think she means 'Until the fat lady sings'." He explained.

"... Oh." Vector looked a lot more chilled now, "Then why didn't she just say so?" He shrugged.

"Had to wrack your brain on that one,... Eh, Vector?" Espio lowered his eyes in somewhat disappointment of Vector, but smiled in fondness nonetheless at his 'brave and noble' leader.

Being a detective, they had to have their wits about them, maybe not their 'social phrasing ept' skills, though.

"Once all of Harmony's powers have been expended, no new life can come forth." Tikal took back on a warning tone, as her eyes fixated on Harmony… "Such pain…" She closed her eyes, putting her hands into a prayer-like gesture as her head bent down, "Harmony… hear our heart's cries…"

All over the world, women suddenly held to their hearts… the young and the old…

"Your wrath is justified in that you care for your creations… but as our mother, you must allow life to continue forth… Only you hold the power to nuture giving… do not take, for it is not within your nature to."

A little girl, holding her weakened mother's hand, looked out to the sky as her heart glowed with the colors of Harmony's combined lights.

Many more… looking like the Harmony crystal, then resonated in all life across space and time…

Chaos stopped his shaking his grip on her neck about, and looked to see her heart glowing with light…

Tikal continued her prayer,

"So life must die… that it may return to you in honor, that you may refine and weave it into the next, to start the process once more. Until a perfection is found, your power will never have end… And this is Order, to accept that the life is beautifully spent, and has no true end."

Chaos Sonic, hovering over Harmony Amy, moved back slightly as Chaos's form did the same.

"... Harmony… All Life is precious… but the life we sow… cannot last forever."

Harmony's eyes now flowed with streams of falling light, as though rivers of aurora lights.

"I feel them… They live, Chaos… they live even still."

Harmony Amy shook her head, crying.

"Even without me… they found the will to live on."

Chaos Sonic smiled warmly to her, as Chaos placed his head to her own, to still it.

"Be consoled…" Chaos Sonic gently motioned a kind rub of his head to her own, even though him and Amy were far apart, Harmony and Chaos were now extremely close to one another.

"I do not hate you…"

Harmony cries turned to a beautiful, piercing sound almost like a song's note.

"In great love… Do I end the suffering of life well lived. Spent to its fullest, and in love for you, I return it to your being… that you may bring forth even greater creations… that we might have joy in that which we have made. Your life wanes, your power–although omnipotent–is not ever-lasting… You must be restored, and that is my role. To take back what is rightfully yours."

Harmony Amy reached up with her hands, as well as Harmony's own tendrils to lightly spin around Chaos's body…

"You should end me…" Harmony Amy's lips trembled as her breath began to wane from so much emotion, the world's women pouring their desires to live into her. "I have hurt so many… including you."

Chaos Sonic shook his head softly, "You needn't end."

She sobbed through heavy breaths.

"The joy you bring… even to me… that has no end in memory never forgotten… never lost."

"I… must atone. For betraying you… and the life we have made… together." Harmony's cries still, and one tentacle graces Chaos's head…

His mouth opens as though relieved to have her back… but then…

"I forgive-"

A large blasts shoots into Harmony's back, the nape of her neck.

Her body flails, as Chaos is forced to move back.

"What!?" Chaos Sonic's voice rings out, as Eggman laughs in the distance.

Holding each other once more in fright, Orbot and Cubot watch helplessly as Eggman has a canon strapped over his shoulder and around his body like a body-brace that camera men sometimes adorn for bigger cameras.

"He's lost his mind!" Orbot exclaimed.

"He's gonna blow us all up! Living or not!" Cubot pointed out to Chaos Sonic, "He's gonna force her to retaliate and end the world!"

Tikal turned to Knuckles, "Knuckles, if Chaos and Harmony are one now, then the souls she has trapped within her being, the lives not yet returned, will be trapped forever like I am!" She warned him, "For this is how I came to be, my life was pulled into Chaos's entrapment through Harmony's abused power. If you seal her away, then trillions of women will be forced to live out eternity trapped with her!"

Knuckles's eyes shook at such a heavy weight, "No… I don't want to bear the sorrow of any more tortured lives…" He gripped his head, the pressure now getting to him, "Rouge… Everyone…" He fell to his knees as Espio rushed over to him, kneeling beside him.

"Vector, we have to stop Eggman." He looked to him and then to Charmy, "If Harmony fights, the world is over."

Charmy nodded, looking to Vector, "Let's beat him up!" He kicked out his fists and feet, "Plus, still owes us money!" Referencing their time working for him during their time fighting Neo Metal Sonic, even though… they figured out it was him and not Eggman that was making them work so hard for nothing.

"Harmony..!" Chaos Sonic tried to pull her body away from another canon fire, lifting her to turn her direction from it. "Together, we can preserve the natural order of the worlds… of all life… you mustn't think me a monster for that… cease this fighting… death is inevitable for all creatures and living things!"

Harmony threw her head back and charged up a beam.

"NOOO!" Chaos Sonic had to cross his arms over his head, as Harmony shot out a blast and pushed Chaos away.

Eggman did a giddy dance, clicking his heels, "Hehe-hoho~" Wiggling his butt before waving his arms widely out as though jumping-jacks, "Harrrmmoonnyyy~ Grant me eternal life! Give me access to dimensional planes and let me rule all of the unknown galaxies!" His eyes flashed with her aurora beam hitting Chaos.

His smirk only widened, the darkness surrounding him more apparent by the contrast of the light coming in front of him.

"You have tricked me!" Harmony Amy believed the blast came from Chaos Sonic!?

"No… Harmony, no!" His voice was falling, so wracked by almost having his dearest, beloved friend back… only to lose her once more to the wicked tricks of man. "Harmony, please!"

Chaos shook his head and roared, but Harmony fired another powerful blasts and Tails cried out as Chaos took it willingly, having no more desire to fight.

"You can't give upppp!" Tails felt the impact of Chaos hitting the ground, flying off as he flew to Sonic at the center of his chest, pushing his hands against the surface of the hard water, watching gentle ripples come off from his touch. "Sonnniiccc! You have to do something! We were… so close…" His tears began to fall, "I believe in you, Sonic… Chaos can't be the hero… you are!" He closed his eyes, his tear drops making light, beautiful sounds against Chaos's chest… the ripples increasing… as Sonic remained motionless upon the inside of the water's depths…

"You found a way to connect to Amy through your bond with her…" Tails hit the chest, a even greater ripple waving out across Chaos's chest. "You talked to me about it… remember? Chaos… you have to talk to Sonic, you have to get advice and stick to it! You love her… you have to fight for her, but that doesn't mean fighting against her!" He shook his head. "Love should be able to withstand any hardship, any war of hearts against minds,... Love… Love can endure even the poison of outside influences, right?" He squinted his eyes open, "I may only be a kid–an orphan at that!–But even I can recognize that love shouldn't be this complicated or hard! Stand up, Chaos! Sonic! You have to have Harmony see reason..! She's fighting against her own heart, you have to reach her no matter what..!"

Tails's heart began to show lights… lights that resonated with Chaos's mind pulsing ghostily over Sonic's own head…

Shadow, Knuckles, Jet, Storm, Team Chaotix… all the men around the world began to look ahead, as though sending their thoughts and feelings to Chaos…

Chaos stirred, his dragon-like eyes trembling a moment, as power began to soar through him.

"Chaos is not just the happenings of life or the death of it all..!" Tails's feelings swirled around him, his light growing and growing… "It's also the immense feelings of things we can't express! Things that have no words to describe! They are our memories, hopes, and dreams! Chaos…

You are the spontaneous joys of our lives as well!"

Chaos Sonic's eyes blared open with such light that even rivaled that of Harmony.

With her power not equal to his own anymore, Chaos roared and pulled himself off his back, landing with a dust cloud around his being to stand as his tentacles rippled at his sides, his power looking like refracting light against the surface of a large sea.

"Harmonnnyy…!" Sonic's voice rang out again as Chaos summoned a large body of water to cover the land, Jet and Storm grabbing the others, using their two Air Gears to keep the Master Emerald afloat as well.

"If I can't make you see reason… I'll tame your anger out of you..!" Sonic held up a hand, "Direct that anger… all of it… to me!" Chaos held up his head, "I'm ready for you!" Sonic smirked, "Chaos, let's take whatever she throws at us, she's bound to weaken, and we can take it..!"

Chaos, in agreeance and with confidence, swung his head about and narrowed it to her, ready for her. "HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOOOTTT!" Sonic threw down his hand as Chaos launched himself to Harmony.

"No!" Knuckles cried out, "The world..!"

Shadow gritted his teeth, holding onto the Air gear from its side, them all now in the water and holding the Air Gear as though a drifting pile of wood, the Master Emerald tilted on the two Air Gears to stay above the water.

They moved in the crashing waves… all trying to cling to the airboards.

They watched… helpless… only their feelings able to give Chaos the full strength of his power needed to contend with the mother of all living…

"I'll never lose anything again!" Harmony Amy charged up her power. "CHAOOSS! I will never be enough to protect my creations..! But I can at least protect them from you..! Just a bit longggerr!"

Then, from the stars… a voice rang out.

"My Children… our great mother of all has been wroth with wrongful worry… we must hold her fast and true down to this earth. For the Planet Eggs sake, for all our sakes, and the many living organisms still found in this universe… Do not fail me..!"

That voice…

Seeds dropped from the sky, bursting as they hit the ground and began to surround Harmony… then…

From their buds, Seedrians bloomed and held their viney or branch-like bodies to her, binding her down.

Tails's eyes turned to the sky, his eyes already clear from fresh tears… seeing a face he never thought he would again.

"Cos… mo?"

"Go, my children! Restrain our great mother so that the balance of all life may still commence!"

Knuckles looked to Tikal, "If Chaos can take all of Harmony's hits… till she's completely drained of life… will that life… return to what it once was?" His eyes shook, shrinking, "Will…" He looked up at the Master emerald she was floating near, not taking his eyes off of her, but looking desperate for an answer. "Will our friends be able to come back… because their life forces will be placed back where they originally were given?"

Tikal's face looked afraid, but she blinked her eyes to smile and nod to Knuckles.

"That is a way." She agreed.

"But Chaos must not fight back." She narrowed her eyes.

"If his anger can be turned to compassion… then if he takes the hits on behalf of the world… the world and all other worlds… will be spared, but not saved."

She looked to the Master Emerald, "Then you must chant." She looked to Chaos and Harmony, "And the gods must reign as one… creating a new Order for the universe to thrive off of… yet again, and once more… the measure of creation will be completed for this era of existence… And a new time will commence forth and be forged."

Vector looked to Charmy, trying not to swallow water.

"Meaning..?" he gulped down some water and started flailing.

"You're an alligator!" Jet kicked him, annoyed, "You can't drown!"

"Crocodile!" Espio corrected, sticking his head out of the floods.

"What's the difference!?" Jet angrily cried back.

"Enough!" Shadow looked to Tikal, "For this new Era, Sonic has to keep Chaos calm while getting hit by Harmony over and over again until she's sedated and satisfied!? How's that meant to be healthy or correct!?" He looked pretty ticked off. "What are you saying!?"

"That when her energy, through anger is spent, your friends may return to you… I never said this was a good way." Tikal admitted, her ghostly form clinging to the Master Emerald with one hand as the surf made the boards ripple in the troubled waters. "But it is 'a' way."

"Not every relationship is sound." Knuckles muttered, groaning out his frustrations and shaking a fist to Chaos Sonic, "Heeeyy! Get that girl to really wham you, alright!?"

Shadow just grimaced, "Ugh… This doesn't sound right."

"Hey, they can go into marriage counseling later!" Jet kicked himself up onto the boards, holding the Master Emerald, "Now, get on! Let's focus on ourselves for a change!" He pulled Shadow up, "What's with the freaky alien flowers and sticks, anyway!?"

"I will not be deceived any further, no more shall life be given! I shall pull from all my creations, and end your power once to hurt and destroy once… and for all!" Harmony Amy's eyes sprayed droplets of blobby tears, as Harmony Amy held up her one arm and threw it down, Harmony firing off blast upon blast at Chaos.

The men around the world narrowed their eyes, giving all their feelings to Chaos. The thrills from the unknown, from the jumps, leaps, and bounds they've taken to make their lives the way they are. The will to keep on living with the ones they loved… to keep experiencing the different courses life could bring to them.

"Chaos… You make the joys in our life memorable… From the pains, comes the knowledge of what true happiness really is." Tails turned his attention away from Cosmo, in his heart, knowing it was only her voice and not really her… just the existence of her life force still within Harmony.

Each blast sprayed out more lights, which floated back to the worlds…

The little girl holding her mother's hand gasped as her mother's colors returned to her, and her blinking as two more hands reached down.

The mother looked over, her husband holding her shoulders in an attempt to help her up a bit, and smiling warmly down to her as her son wiped his tears and gave her another resounding open-smile that touched her heart and soul.

Their hearts empowered Chaos, as he took each hit, having Harmony release her power back into the sky…

She was shooting out shots of large collections of life, and when they hit him, a Aurora arched circle blasted out of them, releasing the colors of the spreading rainbow…

Cosmos seed held tightly her to the ground, binding her as she released more and more of bullets of life.

Under the gloomy, morbid black tarp came stirrings…

Gasping for air, Rouge threw off the tarp, coughing.

Then Blaze, pushing the tarp off her back and coughing on the ground.

Vanilla then rolled it off of her, as though getting out of bed, covering her mouth a moment.

Kicking the stupid tarp off of her, Wave rose with a dried voice, "That's the last time I'm dying today..!" She coughed out, ticked off she had to go through that 'TWICE'.

The girls rose up, as Harmony's last shot at Chaos was a long beam that when connected, forced Chaos to lay his head down as he struggled under it, but many rainbowic bows stretched across the sky from it…

Sonic whispered through gritted teeth, on his knees within the watery chest of Perfect Chaos's body. "Endure it,... don't get angry… don't fight back…" Sonic strained himself, trying to help Chaos remain submissive. "It's not fair, you're justified in that she's acting crazy." He told him, "I know. I know because Amy doesn't make any sense to me either." He tried to push Chaos's back up, as Chaos tried to let Sonic… take over himself this time around.

"I know… that you just want to help her, and save what's left of your friend." He tried to get a tentacle under Chaos, to help him rise up. "Do you feel that? That's the desire of every man on this planet… from every world ever created… they're giving you everything they can… all their thoughts, feelings, the desires of their hearts, and ambitions of their minds… they want to live… and Harmony can't be destroyed for that to happen! You don't want that!" Sonic pulled himself up, "Pull yourself together, Chaos! You are the only one that can reach her! You gotta open that door and get her out of hiding!"

He clenched his fists together, "Amy… You have to say you're sorry, Chaos!"

Chaos swung his head around, he did nothing wrong!

"It's good you forgive her, but you also admit she did nothing wrong…" Sonic gritted his teeth, "She was manipulated… maybe, she allowed herself to be,... but you can't save what was, you can only move forward with what is and try and repair and make a newfound relationship with her!" He got Chaos to stand against the oncoming beam. "She can't destroy you… She can't really hurt you… She's already been lost before, do you really want to lose her again!?"

"Together!" Chaos Sonic returned, his eyes glowing with such power, spiraling around him as the Chaos Energy intensified. "Harmony, let's create a new Order, a new fresh start!" He cried out, leaning his head forward, "Harmonyyyy! What if we tried again!? Together this time! Not holding back how we're feeling or thinking..!"

"The world needs a heart." Tails looked over to Harmony, "Please?" He flew off of the chest and to Perfect Chaos's back, trying to shield himself from the heavy, hard-hitting blasts. "This is just like when Chaos woke back up… It's the exact same…"

"Without defeating her, how do we stop all this with just talking?" Vector asked as Jet nodded profusely, having asked the same question.

"Hm-hm-hmph!" He then wiggled a pointer finger to him, "What the big Croc said!" He looked to Tikal.

Suddenly, from the horizon, glowing in brilliant colors… the girls flew through the skies…

"Wha…" Shadow looked in awe, like jet planes, the men followed the lights as the girls then began to attack Harmony.

"For the sake of our ancestors to be laid to rest and peace!" Shade charged up her new Super form, and blasted Harmony while she was restrained by the Seedrians.

"For the future and the past, that all time may be healed, and continue forward!" Blaze, already used to the Sol Emeralds power, also shot a powerful flaming head towards the head, careful to spare the vines and branches that were holding her in place.

Harmony Amy winced, looking restrained, "What's going on? Why are you continually hurting me!? Do you despise me!? Do you love death and Chaos more than me!?" The hysterical confusion of Harmony rang true through Amy's voice fo struggling.

"For all worlds to remain and be fruitful, we, your creations, will end your reign!" Rouge drilled through Harmony's hide, causing a ring to cry out as she pushed against Amy, trying to force her out. "Without a host, you're toast!"

Tails, hearing this, opened his eyes wide, looking through Chaos's murky form to see them. "Of course… Without a power source, she can't keep absorbing life!" He looked to see the others floating with the Master Emerald, "... Ah! That makes sense!" He understood and nodded, "Soooniiicc!" he called to him, "We have to get Harmony to release her power! If she does, we can safely use the Master Emerald to seal them both away!" He cried out, "It may be our only way!"

Sonic turned to address him, his eyes still glowing to show he was Chaos Sonic.

"Sealed… again?" Chaos looked towards Harmony, "... Is there… really no other way… we can dwell with you… in these worlds..?"

"Oh… uhhh… Chaos," Realizing he wasn't talking to Sonic, Tails changed tactics, arching his eyes in sympathy.

"There is no other way."

Tikal flew up to Chaos, looking sweetly to him, but in great pity. She put her hand to his nose, and bowed her head, "What has been done is done, the past cannot be reversed." She looked back up into his eyes, smiling, "But generations can be saved… by both your sacrifices to continue to live… in peace… and no longer hold rage at your past creations' works."

She took her hand off his nose and the Perfect Chaos seemed tamed, looking to Harmony.

Seeing her in so much pain, his heart swelled and Sonic could feel the overriding sensation of letting Chaos take control again.

Vanilla, also in a type of Super form, moved to Harmony's head, "Peace… you become so unseemingly when you're upset… be reasonable… there, there… shuusshhh…" She tried to coo, holding out her hands to show kindness as Harmony stopped struggling to look at her, as though amazed to see anyone or anything showing such love towards her.

"You… You all attack me…" Harmony Amy was holding back Rouge's drill with her one hand, "Am I… is life really so horrible to you… that you would choose to surrender to the force of death… rather than accept one who loves you?"

"Who said I did not love them!?" Perfect Chaos drove himself through the waters, splitting them in a powerful propulsion towards her.

"Who said I did not love you!?" Perfect Chaos collided with her and the girls moved back, Rouge getting thrown out of Harmony's body but getting caught by the green vines and hard, woody branches of the Seedrian people.

Sonic moved through Chaos's mass to swim to Amy, sticking his hand through Harmony's chest, "Ammmyy!" He called.

Harmony Amy shook herself, trying to get freed from Chaos's grip.

"Take over, Amy! Make her release her power!" he cried out, reaching desperately for her, "AMMMYYY!"

Amy powered up, a Super form emerging from all the powers of Harmony Energy coursing through her.

She broke from Harmony's control, and had her shoot a beam up into the air, creating multiple layers of rainbow-arched beams. "Give it back!" Amy cried out, "Our lives! Who's to say you can control what to do with them!? They're ours now! We decide if we live or die!"

Harmony's form slowly retreated, falling and deflating, oozing into Amy's as Chaos slowly did the same.

The worlds were in ruins… but Women rose up, and Silver… returned from the dust and blinked his eyes wearily, laying on his stomach.

He shook his head, grabbing it a bit and looking back up to the team. "... They… did it?" He looked at his hand, and while powering up, was amazed to see how much power glowed from it.

He looked at his other hand, swirls of light… "Chaos… energy?" He was amazed, "It's never… been so full… I feel so much… power!" He charged himself up, "Haha! Imagine if we can restore the planet!" He looked to Sonic, seeing him holding Amy and coming down to the ground as the water's receded.

"Now?" Knuckles looked to Tikal, who flew back to them, turning seriously.

"Not yet," She held out a hand, which ticked Jet off even more, stomping the wet ground and spraying mud everywhere, swinging his fists down like a tough guy.

"Not yet!? The nerve! When's too late for you, ghost lady!?" Jet threw a temper tantrum, and without Wave to scold him, Storm just leaned down politely and stated,

"Tikal." With a firm nod and leaned back up.

Jet twitched with multiple anger marks popping up all over his noggin'.

He pouted and turned to Storm as he crunched his shoulders up and head down, eyebrows indicating he would strangle him for such an insulting reminder of what he did for him…

"I'm so annoyed." Was all Jet could say, "This whole fiasco is just uncalled for!" He threw his arms up and waved them around before folding them again. "Hmph! Treating us like therapist… We're Babylon Thieves for crying out loud!"

"Boss, look!" Storm excitedly pointed out into the sky, putting a hand to Jet's side-shoulder as he turned around and gasped.

Wave flew softly down to them, "Bickering again, I see? Can't stand one minute without me, can ya?"

The men tried to hold back their tears, straining… before rushing out to greet her, no longer able to contain their 'manly' attitudes at the sight of her, "WAAVVEE!" They cried out, hurrying to where she was gliding down.

The Master Emerald was lifted off the Air boards, and Knuckles looked to Chaos, waiting… if Tikal gave him the signal, he would begin again.

Sonic held Amy, drifting to the ground to land in a puddle of clear water… enough to reflect the sky.

Amy's eyes blinked open slightly, still glowing faintly with Harmony's light.

Sonic's eyes bent and took in a solemn breath, closing his eyes as they opened to reveal the light of Chaos.

"... How long have I called your name?" Chaos Sonic asked, as Harmony Amy looked to him in fright, pushing off his chest somewhat.

"W-where?" She looked around, but noticed she was still in Amy's body.

Her eyes trembled… Then she turned away, "Like them, you should despise me… I… I let myself get fooled by the Echidnas… I willingly went against you… I deserve this punishment…" She turned to Amy's limp arm, as though reminding Chaos of her missing power…

"If I am gone… then…" Her eyes lowered, softly in depressed regret. "Then Life can cease once and for all…"

Chaos Sonic placed a hand on her cheek, pulling it towards himself, so she couldn't look away anymore.

He then looked to her limp arm and put that same hand over her shoulder. "... These beings… they do not live as infinitely as we do… but they… they hold a sense of will… the will to strive whether in Chaos or Peace… to simply have the right to live the lives they so choose to." He looked into her eyes. "Why not us, Harmony? Why not embrace that sense of adventure..? Why not… create a new Order… within ourselves?"

She gasped, "Oh, Chaos… How can you still forgive me… after everything I've ever done to us? I stole your freedom… I allowed them to abuse my own…" She cried, unable to stop.

He smiled, "Agency… This time around, let's give all the many lives this gift. A gift to choose good or evil, to live according to their desires, good wants, and righteous needs… Harmony, Let's no longer serve them, but simply just…"

He lowered his head to her own, "Be."

With her one arm, she held him and cried into his chest, as Chaos Sonic rubbed her head lightly, "... With these new hosts… let's create a world befitting of us being free… a world we would want to dwell upon." He looked down at her, her eye sockets shining up at him. "A world… they wish to save."

Grabbing her hand, wind and water combined…

Sonic embraced Amy as Chaos and Harmony blasted out of them, spinning and swirling to create a purple around themselves.

Then, Sonic and Amy shot into the sky… and traveling through the hole in the sun, a Sonic Boom of rainbowic light healed the many worlds… and they flew through galaxies already created, and healed what had been hurt.

For a moment, all of life fell to the ground, dead…

Then, in another blaze of light, that life rose again, renewed and restored, rejoicing in their momentary fright being done with and hugging their families and loved ones, watching the skies as purple light spiraled in two spinning forms…

Amy and Sonic suddenly regained consciousness, as Amy screamed and held him, not knowing what was happening.

Sonic held her close, "Woah, woah, Amy! Calm down, Calm down!" He laughed, "I think we're rebuilding the worlds and restoring power to the Planet Eggs..!" He grinned, seeing they had somehow convinced the two gods to work together again.

"W-We are!?" Amy scoffed in a humorous way, looking back up at him, "Does that mean..? Ohh, give the world more pink! Heheh~" She giggled and spread her arms out as Sonic had to hold her up, watching as suddenly multiple worlds were turned with a shade of pink.

"Amy!" He threw out his arm and they were returned to normal, "Responsibility, please!" He gave her a funny scold, and she just laughed.

"So, that's it then? We have the powers of gods!?" She looked at her fingers, wiggling them, "OoooOooohhh…" Then moved them to Sonic and giggled as he shook his nose away from her goofy demeanor. "Not gonna lie, thought she was gonna control me forever…" Amy's ears lowered, sorrowfully, "Sonic… I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see you again."

Sonic felt his heart get soft and warm, but this time, he didn't resist it.

"Come on, Amy." He turned her so her back was to his chest, holding her under him as they flew, "Let's set the world in order."

She nodded, holding his arms around her waist, "Em!" She cheered.

Eggman scowled… "I won't be bested..!" He saw them disappear and began to get his Eggmobile back up, hitting it to turn on and rolled it back upright, but…

Super Rouge, Super Wave, Super Blaze, Super Shade, and Super Vanilla all slowly rose up over the hill he was on…

"... Going somewhere, Eggman?" Rouge unfolded her arms, putting them to her hips.

Eggman flinched, slowly turning around.

His glasses broke, revealing his beady little red eyes, as he smiled goofily and put a finger to his mouth, "Oh, boy… Eh-heh-heh-heh… Hello, gir-OFFPH!" He was sonic-rear-kicked by Vanilla's super-boosted Bunny-Kick.

She cleaned off her hands as she heard the most beautiful sound in the world, calling her name, "Mama!"

Super Cream flew and embraced her mother, they spun in the air, and the girls sighed a breath of relief at seeing it.

"Hehe, come Cream, let's make sure Eggman learns his manners." She tapped Cream's nose and the two, along with Cheese, flew off after Eggman, to 'gently' torment him into not interfering with the world's healing… again.

Super Blaze floated down as Super Wave returned to her team, powering down, but showing it off before doing so.

"Silver?" She landed as Silver nodded, "The worlds are safe." She knelt down beside him, offering her his hand.

"Guess we really could trust those two, after all." Silver beamed a smile and tenderly… took her hand.

She looked at how slow he had done so, looking between him and their now held hands, and then away with a slight confused blush… as though not knowing how to take this strange, new feeling of familiarity…

As his fingers curled to hold her own, he got up and looked to the sun, then the moon. "Ah! It's restored!" He noticed, then looked under his own feet, "And-and..! This is the greenest grass I've ever seen!"

Blaze looked around, "It is, Silver… It's good." She nodded.

"It's…" Silver looked to around,... then to her. "Beautiful…" He squeezed her hand a moment, "Blaze."

She blinked a few times, then looked at him… as then, Charmy's voice cried out.

"HE PUT A WATERMARK ON THE PLANET!" Pointing at a group of blue flowers that spelled out, 'SONIC THE HEDGEHOG WAS HERE'.

Espio cried out, "He's not alone!" And pointed to a valley that had pink and blue flowers, forming a shape of a heart, and between the flowers was a purple center.

"You can't just decorate the world according to your ridiculous designs…" Shadow folded his arms, twitching an eyebrow…

When a shadow graced by his side, and he looked to it.

"... Shadow?"

He turned around, his eyes widening…

Tikal was holding… Maria's hand, and guiding her to him.

She ran and fell to him, holding him tenderly.

Shadow… was in shock.

Having his moments of reconciliation and closure… Maria's form returned to a splendid color of light and ash…

Her ash spread far and wide over the beautiful fields… as that moment was for Shadow and Shadow alone to know what was said and expressed.

Shade returned to Knuckles's side, holding a new Chao egg.

"Now, the restoration of the Planet Eggs, and the new Order is complete." She set the egg down as it rocked back and forth… before springing out a tiny purple Chao that looked just like a mixture of Sonic and Amy, cooing and reaching a hand out for Knuckles.

Knuckles, seeing the familiar three quills both on the side of the Chao's head and the three protruding as bangs on the top, just frowned deeply but took the little guy and put him on his shoulder.

"It's time." He said, looking to see Tikal nod in agreement.

"Oh, great… Master Emerald!" He still had a hand on the new baby Chao, the evidence of another generation of Order restored, and the continuation of balance between life and death.

"Take their beings… and give us hope yet again… that even we may dictate our lives given… as a gift, to be wielded by us and us alone…"

Sonic and Amy were laid against the grass of the Master Emerald, as it rose up and took the purple liquid into itself like a glass… rocking in the air back and forth with brilliant, green light.

Sonic and Amy rested gently with one another… before smiling from ear to ear, giggling and chuckling together, as their hands came together… and a fresh new start for them was had…

As well.

Everyone returned to their proper places, worlds, dimensions, and times…

And Tails got to see Cosmo… as he showed her the pot with the seed Sonic had given him, before it bloomed and yawned a little baby girl, and he literally freaked out as Cosmo's light dimmed while she giggled at his reaction…

Once more, the world was saved.

By opening hearts, to speak from within.

Chaos and Harmony reformed upon the Master Emerald, just as they had sat on the boulder many eons ago, nuzzling one another as the Chao all cheered… their mother had returned at last.

"Come 'ere, Knuckle-boy~"

"Rouge! Wait, Stoopp!"

At least some things... can possibly change now?

(I lied, I wrapped it up in one chapie. Don't hate meeee)