31 - Chaotic Exorcism - 31

3:50 PM

It was as if someone was grabbing hold of the entire planet and shaking it like a snow globe, because the ground was trembling so badly that they could no longer drive straight. This caused them to get pushed and shoved back and forth inside the jeep, with Shadow sometimes being unfortunately squished into the car's door with Infinite against him. When they finally got a good balance of the vehicle despite the tremors, Infinite took this time to look out of the tinted windows and see that there were some damaged vehicles and mobiles driving along side them, but they lost a few people. Other jeeps were toppled upside down, or ripped apart and strung up on ruined palm trees. Not good. He then directed a command to the drivers of his own jeep. "Go faster, already. I'll use my power to give you a boost, but don't disappoint me. That shaking could be the ruby's power destabilizing some of the earth below us." Magenta suddenly surrounded the vehicle, and indeed caused it to boost just a little faster. Normal cars couldn't go this fast without falling apart, but Eggman grade vehicles definitely could.

That's when Shadow started chuckling. "You dunce."

Infinite seized the back of his quills and yanked his head backwards. "Couldn't hear you quite right."

Not phased by this, the biohog continued. "Then I'll happily repeat myself: You're a fucking nimrod. You're obviously exhausted from using the ruby's power, which is the only reason why you're not hauling ass and flying away with me in your arms. Plus, you really think that's the ruby causing all that quaking? Use your head, you mook." Shadow's voice scarily hushed to a near whisper as his amber red eyes glowed in the small darkness inside of the vehicle, glaring daggers into Infinite's mask. "Don't you get it? You've invoked the wrath of not just Sonic, but a demonic creature that nobody can predict. You made the worst decision of your life when you murdered Sonic the Hedgehog, because you awoke something you never truly understood. And now," He made a fanged grin. "It's coming right for you, and it's not going to stop until your beating heart is dripping blood down its maw. Listen, you hear that?" He said, feeling as if he was telling some forbidden, cursed campfire story, because Infinite was staring down at him with an unreadable posture. It was unknown what expression he was making thanks to the mask, but he could guess that he was silently listening to Shadow with great concern. That goes for the other jackals in this car, too. "The shaking, it's not earthquakes and it's not the ruby. What could it be? Perhaps it's him...After all, it's only a matter of time-"

Scarlet light illuminated the windows of the car.

"-Before he catches you."

The unconscious body of a jackal member was suddenly smashed through the jeep's roof. "Shit!" Infinite yelled as he looked up from above. How many times would that damn hedgehog make his entrance through the ceiling-"...!" The entire roof and back of the car was suddenly torn off and toss away in the distance. Only the backseat holding Infinite and Shadow, remained standing. The sounds of explosions and screams were heard all throughout the entirety of South Island. Behind them, was a golden hedgehog that trailed scarlet red behind him, sprinting after the vehicle with supersonic levels of speed. "Son of a fucking bitch!" Infinite stood up in his seat and raised his hands in the air. He levitated magenta infused objects above them, such as trees and damaged vehicles, before throwing them towards the demonic entity. The ruby's energy then surrounded Infinite's mask. "Jackals, do whatever you can to kill that piece of shit!" Several surviving jeeps and Egg Mobiles swerved in direction and headed directly for the golden hedgehog chasing after the vehicle. The ruby upgraded them to tougher and stronger models, with turrets and other weapons installed within them.

The turret atop several jeeps aimed and fired directly at the hedgehog, and the Egg Mobiles fired long, large heat seeking missiles towards him. The second a missile got close enough to brush up near his face, the hedgehog tilted his head to the side, allowing the missile to miss him by a hair. However, he wasn't done with it. He suddenly caught it with his hand, despite it being three times his size, and twirled his body around before tossing it like a dart right back at it's sender. It made contact and instantly downed the mobile, the explosion enveloping many other missiles that were heading the same direction and causing the other mobiles to crash against each other. The bullets of the turrets easily bounced off of him meanwhile, but he then decided to do something different with them. He made a small boost in speed, running right up against one of the jeeps ahead of them. He then reached out to grab the car door, before tearing it off like a simple sheet of copy paper. He then reached inside of the vehicle to grab it's driver, a jackal grunt who was now going to be an unfortunate victim of the entity. Without it's driver, the jeep crashed and toppled into an explosion behind them. The entity then aimed, before hurdling the jackal's entire body towards the jeep like a living arrow that was hurling right for Infinite.

Screaming bloody murder for his impending doom, the jackal shut his eyes closed. The momentum of his body was suddenly ceased, and he opened a single eye in fear. Magenta was surrounding him, as Infinite had levitated him to a stop before his face could crash through the jeep's front windshield. He raised his position over the empty roof of the jeep and dropped him, leaving yet another body on the floor of the damaged vehicle. Curiously, Shadow sat up in his seat to look at the carnage behind them. Damn, he already got behind them again? When? Did he teleport or was he just that fast? He was just toying with Infinite at this point. The demonic super form was now zipping passed the jeeps and Egg Mobiles, ripping them to shreds despite their upgrades. Many jackals fell or even jumped out, thankfully only falling unconscious if they hit the ground. When a malfunctioning Egg Mobile glitched itself to propel towards the hedgehog, he simply smacked the object away like a mosquito, causing it to explode in the air just above their car. The entity was coming closer to them. As pieces of destroyed metal dropped down upon them, the biohog suddenly had a mischievously diabolical idea. He made a dark smile before taking in a deep breath and hollering loudly: "Sonic! I'm here! They're hurting me!"

"You little-!" Infinite moved to grab him, but Shadow kicked his hand away with a laugh.

"Oh come on, don't you want to play with Sonic?" He then gave him a harsh glare with a snarl. "Not so fun when the hero becomes the real villain, is it?"

A petrifying, paralyzing impulse was fired off in the entity's brain.

He began to breathe a lot more heavily, his lips salivating as he desired to chew against some fresh bones. His fur became more ragged, and his scleras glowed scarlet red entirely. His speed increased by at least by a hundred fold, and he was suddenly running right beside the car, looking directly at his victims with a psychotic smile. He stared specifically at Shadow, who was glancing back with a calm expression. Then he purposefully turned his face to the side to show off the fresh wound Infinite scratched on his face just minutes ago. That's when the demonic super form flinched and opened his mouth wide to bellow a loud, satanic scream. It was so loud, that it destroyed all of the jeep's windows, shattering glass everywhere. Their ears bled, and crimson even leaked from their eyes. Suddenly, the being transformed before them again. It's body contorted and stretched, becoming completely engulfed by scarlet red energy. It returned to that terrifying ghost-silhouette form from before, and stretched itself over the jeep to peer down at his snacks with great hunger. The jackals driving the car in front were so terrified, they fell unconscious and tumbled out of their seats and out of the vehicle. The jeep lost control and crashed.

After it flipped a few times, it finally landed on it's back, smoke and soon fire sparked from within it.

...

Silence.

A black clawed glove slowly reached out from the crushed broken window, and attempted to pull onto the dirt. The leader of the fallen Jackal Squad pulled himself from underneath the car, dragging another body with him. The ultimate life form was pulled out alongside him, the magenta cuffs on his wrists still glowing brightly. They both coughed and hacked from the smoke, and crawled forward until they could just barely manage to stand on their own feet. As they struggled to limp away from the wreckage, the ruby's power slowly healed their wounds, allowing them to move a little faster. However, it didn't matter, because something caused them to stop. They slowly looked up to see a towering, fifty foot tall scarlet red spirit of sharp angles and ghastly proportions looming down on them with what they could only assume to be a Glasgow smile. It didn't even look like Sonic, a hedgehog or a Mobian of any kind anymore. It was just some horrifying, hellish, abominable, ravenous atrocity. It's long, lanky fingers reached down, the skies becoming blood red with it's power. It looked like the world was ending, or that the rapture was coming to finish them all off. The end of days.

More blood pooled from Shadow's eyes, and there were even drops of blood dripping from underneath Infinite's mask. This thing was so gorgeously awful to look at, that it was making them cry tears of gore. It made another roar worthy of a powerful devil, and they both fell to their knees submissively. They didn't want to, but it felt like they had to worship this new God of fear and mania. But that's when something clicked in Shadow's brain, he couldn't let this thing have it's way anymore. It was time for this cruel game of violence to stop.

"Sonic." Shadow called out to it with a loud voice. It was a little shaky, but he couldn't show fear. This thing fed off of it. "Sonic!" He yelled. "You have to stop!"

The creature paused from his voice, and it almost seemed to look confused by being called that name. "...?"

"Faker," The GUN agent used a more familiar nickname. "You're in there somewhere, I know you are. And I know you didn't just give up trying to fight off this thing's control over you, right?" With a trembling knee, Shadow stood up on one wobbly leg. "You're too stubborn to let anything influence you and take over your mind. You wouldn't let Infinite do it, so you can't let this thing do it either!" He watched the giant creature lower its head, it's eyes and it's hypnotic swirls becoming reluctant and conflicted. "You told me to run away from you, but I'm not going to do that. I don't need to run away from you, I never needed to run from you! You don't scare me, you can't scare me! You may have frightened everyone else, but to me, you're still the same, arrogant, cocky, pacifistic glutton who vowed that he'd never back down from anyone!" He began to walk towards it, the creature flinching and slowly shaking it's head as he got closer. "You don't want to break your promise to me, do you?" He said with a frown. "You promised you wouldn't become like me, that you wouldn't fall into darkness. Remember that?" The creature whimpered, shrinking down in size as the biohog got closer. "Do you hear me?" He whispered. "You promised, Sonic."

The creature returned to it's normal size, and the ghostly figure reverted back to the golden corrupted hedgehog from before. With a more familiar face, the entity continued to shake his head and crawled backwards away from Shadow. "N-No...I didn't..." It murmured. "I'm not...The contract is..."

"I don't care about that." Shadow simply said, his voice completely disappointed and writhe with sorrow. "...You're hurting people. You scared your friends again, and if you're not careful, you could hurt them. You could hurt me." That's when he saw green flash in those swirling eyes, Sonic was there. "Is that what you want?"

"N-No...!" It hollered. "I didn't do that...I couldn't have...!" Shadow could hear faint traces of Sonic's voice fighting to be heard. "You're lying...Stay away from me...! I told you to run away...And you won't-" The entity clenched his fanged teeth and imbued his hand with power. "-Listen!" A corrupted version of a Chaos Spear was thrown at Shadow, but it missed by a long shot. Shadow didn't even need to move to dodge it.

With genuine sad eyes, Shadow became dejected. "You...really want to hurt me?"

"No!" The entity screamed. It then covered it's hands on his face as it continued to toss it's head back and forth. "Can't hurt you...Can't...!" It threw dirt at Shadow, doing anything it could to make him stop. He begged him not to look. "Don't look at me...Don't look at me with those eyes! Judging me...You're killing me!" Blood tears fell from Fleetway's face, and he began sobbing as well. "I don't want to do this...Stop making me do this...No more," Shadow knelt down and got close enough to reach his bound wrists up to his face. He wiped his bloody tears with his thumbs. The biohog tried to return his expression to normal. If he was getting through to Sonic, it was no point for them to both be upset. He watched as the corrupted super form slightly uncovered his hands from his face and continued to cry, blood staining his gloves. Shadow reached his hand out to him again, he could pull him out of this. He could save him, he knew he could. "Stop it...Stop making me feel so bad...We can't break the contract, I'm sorry-" Suddenly the demon lifted his face from his hands with a sly smile. "-Gotcha."

This caused the ultimate life form to immediately stand up and take a step back. "...What?" He whispered. "But...I saw Sonic-"

"Hahahaha," The demon easily stood back up and grinned. "You did, because I allowed you to see him through my eyes and hear him through my voice. You still don't get it, do you? My host lost full control the moment he ran from that fox child. He will never breach my power again. Right now," He creepily walked towards Shadow with a twitching head. "He's taking a long, deep, sleep. One that he will not wake from until I allow it." He poked his own forehead playfully. "I'm in control, Project Shadow, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. He told you to run for a reason." Before Shadow's eyes, the flesh of the demon super form's arms turned into giant blades for hands. This thing was so powerful, that it could manipulate it's body to create any form it desired on any part of it's figure. "He told you not to try and save him, he told you to leave him be. But you just had to rush in and sweep him off his feet, didn't you?" He aimed his knife-arms to his face, prepared to slice. "I'm not your lover, Project. And I will eventually devour you, all of you. But first," He tilted his head to another direction, the one where Infinite was standing. "I've got a chew toy to play with."

He bolted towards Infinite, taking his attention completely away from Shadow. He giggled manically as he slammed his bladed limbs downwards, grazing Infinite's ankle as he barely jumped away. Fleetway joyfully swung to attack faster, laughing even louder. The jackal leader growled as he just barely dodged the attacks from the demon. He miscalculated, he thought he was ready. He had been hurt by this version of Sonic many times today, so he figured he'd eventually grow strong enough to be on his level. However, this was not the case. He still wasn't strong enough, he still didn't have enough power. Not only that, but he couldn't even use any tactics to manipulate the hedgehog because Sonic wasn't in there anymore. This entity only cared about killing and eating him, he had no desire in actually saving Shadow if he were to kidnap him. He no longer had any options, he was out of luck.

The demon suddenly paused and smiled eerily before a dark, scarlet red portal opened behind him. It was lengthy, twenty times bigger than any taller Mobian or Overlander anyone ever knew. It was extremely wide and thick, almost like a miniature sun. The entity stepped to the side to allow the portal to have some room, before a gigantic missile began to breach from within it. Shadow's eyes widened at the sight of a green tinted metal missile, that was beginning to slowly appear out of the gateway. That thing looked like a God damned atom bomb, surrounded by corrupted chaos energy with a giant Eggman insignia on the side of the titanic weapon. "So this was the contraption that mad scientist was creating in his base...Nice. If he had succeeded, he would have caused so much death and mania. How wonderful!" The demon exclaimed with excitement. Shadow was taken aback. This was the thing that Eggman threatened them with? This was what he was going to shoot at the core of the planet if Infinite betrayed him? Good God, it would have massacred the entire planet itself! He really was going to take everything and everyone out with him if he was compromised. But this was worse. Now Fleetway had it and was making it appear via Chaos Control, so now- "I'm sure my host won't mind if the planet accidentally blows up for a quick second. After all, it's not like I can't just reboot the reality. So why don't we end it all with a big bang?" His hands returned to normal and applauded. "Come on, everyone! I can't bare the thought of keeping this horribly beautiful discord all to myself. All of us together—Let us bask in this glorified, hellish apocalypse!" The demon cackled before the missile began to accelerate at hyper mach speed towards Infinite. The fact that something that big could move that fast was beyond horrifying.

The jackal felt everything around him slow to a stop, because...

...He needed time.

He needed time to think, time to thoroughly plan this out and he couldn't do this here. Even if he escaped somewhere else on the planet, this thing would find him if the missile didn't destroy them all first. No, hiding in another place in Mobius was out of the question. He needed somewhere more discreet, more remote. A place where not even a demonic demigod could find him. He needed-

-Another reality.

With a pained grunt, Infinite used most of his power to surround the missile with his energy, and stop it in time. But he didn't just stop the missile in time, he stopped time itself. Everything was frozen, nothing moved. If he had the strength, he'd murder the deity here and now. He panted heavily because it was getting harder to breathe, and he only had a little power left to get the hell out of here. Magenta suddenly filled the air, it's mist obscuring the scarlet sun above. Infinite levitated in the air as his power weakly surged throughout his body. He looked down at the frozen corrupted super form and announced his farewells. "Sorry to cut our game short, but I believe it's time I moved on from this world. I'm not quite ready to kill you, or your other tyrant forms." If what those visions Infinite saw were true, there were three more of these monsters. "So I'll be taking my leave to another space, one where you will never find me until I'm ready. But remember this," He pointed to the demon. "I will kill you. I will take Shadow away from you, I will kill the rest of you, I'll make all of you suffer and I will kill that God damned blue rat."

Much to his surprise, somehow, Fleetway broke out of this stopped time. A purplish-red portal opened behind Infinite, causing the entity to panic. "No...My contract states that I have to kill you-Wait!" He desperately reached out for the jackal, he hated so much that he couldn't fly like this. His voice sincerely pleaded for Infinite not to take away his only fun.

"Goodbye for now, Fleetway."

"H-Hold on! No...!"

Infinite the Jackal gave one last look at the mess that was caused because of his plans to destroy the Divine Spirits, and pulled himself backwards through the portal. Never to be seen by anyone else of this world, ever again.

With his power of this world now absent, time resumed.

Wrathful growls seethed through Fleetway's sharp teeth, and he angrily levitated the giant missile upwards. He made his hand into a fist, crushing the object of mass destruction in an instant. As it blew up, a scarlet portal opened beneath it, and Fleetway carelessly dropped it within. Wherever it ended up in space, would be where it would explode. The planet was safe, for now...But the demon was beyond annoyed. "I can't sense you, I can't sense you-Where did you go? Where did you go!?" The entity snarled before howling to the sky in demonic rage. "This weak form is restricting me...I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored...! I can't be bored! I can't!" He tore his nails down his own face in frustration, soon resorting to chewing against his claws. "If my end of the bargain is unfulfilled, I won't be able to stay in this body much longer. Maybe if I..." He mumbled. He glanced over to see if he could at least play with the striped hedgehog, only to notice that he too was no longer there. "...? He's gone? Hmm," A small devious smile drew upon his muzzle. "Well, if I can't stay in your body, dear child, then I'll have to take a souvenir with me. There's nothing in the contract preventing me from doing so." A scarlet red aura surrounded his body as he snickered, sniffing his nose. "...I can smell where you are...I'll find you Project, and when I do, I'll play with you instead. After all, just because I can't kill you, doesn't mean I can't devour a leg or two."

He sonic boomed away, leaving the destruction he caused behind him.

4:30 PM

He hated running away, but he didn't have a choice.

He ran to a more dense location of Green Hill, where a large abundance of palm trees acted like a tropical forest. Okay, that demon was a trickster through and through. If Shadow couldn't get to Sonic that way, he'd just have to move onto plan C. If this didn't work, he he'd resort to plan D, which involved him going super and just gambling that he could somehow neutralize the demon. That was a suicide mission, so he prayed it wouldn't come to that. That card he was given weeks ago, Infinite never got rid of it and allowed Shadow to keep it. He probably didn't realize what it was, perhaps he didn't know about chaotic writing. It was a good thing he didn't, because this would be his ticket to stopping this nonsense. When he reached for the card in his quills, he had some difficulty thanks to his hands being constricted. However, out of no where, the magenta cuffs disappeared into embers. Did Infinite free him, or did the demon...kill him? Either way, it didn't matter. That thing, Fleetway apparently, needed to be stopped. Hopefully, he could do this before that monster caused Sonic to make the biggest mistake of his life. When he got the card in his hand, he focused on its symbol and spread his chaos energy towards it just as he was instructed several days before. When he did, his amber red energy spread throughout the symbol perfectly and filled up the indentation of the card. It glowed brightly, before turning a light shade of blue.

A portal appeared before him, and a pair of heavy, black leather, sharp steel toed boots stepped out of it. Shadow lowered the card from his view when he saw the Sonic lookalike from before appear, this time without his helmet. Clad in that military uniform and that black, long baton, he gave Shadow an apathetic look. "Overseer Zonic, reporting." He announced before realizing who had summoned him. "So you called after all." He noted with a bored voice, the portal disappearing behind him. "I would hope this is for an emergency, like I instructed you." For a few moments of silence, Shadow just stared at him, silently panicking. That's when the lookalike known as Zonic scowled and furrowed his brows. "I don't have all day-"

And that's when it all spilled from the biohog's mouth.

He told him everything: The terrorist attack, his promotion from GUN, looking over Infinite, how he failed his mission, how he was kidnapped, how he died, how Sonic died and how he transformed into a monster that he couldn't stop.

...

...Blinking slowly with an understandably alert expression, the lookalike took a second to attempt to process all of this.

"I..." He cleared his throat before speaking. "...Oh. Oh no. No...Damn it. Shit." A brief look of devastation flashed in his eyes. "Shit, shit, shit..." He placed a hand over his mouth and closed his eyes tightly. "I-I...See..." He looked really upset for a moment, before clearing his throat for a second time and shaking his head. "Well," He looked to the side for a moment, his expression returning more neutral, and tapped his chin with his finger. "That would explain why my monitors aren't working...This is indeed a horrible, grave situation. I understand why you called for me." He then glanced at Shadow with a disgusted expression. "As much as I despise you, your race and Sonic prime..." He softened his expression and made a sympathetic grimace. "...I know you're upset. You've both been through literal hell and anybody would react the same way. And you both perished..." It almost seemed like he was genuinely remorseful for what happened. "I failed you..." He whispered, Shadow couldn't hear that. "Damn it. Fine," He walked to the side and began drawing something in the dirt with the end of his nightstick. "I'll help you both out, as usual."

That's when Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Wait, you're not confused by anything? That was a lot of information just now."

Zonic just shook his head. "Of course I'm not. I am your Grand Overseer, I know everything. Well, almost everything." He replied casually as Shadow noticed he was creating another strange symbol into the dirt. "I would have arrived sooner if my monitors hadn't glitched, but I see that was due to the Phantom Ruby's power. I'll have to have that modified later. If I was notified of yours or Sonic prime's deaths, I would have stopped the situation before it could get that far." His voice held a little bit of guilt. "In that regard, since it is my duty to watch over all Chaos Born, I...I owe you a tremendous apology." He then bent down to draw more intricate shapes into the ground with his finger. "But you're both fine now, so that won't be necessary." Well geez, he got over that quickly.

"What do you mean you're our Overseer? What do you mean you're supposed to watch over us?"

With an annoyed sigh, the soldier sucked his teeth and stood back up when he saw that his drawing was perfect. "And this is why I tried to take you two Neanderthals back to my reality where this would have all been explained to you." He threw his hands up with an exasperated expression. "But noooo," He mocked their voices, which was funny considering his and Sonic's voices were basically exactly the same. "'You're a monotone loser, I don't wanna go anywhere with you. Chaos Control this, Chaos Control that. Blah, blah, blah, I'm an idiot.'" He stuck his nose up at him. "Dumbasses, a fair pair of illiterate foolish fools...None of you ever listen until your whole planet's about to be destroyed. Then you grovel and beg me to come and clean up your messes. It's not like I get paid for this shit." He then pointed at Shadow before wagging his finger. "You. Get over here now and stand on this sigil."

Okay, Shadow didn't appreciate all the disrespect. "If you think you're allowed to talk to me that way-"

"As of right now, you are in no position to demand any respect from me. I am the only one that you know of who's capable of stopping your killer boyfriend," He pointed his baton at him threateningly. "So I'd shut your mouth if I was you, and do as you're told. Unless you'd like him to kill you this time? I'm sure that kind of guilt would eat him from the inside out the second he returned to his default form. And who would you call for help then?" He raised a brow with cold dark green eyes. "Go ahead, try me."

Angered by being pushed into a corner, Shadow stayed silent and just walked over to the ground sigil the soldier created. He stood over it and crossed his arms. "What is this even supposed to do?"

Zonic smirked. "You'll see. I hope you don't mind being bait for a few moments." He walked beside Shadow with his hands behind his back. "Use your chaos energy to charge up the symbol, just like you did with that card. Once you do that," He made a serious expression. "It's on. If you don't do exactly as I say, we both could die."

Alarmed by this, Shadow's eyes lit up significantly. "What?"

"I can smell that he's coming," He quickly said after a small sniff. "Use your powers now. Then, when I give the word, get the hell out of dodge and I'll take over from there. There are no do overs with Divine Spirits. If you screw up, we will both have our bodies devoured in the belly of that nightmare creature, and you will never see Sonic prime again. Got it?"

Haha.

Yeah okay, awesome-

-What the fuck was he talking about?

Shit, God damn it. Shadow hated not knowing what was going on, but he didn't have a choice. "Fine, but you better save Sonic!" He spread his amber red power underneath his shoes, feeling it dip into the earth and sift throughout the sigil imprinted on the soil. Once he did, it began to glow brightly, just like with the card.

The soldier then analyzed the distance with calculating eyes. "Yes yes, I'll return your precious boyfriend back to you. Just be ready." He held up his hand towards the biohog, this would be his signal that he'd have to pay attention to. "Here he comes." There was a small second of silence, and the wind blew past them. It gently rustled the leaves of the palm trees that were hiding the scarlet red sun's rays from their eyes. Abruptly, the ground began to shake severely and the trees began to sway in the opposite direction. A shining scarlet red light began to beam from afar, coming closer and closer with every nanosecond they breathed. "On my mark, cut off your power." Zonic warned as the demonic presence closed in on them. A golden corrupted hedgehog was now in view, sprinting towards them like a track star and laughing manically.

"Haha! There you are, I thought I lost you for a second. You missed me so badly that you called for me? Well I won't make you wait any longer, because it's time for me to devour you, Project." This was a sigil to call him? He was dead set on attacking him, mutilating him and consuming parts of him. If he couldn't kill him, he'd just take a few pieces of him for the road. "Now stay still, just like that. This won't hurt too much!"

"One," Zonic said quietly.

"I can't wait to eat you, to feel your bones in my belly!"

"Two..."

"Project Shadow...!"

"Three!" Zonic yelled as he placed his baton in his belt.

Just before a clawed hand grabbed at Shadow's face, he used his air shoes to boost himself backwards. He hadn't even realized he was right in front of him until it was almost too late. Seeing his lover's face being used by something that didn't belong in this world was terrifying, but he couldn't falter. As much as he disliked this soldier lookalike, he had to trust him. His power instantly canceled out, dissolving from the sigil with the ground becoming barren and empty. After Shadow jumped back a few feet away, Zonic immediately stepped beside the sigil, but was careful not to step on it. He then watched the corrupted super form frown that he missed his target, and skid to a stop on the ground, directly onto the symbol. He looked at Zonic and stared curiously. "Overseer Zonic...? Why are you here?" He mumbled. "Not I, nor did any Chaos Born request your appearance in this realm. And we told you and your lover that they shouldn't know who you are yet..." He squinted his swirling eyes dubiously. "What is the meaning of this? This better not be a sign of anarchy, you know the consequences."

Zonic silently exhaled before speaking a series of Chaotic Spells. "But of course not, dear Divine One, I could never." He raised his voice a little louder. "O' Divine One," He addressed with semi-respect and also half distaste. "The Scarlet One, the bringer of destruction and mania," He closed his eyes and bowed. "I am undeserving of your presence, but I humbly ask that you listen to this pitiful servant of Chaotic Blood." A mischievous glint shined in his eyes as he opened them. "With my authorization, the two-thousandth and fiftieth Grand Overseer, Zonic the Hedgehog, I now use this Chaotic Sigil to properly dispel you from Sonic the Hedgehog's body. With the assistance of the Light One's grace, I beg of you to return to your prison of eternal damnation, only blessing your little brothers with your presence once more in the near future when you are summoned again."

Panic filled Fleetway's eyes.

Those holy words were like poison to him.

"W-What? No. No!" He looked down and saw the sigil in the ground, and became even more frantic. "No! Not him! Not back to sleep...!" He tried to step away, but arms made of elegant white chaotic light reached up from the ground. The beam of a heavenly glow shined in the sky and parted the clouds. The sigil glowed bright white, with a spectral of several multicolors shining within. A gentle hum of several singing voices hushed and beckoned for the demon to give up. To allow himself to be taken away by the gentle touch of the hands.

Shh. It's alright, my dear. Soon, there will be no more pain.

No...

Yes, return to me. You're not acting like yourself. Please, let me make all your troubles go away.

S-Stop it, I'm not going back. This is the only freedom I'm allowed to have! I refuse. You can't keep doing this to me, Sonic called for me himself!

Oh goodness...Please don't misunderstand me, I think you did very well. He needed healing, and you've already helped him. You did such a wonderful job, I'm so proud of you! Now, let me heal you, let me embrace you, let me take you home.

No-Get your hands off me!

Let me remind you how wonderful it is to be surrounded by your adoring family. Let me remind you...

P-Please, no...!

...Just how much I adore you, baby brother.

The arms reached and seized the entity's ankles, yanking him back down to the ground. He fell over, and no matter how much he tried to crawl away, his claws making drag marks into the dirt, he was still getting pulled by the arms of chaos. They were similar to the giant ones Shadow and Sonic saw on Christmas Island, but these were much smaller and more persistent. They couldn't let him get away, no matter how much he yelled for them to stop. He looked back at Zonic over his shoulder with great hatred. "Why did you summon him!? Do you have any idea what he does to me!? Do you even care? You traitor! I'll kill you! I'll torture you! I'll-!" His entire body was getting pulled down below ground, the heavenly glow burning his very skin. "A-Ah...! No! I don't want to go back to sleep, not yet! My contract...I have to complete my contract! Sonic needs me!"

Zonic frowned at this. "And by the Light One's permission, whose word overpowers yours, I am telling you that your contract is now null and void. My apologies for this inconvenience, Divine One." It was clear he had no true empathy in his words.

Shadow watched all this with great confusion and concern.

How was any of this happening? And why?

"Someone help me...Project Shadow, help me! No! NO! Nooo...!" He screamed horrifically, with pure terror. This wasn't like before when he was faking in front of Shadow, he was actually mortified and scared of whatever this Light One was. "Ahhh!" He reached out his hand to someone, anyone who could pull him out and help him. A hand of light grabbed him by the back of his head, before pulling as hard as it could. But it didn't pull his head physically, he pulled the spirit within it, which was being painfully peeled from the body. The scarlet spirit made more demonic howls of resistance and agony as it was separated from it's physical host. The golden fur was fading, but he was still trying to fight to make it stop. It was as if making contact with the open air was killing him, burning him alive as the heaven's light from the ground below engulfed him in it's holy essence. With one last harsh pull, the spirit was fully ripped out of the body, tearing out of the hedgehog's flesh. "S-Sonic...!" The light in his eyes faded away, and his fur's auric color disappeared. The body of the hedgehog fell forward unconscious while the spirit reached out to it, desperate to go back in it's home. An angelic hand slammed it's palm over his mouth, silencing the demon. The haunting cries of the demon's spirit was instantly cut off as the arms pulled the scarlet phantom's form down, and phasing into the ground. The sigil made a bright glow, before dying out quickly, the heavenly light shining from it's symbol disappearing.

Seven corrupted chaos emeralds appeared and circled around the exorcism site, before returning their normal colors and falling onto the grass.

Scarlet red and sparkling white embers faded into the sky.

...

...A blue hedgehog was left sprawled on the ground, unconscious but breathing.

Cautiously, Shadow looked at Zonic, who glanced back. He then calmly nodded, gesturing that it was okay for Shadow to approach. He ran to the body of his blue lover and picked him up in his arms. He could feel warmth, and he could even hear a heartbeat. Then, he heard light snoring. When he dragged his thumb over his cheek. His nose twitched and he turned away from his hand, bothered that someone was interrupting his sleep. He moved all on his own. He could move. He was alive.

Sonic was alive again.

Shadow made a near-tearful smile, clutching him against his body graciously. He closed his eyes and kissed his forehead, his cheeks and his lips, feeling his ear flick against him. He fought himself not to cry, he made it so that tears wouldn't well up in the corners of his eyes but he was failing. "I almost lost you, but you came back to me." He whispered against him. "I know it was hard, I know you were in a lot of pain, but it's over now. It's over, Sonic. We're okay, you're okay."

Secretly, Zonic made a small, caring smile at this. When he realized he was smiling, he straightened up his posture and his expression, attempting to look more professional. He placed his arms behind his back, walking over to the biohog and the unconscious body of the Hero of Mobius. "Well, I suppose my job here is done. I'm glad you two finally found each other."

The ultimate life form frowned. "...Finally found each other?" Usually that was a compliment for new couples, but since this lookalike knew a lot more than he alluded to, that couldn't have been all that was. "What do you mean by that?"

"Hmph," He simply didn't answer. "If you want to know the answer to that question, information about Infinite the Jackal and many other questions that I know are spiraling in your head right now," He dug in his pocket to pull out a small golden ring with his fingers. "Then the next time I appear, you will come with me. I will give you two weeks to yourselves, to heal and recover from what transpired here today. However, after that," He pulled his baton out of his belt and pointed it at the ultimate life form's chest, poking it rudely. "I will no longer ask permission. I will take you both by force, even if I have to drag you there by your tails. Unconscious." He stared heavily at the biohog. "Do you understand me? I'm very busy, and I don't have time for you or your hero's childish nonsense. Your appearance in my reality is imperative and none of us have time for your game of chaos energized kissy-catch. No more unnecessary fights, no more high school mean girl playground insults." He poked him again but harder this time, knocking the striped hedgehog back a little. Shadow wanted to retaliate, but his militarized authoritarian voice was too strong to interrupt. "Is. That. Clear?"

With his frown tightening, Shadow took a step back. "...Crystal." He hissed.

Making a satisfied humming sound, Zonic nodded and simply turned to walk away while twirling his baton back to his belt. "Very good. It was always easier to speak to you, than that blue brat. I hate that I'm related to him, but well..." He tossed the ring on the ground, and a portal opened up. "You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family."

Family? That would make two of them, because Shadow would hate if his boyfriend was related to someone this detestable. He had a lot of questions about that too, but he obviously wouldn't answer them as he claimed. "You know," Shadow suddenly said as he cradled Sonic in his arms bridal style. "I hate you."

Zonic shrugged. "Good for you, the feeling's mutual."

"But," The biohog curtly cut him off. He wasn't finished, thank you. "And I know I'm going to regret saying this—But I thank you for saving him." He looked down at Sonic's slumbering face and he couldn't help but immediately smile again. "He means everything to me, and I thought my world ended all over again when he was killed right in front of me. I'll never let him go."

"..." This made the soldier hesitate. When he did respond, his tone was no longer hostile or callous, but genuinely happy for Shadow. "...I know you won't." He said softly. "He's very tired, he might sleep for a while. Perhaps a day or two straight, as the demon's power takes a huge physical and mental toll on the body after using it for a death contract. He'll probably feel ashamed, along with some self-loathing for a couple of weeks." He explained frankly. "I've never used the power myself, but I've researched what the form does to you after its usage." He turned to Shadow over his shoulder with a pitiful expression. "He's going to hate himself for being pushed that far. He might even become depressed." He turned away again. "You can't let him fall into despair, he needs you now more than ever. Don't let him down." He then hoisted his baton over his shoulder. "And for God's sake, confess your love to him already."

Blushing, Shadow watched as Zonic made his leave through the portal, disappearing.

Confess...His love for him?

31 - END - 31