Sonic Runaways

"If you have time to worry, then…" Elise grunted to herself, scurrying across the Soleanna Field in high heels. The visions she saw when she and Sonic held the scepter rushed through her mind. He had been through so much, and he had torn right through all those problems with a smile on his face. Even though he was cursed with the same knowledge of Cyberspace as her. "... If you have time to worry, then run. Right." She stumbled over a rock, following the Egg Carrier to a location she had only ever heard of in passing from her father's anecdotes before he died. She faced the skies that the red, steel-plated harbinger of death besmirched with smog and soot. "Zone; Kingdom Valley. Location; exactly northwest of the wall around the New City. Status; waterlogged. Future; disaster."

Silver noticed her as she ran through the plains. "Where does the princess think she's—-?" Silver was hit by a feeling of deja vu. Then panic. He flew after her, trying to keep a low profile. But the eyes creeping out the back of Elise's head kept track of his every movement.

Silver followed her all the way into the old castle's ruins. She wasn't stopping, even though she was running straight for a pool of murky water. Silver grabbed an iron crate and threw it straight at a watchtower, knocking it down and creating a walkway for Elise. Elise began to climb up an opposing watchtower, high above the wall of boulders and debris that once blocked her way.

"Princess Elise!" Silver shouted. "Stop! Stop right now!" Elise reached the top of the tower and leapt over the wall. Silver caught onto her, slowing her descent once more. Once she was on the ground, Silver put her in total stasis. "This is a bad idea, I saw this when I touched the scepter. You can't be here! You CAN'T go after Eggman, or—!" The sky strobed purple, the sky rang like one of the huge bells in Castle Town. Something waved away Silver's hold on Elise. A dark magnetic force, one which pulled Elise in closer. Silver flew after her, reaching for her arm to stop her more directly. But she was going too fast. Not running, but getting pulled across the ground. Right towards a tear in space and time. Droplets of water fell onto Silver from above.

"Ugh… water. I HATE water so much," Sonic slipped and tried to catch his footing on the rooftops. He then locked eyes with Silver down below. "You again? Mind taking a hike? Nice weather for a soggy dipstick like YOU." Silver flew towards Sonic and picked him up with his mind. Rocketing into the rainclouds.

"Don't talk. Just look!" Silver shouted, as he and Sonic hovered in the sky. Sonic looked around. There was something taking form from the clouds. Scientific equations. Latin descriptions of historic events from the distant past and far future. Towering, pearly angels frozen in time and space. They looked just like the agonized, wailing statues in the Castle Town.

"What's going on? Did Eggman—?" Sonic asked. Silver then dove back down, gliding across the water with Sonic in tow. Creating waves that washed away the apparitions of demonic beasts chasing after them.

"It wasn't Eggman. He's just another pawn in all this, like you…" Silver muttered. Elise hopped out of another tear in reality. Aboard the Egg Carrier. Sonic and Silver were still far behind. "... You AND I. I get it now. You're not Mephiles! You can't be, you were protecting Elise this whole time." Elise clattered against the metal walls and flooring as she was pulled through the halls of the warmachine.

Eggman tried to steer around the angelic behemoths as they swarmed him from all sides. Just then, Elise slammed the Dark Scepter into the door to the control room, causing it to disintegrate.

"Eggman…" Elise grunted.

"You again?! I thought for sure you splattered back by the railroad," Eggman growled. "I must say, I'm impressed how much Sonic's sheer tenacity has influenced you. But you made one fatal mistake he never would."

"And what's that, Eggman?" Elise asked, moving closer with the Dark Scepter in her trembling hands.

"You came back to ME," Eggman activated his jet-boots and grabbed Elise before she could swing the heavy sacred torch. He slammed her face into the wall. "You're a fool, not fit for royalty. You wear a crown made out of cardboard. Don't worry. I'll leave this kingdom much better than I found it. In flames and cinder, ash and soot."

Sonic and Silver crashed through the window to the Egg Carrier's control room. Eggman dropped Elise and turned to face them. Only to be put into stasis by Silver. "Eggman, snap out of it! You don't understand!" Silver shouted, forcing Eggman's arms to his sides. "If you unleash the Flames of Disaster, they'll destroy the world. You can't control the flames, NOBODY can. You'll be consumed along with everything else! The Book of Darkness can't be trusted!" The Egg Carrier suddenly shook, a loud blast coming from the engine. One of the giant angels had taken form inside of the ship, splitting it down the center. The ship began to crumble and fall to the ground. As Silver focused on holding their half of the ship in the air, Eggman was able to sock him in the face. Sonic and Elise looked to the madman in disbelief as Silver lost his grip on the remnant of the Egg Carrier and fell unconscious.

"Finally… he stopped talking," Eggman snickered. He watched the tears fall from Elise's eyes as they neared the ground. "That's right, Elise… Cry! Now, the Flames of Disaster shall be mi—"

CRASH!

…

Princess Elise saw flames and cinder… she smelled ash and soot. She tasted blood. A sudden realization hit her. This was no dream. Kingdom Valley was now reduced to a burning inferno. The deep, murky lake was now boiling over onto the ablaze walkway.

Elise looked to the red skies. To the flames that had formed all around her. She screamed, until a rush of wind calmed the fire in her immediate vicinity. Sonic then rushed through, picking her up and running through the bonfire of a courtyard. He rail-grinded on wind currents, and he swung from bolts of lightning. All to get Elise to safety. An angel crashed down in front of them, and opened its wings. As it tried to encase them into its warm, soft feathers, Elise froze. Sonic simply Homing Attacked into the Angel. It split into a mess of black tar. Sonic then arrived at a cliff.

"Where do we go now?!" Elise exclaimed. Sonic looked down, and began to get dizzy. He took a deep breath…

Then jumped!

Sonic reached for the opposing ledge, only to miss. He plummeted towards the distant ground. Elise held on tightly, unknowingly stopping Sonic from grabbing onto any of the outlying roots or uneven bricks that could have broken their fall.

"Elise…!" Sonic grunted, trying to break free. She wouldn't let go of his other arm. Sonic and Elise were then caught in an explosion. Sonic felt his body get charred and his eardrums burst. As always, he shielded Elise from the worst of it. They landed on the other side of the chasm. In the field. Mostly safe, and mostly sound. They didn't want to look back. They already felt the embers, smoke and wind rushing by as the old castle collapsed into the lake.

"Heheheh…" Sonic chuckled. Elise began to laugh, too. They sat there in the grass, cackling almost hysterically in the middle of nowhere. They fell onto their backs and basked in the joys of escaping one last time. Elise took a deep sigh of relief. "Nice smile!" Sonic mumbled, glancing to Elise. Then back to the sky. The storm hadn't cleared, but the rain felt nice. The harsh wind began to calm down, and only then did Elise realize… Sonic wasn't breathing anymore.

And she had already started crying.

"Sonic…? Oh no. No. Nonononono—NO!" Elise shrieked, kneeling over Sonic. He was still smiling. His eyes were still locked onto the heavenly sky above. "Sonic! Sonic, wake up!" Elise pulled Sonic in closer. She cried onto him, her tears washing away the blue on his fur. Burning, wrinkling his skin and turning it gray. His chest began to release a dark glow. Elise's eyes widened. She tried to let go and back away, but it felt like her arms were glued to Sonic's corpse as it turned into something… different.

"Hahahahahaha…"

"Hahahahahahaha!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" A decidedly different voice from Sonic's bellowed in delight. Elise recognized the voice. The one that had talked to her through the Dark Scepter… "Hello, Elise." Elise finally found the courage to let go of Sonic's body as it looked at her with blue, serpentine eyes. She then found the courage to run, the being following close behind.

No matter how fast Elise might have been able to run, she knew whoever this was would eventually catch up. They had Sonic's body. They had his power. The tears streamed down her face like waterfalls, they met the ground as pillars of flame. Charring the angels and turning the clouds dark orange. In a flash of light, the entire field was now on fire. Mirrors began to form around her, reflecting the face of the lucid nightmare behind her. She grabbed the Dark Scepter as the beast closed in, and stopped running. She swung the scepter at the dark entity, only for it to phase right through. It then turned to sand and slipped through her fingers.

"Sonic?" Elise asked, stepping back. "This isn't you…"

"You're right," Mephiles replied. He shot beams of darkness her way. They all seemed to slow down just as they were about to hit Elise. They turned a bright blue. "What in the world—?!" Silver crashed down between Elise and Mephiles, releasing a psychokinetic shockwave that dispelled the lasers.

"Stand back!!" Silver shouted. Taking hold of Mephiles. "Sonic was innocent in all of this. You possessed him when he touched the Dark Scepter, just like how you've been haunting Elise since SHE first held the scepter." Silver began to compress Mephiles, nearly flattening him.

"How did you know—?" Elise began to ask.

"Mephiles, release Sonic right now! You horrible creature!" Silver snapped. Mephiles' chest began to pound. Something was trying to get out. When it did, Mephiles' vessel— Sonic's body, exploded into darkness. Leaving only a black Chaos Emerald that floated midair for a few seconds, before falling onto the ground. "Sonic? Where's Sonic?!" Silver asked. Somebody stepped out of the flames that had spawned from Elise's tears. Silver took a sigh of relief.

"Blaze!" Silver exclaimed, running past the shellshocked, unresponsive Elise and over to Blaze. "You know what to do here, right?" Silver picked up Sonic's Chaos Emerald heart. "Sonic… and Mephiles… they disappeared. Do you know what happened?" He held the emerald up to Blaze as it sparked with Chaos Energy. Blaze stared into the gem.

"Sonic… the blue hedgehog, right?" Blaze pondered. She then took the emerald from Silver, and clutched it tightly.

"Blaze? You don't think he's…?" Silver muttered as Blaze turned away. He looked all around as the flames closed in.

"No, no of course not. Hold on. I just need a few seconds," Blaze whispered, walking towards the flames.

"What are you—?" Silver asked. Blaze held the black Chaos Emerald up to the fire. The flames seemed to magnetize towards the emerald. "Blaze!"

"You're so naive," Blaze murmured, harnessing the Flames of Disaster with Sonic's Chaos Emerald. "Haven't you realized? Mephiles has tricked you. I can't believe that even you fell into his hand, Silver." Blaze rose her hand into the air. The Chaos Emerald continued to take on the flames. "I thought you were special, I thought your pure heart was what we needed to destroy him. But I suppose it just made you more susceptible to his manipulation." The emerald continued to absorb the fire. But it didn't look like the flames were damaging the Chaos Emerald. In fact, it seemed more like they were fusing. Blaze didn't seem to notice. "I just hope the great flames can finally burn his wretched soul."

"This is crazy talk!" Silver grabbed the Chaos Emerald and pulled it away. Blaze finally turned to him and clenched the emerald tighter. She then waved away his telekinesis with the power inside the gemstone. "Blaze, this is what Mephiles wanted. In the vision I saw, he told me he was the Iblis Trigger! He WANTS the Flames of Disaster to burn this world to ashes!"

"That's impossible," Blaze hissed, as the emerald began to glow with how much fire it had consumed. "Darkness cannot exist within the firelight. These 'Flames of Disaster' as you call them… are our guiding light to a better world for tomorrow…" Blaze put on her hood, and turned away. "... A world that has a tomorrow. Allowing us to finally escape this digital dimension that exists only as a faint memory of yesterday." The Chaos Emerald then exploded into a blinding white light.