Sonic's eyes snapped open as he quickly sat up.

"Woah there." Knuckles was quick to gently push him back on the couch.

"Ugh, my head...." It felt as if someone had put him in a spinning room of bright, neon for an entire year.

"Yeah, so stay down." Knuckles said as soothing as he could, but he obviously wasn't good at it.

"I... I can't...." He tried to sit up again, but Haizea pushed him down this time.

"No, brother. You must rest." She gently ran her fingers through his quills carefully as to not cut herself. He closed his eyes, letting her sooth him back to sleep. Haizea smiled as she rested her hand on his forehead.

"Is he going to be alright?" Tails asked, almost meekly.

"I wish I could say for certain if he will be." The eldest of Busana and Apollo's children sighed.

Knuckles crossed his arms as he looked to his friend before quickly closing his eyes and looking away. Tails was more confused, and Knuckles was not helping. "What do you mean?"

"Heolstor's strength lies in his chaos." Buziba glanced out the window at the destruction the fight had caused. "We don't know fully what he has done or if Mahkah will-" He paused, glancing to the fox kit. He seemed to struggle to finish his sentence.

"Look, bud." Devion sighed as he sat beside the other fox. "Sonic is probably not gonna make it out of this."

"Devion!" Rouge snapped.

"You can't lie to the kid!" Devion quickly stated in his defense.

Tails looked to Sonic, tears rising in his eyes. Buziba frowned, not looking at the fox as he walked to the couch his brother was laying on, leaning over the back of it. Haizea and Buziba locked eyes, seeming to have a conversation between them. Devion and Rouge continued to silently bicker as Tails stood and walked to Knuckles.

"We have to find a way to save Sonic." He frowned.

"How?" Knuckles looked to the kit. "We don't even know what Heolstor did, and he's so unpredictable that it might not ever be reversible."

"If I've learned one thing about Sonic throughout the entire time I've known him, it's that he always beats the odds!" Everybody looked to Tails. "We can't give up! Heolstor hasn't won yet!"

"It kinda seems like he has, kid." Devion blinked.

"Devion, for once, can you shut up." Rouge rolled her eyes. "The kid's trying to be inspirational."

Devion simply rolled his eyes as Tails continued. "We've faced plenty of dangerous things in the past! Sonic never gave up on us, so why should we give up on him?"

"Sonic has been lying to us, Tails." Knuckles rubuttled, looking to the blue hedgehog. "How do you know if that's not just another lie?"

"Look, I don't know who he use to be or how he acted, but I do know how he is now. I don't think Sonic was lying to us about everything, and I don't believe that he wanted to lie to us."

Knuckles sighed, looking to the ground. So much was mixed and jumbled in his head. Sonic was Mahkah, the deity his tribe had worshiped for thousands of years. So many things made sense, but he just couldn't believe it. He imagined that Devion felt almost the same way, though probably not as bad. He glanced back at Tails, wondering how the kit could have such blind trust.

Finally, he sighed. "If we have any shot of helping Sonic, Farah is our best option." Tails smiled as Knuckles finally uncrossed his arms. "She would know best on what Heolstor did and how to fix it."

"You're right." Haizea nodded. "No one knows darkness better than light."

"So, we'll have to find her." Rouge nodded to Devion. "And I think I might know someone crazy enough that he's already solved the case."

All eyes turned to Devion, who seemed a bit shocked but quickly receded to his normal sarcastic demeanor. "It's Shadow, you idiots."

___________________________________

"Shadow." Heolstor crossed his arms as he looked down to his now tied up victim. "What a dark name you have chosen for yourself. I must say, I'm a bit proud."

Shadow glared right back. "I'm not scared of you."

"Yes, yes, it seems so. Except that you are lying." Shadow felt himself freeze as Heolstor got closer, simply laying a hand on the top of his head. Heolstor hummed a bit before taking his hand off and moving to the outside of the cave. "Kalama, be a dear and watch our little captive for me. I'll be right back."

The moment Heolstor left, Shadow started to struggle in his binds. He had to get out of there; he had to get as far away from Heolstor as he could.

He had to see if Sonic was alright.

"You aren't getting out of those." Kalama simply said as she leaned against the cave wall.

"Remind me again why you're here?" He growled back.

"You're much angier than you use to be. If you hadn't already ruined my life, I think I'd like you a bit more."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You'll remember." She crossed her arms, glaring sharply at the other. "You'll remember as I watch you burn."

Shadow rolled his eyes. It wasn't his first revenge story. "And what about Soni- Mahkah? What did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything to Mahkah."

"You are teaming up with Heolstor, and he definitely did something to him."

Kalama's fiery glare simmered as a bit of realization arose on her features. They quickly went away as she huffed. "Heolstor wouldn't hurt him."

Shadow had to laugh a bit. "Oh really now? Isn't it his entire goal to eliminate Mahkah? What makes you think he didn't?"

She turned away, obviously not wanting to hear it. "He only wants to destroy Farah so he can take over. He wouldn't hurt my brother."

"Do you really believe that?" Shadow shook his head. "If he destroys me, Mahkah will fight back. It's inevitable that they will clash. Whose side will you choose then?"

Her arms came uncrossed as she turned to look at him. "I thought you didn't know...."

"I'm not an idiot." He rolled his eyes. "At first, I didn't think that it could possibly be me, but-" he sighed. "I thought I'd wait it out, see if I turn into her or something. The truth is that I don't remember anything before I became Shadow. I just know that I was Farah."

"You don't remember...?"

"I have feelings, thoughts, even dreams about her- my- past." He shook his head. "The only memory that I've been able to retain was my death. And even then it feels as if I'm an outsider watching it. I may be her reincarnated, but I'm my own person. I've had my own tragedies. My own life."

Kalama was silent for a moment before sitting down, looking to her hands in her lap. Shadow closed his eyes for a moment. Finally saying it out loud put things into perspective a bit more. He frowned as his thoughts drifted to Sonic.

He'd probably disappointed that he'd never truly get to see Farah again. After all, he did spend thousands of years just waiting for her.

'Then I can really be with him.' Shadow thought, but that thought immediately sunk. 'If he isn't mad at me for not remembering....'

It would make sense for him to be mad, wouldn't it? Spending so much time thinking that he'd see his love again, only to find out that person is actually gone forever?

"Farah was never really my friend." Kalama spoke, making Shadow's ears perk up a bit as his eyes opened. He hadn't expected her to talk. "I guess it makes sense. I am her mortal enemy's daughter...."

Shadow waited a moment, watching her. In another minute, she spoke again. "I guess I never tried speaking to her. I was more just mad that she took my brother away from me."

"I'm sure she didn't mean it." He felt as if he had to speak, to defend what he use to be, or something like that at least. He was glad that she was referring to Farah as someone entirely different, though.

"I wouldn't know... and neither would you." She sighed, burying her face in her hands. "Ugh, why did he have to care about her so much! When she died, he left us forever! It's like he never cared about us! Just Farah, Farah, Farah!"

"I may not know what happened, but I do know that he cares more about his family than anything, and he left to save you all from Farah's fate."

"Nonsense!" Kalama huffed. "We can all take care of ourselves!"

"That doesn't matter." Shadow shook his head. "I went through the same kind of thing. Sometimes your mind gets clouded when you want to protect someone you love."

Kalama stayed quiet after that. She sat down, facing away from Shadow. He just simply stayed quiet in return, knowing that she was most likely rethinking her choices.

He sighed as he thought about Sonic once again....