“Ugh Shadow.” Knuckles sighed moving a branch out of the way. “Couldn’t he have just broken out of Kalama’s grip? I thought he was the ultimate lifeform.”

“It was very likely that he felt overwhelmed.” Haizea followed behind him.

“The guy who had to kill his own technical father feeling overwhelmed? Yeah, sure.” Devion rolled his eyes.

The group walked through the forest of Angel Island, many miles away from where Sonic was lying peacefully.

“How is he?” Tails asked through a communicator.

“Just as passed out as the last time you asked, hun.” Rouge replied, having stayed back to watch the blue blur. “Don’t worry; I’ll make sure to tell you if anything changes.”

“And Buziba will likely sense any change to his mind.” Haizea mentioned. “Mahkah is in safe hands.”

Tails nodded, but he was still a bit worried. Shaking his thoughts out of his head, he looked to Haizea. “Where do we go now?”

“I sense Kalama’s presence close.” Haizea stopped for a moment, and the others felt a breeze flow on by. “They are north of here.”

Knuckles quickly lead them in that direction, but only a little while later stopped. He looked up at the cliff before looking back to Haizea. “They up there?” Haizea simply nodded.

Devion glanced up, gulping a bit before going to turn away. “Alright, it’s been fun, but I guess this is just where we part. I hope I never remember any of you-”

Devion cut himself off with a scream, as Knuckles had just grabbed him and threw him upwards. He was soon grabbed by the smaller fox, who then flew him to the ground on the cliff. He gripped onto his chest, trying to calm down his quickly beating heart. His breathing was quick as he saw Tails set Haizea down in front of him and Knuckles pulling himself up, having climbed. “You’re all insane.”

Knuckles rolled his eyes as he pulled Devion back to his feet. “Yeah, yeah. Come on.”

Devion watched as the three continued on. He debated just walking away and going home but quickly found himself following behind. He sighed as he cursed his interest in history.

________________

“Haizea….” Kalama looked towards the opening of the cave. “She’s trying to find us…” She looked to Shadow with a bit of a glare. “Trying to find you.”

“Trying to find both of us.” Shadow replied quick. “You had it right the first time.”

Kalama rolled her eyes as she looked down, crossing her arms. “Heolstor hasn’t gotten back yet…. What should I do…?”

“What you want to do.” Kalama and Shadow locked eyes; it seemed as if the air around them stopped.

“Haizea is close by….” Kalama trailed off. Shadow remained silent. She felt herself start to tear up as she felt her sister’s presence. “What have I done?”

“What you thought was necessary at the time.” Shadow simply nodded. “We all make those mistakes.” Kalama stared at him for a long moment. Shadow sighed. “What you did then doesn’t matter anymore. What you do now is the deciding factor.”

“Deciding factor? Of what?”

“Of how you want your story to go.” Shadow never left her gaze. “You control your own story; not Heolstor, not me, and not your siblings. It’s up to you to decide where you want to be; who you want to be.” Shadow glanced to the paintings on the wall; Kalama did as well. The specific story told in those paintings was of a betrayal. “Those don’t control you.” He looked back to her. “You determine your own destiny.”

“I….” Kalama glanced again to the cave opening, wrapping her arms around her.

Shadow simply looked down, waiting for her to make her choice.

______________

“Tell me the truth.” Rouge glanced towards Buziba, who was staring out the window. “Do you think Blue will make it?”

Buziba glanced back. Rouge was holding Sonic’s hand, concern spreading across all of her features. He seemed to wince slightly as he saw Sonic, quickly looking back out the window.

Rouge wasn’t taking silence as an answer though. “Look, you don’t have to give me the probability of him actually surviving or whatever. Just tell me what you think.”

Buziba spared one last glance behind him before sighing. “The truth is that I’m not completely certain. As we have said, Heolstor’s power is unpredictable. The most I can say is that I hope Mahkah will make it through.”

Rouge frowned as silence took over yet again, both too stuck in their thoughts to break it.

After what felt like forever, Rouge finally spoke up. “Well, I don’t hope that he’ll make it through.”

Buziba looked back.

“I know he’ll make it through.” Rouge felt her spirit lighten. “I don’t know how he acted with you guys, but the Sonic I know is as stubborn as a boulder! He won’t be knocked down by some measly shot!”

“You and the fox seem to have the same thoughts.” Buziba commented, starting to smile a bit. “If you all believe that, then I guess it must be true.”

Rouge smirked as she looked back to where Sonic was lying.

But there was no hedgehog to be found.

______________

“They were here.” Haizea commented as they looked around the cave.

“They must’ve sensed us.” Knuckles clenched his fists, not very happy that his ancestor’s cave had been broken into and used as a place for villains to hide. He kicked the ground in anger.

“Well, we can’t stop here.” Tails said. “They couldn’t be that far, right?”

Devion leaned against the cave wall. “Can’t we just take a little break?”

“Why did you even come if you’re just gonna complain?” Knuckles growled out, slightly annoyed.

“Because I like history and my dumb obsession with the past wouldn’t let me miss this.” Devion grumbled out, equally annoyed at himself.

The group of four made their way out of the cave. Tails turned to Haizea. “Can you sense Kalama?”

Haizea opened her mouth to answer , but a this nearby stopped her. They all turned towards the noise to see Shadow tied up, mouth taped shut. He looked annoyed.

“Shadow? But that means-”

“Up here.” Knuckles clenched his fists as they looked up just in time to see Kalama jump down beside the tied up hedgehog.

“Kalama.” Haizea stood in front of the mortals. “Let him go.”

Kalama simply smirked, raising a knife in her hand. Haizea's eyes widened as Kalama wordlessly lifted it above Shadow.

“Wait don't-”

But Kalama had already struck.

And the ropes fell off the hedgehog.

The girl laughed with a fiery passion, almost kneeling as Shadow stood, kicking the ropes away.

“They actually thought- ha! Can you believe that Shadow!?”

The hedgehog simply rolled his eyes as he ripped the tape off his mouth. “Yes, congratulations on having them fall for your illogical little prank.”

“Prank?” Knuckles looked confusedly between the two.

“Surely you know what a prank is.” Shadow smirked, but quickly felt a pang of familiarity once he looked to the echidna. “Afterall, you have known Sonic for so long.”

Ignoring how the last part of that was said, Knuckles felt his face heat up with mild embarrassment. “Of course I know what a prank is!”

“Kalama, does this mean…?” Haizea looked to her sister hopefully.

“I’m done being bossed around by Heolstor at every turn.” Kalama looked to Haizea. “Am I welcome back?”

“Of course!” Haizea ran to her sister, wrapping her arms around her tightly in a hug. Kalama tensed for a second but quickly accepted the hug.

Devion leaned against a tree, glad for the stop. He looked around at the happy group, mumbling to himself, “Something bad is definitely going to happen.”