[Sonic’s POV]

I glanced periodically at the door, wondering when Knuckles would come back. It had been a while, many hours at the least, and I might’ve been starting to get worried.

‘He doesn’t usually leave for too long…. Do you think something might’ve happened to him?’

“You can never be too sure with Knuckles.” Dark replied. “Maybe he just lost track of time? You know how he is with that emerald.”

‘Still, he’s been kind of overprotective of us lately…. I don’t think he’d just forget.’

“That’s true. As loyal as he is to that emerald, he is fiercely loyal to his friends.”

I chanced another look to the door. Still no Knux. I bit my lip a bit as my foot started tapping quickly in growing worry.

“Maybe you should go look for him?” Dark suggested.

“But I can’t just leave Shadow here.” I said aloud. “Knuckles doesn’t even want Shadow to stay here alone. He’d probably be mad with me if I do go and find him….”

“I know you care a lot about your friends, Sonic. I mean, I am living inside your mind.” Dark chuckled a bit before his voice grew a bit more serious. “I know that your friends mean the world to you and that you’d never want them hurt. I want you to look for Knuckles; Shadow can handle his own for a while.”

“Dark, I can’t.” I frowned. “What if Eggman breaks the truce while I’m gone. What if he hurts Shadow?”

“Fine, be that way.” Dark huffed. “If you aren’t going to look for him, then I will.”

“Dark what are you-” I cut my sentence off as I fell off the chair, convulsing. “Dark, stop!” I tried to push him back, but I couldn’t.

“This is for your own good!” My own voice growled out.

“Dark, please-”

“I’m sorry!”

The next thing I knew, I was in my own mind, watching Dark quickly run out of the room.

_________________

[Exe’s POV]

“He left.” Shadow’s ears perked up; he was frowning.

“Do you know what he’s doing?” I questioned.

“I-I don’t know.” He put his hand to his head. “He was crying out about someone named Dark. It seemed like he was in pain.”

“Pain?” That meant Dark was trying to take over Sonic’s body forcefully, but why? “What is Dark doing…?”

“Who is Dark?” Shadow quickly asked. “Is he dangerous?”

“He could be if he actually wanted to kill people.” I rolled my eyes. “He’s like me: another voice in his head.”

He seemed to think for a second. “Is he the one that he turned into when Mephiles attacked for the first time?”

I simply nodded before going back to my thoughts. “I wonder why he took over Sonic’s body….”

“Do you think something’s going on out there?” He asked.

“I don’t know….” I frowned. “I hope not.”

Shadow’s ear twitched a bit before he looked behind me. His eyes widened. “Smoke….”

I quickly looked behind me before standing up, grabbing his arm and pulling him up. I ran the opposite way, dragging him along. It took him a second before his legs started to move.

“You know we can’t outrun it!” He shouted. “There’s no point!”

“We have to try!” I glanced back. The smoke was gaining. I quickly scanned my mind for any place we could hide. There has to be some place that the smoke won’t get to us….

Wait… that’s it! “Shadow, what your happy place!?”

“What?”

“Your happy place! You know, the place you go in your mind to calm down? Sonic’s is a memory of him running under the stars!”

Shadow paused for a moment in thought. “Um, I guess it would be any memory on the ark with Maria….”

“Great! Pick your favorite and think about it really hard!” I quickly shouted, trying my best to keep us away from the smoke.

It was a few more seconds before I found myself in a kitchen. Gasping a bit for breath (though I don’t really need to breath), I took a second to survey the area. Shadow was right beside me, catching his breath too.

“Good save.” He breathed out.

“When you’ve been living inside a mind for 16 years, you learn a few things.” I replied.

He took a moment to look around. “Do you think this will work?”

“It’s our only chance.”

The door to the kitchen flew open and a smaller, giggling Shadow came running in, followed by a human girl with bright blue eyes and soft looking blonde hair. Shadow’s eyes seemed caught on her, a sad frown appearing on his muzzle.

“Is that Maria?” I asked. I only received a nod in response as Shadow slid down to sit on the ground, back against the wall. I followed suit, glad that we were both safe… for now, at least.

“What are we doing here, Maria?” The smaller Shadow asked, getting a footstool so he could see the counter.

Maria smiled as she pulled out random ingredients and put them on the table. “We are gonna make a cake for grandfather! Doesn’t that sound fun!?”

The smaller Shadow smiled brightly and nodded. “Is it going to be chocolate?”

“Of course!” The human chirped.

I glanced to Shadow as the memory played out. He had a small smile, more calm than I’ve ever really seen him. Before I knew it, the kitchen was a mess and the two were covered in flour, sugar, eggs, basically everything that you’d need to bake a cake. Shadow laughed a small bit.

“We never really knew what we were doing, but Maria always wanted to be a baker.” He smiled. “She always talked about us getting to Earth and opening a bakery; we would get to meet new people and bake sweet treats.”

“That sounds like fun.” I smiled. “Meredith loved to cook. Even with the limited technology we had back then, she could always make the best soup in our village.”

“Who’s Meredith?” Shadow questioned, tilting his head slightly.

I gripped my arms slightly, looking to the floor. “She was my whole life. The only thing right to me in this broken world.” I sighed, looking to him. “I don’t want to say too much. Sonic is the only one that should tell you this, but I will say that I wasn’t always in Sonic’s mind. I lived long before he was born.” I looked to the memory. “And I will say that I know how it feels to lose someone dear to you in the most horrible of ways.”

Shadow frowned, and I could tell that he was about to say something, but something else caught his eye. Curiously, I looked to where he was looking.

Smoke was bleeding through the door, invading the memory quickly and efficiently. I quickly stood up, but it was too late. The smoke already got to us.

Not even the happiest of places could help us now….

[Lava]

Expect some more updates of this book in particular throughout this month.

There might even be an Elemental Secret update here or there, but don’t expect too much from that one.