The Card Truth

"So let me get this straight," Tekno said, driving on a road going up a snowy mountain with the rest of Team Rose. Breeze had fallen asleep, so there had to be someone at the wheel. "You live all the way over in Floral Forest? And you're only 14? What are you doing out here so late, then?"

"I was sneaking out to the Chao Garden in Lantern Lake Zone," Cream replied. Cheese, Cream's Chao, looked unsure of himself. "My mother doesn't let me go there too often now that there's been rumors of aggressive wild animals in the area. But going on an adventure with you guys seemed a lot more interesting than visiting the garden when all the Chao are asleep anyways."

"Wild animals? You mean those weird monsters? The ones called the Eternalists?" Amy asked. Tekno glanced over.

"Monsters? Now that you mention it… that matches up with what my neighbors say they look like," Cream mumbled. "Some people think the mayor from Illedence made them."

"Made them?" Amy asked. The air got colder.

"Yeah. He forces the people who live there to worship some kind of god," Cream explained. Tekno began to hear a pounding sound in her head. "But… most other religions that mention Illedence's god say that it takes away the life force of people who follow it. Hurting them mentally, and even resulting in physical scars."

"Okay, that's enough," Tekno groaned. "I do NOT want to think about those things right now."

They all pulled into a parking lot. Amy struggled to push open the frozen door, and stepped into the snow. "Brrr!" She mumbled as snow seeped into her boots. She walked up the polished tiled stairs and looked all around at the park on the mountain's peak, which was covered in warm orange Christmas lights. The lights were entangled into heart shapes over a herculean pool of crystal-clear water. The stars seemed so close. "This place is pretty!"

"Pretty sure this place is called Sweetheart Sierra. Barely on the outskirts of Winterburg. So we're only a few miles from Kerosen. Too bad the snow's too thick to drive in now," Tekno stated. Amy took a deep breath. Tekno walked off to a cozy single-room house with no walls by the side of the brick road, and reclined on the small sofa. Amy followed and placed a sleeping Birdie on the small padded stool in the center. "G'night, Amy. The snow should clear up a lot tomorrow." Tekno replied, closing her eyes and quickly falling asleep. Cream curled up on the other sofa with Cheese tucked away in her ears. Big remained asleep in the backseat of Breeze. Amy yawned as her head hit the pillow, knowing that tomorrow, the sun would rise and she would be able to see Sonic again.

"Don't worry, Sonikku. I'm coming back home soon," Amy whispered as she closed her eyes. She pulled the pillow out from under her head and cuddled it tightly.

…

Amy woke up. The sun… still hadn't risen. It felt like hours of her keeping her eyes closed without a dream, but it must have only been a few minutes. The squealing and screeching wind was the culprit. The one who woke her up. The frigid snow against her face was its partner-in-crime, an accomplice. She summoned an apparition of a clock. It was five in the morning. Dispelling the apparition, she hopped out of bed. "Tekno? I can't sleep," she whined. Tekno rolled over, groaning. Her eyes were bloodshot.

"Me neither. The snow's nasty tonight," Tekno rasped, shivering. "Hey, so… your tarot cards actually work, right?"

"Of course they do," Amy replied.

"Like, as normal tarot cards? They don't just make hammers, right?" Tekno asked. Amy nodded. "Can you… Eheh… Can you tell me my future?"

"Yeah! With this Hourglass Card, it should be a piece of cake," Amy exclaimed. She held up the Hourglass Card.

"Where'd you get that?" Tekno asked.

"The Eternalists gave it to me," Amy replied.

"You sure it isn't… y'know, cursed?" Tekno mumbled.

"It's gonna be fine," Amy assured her. "The one that gave it to me… he was nice." Amy looked to the ground sadly. Amy then grew a big enthusiastic smile, laying out a few cards for Tekno. Tekno watched in anticipation as Amy set up the reading. "Okay, cards… show Tekno her future!" Then, Tekno's eyes turned black and white, losing their pupils. She screamed, as she probably went through the same thing Amy went through back in the dusty old Eternalist shack. When her eyes faded back to normal, she stared at Amy, dumbfounded.

"What the heck was that?!" Tekno shouted.

"What did you see?" Amy asked. Tekno looked to the ground, hyperventilating. "Tekno, are you—?"

"Amy… That card is SO cursed!" Tekno cried. Birdie squirmed at the loud sounds, Amy jolted back. "I didn't know what was going on. It felt like a nightmare, Amy! It felt like I was a wild animal. I wasn't even able to think about anything other than…" Tekno's voice trailed off. She tried to calm herself down.

"You've been lying to yourself, Tekno. That's what the cards say," Amy replied gently. "What you saw sounds bad, but maybe it can be prevented if you find the truth within yourself?"

"The truth… yeah, you're right," Tekno stammered. She took a deep breath. "So… what about you?"

"Me?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. Have you ever used the cards to find out your future?" Tekno asked. "For example, with Sonic?"

"A while ago, yeah," Amy murmured. "Lots has happened since then, so it might be different now."

"How so?" Tekno asked. "What did they say the first time?"

"They said he would be my true love, inseparable for the rest of our lives," Amy sighed happily. "But that could change. I mean, it didn't say anything about marriage. Maybe that could happen soon!" Amy looked away. "I'm a better person now. Because he showed me how to be a hero on Angel Island! Maybe he loves me more, now."

"Wait, lifelong love is one thing. But you probably shouldn't check for marriage," Tekno warned. "It might be like looking at your bride's dress right before the ceremony. Bad luck."

"I'm sure it's fine," Amy giggled, laying out cards for herself.

"Wait, Amy, don't!" Tekno exclaimed.

"Relax. Nothing bad is gonna happen to my Sonikku and I," Amy replied. "Because we're inseparable foreverandeverandonlygoodthingswillcomeofitbecauseIlovehimandhelovesmeandwe—" Amy took a long breath. "I guess I just have a good feeling about it. I know he loves me. I'm sure he won't break my heart no matter what." Tekno gulped, as Amy placed the Hourglass Card onto the floor. Amy smiled, as her eyes turned black and white.

A million images flashed across Amy's mind. Her return home the next morning at the first sign of dawn through the cracks between the trees. Embracing Sonic before he took his morning jog, tackling him to the ground and bombarding him with a haphazard explanation of her journey. He freaked out, but eventually seemed okay with the embrace. They enjoyed the run under the sunrise together.

The next few days were a blur. Sonic was showing more affection towards Amy than usual, Amy could tell it was because he was concerned about what happened. Accompanying her on her walks around town, smiling and laughing.

It was only a few days later that their walks brought them to the edge of town by pure chance, past the Kerosen limits to an untouched field under the sun. They looked at each other, seeing more beauty in the other one's eyes than even the sprawling grasslands in front of them. Sonic knelt down to the ground, and came back up with a white rose. He said something, but Amy couldn't hear. She could read his lips perfectly. He said… "I love you." Then, it happened. The Storm came back.

Sonic looked to the vortex, tearing through the sky and beginning to sweep away the trees and ground. Sonic ran with Amy, trying to escape as the flower was pulled away from him. With his speed… he was able to resist the Storm's pull. He ran past the ruins of Kerosen, calling for Tails. But nobody was there.

Sonic ran. And ran. The Storm followed him and Amy wherever they went, destroying the world around them. It wasn't going away like last time, it was only growing. Amy and Sonic's obsessions with each other grew with it. Ransacking abandoned grocery stores, fighting off gangs comprised of people not unlike them trying to survive… They were there for each other through all of it. Eventually, they found themselves on Angel Island, a land above the clouds and above the Storm. For now. The Storm was still growing. It had already enveloped Hidden Palace, so the Chaos Emeralds were not an option. Sonic argued with Knuckles that he needed the Master Emerald, as Amy stood and watched.

"Amy! You're my friend, right?!" Knuckles asked, dragging her into the conflict. "We can figure something else out. If Sonic takes the emerald, the whole island will fall and be sucked up by that black hole!" Amy, tears falling from her face, had come to a difficult decision. Sonic or Knuckles. She couldn't have both. The love of her life… or her best friend. "Amy… please." Knuckles muttered, as Amy walked up the steps and conjured up a spell. "DON'T!" A flurry of magical light spears rained down from the sky. One pierced Knuckles in the chest despite his attempts to dodge, beginning to burn him up from within. Amy and Sonic ran up to the altar and stole the Master Emerald. Knuckles tore the spear from his chest, and threw it at them both. Sonic jumped out of the way, as Amy began to lift the Master Emerald.

Sonic tried to fight Knuckles off, until Knuckles pinned him to the stairs and began to wail on him. Beating him deep into the Master Emerald's Altar. Amy then pulled the Master Emerald out of its resting place. It phased into her, and she blasted towards Knuckles, reluctantly reducing him to atoms. She then reached for Sonic, healing his wounds instantly. As he took her hand, they soared up into space slowly.

They watched from the stars as all of Erius was absorbed by the Storm. Slowly drifting away into the cosmos.

Many years passed. Or maybe they didn't. It was hard to tell. Amy and Sonic kept floating aimlessly through the emptiness. Like dead fish in a constantly expanding tank. But they were still alive, in a sense. Sometimes they would kiss. Sometimes they would hug for warmth, amongst other things. They talked a lot, they were really each other's only reminder that existence was still a thing. That the black starless void they were swimming around in wasn't always so dark.

"Do you remember Erius?" Sonic asked after what felt like an eternity, with a strange slowness in his dry compressed voice that made him sound like a confused old man and an uncertain toddler trying to grasp the concept of words at the same time. Every individual letter dragged on, taking turns as the only sound in the lonely universe for centuries.

"Yeah, I do!" Amy replied, her similarly slow electronic voice out-of-tune and prone to glitches. "We've been to so many planets, but that one was always the best. My favorite part was that fox with the… tail."

"I liked that too," Sonic replied, his voice trailing off and dying across a million years. "And the #FF0000 entity. He was. So. Funny…"

"Sahnek-q. You're sooooo funnyyy," Amy replied. She looked down into her arms at the crude depiction of a small vaguely spiky circle. It was hardly even blue anymore. "Are you okay?" Amy asked, speaking through a collection of beeps.

"I'm okay," Sahnek replied. "And you?"

"I'mmm MORE than okaayy," Amy assured him, her physical vessel now four times its original size and glowing an emerald green. "I am upGRADEEEE—Eternamy-3.0." Eternamy and Sahnek shared a monotone laugh that echoed through the entire universe. "You've made this eternity very happy for me, Sahnek-q. I love you forever. But you look sick."

"I am in pain, Amy. But it's okay," Sahnek replied, beginning to twist and morph. "As long as you're still here, I will stay with you. I'm not going anywhere."

"You do not want to move on?" Eternamy asked. "With the power of my Master Emerald, and your Chaos Emerald, we can make a new universe and meet each other again someday. It was fate, according to those cards. We can be fresh and healthy again."

"I don't want to start again," Sahnek refused. "Because what if we can't find each other like we did last time? I have a feeling it was not fate, because I used to always avert fate in my youth. That is why I met you in the first place. Through a long chain of spontaneous fate-defying events. But… if you want to risk it, if you want to risk our relationship, be reborn and potentially never see each other again, that's what you want. I cannot stop you." Eternamy gasped.

"What do you mean?!" Eternamy cried.

"I just wanted to hear what you had to say," Sahnek answered, morphing and abstractifying beyond comprehension. "I am forever loyal to you, Eternamy. I will obey your every decision." Eternamy shuddered, the omnipotent being shaken to its very core. The dark space around her seemed to grow darker and more frightening. "After all, isn't that what you wanted?"

"No! It's not what I wanted! SHUT UP!" Eternamy exclaimed, feeling betrayed through Sahnek's unquestionable loyalty. "What happened to us, Sonic?! We— YOU used to be so free. This isn't right… You're not even you anymore!" Eternamy looked down at the being she could no longer feel love for. She could only remember the love she once felt for the personality that was long dead, replaced by what may as well have been a sterilized corpse in her arms and a voice in her head. A voice that only said what she wanted it to say. "I hate this! I hate you, you're NOT my Sonikku! I want to go back!" She tossed the smooth white sphere far into the cosmos in a fit of rage. After being charged up for years at that point, the Master Emerald erupted into a bright light.

And thus… the universe was born anew.

…

"I don't think we'll find your friend frog here, Mr. Big," Cream the Rabbit stated.

"Chaoo," Cheese agreed tiredly.

"We might," Big replied.

Just then, they heard a sound. The sound of a car coming to a stop in the parking lot of Sweetheart Sierra. "Mr. Big? Somebody's there!" Cream whispered. Big turned around to see a limousine shut its headlights off. A figure obscured by snow fog and darkness stepped out. Followed by two others holding a strange object. "What are they doing? Do you think they're park rangers?" Cream hid behind the seat, peeking out at the three humanoid figures in the mist. They walked closer, into the headlights. "Who's there?" Cream asked.

"Do not be alarmed, young ones," a raspy voice grunted. Cleave the Moloch stepped forward. Cream began to shake, recognizing his face. "If I may ask… what model is that car of yours?"

"I don't know. It's… my father's car," Cream dodged the question, looking down at Breeze.

"Ah, then let's have a closer look," Cleave sighed. Gamma and the orange E-104 Epsilon placed down a fairly large purple-red mound of metal that looked like it was supposed to replicate their own series in its head shape. "Yes, right there, my E-Series. That should be a splendid spot for your brother, Zeta." Cleave inspected Breeze's front. "Ah… I used to have a car like this. It brings back memories. Your father should be proud of himself for keeping it in such great condition. As should you!" Cleave laughed. Cream was screaming internally. "You'd best go, now. I would hate for you to get caught up in this operation." Cleave walked off.

"Okay thanks bye!" Cream exclaimed. "Mr. Big, you can drive, right?"

"Uhhh… I can row a boat," Big answered. Suddenly, Breeze opened his eyes and drove towards the area Amy, Tekno and Birdie were sleeping at. He braked as soon as he reached them.

"Amy! Tekno! It's time to leave!" Breeze shouted. He gasped in worry. Amy was shaking uncontrollably, hardly even responsive as she slowly looked over at him. Tekno looked scared out of her mind, and appeared to be in the middle of consoling Amy. "What happened?"

"Amy used a card she got from the Eternalists! I don't think she liked what she saw," Tekno replied, dragging Amy and Birdie into the car as Breeze began to drive. "What's going on?! Is that—?" Tekno looked up to the sky as another one of those strange fireworks shot into the stars from where Zeta was. Then, the Storm was back. It began to suck up the wedding venue, laying waste to the sprawling mountain monument. The water began to fall into the Storm, the brick floor was torn apart behind them. Everybody screamed as they saw something up ahead. Zero. "No-nononono!" Tekno squawked as Breeze went into reverse.

"It's okay! Everything will be okay!" Breeze cried, shifting his face to the back of the car to get a good view of what they were driving towards. A limo. Cleave's limo. It crashed into the back of Breeze, denting his trunk bad. He winced. "Ha! I didn't even feel that!" Cleave stuck his head out the window as he drove away from the Storm, pushing Breeze and everyone inside along.

"You lack the ability to feel physical pain, Breeze," Cleave muttered. "But you have a soul, and a heart. I will kill your heart by taking away your precious Amy."

"No you won't!" Breeze shouted, shocked. He gritted his teeth, as he realized he was being pushed towards Zero. His back tires were busted, so he had no hope of driving out of the way. Tears fell from his eyes as the impending doom set in. "That wasn't part of the deal! None of this was part of the deal!"

"Deal? What are you saying…?" Cream asked, frightened. Amy's eyes widened.

"Take the others, I don't care!" Breeze shouted. "You said that if we came to this meetup spot, you'd retrieve the Flicky and let Amy go! But then you tried to kill us on the way here. Why?!"

"Silly magic car," Cleave groaned. "You really think I would let Amy go? The parade where I gave you your mission… that very parade was for her. I will not let her go, and you will not be able to aid her anymore."

"We're gonna crash…!" Tekno hissed. "Any ideas?"

"Yeah! Grab on!" Cream exclaimed as the Storm died out. She flew away with her ears, Cheese and Birdie in tow. Tekno grabbed on, with Amy and Big linking together to be carried by Cream. Breeze watched as they abandoned him.

"AMY!" Breeze shouted. "No! Come back to me! Don't leave me again!" Amy remained expressionless as she was taken away from him. Gamma and Epsilon shot at them, before Epsilon was smashed by falling debris. Gamma looked over in shock. He only saw a small bird struggling to escape from the wreckage. Gamma sat down properly to avoid the same fate.

"What are you doing?! Shoot them out of the sky, Gamma!" Cleave wheezed.

"But sir… Epsilon is…" Gamma droned, looking to the exposed circuitry on the bottom half of Epsilon's body. Cleave then shoved it out the window, leaving it to roll onto the ground and explode. Little chunks of metal and meat splattered onto the window from the blast.

"Shut up about Epsilon, or you're next," Cleave growled. Gamma looked to the floor. "As for you, Breeze… any last words?"

Breeze was gritting his teeth so hard that they were close to shattering. Tears were drizzling down from his eyes. "I can't believe it… she would just leave me to die?" Breeze muttered. He looked back at Cleave. "Y'know what? Kill her. I don't care anymore. Maybe that way, I'll see her again, wherever she and I end up." Breeze sighed. "And then… we can spend the rest of eternity together once more." Breeze was pushed right into Zero. CRASH!

Breeze was blown up into a thousand pieces. Little shards of blue metal flew everywhere, clattering against the ground as oil splashed onto the surrounding area. Cleave looked down upon the charred wreckage, scowling as the fire reflected in his eyes. Zero stared into the horizon as Cream flew everyone away. Amy… had seen it all in her nearly catatonic state, tears streaming down her blank face.