Shadow ascended to the twenty-eighth floor, coating himself carefully in a blue coat of Chaos Shield before he dashed across the floor. He was only halfway across when both doors closed. On the immediate floor Shadow could hear... crackling... like flame...
Instinct told him to move, and he dove out of the way as a hot explosion appeared from where he was standing just a few moments ago. He turned to see Infera appear in a burst of white flame, her ignited black corrupted into a cold white, her eyes a pure newmoon black. Her hands were lit with white-hot flames, and as Shadow watched she raised them above her head and spun to throw them.
Shadow twirled the Red Dragon defensively, ricocheting the flames to his side. Using Chaos Sense, he saw Silver below, holding his Shadow Rifle, and instantly warped it to him, levelling it on Infera. She cocked her head.
"You really think you can kill me, Shadow?" she stated, lighting her hands. "You really think you can kill Infera?"
Shadow's eyes stretched. Infera was right. He couldn't kill her. It would tear his heart apart. Infera gave a harsh laugh and enveloped his rifle in white-hot flames. Shadow released the burning weapon, but it continued to burn. "It's no use," he stated sadly. "My best weapons are indestructible. Trying to destroy them is just not worth it." Infera stepped forward, dropping the flames from the Shadow Rifle and raising them on her hands.
"You can't kill Infera," she stated softly. She brought her burning fist back for a punch and shot forward, but Shadow leapt out of the way, dodging the punch. The attack hit nothing.
Shadow gave an angry scowl, coated his arm in Chaos energy, and grabbed her next punch, nulling the flames, then twisted her arm forcefully, saying, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to let Infera kill me." He jerked her arm the other way quickly, flipping her to the side, then leapt out of the way. He picked up the Red Dragon and waited as Infera rose, her eyes and hands burning white-hot.
"You're going to wish you hadn't done that, bastard!" she shouted, then shot forward, her feet jets of white-hot flame. Shadow leapt out of the way and spun into a kick to the back of her head that knocked her down. The pyrokinetic vanished in a burst of white flames, then reappeared for a deadly punch. The Chaos hedgehog coated in blue and flashed behind her before grabbing her by the neck and throwing her to the side. When she tried to attack, he trapped her with a coat of black Chaos energy.
"Why, Infera?" Shadow asked.
"Let me go, Chaos boy!" she shouted. "Let me go so I can turn your skull into ashes!"
Shadow closed his eyes slowly. When he opened his eyes, he asked, "Why would you turn to the darkness?"
This caused Infera to give another laugh. "Why would you fight it?" she asked. "We all have our reasons, Shadow. And we all have our choices. The darkness is my choice!" She lit her body on white flames, trying to counter Shadow's trap of Chaos. This burning white caused Shadow to close his eyes.
"You've been alongside me for a while now, Infera," he stated. "You've always fought alongside me, against the darkness. First it was Dark Fire. Then you helped me fight against Zyx for a long time. But now he's using darkness against you, and you refuse to fight it."
Infera gave an eerie howl. "You're wasting what little breath you have left, Shadow!"
"Then let me try a different tactic. The one piece of darkness you refused to release before your turn, you have lost."
Infera looked at him harshly. "What do you mean?"
"Where is your one darkness? Where is the one you lit to fight me when you misinterpreted my friends?" He raised his head and opened his eyes as he laid it out straight. "Where is my dark fire?"
Infera's inverted eyes widened. Slowly, the icy white faded colours becoming the fiery black that Shadow recognized. Before long, the darkness had faded, to be replaced with the black pyrokinetic that Shadow knew.
"She's still here," she said softly as she closed her eyes. Tears started to form as she whispered, "But she's a fool to have turned to Zyx."
Shadow approached her and embraced her softly. "It's alright," Shadow stated. "Let's just get out of here."
As though on cue, Sonic sped onto the floor, shattering the steel door, his wings just now folding behind his back. He sped across the room, skidded to a stop, and turned to Shadow and Infera. "Watch out when you get down, lovebirds," he stated. "There's a huge gaping space that used to be twenty-seven floors there." Then he turned and shattered the door with a single punch before dashing through.
Shadow parted from Infera and looked to her. "Window or stairs?" he asked. Infera laughed.
"Stairs, Chaos boy," she replied playfully. The two of them turned to the door and stepped down.
Sonic sped through the twenty-ninth floor too fast for any traps to be activated. When he made it to the thirtieth floor, he stopped, for there were nothing suggesting a trap. Instead, there was an eerie purple hedgehog, with a bright orange dress similar to Amy's and a dark aura around her. Her quills were long and arced, forming a ring of spikes around her body. She was leaning against a wooden table, looking over what would appear to be blueprints.
"So you've come, have you, liar?" she asked in a eerily familiar voice, not raising her head.
Sonic took a defensive stance, his wings spreading. "Who are you, Zyx's girlfriend or something?" he asked in response. "You don't really look the reaper's type."
The hedgehog laughed harshly in response. "I guess," she replied angrily, raising her head. "But at least he can remain." She turned, darkness radiating around her. Sonic reeled back, his wings falling behind him.
It was Amy.
But yet, it was not Amy. She was corrupted by darkness, but it wasn't the complete inversion he had seen on the other two. And the ring of quills was proof that Zyx had gone a step further than the others. Her Dracon wings had vanished, completing the corruption. She was pure darkness, and she wasn't giving it up.
Sonic was nearly speechless. "Amy..."
Amy raged, forming a weapon from darkness as Zyx would his scythe. It was thin, but when she snapped it to the side it was shown to be a newmoon titanium axe - and she held it with one hand. "It's Rose," she stated angrily.
Sonic's eyes started to tear up. "Amy... Why would you..."
"Why would I what, Sonic?" The question came like venom as Amy approached him. "Follow someone who actually has heart for me? Zyx loves me. It's not the false love that you've tried to show me to win my fighting."
Sonic stood his ground. "My love for you isn't false," he stated.
In a pitch-black blur, Amy whipped her axe around, missing Sonic's face by millimetres. "Then answer me this," she stated. "You've run from me your whole life, ever since I met you. You've never come face-to-face with me. Why should I believe anything you say?"
"Amy..."
Amy's axe shot forward in a violent stab. "It's Rose!" she shouted furiously. Sonic dodged the stab by millimetres, but Amy - no, Rose brought the flat side down powerfully on his legs. He gave a shout of pain and fell back, unable to move as Rose twirled her axe to the side and prepared to deal the coup de grace.
"Rose!"
The corrupted hedgehog froze, the axe millimetres from Sonic's heart as Zyx descended onto the floor. Though his form was still that of a reaper, he seemed almost peaceful, serene. Okay, peaceful, serene, and very corrupted, but still calm. Rose turned to him, not moving her axe. Zyx approached her carefully. He softly took the axe from her, then let it melt into shadows. He turned to Sonic. "Let him go," he stated. "He does not have the Master Emerald with him. Until he does, we will let him leave. After that... well, perhaps I'll let you split his heart."
Rose turned to Sonic angrily. "This is a mistake," she stated.
Zyx smiled softly. "Perhaps," he stated. "But it is not one that we cannot deal with if it goes wrong." He raised a hand as white, magmic energy flowed from it, burning into the floor. "Game over, Sonic," he stated finally as the blue blur fell through the collapsed doorway. Zyx turned to Rose. "Now then, my Rose, would you come with me?"
Rose smiled softly. "Not a problem, my reaper." The two of them ascended, leaving Sonic to watch them.
The reaper.
The loved one.
Together.