The Prophecy; Fulfilled (Part Two)

Chapter Fourteen - A Storm to Remember

Tails could not believe his eyes. They had just been outside about half an hour ago, and things were normal. Birds had been singing their early morning songs, the sky was clear and blue, and the castle shimmered under the sunlight. But now, they were completely surrounded by flames. Almost every single piece of vegetation around was burning, crumbling to black ashes that tumbled to the ground and collected in heaps. It didn't make any sense. If there even was a forest fire earlier, they would have smelled it when they were out. If there wasn't, there was no way that it could have crept up on them so quickly and subtly. And it was escalating even more so.

He rushed back inside and flew up to Cream. He took hold of her arm and flew back outside with her, ignoring her questions and shrieks of terror when she noticed what was going on around them. He flew her all the way up to the top of the castle and landed, his jaw dropping at the view. The mountains where they had crashed the plane and had gotten Cream from Lavender weren't too far away. It was practically in their backyard. But all the forestry on the opposite side were ablaze, as far as the eye could see, and the sky was darkening eerily.

"How did this happen?" Cream cried, clinging to Tails' arm. "It was just.. it was just normal an hour ago! Tails, what do we do?"

"We get away, that's what!" Tails said as he took her hand and flew back into the air. She helped fly as well, flapping her large rabbit ears like wings, and together they flew up high above the flames, headings towards the mountains. Cream coughed as they passed through the rising smoke, and had to hold her breath and cover her mouth to keep herself from inhaling too much of it.

Little did they know that they might have been better off in the fire, compared to what lay ahead.

-

Amy took one last glance back over her shoulder to see that dark, ominous clouds were forming in the sky, possibly from all the fire that raged in the distance. She turned back forward as they passed through the doors into an even darker room, and she had to blink several times in an attempt to force her eyes to adjust. Sonic led her to the middle of the room before he finally let go of her, and she peered around, eventually noticing that it looked like a large, empty, dimly-lit room made of stone with not much other than large monitors off to one side and a door across the room. Lavender walked in after them and shut the door, and through the door across the room came the dark purple male dog that had grabbed both Amy and Cream before when they were in the tundra. Upon seeing him Amy backed away, but Sonic took her hand and gave it a small squeeze to reassure her.

"Pinky will be staying with us," Lavender said as she walked up to Indigo. She glanced back at Amy. "At least for now. Sonic, you have the two remaining emeralds now, correct?" She asked, to which he nodded and handed them out to her. She smiled. "Keep them with you. Go on up there with Indigo. I'll keep Princess Pinky safe and sound with me."

Sonic looked to her for a second, then looked to Amy. Amy had an unsure expression, one that made him stop. Lavender caught on to what was going on between them and cleared her throat to grab both of their attention. "I made a promise, didn't I, blueberry? I won't hurt her."

Sonic hesitated, but let go of her nonetheless. He wrapped his arms around Amy in a warm ephemeral embrace. When he pulled away and walked over to Indigo, Amy stared after him with a longing expression, a faint whimper escaping her lips. She wanted to tell him not to go wherever the dog was taking him, but what good would that do? Lavender would only bribe him into cooperating somehow. As the boys disappeared through the door, she clenched her fists and turned to Lavender with a glare. Lavender turned to her and slowly lost her smile.