An Elemental Secret

Chapter 19

Sonic's eyes snapped open as he quickly sat up.

"Woah there." Knuckles was quick to gently push him back on the couch.

"Ugh, my head...." It felt as if someone had put him in a spinning room of bright, neon for an entire year.

"Yeah, so stay down." Knuckles said as soothing as he could, but he obviously wasn't good at it.

"I... I can't...." He tried to sit up again, but Haizea pushed him down this time.

"No, brother. You must rest." She gently ran her fingers through his quills carefully as to not cut herself. He closed his eyes, letting her sooth him back to sleep. Haizea smiled as she rested her hand on his forehead.

"Is he going to be alright?" Tails asked, almost meekly.

"I wish I could say for certain if he will be." The eldest of Busana and Apollo's children sighed.

Knuckles crossed his arms as he looked to his friend before quickly closing his eyes and looking away. Tails was more confused, and Knuckles was not helping. "What do you mean?"

"Heolstor's strength lies in his chaos." Buziba glanced out the window at the destruction the fight had caused. "We don't know fully what he has done or if Mahkah will-" He paused, glancing to the fox kit. He seemed to struggle to finish his sentence.

"Look, bud." Devion sighed as he sat beside the other fox. "Sonic is probably not gonna make it out of this."

"Devion!" Rouge snapped.

"You can't lie to the kid!" Devion quickly stated in his defense.

Tails looked to Sonic, tears rising in his eyes. Buziba frowned, not looking at the fox as he walked to the couch his brother was laying on, leaning over the back of it. Haizea and Buziba locked eyes, seeming to have a conversation between them. Devion and Rouge continued to silently bicker as Tails stood and walked to Knuckles.

"We have to find a way to save Sonic." He frowned.

"How?" Knuckles looked to the kit. "We don't even know what Heolstor did, and he's so unpredictable that it might not ever be reversible."

"If I've learned one thing about Sonic throughout the entire time I've known him, it's that he always beats the odds!" Everybody looked to Tails. "We can't give up! Heolstor hasn't won yet!"

"It kinda seems like he has, kid." Devion blinked.

"Devion, for once, can you shut up." Rouge rolled her eyes. "The kid's trying to be inspirational."

Devion simply rolled his eyes as Tails continued. "We've faced plenty of dangerous things in the past! Sonic never gave up on us, so why should we give up on him?"

"Sonic has been lying to us, Tails." Knuckles rubuttled, looking to the blue hedgehog. "How do you know if that's not just another lie?"

"Look, I don't know who he use to be or how he acted, but I do know how he is now. I don't think Sonic was lying to us about everything, and I don't believe that he wanted to lie to us."

Knuckles sighed, looking to the ground. So much was mixed and jumbled in his head. Sonic was Mahkah, the deity his tribe had worshiped for thousands of years. So many things made sense, but he just couldn't believe it. He imagined that Devion felt almost the same way, though probably not as bad. He glanced back at Tails, wondering how the kit could have such blind trust.

Finally, he sighed. "If we have any shot of helping Sonic, Farah is our best option." Tails smiled as Knuckles finally uncrossed his arms. "She would know best on what Heolstor did and how to fix it."