Diamond in the Sky

Plea with Death

A memory... it was only a week ago, but for Rouge... it was twenty years ago. The day Silver died. She and Sonic's friends rush into a secret cave on the island.

"Sonic's not answering his communicator!" Amy yells.

"Amy, he's at the volcano with Shadow, remember?" Sticks replies.

"Holy cow, I've never seen this place before! Incredible!" Tails says as they struggle to keep up with Rouge, who is flying at full speed.

"Me neither! Wow, sparkly things!" Knuckles gasps.

Everyone but Rouge halts, in awe of the blinding glimmer coming from a plethora of emeralds and rubies. Every gorgeous geode imaginable surrounds them. Rouge stops, annoyed that they could even be distracted.

"They're just rocks! Stop wasting time! It's this way!"

They nod and follow her into the pit of the cave, where they encounter a cosmic portal. They watch Rouge try to fly inside but instead, she crashes into it like a bird crashing into a sliding glass door.

"Are you okay?!" cries Amy and hurries to help her up. But Rouge gets up on her own and proceeds to ram herself against the portal-wall.

"Open up, you stupid thing and LET. ME. IN!"

Her alarming hysteria provokes Knuckles to grab her, in order keep her from battering herself up.

"Hang on, Queen Bee, let Tails use his doohicky to open it."

Hoping to be as helpful as possible, Tails flies beside them, holding one of his most powerful inventions.

"You guys, my Reverse Polarizer should prompt this portal to open, but I can't say for how long."

He activates the Reverse Polarizer. It works, the portal starts spinning! A ghostly being by the name of Tikal the Echidna appears and steps into the cave, blocking Rouge's way.

"Hello friends," she says, "thank you for coming but I must ask you to leave now."

"NO!" Rouge screams, "we're not leaving until you let me in!"

"I am afraid I can not do that," Tikal says.

Rouge ragingly grabs a bunch of diamonds and starts chunking them at Tikal.

"Let me in right now, Tikal, or I'll break all your stupid diamonds, you wench!" Growl.

The diamonds fling right through her and bounce off the portal, but it's still terrifying. Yikes!

"Hey hey hey, take it easy! You're gonna poke somebody's eye out!" cries Knuckles.

Amy insistently grabs Rouge by the arms.

"Lemme handle this, Rouge! You're clearly too worked up to be diplomatic."

Rouge exhales heavily, like a gorilla as Amy steps in front of her and tells Tikal to...

"Forgive our friend, she's very upset."

Tikal folds her arms disapprovingly.

"I can see that."

Amy adds, "she told us this was a portal to a dimension where she took her son to be born."

Sticks continues, saying, "she wants to go in so she can be with him and watch over him! We need a redo! Have a heart, will ya?"

Tikal shakes her head and snubs them.

"Why should I allow someone so angry and foolish to travel through space and time? She could cause a lot of damage with that temper."

"You let me in once before!" Rouge yells. "Don'tchu remember?!"

"Yes, but that was then and this is now. I am sorry but you must leave. You are a treasure hunter. Enjoy these jewels, Rouge the Bat. They are everything you ever wanted."

"How dare you try and bribe me!" Rouge yells, "My baby is not for sale! Let me in!"

"No!" Tikal snaps. "You had your chance! He is in good hands with his adopted parents. Keep your jewels and leave him be!"

"You don't understand," says Amy, "Eggman brought him here from the future and killed the adult version of him."

"That is not a good enough reason for me to let you in," Tikal tells Rouge.

"But she wants to protect him and prevent anything bad from happening to him. We know his future and she wants to change it!" Tails insists.

"She should have thought of that when she dumped him in another dimension," Tikal tells them.

"PLEASE! I only took him there to protect him from Eggman! I wanted him to have a good life!"

"I do not believe you," Tikal replies, "if he was so important to you, you would have wanted to raise him yourself, like a decent mother."

Tikal pauses to give Rouge a disgusted glare. Everyone can see how piercing this is for Rouge, as though Tikal's gaze is literally destroying her from the inside out. Tikal is surprised to see Rouge the Bat, of all people, start groveling.

"I made a mistake." Sob. "I was afraid." Sniffle. "Let me undo it." Gasp. "I know I'm nothing more than a saucy, conniving thief, but please, I beg of you, let me make it right."

Tikal snubs Rouge again.

"No."

"Give her another chance!" Amy begs.

"It's not her fault that Eggman killed Silver!" Tails adds.

"If you let her in before, can'tcha let her in again?" Sticks requests.  "This is too horrible! Ya gotta help us out!"

Knuckles steps forward.

Sigh. "Come on Tikal, it's me, your ol' pal, Knuckles. Please... just open the portal for this disgruntled momma-bat. She's a good girl underneath it all, I swear. Really, I know her. I know she'll do the right thing if ya let her. So... help us out. Let her in so she can fix this sorrowful mess. Please... sister from another mister."

Tikal takes time to give Knuckles a good look up and down. For fairly obvious reasons, she finds favor in him.

"Hmm. Knuckles the Echidna, I suppose since you asked on her behalf, that I can assume her intentions are pure."

Rouge springs to her feet.

"REALLY?! You'll let me in?"

Tikal nods. Rouge gasps.

"Yup," Knuckles gloats, "I have a way with people like that."

"Fine, Rouge the Bat," Tikal warns, "you have one round trip there and back. Go in and do what you need to do, then come back when it is done. I can not guarantee time will remain adjacent from this point on. So once you come back, that is it. You can not go in again. If you try, this entire cave will collapse on you. We are playing with a power far greater than us. Do you understand?"

Rouge clasps her hands gratefully.

"Yes yes yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Tell me when you are ready to return, I will hear you."

Tikal then steps aside. With overwhelming determination, Rouge flies hurriedly into the portal.