For Amara (War Over Mobius Saga: Ruby Route #2)

Gone Forever

"A million words would not bring you back, I know because I tried, neither would a million tears, I know because I cried." - Author Unknown"

~~~~

A few nights later, a creature crept through the halls, the first time he had done anything resembling his former life since the Incident. He stepped into a lone bulb's light, revealing his identity as Infinite before he disappeared once again into darkness. He stepped through the corridors and halls both stealthily and quickly, headed from his silent sanctuary to the experimental lab. Infinite didn't fear the light like others who crept did, nor did he fear the dark; as he was drenched in one for an indiscernible amount of life and deprived of the other. Silently, Infinite used the bulk of his body to press open a door, peeking into the void whom's cover had been taken by the canine.

The room was nearly dark, with eerie objects and experiments providing darkened lights and reflections, the only things piercing the unknown emptiness. The room's darkness was, however, undaunting to Infinite.

The jackal was gifted with excellent night vision, his occupation, the place where he lived, even his own ancestry all gave the jackal his ability to be undeterred by the dark. These reasons also struck him with a deep, lone pain.

It was an ancestry that would never see another addition.

His lover was gone, cold from the world and free from its suffering. Infinite's heart was her's; there would never be a little one to fill the empty slots of his Squad and heart, taken all too soon. The greatness of the Bloodpooliean race would die with him as he left without an even greater breeding to take his place.

Shaking his head, possibly to prevent an event of tears forming, Infinite crept onward to his goal. He turned his head towards every object he passed, looking for a specific glint in the darkness. He did remember the area that the object was in, but it was a lot harder to distinguish areas in a closed room than it was back in the Canyon. Finally, he spotted what he was searching for, the Phantom Ruby, then stepped up to it. His eyes focused upon it, curious as to why the small gem should be so interesting.

Perhaps it was so intriguing because of its role in the deaths of the Jackal Squad, maybe it could tell him something about Amara's death that only the murderer and the murdered could know.

Maybe it could warp the past to change his present. Maybe it could help with his pain.

Maybe it could bring her back.

With the sudden thought of restoring his deceased bride, Infinite reached out to grasp the ruby. His paw flinched slightly from the gem at memory of the landscape he saw last time, but he gripped it before he could convince himself not to, diving into a blazing slum of despair.

~~~~~

"Huh? What-Where am I?" Infinite looked around, seeing only ash-reduced structures. The Phantom Ruby had transported him to the same place that it had before Amara's death. The only different aspect, however, was that many of the walls had visible blood splattered on them. Infinite took a roundabout around the place where he found himself standing, moving his feet only enough to turn himself in a fluid circle in place. After the initial shock of his surroundings, Infinite began to walk through the decimated world, entering what he could only imagine as what had been a main street at one point.

"Trophy hunter!" A male voice screeched from the sidelines of the ghost town road.

"Rationless killer!" A lighter, but still male, voice added. Both voices were from the same area, Infinite turned to face whatever may sit there.

A college-aged Doberman and a smaller, younger Akita stood by the edge of the road at a destroyed storefront; Cain and Hannibal respectively. Their tails moved in a tense fury, a dangerous wagging.

"I am not a trophy hunter! I didn't do any of this." Infinite countered, only getting deeper into conflict.

"Yeah. And we're cats." Cain growled and stepped towards the jackal, his baring teeth glinting in the burning light as his copper-red fur deepened with the damage around him. "We've seen you slain our now-fallen. Enough to know of the kills you've committed, reasonless deaths."

"I haven't harmed you. I'm not from here. I haven't killed anyone here, nor in quite a while and when I did that was because my 'family' was hungry and I needed the money."

Both dogs did a take in intense disbelief, then Cain once again snarled. "That's the biggest piece of bull I've ever heard! What part of you had even the slightest idea that we'd believe that?!"

Infinite took a step back from the Doberman. "Because I can say it with a clear conscience. Haven't so much as laid a hand on a civilian since... since my girl died." His tail flicked in sorrow as he looked down, casting a glance at the ring hidden under his glove.

"You've gotta be kidding me! Can you seriously say nothing but lies?!"

"It's not a lie! She's dead, I saw her!" Tears formed as Infinite fought back with his own memories, forgetting that he was in a fake reality.

This time, Cain wasn't the one to respond, but Hannibal. "You expect us to believe the Empress is dead?" At the mention of her, Cain began to bark and howl.

"Empress?" Infinite blinked. But... Amara's dead! How can she have become the Mobian Empress if she was killed a month ago?

"What's with the dumb face? You seriously expected us to believe you when you said that you hadn't done any of this because the Empress was dead?!" Cain snarled again, done with his rabid howling.

Infinite, becoming increasingly overwhelmed, then darted away from the two dogs.

"Yeah, you'd better run! That's what both of you will be doing soon enough!" Cain called in a death threat.

Infinite didn't hear one note of him. It can't be true... can it? Amara's gone... so why were they so livid when I said it? Could she really be here, alive? How could she have survived? Infinite began to look around for a place where an empress might be. Soon he found a place to begin looking, a surprisingly intact corridor, decently far into the city. Making his way down the path, Infinite had a skin-crawling feeling of being jumped in an alley. However, he was down a pathway with a fabric overhang, easing him.

At the end of the path was an entrance, which he walked in after some hesitation. There before him were two thrones, and behind one was his beloved.

"Infinite?" Amara called, uncertain if it was truly hers that had entered.

Hearing her voice, Infinite lost his ability to speak even in his own language. He stammered and stuttered, trying to find the sounds of her name. "Amara!" He sprinted into her arms and held onto her. Yet for some reason, he felt no desire to kiss his lost-then-found bride.

"Aww, thanks for the welcome, honey. It was as if you thought I was dead."

"I-I really thought you were..." Infinite nuzzled the side of her face.

"Why? We've been ruling together almost since our- oh, did you have one of those nightmares again that disorients you?" She then put her arms around him and stroked the hair on his head. "It's okay, we're both here. The guys may be gone, killed by that brutal creature -let him die with pain a thousandfold,- but we're still here and on top of it all. Dontcha worry, precious husband."

Husband? Now Infinite understood all the mixing feeling deep inside him: This wasn't his Amara, she belonged to Emperor Infinite, not the former Ultimate Mercenary who got his whole squad killed. The rush of seeing her blinded him physically, but he emotionally recognized that this wasn't his girl. She was gone, and no Amara, or any other for that matter, that he would meet would ever be his.

Since Infinite was no longer until the illusion of a living Amara, the Phantom Ruby released its hold on him, zapping him back to reality with a burning sorrow.

There was nothing he could do to restore her. She was, and would always be, cold in an unreachable distance from him. "I-I... can't bring her back... she's gone forever."