Distant Shadows Chapter 25-

Darkness Over World, Part 3

What can I say about this...? This was definitely not my proudest moment, in that I took so long leaving you all hanging on this final chapter. For that, I offer my most sincere apologies. Best I can sum up without boring you to tears before the story even got off the ground? Life happened as it tends to do, and I had a hard time looking back for a long time. But, to those of you who still want to read this after so long, to those I've kept waiting and who followed faithfully with the last 24 updates, I owe you this, for my credibility as an author and as a thanks to you. Couldn't just leave a story this close to being done just hanging forever. It took a long time, but here's the final chapter of Distant Shadows. Thanks, everyone, I hope you enjoy it, and whatever I may post again in the future.

---

"Take the fight to me, you say?" Abaddon queried, a grin on his lips as he rose a hand towards her. "Certainly you must be joking. You honestly believe that you can take me on?"

"Won't know until I try, right?" Havoc countered, twirling the spear at her side with a bemused expression. "Last I checked, I was still the goddess around here. You're just the power hungry worm."

"Oh, my, forgive my ignorance, dear Havoc." Abaddon chuckled, feigning a bow. "I'm just a foolish mortal after all, what can I poss-" He was stopped dead as something plowed right into him, thrusting him into the ground and deep into the depths of Prison Island.

Havoc sniffed, her arm held out as a violet bolt crackled around her fingertips before she whipped the hand to the side, dispersing it.

"That..." Rouge muttered, stunned just by how she simply dispatched him.

"Was just a taunt." Havoc said, turning her eyes over her shoulder as they began to turn black and red as she gripped her spear. The shaft of the weapon morphed, taking on a much more lethal appearance as razor edges came up within a couple feet of the spear head, and a second one formed at the base. "All of you, clear out. This island's going to sink and I'm going to see to that."

"You're going to fight him alone?" Knuckles asked, stepping forward with a frown, holding perhaps the best grasp on how serious that was thanks to what he'd been told before by Igneous and Tsunami. "Isn't he the most dangerous to you?"

"It's also my business." She said flatly. "I do have need for one of you though." She snapped her fingers, and at that very moment, a bat girl appeared up from her shadow, looking rather dazed and disoriented. She could see the other mortals' confusion, Rouge now standing beside her instead of in place in their group.

"How did you-" Tails began.

"Goddess." Havoc stated flatly, looking to Rouge. "You haven't lost that sphere yet, right?"

Rouge looked to her, shaking off her sudden movement as she frowned. "You did just give it to me."

"Just making sure." She shrugged casually, starting to walk towards the hole before halting dead in her tracks, blinking a little bit as spears of light erupted from the ground before her. She looked over her shoulder, her eyes falling upon Radiance, who scowled angrily at her.

"You always do this." She hissed, walking forward at a fever pace as she came upon her sister, stopping dead in front of her, completely ignoring Rouge's very existence. "Always the big bad girl who can take care of herself, who doesn't need others, and now you scorn our help in favor of this child?" she said, the most acknowledgement Rouge would get. "You can't win this alone! Let us fight, let us help you!"

"... You still don't get it, little sister." Havoc said, sighing as she stepped forward, draping an arm over the cat's shoulders and leaning forward. "Abaddon is my sin. He is the mistake that I made, for forsaking our laws and for crossing boundaries that should never have been broken, ever." She looked to Radiance, frowning a little. "You've always been loyal to me, always had my back, but where I'm going, there is only darkness. Light cannot penetrate."

"Sister..." Radiance breathed out, seeming on the verge of tears before she felt arms wrap tightly around her, pulling her close in to a hug. Radiance bit her bottom lip, lowering her head and hugging her back. "... We're twins, at least we're as good as... Light and Darkness cannot exist without one another... I don't give a damn about the natural balance, you... If you died, Havoc, then I'd..."

"You'll be fine." She said, feeling the cat jump against her. "So stop acting like a scared little girl." She sighed, gently pushing Radiance back as she looked to her other siblings. "The world still needs its balance maintained. My absence would double your workload, but it beats the hell out of a world where he's standing in my stead, don't you think? ... You'll manage, I promise. But don't think I'm not planning on coming back either."

"Sis..." Mistral whimpered, earning a slightly more sympathetic look.

"Don't cry." Havoc said firmly, watching the fox girl gulp back her tears and nod, though she still looked on the brink of having them spill over. "If you have to, save them for when you know I'm not coming back." She looked past Mistral, her eyes falling upon the mortals with a stern look. "As for you all, give me the armor you've gathered up."

This statement raised some prickles in Sonic's spine as he frowned, looking to the goddess. "Just what are you planning?"

"The coup de grace, as your people call it." She said, setting a hand on her hip as she sank her spear into the ground beside her. "I require the shield, gauntlets, breast plate and helmet, and since the bat already has the shield, you can figure what's left. Hand them over."

There were a few seconds of contemplation to be had, but Tails was the first to step forward, removing the helmet and coming upon Havoc, holding it out to her.

Havoc nodded gratefully, reaching out and grasping the helmet, taking it under her arm as she looked to the others, waiting quietly.

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged glances before nodding to one another, removing their respective items and walking forward, handing off the Redwood Breastplate and Gaia Gauntlets to the dark goddess.

"Thank you." She said flatly, gathering the items up and turning to face the hole she'd plowed Abaddon into, her eyes narrowing. "Now, get back. He's coming."

It wasn't another moment before Abaddon erupted from the ground, darkness ripping through the air around him as he hovered in place, holding the Steel Saber at his side. Flames licked off of the pendant around his neck, and the greaves at his feet glowed with a brilliant blue light, reflecting in even the tiniest bodies of water scattered about the island.

"You're getting to be a real pest." He hissed. "That was insulting."

"Oh, dear me, was it?" Havoc taunted, playing off a smirk. "And here I thought you'd appreciate my little love tap."

Abaddon didn't respond, verbally anyways. He drew the steel saber across his chest, pouring energy into it as it lit with a white glow, before slashing out, sending a massive, blade-shaped ray at the goddess and the bat beside her.

Havoc tossed the other items at Rouge, quickly snatching the Radiant Shield from her in return and charging it with her own energy. Something bizarre seemed to happen, as a light of several colors lit around it. She swung forward with it, right as the beam should have impacted them.

Instead, some few miles back, an explosion ripped through the ground behind the entire group, turning the heads of all present save the two combatants.

"Wh, what the...?" Knuckles stammered, watching as Tails flew straight up into the air.

The young fox's eyes widened in disbelief at what he saw, even from the distance. A new gash tore into the island, ripping into its sub-levels and exposing them utterly for all to see. "It... moved, the attack, it was moved!"

"How?" Knuckles exclaimed, looking around the group. The gods and goddesses seemed to be aware of something, as they stared at Havoc's back, less surprised than the mortals among them. Sonic and Shadow, even, seemed to have detected something.

"It felt like..." Shadow muttered.

"Chaos Control." Havoc stated flatly, earning all eyes.

"Chaos Con-how?" Sonic exclaimed, as baffled as the rest of his party. "He's got the Chaos Emerald!"

"Hedgehog, do you know what lies between Light and Darkness?" she asked, bringing pause to the hedgehog. "The absolutes of the two are not without a middle ground. An unstable, erratic, devastating, and unbelievably powerful force created when the two forces are brought together that you and your allies have tapped into repeatedly. The Chaos Emeralds are the physical embodiment of that power." She readied her weapon in hand, crouching low before she charged Abaddon with a shriek, one that bore much more rage, much more brutality to it than the goddess had shown just that second ago addressing Sonic.

As the goddess of darkness engaged her opponent, Knuckles spared a look to Igneous, his eyes wide. "Is she...?"

Igneous nodded. "Completely serious. Light and Darkness exist as parallels, the greatest forces in our universe, likely in any other as well. Our own elements, such as water and fire, even fall into their respective jurisdictions. When these two opposing forces meet, a powerful reaction occurs." He stamped a hoof down, bringing up several walls as bolts of darkness flew at them, blocking them as the walls exploded into mere dust and debris. "You, hedgehog, should know this first hand. When you first fought Chaos, he drained the power of the emeralds, you believed. However, you drew from them another power. He carried the darkness, and you bore the light. It is why they reacted back then as they did, why you were able to save this world that time. Chaos is a very whimsical force, and those who control it control an ultimate power, rivaling the combined forces of our elements. It's why you, Shadow, were so pivotal to Abaddon, I assume. With Chaos Control, a role as the new god of darkness, and the armor at his command, I'm sure even our father with his own powers over life and death would have been met with a challenge, perhaps an undefeatable foe."

"Then why doesn't he just settle with the shield and be done with it?" Shadow asked, looking hard at Igneous.

"Because that form is unstable." Radiance interjected, now her turn to garner the attention of the group. "The Chaos Emeralds create a focus point for the energy and store it, allowing the users to tap a pre-existing, contained force at will however they wish, a safer method of doing it. What Havoc is doing..." She looked to the battle, watching a little blood shoot into the air as Havoc made due with another blast of Chaos Control, this time sending a ray firing into the sky as if it were nothing. Her shield-bearing arm, however, seemed to smoke and burn, baring raw spots to their eyes, and even offering up a little blood. "... What's happening is they're creating new chaos, unrestrained, unhampered. What isn't used has a backlash upon them both, primarily her, and if the balance is incorrect..."

"Then what?" Tails asked. "What happens if the balance is off?"

"Um... you know the Sky Sanctuary Zone?" Mistral asked, a question that seemed trivial, but earned a nod from the fox. "We'll get blown higher than that."

"What?" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Two most potent elements forming together, it only takes a little to create enough chaos to move a person." Radiance said, her eyes fixed on the fight as Abaddon's claw grew bladelike extensions at the 'fingers', and he began to slash and strike back as Havoc parried every single blow. "At the volume they're using it this island would be the second floating one on the planet... for about three seconds before it plummeted to earth again. We should-" She stopped suddenly, vanishing quickly in a literal flash, reappearing before them and holding her hands out. A wall of light formed, intercepting a barrage of smaller rays of darkness, dozens upon dozens pounding into the wall, and actually seeming to earn a light strain from the goddess.

Havoc clearly took notice of this, turning her head to her family and the mortals. "Radiance!"

"You're open!" Abaddon howled, raising his claw up into the air and swiping it down. It slammed into Havoc from above, sending the shield flying from her grip, earning a hard grunt from her as she was driven down to the earth below, slamming into it with such force it buckled, threatening to give way to the lower layers of the island beneath as it cratered. He spared a quick glance to his side, his barrage of darkness complete, as Radiance dropped her shield and the others seemed to prepare for an attack. Wasting no time, he drew his hand clutching the Steel Saber back, the Flame Pendant taking on a glow of its own, wrapping the blade in flames as he dove down, the claw retracting every bit of the way until he was upon her. He thrust it down, straight through her right arm, beckoning an agonized cry from her as the flames not only seared her arm, but immediately cauterized what would have otherwise been a very bloody wound. "And you're mine!"

"Havoc!" Radiance called out, readying an attack as she dropped her guard, the other siblings quickly getting ready themselves to do the same, and even the mortals among them.

"Not so fast!" Abaddon snapped, releasing the Steel Saber and grasping a familiar gem, holding it out towards them. "Chaos Control!" He watched a burst of energy engulf them, all of them, as a whole, sending them careening as far away as possible. They were removed from the equation, and there was no more interference to be had. He chuckled darkly, looking down to the goddess as he leered at her. "They're a long, long ways off now. Even by the time I'm done with you, they'll be too late."

"Suits me fine..." she growled in pain, shadows licking up around her, preparing an attack before she felt his hand slam down on her chest between her breasts, earning a pained cry as his claws pierced her flesh and dug into her. Strength rapidly began to leave her, and it flowed directly into him as he began to rapidly drain the last vestiges of power within her into himself.

He was stopped cold as a blast collided into his back, sending him sailing across the island. Havoc managed to sit up, clutching the bleeding wounds on her chest as she looked towards the source of the light, seeing Rouge standing with the Radiant Shield, glowing hot with energy.

"Still got that orb?" the dark goddess asked, earning a nod from the bat girl. "Get ready then, that's our trump card!"

Rouge nodded, drawing the black sphere out and looking at it. In spite of what she was told though, she had no clue what she was supposed to do with the blasted thing. It had just been presented to her, under the guise of some kind of reward, weeks ago. She shook her head, assuming some kind of direction would come shortly. In the mean time, she'd have to simply wait and see what happened.

He came back without warning, tearing over the ground furiously, his feet not even touching the surface. Abaddon had to be nearing levels of speed, maybe even surpassing, Sonic's own. Rouge readied the shield, preparing to intercept the attack.

"Destroy the sphere, now!"

Rouge's eyes widened, looking to the echidna as she cast a harsh gaze to her.

"Are you deaf?"she snapped. "Shatter it!"

I hope you know what you're doing! Rouge thought to herself, raising the sphere over her head and flinging it to the ground. Abaddon had closed in right about that time, currently between the two of them the instant that the orb struck the ground, shattering into thousands of pieces.

The entire world turned black.

---

Rouge didn't know what happened, where she was or where Abaddon and Havoc were. There was nothing defining about the area she was in, the world was entirely pitch black. She hadn't even felt anything move, but as she took cautious steps around, she found nothing but a distinctly flat surface, none of the rubble that belonged on Prison Island.

Suddenly the entire world quaked, and Havoc crashed down, hacking up blood and lying on her side as she clutched something against her chest, curling up protectively around it.

"Havoc!" Rouge exclaimed, running to her side and kneeling down. She rolled her over, her eyes widening in surprise at what she beheld. "These..."

Havoc offered a wry smirk, if not a feeble one as she pushed a few items towards Rouge. The Flame Pendant, the Sea Greaves and the Shadow Cape. "Snagged these when he wasn't looking..." She cringed, grunting in pain and dropping back against the ground, her hand setting over a slash that stretched from her left hip to her right shoulder. "Got me with the sword though..."

"What's going on?" she asked, caring little for the items as she inspected the wound.

"We're in my world..." she growled, pushing herself to sit upright in spite of the clear pain it caused. "That orb brought us here. I made it as a gate key from the physical world."

"Gate key? But, then aren't we just unconscious back on Prison Island?"

"No, we're actually here right now, Rouge." Havoc said. "I'm the only person with free access here, I made that to bring you both here. This world's connected to me, and when he sent the others off, he gave us the window to use it. We're isolated now, just him and us."

"Fantastic..." Rouge muttered, blinking as Havoc held up one of the items she snagged, the Flame Pendant.

"You're going to want to start putting these on, now." She said flatly. "I'm not exactly the best person to lead this battle."

"... You can't be serious." Rouge muttered, although she snatched the item, putting it on over her head and scowling at the goddess. "You seriously intend for me to fight him?"

"That little drain of his took a good quarter of my remaining power, and that was all of five seconds." She snapped, rising to her feet as she waved her hand out. The other items she'd secured from the mortals in Rouge's group emerged from the dark floor. "I can hold him off, but killing him even myself equates suicide, as divided as I am from myself right now. You want to go home too, right? Trust me when I say that me coming out of this alive is the best way for both of us."

"Oh, great, 'do or die' again." Rouge muttered sourly, kicking her boots off as she slipped her feet into the Sea Greaves, wincing a little at a chill that ran through her as a result. She grabbed up the Shadow Cape, just in time to see something flicker in the distance.

"Move!" Havoc ordered, shoving her to the side with such force she went soaring several yards, and just in time as a violet ray of light tore across the ground, actually bringing light to the empty area for a brief instant.

"That was very rude of you, Havoc." Abaddon growled as he walked forward, clutching the Steel Saber in one hand as the darkness claw consuming his left arm crackled audibly and visibly with energy. "It's not nice to take other peoples' things!"

"So then I guess you'll be returning the Steel Saber to Forge?" she returned fire, plunging her hand down into the ground and charging forward, ripping her spear out of it as she closed in upon him, taking a broad swipe at him. He leapt over it, lunging at her with the claw.

"Not hardly!" he barked, the claw shooting out before him. Havoc rolled to the side as it crashed into the ground, swiping her spear upwards this time, firing dozens of her own bolts of darkness. Abaddon was quick to block, the claw lurching out at an odd curve and intercepting them with ease. Abaddon sneered at her. "What's wrong, Havoc? You're losing your touch!"

Havoc huffed in irritation, taking her weapon into both hands as she sprung off the ground, beginning to exchange direct blows with him. Thrusts, swipes, slashes and strikes were met, dodged and parried on both accounts, neither landing a decisive strike in either direction. As the fight wore on, however, it was Havoc beginning to show weakness, sweat beading on her brow as her breathing grew labored.

What's taking her so long? She thought, blocking a strike from the Steel Saber with her spear, holding it in place over her head as she dug her feet against the ground. I literally gave her the keys to victory, she just needs to get this damned item and it'll be over! What's going on?

"I'll tell you." Abaddon said, Havoc's eyes widening in alarm at his words as she twisted away, swinging broad at him, forcing him back as she charged, thrusting rapidly, with such speed her blows appeared little more than violet light, yet still none connected. "Oh, I hope I didn't scare you too much now, dear Havoc! Your mind's pretty open to me now with that last chunk of your soul!"

Havoc growled, flipping up into the air and bringing the spear down with such force the area around them rippled. The ground actually receded...

Beneath the ground was Rouge, dressed in seven of the eight armor pieces, unconscious and fighting a losing battle to survive.

"Maybe you should have rethought your trump card after I gained the majority share in your soul." Abaddon sneered.

Havoc looked up, about to shriek in protest as she prepared a charge before cords of darkness began to wrap around her. Her eyes widened as her arms were pinned to her sides, the spear pressed against her body. Her legs were cinched together and her mouth drawn shut. The cords kept coming, further and further obscuring her from view in a wrap so tight her silhouette was clear within it.

The last thing she was as her eyes were closed over were Abaddon's glowing red eyes and that sick, twisted smile.

---

Rouge lay in the darkness, somewhere on the border of waking and not. Havoc's shocked face upon the discovery of her predicament had been burned into her mind as she thought of what lay in store for her. She had literally only just completed donning the seven pieces of armor as the world went black, something shot up over and engulfed her entirely.

She had the Radiant Shield, clutched firmly in her grasp and resting over her body, to thank for her life as an aura of light radiated around her, keeping the penetrating shadows from devouring her entirely.

Still, it couldn't remain like this forever. Havoc couldn't fight Abaddon alone, that much was clear. He looked to have been gaining the upper hand before the world swallowed her up again, and now she was left to her own devices, left in limbo between the light of the shield saving her life and the world of shadow trying to close in on her.

It's all come down to this, and I can't do anything. Rouge thought, squeezing her eyes shut. The critical moment and I failed... If I could have only gotten my hands on that damned sword, then this would be done!

"It's not over yet!" she heard a voice resonate in her mind, her eyes widening although she could see nothing in the black. "You can still save Havoc!"

"You... You're the cat?" she spoke to the air.

"Radiance, Goddess of the Light, yes. Rouge, listen to me, you are by no means out of luck yet. You can still free yourself and save my sister!"

"I think your sister is the least of our concerns at the moment, no offense." She said flatly.

"If Havoc perishes and her power is attained by Abaddon then all will suffer for her loss, not only my siblings and I, her safety coincides with that of your world!"

Rouge couldn't argue that.

"Listen to me. The items are bound to the elements they were designed for, but four each fall under the domains of Havoc and myself! Do you have the pendant, helmet and breastplate?"

"I do." Rouge responded quickly.

"Fire, wind and wood fall under the domain of light, as water, earth and steel fall under darkness. If you channel their energies into the shield, you can rip free of the darkness and engage Abaddon! I must warn you however, it will take some time for their energies to recover after a focused blast like that, so you mustn't use their powers recklessly, or they may backlash upon you."

"What do I do after that?" she inquired. If she was going to face someone like that, she'd need every advantage she could get, every bit of knowledge she could squeeze from the goddess.

"Whatever you must. Use every technique or tactic you know, think on your feet, and above all, acquire the Steel Saber. Once the armor is complete, the energies will naturally balance and you will attain its full potential, enough to combat any one of us on an even level when used properly."

"Good to know that last part..." Rouge muttered, closing her eyes as she began to focus, and the voice began to fade. She could actually feel the energy coursing through her body from the weapons in name and into the shield. She gathered the power, focusing as it began to glow brighter, and brighter, and brighter still. The power finally reached its peak, and when Rouge couldn't contain it any longer, she released.

Light washed over the realm of darkness as a ray blew through the ground and up into the sky. As the light faded, Rouge flew from the blast site and touched down. Her legs nearly buckled as her feet touched down. Perhaps she had invested a little too much, she thought, as she gazed back and saw that darkness failed to recover the area pierced by the light's power.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite little pawn." She heard the familiar voice, spinning about to face Abaddon, clutching onto something she could only discern from the shadow cast by the light behind her.

Havoc's spear.

"You didn't..." she breathed out, turning wide eyes to the crazed hedgehog. A chill like death's touch ran down her spine as she watched his red eyes turn completely black.

"Oh, but I did." He said, his voice thundering through the whole of the area as darkness bled into the air in wisps around his body. He casually tossed the spear at Rouge, allowing it to clatter to a halt at her feet. "And now everything that was hers is mine."

Rouge grit her teeth, kneeling down and grasping the spear. She had no training with such a weapon, but that was where Radiance's advice came into play; improvise.

Abaddon's first attack came with no warning as the ground rose and slammed shut around her. Rouge had vanished, making quick use of the Shadow Cape, leaving little more than a bundle of cloth as the ground receded. She emerged from it, her eyes wide as she spun about, swinging the spear broad at Abaddon. He merely backstepped from it and several thrusting attacks that succeeded it.

"Come now, you have to be more creative than that!" he taunted, grasping her spear as another thrust came at him and single-handedly whipping her off to the side. Rouge had barely managed to catch herself, only for the world to begin assaulting her. Spears of darkness lunged at her from all sides simultaneously. It was all she could do to twist and evade the blows, the armor taking many glancing blows, but restoring itself from the damage as its energies coursed through out it and her body.

Abaddon was right however. Standard attacks were not going to do anything for her. To top matters off, they were still in Havoc's world, now his. If she was to have any remote chance, she needed to escape and take the fight elsewhere.

The Chaos Emerald on him flashed in her mind.

It's worth a shot... she thought to herself. She needed speed, however, and the wind would be ideal for that. She'd have to risk overtaxing the Gale Helmet. Without a second thought on the matter, it glowed to life with silver light. The Flame Pendant came alight as well, swelling a muted red glow to match the silver beginning to surround her. Sparks shot off in all directions as she spread her wings, accommodated for thanks to the self-fitted breastplate, and took off in a flash, leading with Havoc's weapon of choice pointed right at her foe.

Abaddon veered off just as she came by, his eyes widening a bit at her speed and the trail blazed behind her, burning against the darkness for several seconds before it snuffed itself out. He spun about, watching her make a sharp turn, almost as if on a dime, and fire back. He sprang into the air and she followed all too willfully.

Rouge made a second pass as he lashed out at her weapon, diverting her course and shattering the tool in one strike. This time, she nicked him with her wing, drawing a slash that made quick to disappear, its only evidence in its existence a thin line of blood staining his silver fur. She tossed the ruined remains of the spear away and continued on with her rushes.

"What can you hope to accomplish from these futile blitzes?" he challenged, the next pass coming one she paid for as he raised his claw and brought it down, catching her legs as one of her wings slammed into him. Pain coursed through the wing into her spine, and her legs felt as if they were nearly crushed under the force as she was slammed to the ground. Heat burned in her chest and winds tore at her flesh left exposed by the armor as the power began to spiral out of control due to her lack of focus.

She did, however, clutch the goal of her mad charges, holding onto a solitary Chaos Emerald, gripped tight in one hand.

"Little thief!" he snarled, raising his claw again.

It occurred to Rouge that particular moment would be a fantastic time to use Chaos Control.

If she knew how.

The claw came down, and she found the strength in her injured legs to spring forward out of the way, the need for survival overcoming the pain. She stumbled to her feet, her legs quivering as she turned to face him, clutching the shield in one hand and the Chaos Emerald in the other.

"Be a good little bitch and give me back the Chaos Emerald!" he demanded.

"Not really much of a charmer, are you?" she hissed in defiance.

"Do you know what lies between Light and Darkness?" she recalled hearing Igneous speak to Sonic back on Prison Island. "The absolutes of the two are not without a middle ground. An unstable, erratic, devastating, and unbelievably powerful force created when the two forces are brought together, that you and your allies have tapped into repeatedly. The Chaos Emeralds are the physical embodiment of that power."

Light and Darkness create Chaos... she thought, standing off with Abaddon. It's supposed to be unstable on its own... but maybe...

Rouge raised the Radiant Shield and began to charge, standing right before Abaddon with a smug grin on her lips.

"Oh, you want to play Chicken with me now?" he asked, snickering darkly as he raised his claw, cocking his head off to one side. "Very well then! But you will lose!"

I don't need to win. She thought, gripping the emerald firmly in her hand as she drew back, bracing herself with one leg. I just need to survive this. She needed more energy, however. Abaddon didn't look to even be trying, and she could feel the reverberations from his own gathering power in her bones. Once again, she fell back to the other three pieces of armor within Light's domain, her body flaring white as the light engulfed her.

Abaddon's course didn't alter against it at all. It was all a game to him, no doubt on a high from his newly stolen godhood.

Rouge cut loose everything she could spare, and the silver hedgehog unleashed his own fury in response, leaving her the window of a scant few seconds and one shot to pray that this desperate gamble worked. Rouge drew the arm bearing the Chaos Emerald back, and pitched with all the might she could muster without altering the course of her attack. The strength granted by the Gaia Gauntlets shot the emerald past the rays in a low arc...

Right between them as they met.

---

What happened? Rouge thought as consciousness began to return to her. She lay atop something soft and damp. Her eyes fluttered open as she began to take in her surroundings. She was at the edge of a pine forest, her body sprawled out over the grass. She pushed herself upright, heaving a pained breath as her body trembled with exertion. There was no questioning it, she'd spent quite a bit on her gambit, but it had worked. She'd been freed from Darkness' realm. Now she needed to find out just where she'd wound up.

Before her gaze could travel much further than the immediate area, she took note of two particular items lying in the foliage. The first, the Chaos Emerald, burned into a hole that looked as though it had been cut from the ground as opposed dug. It radiated more brilliantly than she'd ever seen it in her life, a glorious sight, and a beautiful gem.

Now was not the time to fall back on old habits, however, as she staggered to her feet and forward, her shield bearing arm limp from weakness at her side. She dipped down and scooped the emerald up, tucking it safely away before turning to the next item.

The Steel Saber, lying prone and alone. Its sheathe had only barely survived, but the blade was completely untarnished; a testament to Forge's handiwork, no doubt. Rouge wasted little time as she came upon it in grasping it up from the ground.

Her eyes widened as something impaled her dead through the gut.

"Stupid woman." She heard Abaddon chortle as he rose from the ground, from the shadow of the weapon she now clutched in her hand. "You actually fell for that... What did you think happened to me? Had you hoped I'd been left behind, or blown away in the blast? Though that was a clever little notion, using Chaos on such a degree."

Rouge grit her teeth, opening her mouth and preparing to speak before she felt something tear through her body and shoot out her right side. Blood instead flowed from her mouth in a cough, hanging over as she felt her breathing stifled severely.

"I'm really not in the mood to hear you talk, though." He said with some bitterness, the shadow lodged in her body twisting her around to face him and a horribly burnt visage. His skull was actually visible in the worst portions of it, flesh burned black and fur scorched off. Perhaps the most horrific, nightmarish part of the sight was watching it slowly heal, watching flesh crawl over the wounds cauterized shut by the blast and restore him to his shape.

This was not the Abaddon they had been already fighting a losing battle with. This was a god that made Chaos, at the worst in the throes of its own nature when it had achieved the Perfect form, seem tolerable. Abaddon was pure, indescribable evil of the likes no mortal should have ever encountered.

She howled in pain as the spike branched up, shooting out her collarbone. Her vision began to blur and fade from pain and a steadily growing loss of blood.

"So close to your goal, Rouge. How does it feel?" Abaddon sneered, leaning forward and grasping her head at the back, half ramming his forehead against the helmet, a gesture that didn't even make him wince. "To have all your efforts stripped from you like this? Don't worry though, I'll do good on my word. Your Shadow is free, at least until I skin him alive for the hell of it."

Rouge felt her arm move, though she didn't know exactly why as a ringing built up in her ears.

"Perhaps I'll finish off that child with her mother."

She felt something well up inside of her, something burning at her eyes. It was as if a new strength washed over her.

"Well, we'll see what happens. It would be a shame to just waste these new powers maintaining things, wouldn't it?"

As a glow lit up between them, and Rouge's eyes widened so far she swore her eyes would pop out of her head, she realized what was giving her strength, as she stared at the ever more maniacal hedgehog god.

She was utterly and unbelievably pissed off.

The spikes ripped from her body as a ray of light blew into Abaddon, the Radiant Shield burning white hot as she heaved breaths, hacking up blood and standing on wobbly legs. In spite of her condition, however, fury began to overtake her. She'd been toyed with long enough, and the idea of the hedgehog stealing from her again what he had once, and going above and beyond that, only served to stoke the flames.

"If you want to see what I'm made of Abaddon, then I'm going to take a great lot of satisfaction out of beating your ass!" she snapped, ripping the Steel Saber from its sheathe.

A new glow engulfed her in less than an instant. At first she was stunned, unsure of what to make of her new predicament. Had she been caught in another trap, another ploy by her opponent? As a comforting warmth washed over her, and the pain faded from her wounds, that seemed more than unlikely. She could feel energy pouring into every fiber of her being. Her breathing grew easier and her strength returned, and she felt a sense of completion wash over her.

The light faded as quickly as it went, and Rouge stood, dressed not in individually colored and designed pieces of armor, but a single uniform set, tempered steel polished to a mirror-like sheen wrapping over her arms, legs, chest and around her head, decorated in patterns laid with gold, platinum and onyx. The Radiant Shield was decorated in a cascade of jewels of every color and origin imaginable, common and rare, spiraling rings displaying an image of the darkest night fading to brilliant blue sky cradling a crystalline sun splayed out over the surface of the shield. The Steel Saber in the opposing hand retained much of its simple décor, adorned with only a few licks of gold around the guard, but shone as if new. The amazement only furthered as she touched herself where she had been run through by the shadow, and in the places it had pierced her elsewhere. Healed, her wounds were completely gone, though she had no explanation as to why.

Explanations would have to wait as she felt the world rock, turning her eyes forward to where she'd blasted Abaddon. Spreading her wings, she took off, soaring faster than ever in her life. She'd barely felt as though she'd taken off before landing atop a hill nearby, the wonder of the armor she now donned fading in the horror of the image she now faced.

Lying before her were the ruins of the Marble Zone, a labyrinthine set of ruins flooded with molten lava, a death trap to many foolhardy adventurers. Shadows crept in thin tendrils over the land, seeking to overtake whatever they could as Abaddon raged amidst its rubble, hovering in place as his eyes locked on Rouge.

"So you've completed the armor! It makes no difference!" he snapped, far more furious than he ought have been if just words alone were indication of anything. "You still have no chance of defeating me!"

Rouge narrowed her eyes, adjusting her grip upon her weapons as she took to the air again, the single beat of her wings enough to propel her the distance as she landed atop what should have been magma, instead cooling to blackened stone beneath her feet, staring down Abaddon.

"What? Some heroic speech or some nonsense like that?" Abaddon snapped, grinning, more nervously than he should have.

"No." Rouge said flatly, staring dead into his eyes as fire erupted from the magma, wrapping around the saber in her hand. "I just wanted a good look at you before I kick your ass."

Why is he so unnerved? Rouge thought, watching the hedgehog snarl at her as she brought the shield up between them, her eyes trained on her foe. They said the armor would just be a match for him, nothing about winning, what's going on?

She wasted no more time thinking about it as she leapt up, shadows crashing down and closing in from every direction, consuming the land she'd been standing upon before. The taunting was gone, the cockiness and confidence. She was now faced with what looked to be a very serious, very fearful, and very desperate opponent.

That was the worst possible kind she could imagine as she lunged down, slamming the Steel Saber into the earth as Abaddon vanished into wisps of darkness. Flames erupted for yards around her, the lava coming to a rapid boil before she ripped the weapon from the ground and stood up.

"He's behind you."

She didn't know whose voice it was, but she complied off of a reflex, spinning about just in time to parry a blow with her shield intent on taking her head off. She dug into the ground as raw power ripped from the blow and blew out around her on all sides. Abaddon stood before her, eyes wide as his claw reared back once again, preparing the same kind of attack as he lunged ahead.

Rouge sniffed hard, stamping a foot down, causing pillars of earth to erupt all around her from the ground, flying at the maddened hedgehog. He dispatched them about as easily as she expected, swinging his clawed arm through them and reducing them to so much dust and rubble. Rouge capitalized on his focus, manipulating the air into a fierce gale that blew the debris into his face, eliciting a howl of pain and frustration as the pieces made their way into his eyes. Every element bent to her whim, as if it were second nature to her. She had to ponder just how much of a role the armor played in that as she continued on with her assault on the maddened hedgehog.

"You little bitch!" Abaddon roared, his fury echoing through the zone of ruins as Rouge charged forward, drawing her leg back and swinging, catching water vapor through the air and forming it into a liquid blade on the Sea Greaves, intent on severing Abaddon's head from his shoulders. He countered instead, another hand lurching out from the shoulder where his darkness claw was, grasping the leg and stopping its motion dead before flinging her down. He forced his eyes open, locking onto Rouge as she flew back. His unclad arm thrust up, and darkness spiraled up from the ground in spears and arrows. The bat was off balance, there was no way for her to avoid, she'd most certainly be run through.

The darkness stopped scant inches from her body, instead shaping and weaving itself into a cushion she landed harmlessly on.

Rouge sat upright, as baffled as her foe as she looked around. It had stopped completely, none of darkness moved against her. She staggered to her feet, looking up to Abaddon, seeing his rage begin to mount further. He looked more than a little unnerved.

"It won't hold like this forever!" she heard the voice again. "Get out of the way!"

"Just who are you?" Rouge demanded, looking around as she tried to discover the source of the voice. No response; was she losing her mind? She couldn't even take the time to ponder that as she felt a shift beneath her feet. Heeding the words of the voice, she spread her wings and tore off, just barely evading as the swirl of shadowy attacks resumed and blew skyward. One thing proved certain; although she'd no idea what or who the identity of the voice was, it was beneficial to her. She wouldn't chase it out so long as it stayed that way.

It was time to go on the offensive again, and Rouge did so with force. She began to focus upon the Flame Pendant and Radiant Shield, feeling their strength renewed in full with thanks to the completion of the armor, and turned the shield at Abaddon. A pillar of white flames erupted, burning through the air and darkness lingering from the dark god's attack. He evaded, rolling off to the side and charging her as energy crackled about his body, no doubt preparation for an attack of his own. Rouge would see that never come to pass as she drew her saber back, resonating with the Gale Helmet as she cut off the attack from the shield, and slashed. A blade of wind tore through the air, too quickly for Abaddon to turn or veer, and slammed dead into his chest.

If the slicing pain wasn't enough, the impact amplified it by knocking the wind right from his lungs. Rouge watched as he veered by, blood now pouring down his body from a deep set gash across his torso, and crashed in a heap to the ground.

This is too easy. She thought to herself. He's a god now, shouldn't he be putting up more of a fight than a dead charge?

Her answer came an instant later as a flash blinked around him. She had to bring the shield up to serve the purpose of its design for a change as power ripped through the area, in less than a second decimating the place he'd landed. The sheer force of the unleashed power left her struggling to hold her place in the air. She guarded against the buffeting energies with the shield as her wings beat furiously. She was doing well to hold her ground, and even began to make gains towards him. As he seemed, just crouched there, pouring out energy recklessly, it should have left him vulnerable.

She instead was greeted by a blow to the head that rocked the world around her, sending her spinning through the air. She crashed through countless objects made of stone and wood, she swore that she heard chains snap before she came to a halt, flat in a crater as rubble and stone thundered behind her, splashing into something wet, and hot.

As Rouge's senses returned to her, she found herself gazing into a pool of magma, her body half lain out over the edge of the marble walkway she'd been driven into.

Instinct jolted her senses to life before she was ready, and she pushed off and rolled to the side as an entire form of darkness crashed down, engulfing the path and sinking it into the molten stuff where she'd been but a second ago. She rolled up to her feet, staggering backwards as she fought to regain her balance, watching the figure whip in her direction and dive at her, unleashing such power that just by her close proximity she was flung back into a wall, her body embedding itself into it with a grunt before it came before her, driving a knee up into her gut and under her ribs. Rouge heaved blood up as several snaps became audible, echoing through her body into her ears as she struggled to breath from a sharp pain in that same area. Her entire body came alight with worse pain as she felt darkness literally begin to spark off of her and wrap around her in bolts, as if she were being treated to a high grade electrical shock. Any scream she'd have made off of sheer reflex was silenced as one of the hands of the creature slammed into her face, digging her head further back into the stone, her body convulsing and shuddering as the assault continued.

"What will you do now, you bitch?" Abaddon's voice snapped over the ringing building in her ears. "How do you intend to help her now?"

W, what's he talking about? She thought, her body seizing up as the shock grew. She could feel herself beginning to lapse in and out of consciousness from the pain. The armor was barely damaged, but her mortal body wrapped in the shell of worldly power was vulnerable beneath. She wasn't sure how much longer she could take it.

It all stopped suddenly as she heard a grunt from the creature. Her eyes opened, and she watched him stagger back, clutching his side as blood poured from it before darkness closed around a wound, the same darkness that now engulfed his entire body. She could see clearly what he'd done, as both arms now encased in the claw he'd worn alone on the one before, his feet shaped into wicked talons like some macabre bird's. The already wild spikes formed of the pins and needles along his back and head were now jagged and sharp, sporting lethal points at their tips and thorn-like growths around the sides. He looked as much a monster now as his actions made him to be, though she hardly assumed this to be an involuntary transformation. She got a surprise from her own end as well, her eyes widening considerably as she beheld the Shadow Cape sticking out from her side, twisted into a spear head shape drenched in his blood, holding for just a second longer before it fell and brushed flat at her back again.

I didn't do that... she thought, turning her eyes back to Abaddon. She crouched low and sprang up, just as his claws thrust at her, smashing into the wall and obliterating it. She couldn't afford herself the time to think about this, she'd already established something was working in her favor. Abaddon's power, or at least his control over what he stole, was growing, exemplified as every shadow on the wall behind her, including her own, lurched out and reached for her. She spun quickly, slicing through them with the Steel Saber and distancing herself, watching as they burned into wisps and disappeared as smoke. She raised the Radiant Shield, letting off a short burst of light that urged Abaddon to jump into the air, as the Flame Pendant willed the fires of the lava beneath them to unleash a barrage of spears. He spun rapidly into a blur, reducing the assault to harmless sparks raining down onto the stone.

Rouge closed in as he was occupied with that, slamming onto the ground and unleashing a gust of wind that stalled his motion and threatened to throw him off balance. Raising her leg, she kicked against his rotation, halting him dead with the impact, and with another push behind her leg, throwing him down the path, following in pursuit with saber raised. He flipped about, slamming down on all fours, cutting into the floor with claws and talons before raising his head and bellowing a roar from a mouth filled with nightmarish fangs. Rouge halted, dropping to one knee and raising the shield as the roar blew past her, reducing the marble walls and floors to rubble, causing the lava around them to bubble, spit and erupt.

The nightmarish God closed in, slamming his whole body against her shield and bouncing her up into the air. A quick kick up was all that kept one of his claws from impaling her, the same leg coming down preventing the second one from running through her chest and giving her the momentum to flip back in the air, landing crouched before returning the tackle in her wholly capable force, the Gaia Gauntlets lending their support as a wall of stone shot up and conformed to the shape of her body, adding to the weight behind the already forceful blow. Just touching the dark form pierced through the rock, but the damage was done as he staggered back. Rouge discarded the stone shell, stepping up and pirouetting on one foot, her sword bearing arm drawn across her chest until she faced him, using the added momentum of her spin to deliver a devastating slash across his chest that earned a thunderous roar of pain. Halting herself, she reared her shield bearing arm back and slammed it into his chest where the open wound set, reaching out with the other arm and hooking the blunt of her blade behind his neck, holding him against it as she unleashed another quick, but still powerful burst, blasting his body back, whipping his head down and slamming it against the face of the shield before he tumbled back with his body. She charged again, watching him lay prone and in agony, springing up and diving back down at him, leading with the saber as the Light-aligned elemental pieces poured their power into it. She would end the fight, run him straight through the head. She reared back as she came down, her eyes wide and fixated on him.

At the very last possible second, everything stopped, and she knew only pain.

Rouge was held fast in the air, gurgling wide-eyed as she was suspended off of spikes of darkness penetrating through her arms and legs, through her chest and throat. The armor and her body were riddled with holes as she hung there, clinging to life. Her eyes shifted, her vision jarred as she hacked blood up, resettling on the source of what she had been trapped upon.

His spines, a hedgehog's spines entwined with shadow and darkness. She watched his body heave and shudder, though not quite so much in pain anymore as in soft laughter that gradually grew louder. He pushed himself up, his spines retracting with lightning speed as the darkness shrank back into his body. Rouge collapsed, the armor clanking against the ground as she hit, blood beginning to pour from the wounds as she gasped for breath.

"What now?" he roared with confidence as he strode towards her, crouching down and grasping her by the helmet, hauling her to sit up, earning another wince of pain as he reared a hand back. "What will you do now, Havoc?"

Rouge's eyes widened at the name, long before the pain. Long before she felt something pierce through her chest and out her back. She held there, still, barely breathing as she turned her eyes down, watching blood pour from the gaping hole left in her chest, where Abaddon's arm stuck through her. More blood trickled out her mouth as she began to lose sensation in her body, her vision blurred, her hearing faded. She would be dead in a matter of seconds.

I should at least take him with me... she thought, her body growing lax on her. But why... why can't I move...?

"This is the end." Abaddon said, a dark chuckle behind his voice. Rouge could feel him begin to withdraw his arm. He'd get away, there would be nothing she could do after that. He would get away with his horrible crimes and set out to commit more, more people would suffer as she did, as Shadow, as Havoc.

No, no, no, this isn't right! She grit her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut. I can't have done all this for nothing! There's got to be something I can do, anything!

"And you used to be so selfish..." the voice said again, however Rouge now had a name for it, her eyes forcing themselves open against the weariness that had begun to set in. "Alright, bat... let me take the helm."

Her arms came to life without her consent, shooting up and grasping Abaddon's own.

"W, what the?" he stammered, surprise clear in his eyes, and only growing as her grip tightened, holding it fast.

"What's wrong, Abaddon?" her lips moved, speaking in her voice, but not her words. She felt something rush through her, drawing off of his arm in spite of his protests. Her eyes snapped open, her vision as sharp as it had ever been, her hearing the most acute it had ever been. She squeezed tighter, this time throwing his arm back as the darkness remained, filling the wound, actually seeming to reshape into something physical, a temporary fix at it stitched her wound together as it had been before the hedgehog impaled her. "Haven't quite got a grasp on my power yet? Don't worry, I do."

"How are you doing this?" Rouge tried to speak, though the words progressing little further than thoughts.

"You know that cape on your back that I created? I gambled and imbued a portion of my consciousness in here. I was able to communicate with you briefly before the armor was whole. With the armor acting in unison, I was able to make small actions, though your soul has been dominant. Now, however..."

"Because I'm dying?"

There was a pause.

"... Because you're dying, I was able to force my consciousness over yours... It won't last long though, we have to end this quickly."

"And if this gamble hadn't worked?"

"You'd already be dead."

Rouge would have rolled her eyes if she could manage. "This sounds like some awful twist in a movie... but I can't say I'm ungrateful."

Rouge felt her body shift as she rose to her feet. The armor hummed to life as if a machine, a glow engulfing her entirely, leaving her little more than a silhouette within the light.

"Just lend me your body. I won't last longer than this anyways."

"What about his and your powers, can't you do anything?"

"No, not without direct contact like we had there, and even then, I caught him off guard. I doubt we'll be so lucky twice."

"So you hid yourself in that little wretch..." Abaddon hissed with fury, the darkness beginning to flare about him. "No matter... One worthless woman's mind in another worthless woman's body still amounts to nothing."

"Tell me." Havoc said through Rouge, twirling the Steel Saber nimbly between her fingers as she began to walk forward slowly, the pain in every step real, but not fazing the goddess in the mortal shell in the slightest. "Do you know what the difference between the two of us is?"

"Tell me after I kill you!" Abaddon snapped, rearing both claws back and thrusting them forward. They stretched and shot out at the two of them, turning wide at the last moment and circling around them. They clasped together, and snapped closed around them, catching them fast as he began to apply a crushing pressure.

"Experience." Havoc muttered, her own voice leaking through Rouge's mouth for that one utterance as she stood with the weapons pinned at her sides. The glow that had engulfed her body erupted out, shredding the darkness around her.

The next thing Rouge knew, she had a fist buried deep into Abaddon's solar plexus, the Steel Saber clutched in the same hand that bore the Radiant Shield. Before he could react, her fist drew back and her elbow flew up, catching him in the jaw and sending him spinning. She pursued, slamming the shield into his back and hooking her arm around his torso, pulling back with all the strength her shared body could draw from the armor.

"L, let go of me!" Abaddon growled, in clear pain. His spikes reared back and lunged for her, intent on running her through the head.

The Shadow Cape whipped up between them and absorbed them with little more than ripples in the fabric to show for it.

"What's wrong, lover?" Havoc said bitterly. "Don't like it rough?"

"I'll kill you!"

"A repeat act? How boring. Let me show you something new." She heaved up suddenly, lifting him off the ground, bracing her legs against the stone.

"I'm going to need to borrow from what you have left, Rouge." Havoc said to her.

"It's not like I'm looking at any options, am I?"

Their lips curved into a mutual smirk before Havoc took the reins again.

"Let's review what we learned earlier about Light and Darkness." she growled, the Shadow Cape whipping back, knocking Abaddon's head to the spike as it freed up his spikes before covering the shield. "The only thing that can come from that union is pure Chaos!"

The Radiant Shield burned bright, and the Shadow Cape grew, swelling from the darkness around them. A blast shot into the cape, and was swallowed wholly. It rippled violently before swallowing the both of them, and vanishing completely from sight.

---

The scenery changed again so quickly Rouge was barely able to keep up with it, though Havoc's consciousness did well to as they reappeared far and away from the ruins on South Island. They now hovered over Angel Island, the Shadow Cape swirling through the air as they were spat from its dark reaches.

There was only one direction to go from there. As they began to plummet to the ground, Rouge's wings beat faster and faster and faster, until the massive mountain, the volcano, came upon them, and the combatants plowed into its base, digging deep into the earth. A moment later, Rouge's body re-emerged, bounding for the wood line in the distance.

"What are you doing? We have a fight on our hands and you're running!"

"The armor can't conjure up the elements, Rouge!" Havoc replied. "Angel Island has the widest variety of environments in a small place than any other region on the planet. To use the armor to its full potential we have to utilize them all. The best place to do this is at the edge of the island where all eight elements are present."

"What about right here?"

"When you see a ready and large source of water, then by all means let me know!"

The debate ended abruptly as several wiry limbs shot out of the ground, reaching and clawing for them both. A quick step off put them in the air as the limbs swung for them, and as Rouge's wings spread, Abaddon burst from the ground, the limbs retracting and reforming into the two dark claws that had swallowed his arms. Havoc spun Rouge's body around and pointed the Steel Saber at him, the pendant about her neck lighting with a familiar fiery glow. She struck one of the gauntlets against the steel, creating a spark that held over the tip, and began to erupt with countless fireballs aimed at him as he simply snuffed them out with strike after strike.

"I'm going to tear the two of you apart!" he thundered, his body shuddering with power as he pursued them. Drawing his hands back swiftly, he threw them forward at them just as quickly.

Rouge's body drew up its guard, but the claws he had thrown at them so many times never came. They did, however, find an added difficulty in movement as every inch of the bat's body began to stiffen. Suddenly it became a fight in itself just to move, their flight towards the island's end growing sluggish.

Abaddon was on them in an instant, grasping onto them as lines became visible all across Rouge's body, wrapping and restraining them, working to draw her limbs together and shut her movement down entirely. The very shadows that were cast upon her body by the trees beneath daylight above were working in favor of the new god of darkness. He veered down sharply, slamming them into the earth and dragging them through it, going as far as to barrel through trees and shatter stone boulders with them as his battering ram.

"Hold on, this is going to cost us a fair bit of power!" Havoc warned, leaving no room for debate or objection as the confines of the shadows grew, beginning to fracture bits of the armor as if it were a nut in a cracker. Even as Havoc prepared her counter, spikes were growing within, working to penetrate the armor, and already pressing into the makeshift bandage for the mortal wound she'd received. Rouge's body suddenly began to twist and arch, as the shadows being used against her began to creep toward the injury. Not only did they draw nearer, but as they came in contact, they were drawn into it. In spite of this, all of Havoc's efforts succeeded in only withholding the spikes from growing further.

All at once, the darkness erupted outward, blowing back into Abaddon's face and thrusting Rouge and Havoc deep into the earth. The two of them took to the ground, turning and utilizing the Gaia Gauntlets' power to cleave through the earth, creating a tunnel with the ease one would shred paper, continuing on in such a manner for several minutes before finally surfacing.

The fresh air hit Rouge's face like she hadn't breathed in decades; her weary body half-crawled from the hole on hands and knees, panting with exertion as she tried to collect herself.

"Havoc... Havoc, what now?" Rouge asked, looking to massive waterfall, nestled at the end of a grove of palm trees and surrounded by rocky outcroppings. Old burns marred some areas of the jungle area, and bits of scrap and junk were collected in one area that had been ultimately killed off by what had caused those same burns. Strategically speaking, the area was ideal for the use of the armor. There was silence, lasting for a moment as Rouge took in the rest of her surroundings before prodded again. "Havoc?"

"I'm sorry, Rouge." Havoc responded, the voice in her head sounding strained. "I can't help you from here more than I already am."

"What do you mean? Havoc, you're the goddess here, you know more about this armor than I do!"

"Talking to you is already pushing it... I'm too weak now from that escape. It's all that I can do to maintain the shape of the patch in your wound. You'd have just a few seconds if I dropped that, and I have only a moment or two longer." They both fell silence as the ground quaked, birds screeched and the trees shuddered. "He's coming... Throw everything you have at him, don't hold anything back. I'll buy you what time I can, but I'm afraid one way or the other, this is the end for each of us."

Rouge stood in control of her body again, a full wave of the weakness that had coursed through her body the whole time hitting her head on. It was all she could do not to collapse to her knees as she clutched the wound in her chest, breathing heavily. This is what Havoc was fighting with? She really is dead set on beating him...

She squeezed her eyes shut, beginning to focus on the environment around her. Everything she had, that was what Havoc instructed. She couldn't afford the chance of offering anything less. As she began to feel the power of the elemental armor seep into her, the pain receded to a far more tolerable level, though by no means vanished. As if guided by a baser instinct, Rouge raised her arms out to her sides, the surrounding area beginning to shift around her as entire portions of it moved at her. It began to resonate with the glow that built around her.

Something feeling akin to a fire truck slammed full force into her chest and blew her into the grove, through the waterfall and into the rock face behind it. The pressure only grew as she cried out in pain, feeling as if hot pokers shot through her arms and shoulders and proceeded to dig in.

Her eyes opened to Abaddon, seething in raw fury.

"You're dead, dead, DEAD!" he screamed. Rouge's world came alight with pain again as the darkness fired through her being like electricity, causing her to jerk and twist against his grip as her entire body shuddered in agony. "I'll take you and Havoc down for good!"

"Get... off... me!" Rouge slid her feet up, planting them against the stone. In spite of the searing pain, she thrust herself forward, tearing the new wounds deeper as she lunged at him, slamming the Gale Helmet square into Abaddon's face, whipping his head back and forcing him to release her. She twisted one of her arms and dug her fingers behind her shield into the rock face, gasping as the pain alleviated from her body. Allowing herself only that second to take relief, she put to use the Sea Greaves' powers, willing the waterfall to freeze in whole blocks and launch at him. Each one hit him, driving him back through the air and slamming him to the ground.

Rouge followed after, kicking off the wall and diving through the falls as she lunged at Abaddon, drawing the saber back over her head and slashing down in an attempt to cleave him in half. Abaddon was quick to his feet however, and caught her weapon at the wrist. He took his free hand and pulled back, a writhing mass of darkness swelling wildly around it as he attempted a counterattack, only to be blocked by the Radiant Shield. The two held fast, deadlocked as they pushed against each other. As darkness pooled around Abaddon and grew, seeming to threaten to swallow all things behind him, the world behind Rouge came alight with her armor. The water behind her rippled with life, trees shuddered, the earth beneath her feet quaked, even light and darkness' already stark differences seemed to grow further as shadows became pitch black and beams of sunlight poured down from the skies above, nearly blinding even with the bat woman's back turned to it.

"So, this is what it comes down to?" Abaddon sneered, leaning forward into the attack even further. "A god against weapons forged by gods. Little good it'll do a wielder who's already half dead though!"

"Shut up!" Rouge hissed, leaning further in herself, her head meeting Abaddon's as she glared directly into his eyes. "You're just a cheap mockery, 'God' my ass!"

"What'll it matter anyways?" he gloated. "You have maybe seconds left now, and when you finally perish, I'll strip your feeble body of the armor and make it my own! The Chaos Emeralds will come next to finalize my place! I'll be unstoppable!"

Rouge grit her teeth, feeling her legs beginning to buckle. He was right, she didn't have long left. It would only be a matter of seconds before her body gave way under the stress of his attack. She had to act fast, do something to take her opponent down before she went.

Her mind drifted back to Igneous' words before she was spirited away with Havoc and Abaddon, and her answer came to her. It would be an insane gamble, at best, but it was also her best bet. She didn't have the strength to outright defeat him, she'd have to play on risk and hope for the best.

Rouge let her shield bearing arm fall back, the force of the attack Abaddon had been bearing down on her so great it tore through the breastplate and blew shards and shrapnel from the shield. The bat woman would have screamed were she not so focused on her goal. Grasping the Chaos Emerald from where she stowed it, she reached forward and slammed it into the dark shadows wrapped around her opponent's chest.

Almost immediately there was a reaction. Abaddon howled in agony as energy crackled around him, halting all of his attacks, releasing Rouge's wrist and giving her the chance to bound back and away, landing atop the surface of the water behind her.

"W, what've you done?" he howled, the emerald set in the darkness flashing rapidly as if threatening something. He made an attempt to reach for it, but the sheer force around it blew it back. "I... I can't control it!"

"Rouge, are you mad?" Havoc's alarmed voice rang in her head. "Do you know what's going to happen?"

"I've got a guess." She rasped, heaving as the pain began to overwhelm her again. "How bad are we talking here?"

"Oh, nothing terribly serious, if you manage with minimal damage only a whole quarter of Angel Island will be blown away!"

"Damn it!" Rouge leapt up, spreading her wings and erupting in a burst of speed granted by a gust thrown out by the Gale Helmet. She full-on tackled into Abaddon, the force sweeping him off his feet as she wrapped her arms around him and flew at full speed towards the island's edge, barely visible through the thick of the trees and brush. Little was offered in the way of maneuvering, as it was all she could do to push the added agony of the searing chaotic energies she'd thrown herself against. Anything that lacked a breath of life in it she barreled through with only the regard for time in her mind.

As the edge of the island came in sight, she shrieked in pain, feeling something pierce through her back and out her chest. Her mouth gaped as she saw claws and blood pouring from fresh wounds. The strength left her wings and they both crashed down, rolling over each other along the ground completely out of control.

They both reached the edge of the island and went over.

Rouge could feel the life bleeding out of her. She tried to call upon Havoc's voice again, but was greeted by little more than silence. She could feel the wind not only rushing around, but through her as she plummeted to the sea below. There was no chance left now. If she didn't succumb to her wounds, the force of crashing into the water thousands of feet below would do her in.

Saving the world again... she thought, watching Abaddon writhe and scream as the shadows around him lashed wildly, and the glow of the Chaos Emerald continued to grow, consuming his image as it prepared to unleash its terrible force. I guess that this the last run with those guys... Oh, Shadow, the things I wish I could've said before the end...

The glow grew further and the sea grew closer with each second. She felt her vision fading as the winds buffeted her body. She could have sworn she heard something faint in the distance, and saw a shadow moving closer over the expanse of the sea.

The last thing she felt as she closed her eyes and gave herself to the embrace of death was a soft thump.

---

Rouge awoke slowly to the sounds of beeps and machines all around her. White walls and white lights surrounded her, offset by a powder blue curtain hanging out of a track across the ceiling. She tried to move, and for her efforts received pain.

Pain... she thought, her mind slowly coming to grips with her situation. Pain was not necessarily something she wished to experience on a regular basis, but it brought her towards a conclusion, finalized as she saw a figure rush over her.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" a woman dressed in a white cap and gown asked her. Rouge's lips managed a tired groan, but relief began to set in her mind as the realization set onto her, that by some act, most likely of those same Gods who they had been dealing with for several weeks now, she was alive.

---

"It was amazing." Amy Rose said, wounds of a much less serious degree than Rouge's own dressed in bandages and wrappings partly concealed under a new summer dress. "We didn't know what happened to you, then Radiance told us you beat back Abaddon all by yourself with that crazy armor."

"How long've I been out?" She asked, the grogginess set in by a clearly long sleep and many doses of what she believed to be anesthetic still in the process of shaking off. The paper gown this time did little to conceal the extent of the injuries that stretched over the whole of her body.

"A couple weeks." Sonic said, leaning over on his knees, hands clasped together between his legs.

"Your arm was badly burned." Tails said from the side, sitting with his hands in his lap. "There was a deep wound in your chest, too, it nearly penetrated to your lungs. The doctors were amazed it healed without a scar, and so fast, too."

'Fell short'? she thought, bewilderment overtaking her. That can't be right, he ran his arm through me...

"Probably those Gods to thank for that." Sonic said with a smirk.

"What happened to the armor?" Knuckles asked, standing beside the only window in the room, arms folded over his chest.

"I don't know." She replied, shaking her head. "The last thing I remember was falling towards the sea with Abaddon and... then I'm here."

"Doubt we've got much to worry about from him anymore." Knuckles muttered, though his tone seemed more than a bit sore.

"What's your problem?" Rouge muttered, following up on her observation without hesitation.

"Abaddon... blew up." Tails remarked with an awkward smile.

"Okay... and?"

"We're not sure exactly what happened, but when Knuckles got back, the Master Emerald was in pieces again, and there was a Chaos Emerald lying there. It looked like it was shot through the island, and..."

"I spent three days finding all the pieces and putting them back together." His tone was as flat as it could have possibly been.

Is this just a bad running gag for this guy or what? Rouge thought, unable to hide a smirk. She looked to Tails again, shifting as much as her injuries would allow. "How's Cream doing?"

"She's at home with her mother." He responded, more than a little happily. "The repairs on the house are almost done, Gemerl's been going at it near nonstop. Sonic and I pitched on too, it's looking better than ever."

"You're so sweet, Sonic." Amy managed with a giggle, leaning towards him. Reflexively, the hedgehog shied away, though he didn't try to wrest his arm free of hers as they encircled it. Rouge would have grilled him a little on the awkward smile he wore if she were a little more active.

Still, there are so many unanswered questions. She thought, her eyes fixed on her bedsheets. She watched them rustle at the edges as a breeze blew through the room, the rods supporting the curtain next to her clattering as it picked up.

"Knuckles, close the window." Amy said, borderline scolding him.

"What are you talking about?" Knuckles puzzled over her remark, gesturing to it with a hand as Rouge saw when she looked up. The window was shut tight.

"Sorry 'bout that, but a girl's gotta get around somehow." Said an all too familiar voice. Every head in the room immediately turned to the door, watching it close as Mistral leaned back on it, an impish smile on her lips. "Sort of goes with my element. You should see it when I'm mad."

"Y, you're the wind goddess!" Tails exclaimed.

"Hey, hey, keep it down, Tails." She said with a grin, leaning back on the door. "I am, and the name's Mistral, thanks. We all got wind of your awakening, so I came to check up."

"Touched." Rouge responded, raising an eyebrow. "I'm fine, but I hardly think a god of any sort would come down to visit me just for a check-up."

"Well, I did." She stated matter-of-factly, her smile turning awkward only a moment later. "At least that was the original intent 'til Radiance lumped some extra stuff onto me."

"Uh-huh." Rouge said with a smile. "So what do they need?"

"For starters, a large thanks for everything to all of you guys. You're the first mortals in a long time to prove worthy of the armor... And to top it all off, you kicked that creep's teeth in." She seemed to put special emphasis on the word chosen to identify Abaddon. "You all could've just packed up and left, but you didn't... We appreciate that, really."

"Hey, it's a hero thing." Sonic said, his usual cockiness showing through his smirk.

"And you're all well known for it." Mistral responded with a giggle.

"What exactly happened to the armor though?" Knuckles asked, shooting straight to the point as he eyed the fox goddess.

"It's being repaired. Once that's said and done, we're going to scatter them across the planet again in new locations. Tsunami and Pyro are going to lock theirs down more securely this time, I hope."

"You're not destroying that stuff?" Amy Rose exclaimed in clear protest as she shot up from her seat, gaping at the goddess. "What if something like this happens again?"

"It's no different than the Chaos Emeralds or rings." Mistral said, her arms folding across her chest as she took on a more thoughtful expression. "In the end, they're weapons. They don't choose who to fire at, the ones who wield them do. For better or worse, they exist, and they still showed their worth when Rouge fought Abaddon, so our father has decided to keep them." Her expression lightened up a little bit. "But you won't be seeing them again in your lifetime, maybe not even your children's. They'll fade to black again until someone else decides to go chasing ghosts of the past... and I doubt they'll be like you guys when they do."

"Moving on from that..." Rouge said in an attempt to divert attention from a topic that would no doubt be a source of endless debate. "What happened to Havoc?"

The silence that permeated the room was palpable.

"She's, uh..." Mistral turned her eyes down, the smile that now was set on her lips more forced than anything. "She's gone... It was just like we all feared. Everything Abaddon got went with him, there wasn't even a trace of her left behind."

"Oh..." Rouge muttered, all she could really manage as she gazed down at her sheets.

"Yeah... Radiance took it the hardest, and she's become really reclusive." Mistral folded her arms across her chest. "She's also taken up Havoc's domain while our father works to create a new sibling for us to take over."

"That sounds... that's just so cold..." Tails muttered, his expression crestfallen.

"It's the nature of things though." Mistral said, the playfulness departed completely from her, her identity as a goddess millennia old showing in her expression as she looked around the room. "A balance has to be maintained, or the world would fall apart. The darkness would either go out of control or fade completely, either consuming the world or leaving no reprieve from the light. I could get metaphoric too, but, that's Radiance's bit anyways."

"Will you all be alright?" Knuckles asked, his arms falling to his sides. Rouge had the same question on her mind, and it was clear that Amy, Sonic and Tails did as well.

Mistral only smiled tearfully as she reached up and brushed her eyes.

"The wounds are still fresh... But we'll carry on, and greet our new sibling with love. We won't ever forget Havoc, but she's gone for good. Trying to recreate her would just be an insult, and, believe me, we considered that... This is the best road to take." Mistral took a breath, seemingly done with that as she rose off the door, stepping forward toward's Rouge's bed. "If I could speak to Rouge privately, though? I've got something sort of for her ears only."

The other four glanced around, looking between each other before their eyes ultimately fell upon Rouge. Rouge stared back, before smiling wearily.

"Just go, you boneheads, I'll see you in a minute." Rouge said. That seemed to satisfy them as Sonic chuckled, and Knuckles even grinned. They turned and left the room at that moment, the door shutting behind them. The bat woman's attention turned back to Mistral as she took a seat on the edge of the bed. "You know Tails likes you, right?"

"Wouldn't work out." Mistral said with a smirk. "He'll find a nice girl someday and live out his days with her. Maybe a pop star or something, I dunno."

"You're kidding, right?" Rouge said, grinning.

"Crazy world we live in." Mistral returned readily. "But this isn't too far off topic from one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Particularly about a certain dark, brooding hedgehog..."

Rouge narrowed her eyes. Suddenly the conversation wasn't as entertaining as before.

"Oh, don't get defensive on me, or at least save it for after the important part." Mistral's expression grew serious again. "Havoc communicated with you during the last battle, didn't she?"

"... She did." Rouge said, somehow unsurprised. "She piloted me through a lot of it."

"Figured... It felt like I just missed her presence when I caught you."

"That was you?"

"Well we all may be capable of flight, but I am the Goddess of the Wind. I get a little speed boost, thank you, and you needed a pick-me-up."

"Makes sense enough." Rouge said softly, sighing and clasping her hands together. "I wish I could tell you she said something to you guys, but we were pretty involved in the fight..."

"I figured." Mistral said, reaching out and setting a hand on Rouge's. "Havoc was kind of that way. She was the oldest, so she bore the most responsibility... I'm glad she was able to help you in the end."

"Yeah..." Rouge muttered. "I don't get how she even did it... Guess that goes with God territories, huh?"

"Well, there's a process, but, the details aren't important." Mistral said. "... Beyond all the business too, I think she respected you."

"You're joking." Rouge said as flat as possible.

"I'm not laughing." Mistral responded with a smile to counter it. "Maybe since you're a bat and already so close to her domain anyways, maybe because you worked so damned hard to see your lover boy was safe... Hell, maybe she liked your sense of humor, I don't know. She liked you, for whatever reason, and you gave her some hope. Your friends there certainly did too when they started helping out. You're all real heroes for your generation, so don't take it lightly."

"Honey, I'm just a girl who loves jewels and knows her way around a security system." Rouge responded. "It's all just a nice coincidence."

"And Shadow?"

Rouge was left without a response for that.

"Now that all the emotional burn out is over, let me give you some advice." Mistral smirked. "Since you love him, I mean."

There was the blood flow to her cheeks, Rouge was apparently healthy enough to blush.

"Shadow's got his own agenda." Rouge said, closing her eyes. "I'll support him, and wait for when he needs me. Until then, he knows where I am... Until we cross paths doing something."

Mistral shook her head, rising off of the bed and walking towards the window as the breeze began to pick up in the room again. The smile broadened on her lips.

"Don't let him slip away from you, Rouge. You nearly lost him twice, don't go for that third time charm."

---

Several weeks later, Rouge stood dressed in her violet and pink bodysuit, the defense systems in the building she'd infiltrated completely shot. A few security guards had to be silenced along the way, but she made sure they'd awaken with little more than a headache after delivering a few solid blows to bring them down. The target was a mogul who had been known for illegally acquiring multiple rare commodities over the years, in large from black market dealers, and in some cases people who had conveniently been recently deceased. It wasn't anything special, gather evidence and fall out, a few photographs here, several obviously illegal documents there. The man was big enough to irritate the government, but only just; still small fry in her books.

Rouge's real intent had been set on the silver gem, cut to picture perfection, resting on a cushioned mantle inside of a glass cased pedestal fixed in the middle of a room at the end of a long, now completely unguarded and unsecure hallway. A Chaos Emerald, glorified as it ought to be, as the most beautiful, and most amazing piece in the entire place. A natural wonder of limitless power contained in a mineral shell.

She resolved it would be hers, a bonus for an otherwise dull job. She drew a glass cutter from one of the pouches at her hip, setting it and beginning to work, a smile growing on her lips as it came closer and closer to full circle. The cut snapped as it was finished, and fell with a thump against the cushion. She reached in, and secured her prize.

"Fancy meeting you here." An all too familiar, deep voice muttered from behind her. She turned, her face not registering any surprise as she gazed upon Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate life form himself, and the master of Chaos Control.

"I could say the same." Rouge said, her tone cocky as ever as she sauntered forward, the Chaos Emerald in one hand as the other rested upon a hip. "You don't need Chaos Emeralds anymore, right? So what brings you to a billionaire's mansion at two in the morning?"

Shadow sniffed, folding his arms over his chest.

"Or do you need it?" She pursued, leaning forward with a smile.

"I have answers that a Chaos Emerald may help me acquire." Shadow said in his usual, callous tone. "You're holding my prize."

"Your prize." She echoed, leaning back and cupping her chin as she brought the emerald up to eye level between them, appraising it with a flirtatious smile. She could see Shadow growing more irritated. "Maybe in exchange for a couple things, I might be willing to help."

"What?" Shadow muttered, no amusement in his tone whatsoever.

"I'd like to know what happened to you after that fiasco on Prison Island, for starters." Her eyes shifted to him as she lowered the emerald, looking just over its surface into his own.

"I left to heal. Unlike the rest of the people on this planet, I don't require weeks to recuperate."

"So what were you doing until now?"

"What do you think?" His tone grew more irritated.

Rouge sighed. That seemed enough like Shadow, where Maria wasn't involved at least; single-minded on answers and finding purpose. Getting an answer out of the stoic hedgehog would take time.

Rouge smiled, lowering her hand and depositing the emerald in another pouch.

"Alright then, let's make this easier." She stepped forward, closing the gap between them a bit longer, reaching up and setting a finger on his chest, flicking at the end of a tuft of white fur. "My place tonight, six. Come clean and hungry, we'll talk."

Shadow blinked, staring at her cluelessly a moment. "What are you playing at, Rouge?"

Rouge giggled softly. In a strange feat, quicker than the hedgehog could react in his dumbfounded state, she reached forward, and pecked her lips against his, before pulling her arm away and starting to walk into the shadows of the hall.

"Figure it out, Shadow."