The Search for the Crystal Hearts

~10~

The sound of multiple boots crunched softly on the powdery snow as Koren lead the group through. "Koren how do we know when a Crystal Heart is near?" Tails asked. He stopped and turned around, pulling a chain out of his shirt with a small gem hanging from it, there was a green aura surrounding it. "You see this? This is a fragment of the Master Heart. Daisy gave to me for emergencies just in case something happened to her. It's just as powerful as the Master Heart itself. This will glow whenever we're near a Crystal Heart" . "So Koren how did the Crystal Hearts become scattered?" Ryan asked and Koren tucking the chain into his shirt. " Well Daisy came to make an inspection of the Master and Crystal Hearts when they began to turn black, she sensed that something was wrong so she called me to come check it out with her. When she touched the Master Heart and that's when Mordred came out. We thought we had ran him from the kingdom, but he came back with a vengeance to take the Crystal Hearts and he brought a 'gift'with him which was Snowtaur. When he released the snowstorm we tried to fight it, but it overpowered us and caused havoc. Daisy got the idea to seal herself in the Master Heart to try and control it. We figured out that we could manipulate the snow with the hearts so I lured the monster to the Master Heart while she sealed the snowstorm inside of herself and then sealed herself inside of the Master Heart. It worked up until now...I guess she couldn't contain it anymore and she transferred some of that power to the Crystal Heart and  they couldn't control it either so they scattered and the monster broke out again. "Wait, so does it means that Daisy can communicate with us."Sonic asked and  Koren nodded "If you're near the Master Heart that is, the fragments also count". Sometime later Koren's Crystal Heart fragment began to glow. Looks like we're near one. " Let's go" The warrior prince ran ahead with the rest following behind

Venice finally arrived to where he heard the sound of the crashing from, thankfully the winds began to subside and he was able to see and was taken aback at what he saw. A giant gray robot dog  was attacking the Cyrstal Heart guardian; who was using  the forcefield to protect herself. What caught Venice's attention was the cobalt Crystal Heart dangling from its collar.The pryokinetic hedgehog wasted no time as he began to attack the robot.

Venice's POV
I charged at it with brakeneck speed, colliding with the beast as was able to knock it off it's feet for a while by knocking it back a few miles ; I turned to Daisy who collapsed to the ground from exhaustion, I quickly ran over to offer a hand. "Hey, you okay?" She gave me a weak, but greatful smile. She didn't have time to respond as the beast roared and came charging at us. She used the Crystal Hearts shield a split second before it could hit us. Her determination...She reminds me of my dimension's Daisy. "Venice!" I snapped out of my thoughts as she called my name. "The Cyrstal Heart... is...on it's collar! Do you think you can get to it?" I nodded and she let it down for split second; allowing me to get out and before putting it back up again.  Flying towards the monster, it quickly placed it's attention on me and began to launch  missiles in my direction; which I easily dodged. As I looked closer I saw that it stood under some thick ice; so I grabbed one of my grenades detonating it before tossing it under it's feet. A few seconds later it exploded and the robo dog fell through the ice then began to sink, but before it did it just... glitch? I just shrugged it off as I was probably just seeing things. The colbalt Crystal detached itself and flew into my hands which caused an electric shock to spark from my fingers so I quickly let it go. I looked around for Daisy to make sure she was okay but she was nowhere to be seen.

He frantically looked around for her then his eyes landed on the in the area where she was standing. His heart dropped when the thick ice was replaced by a pool of water. Was the explosion that strong !? Dashing over to the spot , The hedgehog didn't hesitate when plunging into the freezing cold water. He spotted her instantly a few feet below him and found her surrounded by the purple colored shield, completely unharmed .When he approached her, she smiled at Venice and grabbed his hand ;pulling him towards her and entered the forcefield  . The Crystal shone radiantly as they floated back up to the surface; they got out of the water completely dry. When the shield dissipated, he grabbed her shoulders and faced her towards him and her eyes began to sparkle; they looked even brighter since the first time he saw them ; they had a mixture of fear and kindness to them along with a hint of sadness. The 'ice' had completely melted. He pulled her into a hug "Are you okay?! I almost lost you! I can't -  I can't lose you again." He whimpered. She gave a small smile as she pulled back to look at him.

Daisy POV

Venice had the look of fear in his eyes and he hugged me tight; like I was going to disappear and leave him forever, and the pain in his eyes... I need to ask him what's wrong. I can see he's hurting but, now's not the best time to do so. I need to wait until he calms down; he's too tense right now. Maybe then he'll open up.