Mobius Destiny (A Sonic Boom Fanfic)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Kay had never actually been to the throne room of Espio's palace before now, but she'd seen enough pictures and read enough books about castles to know – generally – what most of them looked like. And the grand room she was standing in now definitely fit the description.

Shadow let go of her arm as roughly as he'd taken it. Kay stumbled back a step, but regained her balance much quicker this time around as she looked at him. Her eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you just teleport us here the first time?" she asked again, reading his expression carefully. "Why give me a choice if you were going to force me to come here anyway?"

"You ask too many questions," Shadow mumbled, turning away from her.

"Excuse me for not knowing everything anymore," Kay snapped back. "Did you take the photo back, or were you lying about that, too?"

He turned just enough to see her out of the corner of his eye. "What are you talking about?"

"This morning." Had it really been just that morning? So much had happened since then. "You gave me your word the troupe wouldn't be harmed while you took me from them. But when I came back they'd already begun fighting the Storm clan. You lied about their safety. Were you lying about the photo, too?"

Shadow glowered, turning away again. "I was unaware the Storm clan were so close behind me. I gave you my word honestly thinking your precious prince would be safe while we spoke. It would appear I was mistaken."

Kay wanted to tell him to stop with the 'precious prince' thing, but knew it would be fruitless. She filed his claim away to meditate on later. "And the photo?"

He was silent, and that was all the answer she needed.

"I knew it."

"For your information, Chosen One," he snapped, suddenly turning back around entirely. "I am going to give it back as soon as I can."

"Are you unable to right now?"

He took a breath, letting it out in a growl. "Yes."

She was surprised. "How were you able to get it so easily but can't return it as easily?"

"I never said it was easy to obtain. And as you admitted yourself, Chosen One, you don't know everything. Not anymore."

"I have a name, you know." Kay frowned. "I'm not the 'chosen' anything anymore either."

"You're Aurora's Chosen One," Shadow replied, crossing his arms. "I'd say that counts."

Kay rolled her eyes just as a third voice joined in their banter.

"Ah, look who has decided to grace us with her presence," Aurora called from the front of the throne room, standing beside what must have been the king's chair when he were still alive.

"The answer is no," Kay said at once, turning to face her. "Whatever it is, the answer is no."

"Oh?" Aurora grinned. "I was going to ask if you were interested in learning how I discovered Mobius Prime, but if the answer is no..."

Kay closed her eyes and sighed in frustration. But she didn't need to say anything before Aurora beat her to it.

"That's what I thought," the echidna chuckled, moving down the platform to join Kay and Shadow on the main floor. "Shall we take a walk? There's something I think you'd like to see, Chosen."

Refusing to say anything although she very much wanted to, Kay begrudgingly allowed Aurora to lead her from the throne room and down an adjoining hall to another part of the palace entirely. Shadow was right behind them both. As much as she didn't want to be part of this crazy plan Aurora was concocting, Kay was curious to know how she'd found out about Prime in the first place when this non-Chaos version of Mobius was otherwise so separated from it.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Aurora spoke again. She put a finger on her chin as if in thought and mused, "I wonder, Chosen, if you experienced anything similar to what I did not too long ago. I was out and about, minding my own business, when suddenly a portal to another dimension opened up right in front of me, out of nowhere at all." The echidna looked back to Kay. "Of course I didn't know it was a portal at first. I'd never seen anything like it. But the more I looked at it the more I saw...creatures of some kind moving around on the other side, seemingly oblivious to my presence even though I was standing right there."

Kay knew immediately what Aurora was talking about, but she showed no surprise at hearing it. She wasn't surprised, truly. The Genesis Portals had opened up all over the place during the rise of Dark Gaia. One had opened up right in the heart of New York City, and she'd seen Silver the Hedgehog on the other side fighting the creatures that were trying to come through to Earth. It was how she'd reconnected with Prime herself. How she'd gotten to see all of her friends again.

Aurora nodded, as if sensing that Kay was on the same page. "Naturally, as I'm sure you can imagine, I was curious. So I went ahead and stepped through it into the other dimension. The Prime Dimension. I took a look around, learned a few things." The echidna stopped outside a door at the end of the hall and tossed Kay a smirk over her shoulder. "It's obvious I made it back of course, and with a changed mindset. I saw so much there, so much that they have that we don't, and I thought...why? Why do they get so much while this dimension only seems to fill empty space with no discernible purpose?"

Kay shook her head. "It only makes sense that with all the dimensions that contain Chaos, at least one of them wouldn't. It's not a crime that this happens to be that dimension, Aurora."

"But it makes no sense, Chosen, don't you see?" Aurora paused with her hand on the doorknob. "The Prime Dimension – the one upon which all others are based – has Chaos Power without limitation. So how can it be that we exist here at all, when the very thing that makes us who we are is Chaos?"

Kay sighed. "What do you want to show me, Aurora? I would really rather not be here at all, you know."

Aurora smiled, but it wasn't a kind smile. "Eventually, Chosen, that portal between our world and Mobius Prime vanished. But the thing is..." She twisted the doorknob. "It left a little something behind."

And she swung the door wide open.