Chapter 21: Repairing Missing Souls

1 0 0
                                    

I hopped up and laid down onto the table, taking my black undershirt off so I could expose my stitches over my crystal.

Me: I sure hope I don't need to carve myself open just to get it out.

Amy: Don't worry, Orange. It should be fine and easy.

Me: They've been there for... I think three days. The stitches should have healed up a small amount. Enough to close some of the wound, at least. And, Cream.

Cream: Yes, Mr. Orange?

Me: I suggest that, if I need to cut into myself to get the Phantom Ruby out of my chest, I'd suggest that you either head upstairs, or outside. Please? I don't want someone as young as you to see it.

Cream: I guess I can do that.

Amy: So? Ready for this?

Me: Fuck no, I ain't. But I need to do this. I need to stop my torment on everyone who I crossed paths with.

Amy: Would this be risky?

Me: (sarcasm) No. it's going to go swimmingly. (Serious) Of COURSE it'll be risky. I'll lose my life if it doesn't work.

Cream hopped out of her chair and walked straight over to the door and opened it. But, instead of leaving immediately, she stood there.

Me: I think she's waiting for someone.

Cream: If it does work, I'd like to tell you that I want my Kitsune back. And Amy would like her Sonic, too.

Me: I'd gladly give you whatever you want. Also...

I dig through my pocket and pulled out the 510 rings and set them on the table.

Me: I looted them before I burned them. Ten rings on Tails, 500 on Sonic. If I like through this, and if I can bring them back, I'll give them what they want.

Amy: They'd just want to know why you did that.

Cream: I'll be out on the porch if you need me.

I heard the door shut, knowing that she left. I grabbed my tail and pulled it around me and held it where my stitches were. My breathing started to shake, and my palms started to sweat.

Amy: Nervous?

Me: I don't want to kill myself again like last time.

Amy: Do What?

Me: I forgot to tell you that I have the Phantom Ruby inside of me because it's my replacement heart.

Amy: Well, you DID say that it was your source of life.

Me: Please be good to me, Phantom Ruby.

I took the tip of my tail and cut the strings that held my stitches together, and my chest opened slightly, but just enough to show the prototype. The source of my power. Some blood made it's way out of me, but it wasn't enough to drain my life.

Me: Amy? Could you get a glove on and pull it out of me?

Amy: But of course.

She walked over to the kitchen counter and opened a drawer and came back with a box of those rubber gloves that doctors wear when they do surgery. I dropped my tail to my side and threw on a pair of gloves. Amy did the same.

Me: Please be gentle.

Amy: Yeah. Now, I need you to open your chest just wide enough so I can see if it's connected to your circulatory system.

I took a deep breath and pulled my chest open just enough for her to see inside. She reached her hand in and grabbed my Phantom Ruby, which I flinched at.

Amy: It's not connected, which is weird. You can feel that, but it's not connected to anything.

Me: Well, like I said, it's my life support. Now, get that thing out of my damn chest.

She did just that, and I howled in pain. But, to my amazement, I was alive! I was still up and running. I shook my head and looked over at her, letting go of my chest.

Me: Fucking shit hurt. But I'm still here.

Amy: Yeah. I guess you are. Now, you were the one to activate it, so recreate your heart.

She set the Ruby in my palm, and I concentrated on recreating my heart. I felt a small thump in my chest, and Amy looked at me with the biggest sight of excitement in her eyes.

Amy: It worked. You have a heart again.

Me: I feel so different now. I don't have any bloodlust anymore. I feel... I feel like my old self again.

I used the power of my Phantom Ruby and sealed my chest shut. I pushed myself off the table and walked over to the fireplace, where the charred bones and teeth were. I scooped them up and carried them back to the table, laid the femurs with the ones that matched up almost identical in length on the opposite sides of the table and set the teeth in the direct middle of them.

Me: Get Cream in here, Amy. I want to see if this'll work or not.

She turned on her heel and walked over to her front door while I focused on using the power of the Phantom Ruby to reconstruct the two heroes from fragments and ashes. Every single bit of ash returned and rested on their respective piles, and the teeth sorted themselves out to their piles.

I concentrated harder than before, and the ashes shaped themselves into the two-tailed fox and the blue hedgehog. A bolt of electrical energy shot out of the Phantom Ruby, and before you could say "I love my momma," there they were, laying still as a stone on the table. I fell back into the chair and took a few deep breaths.

Me: Man... that took... a while...

Amy: I see that you kept your promise.

I looked over at her. She leaned her back against the doorframe, her arms crossed. Cream hopped into the air and flew over to the table with her large ears. She stood right next to Tails and caressed his cheek.

Cream: I miss you, my fox boy.

Like the flick of a light switch, he quickly shot up and clutched his head in pain. Sonic did the same right after, except he shouted a German phrase that roughly translated to "Son of a fucking bitch."

Tails: OW OW OW OW!!! SHIT!!! MT HEAD!!!

Sonic: SHUT THE HELL UP, TAILS!!! MINE HURTS WORSE!!!

Me: Both of you can shut your fucking traps.

Tails: FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!!! YOU DID THIS TO US!!!

Me: Brought you back, or killed you?

Tails: BOTH!!! AGH!!! It hurts so much.

I could see the tears in his eyes from the amount of pain he was feeling. He hopped onto the floor and hugged Cream as tight as he could and buried his head in her neck, still crying.

Me: I think I'm better. I don't feel the need to kill anyone now. It left me. But... I gotta do something else. Anyone know where Emma Walker the Jackal is buried?

Sonic: Y-Yeah. The cemetery on the outskirts of town. Why ask?

Me: Can someone take me there? I need to do something there.

Amy: I'll take you. It's not far.

The Crystal Of DarknessWhere stories live. Discover now