Giant Sonic and the Hedgedragon2 Ch8

Chapter 8
The Hedgedragon's Past

"Sounds like something my people would take forever to explain just so they can wriggle their way out of having to explain it." Ember laughed.

"Ember, what were your people like? Did you guys have leaders or cheifs? What were the rules? Did you enjoy being with your friends? Did you have schools?" Tails asked.

Ember stopped laughing instantly. Tails thought she was going to answer. The others now looked at her, waiting for a response. Ember suddenly burst into tears. She was crying harder than they had ever seen her cry before.

"Ember, you okay?" Sonic asked, startled by the sudden change.

Ember couldn't respond, she was crying too hard. She put her head in her hands and curled up. They all tried to comfort her. "Was it something I said?" Sonic and Tails asked simultaneously.

Ember's scales and spines laid themselves down flat and hardened. She was now sheltered by armor. However, Silver wasn't about to let her break apart on the inside. He used his psychic abilities to uncurl her. Her scales and spines let go of their metalic casing and she had a river flowing from her eyes.

The others tried to reach out to her but she growled at them. Her scales turned back into solid metal, only, this time, they were steel. A helmet of steel was created by the scales surrounding her eyes becoming steel then spreading down her face. Her tail was now protected by steel and steel spikes. Her claws and talons elongated, her arms and legs now protected by the steel that was protecting her head. Her violet eyes turned a war-torn red color. Her fangs became even sharper. Her wings were now protected by same steel protecting her head. Her ears became longer and protected by the steel on her head. The rest of her body was protected by the same steel on her tail. She let out a roar filled with rage, hate, pain, and sorrow.

Sonic tried to grab her but she burnt him the instant she saw him move. Her red eyes scanned everything and everyone. Her injured wing flapped like new. She launched up towards the sky like an arrow. She pulled her arms back and let out a violent roar. She shot her arms out and hissed in an angered way.

Moon saw what she was about to do. She responded quickly and grabbed Ember. The attacks she used were useless. (That goes for Ember attacking Moon and vice versa.) Moon knew what was happening. Ember remembered what happened all too well. Ember couldn't stop this.

All the pain, all the hurt, all the hate she had kept in after the attack happened was coming out. Ember was in agony. She couldn't prevent the rage inside her from unleashing its wrath. Moon started hushing her like a mother would. She held Ember's muzzle against her chest and began to calmly stroke Ember's face.

All at once, it was over. Ember began to calm down. Eventually, Ember was back to normal. She was sobbing into Moon's chest. She cried and cried for five hours straight. She finally stopped crying and looked up at Moon. The look in her eyes was the same look she had in her eyes when the attack happened. An ashamed, hurting look in the eyes of a baby.

Ember looked away and went into the cave on the island. She went into a secret tunnel in the cave. On the other side were the remains of her home. A tiny village, nestled within a labyrinth of twists and turns. She remembered what the village looked like before the attack. She closed her eyes and walked toward where her home was. She reached the front door of her house in her memory. She opened her eyes and saw a destroyed, lifeless, dark, lonely peice of her childhood. She fell to her knees and wept.

"What just happened?" Tails asked Moon.

"Ssshe went down her memory lane. Her dark and depresssssing childhood. I've sssseen her do thisssss before. Ssssshe needssss to forget it but sssshe sssstill holdssss on to it. I thought ssssshe forgot. Did ssssomeone bring it up?" Moon hissed fearfully.

"I asked her about her people." Tails admitted.

"Sssso you know why sssshe doessssn't like to talk about it?" Moon asked, the words 'her people' made her think Tails knew about it.

"No. Why?" Tails asked.

"Sssshe was the next leader. At that time, sssshe wasss too young. In dragon yearssss sssshe wasss sssstill an infant but in hedgehog yearssss sssshe wassss almosssst three. That'ssss when I wassss told to ssssend her assss far away assss posssssible. Ssssstrangersssss, intruderssss, and odd thingsssss were beginning to kill off her people. Her parentsssss had me take her away. I wassss going but I turned to ssssay good-bye when her parentssss were ssssslain." Moon explained. Tails stood there in shock.

"I-I never knew… She was so important… I knew she was important… just not that important… Why didn't she ever tell me?" Sonic murmured.

"Sssshe never liked sssspecccccial treatment." Moon answered.

"What is she doing? Why didn't she stay out here?" Tails asked.

"Sssshe'sssss probably back at home." Moon replied.

"She didn't go in that direction." Tails pointed out.

"Not your home, her home. Ssssshe'ssss probably in there vissssiting the village. Sssssometimesssss, ssssshe'd come by late at night, and sssshe'd watch the cccceiling light up like a thoussssand ssssstarsssss. Ssssshe alwayssssss ssssssstopped by my pond to talk to me. My kind are conssssssidered assss one of them. We live in harmony. I taught her how to find inner peacccce in watching the water. Ssssshe isssss now the true leader of her people. Ssssshe holdssss the main flame. The main flame issss the rainbow colored fire that can be usssssed to make dragon hybridssss." Moon explained.

"Oh." Tails mumbled.

"Wait, if she has the weird, hybrid dragon making flame, how can she make dragons? She's never done it before." Sonic added.

"The flame can be inserted into any life form with a certain dragon tail tip. The tip looks like a cone." Shadow explained. "Yeah, I studied dragons for an hour last night and I learned a lot."

"Sssshadow issss correct." Moon concurred.

Tails went after Ember while they were all talking. He slipped away from them but Silver was following him. Tails sat down on the cave floor and thought about Ember. A trail of blue light led him in the direction of the dragon village.

Silver followed Tails and, after a few minutes, ran up to Tails. He caught up with him and looked Tails straight in the eyes. "S-Silver!!? What are you doing in here??!" Tails asked.

"I'm worried about her, too. What happened to her must really have ruined her whole life. I want to tell her something I think she may have overlooked though." Silver answered.

"Okay." Tails approved.

The two of them found Ember lying down on a heap of destoyed rubble. She was on her knees, crying out softly, "Why, why, why, why did it happen?"

"There you are!" Tails cheered. He ran up to Ember and hugged her. Silver did the same only he hugged her around the neck. She hugged them, too.

"Why are the two of you here?" Ember asked quietly.

"We were worried about you." they replied in unison.

"Y-y-you were… worried?!" Ember asked, startled by the strange feeling.

"Yeah. It's not hard to worry about a friend." they said in perfect unison yet again.

"Do you two always talk at the same time or is this just one of those moments?" Ember giggled.

The three of them laughed before Shadow and Silhouette appeared in the village. Shadow and Silhouette entered the village and they all heard the sounds of dragons enjoying just an ordinary day. Then they heard weapons going off and cannons firing. They heard the dying cries of the dragons. They heard water splash and Moon's voice. They heard a sudden cry of pain come from a dragon near where Moon's voice came from. Finally, everything got quiet as Ember began losing her mind.

"MOM!!!!!!!!!!! DAD!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!! I'VE GOTTA HELP!!!!!!!!!!! YOU CAN'T JUST SEND ME AWAY!!!!!!!!! I KNOW I CAN HELP FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Mom, Dad, the village, I COULD'VE AT LEAST GONE DOWN WITH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SHOULD'VE GONE DOWN WITH IT!!!!!!!!!! I'M NOT A LEADER!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M A PATHETIC COWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M USELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SO WEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ember screamed.

"Ember… don't think that. Back then, you weren't old enough to even stand a chance." Tails and Silver reminded her.

They all got her out before she completely lost it. "That was creepier than the demonic worms." Silhouette, Shadow, and Tails murmured when they left the cave.

"What?" Sonic asked them.

"Don't ask. I don't even understand it completely. But… we heard her past…" Tails answered.

"Wha?!" Sonic and Knuckles asked.

"I can't really explain it to you. " Shadow said, holding Ember a little tighter.

"I-I feel so weak. I should've done something." Ember muttered.