The following is a work of fan fiction by Joshua D. Tarwater and is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.*
*SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS retains full rights over the Sonic the Hedgehog™ intellectual property and can terminate or take control of this work at any time.

~EPISODE OF AMESIA ISLAND II 03~

         ★~Destiny? Fate?

          ~Rosy talks of these things all the time. Where we are meant to go and when the gods make puppets of us. I don’t want to believe in such foolishness. I want to make my own and choose my own path. I want to free her of the shackles of fate…

          ~Yet… Yet when the Darkness that is my arm consumes her, I recognize how little control I have. If I reach out to hold her it takes her from me. But if I don’t reach out for her, she chases after Sonic.

          ~Why…?

          ~…

          ~Does my heart ache so because I desire to break the shackles of destiny and free her only to shackle her, or is it because I know the shackles I would bind her in would keep her from me as well?

         ~…yet when I look on her my heart is at peace, full of joy with her every smile. Smiles that steal from me my desire to be free…~

Great golden cog wheel turning
Sky Ring disappearing behind storm cloud
Bolt of lightning
Crack of thunder
Curtains of rain let loose from the heavens
Quaint kitchen built around wooden island
Antique radio sitting silent
A place of quiet and darkness
Deep red light and sparking lightning

         “I don’t know what you’re upset about, Tempest,” Mote began as she flew into the kitchen of Nana’s abode from the bedroom hall staircase and saw the red light cast by the crystals of Tempest’s body, “But I can’t find Rosy! In a storm like this she could–!? Oh dear…!”

         Loud as the fairy was, and distracted by the importance of her own words, even she was quieted by the scene in the kitchen. The conjoining door from which Mote exited that held the stairs to the top of the hill Nana’s house was built into was where Tempest sat. He was hunched over and was tightly clutching his right shoulder. From it the liquid Darkness that flowed and made up his right arm took on a form vastly larger than its normally large size. It was easily larger than the black hedgehog himself and even the white crystals growing from it giving form to his fingertips were far larger than normal as they cast a red light. So large was his arm it was amazing he managed to have it laid out on the ground ahead of him, palm up and fingers twitching.

         “What–?”

         “The droplets that fall from my arm…,” Tempest cut off Mote’s question with the answer to it. “I thought they were harmless since they dissipate before even reaching the ground… but one touched Rosy and it was acting no different from if I touched her directly.

         “…No,” Tempest moved to correct himself as he clenched his right fist and his forearm swelled as though reflecting muscles that could not be seen for the Darkness. “It was making her helpless and easy prey for this thing. This thing that’s causing her nightmares and making her fear losing herself again.

         “Is it hurting her Mote?" Tempest asked and turned red glowing eyes onto the fairy. “Am I hurting her? I just want to keep her safe and hold her close. Fill her life with the things she wants… …but instead I’m a prison who’s even stealing who she is from her!”

         “We don’t know that–“

         “But we don’t know better either!” Tempest again cut the fairy off.

         “I suppose not,” Mote conceded with a sigh. “Then why leave her trapped in there rather than seek the old hen’s help. You hardly seem to be testing the destructive potential it possesses while it holds her.”

         “That’s another thing I don’t understand,” Tempest sighed, his body growing limp as he hung his head. “I tried to convince myself that she’s safe in there at first. That this thing growing in size and power was like a form of teamwork and that she was fighting by my side while trapped in it. But…”

         “Hearing that she is having nightmares has changed your mind?”

         “How couldn’t they?” Tempest turned Mote’s question back on her as he moved to explain the Remnant to Mote. The girl he saw whenever he closed his eyes, and the girl Rosy remembered being all that was left of whomever she was before waking on Amnesia Island.

         “Then she told you,” Mote sought further clarification.

         “She told me it was different though, that she can feel my warmth in there. …yet…”

         “If she can feel anything in such Darkness, then I’m sure she is fine, well bar how long any person can survive in such complete isolation.

         “Though I suppose in her case her Ring Bond with Sonic would help her overcome–“

         “Can I make such a bond with her?” Tempest pressed a question into Mote’s spoken thoughts. “Can I, and would it help her control my arm so this doesn’t happen?”

         “It’s possible,” Mote admitted with a hesitant and wary pause. “But a Ring Bond is not necessarily so convenient.”

         “But–“

         “A Ring Bond between people or even objects,” Mote went to stifle Tempest’s growing hope, “is a sharing of memories and transformation through the Memories of the Rings. The Rings would need to remember your own ability to control your arm in her, and neither do you yet have such control, nor do we know what it is and how such a Ring Bond could affect my vassal. It is far too risky to even try.”

         “But if I could master it,” Tempest contemplated as he lifted his right arm and raised his hand to his face. “Then she could protect herself even when I’m distracted.

         “Oh!”

         At his own mention of distraction, Tempest came to realize that his arm had returned to its relatively normal size and that the light given off by his crystals was again blue. Lowering his hand to see where Rosy should have been left on the floor he paled, his mouth falling slightly as his eyes widened and the light cast from his crystals turned purple.

         As the shrinking of Tempest’s arm suggested, Rosy was indeed left laying on the floor. But the end of her spines and feet were still coated in Darkness, a golden Ring like glow marking where it met her body. The Darkness shifted like liquid for a moment and various holes formed in it from which the same golden light escaped. At least until Rosy blinked her eyes and it all seemed to vanish leaving the pink hedgehog girl as she always was. clad in her white leotard and red ballet flats.

         “Oh! I’m out! Yay!”

         From her moment of blinking to jumping up in the air joyously, Rosy’s actions seemed to happen over the course of an instant with no time in between. As she landed, she clasped her hands behind her back and swayed her body about as her tail wagged and she scanned the closed curtain darkness of the kitchen. As she spotted no sign of Nana, the wagging of her tail intensified and she skipped up to and nto Tempests face, beaming.

         “What are you looking so terrified about,” Rosy asked with a laugh before playfully shoving Tempest over backwards. She intentionally pushed against the large crystal spike growing from his chest so as not to show any favoritism to either of his arms. “You actually got me out on your own! You should be happy!

         “Though,” Rosy shifted more upright and partially folded her arms, tapping her index finger against her cheek, “no more practice for today, tee-hee~♥ I’d rather go for a run and see what’s changed since the Ring Shift then get stuck taking another nap.”

         Looking down at the dumbstruck look on Tempest’s face, Rosy’s tail slowed in it’s wagging. Throwing her hands out behind her, she leaned down to look at the black hedgehog. “Are you alright Tempest? What’s wrong?”

         Tempest started to open his mouth, likely to stutter an answer that would not have been much of an answer but stopped as he saw Mote above and behind Rosy shaking her teardrop shaped form to advise against it. Rosy did not notice and switched into high gear simply tossing Tempest up the stairs as she lifted them to reveal the path to the flooded basement.

         “Gah~?!”

         “Maybe you’re just worn out from figuring out how to get me back out on your own,” Rosy illogically leapt to a conclusion of her own. “I mean it’s raining now, and it was sunny when your arm got me, so~ you just go get some rest and I’ll figure out what we need and plan out tomorrow’s adventure!

         “Have a good night, Tempest!”

         “I… I haven’t even had dinner yet…,” Tempest trailed off overwhelmed by Rosy’s good cheer. Especially as Mote flew around the lifted stair shaped trapdoor to join him.