An Infinite Christmas Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Moment of Truth

"Urgh, I'm BOOOOOOOOOOOORED. How long have we been doing this?!"

"About...10 days, ya?"

"...Oh! So, what're we up to? 10 seconds response time?"

"That's the PAYCHECK version of the song, Tricky. I can't even remember what's on this day...it feels so long since I last sang that song. Uh, 1943, I think."

"...Wow you're old. How'd you get this far looking like that?"

"Time Travel, genetic mutation, cryostasis...whatever the heck you wanna deem as canon."

"...You sound like you've forgotten."

"More like I haven't figured it out myself yet. Clio, Hex, how's the 'treatment' coming along?"

"Just about done, X. Please don't rush me on this! Reconfiguring a minion to have their original personality is actually kind of hard! It's like programming on a computer, only here the computer has just been reset to its default settings."

"Just one more hypothetical crossed wire and...BINGO! I think she's ready. Just gotta run some checks. Okay...who are you?"

"I am...Infinite, reborn."

"Good. what is your purpose?"

"I will...serve the Eggman Empire and atone for my past mistakes."

"Aaaaand how will you do that?"

"I aim...to finish off Sonic the Hedgehog, and Markus Pederson AKA The Traveller, once and for all."

"Yeeees...goooood...she's ready."

"I kind of wish you couldn't do that sometimes. It creeps me the hell out. But whatever. Let's go make some noise..."

===
Present Day
===

Sonic's face, an expression softly melting into a sense of shock, really said it all. Once again, sort of, at Christmas, the city was under attack by people who could warp reality. A year and a world ago, it was War Master and his own brainwashed cronies. Now it was a new universe, no people to fight, and yet that constant remained. It was the Egg Force Five, alright, all of whom Sonic knew quite well. There was XLR, genetic super soldier and Sonic's long-presumed-dead grandfather, a white-furred hedgehog in casual wear covered by an exoskeleton, covered further by a black cloak that obscured all but his muzzle with the hood. There was Judgement, the Cerberus from beyond reality itself that lived to judge the masses, a black dog-like creature clad in a blue suit and leather armour.

Then there was Hexorcist, a skunk who wielded the power of magic AND the maturity of a seven-year-old, clad in gothic clothing. Trickster was next, a man who lived for the laughs and was Eggman's right-hand man, a jester suit styled in like a business way complete with waistcoat, alongside a headdress that obscured his face and covered him in those bell-clad coils found on jester hats. The final of the main five was Clio, supposedly a long descendant of Queen Cleopatra and totally power-hungry from it, dressed in a stunning gold dress and all sorts of jewel-encrusted royal accessories.

But there was one more, one Sonic was only vague in remembrance of. It was...a jackal.  One Sonic had mocked only months before, with the same black fur and long white locks of hair jutting out of her head. Only now she was female, for reasons unknown, with extra bandages wrapped around her torso and her shoes with the infinity symbol on the soles being transformed into boots. She lacked the mask her old male form was known for, showing off her scarred eye that once had been a different colour to the other, but now both were a deep gold. She had taken off while Sonic approached and now she hovered above the five, eyes into a scowl and a faint whisper of a growl passing her lips. She looked...deranged, even more now than before.

"Infinite?" Sonic asked, "What're you doing here? Didn't Eggman dispose of you?"

"I was..." Infinite growled, her voice near robotic and toneless, "Disposed of by the man of egg. But I...was salvaged by his accomplishes and restored to beyond even my old form. I am...reborn."

"Seriously?" ARES asked, "We kicked your ass back in Null Space, AFTER Eggman did away with you!"

"...Come again?" Tails asked.

"Warmonger, a paradox version of Markus..." Azima growled, "He tried to use the residue from the Phantom Ruby in Infinite to power another copy, try to bring himself back into reality...it did not work. He fused with the Void Gem and almost destroyed everything...but we put a stop to them both. We have not seen either since."

"Well, no!" XLR growled, "You freaks cracked the Void Gem, sending Warmonger into the Void again. It's like he never existed."

"WE WILL FORMULATE A PLAN TO RETRIEVE HIM, IN TIME..." Judgement growled.

"Buuuuut for the interim," Trickster giggled, "We found ANOTHER use for both Inny AND the remains of the Void Gem!"

"No illusions here!" Hexorcist chimed in, "Now she can REALLY put the hurt on you!"

"And best of all..." Clio boasted in a sultry manner, "She is under OUR control."

"Brainwashed?" Sonic asked, "Huh, I kind of thought he already was."

"It matters...not," Infinite struggled, "It is time for you to die, once and for all!" This was something she accentuated with a quick sound of reality tearing and she was suddenly gone. She had warped somewhere...but Sonic didn't know where. Behind him, maybe? As he studied the area behind him, the warp sound happened again. Sonic wasn't going to get tricked by this again, and he spun around faster than a speeding bullet, sending a powerful kick into...nothing.

As he stood, dumbfounded, a powerful force kicked his back and sent him flying with a grunt of pain. He skidded across the square, only seeing Infinite for a brief second - clearly, she had warped in FRONT of him instead - before she warped away again. There was another sound as Infinite warped in front of Sonic again sent another powerful kick straight to his face, sending him barreling in the other direction before hitting a rock and flying into the air. There, Infinite warped again and conjured up two balls of energy, roundhouse kicking Sonic to the ground and sending both balls towards him. There was a fair-sized explosion that shook the square, showing Sonic knocked out on the ground after the smoke had cleared. Tails gasped, Knuckles looked shocked and Traveller turned back to Infinite with a snarl as she warped back to the five and landed softly by them.

"Well now..." XLR chuckled, clapping his hands slowly, "I think that was a pretty good test run of Inny's new powers. Maybe no illusions, but eh, who needs them when you can warp in nanoseconds and hit like a truck?"

"What's the point of this?" Traveller demanded, "Why're you even doing this?"

"Well, we're villains," Hexorcist shrugged, "This is what we do."

"And we LOOOOOVE doing it!" Trickster guffawed.

"But, mostly...it is to prove a point," Clio huffed royally, "You see, where were we when Eggman took over the world, hmm?"

"You weren't anywhere," Tails pointed out, "Silver told you were all illusions from Infinite."

"Illusions..." XLR growled like the mere word left a bad taste in his mouth, "He thought he'd be better off with just Infinite. Wouldn't need to pay us anything, didn't need to feed us, thought we wouldn't be able to overthrow him this way!"

"HE DEEMED US...WEAK. WE WILL PROVE HIM OTHERWISE."

"Think you could have done this another time?" Surgeon asked, "Like, I dunno, in May? No-one cares about what happens in May!"

"Afraid not," XLR bared his fangs AND his blades, "We're gonna do when Eggman and that WEAK specimen couldn't. Clio? Keep yourself behind cover, make sure the brainwashing stays active. Everyone else? OPEN FIRE!!!"

XLR snapped his fingers and a number of the six began firing off projectiles with wild abandon. XLR fired a pistol, Hex and Infinite threw blasts of energy, Judgement took a mighty swing with demonic hatchet and Trickster with a gaudy yellow shotgun revolver. The team yelled in shock and dodged behind the nearby building, panting and attempting to get the shock out of their system. Surgeon had grabbed Sonic's unconscious body and had managed to drag him behind cover as well.

"Would it be fair to say, this didn't go the way we thought it would?" Surgeon tried to joke.

"Th-this isn't how it was supposed to go!" Traveller panicked, tears in his eyes from the stress of it all, "I-I just wanted to enjoy this Christmas thing!"

"Keep calm, Markus..." Azima soothed, "We will fight these people off, and we will continue as if nothing happened."

"...The square is on fire."

"NOT NOW, ARES!" Azima bellowed, "Okay, we are going to have to fight these people off. I will fight that soldier with the cloak. It seems we have similar weapons, so it should be a fair fight. You?"

"I'll take Hexorcist," Tails said, "I've got tech that can handle her magic."

"I've got Judgement," Knuckles nodded, "Trust me, you guys wouldn't be able to dent him."

"Then I've got Infinite," Traveller growled, "Ares and I have a little-unfinished business to attend to." He turned to the Surgeon, "Surgeon, you gonna go for Trickster?"

Surgeon stared at the three, his face a bit blank and then a little afraid, "No offence, but...no! You ever see what happens to Time Lords during Christmas specials? I'll get Sonic to safety and try to get him on his feet again."

"Damn it...well," Knuckles growled, "I'll try to get Trickster too. The guy gets on my nerves. Alright, let's do this!"

With a cry of "CHAAAAAAAARGE!", the four bolted from the cover and sprinted towards the enemies, heads held high and projectiles dodged with varying amounts of grace. Both Traveller and Azima were blocking bullet shots with their swords, while Tails dodged bullets and Knuckles straight up PUNCHED projectiles out of the way, with a left hook sending Judgement's boomerang hatchet spiralling off into the distance. Traveller pulled out his handgun once more, firing on the group with aim towards their weapons. Indeed, he was successful at blasting the pistol of out XLR's hands, allowing Azima to reach out plant a haymaker on his face. Knuckles shoulder-checked Judgement, doing little bit pushing him back a few inches. Judgement himself tanked the hit with a growl and reached up to elbow Knuckles' back while he was still hunched over, before grabbing his shoulders and throwing him to the side. Tails dug out an arm cannon of sorts and fired towards Hexorcist, who counted with a magic blast of her own, slamming into the electric shot and cancelling it out. Tails dodged the sparks and instead fired a chain out of her arm cannon, grabbing Hex's leg and throwing her onto her back. Soon everyone managed to catch up with their targets and the REAL fight began.

XLR recovered from his punch and swung wildly at Azima, blade unsheathed and just grazing Azima's cheek. She yelped and jumped back, wiping the smattering of blood from the wound, then dug out her OWN dual daggers and rushed forward. Both displayed abilities beyond the normal, with XLR favouring strong and coordinated strikes, while Azima tried to be fast and graceful. She was the first to attack, swinging her blades and managing only to catch them on his, something she followed up with a quick spin to put her around him and kneeing him in the back. XLR grunted as he was forced to his knees, but managed to spin around and block another of Azima's strikes with his off-hand before managing to get to his feet and stab forward with the second blade. Azima dodged this one just about, managing to push him away and going back in for the kill. She swung at him violently, swinging one blade left and another downwards before swinging right and up, strikes XLR blocked and took in equal measure. Finally, they managed to lock blades completely and continued to fight on.

Knuckles and Judgement was a little bit more one-sided, with Judgement being strong even by Knuckles' standards. The hulking brute took a few of Knuckles' strong haymakers with almost no reaction, before dodging to the side just enough for Knuckles to overpunch and lose his balance. There, Judgement grabbed the echidna's throat and tried to strangle him violently, but Knuckles responded by reaching for the old and heavy flashlight stuffed into his armour and clocking him across the face with it. Judgement let go of Knuckles, stumbling around as Knuckles caught his breath. He roared and grabbed another hatchet, storming forward and swinging towards Knuckles' general direction, thankfully missing him entirely and allowing Knuckles to grab the hatchet and slam it into his back. Judgement was hardy (and a demon), so this barely hurt him, though it was enough to get him to his feet for another punch in the face by Knuckles.

Finally, there was Tails and Hexorcist, who sadly had ended up fighting Trickster as well. In and out of the fight, Trickster would thrust forward with his crowbar, giggling maniacally, while Tails was forced to block them with her arm cannon and allowing Hex to fire off a few bolts of supposed "magic" - nothing heavy duty could be used, as Hex did not wish to get caught in the splash damage, so she was down to firing weaker spells at Tails. The bolts hurt, yes, but they didn't cause any real damage, allowing Tails to overpower them and smash her with the arm cannon and send her reeling so she could focus on Trickster instead. The man leapt forward and squirted the flower on his lapel, splashing Tails with some sort of liquid that stung her eyes and caused her to reel as well. Trickster tried to follow this up with another crowbar swing, but Tails quickly swung her own tails to knock the crowbar out of his hands, before firing a massive electricity blast to keep him at bay. Hex was back on her feet and retreated to safer distances, firing much stronger spells towards Tails now; the green bolts were now red blasts that sent rubble spiralling into the air upon impact, forcing Tails to run and dodge both the blasts and the rubble. She closed the gap between them quickly, smacking her wand away with her arm cannon. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Trickster screaming towards them, crowbar in hand, but at the last second, she dodged, causing Trickster to miss and keep going. There was a satisfying *CLANG* as Hex was smashed in the face full-on, knocking her out cold.

And in the middle of all of this, was Traveller and Infinite. Traveller had already tried to swing towards Infinite with all of his strength, but he couldn't catch her. She would warp around way too fast and miss, allowing her to quickly kick him in the chest and warp away before he can hit them. They stopped, both looking for more breath, and Infinite decided it was time to mock all involved.

"Well, here..." Infinite grumbled, "We are again. Last time... you left me to my fate and then finished me off. With your...harelot of a girlfriend."

"Inny..." Traveller sighed, "I could have helped you. Anyone could have. We could have trained you, made you...well. L-Look, I'm sorry for what Warmonger did to you. It was wrong for him to kick you to the dirt and treat you like a living battery for his own ends. But that doesn't excuse what you've done. Snap out of it, fight this brainwashing! I can still help you!"

"You will...not help me," Infinite growled, "No-one can. I serve...the Eggman Empire once more, now and forever!"

"THEN WE'LL JUST GO THROUGH YOU!" ARES shrieked, "KILL THIS BEAST, TRAVELLER!"

Infinite's cold face twisted into a sort of smile as she reached behind her back and procured a red blade from out of nowhere. She growled and rushed forward, leaving Traveller to hoist ARES into the sky and counter the blow by blocking the strike and attempting to grab his pistol and fire off a single shot in her general direction. Infinite swatted the bullet away with her armoured glove, then broke from the blade lock and slashed at Traveller's hand. He yelled in pain, grabbing it with his sword hand while the gun went flying into the background. He growled and thrust his hand forwards, sending flames shooting out his hand and towards Infinite, who managed to dodge most of the flames. Singed a little bit, Infinite growled and sent another blast of energy towards Traveller, who blocked the attack with a swing of his sword and then used ARES to throw himself towards infinite and send her flying with a powerful downwards kick. The two stopped again, pausing for breath, staring at each other.

"How..." Infinite sighed, "How can...you keep up? My powers...are INFINITE!"

"Please, you're weak!" ARES boasted, "Don't even have your energies anymore."

"I faintly...remember you," Infinite hummed, "Did I...kill you?"

"You flattened my batteries in an instant!" ARES yelled, "Put me offline when I was needed most. Good thing I managed to revive myself, from YOU of all people!"

Traveller paused for a second, as his mind had flashed back to earlier that day already. A conversation bolted onto the end of another, an explanation of sequence, an idea that formed only before;

---===---
"...Oh yes, and Tails?"

"Yes, Ares?"

"5 gigahertz, crushed remains of a Phantom Ruby, Dawn Bennet, maybe, yes, GUN, to fight back against evil aliens and it's Vanilla Pudding."

"ohmygoooooosh"
---===---

...Of course. Of COURSE! The remains of the Phantom Ruby! It was all coming back to him now. Warmonger, controlling Infinite, had been attacking them with energies of the Void Gem and attempted an all-out attack that would not only severely injure him but send him to the Null Void if he survived. ARES had used up all of her battery life protecting him from the attack, and once awakening Traveller could only watch as her lights went out. He had to fight Infinite and extract the energies from him once he had fused both the Void Gem and the Phantom Ruby together and managed to use the energies of the Ruby to restore ARES and put an end to Infinite once and for all...supposedly. Now the lightbulbs went off like firecrackers in his head, and a small smile spread across his face.

"...That's it!" Traveller cried out, "Oh yeah, we've got this one now!"

"Phantom Ruby?" Infinite asked, "MY Phantom...Ruby?"

"Duh..." ARES snarked, "What, did you not read Chapter 2? I mean I can't blame you if you didn't, but..."

"IT MATTERS...not," Infinite snarled, her yelling interrupted by her own strained voice, "I will...finish you off all the same. I am...not an illusion this time! I am...NOT WEAK."

"Well look at that..." Traveller grinned near-psychotically, "I finally got you to say it. Not that it matters now..." He arched low, the electric marks on his blade changing from blue to red...and glowing, "I've got a few illusions of my own!"

Traveller yelled triumphantly, raising his sword high and slamming it into the ground, causing red sparks and an all-too-familiar grinding noise to fill the area. There was a blast of energy and Infinite was thrown from the area, landing with a crash into the fountain. She fumbled and yelled and managed to fight her way out of it, getting to her feet and looking around. The Traveller, Azima, Knuckles Tails, they were gone. They were all gone. She was alone in the plaza now, all by herself. There was a strange sort of cackle, ringing out amongst the fog that was slowly beginning to roll in, and Infinite looked around in defiance. This was not the Trickster's laugh, but it was not supposed to be. This wasn't real, and Infinite knew it, but she still felt disorientated from the impact. She caught faint shadows in the corner of her eye, running behind her, to the side of her...everywhere.

"No..." Infinite growled, "Keep it...together. They are...not real. None of...this is! THEY ARE-"

"Oh, I'm real alright..." came a voice in the fog. It was dark, echoy, like Traveller's but...warped. A shadow slowly approached from behind, she could feel it, so Infinite swung around to throw a punch at the creature. A fingerless-gloved hand caught the punch, locking it and Infinite herself in place, and she could see the creature in full; it was Traveller, or at least it looked like him a little. His fur was the same colour, his colour scheme was the same, but now he wore a blue jacket and black trousers, with a big red scarf wrapped thoroughly around his face and chest. His eyes pierced Infinite as she could only gasp in response, "I am the fear of who I am now. I am the one from before him, before The Event. I am all that he never wants to be again. Violent, psychotic, moronic, and scattered. I am his fears of being the anti-hero where he wants to be the hero. I am...the old Traveller."

"You don't...exist!" Infinite yelled, throwing another punch, "YOU CAN'T...EXIST!"

Old Traveller caught the second punch too, twisting Infinite's arms to get a small scream out of her, "I can exist here. This is not a warping of reality. I am just an illusion of who could best you. Everyone has that dark side of them. Here? I AM that dark side..."

Suddenly, Old Traveller threw both fists down and landed a punch on Infinite's left cheek, throwing her to the side but managing to remain standing. She composed herself and looked around. The scarf-wearing creature was gone, but now many clones of him were running towards her. Panicked, Infinite took multiple swings at a good number of them, but each and every one either dodged the hit or vanished into the ether with each punch. They too were throwing punches, hitting her multiple times and spinning her around with each successful hit. Now she near-totally disorientated, her vision a blur as multiple forms of this freak got more and more hits on her. Even now, she could feel her muscles painfully contort in ways that produced bruising in the real world, the sheer idea of it, knowing, in reality, she was just spinning around in circles as her body began to damage itself. A massive pang of fear washed over her at the mere thought of it; was this what they all felt? Was this what happened to the victims of her illusions. It was...a nightmare!

Finally, she cried out in agony and tried to spin around, claws outstretched, which did at least knock away all those who were attacking her. She jumped back onto the fountain and clambered to the top of it in a vain attempt to fight off of the rest of them. It did not work, however; one of the clones simply grabbed her by the sides and swiftly yanked her back to the ground. Another appeared, and the two grabbed her arms, rendering her unable to move. She struggled, but she could not get free, and she watched as the other clones formed two sides to either side of her like patrons at a parade or carnival, shouting and whooping for another clone at the very end of the gap in the middle. Hands balled into fists, he slowly reared up and sprinted towards Infinite's immobile body with speed. He jumped high into the air, aimed a punch at Infinite's face...and fell with a yell.

There was another satisfying *CLONG* noise as Traveller smashed the flat of his sword into Infinite's face, snapping all involved back to reality. The impact was more than enough to knock Infinite out cold, sending her crashing to the floor. The others had long stopped fighting, watching in awe as Infinite spun around in circles, gibbering and bruising somehow before Traveller had reared up and delivered the finishing blow. Azima herself asked, "...What was that?"

"Well...remember that I sort of maybe...powered up Ares again with the Phantom Ruby?"

"...Seriously?" Trickster asked, looking very annoyed, "You gonna pull THAT one outta your backside?"

"Kids these days..." XLR growled like an old man, "Can't just stick to ONE set of powers, no. They get new ones on the fly, 'cause they're so POWERFUL and POPULAR."

"Spare the rant, old-timer," ARES huffed, "We beat Inny. We won."

"You did not WIN," XLR growled again, "You beat two of the six. We're still here, and we're gonna make sure that we-OOOF!"

XLR could barely get out his threat before a blue flash quickly barreled into his legs, sending him flying into the air with a sudden crash back down to the earth. He tried to get up, groaning, before he gave up and fell. The other members of the force also looked around in panic, before another sudden woosh caught their attention. They looked up at the fountain, where the noise was coming from, looking upon their attacker. It was Sonic, conscious once more, sitting on top of the fountain, grinning.

"Well hey there. Guess who's back from dreamland, huh?"

And he was suddenly gone again. Only a flash of blue lightning could be seen racing around the plaza, smacking into the others and knocking them out, one by one. Trickster was the first to fall, having lost his crowbar with the first pass and then being beaned with it in the second. Judgement was next, even though it took no less than SEVEN hits to the head for him to even stumble. There was one last smack as Judgement recoiled fully from the hit and finally fell to the floor, groaning a little before finally going limp. Sonic skidded to a stop in front of the four, panting and wiping the sweat off of his brow, "Phew! And to think that I was out cold for most of that fight!"

"Hmm..." Azima grumbled, "You handled that a little TOO well."

"Well...we DID do most of the work..." ARES noted, "But still, we got 'em."

"Not so fast..." came Clio's voice, having exited from her cover and holding her sceptre in front of her, "I'm still here. And I still have control over that creature. I will not let her sleep until I-BLBLBBBLBLBL"

Clio babbled as a quick electric shock struck her in the neck, causing her to also drop like a sack of potatoes. Confused, the group looked up to see The Surgeon, holding his screwdriver device and having clearly snuck up behind her for the finishing bow. He looked at the group for a second, before speaking, "...What? I didn't have time to come up with a witty one-liner. There's only so many times you can go 'hey, can I excuse you for a brief second', you know..."

===
Some Time Later
===

It didn't take long for the No-Zone to come around and pick up the fallen. After what had happened after the LAST Christmas event following last year, Zonic made damn sure to get people over there as soon as Sonic had called them. They arrived in a team of four, picking up each of the main five and carting them off through portals. As the team stood around, watching an alternate of Silver wheelbarrow Judgement through one of the portals to the No-Zone prison, another one turned up to talk to them - an alternate form of Breezie, of all people. She, as with the others, wore the standard No-Zone red uniform, though one that had been updated slightly with the addition of armour clipped over the bodysuits they were supplied.

"So, tell me..." Zeezie said somewhat coldly, "How did this even happen?"

"We don't know all that much, officer," Sonic explained, "They just turned up and attacked us."

"Hmm..." Zeezie nodded, jotting that down into her purple space notepad, "Okay, good, good...I swear we really need to station people around here during Christmas so that this doesn't happen again...and again...and again."

"And again," ARES noted.

"They did say something about their Eggman betraying them, though," Surgeon noted, "Something about him abandoning them for Infinite and they wanted to get back at him."

"Yep, sounds about right," more note-taking happened, before Zeezie looked up them, "Well, they'll probably appreciate being thrown into the same cell as him, won't they? If they beat him up a few times and we put 'em in solitude a few times, that's no skin off my nose. What about her?"

"What, Infinite?" Traveller asked, "Well, I don't know. We don't know what to do with her. We don't even know what happened to her. I think me trying to use the power of the Phantom Ruby went a little...wrong."

"How so?" Zeezie asked, to which Traveller shrugged, "Okay. Would it be possible to wake her up?"

"Temporarily," Zilver replied, "A quick energy shot will keep her going for a bit, but her mind's too muddled to keep her conscious. May I suggest-"

"Do not. Just do it."

"...Okay..." Zilver sighed, reaching for a small syringe of vaguely-labeled 'energy' and slowly injecting it into a very specific spot, "Here we go..."

There was a small pause before Infinite finally awoke screaming, scrambling around to get herself to her feet but failing. A cold numbness seemed to flow through her, as she bolted this way and that to no avail. She looked at Traveller and wimpered, flailing to get away from him, "It's HIM! It's the one from my nightmares! G-Get away from me!"

"Please calm down, miss," Zeezie said quickly, "We just want some answers from you. Specifically-"

"No! NOOO!" Infinite continued to back away, but already she was losing conscious again, "It's him! The fear within me, the nightmare inside! I didn't know these illusions dished out so much pain I'M SORRY! I'm sorry! I'm sorry. I'm...sorry..."

And before anyone knew it, she had passed out once more. Zilver looked positively dumbfounded, "Strange. No-one has ever shrugged off a dose like that that quickly...what did you do, Mr Pederson?"

"I..." Traveller tugged at the collar of his sweater, "I don't know..."

"Well, that should wrap up MOST of the loose ends," Zeezie said, glaring at Traveller, "A little care and a little rest and a little questioning should get to the bottom of what on earth is wrong with her. Until then, you guys better enjoy the rest of your Christmas.  Hopefully, if we wrap THIS one up fast enough we should be able to get back in time for our own office parties. That should be fun. Anyway, take care now..."

And with that, the No-Zone was gone, walking in uniform through the last portal, leaving the group alone in a slightly repaired plaza. Sonic sighed, sitting down on one of the benches, "Man, this is right. I can't have a normal Christmas, can I?" His seemingly tired expression fell quickly and he chuckled gleefully, "Then again, why would I want that?"

"...Because it's safer?" Knuckles asked, "And NOT tiring?"

"...Well, yeah, that."

"Come on guys, we better get outta here. Someone's gonna want to know what happened here, and I don't exactly want to get framed for the crime."

"Yeah, I've got an idea, anyway," Sonic grinned, stepping back up and putting his arms around his teammates, "I hear there's a Christmas carnival happening in that music city, Symphony. I'm sure that'll give people time to fix all this. I could do with a good run, after all!"

"Sounds like a plan," Tails chirped, "What about you guys? Will you be returning home?"

"Us?" Traveller asked, pointing to himself, "Well...I don't know. I mean, I wonder if anyone's even missed back home. Well, Gadget, maybe, but..."

"Nah, we'll stay for a few days, as planned," Surgeon said, "I took the time to plan all this to give these two a holiday and darn it I will do so. We just to do a little bit of...replanning. Alrighty guys, off we go."

"Wait!" Traveller said quickly, stopping Surgeon in his tracks, "I...don't suppose you could give me and Azima some time, please?"

"Hmm? Alone time?" Sonic asked, to which Tails quickly whispered in his ears and his eyes lit up, "Ah, that makes sense. Sure, bud. We'll give you some space. Come on, Tails! First one to the workshop buys lunch!"

"Hey!" Tails yelled as the two ran off into the distance, Knuckles and Surgeon not too far behind them, "You can run all the way there, I can't! Get back here!"

Soon, there was nothing but silence as the two were left alone. No-one was in a hurry to return to the plaza, not after the scene that happened here. Traveller sighed, "Well...here we are. Just the two of us..." he looked around at the area, then up into the sky. White powder was slowly drifting down from the sky, as it had been ever since the No-Zone had arrived, "Hey look, it's snowing. This place just gets better and better. Clear skies, functioning society...man, I'll miss this place when we return."

"Markus, please..." Azima sighed, "Why did you want some time with just us?"

"Well...I, uh..." Traveller sighed, "I'm sorry, Azzy. I feel like this is all my fault. Infinite, Shadow, Warmonger...I feel like I just attract trouble wherever I go. I wanted this to be a cool holiday, not just for me but...also for you. Surgeon and you are the closest things to friends I ever had, and probably ever will have. But it feels like all I do is wander around getting people to kill me."

"Well..." ARES hummed, "The last Traveller wasn't that much better, you know."

"I keep making mistakes, and even on breaks I find a way to ruin everything..." Traveller sobbed, tears in his eyes, "I'm...I'm sorry. I just...I just want to enjoy something, for once. For just one day! ...Please?"

Traveller's face scrunched up and he hunched over, sobbing slightly, tears streaming down his cheek. Azima sighed, her glare finally falling into a softer expression and she put her hand on Traveller's cheek. She stroked it with her thumb slowly and lovingly, and dropped the harshness in her voice, "No, Markus. This is not your fault. It is not yours, it is not mine. It is not Surgeon's or Sonic's or anyone else's. It is, as in our world, the way it works. They come, we fight, they leave, and then they come back. But we do not back down, and we do not run away. We keep going, and we keep fighting until we can make our world like this one. You are..." She choked on the words as if she couldn't bear to say them, "You are my friend, Traveller. And I will not let anyone take you down. Not without a fight with me. Not on my watch. We're in this. Together. Until the end."

Traveller looked up at her, "Really?"

"Really..." Azima dropped the scarf around her neck, showing her entire face to Traveller for the first time. To his surprise, she wasn't covered in scars as he thought she would be. No marks or bruises, bar the ones from the fight. Instead, she was...normal. Ordinary. Not at all what the others back home hyped her up to be. She was even quite...attractive, Traveller thought. She spoke again, her voice unfiltered now, "I promise."

"Uh...uh..." Traveller coughed to clear his throat, "You know, you're kinda...kinda...k-kinda cute with the scarf off."

"Oh..." Azima blushed, "You think so?"

"Yeah..." Traveller chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "I do..."

The tension already quite heavy at this point, and both knew full well what they wanted to do. In fact, what they almost had to do. It was slow and subtle, but the two arched closer and closer to each other until, finally, they kissed. Traveller wrapped his arms around Azima's waist, while she rested her around his neck, and they kissed passionately for a good while. They felt closer than they had ever been before at that very moment in time, where they felt like more than just partners. They felt...together. ARES sighed violently at the sap, then the two disconnected and remained in each other's arms, smiling warmly at each other. Traveller was the first to speak up, "I love you, Azzy."

"And I love you too," Azima sighed peacefully, "Now let's go. They're probably waiting for us already."

The two chuckled like true friends and began their own rush towards the workshop on the edge of town, as the snow masked their exit like ghosts in the fog. It was cold, and they were injured, and they didn't care. They were a thing now, together until the end. And it all felt...worth it.

Merry Christmas,
from MasterPerryMartin