Chapter 10
The sounds of pipe organs echoed throughout the Hidden Palace, carrying with it a dark, melancholy tone. Cosmo listened as she gazed out of the window in her chamber, wearing a long, lacey black dress, which Shade had provided her with. She stared down at the boiling pits of the Lava reef below, sighing and thinking to herself. Cosmo was not fond of always being the damsel in distress, but there was little she could do about it now. She was a prisoner. Despite Shade's attempts o make her feel more at home, more at ease, she felt it was no different than being locked in the dark, damp dungeon she imagined Cream was still locked up in. She hoped that Tails and the others would rescue her soon, and do away with Shade for good.
But did she really wish that? Cosmo looked down, remembering her conversation with Shade. If Cosmo could cooperate with Shade, at least for a little while, then tails could have his mother back. She'd finally be able to repay her debt to Tails after all she put him through. Her only question was whether or not she could trust Shade. Cosmo didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was beginning to feel sympathy for Shade. He was Tails brother after all, and he seemed like Tails in many ways.
While Cosmo was deep in thought she had failed to notice that the pipe organ had stopped playing. She was startled as she felt two hands softly grab her shoulders. She turned around, and there stood Shade.
"Deep in thought, are we Cosmo?" Shade chuckled.
"What do you want?" Cosmo asked irritably.
"Only to check up on you my dear." Shade replied.
"Well, I'm fine." Said Cosmo bluntly.
Shade studied her, walking slowly around her as he looked over her body, making Cosmo very uncomfortable. She felt his breath down her neck.
"I have a feeling I know where your power lies Cosmo." Said Shade, breaking the silence.
"Oh? And where might that be?" asked Cosmo.
"Well you see Cosmo, you have the potential to reach enormous levels of power, you proved that on the day you defeated the Metarex." Said Shade.
"Yes, that was my adult form…" said Cosmo, reliving the painful memories of forcing Tails to shoot her to save the galaxy, something she never forgave herself for.
"Tell me more about this form of yours, if you'd be so kind." Said Shade, "Tell me, can you adopt this form whenever you wish? And is it possible to get back to your normal form after doing so?"
"I'm sorry…I know so little about it myself," Cosmo replied," …it had to do with the jewel my mother gave me…and I had to be under tremendous pressure for it to work."
"So it had to do with an explosion of energy within your body, amplified not only because of your jewel, but the disparity of the situation as well." Said Shade. Cosmo found it remarkable how much he sounded like Tails when he explained things, just like Tails explaining how his newest invention works.
"I suppose that is accurate." Cosmo answered." Only…my jewel wasn't exactly resurrected along with me."
"Yes, I know that it wasn't." said Shade, "However, we do have the choice of an alternate energy source, and one that will work just as well as your jewel did."
"What might that be?" asked Cosmo with interest.
"All in good time dear Cosmo." Said Shade with a smirk, "As for now, I do think I've finally figured out how to unleash your energy without the jewel. The energy resides in you after all, not the jewel."
Cosmo seemed puzzled. "What am I going to have to do? How do I unleash my energy?"
Shade chuckled and walked closer to Cosmo. She gasped lightly as he pressed her against the wall, his face inches from hers, making her blush. Before she decided whether she should struggle or not Shade lifted his hand and lightly pointed at her throat.
"Here…this is where your energy center is." Said Shade simply.
"M-my throat?" asked Cosmo weakly.
"Your voice." Shade replied. He took a step back, giving Cosmo room to breathe. He seemed to enjoy Cosmo's reactions. "I need your voice for my incantation to work."
Cosmo still blushed, trying to control herself. "S-so…are you saying you want me to sing something?
"As a matter of fact, indeed I do." said Shade with his arms crossed, again explaining in a very Tails-like manner. "If you've wondered why I continue to play my pipe organ, it's because I'm trying to perfect the tune that will make the spell work. There is great magic in music you know, every song has energy to it."
Cosmo had never thought of music having any supernatural elements, but as she thought about it she recalled when she was a little girl, and her mother used singing in a similar way. She had been playing a friendly game of chase on their starship with her sister Galaxina when she tripped and skinned her knees badly. Galaxina brought Cosmo to their mother, who at this point was in tree form. She surrounded Cosmo with a soothing light, and in Cosmo's head she could hear her mother singing softly; she felt as if her mother was holding her, in her normal form, and her pain melted away, her wounds healing quickly.
"Shade, my mother used to do such things…" Cosmo said after a long silence.
"Indeed, Earthia was a tremendous healer." Shade replied, as if reading Cosmo's thoughts. "To put it simply Cosmo, I'm not sure if this is just you, your family or your race, but I sense in you what is called the Voice of the Siren. You have great power behind your voice, much like the sirens of ancient mythology."
Cosmo subconsciously put her hand to her throat, wondering if it was true. "I never…used this before. Are you sure?"
"Yes Cosmo, I am. I've studied your body and have discovered your throat chakra is dominant." Shade smirked. "Besides, just listen to your voice…its beautiful is it not?"
Cosmo blushed again without meaning to. "I…I wouldn't know…"
Shade chuckled "Ah, so modest. Now then…I want you to practice it."
Shade pointed to the other end of the room, and when Cosmo turned she saw a harp she could have sworn was not in the room before.
"But…I've never played the harp." Said Cosmo shyly.
"How do you think I learned to play pipe organ, do you think I sent for someone to come all the way here and give me lessons? Just play whatever tune comes into your mind. And after being left alone with it long enough, trust me, the tunes will come. " Said Shade with a smile, and with that he suddenly faded away, leaving Cosmo alone in the room. Cautiously, she walked over to the harp, and sat down.
Shadow teleported into Shade's throne room just as Shade seated himself at his pipe organ again.
"Why hello Shadow…I see you were successful." Said Shade.
"Yes, very successful. And what's more, I got one of Sonic's friends to take the fall for me." Said Shadow, holding two Chaos Emeralds.
"So that means we now have three altogether…Akves and Rouge better not disappoint us." Shade said.
"When will we have what it takes to bring Sevag back?" asked Shadow firmly.
"Patience…the Chaos Emeralds we have now should be enough in case we need any back-up energy. I doubt we will need any now however. All we need the emeralds for is for after we bring Sevag back, when we regenerate his body."
"So are we close?" Shadow inquired insistently.
"Quite close in fact." Said Shade with a smirk. " You see Shadow, once Cosmo discovers for herself how to unlock her true power, we will be ready. After that, Sevag will be regenerated, and we'll use the emeralds to fulfill our end of the bargain, and resurrect your precious Maria."
"And how do I know you're going to uphold your end of the bargain?" asked Shadow angrily. Truth be told, some of what Espio said to him had gotten under his skin, he was beginning to question Shade's trustworthiness.
"Heh…the truth of the matter is, you don't." said Shade, turning around to face Shadow. "But consider this…what choice do you have? Do you know anyone else who is able to raise the dead?"
Shadow looked down angrily, surrendering to Shade's logic." I suppose you're right…"
"Now then, I want you to bring me the rest of the emeralds. I will call for you when we are ready for the ritual, and I want you to report back here when you find an emerald."
"Yes Shade…I will…Shadow somewhat begrudgingly tossed an emerald to Shade, and disappeared with Chaos Control, leaving Shade to continue perfecting his tune on the pipe organ.