All Sonic characters © to Sega. Ergos (The Beast) is © to me.

Final Vision
By: Iris Sweetheart

Event 1: Return to Old Memories
Ten years ago…it was right here. I pulled the trigger on your back and watched your helpless body fall to the ground…and then I had the audacity to do it again. To pull the trigger a second time. Right between your eyes the bullet went…and you were gone. Till this very day I still don't know why I did it.

"It was for the good of the world."

Better yet, I still can't believe that I did it and I never thought I was able to do something so horrible.

"…Shadow."

And at such a young age.

The wind blew by lightly brushing Amy's now wavy shoulder-length hair into her eyes. With gentle fingers she brushed away the few strands…and also a tear in her eye. Before her in the autumn sunrise was a blackened tree that had remained dead since the murder. Not surprised by the supernatural occurrence before her, Amy slowly knelt down at the base of the tree, a large bouquet of flowers in her arms. She leaned the floral collection against the tree's base and stared at it blankly.

"How? How could this have happened?" is all the hedgehog could ask herself.

Another breeze blew by forcing Amy to close her magenta jacket around her torso. With the sun still rising in the east, she felt it was time for her to leave before any curious wanderers noticed her presence at the old house. Ignoring the mud on her black low heel ankle boots, Amy trudged back through the autumn forest and exited out to what was once Shadow's backyard. The old Victorian house, suffering from more aging, was falling apart from its hanging shutters to its chipping roof tiles. The land it resided on was just as dead as she remembered it. Dried grass, decaying trees, and darkened earth that could grow no more. It was practically a miracle that the old structure was still standing. Yet despite the staying power the house displayed, it plagued Amy with too many horrific memories of giant beasts, a cold and uncaring Shadow, and the inevitable murder of the hero trapped in his own curse.

She hurried her pace not giving too much care to the drops of mud splattering on to her magenta pants. Eventually she ended up running around the house and to the front yard where her shimmering red motorcycle waited. Closer and closer she got, her hand reaching out for the matching red helmet that sat on top of her leather jacket. Just as her fingertips brazed the polished covering of the helmet, she suddenly stopped…and slowly grasped her chest with one hand. For some reason her heart was pounding and she was anxious. But about what? What could possibly excite Amy in such a dreary place?

Cautiously looking over her shoulder, almost as if she was ashamed to, Amy could see the Victorian house and wondered "Just maybe…"

"I can't go back in there! I promised myself that I wouldn't!" the voice within the hedgehog screamed at her.

Yet she looked back again this time turning her shoulders a bit.

"No, no! Do not give into the pressure! Nothing good ever came from that house and nothing good ever will!" Amy forced herself to face the motorcycle once more.

But then again there may be something inside for me. Something that might help me put all of this behind me.

"Stop it, you hear me! You cannot go back into that house. It'll just take away another ten years from your life!"

But what if I just--

"No exceptions! Absolutely none!"

Maybe just a peek through the window--

"You have to beat this!"

It's just a harmless house--

"You are stronger than this!"

No one's living in there--

"You don't have to go in there! You don't have to go…"

Inside.

Amy was finally inside the house after so long. Every step she took caused her emotions to fall deeper and deeper into an endless pit slowly fading away as her memories overtook her mind. Amy began to playback every moment she could remember, from the day she first awoke in the house to her last moments with Shadow. The good, the bad, and the terrifying eventually leaving her null of her emotions as her mind reached the inevitable event of murdering the heroic hedgehog. The gunshot shattered her ears and in an instant the young woman fell to her knees screaming at the top of her lungs "Redemption! Redemption!"

Her body trembled in fear as her panicked eyes watched beads of sweat splatter against the wooden floor. There Amy remained silently waiting for her heart to return to its normal pulse. Suddenly a breeze brushed by her hair; someone was standing before her. Immediately Amy's eyes shot up and stared into the dark hood of a cloaked stranger. She was startled, yelping as she quickly crawled backwards eventually pushing herself up and backing to the door.

"Leave me alone!" the pink hedgehog yelled at the stranger.

Silently the stranger moved towards her as if floating on thin air. Stumbling over herself, Amy backed into the door frantically feeling around for the doorknob. Finally the familiar shape of the metal object was in her hand so she attempted to open the door. It was locked causing Amy to blurt out a slew of curses.

"Dammit! What the hell!?" the hedgehog yelled angrily.

Harder she turned the doorknob to the point where she was ready to rip it right off the door. All the while the stranger floated closer to Amy, daring to reach out for her. She went into another panic, this time shouting incoherently and desperately trying to open the door. The cloaked figure drew closer, its sleeve slipping back to reveal a white skeletal hand. In an instant Amy scratched and yelled at the door insanely begging for it to open. Once again she placed her hand on the doorknob and to her hopes it was finally unlocked. Without any hesitation the hedgehog threw the door open and dashed out in a flash. The cloaked stranger stopped, glanced down his hand, and lowered it allowing the sleeve to conceal the limb.

Curiously the mysterious stranger approached the open door and watched Amy frantically throw on her motorcycle jacket. Just as the hedgehog raised her helmet above her head, a strange feeling jolted her heart…so she looked back towards the veranda. There in the doorframe was the hooded stranger possibly staring back at her. She could've fallen into a trance had it not been for her conscience yelling at her to leave. Slowly Amy put on the helmet and calmly climbed onto her bike. It started up with a roar and left the area while the cloaked stranger disappeared into the house, closing the door. As Amy made her way back into town, she couldn't stop the curious thoughts in her head.

"Why? Why do I want to go back there?" she wondered. "And this feeling in my heart… where did it come from?"

She wasn't sure of the answers, and she didn't want to go back for them either. Leaving that town for good was the best choice for her.