I didn't move until Robin swayed on his feet, preparing to fall over. I was by his side in the blink of an eye, slowly lowering him to the ground. Even though I was holding his arm, he seemed miles away from me. And he was dying. Not just injured and in pain, dying.

"Robin?" I asked softly, my voice cracking. "Robin?"

Robin's eyes were wide as he looked at the puncture in his gut. I didn't want to imagine the kind of damage the bo-staff did to his stomach. It made the cuts on my shoulders look like scrapes you get on your knees when you fall in the street.

"I'm... fine." Robin gasped. "I'll be fine."

I looked to the side, seeing Anne just standing and watching, as if she was observing a bug crawling on the ground. She blinked lazily as I looked at her, folding her arms. I felt my teeth grinding together as I saw her like that.

"If you thought I was mad before," I said as I stood up, "you were mistaken."

"I never said I thought you were angry," Anne said coolly. "In fact, I don't think it had anything to do with emotions - you just temporarily lost your mind."

I lunged at her, thrusting my fist into her face. She kicked me off and I landed on my feet, my eyes never leaving her. I ran behind her and kneed her in the back before she was able to even see me. She crumpled to the ground, her arms trying to left her back to a standing position. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before returning to Robin's side.

"I'll never understand why you chose to stick with Slade," I said softly.

When I looked back up, she was gone, the only trace of her the wreckage of the street. I pressed a button on my communicator, calling Tails. "Where are you?" I asked. "No one else could find you."

"Sonic!" Tails replied, sounding a bit worried. "Slade came- Slade took- we were looking for the Emeralds and-"

"Tails, it's okay," I smiled. "I already knew that. How soon can you get to the city? We're going to need all of the strength we can get."

"Fifteen minutes, if we had a Chaos Emerald," Tails replied. "Now, we don't have any sort of spectacular energy source. I don't know how long it will take."

"Get started," I replied, shutting it off. I looked at Robin, sighing. He was shivering and looked weak, which wasn't something I had seen often. Still, he sat up, using the nearby wall to lean his back against.

"What's going on?" Robin asked, obviously working hard to keep his voice steady. "Where is everyone?"

"Still patrolling," I told him. "But right now, I need the Chaos Emeralds. Just having Slade nearby would be enough, but I can't sense them."

"Okay, so what will I be so stoked to see when you get the Chaos Emeralds?" Robin asked, slinging his arm around his stomach. "Because right now, we don't really have the time for secrets."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Trust me, we have time for this one."

Robin grimaced. "Whatever it is, just make sure you don't get killed first."

"I'll try," I promised. "We just have to hope that the others stay safe."

I relaxed for a bit, sitting next to Robin. I tried to keep my eyes off of him, not wanting to see his look of pain or the red leaking out of him. As long as I could hear him breathing, he was alive, and as long as he didn't die before I got the Emeralds, he would be okay.

"Neat weather," I said, looking up at the purple-gray sky. "Don't see this often in Mobius."

"I'd be worried if you did," Robin chuckled.

After a few more minutes passed, Beast Boy appeared in the shape of a very small, green bird. As he came toward the ground, he took on human form again. He was about to start speaking, but he noticed Robin and he stuttered, trying to find words which probably wouldn't come. "He'll be fine," I said, waving my hand. "Trust me."

"I didn't think I was gone that long," Beast Boy's voice cracked slightly. He cleared his throat, then looked between Robin and I. "I couldn't find Slade."

"What?" I asked, actually shocked. I hadn't actually thought of Beast Boy not finding Slade; I guess I assumed that he would have had the aura of seven Chaos Emeralds around him and would be impossible to miss. "No, that's fine, that's fine, I should go look for him myself anyway."

"What about Robin?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm not deaf," Robin replied.

"Just pretend that you are, then," I said, unconscious of the smile on my face. "Once I get the Chaos Emeralds back, he'll be fine. Promise."

Beast Boy frowned, suddenly looking a bit angry. "You aren't just going to grab them and leave, are you?"

"Of course not!" I said, taking a step away from him. "That's not the way I roll. After everything that Robin's done for me..." I paused, swallowing, remembering the time we got stuck in his nightmare. The thought of just leaving hadn't even occurred to me, and I wouldn't consider it either way. "You've just got to trust me one last time, okay?"

Beast Boy's face softened. "You better hurry, then, before you break your promise."

"Me? Hurry?" I chuckled. "That's my middle name!"

I turned on my heel and ran, sprinting up the side of a nearby building all the way to the top. I surveyed the city, resisting the urge to just sit and take in the view, even if it was obstructed with the major purple storm. It was starting to look like a dust storm made of purple dye instead of heavy rain clouds; either that, or the clouds were descending to the ground.

So, naturally, I decided to run into the purple dust.

And what I saw didn't surprise me, but it wasn't exactly the most promising thing I could have seen. In fact, it was probably one of the scariest things I could have imagined.

As soon as I entered the cloud, I had to use all the strength in my legs to keep from being pushed backwards. For a while, all I could see was dust as if it was a thick fog. I could see glimpses of buildings through the storm, but that was all. I had my hand in front of my face, trying to shield my eyes from the wind, but they were still squinted into slits. It was hard to do anything more than jog, because I wanted my feet on the ground, where I wouldn't lose balance.

After about five minutes, when I was thinking about going back and waiting until the others came, the wind started to die down. The cloud started to dissipate, but when I looked behind me, it looked stronger than ever. I was coming into something that was like the eye of a hurricane, a little safety zone inside the death of a storm.

Almost immediately, I noticed that there was something seriously wrong going on. I mean, I knew that the moment I saw the storm gathering, but I didn't think that Slade was attempting to summon something from another realm.

There was something that looked like a crack in the middle of the air. Even as I watched, the crack seemed to get bigger and bigger, spreading around as if something was trying to break out from the other side. And in front of this was Slade, watching with his arms folded. "I had hoped you would take longer to arrive, Sonic."

"Yeah, well, your buddy kind of nearly killed Robin, and I kind of have to save him," I replied, not yet daring to get any closer to either Slade or that crack.

"Yes, a mistake on her part," Slade sighed. "Anger tends to dominate the mind, Sonic." He turned toward me as he said that, keeping himself between me and the widening crack. "A fact you know firsthand, I assume."

I opened my mouth to speak, then shut it. I was trying to find the right words for my thoughts. "That's completely different. You basically possessed me."

"It's natural to find someone to blame other than yourself," Slade said. "It's easier than realizing what you've done."

I bit my tongue. He was trying to aggravate and stall me, but I needed the Chaos Emeralds. I could feel their energy nearby, but I wasn't close enough to summon them. I casually started walking in a wide circle, slowly strolling around the edge of the storm's eye. "So tell me, I'm curious: what in the world are you doing here? Trying to summon an actual face?"

"You said it yourself; the Chaos Emeralds grant wishes. But it goes further than that - if it was that easy, I would have been done with you and the Teen Titans long ago. The Chaos Emeralds are needed to summon the energy - energy that can summon nearly anything you could ever dream of."

"Thanks for telling me the facts I already know," I rolled my eyes, noticing I was about a fourth of the way to the other side of the crack. "I'm curious as to what you're trying to summon, but nice job avoiding the question. It's not like we're talking about politics; you can give me a real answer."

Slade chuckled, his eyes never leaving mine. "Your personality never ceases, does it?"

I couldn't help but smile. "Same goes to you. You never look anything other than dreary and brooding."

I was a little more than halfway around, and I could feel the Emeralds getting closer. I paused for a moment, then began to run around the rest of the circle until something made me trip and fall. I looked down and saw a rope wrapped around my ankles and Slade coming toward me to finish me off. He suddenly had a sword in his hand, which wasn't something I had seen him use before. I immediately tore at the ropes, trying to get them off before Slade came to finish me off.

"You officially have no use to me, Sonic the Hedgehog," Slade said. I had untangled the ropes, but still tripped over them. I quickly got back up, but by the time I stood back up, Slade was towering behind me, his sword pressed against my chest.

"W-wait!" I shouted, but Slade didn't move an inch. "I have one last request."

"I have no time for your games."

"I think games are the last thing to think about in this situation," I replied. Slade didn't know that I was finally, just barely, close enough to the Chaos Emeralds. I needed to stall him for just another ten seconds. I focused on summoning their energy, trying to speak at the same time. I thought of the first thing that came to my mind: "What's your face look like?"

I felt the sword fall away just slightly, as if he was actually considering my 'request'. After a moment, he said, "No." But before he could slice my head off, I felt the glow of energy gather inside me as I grabbed the blade of his sword and threw it away. Slade jumped away from me, his eyes narrowing. "So this is the power you possess?"

I flew up into the air, well away from his reach. "I mean, I guess if you want to put it that way..."

"It doesn't matter, though," Slade said. "I am summoning something even more powerful than you are."

"Dude, that's what they all say when they summon something," I replied. "What makes you think this is different?"

Before hearing his answer, I flew away in the direction toward Robin. I wasn't going my full speed, instead keeping a slow pace in order to find him again. I couldn't quite remember where he was, except that it was by the pizza place Beast Boy loved so much. I could see the glow of fire around me, and I let the smile building up inside of me out. It was reassuring to feel like this, the complete opposite of the way the other emeralds were able to hold on to me. I felt light and full of hope; anything was possible.

"Robin!" I yelled as I spotted him and Beast Boy. I flew down toward them, and the first thing Beast Boy said was, "do you know you're glowing?"

I stood over Robin, who said nothing, and laughed. He was out cold, but he was alive. I had made it in time. I set my hands over the open wound in Robin's stomach, sacrificing as little of the energy inside of me as I could - I would need all of it for the upcoming battle Slade had in mind.

Robin's eyes fluttered open, and there was a confused look on his face as he looked at me. "What happened to you...?" he asked quietly.

I laughed, giving him only a bit more energy to help make him more powerful. "I gained the power of the Chaos Emeralds. I told you I still had a trick up my sleeve. Now come on, Slade's doing some crazy stuff."