*Chapter 8: A Grave Sympathy*

The Phantom uses his cane to hit the ground, and a crack opens up. The ground started to shake. Sonic and the others look down to see skeleton hands coming out of the crack. They each grab the heroes' legs. The Phantom let out his evil laughter as the heroes try to pull away from the dead's grasps. Sonic made a look and made a homing attack the Phantom to stop him. The corpse let out a yell. Shadow uses Chaos Spear to hit him. The Phantom narrowed his eyes at the heroes who began to attack him. Sonic went around him and kick him in the head to roll him off of the coffin.

"Time to end this, Phantom! You've been suffering enough souls!" Sonic yelled. But, the Phantom grabs him by the neck. Sonic started to choke a little, but something flashed in his mind and everything went black...

XX

Sonic found himself in a dark room filled with mirrors hanging on the walls. His reflection is seen on every one of them. Behind him, there is a giant crystal, there is a skeleton corpse in a tattered wedding dress. Melanie. Sonic rushed towards her, but froze when he sees a bony hand move. A finger points behind him, and the corpse sings a melody. Sonic turned back to see the mirrors again and walked onward. He doesn't know what was happening right now.
He stopped in front of the mirror and he sees something appearing in the reflection. A Phantom. Sonic made a glare at him, not turning around to face him. He lets the ghost come closer. The Phantom started to reach for his neck... But Sonic was too fast for him, of course. He grabbed the Phantom and threw him at the mirror, causing it to break. The Phantom now becomes in view to him.

"Why are you doing this?!" Sonic yelled. "Why am I here?! You want me as your thousandth ghost in your manor?!" The Phantom only chuckled evilly at him.

"If that is what you think. But having a thousand would be delightful." He said. Sonic growled at him. He then sees Melanie's skeleton form in the reflection, crying from her eye sockets.

"You have to let your daughter go, Henry." Sonic told the ghost. The Phantom turned to him with a glare. "She deserves better than this. She wants to marry someone she loves, but you took away her groom."

"That man...is no good. He tries to steal her away from me!" The Phantom said in his horrible voice.

"No he isn't! You're the one who tries to keep Melanie away from him before your death!" Sonic told him. "Listen, Henry. Melanie is a grown woman, and she wants to move on. She is sad about your death, but she can't be trapped in the manor. Now because you hung that groom, she will never forgive you. She found out from us, and she won't forgive you in any way. Keeping her won't change anything." The Phantom stared at the blue hedgehog in silent. They hear the singing voice of the bride in the dark mirror room around them. The Phantom turned to see his reflection, and memories started to repeat over his skull. His death, his form, him killing the groom, everything that he had done for years to keep Melanie's soul in the manor for eternity.

"Melanie..." The Phantom spoke in a soft tone. "Is she...not happy for what I've done?" Before Sonic could speak, the ground started to shake. The mirrors on the walls started to break to pieces. And everything turned black once more.

XX

The Phantom dropped Sonic to the ground. The mobians stopped doing what they are doing to save their friend and see that the Phantom is on his knees. Sonic rubbed his neck and look at the Phantom who cries. Blood comes out of his eye sockets.

"Let her go." Sonic said. "Let the spirits go. You all will be at peace. Be happy for your daughter. All she wants is to be with her beloved groom who is waiting above." The Phantom didn't say anything. But he reached for his coat pocket and got out a glass shard and hand it over to the blue hero.

"If that's what it takes to see my daughter happy. Destroy me with this. With me gone, this manor will disappear. All of the spirits I invited will be free." He said. Sonic held the glass shard in his hand. He turned back to his friends who stare back at him. Shadow gave him a nod with a determined look. Sonic gripped on the shard and stab the Phantom in the chest. The ghost lets out a cry of pain that echoes through the yard and he glows gold. He slowly started to fade away in the air.
Then the place around the heroes started to crumble. The manor behind them started to fall.

"We gotta move!" Knuckles yelled. Shadow got out a Chaos Emerald and told everyone to hold on and get around him. Sonic held Sally and Tails. Knuckles and Rouge hold hands. Silver, Blaze, and Amy hold each other. Shadow raises the emerald and yelled.

"Chaos Control!" Then, the emerald started to glow and they all disappeared before the house collapses on them. The manor starts to sink down to the ground. Spirits fly out of the crack to move up to the heavens. They are finally free. Even Melanie. She is in her beautiful wedding dress, and her appearance is young like before. She floats above Thunder Mesa and let out a whisper.

"Thank you..."

Sonic opened his eyes and found himself in a room. His hotel room. He groaned a bit, rubbing his head. He took off his Jack Skellington eye patch.

"What the heck happened?" He wondered. He turned to the window to see the view of Thunder Mesa, and there is no manor. It is gone. It's over. The Phantom Manor is gone, the ghosts have moved on, and Melanie cane finally have her peace above. He could hear her whisper, thanking him for stopping her controlling father. Sonic made a smile.

"You're welcome, Melanie." He said. Coming in the room is his friends. Their costumes are ripped from the fight, and dirt marks all over their faces. Sally came over to Sonic.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Yeah. Never better. How about you guys?" Sonic asked. Knuckles collapse on his bed while Rouge is massaging his head.

"I won't be going to the haunted house again." He said.

"I won't be doing anything for a week." Silver said.

"If there's a haunted house, don't invite me." Shadow said with a look, crossing his arms. "Good thing we got out of there before we're crushed." Sonic chuckled at them.

"Wait till we tell our friends about it when we return home." Sonic said. Blaze and Amy rolled their eyes, but joined their friends in the room to relax after the experience.
While everyone changed out of their Halloween costumes and took showers to clean up, Tails looks out the window to see an empty hill. The manor is no more. He had to admit that was quite the adventure, but it was a spooky one. The fox smiled and turned away from the window to get ready for bed. This is the Halloween that Sonic and his friends will never forget.

A mysterious tinkering of a music box is heard outside in the winds, and a music box plays a melody.

The End