Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I don't own Sonic or any of the other copyrighted characters in this fanfiction. SEGA and SONIC TEAM do.

EDIT: Please do READ BEYOND THIS CHAPTER. The following chapters have better and more content than this one- you wouldn't want to miss out on that, would you?

I'm dead. Dead inside. Entirely apathetic. I could be sentenced to death right now, and not beg for mercy. You know, I think I'd deserve it. I could've saved him. I just know it. I could've pulled harder. I should've grabbed his arm instead. I could've...

Could've, would've, should've. That's all that's flashing through my head. The problem with the world being safe again is that I have time to think. Way too much time. I'm not the thinking type; I just rush through life as fast as possible. Everything's a deadline.

Funny, I don't think he ever slowed down, either. I doubt he had the time. But his rushing made perfect sense. What kind of villain wouldn't follow through with a plan to destroy the world at thus-and-such a time? They'd be called a fool. But with heroes, it's different. If they're not saving the world, they can just take everything in its stride.

Not me, though. It seems like I only now realized that I'm skipping over the details. I just blaze on through anything that comes my way. A friendly walk always becomes a race. It's... it's as though I'm running from something.

Great, now I'm getting all philosophical. It just figures. When I'm not running, I end up becoming a prisoner of my thoughts. That gives me an idea. Focus on the stuff around you, and ignore the stuff inside.

Well, there's not much of interest inside the shuttle. There are only two areas, one for the pilot and copilot, and one for passengers. There's the cargo hold, too, but since you can't reach it from the inside, it doesn't really interest me. Anyway, I think this rocket-- it's not really big enough to be called a shuttle-- must have been designed for getting to and from the colony, since it has no crew quarters or beds or anything like that.

Tails and Eggman (as we call him) are the ones controlling the ship. I'm just glad that Knuckles hasn't been allowed to get at those controls again. That was bad enough the first time. I often wonder if he's more than a bit crazy. It's pretty quiet in here, though those two scientists might be talking about something or other; I can't hear.

I'm really proud of Tails. This is the second time he's beaten Eggman without anyone's help. He's also become quite the junior scientist as well. I think he might even be better than Sir Tub of Lard in some ways. The funny thing is, I don't know a thing about electronics, aside from my own computer. I wonder how he got started being a mechanic, anyway? Probably had too much time on his hands, like I do on mine now.

I'm still a little edgy around Rouge. After all, we only recently found out that she was working for the government. About the only things I know about her are that and the fact that she's obsessed with jewels. Knux seems to think she's okay, though. Must've done something nice for him to change his mind. It could just be her charms, though. As polite as he's trying to be to her, I'm observant enough to see Red sometimes accidentally looking a bit too low to be talking straight to her face. I admire how hard he's trying, though. I actually think Rouge hasn't seen him doing that yet-- she looks like she'd slap him if he got caught.

Tails just said we're about to land. I can't wait to be back on good ol' terra firma. This place has been cramping my style. Amy hasn't talked at all since we hopped the space station. Maybe she's thinking about Shadow, too? Her face looks a little preoccupied, and that (her being the ditz she is) is an incredibly rare sight. But I guess I should count my blessings.

As we hit the ground, voices outside start yelling and cheering for the six of us. I think we "heroes" will be down to five once Eggman steps out. I kinda feel sorry for him, saving the world just to end up in jail. The others will probably protect him, though. Heck, if he gets lucky, Robotnik might only have to spend one night in a cell. He seems like he's changed a lot; we were all affected in some way by this whole fiasco. Once I step out of the vehicle, I'm surrounded by a crowd and greeted with whooping and hollering. I just need to go and relax somewhere. So I run. The sea of people parts for me as I dash from City Hall, where we landed, to the train station. I manage to duck in a car just as it rolls toward the Mystic Ruins.

I know that Tails knows where I've dashed off to. If I know him, he'll bring the whole group over-- well, minus the Doctor-- for a party celebrating our victory. That kid sure knows how to throw a fling, even with his workshop being the size it is. On a normal day, he sleeps on a fold-down cot in his garage, while I sleep upstairs in the "house" part of the place. It's a good thing that he's made a basement underneath that shack, or it'd be a pretty sad excuse for a party. When guests stay, we let them sleep down in there if they want to.

Right now, I kinda wish I could join them, 'cause a strong drink would be pretty good right about now. I've made an effort to keep liquor out of the house, since I don't like the thought of what could happen if Tails ever broke into any. However, I always keep just enough around so that partygoers have enough to satisfy them. Suffice to say, they'll have a good time of it.

My little haven, as Tails once called it, is up in the surrounding mountains of the Ruins. When Angel Island is floating, I sit on a little platform of rock close to it, just staring up at it. When it's not, I walk across the bridge to the island itself and lie down where the Master Emerald is supposed to sit. Since we haven't returned the controller and its seven servers, the island is down today. As I take up my favored position, I keep an elbow propped under my head to avoid sleep. I close my eyes that are tired enough now to give me a headache from the light, putting my free hand in front of them to block out the last glow from the sun.

My mind is suddenly reeling with thought, recounting the two or so weeks of our last battle in under a minute. Just as suddenly, my mind slows dramatically. I've reached the point in the "reel" of my memories that is the last two battles that we fought to stop the ARK. I see in full detail Shadow's fight with the Biolizard, the prototype that caused the colony to be shut down and deactivated. Then, my mind rushes through until the "scene" where the lizard merges with the station in a messed-up form of Chaos Control. I feel again what it was like to have the two of us go Super at the same time, harnessing the full power of the Chaos Emeralds. It was kinda like I was the Yin half, and Shadow was the Yang. We team up just as this memory really happened, and destroy the Finalhazard. Yet again, we Chaos Control the ARK out of its crash course. And the end of the reel shows me grabbing Shadow's wrist as he floated toward the Earth, leaving us with only the memory of him and a bracelet or something to know he ever existed.

I come out of my daze now. I shake my head and sift shortly through my acquired memories to try to understand the ultimate lifeform. When I say 'acquired', I don't mean my experiences. One of the things that bugs me the most out of everything that incident was made of is that something weird happened when we drained those Emeralds of their power. For those few minutes, our thoughts were one. We moved separately, but in the way that a body can move two of its parts separately. The moment that we transformed, our memories combined, as well. I've known since then what hell he had to go through once he was finally awakened to the world. I also know now that he learned through Rouge that his memories might not have ever happened. It was horrible to find that out. It cut him to the core, but that revelation somehow got him to push himself to the limit, simply to prove that he was still the ultimate life. I never should've called him a fake...

My thinking spell is now thankfully interrupted by the sound of four familiar patterns of footsteps. Looking skyward, I suddenly realize that it's late in the evening. Knux sounds like he's sober, and is saying something to Rouge about how beautiful his little island is. Dreads has always been able to handle alcohol very well. However, the tone of his voice makes me think of how little of it we may have now. Rouge makes some nonsensical remark followed by a giggling fit, and Tails responds, oddly enough, in a similar way. At that point, I guessed that he must've found where I hid his sodas again. Soon, they're close enough for Amy to recognize my form. She runs to me as quickly as she can... which is still kinda slow.

"Sonic!" she says. My brain detects a note in her voice that seems to say, "Thank Chaos, you're here. I've got bad news." 'Thank Chaos'... I guess I must've picked up the phrase from Knuckles after the Chaos incident. Though it is true that the Chaos Emeralds give us power. Anyway, I ask her what's going on. I figure that if my current guess is wrong, I'll find out whatever's been going on anyway.

"Well... Sonic... You see, we were all... B-but Rouge... And then..." She sounded like she was worried that she was going to get in trouble for something she had little part in. She never needed to finish her explanation, however, because the others came within view at that moment. Rouge was engaged in babbling various nonsense to none other than a positively giddy Tails.

I panicked. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. No way. What the hell did you think you were doing!?" I got right in between the bat and my little buddy. Knuckles was standing next to her.

"'Ey, whaddya think yer doin', inter... interru..." I cut Rouge off before she could finish sounding out the word.

"What happened!? Why is Tails drunk!?" I yelled my last sentence at them. Knuckles looked like he was trying to put two and two together, and just barely managed to determine they were four after a few attempts. His weakness with alcohol was slowed logic, usually his strong point.

"Oh... shit... Man, I'm sorry. It's just that we sorta let Tails have a glass of wine... You know, this bein' such a special occasion and all... And he liked it, and I guess that I kinda left the room and lost track of time... When I came back, both he and Rouge had drunk more than their fair share of wine..." I punched him on the side of his jaw.

"Damnit, you jackass! I don't care if you were out of the room! You still should've made sure that he didn't end up like that!"

"Really! Sonic, I'm sor--"

"Just shut up!" I closed my eyes and turned to Tails. "Miles Prower..."

Tails' smile quickly disappeared as he heard his proper name. "S...onic... What did I..." His ears suddenly drooped, in an action I initially read as shame. "Whoa... I'm dizz..." I saw him fall, and I quickly ducked under him to keep him from getting hurt. I lifted his body off the ground and ran as fast-- or faster than-- my feet could carry me to his workshop. I sacrificed my bed for his sake.

"Tailsu..."

There you have it, the first chapter. As of now, the story's title won't make any sense to you, but that should be solved in the next chapter. I was going to start differently, but the writing part of my mind has a... mind... of its own, it seems. The rest of the story should also be a bit more, uh, upbeat.

The author does not support the drinking of alcohol, especially in the case of minors.