Hey. As you can probably gather, I'm new. This is my first fanfic. I had this idea a while back, but I never thought I would actually publish it, because I'm lazy. Writing isn't as easy as it seems, either. So expect the worst, so that you may be pleasantly surprised (which is my motto). Yes, I wrote this with an OC, because I thought it would be too easy to write something with the characters already established. I needed to write an original character in order to not rehash all of the Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfics that came before mine, because there isn't very many options if you want to stick relatively close to canon, and if you lean too far, you get a garbled mess where the soul of the characters don't really shine through (I'm looking at you, Sonic vampire stories).

Where was I? Oh, right. New guy, new fanfiction, blah blah blah. You don't want to read my opinionated waffle for the next couple of paragraphs, you want the story. Enjoy.

The sun splashed a vivid fiery shade onto the bright purple flowers in the meadow, making the color seem slightly more vibrant. A spiny figure, desperately trying to stay conscious, was collapsed right next to the flowers, blood seeping from his many wounds. One hand reached out to to try to feel them, but fell halfway. Desperately, he tried again.

I just want to… touch…

With a small sigh, the figure passed out.

XXX

Sonic needed to run. Amy had caught him by tripping him with a rope just as he was starting off on his morning run, and so for the entire afternoon he had been stuck in an absurd tea party where he was forced to wear a black bow tie, Cream and Cheese were guests, and Tails was forced to make pot after pot of Earl Grey while trying to force another round of snacks out of the depleted pantry. The worst part? Amy had done it all without telling him or Tails.

"It'll be fun," Amy had protested irascibly when he tried to back out. "I've been planning this for weeks! I even bought a new serving tray, so Tails can wait on us in style!"

"Amy, have you even thought about maybe getting consent from all the people involved before you started doing all this?" Sonic waved in the general direction of the table that had been set up in Tails's dining room, complete with solid silver tea tray and matching teapot, high quality white silk tablecloth, pink patterned bone china teacups, blue patterned bone china plates, and gold silverware, along with an abomination of a centerpiece; two stuffed dolls of Amy and Sonic sitting side by side next to a triple tier frosted vanilla cake with perfect alternating big pink and blue frosted bows on it.

Amy thought about it for a second. "No," she admitted sheepishly, "but I wanted it to be a surprise, and I had to special order the cake from that bake shop down in the square, and-"

Sonic felt the situation spiraling dangerously out of his control. "Amy? How many people know about this tea party?" Sonic inquired, desperately hoping to contain the damage to his reputation this horrible situation would cause. The last thing he needed going around was a rumor that he was getting soft, especially after last time Amy had thrown a stunt like this to get his attention. A blimp with a photoshopped image of the two of them kissing on the side was hardly subtle.

Amy thought some more. "Cream, Vanilla, and Cheese know. I don't know about anyone else."

Sonic breathed a sigh of relief and relented. "Fine. I'll have a tea party with you, as long as you don't tell anyone else, and it doesn't take too long." Amy, eyes shining like stars, immediately accepted his terms. He was going to regret those words very, very soon...

XXX

I'm not going to go anywhere public for a week at least. Not after that insanity. He dashed halfway across Mobius, still covered in cake crumbs and frosting, to find his favorite spot; a particularly isolated and quiet meadow. However, something was disturbing the usually tranquil scene…

A dark red hedgehog in a rapidly spreading pool of blood, the sunset causing the liquid to shimmer with terrible beauty.

"Oh, Chaos."

The next second, the hedgehog was hoisted into Sonic's arms. He was still breathing, but it was light and erratic. He looked so frail, so helpless, so… broken. Sonic was gone like the wind, heading towards Tails's workshop, leaving naught but a giant blood splotch and several quills behind.