Sonadow – Legend of the Seven Hedgehogs

Almost two years have passed since the Island-incident and Sonic and Shadow are still quite reserved towards each other. It's a good thing, that their old (and new) friends help them with their relationship! ...Or not, considering, that suddenly things happen, that make one thing more than clear: it's the worst time possible to be pregnant...

Prologue: In a place called Hell

Hell was a dark place. He knew, that there were people believing, that there was fire, lava and stuff like that, but that was only partly true.

There was fire, yes. To be precise, this were the souls, who got sent here. They appeared as red flames, some darker, some brighter, but never very bright – they weren't here, because they had been saints, after all.

Their souls had been darkened by their crimes, with each one a little more, and when they had finally bitten the dust, then they were too dark and heavy to reach, what the mortals called 'heaven'. Therefore, they were here.

The lucky ones had some light left in them. Why they were lucky? Because hell was a dark, void place. There was nothing, but darkness. Just darkness and loneliness. Those, who were rotten to the core, were damned to spend their afterlife in total darkness and alone, unaware of other souls surrounding them. Those, who had some light left in them, caused by a good deed, or some good memories, could see at least other souls thanks to their illumination, although they couldn't speak to each other. They spent some centuries in their own memories and with the thought of being with others, before those memories faded, together with the souls. Souls in hell didn't live forever, they dissolved someday, to be reborn later and hopefully live better lives. Had to be about mercy, or something like that.

He had used to love this. To watch the souls writhe in the pain of an agonizing singularity – even the lighter ones were alone in a way, after all –, to hear their voices, pleading for mercy, not aware of the fact, that they would get it soon enough.

Now, however, he was bored out of his mind, because he was forced to be the guard of this mind-numbing place. Seriously, who would ever try to destroy hell? It was impossible anyway! And no one in his right mind would EVER try to break into this place. He was probably the only one, who tried to break out, who wasn't just accepting his fate...well, he was the only one with limbs here, so...yeah, the only one, who could try to break out.

He sat on his throne, the only thing, that was in this place, and watched, how the first batch of souls for today – he had a certain understanding of time by instinct – appeared in front of him. He could hear their whining and after hearing it for so long, it just was annoying now. Always this 'Please, I didn't mean it!', or 'I'll change my ways, promise!'. Fools. After dying, it was too late to change something. And if they 'hadn't meant it', then they wouldn't be here.

"Leave already!," he finally growled and waved his hand to let them disappear, in one corner of hell for their centuries of punishment, that he knew was free. Of course, he separated the souls after their brightness.

He had thankfully been able to arrange, that the souls came in batches and not one by one – or he would go crazy! People died every second after all. They didn't all land in hell, but those, who did, could very soon become a chorus of whiny wimps...and a migraine-reason for him.

Sighing, he snapped his fingers and let a giant hourglass appear next to him, watching the dark blue glowing sand falling from the upper half in the lower one. "Two more weeks.," he growled impatiently.

Once every month, but never at the same time, there was a small time window for him to try and flee, then, there opened the gate between hell and Mobius. Even though he had never missed this time window since his imprisonment, he had never been able to make it out of this place.

"Why? Because the one, who had once caged him in this place, never missed it, too – and was always there to chase him back. Lately, he had simply put up a wall he just couldn't get past to stop him, as if to humiliate him even more. Oh...he hated him so much...

If only being here would be at least a little interesting! He sighed and rolled on his back, snapping his fingers again, to let the three souls appear, that he had bound to himself. They were connected with his throne by small golden chains, that wrapped around the flames.

These souls were different. They didn't have the usual red hue, but had their own special colors, they were so rotten, so dark and so void of regret or fear, that they had become unique. The first one was dark brown, the second dark gray and the third bright pink. "Why can't they be like you?," he asked, wistfully, waved his hand and called all three closer to him, the chains loosening for the time being.

With eyes full of adoration, he took the first one, the dark brown soul, in his clawed hand and caressed it, as if it was a pet. "Why can't they be like you, Jack the Rabbit, renamed Jack the Ripper? Nobody had ever realized, that it had been a harmless rabbit, who had killed all the mobians and humans. For twelve years had you been the nightmare for everyone, until a cold winter night ended your life far too early. Too bad, that you have been homeless. And the world had been so primitive back then... And yet, you don't regret it one bit. If only I could bring you back to life to murder more..."

With a small smile, he gently let the soul go and took the next one, the dark gray one. "Ah, Dr. Grayham. Like a modern Dr. Frankenstein, you had tried to create the ultimate lifeform. It's funny, your own creation was in the end emyour/em end. And still, you are trying to find ways to correct your mistake. If only you had still a body..."

He let the soul go and was pretty much jumped by the third. Chuckling, he took the soul in his hands, too. "Oh, I would never forget my precious little Rosy! The deadliest little girl I know! It was so thrilling to hear about your murders. It is such a shame, that your little heart couldn't take the stress. You could have become a star of crime, my dearest, your name whispered with fear for years to come! A shame, indeed."

Sighing once more and bracing himself for the next batch of damned souls, that he felt collecting, he let the trio of his favorites go back to their places and turned on his side again to watch the new souls coming.

His fiery red eyes widened in rare surprise, when in front of his eyes lit up dozens of souls, far more, than he was used to seeing in a single batch. Frowning, he stood up, weaving his way through the many flames, examining them. If he saw that right, then they had all died shortly after each other, at the same place, judging by the exact same hue of red they had. A mass suicide, perhaps?

He stopped upon seeing another hue, than red, in all of these flames. A completely black flame, practically giving out negative energy, glowing in the dark. It was rotten to the core, just like his favorite trio.

"My, my, what an evil little thing you are.," he smirked and called the soul over with his hand, letting it land on his other palm. "Now, tell me everything.," he ordered. Listening to the soul, his eyes narrowed and he smirked.

"Is that true?," he finally grinned, when the soul was done with telling. "In this case, I'll have a proposition for you, my friend..."

I'm sorry for the short and so far not really telling chapter. I had planned to upload the first chapter as well, but reading through it today, I found, that it isn't as good as I had wanted it to be. I'll need a little more time for it. I didn't want you to feel or think though, that I forgot you or about this story, that's why I gave you at least that prologue. I should be able to work further on the story between Wednesday and Friday, as I don't have any lessons there, so I figure, that you can expect the first real chapter on Friday at the latest.

Until then and have a nice Sunday!