SpunkiSpirou: So recently my cat died which was very upsetting for me, and this story is based on that. I will say I've never been with someone who died in a hospital, so if there's anything not 'quite correct' with this it will be because of that.

Other than that, being a one off it is just this one chapter, I hope you enjoy it and please leave me a review at the end :)

Sayonara

January 31st

I was sat at home, nothing much was going on, just the usual. TV was on some random channel I wasn't necessarily watching and I was eating a pizza sandwich. That's when you have two small pizzas and you put them together with the cheese in the middle. I was part way through eating when my phone rang, it was strange for a Saturday, no one really contacted me ever.

I picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID. Amy. Hmm wonder what she wants, she never texts me let alone phones me.

"Hey Amy," I said after I pressed the answer button.

"Hey Silver are you on your own right now?" she asked me.

"Well I do live alone," I said.

"I've got some bad news," she said, the next part I didn't hear as she sobbed into the phone.

"Amy I can't understand what you're telling me?" I said, I only grasped a few words she was telling me. "Who has a tumour?"

"Blaze,"

Blaze.

I froze as her words echoed in my head. Blaze has a tumour. Surgery isn't an option. She might not live much longer. My best friend. I was going to lose her. I knew one day I would but I thought I'd have more time.

I ended the call and put the phone down next to me. All I could think of was Blaze and her tumour. When had it developed? Was she in pain? Was there a medication she could have for it? How long did she have left? I tried not to think too much of it, I stayed positive. I'd just seen her at the end of December and she was fine then. The tumour had just been found, she would be fine. Surely she was fine wasn't she?

February 2nd

Rouge had been messaging me that morning, telling me how she felt it was best I said bye to Blaze before she died and not be with her when she passed – like I wanted to be. I'd argued she was my best friend and I wanted to be by her side, I wouldn't forgive myself otherwise. I wanted to be the last person she saw.

Rouge was doing her best to put her foot with me, telling me I couldn't and I should just remember my happy days with Blaze. I'd already made up my mind though. I was going to be with Blaze when she passed away.

February 3rd

I woke up that morning, feeling strange. I felt like it was January 31st again and I was about to get the bad news about Blaze. I laid in bed staring at the ceiling, feeling strange. That strange feeling where you just sit and think about the world and what is beyond the world. When you die where do you go? Do you remember things from when you were alive? Do you forget who you knew?

The strange feeling was soon confirmed by a text from Rouge, telling me to come to the hospital and see Blaze, she didn't think she had much time left. I immediately got my things and headed towards the hospital.

It was beautiful and sunny outside with clear blue skies, it was almost the perfect day. I arrived some minutes later and was taken through to where Blaze lay. Rouge was sat near her holding her hand. I was shocked by what I saw. She'd been fit and healthy the last time I saw her but now she was so thin, I could see all the bones under her fur. Her left hand was significantly bigger than her right hand, I was told it was fluid build-up inside caused by the tumour. She looked awful, helplessly laid there. That moment I saw her, I knew today was going to be her last. And I was determined I would be with her when she took her last breath.

As I sat down beside her bed she turned to look at me and smiled. "Silver," she sounded weak.

"Hey Blaze," I said as I stroked the side of her face, it broke my heart to see her like that.

I sat with her, holding her hand in mine. A nurse came in with a small tray of food and began to feed her the steamed fish from the plate. She needed help to eat, it made me feel sad. Rouge took me to one side, away from Blaze and said how she thought it was best that Blaze be laid to rest and that she would have that done at the end of the week.

"No," I said. "I can't stand seeing her in that state, I want to let her go tonight and I want to be with her when she goes,"

"Silver you're too young, it's best you remember her when she was well,"

"She's my best friend, I can handle it," I said.

Rouge sighed. "Look, I have a meeting to attend to right now so you'll have the rest of the afternoon with her to say your goodbyes. I'm going to speak to the doctor tomorrow, after you've gone home, about letting her go,"

"If she goes I want to be with her,"

"I'll be back soon Silver," and with that she left the hospital.

I walked back into Blaze's room, the nurse was helping her back into bed. The tumour had caused Blaze to become incontinent and she required assistance to get to the toilet. It was no way to live. I returned to my chair next to her bed, taking her hand in mine. She turned to look at me, smiling slightly.

"Blaze," I looked into her eyes. "You are my best friend, and I love you too much to see you suffering like this," I let go of her hand and slowly got to my feet. "I'm going to be right back," and then I walked out of the room.

I went to go find the doctor, so I could speak to him about letting Blaze go. When I found him I asked him what the process involved and would Blaze feel anything. He told me they would administer a sedative to her, which would render her unconscious. They would then follow that with the anaesthetic via an injection which would end her life. I could feel the tears building up inside me, it was such a big decision resting on my shoulders, and as much as I wanted her to stay with me and not be without her, I had to do what was right for her.

"Would you like to go ahead with this?" the doctor asked me.

No, I said to myself. "Yes." I said to him.

"Okay, I will be back at five forty this evening," he nodded to me and then walked away.

I felt the tears running down my face as I looked up at a clock that hung on the wall. It was half past two. I had three hours left to be with her before her pain and suffering would be put to an end. I wiped my tears away, I had to stay as strong as possible for Blaze. I decided I was going to get her something nice, as my best friend she deserved something. Something she could take with her when she went.

I made up my mind in a matter of minutes and left the hospital, I was on a time limit, I couldn't be dawdling and wasting that time. It was painful enough being apart from her.

I walked into a small store that was down the street from the hospital and asked a store assistant if they had any nice blankets. I knew a Hello Kitty one at such short notice wouldn't be possible, so something just nice would do. She led me over to some hangers with different blankets on them, there was a big red one, a big blue one, various patterned ones that didn't look very warm and then a nice cream one at the far end. I selected the cream one, paid the four mobians for it and left the store, heading back to the hospital.

As I walked back in Rouge was stood there, she turned to me as I walked over holding the blanket.

"I spoke to the doctor about letting Blaze go and he told me you already spoke to him,"

I nodded.

"What's that?" she ushered towards the blanket I was holding.

"Its a blanket, I bought it for Blaze so she won't get cold when she leaves,"

Rouge rolled her eyes. "How much was it?"

"Four mobians,"

"Bit much just for a blanket,"

"Well its for Blaze, she's my best friend and she deserves the best of the best," I walked back to Blaze's room, Rouge followed.

When I entered the room some of our other friends were in there; Cream and Sonic, saying their goodbyes to Blaze.

Cream had brought some beautiful yellow flowers, she was all smiley and happy to see Blaze, Sonic had tears in his eyes though. He leaned over Blaze and hugged her as best he could, as she gently patted his side, she was so weak. I don't think Cream quite grasped what was going on, she wasn't going to see Blaze ever again after this meeting, but she was acting as though Blaze was going to get up and walk out the hospital tomorrow as fit as she used to be.

Sonic noticed me in the doorway and beckoned Cream that it was time to go.

"Bye miss Blaze!" Cream smiled as she skipped out of the room.

Sonic placed his hand on my shoulder and smiled at me, he patted me and then followed after Cream.

I looked at Blaze, she was looking at me with a smile on her face.

"Hey Blaze, I bought you this blanket," I said walking back over to her bedside. She smiled up at me as I laid it on her, making sure to tuck it under her chin. "It'll keep you nice and warm," I noticed how her once vibrant cyber yellow eyes now looked a dim shade of goldenrod. But her smile was still as bright as it always was.

Rouge followed me in and with tears beginning to drip down her face she said her goodbyes to Blaze, before nodding towards me and then walking back to the door. "I'll see you in thirty minutes Silver," and then she was gone.

I noticed another clock on a wall, it said the time was five thirty. The one day I didn't want time to fly by and it had, I had ten minutes left with her before the doctor would be coming in. I decided I wasn't going to waste those ten minutes.

I took her hand in mine once more and looked at her. "Blaze I want you to know something. I want you to know that you are my very best friend and I love you. And I knew the day would come that I would have to let you go," I could feel my eyes filling with tears. "And I don't want to let you go yet. But I don't want you to be in pain," the tears dripped down my face. "Seeing you today, I know this is the right thing to do, and I hope you see it that way too." I wiped the tears off my face, Blaze was looking at me, smiling and quietly purring.

It was then that the doctor walked in, he smiled, I was never sure why they smiled when they were about to essentially execute someone. He approached Blaze and placed his stethoscope onto her chest, underneath the blanket I had wrapped around her.

"Seems she has a slight heart murmur," he said as he removed the stethoscope. He began to gently feel along her body, pushing down slightly in selected areas, moving lower and lower. Blaze began to purr louder and louder. He asked me to step outside the room for a moment with him.

I told Blaze I would be right back as I followed the doctor outside the room. He told me her purring was a good sign but the tumour inside of her had spread, instead of being in one location it was spaced out throughout her lower regions and removal of it would be extremely tricky. There was only two options, the first was to let her live to the end of her last breath naturally, but that meant she would eventually get blockages and be vomiting and not able to keep food down. Or the second option was to let her go. I agreed to the second option once more and we re-entered the room.

I took Blaze's hand in mine and looked into her eyes as the doctor prepared the sedation injection, which would render her unconscious. I didn't see where he inserted the needle, I was too busy gently stroking Blaze's face with my spare hand. He told me he would return in a few minutes and with that he left the room and I was alone with Blaze.

I gripped her hand in mine and leaned towards her head, gently resting mine against hers. They say that when its someone's time they have an odd smell about them, Blaze usually smelt like sweet grapes, but that smell wasn't there anymore. Just an unexplainable weird one that I'd never smelt before. She seemed to grow tired and sunk down in her bed, I squeezed her hand and she squeezed mine back in return. I didn't expect her to squeeze my hand, so I squeezed hers back and she returned with another squeeze back to me.

Her smile slowly began to fade, the drug was starting to take affect. She began licking her lips and swallowing, it was an odd thing she used to do whenever she had a hairball and wanted to spit out something yucky she had gone to eat but then didn't like. I was tempted to call the doctor because I thought there was something wrong with her, as in seriously wrong, not what was already wrong with her. But instead I put my hand on her face and held her against my chest.

"Blaze I love you," I said as the tears began welling up in my eyes again. "I love you so much. Never forget that I love you," tears began streaming down my face, dripping onto Blaze's face beneath me. "I love you, I love you so much," I kept repeating the same words over and over again, I didn't know what else to say to her.

I felt the grip on my hand loosen, I squeezed her hand but she didn't squeeze back. I choked back a sob, I saw her eyes had closed. I leaned back into my seat and as I did her head slid to one side of her pillow. The medication had taken its effects on her. I burst into a flood of tears, squeezing her hand in mine and uncontrollably sobbing. "Blaze no!" I cried, my nose began to run too but I didn't care about it, all I cared about right there in that moment was Blaze. "I love you, I love you Blaze," I repeated again as the doctor walked back in.

I began to ask him if she'd gone but he told me she was just unconscious. He took her hand and turning it over he shaved a bit of fur off from the underside of her arm, I watched as the small clump of fur landed on the blanket I'd gotten her and I moved to pick it up. I asked the doctor if I could keep it and he said he would get me something to put it in.

He was looking for a vein to inject her with the anaesthetic, her veins were so thin though that he was having difficulty. I watched as the needlepoint entered a thin vein on her arm and underneath the skin I saw the blue liquid begin to fill up. He put his stethoscope to her chest for a few moments and then picked up the needle again, the vein wasn't good enough and he had to inject into her side. He replaced the stethoscope onto her chest once more and after just a few seconds announced her heartbeat had stopped.

She was gone.

I began to cry again, tears streamed down my face as I laid my head on the side of her bed, still holding her hand in mine. My best friend was gone forever and I'd never felt so alone as I did right there at that moment. The doctor let me sit with her for a few minutes more but I knew I couldn't stay there forever, as much as I wanted to, I had to go back home.

As I stepped onto the dark street outside the hospital I felt drops of water hitting the back of my head, I looked up at the night sky as more drops hit my tear streaked face. It had been such a beautiful day and now it was as if the sky was mourning her death too. I started my journey back home, I could feel my tears beginning to well up again and spill down my face. It was eerily quiet, there wasn't another soul walking along the street, no cars, nothing but the sound of the raindrops hitting the ground.

I looked up at the sky again, although it was raining there didn't seem to be any clouds overhead but the moon looked huge. I'd never seen the moon look so big and so bright before, it was such a beautiful sight. Not far from the moon was one star shining brightly, but there wasn't any others I could see.

I soon reached my home and went back inside. I'd left the light on as I always did, glancing up at the clock on my wall it was just past seven. An hour since Blaze had gone, the memory was still fresh in my mind. I sat down on my couch and opened my laptop on the table, I just wanted to put some music on as I didn't feel much like watching the TV.

Opening the various folders on my desktop there was Blaze's music folder, I opened the folder and there was one file inside it, I activated it, set it to repeat and laid back on the couch to listen. As soon as the track began I recognised it instantly as her favourite song. And the floods of tears began again.

I sprawled on my couch sobbing into a cushion, I wanted to hug Blaze so badly, she was my whole world and I'd ended hers. Did I murder her? I didn't ask her what she wanted. I didn't ask her if she wanted to leave. I made the decision on my own. Did that make me a murderer? Did I kill my best friend? I began to cry louder. I started to believe I'd made a mistake and I wanted her back so badly. I wanted to hug her one last time, I wanted to feel her soft warm fur. I wanted her back.

My mind changed frames again and I told myself of how much pain she was in and letting her go was the best thing to do even though it hurt, it wouldn't hurt forever but it would hurt for a little while.

I looked up at the clock on my wall. It was past midnight now, February fourth. I didn't realise I'd been crying for so long, I didn't know I had that many tears in me. Blaze's music track was still on repeat, it made me feel like she was there with me. I couldn't be bothered to go to bed, I almost felt like I was in a horrible nightmare and I would wake up the next morning and none of this horribleness would ever have happened. I sighed, sniffed and then closed my eyes, listening to the lyrics of that song as I drifted off to sleep. Knowing that I was the last person she saw, and that I loved her.

#Ai wa hana, inochi no hana. Kimi wa, sono tane.

SpunkiSpirou: In loving memory of my beautiful little girl, Chichi "Chinky" Maggai (April 18th 2000 ~ February 3rd 2015).