A/N: Rated M for language, violence, gore, and references not suitable for the younger audiences.

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Angels and Demons

RIDE THE LIGHTNING

Outside Tails's Workshop…

Rage The Hedgehog's POV

Three years later...

"Where am I?" his thoughts seemed to echo; unless they were words….He couldn't tell.

"Am I, dead...?"

"Is this hell...?"

He could just barely hear the sound of voices coming from above. A stinging sensation struck his chest and he instinctively reached up to grab it only to be stopped by...wood?

Instantly, he put two and two together. "I'm in a coffin?"

FLASH

Rage fought back with everything he had. But it was hardly helping. Nitas returned every punch with one equally as strong. Blood dripped down Rage's teeth, the feral energy explicitly present in his body language. He literally shook with fury, as white as the fire that engulfed him. The flames licked his fur and curved under the force of his will. Using the Master Emerald's energy, Rage cried out as his power level rose once more. Nitas was hopelessly outmatched now. Nitas glowed and radiated a black and dark energy, whereas Rage, expelled deep red energy, both breathing heavily from their duel.

A stone fist with long, sharp, multiple points jutting out of the knuckles—rocketed from his side, crashing into Nitas' stomach. Rage struck him again, this time in the chin with his elbow, and followed up by whip lashing his arm, by which his fist collided with his cheek, followed by a series of vicious dagger-like attacks, in which Rage jabbed his fingers hard into Nitas's solar plexus, and ending with a spinning kick to the face. Nitas hurtled uncontrollably towards the sun, but Rage moved at lightning fast speed and reached it first. Nitas's head came closer, and Rage brought his foot up hard.

Again he beat Nitas to the front and flipped around, bringing his elbow down on his enemy's forehead. Once more, Rage reached the front and gave a solid roundhouse, sending his counterpart spinning through dead space. Nitas had only a split-second to recover his orientation before Rage was on him again. The hero came with his fist drawn back for his next blow. Rage dug another punch into Nitas' cheek and sent him hurtling back.

Electric bonds appeared, binding the evildoer where he was, as Rage prepared for his final blow. "…this, this is for Scarlet." The gruesome image of his girlfriend lying on the ground, precious life liquid draining quickly from her wounded body tugged at his heart. And for an instant, an instant only, his heart turned black as ice; But that moment was all he needed. Nitas tried to talk his way out, "Go ahead!" he taunted, "Do it!" Nitas grinned manically. "But remember, I'm a part of you. If you kill me, you destroy half of yourself!" Nitas said still grinning.

"Well that's a risk I'm willing to take." Rage said in a chilling tone, that same determined look clinging to his face. He was all soldier now-cold, heartless, calculating. "Adios, Nitas The Dark Hedgehog." He said with grim finality. A Katana and double-edged sword materialized in his hands. Rage electrified the blades, and sped towards his dark counterpart, the blades sparked with energy, and the last thing seen was a bright flash followed by an explosion. The sound appeared to echo, throughout all space and time.

Immediately following the flash…

"I stared back towards Earth, it looked dry. The water had disappeared completely. I felt my life and energy drain me, the Chaos Emeralds heading back towards Earth, suddenly it began to feel very cold. I felt I was freezing in space, like a giant icicle, my body grew rigid, blood stopped flowing, I closed my eyes, watching the last of the stars pass by, and the sun disappear from sight, it was finally over."

I open my eyes, I see clouds. I open them again, I see my brothers. I open them once more…and I see my sister, Amy, and she looks sad. Why is she sad?

I strain my neck to where she is looking.

…Ahh. That's why. A blur of white glinting off the passing light sources as they rushed together in a pair of parallel lines. The white blurs of coats from what I would guess would be other Mobians trained in dealing with such medical situations. "Don't be sad Amy. Be happy. You look so beautiful when you're happy. Be happy please? Smile, just smile, one more time…For me…"

FLASH

"Of course…" he remembered.

*Crunch*

What was that?

*Crunch, crunch, crunch,*

A pinhole of light started to poke through. Then another, and another; Soon they consumed the darkness, leaving nothing but blurry white light against the hedgehog's eyelids. And just like that, it was gone…snuffed out by the returning darkness.

"What the hell?" he thought.

More voices.

It sounded like one of them was crying. Rage silenced his thoughts for a moment so to hear better. It was definitely female. "Amy..." he assumed. "Amy!" he cried, pounding against the hard wood lid of the casket. "Amy it's me! I'm alive!" Desperately, he tried to push open the lid, using his knees to try and lift the lower half as well. "Damn it! What the fuck is going on here?" the hedgehog shouted in anger. Pressing his hand against the wood again, he tried to burn a hole through to the exterior, but could not seem to summon the ability.

He tried freezing the lid with ice to weaken the wood and break through. At one point he thought he was getting somewhere, but after a few fruitless shots to the varnish he realized that it was just chilly. The hedgehog sighed in disappointment, for whatever reason he couldn't use his powers. Throwing his fists up again in frustration he left minor insignificant indentations in the laminate of the wood, not even getting past that, which only angered him more. "God-fucking DAMN IT!" he cried, vexed at his position.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" came another voice, only this one sounded like it was lying right next to him. "Who's there?" Rage called out, searching the vast coffin for the owner. Angel dismissed him casually, "It's me jackoff." remembering the little conscience he hardly listened to during his last grudge match in the sky, 'A-Angel?' Rage recognized his own voice now, and felt laughably stupid. "Attagirl." he teased, "I take it you're looking for some answers…?" With a raspy voice, the ex-corpse replied, albeit bitterly. "Yes, answers would be nice."

"You're kinda bitchy today aren't you?"

"I'm in a box."

"A fancy bo-"

"-A box."

"Heh-heh, you're a jack in the box." Angel chuckled. Rage didn't find it so hilarious, 'funny how I still have room to reach down an-"

"Alright, alright! Let's get a move on! For starters, you're in a coffin."

'No shit.'

'A coffin is also known as a casket, which is used to bur-'

'Ugh..dude!'

"Look, you blew an iron prison door off its hinges, this shouldn't be that hard."

Rage thought back to his prison break for a moment, but remembered his current situation. 'There's just one problem.' he replied. 'I'm not strong enough. It seems I've lost all my powers.' Angel sighed in annoyance. 'Fine, I'll help you out here but I would advise against it.' he cautioned.

'I would advise you just go with it. I really don't want to spend an eternity with YOU as my only companion.' the ex-corpse retorted. 'Aw, it's not that bad. And hey, What's that they say about solitary confinement? Oh yeah, Just a man and his thoughts. His endless, endless thoughts...' he argued back. 'Who says that? Name one person.' Angel stuttered unable to provide a reputable answer. And if you don't, I'll spend all eternity singing Smack That over and over again!' Angel cringed at the prospect of a tone deaf, hedgehog trying to belt out a lyric. 'Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you-'

'-Great thanks.' Rage began punching and clawing his way out with unorganized ambition. "You know, I've only been..."Conscious?" for a minute and already I'm starting to miss that virgin mouth of yours." he grinned. "I'm starting to miss being dead." the entity bantered back. Like a blast of wind, he punched through the decaying hardwood, sending splinters through the fist sized hole. Almost immediately, dirt began to amass in his mouth catching him by surprise. "Shit!" he cried out. Spitting out the dirt and clenching his mouth shut, the hedgehog breathed through his nose as he continued to make the hole larger and larger.

A distant memory began to draw itself up from the roots of his brain.

FLASH

"What's up Volt?"

The hedgehog in question kept his eyes fixated on the flickering screen before him, not moving or blinking. If not for the barely noticeable rise and fall of his chest, along with the thin dribble of drool running from the corner of his mouth Rage would assume he was dead.

"Mindfreak."was his reply."This dude's crazy, he's about to bury himself alive and then dig his way out."

The light blue hedgehog scoffed at the simple parlor trick. "Tsk, that's nothing, I could do that."

A laugh emitted from the lethargic hedgehog. "Well, with an attitude like that, you just might have to."

Rage watched for a few more minutes as rain began to fall on the grave, packing the dirt and turning it into muck. A clock appeared on the screen showing the elapsed time Criss had been buried. The expressions the spectators wore were nothing but fear. After what apparently had been well over forty minutes, a clump of dirt finally began to stir. Eventually, rising from underneath was a muddy finger, followed by four others. A moment later, an entire arm emerged from the grave site, connected to a head.

"Looks like Criss did his homework." Volt announced.

"This is stupid." Rage grunted, "You're stupid." the lime green hedgehog increased the volume on the channel as a response. A clear indication that the conversation was over.

FLASH

Rage scratched and clawed, covered in dried blood that had formed into crusts. Mud caved in around him, smothering his body and crushing his lungs. He must have been digging for about at least half an hour. The dirt/muck seemed to be fighting back; throwing every natural obstacle against him. The earthy smell around him had a metallic tinge to it, making him scrunch his nose in disgust. "Most likely from the water seeping in." he thought. It was only after the initial thought that he realized it was raining. And it was after that thought, that he realized it had been for quite a while for the mud beneath the topsoil to be soaking wet already.

Rage continued to scrape away the mud, but the more he dug, the more it kept piling in and constricting him. He felt like a clamp was crushing his bones. The mud that fell through slipped into the new cuts in his fingers and knuckles, stinging them all over.

The will to survive suddenly grew stronger with the rush of all the familiar faces he would see. Finally, he would be able to have deep conversations with Shadow again; to be able to watch Tails as he steadily worked on his machines, inquiring every now and then about what this did or that, not really remembering what he said, but just so he would feel proud to share his knowledge; to spar with Knuckles and joke about how Sonic never took off his shoes or how he would cuddle with them at night when he was in bed.

Amy…

How he missed her. And Scarlet of—

-oh, right.

For a moment the faces of his friends and family disappeared along with his will to live. But he still wanted it for whatever reason; despite that he felt like dying all over again.

Still he climbed and he climbed, until finally he broke through, bathing in the fresh air that greeted him.

There was a very light stink in the air from the earthworms crawling out of their burrows. The sky was blocked out by clouds, which could only barely be seen when a bolt of lightning cracked across the firmament, but he knew it was late in the afternoon; right around the turn of two.

The ground was covered in an eerie mist, and the rain…it continued to fall, drenching the undead hero in its beads of liquid glass. It congratulated him for succeeding. The entire landscape, wherever he was, was wet and dark. Like something straight out of a movie. He couldn't determine where the ground he was laying on ended and where it began. But it looked strangely familiar, excluding the barren wasteland appearance it now held. Everything was gray. And only a few patches of grass were present. Another bolt of lightning struck, and against the light he recognized immediately where he was.

Reaching with a muddy hand, he dug his fingers into the earth and turned himself over so that he was face up. He breathed heavily, exhausted from his ordeal. His chest rose and fell as he felt the dryness of three years worth of thirst line his throat. This whole thing was throwing him out of perspective.

What happened? Where was he? Why was he so weak?

He couldn't remember anything, save for how he died.

"God," he coughed. "I should have stayed dead." he joked.

Ultimately, he decided that after such an ordeal, much needed rest was the most reasonable thing to do. Given that he clearly wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon, he dragged himself to the side of a rocky cliff and rested against the wall for support, ignoring the soreness in his arms and legs and not paying much care for the fact that it was still raining.

Dream Sequence

Everything was black as night. The only visible thing was a lone hedgehog standing in the darkness.

"Seven…" came what sounded like a voice. Rage turned this way and that in search of the owner but he couldn't locate the source.

"Seven…"

Rage turned face forward again to find a giant set of slot machine spinners reading, "BAR" all the way across. As if merely looking at them was enough to get them going, they began spinning rapidly. The first ended with a loud thud and was accompanied by the number Seven. The second one followed suit in decidedly the same manner. Then the third slot followed. But the slot began a loud cracking sound as it came alive once more. The third slot rotated dreadfully slow. Rage instinctively reached out to aid it when the "Seven" had turned to a skull with flesh eyes and a bowie knife lodged in the cranium. The jaw was set to mimic a human screaming in agony…he couldn't imagine why…

A snake coiled itself in, out, and around the skull. Slime dripped from its menacing body as it created poison green puddles.

"Ssssevennn…"

Rage must have missed something, because the third slot had disappeared along with its counterparts, leaving only the skull and all its surrealism. Looking up to see the eyes; even though they dangled loosely from their sockets and kept redirecting their gaze repeatedly, they had somewhat focused their glare on the miniature being in front of them.

"Seven, seven beings, seven meanings, seven strengths..."

The snake curled up beneath the floating skull, rearing its head with its mouth wide open. A blackened heart presented itself from its mouth, flopping down in front of the hedgehog with a splat. Droplets of blood spattered themselves across the floor, a few of them landing on the hedgehog, who flinched in disgust. The serpent then regurgitated something else.

Or someone else…

It was Sonic…

"What do you want Sonic?" instantly he was filled with an unprovoked hatred for the hero.

"Change..." he replied. "Change what?" Now the hedgehog was curious. "Time." Sonic stated. "Four deaths. One in the past, one in the present, one in the future, one that wasn't stopped."

His voice made the hedgehog's skin tingle in suspicion but he scratched it absent-mindedly.

A patch of flesh fell from his arm. "What the-" Rage gazed at the piece, stupefied. The flesh continued to drop to the floor in clumps of skin, blood, and fur. Rage dug his fingers into his flesh, he wanted to stop but couldn't. His body was moving on its own. The pain of flesh being ripped from his body was more than excruciating. It started from the arms, and then the face, the body and legs soon followed. "What the hell?!" he cried. His hands were covered in thick red liquid. Rage looked up, and immediately regretted it. "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" she shouted. "Scarlet?"

"DIIEE!" her head rotated on an axis. Her eyes were pools of blood. Tears of the same liquid trickled down and the wound from the bullet Nitas had shot her with was leaking with the substance as well. Rage backed away from the specter, desperate to escape, but was soon met with a searing jolt of pain all along his back. "AAHHH!" he cried in agony, a wall of fire prevented him from going anywhere. His entire back was covered in skin which was completely fried.

The flames eventually subsided to find another ghost of his girlfriend approaching from that direction as well. Rage turned another direction and wasn't more then two steps when another wall of flames emerged and scarred his face. Rage stumbled around as the walls emerged and burned him repeatedly. Finally he collapsed on the ground as the pain finally went away. When he opened his eyes he noticed red markings against the unforgiving darkness. He stood up, realizing he was stuck inside a circle.

A ring of fire…

Ghosts from all four directions began closing in, each taking on distressed expressions. They all crossed the threshold at once, closing the gap between him and them. Immediately the one in front of him clung to his body in a desperate manner. "Rage!" she cried, "Why did you do it Rage?!" tears traced a trail down her cheeks. "Why didn't you save me?!"

"Why did you let me die?!"

"Why didn't you stop him?!" she shrieked. The others grabbed onto him as well. "Why didn't you save us?" she begged, "Save us…" they drawled, all the voices were blending together, crying their own pleas of distress. "Save us!" they cried, "Why didn't you save us?!" they cried, "Why did you do it?!" Rage backed away further, finding himself uncharacteristically frightened by her tortured image. "I-I didn't mean too!" he stammered, frantically trying break free of her grip; but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't, they were holding on with an unnatural strength. "YOU let me die!" she screamed as anger quickly replaced sorrow.

"It's YOUR fault! YOU KILLED ME!" she bellowed, shoving her index finger in his face and chest with each word, letting them burst from her joint and burrowing into his heart by the ton. "I-It's not my fault, I swear!" Rage backed up further, stepping outside the circle. "I didn't do it!" Scarlet shouted once more at the top of her lungs, "MURDERER!" and then she burst into flames as the circle came alit with fire, engulfing her completely.

Rage watched her cry out in pain as her mouth contorted in a gaping misshapen circle. Her incisors glinted against the flames, and her body seemed to collapse in on itself, trying to avoid the inevitable death. It all happened so fast that when it was all over her body lay unconscious on the ground, her clothes were tattered and torn from the flames which left scratches and burns on her fur. Instinctively he ran over to the specter and cradled her in his arms. "Scarlet, please, Save your energy…"

The hedgehog watched the scene unfold before his eyes, everything up till the point were he fell from space, he looked back down from the falling replica to see a sweaty Tails and battle-torn Amy running east toward Station Square. "Guys, over here!" he shouted, "Help us!" but the images faded, clearly running to assess a more urgent situation. Rage looked back down but Scarlet was gone, leaving him alone again, in the dark, on his knees, to cry in his misery. His spirit as damp, and black as he himself.

End Dream Sequence

"Plip…plop…plip, plip, plip."

"Ugh…"

"Wake up Sleeping Beauty, you've got work to do."

"Shut up Angel." Rage groaned.

'I didn't say that.' Angel replied.

"Well then who-"

Rage looked up in front of him to see the God of Destruction looming over him; for a second he thought he was about to be re-buried. "C-Chaos?" he choked. "Why are you here?" Rage scrambled to his feet, preparing himself for a fight. He wasn't sure if he was still dreaming or not but he was half hoping he wasn't. Though he didn't really know which one was worse. What the creature said next didn't make him any less wary.

"To enlighten you."

Well that's chapter one re-done. Next chapter will be re-edited AGAIN. so don't expect the story to go anywhere until then. I'm fleshing out my storyline so I'm not going to be posting too fast, but then, when have I ever done that? I'm starting to have second thoughts about the OC Fight story, I'm not really generating any good ideas for it and it seems kind of pointless to write. Sorry all, I know those who submitted their entries were excited to see it finished but I just lost steam on that one. I'm going to be focusing on this story primarily and I might start trying to do Fics centered around the actual Sonic characters to try and strengthen my writing skills. Thanks everybody.