Author's Note: This is my much anticipated prequel to Steps to Acceptance. I've finally gotten around to posting it. For all those who haven't read the sequel, don't worry. It's not necessary to read it to understand what's going on (I would love it if you did though). It's only fair to warn you all, I'm not completely certain on where I'm going with this story. Usually I pretty much have everything already plotted out in my head, but not this time. I'm not writing totally blind, I do have a plan for this, but not everything is set in stone.

Disclaimer: I do enough damage with my stories alone! Could you imagine what I'd do if I actually owned Sonic?

Love Hate and Everything In Between

Prologue: Grey Hell

His world was grey. It surrounded him like a thick blanket, as far as the eye could see, as if all the colors of the world had bled together, and all that was left was this distorted mess. It varied in shades, lighter in some places, darker in others, but all in all it was the same empty grey oblivion. It was more suffocating than any prison, and with it came the inexplicable knowledge that it shouldn't be like this. Something should have been there. But he couldn't explain what that something was any more than he could explain how he knew it was missing.

And then there was the pain. It had always been there simmering in the background, it had just taken him a little while to recognize it. But it would not be ignored. It burned white hot through every molecule in his body, taking precedence over every other possible sensation. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, and for a moment his only thought consisted of pain, pain, pain.

Where am I?

Who am I?

More questions he couldn't answer, but he supposed it didn't truly matter. He would be dead soon. That much he was certain of. There was simply no way a person could go through such agony and live to tell the tale.

Oddly, the prospect of death didn't particularly alarm him, or at least not as much as it should have. He could hardly call just floating around in an empty void living, and compared to the nothingness and pain, dying would be a sweet release.

Maybe he already had. Maybe he had been a very bad person in life and he had been sent here as punishment. It made sense. That would explain why his body felt like it was on fire, and how he got to this vacant, washed out wasteland. Drowning in everlasting nothingness seemed to be a far more daunting sentence to him than eternal damnation burning in hellfire.

He would lose himself here. Of that he had no doubt. The pain, as unpleasant as it was, was the only thing keeping him grounded, and soon even that would fade, and whatever was left of him would fade with it. He could already feel himself drifting away…

It was impossible to tell how long he lied there, going in and out of consciousness. All he knew was seemingly out of nowhere there came a series of sounds. A swish of air, followed by a strange squeaking noise. And then there was a low murmur, much closer than where the other noises had originated. A voice, he realized, but it was muffled, as if it was trying to reach him through a long tunnel. If it was in any language he understood, he couldn't make it out.

It wasn't like the voice heralded a great burst of light and color and sound leading to his freedom, but it was something. Something he could hold on to.

Light pressure was applied to his throat, and there was more low murmuring. His body was abruptly shifted off the ground and he couldn't stop himself from emitting a soft whimper as the pain intensified with the change in altitude.

Floating above the ground was an extremely strange sensation. He knew he was being carried somehow, but all he could see was grey shadows, so it was like he was hovering on virtually nothing. But what happened next was strange enough to make him forget it all together.

His head was pressed into something warm and solid, and they began to move. Slowly at first, but steadily they started going faster and faster. Wind whipped around him on all sides, his ears popped, and it took a moment for him to be able to hear properly again.

And yet, all the while the voice never ceased, somehow seeming vaguely familiar, though he couldn't quite place it, and he found that if he really focused on the sound he could understand some of the words.

"Stay with me buddy. You're going to be fine."

The words were comforting, and they were said with such conviction he thought he could almost believe them.

Sorry that it's so short, but it's only the prologue. The other chapters will probably be longer, though I won't make promises on their exact length. And sorry if the descriptions were a bit vague. I was trying to write things as the character would perceive them in his hazy semi-conscious state. If anything confused you, feel free to ask me about it. Preferably in a lengthy review.

P.S: First person to correctly guess who "he" is in this chapter gets a cookie.