Glaring, dark violet watched jealously as a blue and blond blur whizzed by, a flurry of quick feet, dancing and jumping through the falling snow that fell like powdered sugar onto the already sparkling city street.

Knuckles merely grunted as he turned the collar of his thin jacket higher, hiding the shiver that racked his body as the cold wind swept through him. He turned from the joyous trio of friends, opting to instead stare blankly out across the lonely street, huddling with his haunched shoulders closer to the tin, fire lit barrel, rubbing his freezing hands together.

He was filthy; Torn, baggy jeans soaking wet half way up his shins, stained with dirt and grease, a torn, thread bare, over-sized sweat shirt barely covering a limp, baggy white long sleeve, stained to a light gray. His mid back length dreads were underbrushed and, if possible, an even bigger greasy, tangled mess than his clothes and ratty, coarse fur put together. The worn combat boots cladding his feet were dirty and falling apart, literary, at the seems.

How he hated this place; This filthy, rat-infested city with its trapping walls (a false sense of security), its towering building with snarling, scowling inmates (selfish bastards), and cold, lonely streets.

His life was this city, dirty, desolate, criminal; He knew he belonged here. He didn't know why they were there. Clearly, they belong in this part of the city.

Whatever, he dismissed. Let them rot here as he'd been rotting for the past twelve years. They'd learn the same way he had: The one and only way of learning. The hard way.

He looked up suddenly at the sky.

Night-time.

The patrolling guards would be there shortly with their stunners and bikes; It was time to leave.

He turned dull violets back to the playing friends, scowling as he caught sight fully of their laughing smiling faces.

"We have to leave." he said shortly, stuffing his hands into his torn pockets. Ignoring the crest-fallen faces, he turned on his heel and began his way across the street, trooping silently through the freshly fallen snow.

Without really much of a choice, the two boys dejectedly followed with dragging feet.

He looked up again as the light dimmed darker, quickening his pace. "Hurry up," he gruffly said over his shoulder. He didn't look back to see if the two followed his order.

The light dimmed darker. He cast a worried glance above. At this rate, they'd never make it before the light went out completely.

He began to run, a full-on pelt through the snow, barking over his shoulder at his two fellow comrades.

The ran into the next street, running with pounding feet and crunching snow, careful of slipping on the glittering powder.

The light went out completely before they made it to the end of the deserted block.

Panic shot through his body. No way where they going to make it now...

As if on cue, a shout suddenly rang out, sharp and startling. At first, he didn't know where it'd come from; The two behind him or somewhere else. It took him a moment to figure out it'd come from his lips. He found himself laying on the snow covered ground, soaking into the cold snow and a coursing pain playing across his back. He gasped as something sharp stabbed through the fabric of his torn jacket, pricking his lower back.

"Knuckles?!"

"G-get-out-of-here..."

He could barely breathe, let alone force the words from his mouth the pain was so intense. He was completely immobilized, paralyzed on the cold, hard ground.

Something heavy and hard cracked against the base of his head, stunning him with even more pain until stars played across his eyes.

The edges of his vision began to blur together, darkening and creeping closer and closer.

"No use in fighting it..."

"It's so much easier to just except it, let the pain fade and just let go. There has to be a better place than this hell...right?"

His teachers had been right; What was the point in fighting the darkness? He'd lose in the end anyways, no point fighting the inevitable.

"Just let go, chada. Let the Wholes take you away."

Wholes?

"Beautiful creatures, winged 'angels' I suppose is what you'd call them. They're white, holy, pure, perfect, saving... They'll take you into the great beyond, away from the pain...just let go...join them in flight, join us in peaceful harmony..."

~!~

With pain-filled lavender eyes, she watched as he was carried in, dead-looking as they gently set him on the empty bed. She watched them leave, biting her lip nervously. AS they filed from the room, she quickly caught the automatic door and slipped into the room, her small, thin frame moving silently towards the silent, limp figure on the dirty bed.

Her once-upon-a-time bright eyes filling with tears, she reached out with a tentative hand and softly brushed his face, brushing the stray strands of loosened hair from his forehead, away from his unmoving face.

Please don't be gone, she begged silently as she stepped closer, leaning over his limp, unmoving body. Please, please, please...

Hours later, he'd still be dormant and barely breathing, the moving of his wrapped chest barely slight if anything at all. She dutifully stayed by his side, waiting determinedly, if with increasingly hopelessness, by the bed.