He never saw it coming.
He had always believed that he was stronger, faster, better. That he would always be one step ahead of Eggman.
One step ahead of Death.
He was wrong.
Knuckles had always said that he was getting too cocky, and should be more careful. Shadow had always known that his attitude would be his downfall. And, somewhere deep down, he had known that as well. He had put on the cocky grin and go easy attitude to cover his greatest fears and hide his dreams. In the eyes of the public, he was a hero, and he had let that get to him. It had made him feel powerful, stronger, braver. It had made him feel like he could escape his greatest fear. Like he could escape Death. Like he could help his friends escape Death.
But Death spares no one.
Not even heroes.
It had started like any other day. Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive, the worlds greatest hero, was taking a break from saving the world and was doing what he loved most- relaxing with his two closest friends, Tails and Amy at Tails' workshop. Nothing had happened for a while, and while Sonic loved taking time off, he was growing bored of his break, and wanted nothing more than for Eggman to attack, just to give him something to do.
They say you should be careful of what you wish for.
But when has Sonic ever been careful?
So, when the report came over Tails' radio, it was almost a godsend for Sonic. "This just in from Station Square- What appears to be the Egg Carrier has just appeared over the city. Various attempts to get this craft out of the air have proved futile, an-" The signal went dead. After a moment's pause, Sonic sighed and stood up, a grin on his face. The moment he had secretly been praying for had come.
"Time for me to go break Eggman again."
Tails stood up. "I'll come with you! We can take the Tornado! I just got a new engine installed an-"
"NO!"
Tails and Amy both stared at Sonic with shock. He had never been this defensive about fighting Eggman. "I want to take care of this myself, Tails. You n Amy can stay here and work with your planes, I'll be back soon, ok?" Tails merely shrugged and went back to the Tornado. Sonic knew what he was doing; he could handle himself. Amy just watched as her hero, her love, ran off to save the world again. She knew that Sonic could handle himself, but she also knew that no matter how great a hero he was, an entire battleship might be too much for him to handle alone. She knew that she was breaking his orders. And she didn't care. She loved him, and would do anything to protect him.
Amy had no idea what she was going to get herself into.
"Hey Eggman! Long time no see," Sonic said. Eggman smiled slightly. He had been fighting Sonic long enough to finally figure out how that blue hedgehog worked. He knew that Sonic would come here alone, afraid for his friends safety. But he also knew that Sonic couldn't fly, which meant that Sonic couldn't get to him. So, he simply landed the Egg Carrier, knowing that blue hedgehog would come to him, alone. And he knew that his desire to keep his friends safe, his desire to fight alone, would be his downfall.
"I've been expecting you, Sonic. In fact, I missed you so much…"he pushed a button on the ship's control panel, on the main outside deck of the Egg Carrier, and opened some doors, releasing an army or robots. They weren't very complex robots, just Egg Pawns. But there were a lot of them, and instead of being pained the typical Egg Pawn yellow and orange, they were red and black with a skull and crossbone on their chests. They were a walking symbol of death. "I got you some playthings!" Sonic grinned again, and Eggman did as well. Everything was going according to plan. Now, he just needed to wait...
"Sonic? Sooonnniiiccc!" Amy called out for her hero in vain. She had only gotten to the Egg Carrier a moment ago, due to her lack of transport. "Sonic….please be alright…." She was worried, and she needed to act fast. She only had an hour to find Sonic before Cream, who had flown her over here, came and picked her and Sonic up. That's when she heard it. An explosion. She knew that Sonic was in trouble. So she ran. She
followed the explosions until she came to the main control room. Until she came to Sonic. "Sonic!"
He froze. It was Amy. Why had she followed him again? Didn't she know she was in danger? Why didn't she stay away? It didn't matter now. Sonic knew that protecting Amy was more important now than stopping Eggman. "Sonic, are you alright?" Sonic didn't say anything. He could only watch in horror as Eggman pushed a button on the control panel and ran off. That definitely wasn't a good sign. Everything that happened there seemed to move in slow motion.
The robots surrounded both Sonic and Amy.
And one by one, each of the robots went into self-destruct.
There was no turning back for Sonic. He stopped thinking, he stopped caring about himself. All that mattered to him was keeping her alive.
He pushed her out of the way, and she watched in horror as a circle of robots blew up, taking Sonic with them.
They say that no good deed goes unpunished.
They also say that the ultimate punishment is death.
Therefore, the greatest good must pay the greatest price.
Sonic was hit by a blast of heat and debris from the exploding robots. As the darkness began to consume him, he felt like his soul was being eaten by the fires of hell itself. The impact of the explosion was so great that Amy, who wasn't near it, was knocked backwards and into a wall.
When the smoke cleared, Amy found him lying among the pile of scrap metal and robot parts. It pained her to look at him, knowing that he was badly injured because of her. She checked for a pulse. She found one. He was alive….but just barely. "Sonic…please….please wake up…don't leave me…."
"….Amy?" She forced back her tears and smiled a little bit.
"Sonic….I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" "heh…I'm sorry….If I had just been faster…" He was crying. That was when she knew he wasn't going to make it, and she started to cry as well.
"Sonic, please don't leave me…I need you….I love you, Sonic…please, don't die…"
Please don't take Sonic away from me…
Please, God….I need him…we all need him… She knew that her pleas were useless. She knew that nothing could stop Death from taking the one she loved…..but she didn't care. "I'm sorry, Amy…..tell the others…that I'm sorry…" They say that Death spares no one. Not even Sonic the Hedgehog. They were right...