I haven't written any fanfics in a good while, so I'm a bit nervous. I did some research on the Sonic universe, but I'm not sure how accurate all of it is. If anyone spots a mistake, please let me know so I can learn from it.
One more thing, I'm following the English translation of Charmy being six instead of being sixteen for this fanfic.
Espio watched his calendar closely all year just to prepare for today. Every year on this day, he faced his memories and feelings attached to them taunting him. He didn't like being stuck in the past, but at the same time his problems always put up a big fight.
He closed his eyes tighter, trying to meditate. He wanted to push all the memories and the pain away. He shouldn't had been having much trouble with it, especially since Charmy wasn't pestering him like usual. Heck, even Vector hadn't been bothering him with his blaring music today. In fact, he hadn't seen either of them all day. The only clue he got from their whereabouts was a note on the kitchen table, saying that they had some detective business to attend. Espio thought it was strange that they left him behind and that they woke up before he did. He was the only early bird around the place since Vector and Charmy preferred sleeping in if they had the chance. He wasn't going to complain about having time to himself, though.
He always thought that having their home to himself for the day would be a dream come true. No one to bug him while meditating. No one to eat all his favorite cereal. No one to put the stereo up at an atrocious volume. No one to play a prank him. No one to invade his personal space.
Instead of what he imagined, the entire place felt hollow and empty. He should had been used to it since that was how a large chunk of his life was like. He shook his head, calling himself a whiny idiot. It was all in the past now.
He decided to get up to find something to eat. Maybe food would help him clear his mind. He opened the fridge in the kitchen to hopefully find some leftovers. Unfortunately, someone seemed to had grabbed the last leftover box of take-out they had last night. Sighing, he crouched down to get a red apple.
He took a few bites out of it while he headed for the living room, letting himself plop on the couch. Grabbing the remote control off the small, wooden table next to him, he flipped on the television to start channel surfing. Nothing really good was on, so he chose whatever was the most bearable, the news.
Other than a few burglaries that are common and a vandalized store, nothing too serious was going on, not that Espio wanted something bad to happen. The sound of rain beating on the window like impatient fingers caught his attention. He glanced at the clock hanging on the hall opposite him. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon.
Where are they? Couldn't they had at least told me where they went?
When the news ended, he flipped through a few more channels until he came across a movie he already seen. Only a few minutes after he starting watching it, commercials came on. He figured suffering through a few of them couldn't had been too bad, so he decided to stick it out. However, he wasn't counting on seeing a pizza commercial with a family having dinner. Knot filling his stomach, he used the remote to switch the television off.
He just sat there, remembering his so-called family. He never knew his father. He wasn't even around when he hatched.
"Mommy." Four year old Espio tugged on his mother's sleeve. "What happened to my daddy?"
The woman kept sewing the blanket without saying anything.
Espio was very confused. Most of the other kid's mothers talked to them a lot of times while he was lucky to get a few words out of his own.
Espio never really got an answer to his question until around two to three years later.
"You do realize he left because of you, right?"
Espio looked up, surprised that his mother said something. His homemade paper soldiers laid neglected on the floor.
"Who left?" Espio asked.
She just stood there with her back facing him, washing dishes. So many minutes passed, Espio wondered if she was going to answer him at all.
Drying off her hands with her apron, she said, "If he didn't know about your egg, he wouldn't of left to..."
Tossing the rag on the counter, she rushed upstairs. Espio didn't understand what happened too well, but he was still hurt by what his mother did. He cried, the only way he knew to let out the hurt. She spent the rest of the night upstairs, leaving the paper soldiers to be his only company.
Even to this day, he never knew for sure what happened to his father except for some guesses he made with the little information he had. He guessed his father either wandered off and gotten killed or abandoned him and his mother when he was still in the egg. Either way, it left his mother to be a heart broken mess.
Snapping back to reality, Espio realized that he had his hand on the screen door's knob, front door wide open.
Why did I...
He removed his hand off it.
I don't even remember...
Surveying through the screen door, he felt tempted by the rain. He opened the door and stepped out, letting the screen door slam behind him. He started walking without a planned destination.
The rain felt very great on his skin. He always loved the rain. Not only did it feel nice to him, but the rain seemed to make a soothing melody that was created from tapping on all kinds of different objects.
The few people on the street rushed past him to escape the rain as quickly as possible. Once they were gone, it left Espio alone, giving him a unique feeling of solitude his own home couldn't provide.
The park he passed looked a lot like the one during his childhood, the one that always gave him dread.
Hiding behind a tree, he checked for anyone ahead of him. He had two options: go through the park and risk them finding him or go completely around the park and risk being late. His mother had already started letting him starve for the night for being late.
The cheap, gross slop didn't seem to be worth the risk, but she couldn't afford to give him lunch for school. He already had to rely on finding a wild berry bush in the woods or the garbage for breakfast.
Gulping, he crept around the tree, camouflaging himself to the best of his ability. He knew it was pointless. They were good at finding him no matter what he attempted, and the snow crunching under his feet gave away his position. His tattered school bag, which couldn't be invisible like him, wasn't helping his situation either.
Eyes darting around, he kept checking for them. Once he reached the frozen water fountain, he started to sprint. Ahead of him, he saw the park's sign that was his checkpoint. As soon as he reached beyond there, he would be out of the park and a lot closer to home. His heart leapt in joy right when he got past the sign.
Suddenly he felt someone grab his backpack. Stronger arms wrapped around him to put him in a headlock. His bones felt crushed, his breathing became strained, and his muscles ached.
Out of the bushes, he saw the older chameleons leave their hiding spots. The blue and oldest one, Nathan, took the lead.
"Well, well, well." Nathan stood in front of captured Espio. "I'm hurt that you tried to run ahead without giving your buddies a hello. What's wrong? We not good enough for you?"
Nathan's group snickered in the background. Even if Espio wasn't being crushed, he would had held his tongue.
Nathan threw him a punch in the stomach. "C'mon, talk. Don't be rude."
Espio tried to let his mind drift off somewhere else. He was really tired of this. Because of them, he was going to be late for supper again.
"Maybe he's got something stuck in his throat," one of the other chameleons suggested.
Nathan cupped his own chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, is that so?"
"Maybe he needs a drink," another boy suggested.
"Where are we gonna find him something to drink?" Nathan asked hypothetically, staring around the park. "The pond and fountain is frozen, so that's out."
He stared down at the ground. "But there is plenty of snow." Grabbing a handful of snow, he shoved it down Espio's mouth. "Here."
The rest of the gang joined in the snow shoving fest. Espio felt like he was drowning, only worse. His aching lungs felt filled with water from the melted snow, making his head spun from lack of oxygen. The bitter cold stabbed his throat repeatably like needles. His heart pumped rapidly in fear of death. Nathan and his thugs lacked limits, but he never thought they'd actually try to kill him.
Tears ran down his cheeks, making his face feel even colder. After he couldn't take much more, he started to make some coughing sounds.
"Oh crap, I think he's choking!" one of the chameleons shouted
Nathan paused with snow still in his hand. Letting the snow he had drop to ground, he commanded, "Bruno, drop him."
Bruno obeyed, joining in at staring down at the younger chameleon curled up in a ball. The realization of nearly suffocating made it even harder for Espio to catch up in his breathing. More tears made the winds pierce his face harder, but he didn't care. All he cared about was being alive.
Nathan kicked Espio before leaving him alone with his buddies.
It had been this way since his preschool years three years ago. During the dry times of spring and summer, it was being tossed in a fountain, pond, or river. During the wet times of these seasons, it was either mud being thrown at him or being pushed into it. During the fall, like the dryer times of the first two seasons, it was being pushed in water, only this time it was a lot worse from it being freezing. Winter was practically a free for all. Being pushed in freezing water, being thrown across ice, and throwing snowballs was only a few things they did. Just yesterday, they were repeatably ducking him in a pond with thin ice.
He stayed lying there for so long that he later caught a case of pneumonia that nearly killed him, even closer than when snow was shoved down his throat.
Espio woke up, standing in front of bridge that led outside the city. Both anger and sorrow hit him at the memory. He wished he had his chance to get back at them for what they did to him. He wished he knew where they were so could hunt them down and get revenge for humiliating him. The sad thing was that he didn't think he would had been able to get himself to do it even if he had the chance. Time numbed up some of the pain he felt in those memories, but they still sometimes hurt a little.
Vector checked the clock on the wall, snarling. "Where the heck is he?"
Charmy flew over to him, feeling uneasy about finding his friend with his fists balled and teeth gritted. He handed Vector a blue balloon. "Did you call him like you said or did you call the wrong number again?"
Snorting, Vector took the balloon from Charmy. "Not my fault the line directed me to a grouchy old lady."
Rolling his eyes, Charmy took a red balloon to blow. "Whatever you say."
Vector glared at him. "Don't get me started, kid."
Charmy finished his balloon and threw it with the other in the pile. "Fine, fine, don't blow a blood vessel over it. But seriously, did you call him?"
Vector tossed the blown up balloon to the side. "Yes, I did. At least five times, in fact. He didn't answer."
"Maybe he's in the shower?"
"For the last hour and a half?"
"Right...good point."
Tails grabbed the balloons from the pile and flew up to hang them on the wall.
Amy stomped in the room, carrying a bowl of chips. "Did he answer?"
"No," Vector and Charmy said nearly at the same time.
Sighing impatiently, Amy put the bowl with the other food on the long table. She put her now free hands on her hips. "Well, he better call back soon or I'll hunt him down with my hammer."
"Don't you need to save that energy to chase Sonic around all the time?" Vector joked.
Amy threw him a glare.
Vector and Charmy both flinched. They weren't the type of people to get scared too easily, but even they thought Amy could be scary.
Amy's gaze followed Knuckles and Sonic, who walked in with the last of the party food. Placing their stuff next to Amy's, they took a seat on the couch.
"So how much longer do we have to wait?" asked Sonic, leaning back.
Amy got ready to leave the room. "Depends on how long it takes for the numskull to answer the freaking phone."
"What? You mean he didn't answer?"
"That's just what I said." Amy disappeared out of the doorway.
"Now let's not start being hasty," said Knuckles. "He probably has a good reason."
"Believe me-" Vector crossed his arms. "-he's not the type of guy to miss out on our calls."
"You sure he couldn't be doing something that's keeping him from answering?"
"Not sure, but I really doubt it."
"Let's just give him another hour," suggested Sonic. "I mean, we still got a few things to set up, and it will buy us more time."
"Maybe you're right." Vector walked over to the window, staring outside.
While everyone else returned to preparing things, Charmy watched Vector, who wore a thoughtful expression.
I hope it was at least somewhat decent. Both praise and constructive critism would help.
