HALF HEARTED CHRONICLES
As told by MattTheWizard
PART II
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Chapter 1: Trippin' out
"For the last time!" The cat roared. "Get out of bed or you'll be late!"
The sun shone so bright that it felt like it melted her blinds. After the cat had finished yelling,
the only sound you could hear was the low humming of a fan blowing cool air into the room.
It's walls were painted in relaxing yellow and was riddled with pictures, drawn by the room's sole inhabitant.
A computer and desk were place neatly opposite the bed, the apparels, however, were not.
Laundry, cans and the occasional pizza carton soiled the room and gave it an unclean odor. A few wonder-baums
had been placed to prevent this once, and that could be the reason why the room was even capable of hosting life.
But as of now, only an immobile creature in a bed churned. School... Feh.
She tried cowering under her blanket, but her conscience got the best of her. The wolf rolled out of bed and
gathered her bones in front of the mirror.
She had developed some nice curves along time, and now she was actually quite shapely. Her black hair,
however, did not agree. It rebelliously spurted in all directions.
Felicia McDougal crawled weakly into the shower and emerged as a new person.
She challenged her wardrobe and excavated a red t-shirt with a gun made of glitter on the front, followed by a
pair of black jeans that were too small last year and squeezed her frame into them.
After this display of gymnastics, she decided to grab some grub. But not before applying black makeup to her less black face.
Now she felt ready for anything.
Well, anything that didn't disturb her morning temper.
"Ah, the queen is alive." Andrew McDougal stated as she made her way downstairs.
"Go away..." She muttered in response and slapped the newspaper he was holding onto his face.
He removed it emotionlessly, but with a small sigh escaped him.
Their fridge was always well stocked, since Dewie worked for a supermarket chain with lots of leftover goods
that needed to be taken care of.
Browsing it's shelves, she located milk, vegetables, yesterday's dinner, bottles with sauces, butter and various
other things fully capable of being eaten by a hungry teenage wolf.
Though, the only thing she found to be valid of her consummation was a can of Pepsi. The sound it made when
she opened it gave her a pleasant wave of shivers.
She threw herself over the couch and stared at the television for a while.
"That isn't breakfast." Dewie stated flatly.
"Yeah it is." Felicia replied. "I'm drinking it in the morning, eh?"
Dewie sighed again and kept reading the overexposed articles.
"Look, Sonic's on." Felicia said, pointing at the TV. Indeed, there stood the azure hedgehog, waving at his audience
along with his friends Tails and Knuckles.
Amy was nowhere to be seen, however. She was probably in the crowd somewhere, frantically waving back.
The ARK incident had been all over the news all over the world, just during the last week, and the entire planet had felt
relief when Sonic managed to stop the crash course it had been on.
Now it was time for his first "press conference", in front of a few million people. Felicia hadn't been on top of the deal,
but even she was sitting on the edge of her seat as he began talking.
Sonic tapped his mike a few times to check if it was on.
It was.
"Uhh, hello?" He asked.
The crowd responded.
"I just wanna say, thank you all for supporting us!" He raised his hands and everyone cheered.
"We couldn't have done it without you people-deaples! I made that last word up, though..."
"Pfft." Dewie scowled. "Just because you saved the world, you have to make a fool out of yourself?"
"Shh!" Felicia said, tossing her empty can on him. "Maybe he'll..."
"But..." The blue hedgehog sank his head, "I am sorry to say that Shadow didn't make it... He gave his life to
save us. He wanted to give us the chance he never got himself. So let's have a moment for him, all right?"
The whole world seemed to die of sound. For a few minutes, that's how it remained.
Felicia felt touched by this in a cold, weird way.
"Thank you again." Sonic said and ran off, narrowly evading the crazed fanbase as a reporter took the screen and lost Felicia's interest.
Getting up, she shook the feeling off, grabbed another Pepsi and shoved it down her bag. Which reminded her...
She looked at her watch and swore loudly.
"I'm late!" She screamed, grabbed her things, put on her roller blades and zoomed out the door.
"Don't forget, you're going on a field trip!" But she was already out the door. Dewie sighed a third time.
"She hasn't changed a bit." He sipped his coffee.
The newspaper read "Sonic & co. save the world - Again!"
--
"Hey! Wait!" She screamed for the bus which ignored her and began driving off. "Aw, that's just great." She muttered and began
rolling after it. Suddenly, an idea struck her.
She smirked devilishly and began rolling faster and faster, until she was just behind the bus.
Preforming a leap of faith, she managed to get a handhold that allowed her to skitch all the way to... wherever this trip was taking her.
After quiate a while it finally pulled to a stop and Felicia's legs reminded her to be there when the bus leaves next time.
She stumbled onto the pavement and collided with someone who just got off. The two looked at each other and began laughing.
"I didn't think you'd make it!" The young cow giggled.
"Well Princess, I've done a lot of harder things a lot easier, eh?" Felicia chuckled switched her blades for a pair of sneakers.
Princess Tilda got up first and offered a hand to her canine friend, who gladly accepted it and they looked up.
They were standing of front of some hospital with an odd name that neither of them wanted to try pronouncing. It was big, and the front doors
opened and closed rapidly in sync with the people getting in and out. A little to the left was the port for ambulances and transport vehicles.
Luckily, the bus didn't count as transport, so they were out front.
Their teacher, Diane, gathered the class.
"All right boys and girls. Keep it cool." She tried. After a while everybody was quiet enough to take in information.
"I want everyone to follow the guide. No personal scouting around. This goes to you, Felicia." She looked at Felicia, who looked back
at her as if she didn't understand at all. Diane sighed.
"Is everyone ready? Right, let's go." Diane turned and the class followed obediently.
Inside they were greeted by an uninteresting nurse who began telling the story of the hospital, when it was built, the founders...
Things that were undeniably coming on the test later, but Felicia and Princess's minds were focused on entirely different things.
Felicia stole a rubber glove from somewhere and slung it at Princess, who grabbed a wheelchair and shoved it at Felicia. She got
away in time, but the chair tripped over something that made an awfully loud noise, causing the two to run off in different directions
in order to confuse the personnel chasing them.
An intense run later, Felicia ended up in the long-term ward. She panted heavily and realized she had to hide before they got her.
She took a left, then a right and a sudden left into a room where she graciously slid underneath the bed and out of sight.
She waited there for about five minutes, until they stopped searching the corridors and she stopped hyperventilating. She peeked
out her head, judged that the coast was clear and looked around in the room.
On the other side, shielded by a curtain, was another bed likely occupied by someone. The breathing sounded deep and wheezy with
only and occasional groan, unlike the panting and moaning she was half-expecting.
Her curiosity got to her. She slowly walked over to the bed and pulled the curtain away.
She studied the man in the bed. He looked peaceful but troubled, as if having a nightmare. Another thing she noticed were the
wings shooting out his back. They were big and probably strong... Once.
Now they looked broken and battered, scars and bruises riddled them both.
He must be in pain, she thought, that's why he's groaning like that.
Then, she realized he was saying something. Barley intelligible from under his breath, but still...
She leaned closer and listened...
"... sch... oosch..." He uttered faintly. "Rrsch..."
"What are you trying to say?" Felicia whispered, mainly to herself, but you know.
"Roo... sch..." He nearly only breathed the words. "Roosch..."
"Roosch?" Felicia repeated. The pronunciation rung a bell. Oh, what's the word?
"Rouge?" She whispered.
"Rouge... !" The bat in the bed's eyes suddenly shot open and he said the name loudly, surprising Felicia and causing her to fall over.
"Rouge?" He suddenly spoke perfectly fine and tried sitting up.
He yelped in sudden pain and fell back into the bed.
"She.. She and I..." He grabbed his head as if trying to keep the thoughts from escaping.
It didn't seem to succeed, as he gave up and sighed loudly.
"Are you awake...?" Felicia uttered slowly.
"Yeah... I guess." He said like he was just as surprised himself. "Where... am I?"
"In a hospital... Hey, what's your name?"
"It's..." He closed his eyes and dug through his disoriented mind. "... I have no idea..."
Felicia looked at him, still a little shocked. His hair was really long and cookie brown. His eyes were sincere, but stern.
No doubt because he couldn't sort out his head.
He tilted his head over to her.
"You seem... familiar..." He mumbled, searching her eyes and face for remnants of a memory that avoided him the best it could.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think we've met." She replied lowly.
"Hmph." He grunted. "Damn, I have a mean headache..."
"I can understand that..." Felicia said and got an idea. "Hold on, I'll get the nurse."
He didn't reply, but Felicia got up anyway, checked to room number and found a nurse in a nearby coffee room.
"Hey, umm... The patient in room 206 just woke up... Could you get him a-"
"Did you say 206 woke up!?" The nurse blurted out.
"Uhh, yeah...?"
"We thought he was dead! He's been in a coma since we found him a year ago!"
Felicia's jaw dropped. "B- but..."
The nurse hurried past her, calling a doctor on her pager. Felicia followed her back into the room where the coma patient had been. The
nurse had stopped in her tracks halfway inside. She looked around suspiciously.
"What's the matter?" Felicia asked, not being able to look by her.
"He-" She began. "He's gone."
--
Notes:
First chapter, re introducing our favorite anti-hero and Felicia from HHC 1! If you haven't read it, I recommend you do. Otherwise, you'll probably feel really lost in later chapters.
Matti's back!
/Matti