PART I: The Important Things in Life
Ch. 1: Taking a Good, Hard Look at My Life
***Sonic's reflective POV***
For a while, I've always thought about what was best for me. Friends that would always have my back was one, although I thought back to when I first started my heroics that I'd always a loner. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Good friends like Tails, Knuckles, Amy, the Chaotix, Rouge, Blaze, as well as rivals like Shadow and Silver have come up during my life and the many adventures that I've had, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to share in my fast-paced escapades.
But the adventures had really slowed down for the last few years, especially since Eggman was taken down and arrested by Shadow and rest of G.U.N. So the times that I could irk him off ended. I miss being a thorn in Eggman's big rear end. I really do. Unfortunately with him in prison with no means of escape, my boredom has risen to startling heights like a dead man's soul to heaven. For those of you not in the know, here's why Eggman and I don't have any worldwide-impacting playdates anymore.
When I was 18 years old, I had just beaten old fat face when he tried using the Chaos Emeralds to power some bizarre cannon that I didn't know what would happen if it did fire, and I really didn't care what it would do. Tails, Amy, and Knuckles backed me up on that mission and Eggman disappeared without much to go on. Completely off-grid and stuff like that. I always wondered when Dr. Eggsalad would be back, but at the time, I had just finished with the dude, and decided to kick back and relax.
At the same time, Rouge had helped Shadow make a jump into working for G.U.N. (that's the Guardian Units of Nations). How, and more importantly, WHY Shadow would ever work for the people that imprisoned him for over fifty years in cryostasis, and then went after him when those odd aliens attacked the planet a few years back is a question I'll never get answered, even by Shadow himself.
From what Rouge has told me, Shadow still felt like he owed a debt to Maria from when she was killed over fifty years ago when the Space Colony ARK was raided. With access to that file, courtesy of Rouge, I now know exactly what happened, because I know that no one in Team Dark, or even the G.U.N. Commander, would tell us what was wrong, at least directly. So my batty friend was able to poach a copy of the entire casefile for my reading pleasure. Strike that, displeasure.
Anyways, Shadow was given a mission involving the doctor having stolen a big asset from G.U.N. storage. He wasn't told what it was; all he needed to know was that it was a BIG asset. With that in mind, Shadow went after Eggman and found him in the mountainous base. Shadow was not prepared for what he would find out.
Remember when I said that Amy was in on the last time I fought the doc? Well, Amy was injured during the battle, and started bleeding a bit. As it turned out, Eggman's cannon was never meant to work in the first place, and he just needed bait where I would need to bring in help. But he only needed me to bring one person, and that one person was Amy. He was able to get a sample of her DNA from the blood she let out, and meant for himself to lose, needing the Chaos Emeralds only to get my attention. From there, he robbed a G.U.N. storage facility to get one simple piece from a case from over fifty years ago.
Now back to Shadow. When he was able to get in close to see what Eggman was doing, he was shocked at what he saw, probably horrified. The doc was not trying to whip up another plan to take the planet for himself, but rather play God. That piece that he had stolen from G.U.N. storage was his cousin that had died at the hand of G.U.N. soldiers on the ARK: Maria Robotnik. Well, it wasn't all Maria, just her preserved brain. The rare disease which she was born with was Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or N.I.D.S. for short. The illness itself made the person who had it very frail and weak at all times, and was also fatal. However, G.U.N. hid the fact that the disease mutated. This mutation attacked, or more accurately, affected the brain. While the rest of the body grew weaker and weaker, the brain was getting stronger and stronger, at the time of Maria's death, the brain would always be perfectly preserved, even under the harshest of environments, and never rot away like any body organ would normally do. Her brain was used in G.U.N. studies to try and find an eventual cure that Gerald Robotnik, Maria's and Eggman's grandfather could not, and still a cure was still not created. The irony being that that was the reason Shadow was created in the first place, to find a cure for the N.I.D.S., and that G.U.N. pulled the plug on the operations and had shelved trying to find a cure.
Insteps Eggman again. He explained everything to Shadow from his break-in to Amy's blood sample to trying to recreate Maria, with all of her memories being restored and tried to bring her back into a non-human body, but a hedgehog one, which couldn't be affected with N.I.D.S.. He took Amy's DNA as a base and applied to Maria's DNA creating a clone of Maria in hedgehog form, which was seen growing in a pod in Eggman's base and void of the N.I.D.S., finding the cure himself. He still had the seven Chaos Emeralds too, which would be used as an energy source. He went on to say that he was getting older and older, and wanted to be able to interact with Maria, considering he never had the opportunity as a child to do so. I guess even he looked at himself one day and actually felt remorseful, and reflected on his life choices.
Begging Shadow for a chance to try and bring her back, he appealed to Shadow's want of seeing her alive and well. Hesitant to believe him, he was given the opportunity to test it, even though it seemed impossible, but if he should fail, Eggman would be arrested. The doctor agreed and began his experiment.
Much to the shock of the two, it worked. Her body was N.I.D.S.-free, everything worked, and she even recognized Shadow and Eggman, calling him Ivo (Eggman's first name). Given a sky blue dress and headband, she looked exactly like Maria as a hedgehog. Her fur was golden, her sky blue eyes matched her dress and headband, what would have been head quills was really just her regular hair, save for two atop her head that went down both sides of her face, ending at her shoulders. And although she didn't know it at first, a side effect came from the energy of the Chaos Emeralds that helped "revive" her. It turned out that the energy mutated her DNA slightly, where she could now control Chaos Energy like Shadow could, thus making her a powerful, little hedgehog.
However, before anyone was ready to get reacquainted, G.U.N. troops then broke in, going in for Eggman and Maria's human brain. They took in Eggman and Maria, not knowing who she was, while Shadow told her to play along under an alias of "Ashley", stating how she was abducted by Eggman, being a cruel experiment for becoming a new Maria.
Now I'll say this now: HOW MARIA WENT ALONG WITH THAT PLAN, HOW EGGMAN AGREED TO THAT PLAN, AND G.U.N. FOR BELIEVING THEM WAS ALL KINDS OF RIDICLOUS. BUT IT SOMEHOW WORKED. But low and behold, "Ashley" was set free and Shadow somehow skated with the whole plan, as haphazard as it was.
I should say this for the record too. Before Eggman was incarcerated, he made Shadow promise to him that he would always guard and protect her. He really didn't need to say that in all honesty, because that was what Shadow was going to do with her back in his life. To this day, Maria still visits Eggman once every month in prison.
While I'm on the subject of G.U.N., I might as well talk about Rouge, and then I'll get to myself later. I'll give the bat a lot of credit. Being recognized globally as a top-tier treasure hunter, and an even better secret agent, all by the age of seventeen when I first met her, was amazing. To be honest, she hasn't lost a step for as long as I've known her.
For years, she was always after Knuckles' Master Emerald, and they would butt heads often. According to her, when she and Knucklehead were duking it out on the ARK, Rouge fell of a ledge and would've fallen to her death had Knuckles reacted quickly to snatch her and pull her back up. However, since they were in gravity-void space, and oh, some minor details: SHE WAS A BAT, HAD WINGS, AND COULD HAVE EASILY FLOWN OUT OF TROUBLE. I don't see why she claimed that he saved her. Then again, she has a knack for being overly dramatic. But she had to admit, she had a new respect for him, and over time, it developed into more of a crush. I still don't know how you could like like a guy who's been duped by Eggman more times than I've beaten him myself, but whatever.
Her odd crush boiled over one day a few years ago when she went over to swipe the Emerald with Knuckles protecting the gem. The two had a physical fight, but eventually Rouge was tripped up, but brought Knux down with her, with him on top of her. Now I'll be honest, if in Knuckles' position, on top of a drop-dead gorgeous secret agent that was physically naturally gifted, I probably would have gone in for a kiss. But no, she did that for him. Over a year of getting to know each other a lot better, the two got engaged.
For those of you reading this, you're probably wondering why I've brought up Shadow and Rouge more so than Tails, Knuckles, or even Amy for that matter. Well, since you are reading my story, I have to tell you. Remember when I said that Eggman was still locked up? Well with him out of the picture, things had really slowed down for me. I realize "slow" is not in my usual vocabulary, or my day-to-day life for that matter, but it was true. Boredom takes on a lot of different shapes, but even as much I love running around the globe, not saving the world everyday was getting old fast.
Sure, my friends would all try to get me to do stuff for or with them, but it was never interesting to me. I could only test so many of Tails' new gizmos and gadgets, and hear him ramble on and on about technology that would make your eyes spin around in your head… strike that, he already did that to Knuckles. I could not, or better yet, would not go any date with Amy, unless it involved a chili dog. If it did, then I would've gone, but that never happened. Knuckles, well, he was with Rouge anytime she wasn't working for G.U.N., I didn't want to go home to mom and do all the things that a prince should have been doing, and Shadow's people skills, outside of his G.U.N. colleagues and Maria, were lacking. Besides, all he did was brood, even with Maria alive, although he was happier, as minor as it was. Oh, before I forget, Shadow eventually married Maria to further his promise to Egghead that she would keep her safe. Minor details.
So with me being bored as all hell, Rouge of all people did say that I could be a pretty good G.U.N. agent. So me with very little options, I decided to take her up on the offer. After a year and a half into the job, I soon realized that I had made a mistake. Now when I first started out, I knew that I could be at the level of agents that Rouge and Shadow were at, and I knew I could help people in this job, hoping that there would always be something happening, and that I would be sent to deal with the trouble. Taking orders and executing them was not something I was too keen on doing, but I was young, it was my choice, and I wanted it.
I was 19 years old when I first started, and they hired me right away. Hell, even the Commander shook my hand because he was so happy to see me working for him. The two months of training were a nightmare; sixty days of having to take training orders from the likes of Shadow and Rouge. The jewel thief was not hard, acting as sort of a good cop, while Shadow was, well, I think you can guess. I was a quick learner, although they told me a few things that I'd have to do to be an agent. And some of those things made me betray myself, throwing away pieces of the way I lived. But I was young, I was foolish, and I thought that this was what I wanted.
To be an agent, I had to cut the jawing when undercover. No one-liners? No wit? Not even poking a little fun at my new superiors? I did that once in a training session, when Rouge scolded me and said that I had a big ego. I replied that it wasn't as big as the two things in front of her. I can still feel the pain from the boot marks she put into me. She had me by the throat, and probably would have finished me off too, but Shadow bailed me out that one time. I never smart-mouthed her ever again on the job again after that day. And I thought it was only Amy who could've been the one girl that could've made me physically hurt (with her over-sized hammer).
I had to stick to the rules of stealth (easy enough), grace (please, I had that and more), finesse, new fighting techniques, discipline, restraint, improving my improvising skills. But after two months, I was deemed ready for action. It felt great to be sent around the world on missions, some even with Rouge and/or Shadow, save the world, save people, and enjoy being a spy, even if the entire world already knew who I was. But that worked into my favor whenever I had others teamed up with me who would do the work, while I distracted the masses. And as much as I hate to say it, I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was nice to actually be paid for saving innocent lives, rather than do it out of the bottom of my heart, which I'll still do anyway.
As the months went on, reality slapped me square across the face, and it stung more than a swing of Amy's hammer, or another kick from Rouge's lethal high-heel boots. Ten months into my G.U.N. service, my contact with my friends slowed up. Don't get me wrong, when I was on leave I would see people like Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and the Chaotix, but I could only talk to Amy on the phone. Evidently, she was pretty sad when I went to work for G.U.N., and she had her own job now working in a daycare alongside Cream. So I couldn't see everyone, but I made it my mission to at least keep in touch on the phone.
The longer I was at G.U.N., the more and more I threw myself into work, climbing higher and higher up the "corporate ladder". Leave-time was far and in between, though I still kept phone contact with everyone. Anytime I got done with a big mission, I would get called into Central City, the United Federation (U.F.) capital city, and get to meet and be awarded by the U.F. President, a man named Maximilian Joseph Titus.
Now Titus was elected the same year I started working for G.U.N. The guy was great and all (on paper), but I really did not need to be awarded and given a handshake every time I successfully completed a mission. Not saying that he wasn't great, but the man with the blue silk suit, white undershirt, shiny gold silk tie, and well-coifed brown hair was acting more of a fan-boy towards me whenever I got to meet him, but I digress.
As I was saying, after I was in for a year, things started to fall apart. Sure, on missions, I was able to keep my ego in check, and would only let it loose when it was over or I had down time, but then I lost my first teammate in the field: an older agent named Cyrus. A month later, another one named Jonathan, and then the first woman teammate that I lost, Jaime.
Even though their deaths were not my fault, I still felt horrible about it. I don't often get hooked on something from the past, but I saw them die. All three of them. Cyrus bled out on the operating table when he was rushed out of the line of fire, Jonathan sacrificed himself so the rest of us could get out cleanly while he took a bomb for us, and Jaime died in my arms after she was shot in the stomach. I had worked with all three of them on missions in the past, and I could call them more than teammates and partners. They were my friends, well-respected among the agent fraternity, and now… gone. Three funerals where I saw the U.F. flag atop their coffins, folded up, and given to their families. I still feel responsible for their deaths. I feel as if I could have done something different, or maybe just have been a bit faster, or let go of my cockiness, but no, they told me that there was nothing that I could've done. I tried to believe them, even saw counselling within the organization, got advice from my friends, but their deaths still linger, even to this day, hanging on my soul like child to its mother. They will always be my friends, teammates, and to me, my fault. Rest in peace.
Their deaths changed me. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I could not stand to see the man who stood there. I was disappointed with what I had become. I left everything behind, I second-guessed myself on a regular basis, I wasn't the happy-go-lucky hedgehog I used to be, but my closest friends in the game, Shadow and Rouge, understood my problems. They had lost people too on missions, almost losing each other whenever they were partnered-up on missions, with or without me. I guess I was spoiled in the sense that for every adventure I had leading up to my time with G.U.N. that I had never lost a teammate or friend in action. Now I was getting an unhealthy dose of reality. People die, and I could not save everyone, even though I wished so badly that I could.
I didn't know how they could keep going on when they've seen more people lost in the line of duty for a longer period of time. I had to give Shads and Rouge credit; they were more committed to their government jobs than I could ever be. I knew that they could both be colder people when the situation called for it, but I wasn't them. I would never be them. Hell, I wasn't myself. I wasn't the same. I had no attitude, I had little time with my friends, and I was feeling more and more depressed as the days went on.
Then it hit me. I needed to see all of my friends. Every last one of them. To try and capture my past self, to have fun, to live, to cherish every waking moment with them, because I then knew that life could end at the snap of a finger. So when Rouge and Knuckles were going to be married, and Knuckles asked if I would be his best man, I had to take the chance. It was perfect! All of us would be together to celebrate a happy union and be happy, even if for only one day. I had to see them again. I had to have a good time.
So I asked for two weeks leave. The Commander heard of my situation, and felt that it would be just what the doctor ordered. I even told him that I was thinking about getting out of the game; that it wasn't my place. He told me that this lifestyle was not for everyone, and was surprised to see me, a hero who loved the freedom of others as much as his own, take orders for as long as I did. So he granted me leave, one month. I told him that there was no guarantee that I would return, and would ask my friends what I should do. He was professional enough to understand that sentiment, and I appreciated it.
I had to see them. I had to figure out who I was. I had to cherish them like we were all going to die at a moment's notice. I had to see them. I just had to. But most importantly, I had to find the person I gave up on, whom I had betrayed, taking everything he had ever believed in, and deserted him for something else. I had to find that person, and tell him that I was sorry, and forgive him. But with everything that had happened, how was I going to forgive myself?
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
(Forgot to insert this part for the version of this story)
With this being my first (published) fan-faction, you'll have to bear with me as I am just starting to show my work.
With that said, all Sonic-characters belong to the respective owners (SEGA, Archie Comics, etc.), while Max Titus and Hector "Hex" Wilson are my own characters.
I must stress this part, though. This story was inspired by an unfinished 3-part SonAmy fan-fiction that was never finished, and Chapter 6 is more or less what the actual unfinished story was about (I just wanted to flush it out more). I will say this to get it out of the way: the story which this story is based on is not mine and I do not and will not take credit for the original. I cannot say the story I adapted, only because I cannot for the life of me find it in the recesses of DeviantArt. While talking about giving credit where credit is due, there will be times where i will put an entire song into a chapter. I will not take claim to those songs either, and I will give you an artist and song in the description, if i do not site within the story.
This first chapter is more of a prologue more than anything else. For the majority of the story, the story will be told in Sonic's point of view. It will change to other character's perspectives, and in the story, I will tell you when. I will usually upload a new chapter every week, or 2 chapters in a week if I am feeling generous. It'll only be a matter of remembering to upload them. There will be 24 chapters split into 2 12-chapter parts.
In addition to this chapter being a prologue of sorts, I will go ahead and say that this universe is a mesh of the main series of Sonic games and a few of its spin-offs (that some fans will count as canon to the series) and the Sonic Underground universe. Think of it as this. Sonic, Manic, and Sonia are all separated shortly after their births (as happens in the TV series). Sonic, on his own and after being raised by his adoptive Uncle Chuck, thwarts the evil-doings of Dr. Robotnik/Eggman (who has the entire world under his control at this point) is enslaving animals to expand on his army as shown from the 1991 Sonic game. Shortly after that, he continues his crusade to end the doctor's global reign includes meeting up with his siblings, eventually defeating the doctor shortly after, and putting their mother, Aleena, back on the throne, where she still stands as the world's queen, and other countries are under her in a peaceful reign, but certain countries can be in large, allied groups, such as the United Federation (Spagonia, Adabat, Chun-nan from Unleashed are examples of members in the alliance). To get back on track, after Aleena takes the throne once again, the events of all the other games happen (Sonic 2, 3 & Knuckles, CD, etc.). Outside of a few things I used from Archie (the N.I.D.S., Guardian Mountain, and the G.U.N. Commander's name in the comics, etc.), there will be no references to characters like Sally Acorn, Rotor the Walrus, Scourge the Hedgehog, and others.
This description's getting long, so I had better hurry this up. As far as fan-couples are concerned, there are 5 in this story, although some couples will be showed off more than others. The couples are Sonic & Amy (as the story suggests), Knuckles & Rouge, Shadow & Maria, Tails & Cream, and Silver & Blaze.
Finally, there will be some chapters where sexual, mature, and violent is prevalent, and i will do my best to put a filter on chapters that needed to have a "Mature Content Filter" on it. With all that said, I hope you enjoy SonAmy: Affairs of State.