A:N; Another new story I decided to post. Those of you who know me or the fanfic story Sunset, I will be commencing it shortly. Just thought I'd let you know.
Now, as a warning, the rating will go up in later chapters. This is an adult read only. There are mentions of death and there are/maybe character deaths and scenes of graphic violence.
I like constructive criticism but I do not like flames or people who like to add nasty comments. If you do not like this story, then do NOT read it.
Right, I think I've covered everything. If not, I'll add it to the next chapter. Thank you.
There maybe grammer/spelling errors.
Disclaimer; I do not own Sonic the hedgehog
The Dawn to Darkness…
Chapter 1: Initiate'But I saw something beautiful, I'm sure –
Then someone spoke,
And then I didn't see it any more,
Because I woke.' – Waking up – Eleanor FarjeonSonic was running through the valley like he had an engine inside him. He loved to run. It was one of those things that he excelled at, and he did it every day. Not because he was good at it, but because it felt good. And running was the fundament of all things. If you did not run, you could not escape. If you did not run, where would the future be? If you did not run, there would be no action. No beginning. And no end.
Sonic had learned these rules from when he was very young. And he had never stopped running. Freedom was always his cause. His motivation. For freedom was a gift given to all living things, and those that took it away where sure to be damned in their next life, forever trapped. Forever scorned.
The sun fiercely beat down its rays over the valley. The luscious grass spilled out a thick green hue that glowed. Everything was so healthy, so bright. Sonic felt like he could run… forever…
But he knew he could not. He had his friends to protect. He had duties. Responsibilities. Oh but running was so tempting… to run and never stop… and to never look back…
Well, he could run today. And maybe the next day…
His feet swept so fast over the land he could barely feel the earth beneath him. It was almost like he was flying. And perhaps he was. He felt like a bird… no, a dragon, sweeping over the land until the sky was painted a dark violet.
As he ran, he saw something. Something light and grey coming over to him directly opposite. Sonic considered slowing down, but he didn't want this luxurious feeling to end.
Run, Run, Run!
He got closer. They got closer. Then he saw who it was. Silver. That white hedgehog from the future. Why was he here? What did he want?
Sonic unconsciously slowed down. His quills flowed in the air. His eyes sharpened. Silver did not stop. He did not slow down. He merely passed him, uttering but one word; "Don't." And then he was gone.
Darkness. Where had the sun gone? Where was that empty valley that stretched on and on like a pure grassland?
Sonic opened his eyes and cursed under his breath. It was a stupid dream.
But it was still dark. And when he placed a hand under him to lift himself up, he felt cold iron tiles through his glove.
"What the?"
His first thought was; I've fallen out of bed again. But since when did his room start suddenly having cold hard tiles as the flooring? He had wood! Not steel or marble or… The feel of something hard and metal though, gave him an unsettling image of Eggman.
He tried to stand. He would have been able to just hop to his feet if his ankles had not have been chained. He was not in his room, or anywhere safe. And for a few moments, he thought he was back in another nightmare.
"Hello? Anyone? Tails? Amy? Sal?" His voice did not echo. His ears were pricked forwards, trying to scrape out every detail from his senses. He could smell oil. Ammonia and the coppery sting of metal.
This had to be a very bad dream.
He tried to stand again, but that resulted in failure. Instead, he opted for shuffling forward. The whole floor was carpeted in ugly, cold tiles and he kept on crawling with his hands and knees until he bumped into a wall.
A horrible thought ran through him. I'm trapped…
Sonic could not let the panic throw him. He had to think. No matter what situation he had found himself in, there had always been a way out of it. And the same had to apply here.
"Think, Sonic, think…" He kept on all fours, though this was rather difficult as the bindings on his ankles kept him from having good mobility.
Though blind and shaking a little from the fear threatening to overwhelm his carefully placed barriers of sanity, he explored with his touch, hearing and smell. He guessed that he was in tight room that had little more room than a big steel box. But every room, no matter how small, had to have a door, or a ventilation system.
Sonic bumped into metal gadgets that littered work surfaces such as metal tables. These only consisted of springs, bolts and screws. Nothing relevant or helpful.
After a while (Sonic had no idea how long he had been searching for, as time had seemed to have stopped existing) he found a switch on the wall, and with little idea on what it might do, he flicked it. His eyes were scorched with light.
"Oh God!" He stumbled backwards, and his chained feet made him fall heavily onto his rump. He held his head in his hands, shielding his eyes from the unforgiving illumination. His vision was speckled in colors of indigo, gold and yellow. But, despite the flash of color, he smiled grimly and lowered his hand from his eyes.
The room was revealed as a drab, prison cell. There were no bars, and no windows. The walls were a sleek silver iron wall and the ceiling was low and covered in grills. On the far side of the wall was a knocked over table and a collection of human gadgetry.
Sonic's emerald eyes were fixed on the only thing that mattered. A door. It had no handle or key hole, but a door led the way forward.
He looked down and saw the cruel iron buckles clasping his feet. Sonic silently rose his upper lip in a snarl. "Back to your old tricks again, are we Eggman?"
A quick surveillance of the walls and ceilings brought no other solutions. And this time, to the hedgehog's relief, there were no cameras to silently watch him.
His hands lunged at the chains on his feet and started to tug at them, searching some kind of flaw in the design. But… how the hell did he get here? How did Eggman capture him when he couldn't even remember anything?
The last thing he remembered, he was getting a call from Stuart, his old friend from the desert in Albion while Sally was outside in the garden. Knothole had been coated in sunshine. There was nothing wrong. Everyone was happy. So why was he here?
"Eggman must have drugged me…" He could jot up hundreds of scenarios in his head of how that fat man had captured him. Though none of them added up. Why here? And why now?
The chains held. They were made out of something Sonic had not seen before, but they felt like metal. The bonds were black, but woven along the strips of black were lacing lines of bright green.
Sonic managed to stand, and looked fiercely at the wall before him, as if his very stare could bring the partition down and set a way for freedom. He clenched his fists, and using his sonic spin, he dived into the door. He could feel the solid material quiver under his ethereal force. Yet it still held. Sonic flew backwards and landed neatly on his feet, and didn't fall over.
"Gotta keep trying…"
His attack sent a shockwave of sound through his chamber. The walls softly vibrated. Then the tremor stopped entirely and the chamber was silent and still once again.
Sonic growled. He hated confinement. Hated a place where he couldn't run. A shiver ran up his spine.
What if this place, is my coffin?
"To hell with it." He lurched forwards, and spun again. His world was a blur, but he always set his judgment first on where to attack.
His spines dug like diamond nails into the door. Still, it did not… give!
The noises he made from the attacks did resound. In fact that was the only thing that did echo.
He stopped again, eyes narrowed. The reticence was soon back again… until…
"Hello?" There was a voice, though a weak one. Muffled and hard to hear.
Sonic jolted and ran over to the left side of the wall beside the door in the hopes of hearing the voice again.
"Who's there?" He called back. His voice came out strained and panicky, but he didn't care. He just wanted an answer.
The callow voice reached him again, louder this time, as if the individual was also pressing up against the other side of the wall.
"Sonic? Is that you?"
The hedgehog grimly smiled to himself. "Tails!" For once, being trapped in this place, he felt the old confidence stirring within him again. "Are you hurt?" This was his first question to the two-tailed fox. It was his priority to make sure he was all right.
"No." Came the faint reply. "Where are we Sonic? It's dark in here… I'm scared…"
Sonic pressed himself harder against the wall. If only he could get in there with him.
"Tails, there's a switch on the wall somewhere that can turn on a light. Do it now."
There was silence for a bit. Silence Sonic couldn't take. He had silence to begin with, and he didn't want it back. He wanted the sound of the birds, he wanted to hear the crash of the waves in the ocean. He wanted to hear the wind blow. Being in a cell, surrounded by artificial means, made him feel dead inside.
I'll kill Eggman for this.
Then… "Sonic… I did it! Holy flowers on Mobius, where are we?" He sounded frightened and lost, which was to be expected. Here they were ripped from their normal lives to be placed in this cell without any explanation. It was almost as if they had died and had appeared here, in hell. But Sonic replied with febrile confidence, so that his friend could hear his upbeat voice.
"We'll get out of here Tails. It all looks as though it was built by Eggman. Now look for any clues on how to get out. There should be a door."
"Y-Yes… there's a door." He could imagine Tails leaning against the wall too, to hear the hedgehog clearly. They were but inches apart, yet Sonic felt like he was on the other side of the ocean.
The fox's perturbation rose again. "What if there isn't a way out?"
"There's always a way out Tails." Don't you dare give up on me.
There was a ventilation shaft above the door nestled in the corner at least five feet above his head. It was big enough to allow access for any blue hedgehog. But it seemed all too easy. Sonic getting in the old ventilation shaft to escape was an old trick. Hadn't Eggman learned by now not to place one where he was trapped? Or had the old egg-breath forgotten with his age?
Well, he couldn't pass up this small and seemingly only chance. He had to go for it.
"Tails, stay put." He swallowed, "I'm coming to get you."
"What?" Confusion edged the fox's voice.
"It's okay. Just wait."
Sonic crouched, ready to make the leap at the ventilation shaft. If he curled and his spines hit the grill right just, he could spin inside easily, whether he had cuffs on his feet or not.
Using a light dash, he jumped, spun, and the next thing he knew, he had entered the small shaft with perfect judgement.
Like all ventilation shafts, the area was tight, and the direction he was going to take was only determined by the bends and openings in the shaft.
The cool air stroked through his quills like autumn air from deep within the tunnel. "Let's see where this will take me…"
Sonic crawled forwards. The only set back was, his cuffs scrapped along the metal as he moved, making a large pinning sound whenever he moved. He cursed lightly, his breath shallower in the tunnel.
Well, there was only the one way forwards, and Sonic took it. He seldom felt anger. Now he felt it burning inside of him like a fire ready to explode. He was going to find a way out… and when he did, there would be hell to pay.
It came to him sometime later that he was in a base. And a big one. Perhaps the biggest he had ever found himself in.
The tunnel led on in one narrow direction. Sonic kept his feet up as best he could to refrain from the cuffs dragging on the slim metal. This however, burned his knees and he was back to crawling helplessly along. All the time he knew he was moving further away from Tails. He had no choice. Going further away hopefully meant he could get him out all the sooner by finding a switch to release him, or…
Soon, Sonic came across a grill paving the floor of the tunnel, allowing him to discern through the panels and into a room. The grills were only a meter long before he went back into the tight passage again, but he would worry about that later. The sight he saw almost took his breath away.
Shadow…
The black and red quilled hedgehog was standing right beneath him with his arms folded, in his usual defensive stance. And he was talking to someone. Whoever that was, Sonic could not see him.
"Doctor…" Shadow's soft voice was calm, and unnaturally patient.
The hedgehog received a resounding retort from the unseen speaker. "Shadow, don't think you can bribe me with your silly excuses. I am the controller."
"But I did what you asked." Sonic regarded Shadow with ample curiosity and vacillated from moving any further.
"Yes, you did, and you shall be rewarded. Just not yet. I have things to do. Far more important things. Now leave."
The hedgehog stood proud for a moment or two, then unexpectedly gave in to Eggman's orders. With little emotion flickering across his austere appearance, Shadow turned and walked out of Sonic's view. He heard no more.
Shadow is working for Doctor Eggman? It was absurd. But Shadow had been his way for months. He never seemed to be on one side. He was always flitting back and forth like a grasshopper.
Figures.
Still, whatever was going on between Eggman and Shadow was the least of his concerns. He had a mission to carry out.
Sonic crawled onwards, feeling extremely cramped and hot despite the cool air rifling through his dense fur. The surface of the tunnel was hard to grip and the touch of it burned at his knees as he used them to drag himself forwards. He had been so fueled with fear and anger, that he had forgotten that he could have bashed through the grate after Shadow had left and stormed his exit there.
The fork led either right or left. He knew Tails was somewhere to the right, so he chose that path. He was so tempted to recline where he was, and allow the fetish belligerence of this world to wash away into his dreams. But no. He was born with intransigence and he would free Tails.
I wonder if Shadow knows that we're trapped here? I wonder…
In due time, he was sure to find out.
The dour narrow tunnel rolled on endlessly in front. There was no light up ahead. Just pure darkness. Soon Sonic was reduced to crawling forward without any direction, and with just the walls as guidance. The pain in his knees forced him to stop at regular intervals, and he panted rapidly, trying to formulate plans in his head.
Gotta rescue Tails… gotta rescue…
Then… light…
It shone in a bright yellow hue round the next corner, and the rift of it made his emerald eyes glow. The exit!
Sonic hastened his sluggish movements and rolled out of the gap, which was probably a bad idea at the time. He fell and hit the floor below. Using his quick reactions, he threw himself to his feet and shot swift glances at his surroundings. He was in a corridor, which in a way resembled the shaft complex, except the walls were twenty feet high and there were bright lights everywhere.
Well, Sonic considered himself semi-free. He was out of his cell, but not out of captivity.
Tails had to be somewhere nearby. Sonic felt in his senses had he hadn't strayed too far from the fox's location. And if he was right, where he saw Shadow must have been only further down this corridor. He didn't know whether it was going to be a good or a bad thing if he ran into the black hedgehog. For now, he preferred to avoid all contact with those who worked with Eggman.
Now for these cuffs…
As Sonic bent low and used his teeth upon the metal that cruelly gripped his ankles, he heard footsteps approaching. Fear shot through him like electricity and he pelted his sublime body back into the shaft.
The footsteps sounded heavy and slow, as if this someone was either wounded, or heavily built. The walls glowed with sliver metal that seemed to scream out threnodies.
Sonic narrowed his eyes… waiting for the enemy to show itself…
The person came into view and Sonic lunged to the attack. He wanted to attack anything. He was trapped, confused, and desperate for answers.
His acrimonious pounce sent him directly into the opponent and they both twirled on the floor until they hit the wall.
"Sonic!"
The hedgehog's ears pricked at his name and looked up. Immediately he blushed and jumped back, dusting loose fur off him and smiling guiltily. "Ah, gee, sorry Knuckles. I could have sworn you were a robot!"
The violet-eyed echidna scoffed and tried to stand himself. "How could you mistake me for one of them? Do I look metal to you?"
"No! Of course not!"
"Good!" The red guardian fixed him a good stare. Then laughed when he saw the chains. "Need help with those?"
"It would be appreciated!"
Knuckles looked briefly over his shoulder. His long dreads swung with each toss of his head like a mane. Then he locked Sonic with those determined eyes of his and set to work breaking the chains. "I've got a few things to ask you, Sonic. And I'm sure you have a few questions of your own."
A:N; To be continued