The freezing, winter wind blows through the city, but it seems colder this year. Though I do try my hardest to keep everyone's hope up, they are frozen inside. Their hearts, their minds, and their spirits, are glacial, hopeless, dead. I walk through the town, and look around. The life had been drained from everyone, leaving only an icy shell of the people who once inhabited this place.
The wind cuts through me like a razor blade and sends a shiver through my frail body. Wrapping my arms around myself, I pull my coat closer. The coldness seems to emanate from the people who were living here. Their wintry, broken spirits call the snow and frost. It's drawn to us, our poor, defeated town- forever in frost, forever in fear, forever in agony. I close my eyes and try to conjure up a vision of a warmer, happier time, but to my dismay, I only find more sadness in the memory that comes.
The scent of blood entered my nose, that horrid, retched smell filled this dark, damp cave. I held back a gag as I walked further into the cave. I couldn't turn back, I was on a mission, to find my friend, and our hope. The rocks around me glistened, as if the cave itself was shedding tears, telling me to go back, I wouldn't like what I would find. I ignored the feeling. I owed it to him, to everyone. I was going to find him, and bring him back. I felt myself shaking, it took all my willpower to stop myself from turning around and running back to the city. As the scent grew stronger, a dark feeling started to grow inside me; like my heart was being pulled down into my stomach. I clenched my hands into fists as the feeling persisted. My heart couldn't take much more as it was dragged down further and more violently. I tried to call out to my friend, but my voice had been scared away, all that came out was a small whimper.
I turned a corner, and let out a gasp. Whatever it was that was pulling my heart suddenly turned to ice. I held my chest and wanted to scream. My mind was telling me to break down in tears and fall to the ground. There he was, my hero, Sonic, lying on the ground, motionless, a pool of his own blood surrounded him. The sight of his torn, mangled body froze me inside. I longed to turn away, but I couldn't rip my eyes away from the scene, I just stared at him. His leg had been bent in an awkward position like it had been violently broken in an escape attempt. Deep slashes covered his entire body; the longest being on his left side – it reached from his ribs to his thigh. His cobalt fur had been dyed red, everything had been dyed in that glistening, crimson colour. As if in a trance, I took a step closer, my body shook uncontrollably.
"So-Soni-S-" I managed to whisper. My voice was choked, like a cold, clawed, hand gripped my throat as I spoke, and refused to let go. Tears streamed down my face as I fell to my knees. I stared into his emerald green eyes. They were locked open, a look of fear was frozen onto his face. I'd never seen that look on him before; his confidence always shone through, even in the most grim situations, but now..
I reached toward him, my hand still shaking – half in fear, half in shock.
"S-... S- Son- Sonic," I whispered his name. "Y-You can't b-b-be dead... Wh- Who's going to p-protect us?"
My vision blurred as I crawled closer to the body of my best friend. My eyes were fixed on him. He was gone, actually gone. I stayed on my knees and stared for a minute, then I threw my trembling arms around him. His body was cold, unmoving, wet, like ice. I didn't want to admit he was dead. I couldn't. I gripped him tighter, as if by doing so I could bring the warmth back to his body. I felt my fingers embed themselves in the large wound on his side. Blood seeped into my tattered gloves, and soaked my hands, though I barely noticed it as my tears flowed freely from my eyes. As I held him closer, I could hear pathetic whimpering sounds echo throughout the cave, and a distant part of me realized they were my own.
A tear slips down my cheek as I remember the gruesome image. Whoever would think that one person's death, one moment in time, could throw an entire town into such a depression. I shake my head, trying to snap myself out of it. I have to be the strong one now, it's my duty, it's what he would want me to do. I stop walking once I reach the centre of town. There, stands a large statue of Sonic, the late hero of our community – no, more than that – of the world. He had saved us so many times, he'd almost seemed untouchable, but that one day just helped us see that even heroes aren't gods. We're all mortal, and weak.
I start to brush the snow off the bottom of the statue, since there is quite a lot. My mind is still buzzing with the images of the past.
Suddenly, I hear a woman's yell from behind me, but before I can turn to it, someone grabs my shoulders and turns me around. A young, pink echidna stood in front of me, her dark purple-blue eyes were clouded with worry. She's a resident of our city. Her name is Julie-Su and she's one of my friends. She was trying very hard to stay composed, but her cheeks were wet, and I knew she had been crying.
"Tails, i-it's my son. He's gone," she states, trying desperately to stay calm. " I- I think he left the city."
I blink. It's dangerous outside the city, especially now. I look toward the city's walls. The blizzard is raging, and is showing no signs of stopping soon. As I look, I couldn't help but remember the night Sonic left. There was a storm that night. A storm just like this one...
I force myself back into reality and nod to the echidna, "I'll find him." I assure her. As I start to turn toward the exit, Julie-Su grabs my shoulder and turns me around again.
"He's my son. I'm coming with you."
I shake my head, " You have to keep watching the wounded. That's more important."
I braced myself for her protest - she's usually very stubborn. To my surprise, however, it never came. Ever since her husband was killed, she had been a bit more compliant with rules.
"You'd better bring him back Tails." She tells me, poking my chest. I nod and continue on my way to the exit.
"There's been another attack!" Sally cried. "Elias, my brother, he's- he's-" She broke down into tears and covered her face with her hands. I drew a quick breath in and looked toward Sonic. The hero also looked shocked.
"What?" He replied, taking a step back. Sally and her brother were the core of our community, everyone came to them with their problems. Though Sally was very responsible, would she be able to do it alone?
"They- they found him this morning, in the castle's gardens," she explained, her voice cracking.
Sonic stood silent for a minute, then wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry Sal'..." He soothed, "Don't worry, I'll find who's doing this. I promise."
As Sonic led Sally back into the castle, I found myself standing alone, lost in thought. Who could possibly be doing this? Attacking my friends, killing them off... was there a pattern? Or was it just whoever was unlucky enough to cross their path next. I sighed, and looked into the clouded sky. It'll rain today, the dark clouds above threatened their intent. It almost seemed like they were in with this killer, providing him cover, and washing away the evidence. My eyes drifted down, and I found myself watching the castle. The large building used to be a symbol of hope, but now it seemed to loom over us, casting a large, dark shadow over our once bright community.
Sonic walked out of the castle and back to me. He sighed, his eyes sparkled with dismay as he spoke.
"That's four people in the last week." He said, half to himself. "Bunnie, Amy, Mina... and now Elias." The young hero clenched his hands into fists and shut his eyes. "And I'm just standing here."
"It's not your fault Sonic," I told him. "This person isn't leaving any clues."
He looked at me, without hiding his true emotions. He was worried, afraid, and blamed himself. "Thanks little buddy, but I have to find this guy before he attacks anyone else." Sonic looked to the castle, he was obviously worried about Sally – his girlfriend. He bowed his head.
"I'm going out for a bit, just around the city-"
Sonic's statement was cut off by a scream, followed by a loud "NO!"
Me and Sonic looked at each other, then we both ran toward the source in unison.
The place we arrived at was a house – we both knew who it belonged to: Knuckles and Julie-Su.
