(Poor Sonic, huh? A long estranged friend turns up dead, and Sonic never got to apologise… Things aren't going to get much better I can tell you that. I don't own Sonic and the gang, SEGA does.)

CHAPTER 2

Sonic was just racing into Emerald Town, his thoughts still on the past and current events, namely on Ray. It was bad enough that Sonic and Ray had been estranged for so very long…but with Ray dead that made things even worse. Sonic would never have his chance to make up with his friend now…and that tore him up inside. He was about to turn into his own block when he saw Amy Rose, his no. 1 fan and wannabe girlfriend, coming around the corner with a smile on her face and he skid to halt. "Amy…" Sonic said under his breath and he thought it'd be best if he stayed out of sight. It wasn't that he hated or disliked Amy, if anything he liked having around even if her advances and love proclamations made him nervous, but right now he didn't want anyone seeing him in this state knowing that he had been crying. 'I can't let them get all worked up or being bothered by my problems… That'd be burdening them.' Sonic thought sadly.

"Sonic! My darling!"

'Too late, she's seen me…' Sonic thought as he watched an elated Amy bounded up to him like an affectionate puppy.

"Sonic, hi! I was hoping I'd catch you today." Amy gushed as she hugged Sonic.

Sonic sighed mentally with a little contentment as he felt Amy hug him. Her embrace made him feel a little bit better and eased his pain a little. Then without thinking, he reached out and hugged Amy right back, tightly.

Amy was a little taken aback by Sonic's sudden display of affection. Needless to say, she was blushing lightly. 'Sonic…,' was all she could say mentally. Suddenly, she could feel drops of water spilling onto her back, plus a light sniffling sound. In her embrace she could feel Sonic shaking a bit and that's when she realised what was happening. 'Wait a minute… Sonic… Is…is he crying?' Amy felt concern and worry build up in her heart. She NEVER saw Sonic cry before.

Sonic was holding onto Amy tightly when he heard his own sobs and realised he was crying right in front of Amy. He quickly released Amy, stumbling back, enough for her to see his face.

Amy gasped. Sonic's emerald green eyes were all bloodshot and puffy, plus tear stains were evident on his cheeks. He had been crying. "S-Sonic? Have you been crying?"

"Amy…" Sonic started to back away. "I didn't mean for you to see me like this…"

"Sonic, what's wrong?" Amy started to walk towards him, eyes full of worry.

"I…can't tell you." Sonic continued. "This is my problem, and I don't want to force my burden on you."

"Burden? What burden? I want to help you!" Amy told him.

"You can't!" Sonic yelled. "I'm beyond help right now!" He shot right past Amy, feeling his tears start to fall again as he ran back to his house.

Amy just stood there, tears stinging in her eyes, as her blue furred hero ran from her when he was clearly in emotional turmoil. "Sonic…" Amy whispered softly.

Meanwhile, Sonic stopped right at his own doorstep feeling horrible for just running from Amy like that. But he couldn't just share such a pain with her. A sweet, kind girl like Amy didn't deserve to be faced with such an emotional scar as Sonic's. No matter how painful it was, Sonic had to deal with his problem alone and not drag his friends into a mess they didn't need any part of. "Damn it… Ray's death is really getting to me… I just wish I could've met him again, when he was still alive. Then at least we could've made up and be friends again…but that's not gonna happen now…" Shuddering a bit, Sonic unlocked his door and opened it up. But before he could step inside, he felt a firm hand on his wrist. "H-Huh?" He turned around to see Amy, giving him a hard look. "Amy… What are you…?"

"Sonic… Something's bothering you." Amy told him. "I've NEVER seen you cry… Not like that. I know something's making you suffer, and I'm not leaving until I find out what it is!"

Sonic still looked unsure. "Really Amy… I wouldn't want to bother you…"

"Screw it." Amy told him. "Discussing your problem with friends will make you feel better. There's no point in suffering in silence, as you'll only feel worse." She looked at Sonic with innocent pleading eyes. "Please, Sonic… Talk to me."

Sonic looked into Amy's eyes and his defences started to break down. 'How can I resist that face…?' He said to himself. "Alright…" He said quietly. "However, I'm telling you and ONLY you. I trust you enough to keep a secret and I'd rather not let anyone else know." He shuddered. "It's a really painful memory for me to share, so this is for your ears only." He motioned for Amy to come inside.

Amy gracefully followed Sonic into his house and closed the door behind him. Now she could finally get to the root of Sonic's current misery and hopefully try to help him out. She watched as Sonic moved to the living room and sat down on his midnight blue sofa before following him inside and sitting down right next to him. "Ok, Sonic." Amy said. "Are you ready to tell me why you're so upset?" She asked him with a concerned tone.

"Yes…" Sonic said quietly. "You see… It started about 8 years ago, before I met you, Tails, Knuckles or ANY of the gang. I had two other friends named Mighty and Ray…"

20 minutes later…

"And after those hateful words exchanged, Ray outright sad he hated me and just up and flew away from me… With him gone and Mighty dead, I had lost two of my closest friends that day." Sonic was weeping once more as he told his story. "But the worst part is… That day would be the last day I would see Ray alive." His hands were shaking and his voice cracked as he finished up his story. "Today, I saw Ray again for the first time in years…only now…he…he…he was dead!" Sonic broke down and sobbed like a child. "Someone had slipped him some poison in his system, and his vital fluids and organs got stopped up with some white sludge. Not only did he die, but he died in such a gruesome way, and I got to see the full aftermath of it." Sonic shuddered as he remembered the state of ray's corpse. He was gone for years, but now he was gone forever. I never even got the chance to apologise to him…to say I was sorry…I never got the chance to make up with him!" Sonic buried his face in his hands, continuing to weep, as all of the painful memories flooded his mind with grief, misery, hurt, loss, and regret.

Amy Rose was crying herself as she absorbed everything Sonic said. Now she knew… Sonic had a painful memory buried deep in his heart that only he himself knew, and had been trying to suppress it all of these years… But now with Ray's sudden gruesome death, all those horrible memories of misery and regret had resurfaced, haunting Sonic once again. Never in her life had she seen her hero in such grief, or thought he had such a heavy guilt within him. "S-Sonic… I never knew…"

Sonic said nothing but continued to cry. "It's a pain I've lived with for years…and now it burns more than ever…"

Not being able to just sit there anymore, Amy did the only logical thing she could think of. She reached out and hugged Sonic. She hugged him tightly, letting him cry on her shoulder. "That's it Sonic…" She whispered to him. "Let it all out…"

Sonic held Amy in his arms and just let his tears pour out. "I miss them so much." He whimpered. "They were like brothers to me, long before I met Tails, and for them to be taken away, just like that…and one just disappear with nothing but bitterness between us… It hurts, Amy. It hurts me so badly." He held onto Amy as if his life depended on it.

Amy rubbed Sonic's back gently as he held him, silently wishing there was something she could do to ease his pain.

Meanwhile…

In Central City, on the outskirts of Night Babylon, deep inside Eggman's abandoned "Gimme Shelter" lab, there was a group of animals seated around what used to be Eggman's workbench table. The entire building had been redone and redecorated and no longer looked like a workshop or laboratory. On the outside, it looked run down and abandoned. But on the inside, it looked like a storehouse and meeting place. Sitting at the head of the table sat a middle-aged, yet youthful looking white tiger woman dressed in a formal business outfit and wearing a pair of expensive red sunglasses on her eyes. As she addressed those at the table she had a cruel sneer on her lips. "So, did everyone here hear the news today?" She asked everyone. "This time we had an actual death from our drug."

"Hey, "Blitz" is pretty addictive and it sells." A grey furred wolf boy told her. "Not our fault the stupid flying squirrel overdosed."

"As long as people are still buying Blitz, we're in business." A stocky, black stallion spoke in a tenor voice.

"But something's bugging me…" A large bull in a tuxedo piped up in a deep booming voice. "When I saw the news on that Ray kid, I also saw one his friends over there…and you wouldn't believe who it was!"

"Who? Some punk from the neighbourhood?" A rat girl asked cockily as she filed her nails.

"No…" The bull said gravely. "It was…Sonic the Hedgehog."

Everyone froze on the spot, hearing that name.

"S-S-S-Sonic the Hedgehog?" A rattlesnake asked from the opposite end. "THE S-S-S-S-Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Yes!" The bull said angrily. "Don't you see? It's only a matter of time before he finds out about Blitz! Then he'll know about us, and he'll try to shut us down!"

Everyone started to murmur and panic around the table, until the white tiger woman roared loudly to get their attention. "ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRR!" She yelled out, quieting everyone down. "Now don't start panicking, people." She unsheathed her claws. "I wouldn't worry too much. Sonic knows next to nothing about us, and if he DOES try to play detective… I have ways of stopping him…" She grinned evilly. "Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends will learn enough that's it not good to get in the way of Lady Claw and the Tiger Pill Syndicate."

Later that day, it was nearing 1 PM and Sonic was outside of Central City police station with Rouge. Amy had insisted on coming with them, still worried about Sonic's well being from early this morning. Tails and Knuckles had also come at Sonic's request, but he had chosen not to tell them about his connections with Ray just yet. All he had told them was about the poisonings, and about Ray's death, for he was still uncomfortable about sharing his personal issue with even those closest to him. He had also made Amy promise not to tell anyone else about what he had told her.

As Amy stood with Sonic and the others, a part of her wanted to talk to the others about Sonic's problem, to try and help him out. But she made a promise to Sonic about keeping this a secret for now and she didn't want to betray his trust.

"Well, here we are." Sonic said. "Now it's time that Officer White shed some light on this for us." He said as he pushed open the door.

Officer White was just putting some files away at this time, when she heard the door open. She looked up to see Sonic and friends stepping inside the building. Putting the files away, she closed the cupboard door and approached them. "Ah, Sonic. I'm glad you could come."

"It was our pleasure." Sonic told her. "Are you ready to tell us what's going on now?" He asked.

"Right this way." She motioned the quintet to follow her to her office. "You know…" She began as she lead the Sonic Team around the station. "Someone else came by, wanting to take this case as well, especially after hearing that you took it. He says he knows you from long ago."

This aroused some suspicion and interest in Sonic. 'They know me from long ago? Is this person friend or foe? I wonder…who could it be?'

After 15 seconds, they reached Officer White's office. "He's waiting inside my office." White explained. "I'll let you two talk to each other first." She opened the door, allowing Sonic to step in.

When Sonic stepped into the white walled, green carpeted police office of White, he noticed someone seated on the opposite side of White's cedar bark table. Immediately his heart stopped when he played eyes on the person. He was armadillo, with a red carapace over his body, yellow ears/muzzle and arms, black everywhere else, red sneakers with a different pattern to Sonic's, and a pointed black nose.

The Armadillo heard the gasp behind him and turned around in his chair, only to have his eyes widen in shock and his jaw to drop.

"Sonic?"

"Mighty?"

TO BE CONTINUED