Master Metallix - Yep I saw your review, that's where I actually got stigmata from, I looked up 'Paradise Lost' on wikipedia, a coupla hyperlinks later and I'm reading about Jesus' crucifixation wounds. And since 'stigmata' has a nice ring to it, I couldn't resist writing a sequel named so. ^^

petite-dreamer - Yay for sequels! ^^ (unless they end up worse than the original -_-')

Apparition

There was a slight grey mist that solemnly hung over the small graveyard and its church. A taxi drew up the muddy country lane that led to the chapel, and out of it stepped Amy and Tails. The pink hedgehog was carrying a large bunch of assorted flowers. She faltered for a moment as her dress caught in the cab door. Having tugged it free, she followed Tails up into the dreary cemetery. After a minute or two of trudging through the muddy ground they stopped before a pair of graves. On one of them was craved, in delicate letters, 'Sonic Hedgehog' while the other had had 'Espio' carved into it. No one had known Espio's surname, not even Rouge. They hadn't known much of his past either, for that matter. The chameleon had never been one to talk much about his sighed,

"Well, here we are again Sonic." she slowly placed the flowers onto her hero's grave. Tail stood back, Amy always insisted on speaking to 'Sonic', as though the grave could understand her. After all, Sonic hadn't even been buried there, they had never found his body, it was probably still rotting underneath the desert sands, with Robotnik's. Sonic's 'grave' was only a hole in the ground, with a tombstone placed over.

Robotnik...

The kitsune looked over towards the Doctor's grave. A simple stone slab, with the words 'Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik' roughly carved into it. There was a bouquet of fresh flowers neatly placed on it.

So Mighty is still visiting his 'father's' grave...

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, it didn't matter if Mighty was visiting Eggman's grave. The armadillo might have betrayed them, but he had saved them all after the explosion in Robotnik's desert base. At any rate, he had a right to visit his adopted father's tomb, even if Eggman wasn't actually buried there, only a genetic clone the Doctor had made to escape some thousand-year old prophecy. Even Tails didn't quite understand what it had all been about. Little matter now; it had been over a year ago, and they had lost two friends and had one betray them because of it.

He slowly cast his gaze around the graveyard...and froze at what he saw.

A ghost, a spectre, a hallucination, an apparition.

There, on the other side of the muddy country lane, stood Sonic. The blue hedgehog was smiling, but there was someone strange about that smile, something not quite right, it didn't feel very warm, in fact, it reminded Tails of Eggman's base, clinical, devoid of emotion. He noticed Sonic had a large gash on the side of his head.

But that wasn't all. Sonic had no left arm. Furthermore, his legs seemed....somehow off. They looked fine, but there was something wrong about them. The kitsune gave an audible gasp. Amy turned round,

"What is i...." she trailed off, seeing Sonic. For a moment she was speechless, then she cried out, "Sonic! SONIC!"

And then he was gone. They hadn't blinked, they hadn't had time to. He simply vanished, as though he had never been there. The slightest of tremors coursed through the ground. Amy's mouth hung open in shock and sheer surprise. Tails shook his head violently side-to-side,

"Come on." he managed to say, "The cemetery's making us see things."

A short chapter, setting the scene. As always please review! All comments/criticism welcome! ^^