Chapter 1

Dusk

•••••••••

"Goodnight, son."

"Goodnight, dad."

I greeted my father before heading to bed. I leave my shoes at the bottom of the stairs and silently make my way up. Entering my room, I kneel beside my door and slow my breathing. I press my ear against the wall, waiting for the sound of... There! I hear muffed steps approaching my door, the steps of someone tiptoeing. By the crack of light at the bottom of my door, I see a shadow stop in front of it, stay for a moment, then silently leave again. In my mind, I count up to a full minute, before quietly exiting my room. With great care, I soundlessly creep through the hall, heading to the lit doorway of the living room. I stop just before the frame, taking a moment to let out a quiet breath; one which I didn't know I was holding. The lights of the room suddenly go out and I bite back a surprised gasp, praying that my father wouldn't walk through here and see me. Waiting for the inevitable, I hold my breath once more... Nothing. Confusion mixes with immense curiosity as I ever so slowly peak into the room.

No one was inside.

*

Dusk the Hedgehog was almost an exact replica of his father, Shadow the Hedgehog, from his gloves, to his rocket-skates, to his white chest fur. The only difference between the two were his emerald-green eyes, which he got from his mother, Amy Rose the Hedeghog; along with the three-spike, red bangs on his forehead that extended from the biggest steak on his center head quill, and his gloves being fingerless. Now, his mind drifted, staring blankly at the whiteboard in front of the classroom. Breaking his thoughts of the night before, he lightly shook his head. The seventeen-year-old hedgehog's mind was racing. Questions still swam across his emerald eyes as his memories continued to play repeatedly against his will. In frustration, he gave an inaudible sigh.

This is ridiculous, He thought. I'm supposed to be studying, and all I can think of is last night. Where did he go? How did he leave the house without a sound? Did he even leave the house? Dusk the Hedgehog, you need to stop, for the love of dear Chaos... He sighed again.

"You alright there, bud?" A voice snapped him from his second train of thoughts. He glanced up to see the source of the voice; his best friend, Nic the Weasel. Nic bore an orange pelt with a white long-furred muzzle and belly fur. From his mouth, poking from his upper jaw, was a single small fang on his left lip. His tail, like most weasels, was long and built with muscle. He sported brown buckled gloves and high-cut western boots. The only things that the weasel lacked, the hedgehog thought, were spurs and a cowboy hat.

The citrus furred mustela sat in front of him, leaning on the backrest of his chair. His sky blue eyes and small frown on his face were more than enough to say that he was worried about his spiky friend. With a lop-sided smile, he didn't meet Nic's gaze. "It's nothing..."

Then, he felt a slightly painful flick on his forehead. His head snapped up as he glared at his friend's unconvinced face, hand out stretched and obviously the one that caused the pain. "Dude! What the heck was that for?" He demanded in annoyance, his own hand coming up to rub his forehead.

"I know when yer lying, Dusk," He replyed, his accent thick and reprimanding. "And ya look darn stupid when ya do it." He returned his glare.

A stare down began between himself and his classmate as they waited for the other to yield and drop their gaze. Unable to hold the weasel's hard eyes and knowing that he was on the wrong, emerald eyes shut and tan lips emmited a defeated sigh. "Alright, alright, already," He held his hands up in resignation. "You win this round."

Nic sniffed at his small victory and proceeded to nudge his friend about his worries. "Well, out with it, ya spiky moper."

"It's just..." the hedgehog began in a slightly hesitant voice "Last night, my dad left for his night job..."

"So? Don't he always? I mean, it's called a night job fer a reason, ya know?"

"That's the thing," He cut him off. "I don't even know what his night job is. Or if he even has one!"

"Is tha's what all that fussin's about?" Nic asked with a flat stare.

"Well, yeah!" his voice somewhat rising at how his friend was taking his reason "Wouldn't you be worried about your dad, if he suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night?"

"Well, I wouldn't-- whatcha mean 'disappeared'?" The weasel looked at him in question.

"After my mom and sister, my dad told me about a night job that he got and every morning, he'd come home exhausted. Heck! Sometimes, he'd come home with a bunch of bruises!" He explained to his friend, "Last night, I wanted to try and find out what his so called 'job' was. So, I pretended to sleep and, sure enough, he went to check on me, to see if I was asleep." He broke his gaze from his friend again and stared to the side at nothing. "When I went to check on him... He was... gone."

Dusk's eyes hardened in frustration at mystery of his father. He let a silence settle between them before breaking it again. "I'm just..." he sighed, his gaze slightly softening "I'm just worried about him..."

A brown-gloved hand landed on his shoulder and glum emeralds met worried sapphires. The westerner started rather hesitantly. "I wish I knew how to help ya, bud..." His own gaze shifting, finding the right words to lift the worry off his friend. "Yer pa's a pretty quiet guy..." His expression twisted to a lop-sided frown for a moment, "And he keeps to himself a lot..." Then, he reconnected their gaze and gave his friend a small, but encouraging, smile. "But, sometimes, you just gotta trust 'im." The hedgehog was about to start again, before Nic cut him off. "Maybe, he just rushed off 'cause he was in a hurry. An' maybe he was checking to see if you were sleepin' so he wouldn't wake ya." He paused to let his friend register his words for a moment. "Ya thought about it that way yet?"

Dusk stayed silent for a moment before replying, "Not really..." he sighed once more "I guess, you're right, Nix," He addressed the weasel by his other nickname. "For now, I'll drop it..."

The mustela smiled at his friend and gave his shoulder a pat before bringing his hand back to let his chin rest on it. "See? Nothin' to get all worked up about, bud" a fanged grin planted itself on his white furred muzzle. Dusk gave the weasel a tired smile and shook his head in amusement.

"It's a mystery where you get all your optimism from." He said with an amused sniff. "I don't remember your dad being like that."

"Well..." He looked to the side and scratched one side of his long muzzle fur. "He said I got it from my ma... But, I dunno..."

Before the hedgehog could respond, the school bell rang and the teacher, a middle-aged male tiger, walked into the classroom. Class began.

*

The day went by quickly as school ended and the boys began walking home. Nic let his elbow rest on Dusk's shoulder as they walked in companiable silence. They made their way to a bus stop, Nic's destination, and parted ways from there. After walking a few more meters, Dusk began to pick up the pace and soon started skating.

Breathing in the wind that rushed passed him, the hedgehog skated fast enough to be a black steak on the road. A smile graced his muzzle as he sped up further.

This time... He thought to himself. I'll do it! I'll break the barrier!

When his father first taught him how to use the rocket skates, he told him that he could run fast enough to brake the sound barrier. If he ran fast enough. From then on, one of Dusk's goals were to break that barrier and run at the speed of sound. He recalled his father's teachings and leaned forward, using his upper body for balance. He poured in more Chaos energy into the rockets as they blazed on. His smile stretched into a full on grin the moment he felt the powerful burst of energy, pushing him to his limit. The wind surged passed him sending his quills flying. Everything was starting to blur. He was going to do it. If he could just manage one last pulse of energy, one last push, he could--

In his crazy rush, he never noticed that the road had already ended and was now hurtling for a river.