The forestation of knothole, though barren from the winter, still rang a feeling of joy through the forest. The evergreens' dark and deep green needles seemed as precursors for a successful day in the search. At least, that's what Tails saw. He walked up the team, consisting of only ten to twelve people. The blues in his eyes were as hopeful as he'd been the first day of the search, and he let no one know if he had doubts.
He reached the congregated group of people. "Okay, guys…" He started immediately. "We're going to start on the far side of this forest, east of here, with four people."
"Tails…" One of the search party members interjected. He was a larger mobian, standing at six feet tall. His affinity, which animal he resembled, could really have been any mammal.
"Yes, you can lead that party, Stephen." Tails said to that member, almost dazed in determination.
"No Tails, I have something to say." Stephen said with slightly more aggression. "And it's important."
"Stephen, every moment we waste, Sonic's chance of survival goes down." He said. "What could be so important?"
Stephen tried to restrain his anger. How could he not know? He thought. Everyone in Knothole knows, even outsiders and overlanders* know. "Tails, there's been a tragedy" He begins. "The royal princess Sally is no longer alive." He says, feeling tears come to his eyes.
Tails tightened his jaw. Instead of remorse, he looked angry. "Well…" He began. "What do we do? Do you want to call off the search?"
Stephen sighed. "No, we have to call off the search." He said. "Sir St. John, the leader of the king's search party, has forbid us to continue the search for the time being."
"What?" Tails' emotions raged at the thought. "For how long?"
"We don't know, Miles." He sighed. "He'll probably allow us to continue tomorrow, but it's possible that the king is angered at us."
"Why would he be angry?" Tails asked.
"Because Tails" He began. "The search party has used up many of the guards that would normally be guarding the princess. If not for the search…"
"It was the princess' will, though!" He said harshly. "Discontinuing the search isn't what the princess would want…" Tails anger fizzled out as the words left his mouth. Princess… would want… Dead. The words were painful, hard to register. He felt his abdomen tighten, and his eyes heat up. "But today…" His head drooped and he felt sick. "We won't search today. I can't think straight, and I doubt any of you want to do anything today but mourn the princess."
"Tails." One of the other party members began. "We'll still search for Sonic, if you really want us to. And we'll still continue after today, if not. I don't care what St. John says, I'll stand with you." The rest of the party members nodded.
"Thank you." Tails said, lifting his head to show tears in his eyes. "But not today. I have to mourn a friend."
"You knew the princess, Tails?" One of the party members asked.
"Yes." He said, streams traveling down his cheeks. "I knew Aunt Sally…"
There sat the mighty king, broken hearted and crying, with his queen beside him. The fearsome gold scepter, the velvety red robe… all powerless to save his beloved daughter. He was also far from his jurisdiction, which didn't help. He hated the human sectors, more now than ever. The fact that the sun shone bright on this tragic day only mocked the king to his face. It was too sad for sun.
The king stopped one of the police officers at the scene. "What happened?" He was visibly tense, his eyes still beet red from crying. "How did this happen?" His words almost sounded angry, or at least demanding.
The officer, a human of tall but burly stature, peered unsympathetically at the mourning king. His name tag said 'Officer Jacobs' "I'm not at liberty to discuss what the forensics team has come up with yet, sir." He said monotonously. "But while we are inspecting the scene of events, please do not get in our way." He walked back to the crime scene, muttering something along the lines of "Stupid animals".
The king, powerless once more, sat back down on the street rail with his wife. That was when a female police officer began walking toward them. She was a human brunette with a smooth complexion of soft ivory skin. "You are Maximillion Acorn, correct?" She said, soft and empathetic. It was a complete contrast from the previous cop.
The king sighed. "I am." He said standing up. "And I know that my daughter is dead, so you don't have to act like you're breaking some big news to me." The king's eyes were weary, and his voice unsteady, cracking rapidly.
The police woman sighed, looking off to the side. "Please sit down." She whispered, a pain in her vocals. They did as she said, and she knelt down to their level. "There isn't any way to say this without it hurting, so I'll be direct." Her vision slid back and forth between the king and queen, who were holding hands bracingly. She couldn't even look into their eyes after a few seconds. "The forensics team looked at the positioning of her body, the blood spatter, and the indent on the bus."
"What are you trying to say?" The queen asked.
"Well" The police officer continued. "We ruled out accident, because her body would be in an entirely different position, more to the side. She was also kneeling when the bus hit her. It's also impossible to just fall off that over pass, the railing is far too high." She fidgeted her hands. "Also, if it was an attack, the blood spatter would indicate that her head was tilted forward due to bracing or trauma, and there would be blood further down the bumper of the bus." She looked at the king. "You said to the officer back there that this was her wedding night?"
The king narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?" His voice became more harsh.
The woman sighed again. "We've come to a conclusion, King Maximillion." She said, eyes downward. "She'd just experienced the lose, tragic or otherwise, of her lover. You even specifically said that she was crying hysterically last night before she vanished." She looked at his reddening eyes. "The entire team can see no other explanation. It will be filed as a suicide." She saw the king's expression soften, and watched his face turn into his wife's shoulder as they wept together. "I'm sorry…" The officer began to leave.
Maximillion looked at the woman, a fire in his eyes. "Fuck you!" He clenched his teeth. "You're not sorry, you dirty overlander! And how dare you say things like this to me!" The police squad turned to him, as did the woman.
She sighed again. "Please, attend to your wife." Her words were soft and caring. "She needs you as you need her."
"You think that just because I share the appearance of an animal, that I possess no love for my daughter?" His yelling was painfully brought as he ignored the police woman.
"Please, Max…" His queen said. He ignored her as well.
"I am not an animal!" He screamed, rising to his feet. "And don't you dare disgrace my daughter's name like that, YOU CUNT!"
"Alright, king." Officer Jacobs got in between the female police officer and Max. "You're way out of line." He went in to detain the king.
"No!" The police woman yelled, pushing him away from the king.
"Officer Toro, Please stand aside." Jacobs said.
"No!" Toro repeated. "He's been through a lot, Jacobs." Her expression is hard. "You're really going to arrest a mourning father for defending his daughter's name!" She glanced over at Max, then back at Jacobs. "I won't allow that." She looked over at the king again before walking back to the car.
Jacobs turned again toward the mourning couple. "I'll let you go this time, for the lady, not for you."
"Just leave us, overlander," His eyes drooped as he looked at Jacobs, loosely hugging his wife. "I've had enough of your kind…" He faces his sobbing wife as their embrace tightens.
"Yeah…" He grumbles. "And Merry-Fucking-Christmas Eve to you too, rodent." He trots off, egotism swarming around him like flies around dog shit.
Shadow walked down the vacant road as the police started away from his previous location. He was out of their sight by far. To his side, the vision of Maria kept pace with him furiously. Her arms were folded over her narrow chest and her mouth pursed and shut, with her jaw tight.
Shadow glanced over at her. "The silent treatment?" He breaths out. No response. "Yeah, I thought so. But I told you why I did it!" He explains, waving his arms in frustration. Maria still gave no response. Shadow sighed. "Okay if you're just gonna ignore me, can you at least just fly away?" Nothing. Maria just hovered there, ignoring his each and every word and was beginning to get angry. "What the hell! I said scram, go away!" He yelled.
Maria turned to him. "Fuck you!" She yells. It was easy to see that that wasn't common in her vocabulary, due to the discomfort she had in saying it.
"Fuck me?" Shadow retaliated, gesturing with his hands. Then he gives a smuck face. "You're not seriously bent out of shape because of that brunette, are you?" His tone was mocking and unpleasant.
"She didn't do anything to you! Ever!" She yelled as she stopped in front of Shadow. "And you killed her! On her fucking wedding day!" She tilted her head down meekly, wiping off the starts of hot tears at the bottom of her eyes. "The Shadow I know never could ha-"
"The Shadow you knew doesn't exist!" Shadow retaliated. "You're stuck with this one now, like it or not" Shadow sighed heavily with his head and eyes turned from Maria.
"Aren't you at least curious?" Maria said, not a shred of hope in her words. Her face was sad, and her eyes growing wet. "I could make you remember. See the ARK again, recall our friendship… our little secrets," She tilted her head down, barren of anything worth calling emotion.
"No, I don't care about that right now." He says coldly, still turned from Maria. "I have only one thing on my mind now, and that thing is-"
"Vengeance, you've said it a thousand times." She spoke hopelessly in a near whisper. "But I know you care, somewhere inside of you," She rushes to his face. "I know you want remember, and I know you'll regret these actions."
"Whatever…" Shadow waves her off.
"I hate you…" She whispered. "I want my Shadow back." She returned to his side, unable to look at this imposter through the tears in her deep blue eyes. "Where are you going?" She grunted.
"Home, to Rouge." He says with a smile.
"Why? Don't you have more innocent people to kill?"
"Not innocent." He sighs. "But they can wait. It's Christmas Eve, and I want to enjoy myself."
"The fact that it's the day before Christmas only makes this that much more sickening." She looked as if she was ready to throw up. "Do you even care that you just killed an innocent woman?"
Shadow sighed with clenched teeth. "I told you about the promise a hundred times!"
"I'm not asking about the promise." She said quickly. "I'm asking if you felt anything when you took her life. You murdered a person." Her voice was soft. "Does that affect you at all?"
Shadow sighed again, giving no immediate response. "I need a ride." He said, scouting around for a vehicle. He spotted a motorcycle parked by a rather… affectionate and… preoccupied couple against a tree. "Perfect." He smiled.
Shadow runs up to the vehicle and mounts it, turning it on.
"Hey, what the fuck, man?" The bearded man yelled. Shadow drove off on the bike before the man could get to him. "Fuck!" The man yelled frantically as Shadow disappeared into the dust kicked up by the tires.
"Why didn't you just use chaos control?" Maria said over the engine's loud roar.
"Simple." Shadow said. "This way's more fun!" He rode off into the distance.
*Overlander- The term used for humans on mobius, and it can be offensive.
Yeah, still recovering from writer's block. This really took waaaaaaay too long to get done, and I apologize profusely. As I said in my profile, writer's block SUCKS. Anyway, PLEASE COMMENT. I love you all, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you look forward to the next.