Act I/Chapter VIII: Eventful Centers
Wednesday, June 19th
The memories that Hazel had shown me, after what seemed like weeks of walking, had really gotten to me. I was beginning to consider that there was something very familiar about all of this. It hadn't clicked yet, and it was clear that it never would; Hazel wasn't all too happy about this. But he could see how much I was considering the events… beginning to figure out what it all meant.
And I noticed little things change too… as I'm sure he noticed them as well. My dialogue was beginning to change. After every memory, I typically asked, "What happened next?" After those last few memories, I had started asking, "What did I do next?" And Hazel smiled every single time.
The last few memories were quite memorable. I remembered numerous things: beating a giant water lizard, defeating a frantic dragon creature with the help of an ultimate lifeform, getting sucked into a… story, becoming an enormous werewolf… thing, using alien powers to save alien worlds, and putting time back together with (apparently) my younger self.
Yeah, we covered a lot of ground.
In fact, he said we were nearly finished. But it seemed so fast… so quick… especially after knowing what he told me before.
The central event… where was it? More importantly, WHEN was it? If we were getting close to the end, then the central event must've been incredibly recent. I began to fear what it could've been. Was it someone's death? My death? What the hell could this central event be? And then another thing…
That shadow… it continued to resurface. When the Chaos Emeralds sat in my arms as the water lizard disobeyed its master… when I thought about saying goodbye to Shadow… when I became this thing called "Darkspine"… when the wolf first took over me… when I chose to put Tails in the space elevator… when I saw my younger self in the dark hall. I was beginning to figure out what it represented. It showed the other choice I could have made… how it nagged at me for my attention. In some cases, it looked like I treated the choice as a real person, even though it wasn't actually present as a shadow in real life.
The ideas of everything I had learned continuously rushed through my head. I had only learned major things, though. Hazel promised me that I'd know every little detail when we were done. He promised I would know who I was. And I believed him.
Hazel walked up to me after viewing my farewell to my younger self. He had a smile on his face, and I just couldn't pass that up.
"What's the smile for? Hear a good joke?" I asked.
Hazel chuckled. "Too many… but that's not the reason. Sonic… we're here."
That… seemed fairly self-explanatory. We were here. I was here. I was in my mind; therefore, I was here… and there. Wait, what? I think he said that just to confuse me. Dumb demigod person with his… demigod-ness.
"Here?" I repeated, as I began to look around the desert. Nothing new had popped up from the sands. "Uh… we've been 'here' for a while now, Hazel. Don't tell me you've lost it since we first met?"
"No, that's what I… nevermind." Hazel gave up. "The point is… we're finally here. You're finally going to be you."
His choice of words clued me in, and I finally realized what he meant.
"You mean…" I tried to make sense of it all, "… we're… at the central-?"
"Event." Hazel finished. "The central event."
And the sand began to tremble with one last memory. The grains drifted at a point, sliding down what seemed like a slanted roof. Soon, the top of a small building surfaced. The chimney poked out like the star on a Christmas tree. And soon, the full structure came into view, the sun bouncing from behind its familiar shape. I had seen this same house in memories prior. It was a workshop. It was Tails's workshop.
Hazel and I walked through the front doors, and I saw him… I saw Tails. He was sitting at the coffee table against the back wall of his workshop, next to the kitchen. He was working on multiple piles of papers. In fact, it seemed as if papers were all about the floor, as if he were some mad scientist trying to solve a puzzle.
"Take a seat." Hazel instructed me. "Everything will make sense soon. Just relax for now."
I wished that I could say something to Tails, but it was merely a memory; I couldn't speak to a memory. I had no clue where he was at the moment. Time was frozen in real life, and I had no real knowledge of where he was before time stopped. I could only hope that I would see him again soon after this was all over.
I took my seat next to Hazel, just as Tails seemed to spark with excitement at something. He nearly wailed at (what I assumed was) his discovery, but he worked to contain himself. He quickly reached for his communicator, and the memory pretty much began right then and there… with a minor tweak.
"Sonic here!" The voice on the communicator answered.
"Sonic?" Tails responded, "It's Tails."
"Hey, little bro! What's on your mind?" Sonic asked.
"I've just been crafting a new contraption of mine." Tails stated, fully trying to contain his joy. "You?"
"Just going for an afternoon 'stroll'," Sonic joked.
"We all know how fast those go by," Tails went along with it.
"No kidding," Sonic replied.
"Want to stop by to check my invention out? I think you'll be impressed." Tails suggested.
"Sure, little dude. I'm already there."
And he was. Sonic wished it wasn't so fast, because his turbulence carried onward through the front door, making papers fly across the room. As the chaos rested, he finally saw Tails, covered with papers and eyes squinting at him.
"Sorry," Sonic said awkwardly.
After wiping himself clean of the papers and standing from his chair, the little fox grasped a contraption within his hand, most likely his invention. Tails shoke his head to become more alert of his surroundings, and then, with a straight face, said,
"When you said you'd be right here…"
"My bad, bro," Sonic replied, "I thought you'd remember that my speed can play a factor in that."
"Well, it's no wonder I haven't let you in here more recently." The lil' bro stated.
"Look, little bro, I didn't want to propel the Tornado-II through the wall. How was I to expect-!" The blue blur tried to explain
"I know you didn't mean to." Tails cut off his apology. "But it still cost me a few hundred dollars to repair. That doesn't come cheap. And I also lost another plane. I can't just pull inventions out of my pocket, you know."
"Speaking of which, what is it you called me here for?" Sonic reminded his lil' bro.
"Ah, I was gonna get to that." Tails said, turning towards the stairway to the balcony.
And as the two began to make their way to the stairs, a mysterious shadow, unbeknownst to their reality, was trailing behind them.
After a small demonstration, Sonic and Tails had returned to the lower floor, with the shadowy figure following close behind. Sonic took a seat at the coffee table as Tails walked over to the fridge.
"Anything in there I'd like?" Sonic asked, as the shadow began to circle his chair. He couldn't see it though… it wasn't actually there at the time.
"First of all," Tails replied, "I don't have 'them'."
Sonic groaned… he wanted his chili dogs.
"And secondly, you shouldn't be mooching off others. Don't you have your own food?"
"Trust me, Tails," Sonic explained. "When I'm on the go, I'm on the go. I'm a man who doesn't really have a home. I just run 'till I should stop."
The shadow stood right in front of Sonic, beginning to sit in the same seat as Tails asked a question… THE question.
"Well, when will you stop?"
The shadow… it took my place… my past self's place. It was as if my past self had absorbed it into my body. The shadow was no longer there… or so it seemed. My face looked as if I had been hit by a freight train. And… to be frank… I had the same look on my face too. Hazel noticed my shock, and knew to stop the memory. Everything paused itself, and I… I…
"Let me ask you a question…" Hazel asked after a few seconds of stillness. "What do you remember?"
And my reaction was far more extreme than my words.
"Everything."
I rushed out of the workshop, falling into the desert sands below. I could hear Hazel rushing out the doors and down the stone steps of the structure as I worked to pick myself up.
"Are you okay, S-?!"
"NO!" I boldly declared, waving my hand for him to stop coming after me. "Just let me remember! I need to remember!"
Everything started to come back to me! Everything… it was back. I was back! And I knew exactly what had happened after that question.
Mighty's death… the boat… Angel Island… Grand Metropolis… Metal City… Fang's death… declaring my love for Amy… the Ice Caps… Bark… the Egg Carrier… Omochao… Amy's kidnapping… Metropolis zone… Silver's death… Uncle Chuck's video… saving Amy… the final assault on Robotnik's fortress… his impermeable armor… the Death Egg… going Hyper… Robotnik's death… the explosion… saying goodbye to Tails.
Everything was there. Everything before that was explained. Well… except one thing.
I felt my body cripple as I thought about it, and my hands… they started to shake… to a point where… I seemed to have two sets of hands. Two images. It was like… there was two of me. And I was beginning to grasp the reason for that.
I looked over at Hazel, but he was still working out the answer himself. But he wanted me to keep trying to remember, as if that'd fix this problem. I looked back, and my arms became a single pair again. But my body now cracked and I began to lose track of remembering… and focused on the now.
Hazel knew I was disobeying the order to remember. His eyes kept up their intimidation, and he yelled,
"Sonic, remember! You have to remember! You're at the end!"
But all I could say in response was,
"What's happening to me?"
My words merely stayed a thought, and my body couldn't manage to do anything with it. It was this small detail that I couldn't quite understand. I was lost in my own head… both literally and mentally. But I had a good reason to be lost in my own head… considering every piece of it was beginning to fall apart.
"Sonic, keep going!" Hazel continued to plead. "You've almost done it!"
My legs crumbled beneath me, and my hands fell before me as the sandy winds rushed past me. I could feel my entire being just splitting apart. All of my memories… they were becoming hazy. I was losing my own life. I was losing myself.
But it wasn't just me in jeopardy.
"Which Sonic…" I coughed up, "… are you talking to?"
And soon, I felt it; a tremor rumbled within my heart, and I started to lose any sort of control. I started spitting and screaming, involuntarily as my own life started to flash before my eyes. And somehow, I saw something that I had never seen before.
I could see me… sitting in darkness. It seemed so different to see me in such a place. I never considered myself a dark person. I mean… maybe Shadow… but never someone like me. But even if that was the case, that didn't stop from seeing me in the black and believing that it was truly me.
I could see my head rise up, and I saw his eyes glow green. I had black eyes… completely black eyes. The only thought I was capable of putting together was, why would my eyes be green?
Crack! Another quake seemed to break my bones, yet still leave me alive and well. It almost seemed like something in my body just… up and left. And soon, the pain was too great, and I relaxed my arms, falling into the sandy hills running beneath me.
"What was… what did I just do?" I mumbled as black consumed my eyes and shut them up for good.
"You lost yourself." Hazel realized and explained. "And you can't get yourself back."
"But… but I'm… still here. Sonic's… still here."
"I wasn't talking about you, Sonic…" He corrected me. "I was talking about the other you."
I felt a rush of anger before finally dozing off in the desert plains once again.
"…Maurice."
And now we are where we started! We finally reach the Prologue segment… and it's from right near the end of Act I! One more chapter, and Act I will be done!
Hope you've Broken Dreams 2 so far! If you have questions, PM me or leave them in the reviews… and by all means, please review! Read ya later!
