He had no idea if it was going to work. Hell he had no idea how it did work, but what he's discovered so far is that it goes AWOL when his emotions get out of control. Watching Manic turn blind with rage scared him shitless, but he figured that he could use that to his advantage and find out where the Emerald is at.

He moved slowly, cautiously as he let go of Manic's arm and went to touch Sleet's battered head. He felt like any quick motion would alarm the hedgehog and as it seemed that he wasn't 100% there, Ridge wanted to give him a second to collect himself. The other reason was that Ridge himself was partially in shock. His breathing was rattled and his arms shook, but he held it together. The second he touched Sleet's head, he let go.

He let himself be scared.

The familiar overwhelming sensation flooded his little head. There was so much chaos, different images and voices. He saw Sleet in different stages of his life and snippets of the wolf's harsh life, all the hardships he endured before he decided to be the inflictor, not the inflected. From there, Ridge saw all the chaos and pain Sleet caused. He heard screams, cries, gunshots and explosions. He saw blood, gore, guns and dead bodies.

He didn't want to see these things anymore so as hard as it was, he forced himself to focus. He thought of the factory and he could feel Sleet's memories whiz past in compliance. It was as if Ridge was fast forwarding through a movie; he didn't want to see the beginning, he only cared about the end. When he began to see familiar cells and experimentation tables, he knew he was in the right area of Sleet's mind.

Then he saw it.

The Master Emerald.

He'd never seen it up close before and it was so big and gorgeous, Ridge wanted to stare at it all day. He was surprised how delicate it looked yet the glow that it emitted radiated power. He felt Sleet's temptation to steal it every time he saw it. Ridge called up memories of the times Sleet's been in the same room, which paths the wolf took to get there. Once he saw the corridor he and Manic were in, he knew where to go and how to get there, the correct directions mapped out in his brain. Then he saw something that made his heart sink to his stomach. He saw how Sleet walked past the same corridor he and Manic were in and killed everyone held captive.

Everyone from his village.

They were dead.

Sleet had taken a small entourage of robots and slaughtered everyone locked away in a cell. Shot at them excessively, unnecessarily. Ridge saw his friend Meadow—a kind chipmunk who lived in the tree just over the creek back home—cry in the corner of her cell. Her hands were in her hair and she looked up fearfully at Sleet from her crouched position. She was shaking.

Sleet raised his gun and shot her in the head. Her brains splattered the corner as her body went limp and to Ridge's horror, Sleet shot her four more times just because he liked it. That feeling of pleasure made Ridge sick to his stomach.

Sleet sighed and looked down the corridor of cells, hearing people scream as they heard the robots open fire at every cell and realize they were being massacred. Then he looked to the cell across from Meadow's and Ridge recognized his neighbors, Ms. River and her son, Ridge's best friend, Scooter.

No. Ridge's blood turned to ice.

Ms. River was hugging Scooter tightly, protecting him with her body, telling him that she loved him as she cried in his fur. Ridge couldn't stop seeing this, he couldn't pull out of Sleet's memories and what horrified him the most was the realization that he was living this out first person, he wasn't watching Sleet like a ghost anymore.

He was Sleet.

He raised the gun to Ms. River and blew her head off like Meadow's. He took satisfaction in hearing Scooter scream out in pain and heartbreak.

"Mom, no!"

Ridge felt glee as he held off on shooting Scooter while he scrambled over Ms. River's dead body and shook her as if her head wasn't just demolished.

"Mom, please wake up!" he cried hysterically. "Please! Don't leave me."

Ridge shot Scooter in the back, missing his head on purpose and—

"RIDGE WAKE UP!"

Seeing Ridge's reaction was a much needed slap to the face.

Whatever the kid was witnessing, it must have been the most horrifying thing in history, which Manic wouldn't have been surprised if it were; it was Sleet Ridge was mentally probing. He watched as the raccoon's focused frown scrunched into something close to shock and disbelief. Then it morphed into an expression of grief and tears began forcing their way through his eyelids, which were squeezed shut. His body tensed, fingers curling into fists and clutching Sleet's bloodied fur.

Manic reached out too touch him but refrained. He didn't know if he was allowed to touch Ridge while he was using his ability or not. "Ridge?"

The raccoon's ears flattened and he started to sob through clenched teeth. It looked like he was trying to say something, but he didn't, he couldn't.

"Ridge?"

He winced to seeing whatever he was exposed to and his head lowered, making him seem like a scolded animal. The shaking made it seem like he was struggling to get control and that's when Manic said fuck it. He grabbed the kid's shoulder. "Ridge wake up."

Though he was spasming, he was as solid as a rock and he didn't move. He groaned as if he was trying to talk, but the words couldn't make it past his clenched jaw. His body jerked violently, prompting Manic to shake his shoulder. "Hey, kid! Snap out of it!"

But he couldn't. He was stuck, visibly struggling and losing. He tried to breathe, but it went in as pained gasps until he screamed. It was so sorrowful and sudden, Manic immediately grabbed both of his shoulders and shook him hard. "RIDGE WAKE UP!"

The gasp let him know he was back with him, in the real world, but the second he opened his eyes the tears practically poured out. He struggled to breathe and his body was still as tense as it was when he went under.

"Sh-sh, Ridge I need you to breathe, okay? Breathe for me." Manic inhaled deeply and held the boy's head in his huge hands to get him to focus on him. "What happened, what did you see?"

"They're gone, Manic. They're all gone," Ridge choked out, pressing his face into Manic's chest as he clutched onto his vest.

"Who—Who's gone?" Seeing the kid like this was starting to freak him out and he was starting to feel shaky with panic.

"My village—the hostages."

"Kill the boy and finish off the job," Robotnik had said. "He's the last one."

Oh.

There were no hostages anymore.