Greetings and salutations, friend, readers and fans, I am Thomas Holmes II. Having concluded my first story about Sonic, Manic and Sonia, in-between that and my next full story, I've decided to provide short stories about the Freedom Fighters that delve more into their personal lives and struggles. The first one, which you're about to read, will be about Sonic, but the next lot will focus on the other Freedom Fighters, telling you about their lives and so forth. So, without further ado, let's begin.

Difficult Secrets

(A/N: This takes place a week after 'Beginnings'.)

Most people knew Sonic to be confident, to the point of being a bit arrogant, snarky and optimistic. He could always find a way to cheer people up, if only a little.

However, like everyone else, Sonic had his vulnerabilities; and he had secrets that he was unwilling to share with his friends, out of fear that they'd shun him if they knew.

There were only two others he felt comfortable sharing his secret at the moment.

"Sibs, I'm about to tell you something that you can't tell the others; you have to promise me this."

"Course, bro," Manic said. They were in the hut that he and Sonia now shared with Sonic and me; I was out sparring with Hurit. "I'm sure it's nothing bad."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Sonic said.

Sonia scoffed. "Oh, please; you do something bad? I doubt that very much."

"Wait and see," Sonic said. He opened a drawer in his bedside cabinet and took out a photograph, which he showed to Manic and Sonia. The picture showed a female Great Horned Owl with mostly purple-brown plumage, except for her white face and mottled brown wings. Her eyes were a sky blue; two orange and red feathers protruded from behind her ear tufts; and golden armour gleamed on her torso. One of her winged arms was draped around a younger Sonic, who was looking up at her with a glowing expression.

"Whoa…" Manic breathed.

"She's beautiful," Sonia agreed. "Who is she?"

"Her name was Longclaw," Sonic said. "Alongside Cat and Rosie, she took care of me and the others. But we were perhaps closer to her than we were to Cat and Rosie; not that they were terrible, of course."

"What was she like?"

"Kind, gentle, wise," Sonic said, "but also very brave and surprisingly skilled in combat; her order, the Strigidae Shield, had fought to defend Mobius for generations."

"So, what happened to her?" Manic asked. "Was she Roboticized too?"

"No," Sonic said, his ears and quills drooping. "She's in a… what's the term… persistent vegetative state. You guys know what that means?"

His siblings nodded.

"She's like that, because of me."

Manic and Sonia gaped.

"Bro, you're pulling our quills! You've got to be kidding!"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Sonic said, fixing his siblings with a serious glare who was so serious, Manic and Sonia actually recoiled.

"No," they said together.

"But how?" Sonia asked. "Surely, you didn't mean to-"

"Of course I didn't mean to hurt her!" Sonic snarled furiously. "Do you honestly think I'm the kind of Hedgehog who hurts anyone, let alone a motherly figure, with intent?!"

"No, no, no, no, no!" Sonia cried quickly. "I'm so sorry I dared to suggest that! But how did it happen?"

The anger faded from Sonic's face. "It was because of this." He closed his eyes and took a slow, deep breath. Next moment, his whole body started to glow and crackle with blue electricity, filling the hut with blue light and the smell of ozone. Even Sonic's eyes glowed blue when he opened them again. Manic and Sonia were simply dumbfounded.

"I… I didn't know you could do that!" Manic gambled.

"No one does," Sonic said, as the blue lightning subsided. "It was something I discovered during the days I was freelance; away from Knothole, you know. It comes from my very cells and is incredibly powerful."

"Then why haven't we seen you use it?" Sonia asked. "It could be an excellent counter to the lightning Noir casts."

Sonic's eyes dipped. "Tails wasn't the only one who searched for me after I left Knothole; Longclaw came too. When I revealed this power to her, she was apprehensive about me using it, given its power levels. But she eventually agreed to help me get the hang of it. Tails didn't know; I wanted to surprise him and the others once I had perfected it, as I had my speed. But one stormy night, I did a terrible thing."

Manic and Sonia listened with baited breath.

"SWAT bots and Badniks found us," Sonic went on, a slight tremble in his voice now. "Longclaw was injured in the fight; and in a moment of panic and confidence, I decided to zap the robots with my lightning, and… and…" His voice broke and he looked away, a single tear in his eye.

Manic and Sonia's own eyes widened in horror.

"Longclaw was… caught in the blast," Sonic continued, though he was having some difficulty now. "I… I…" He stopped and sighed. "Maybe it's better if I show you."

He held out his hands to each of them; taking the hint, Manic and Sonia moved forward so Sonic could touch their temples. Next moment, a memory surfaced in their connected minds…

Green Hill, one year ago…

"Longclaw! LONGCLAW!" Sonic cried desperately, shaking his mother figure frantically as rain soaked into his fur.

The owl said nothing. Sonic's insides went cold as ice.

"Longclaw, I'm so sorry!" he cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

When Longclaw remained unresponsive, terror stabbed at Sonic's heart.

"You're going to be okay," Sonic swore. He was determined to save Longclaw; he would not lose her, like he'd lost Rosie and Cat. He knew it was only one place he could go so she could be treated: Knothole.

"Sonic, what's going on?" Tails came flying towards them. His eyes fell on Longclaw, and gasped in horror. "Wha… what happened to her?"

Sonic hesitated for a moment. "She got struck by lightning," he said finally; it was more or less true. He couldn't bring himself to say the full truth. "We've got to get her back to Knothole; and fast!" He gathered up the frazzled owl in his arms; he staggered for a moment, as his legs felt wobbly. "Come on!"

Both friends took off through Green Hill. Sonic was pushing himself surprisingly hard; Tails had some serious difficulty keeping up with him.

They raced through the Great Forest, and soon, the familiar warm and welcoming visage of Knothole came into view. Sonic hoped against hope that the medical hut was where it had always been. If possible, he sped up, the breath tearing at his lungs. A split second later, he burst into the medical hut, causing Doctor Quack, who was tending to Sally, to start in surprise.

"Sonic?!" Sally cried. "What are you-?"

"Help me!" Sonic cried desperately. "Longclaw's hurt! Please!"

Longclaw was quickly taken into the emergency room. Doctor Quack ordered Sonic, Sally and Tails, who arrived out of breath a few moments after Sonic, to wait outside. Sonic paced up and down anxiously, so quickly it made Sally and Tails slightly queasy to watch him.

"Sonic, how did-?" Sally began.

"She got struck by lightning!" Sonic said sharply, still pacing. Like with Tails, Sonic found he couldn't tell her the whole truth. "Please, let her live! Don't let her die, like Cat!"

"Sonic, you've brought her back to Knothole," Sally said soothingly. "Anyway, what happened to Cat wasn't entirely your fault; they were prepared for us in that factory."

"I still should've saved him!" Sonic lamented. "I wasn't fast enough; nor was I fast enough to save Rosie! Just like you said!"

A look of shame passed over Sally's face at these words; she had said that. And ever since Sonic had departed Knothole, she had deeply regretted it.

"Sonic…" she said. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said that to do you; I was expecting too much from you."

"My speeds can make a cheetah look as slow as a broken-down car!" Sonic retorted. "Of course you expected me to save her!"

Before Sally could reply, Doctor Quack came back in. Sonic was on him in a heartbeat.

"Well?!" he demanded urgently. "Is she going to be alright?"

Doctor Quack hesitated, and in that moment, Sonic's heart dropped like a torpedo.

Present day

"Longclaw's brain had suffered too much damage," Sonic concluded. "She ended up in a coma and had to be hooked up to life-support to keep her alive. She was like that for a couple of weeks. She came out of it after that, but… she showed no sign of recognition, not even me. That's when Quack diagnosed a vegetative state. She's been like that ever since. Nothing's brought her out of it."

Manic and Sonia just gazed at him, mortified. Sonic felt their horror in his mind. He half expected them to lambast him for what happened; honestly, he'd have welcomed it. But neither said anything.

"Well, if you wish me to leave… I'll do so."

And when no response came, Sonic left.

The room had been specially designed to her: it had a comfortable bed; there was a wheelchair for her to be moved around, sometimes outside, and a bathroom to keep her clean. Feeding tubes were used to provide nutrition.

As Sonic entered, there lay Longclaw, the owl who had his mother for as long as he could remember. Her blue eyes were wide open, staring up at the ceiling. As Sonic took a seat besides his guardian, instinctively, he waved a hand over her face. Longclaw's eyes did flicker towards him, but there was no recognition. Not that Sonic had expected any…

Sonic had visited Longclaw many times, often assisting Doctor Quack in sensory stimulations, in the hope of getting a response. They had worked, somewhat; Longclaw was able to recognise when people were here, but nothing more than that.

Initially, Sonic had refused to leave Longclaw's side, until his friends and the doctor had managed to convince him that he wasn't doing himself any favours. The Freedom Fighters still needed him, and Longclaw would've wanted him to continue fighting. So he had.

Sonic knew he wasn't doing himself or his friends any favours by hiding the whole truth of what happened to Longclaw from them, but he just hadn't been able to tell them. He couldn't bear to see looks of disappointment or accusation on their faces, not again.

He sat beside Longclaw for a long time. Sonic had been told that the longer a person was in a vegetative state, the less likely they were to come out of it. Even so, Sonic had often searched for ways to heal Longclaw's mind, and during his training with the Enchanter Kings, he'd been told about the ability to heal himself and others through the Force, but it required immense concentration to accomplish. Sonic had studied the ability closely, and had thought of using it on Longclaw to restore her mind, but none of the information on Force healing talked of healing the brain. Sonic refused to take any chances with his former guardian; what if he made things worse?

At that moment, his ears detected the sounds of two others entering. He knew who it was, even without turning round.

"So… this is her," Sonia whispered.

"Yeah…" Sonic replied.

"I have a couple of questions," Sonia said. "Why wasn't it brought up when Master Socrates was helping us overcome our demons? Do they not know?"

"No, they don't," Sonic said. "After a few weeks, I felt dwelling constantly on Longclaw's conditions wasn't helping me at all. Over time, I learned to repress thinking about her whenever I wasn't visiting her; remembering Cat and Rosie was painful enough, and I didn't want it to hamper my responsibilities to the Freedom Fighters. However, it still sometimes comes up in my dreams from time to time."

"So, what made you decided to tell us?" Manic asked.

"Seeing Mom and Dad Roboticized, back in Westopolis, it made me flashback to Longclaw. I decided I'd fill you guys in. I trusted you'd understand."

"We don't hate you, ya know, bro," Manic said quietly, laying a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "How can we? We're with you, bro. I promise."

Sonic knew that his brother was sincere. "Thanks, Manic."

"But Sonic, aren't you making it worse by keeping it a secret from your friends?" Sonia noted.

"You think that hasn't occurred to me," Sonic answered. "I've tried to tell them so many times, and each time, I lose my nerve. I know, the great Sonic the Hedgehog losing his nerve! Whatever next?!"

"Do… do you want us to tell them?" Manic offered. "We could help them understand."

"No," Sonic said. "It has to be me; I must be the one who reveals it. I just need to buck up my courage. And please, don't badger me to tell; it won't make things easier."

Manic and Sonia were silent for a few moments.

"Very well, Sonic," Manic said. "You have our word."

Grateful, Sonic turned back to Longclaw, leaned forward, and kissed her on the cheek.

"I will heal you, Longclaw," he said. "I promise…"