Another early update for all of you to enjoy!

I'll be pretty busy tomorrow so I decided to finish this chapter ahead of schedule. The story's almost done, by the way. Only two more chapters after this one.

Here we go!

NOTE: I DO NOT OWN SONIC! ALL CHARACTERS (except for my OCs) BELONG TO SEGA!

Chapter 16

Shadow knew that something was wrong the moment light exploded from the top of the Century Tree.

Just as Eggman disabled the Ghost Badniks' hive minds, a brilliant flash of light came from the top of the still-burning pine tree. Dark spirits shrieked and vanished as the light engulfed them, and Shadow hoped that whatever lit up had banished the spirits from the mortal realm permanently.

He left Silver with the Doctor and rushed to the Century Tree, slowing down as he reached the ring of scorched grass and earth surrounding it. Looking up, Shadow felt his heart stutter in his chest at the sight of three ghosts carrying Sonic's limp body down from the tree.

'Please be unconscious. Please just let him be unconscious…' Shadow prayed as he heard Amy and Tails shouting Sonic's name from behind him.

"Sonny boy!" Uncle Chuck yelled as he and the rest of the team caught up with Shadow, who rushed over to the Century Tree's base.

"Easy does it…" Lola Elena murmured as she, Mama Rosario, and Lolo Enrique set Sonic down against the Century Tree. Turning her head, she saw Shadow running full speed towards them. "Ah, hold on, hijo. You need to know something first…" she managed to say before Shadow reached them.

Shadow ignored Lola Elena, kneeling next to Sonic. The blue hedgehog's body was covered in cuts, bruises, and burns – large and small – and his face was deathly pale. And, to Shadow's worry, Sonic's chest wasn't moving with the usual rhythmic rise and fall.

'No… No. Nononononono… Come on, Faker. Don't do this to me!' Shadow thought, pressing his ear against Sonic's still chest while simultaneously pressing two fingers to his neck.

No breaths.

No pulse.

…No heartbeat.

"No…" whispered Shadow, drawing back from Sonic with a haunted look in his eyes. He heard people falling to their knees, followed by Amy's wails. He could hear Tails crying, "What happened to my big brother?!" as well as the ghosts trying to calm everyone down.

But Shadow didn't pay attention, his gaze only on Sonic. The blue hedgehog looked like he was just sleeping, his face calm and peaceful despite the bruises and burns marring his body. Seeing the Blue Blur lifeless… so still… it was wrong. So very, very wrong.

"Everyone, calm down!" Uncle Chuck's voice rose out from the cacophony of voices drowning out Shadow's thoughts. Turning his head, Shadow saw the elder hedgehog taking charge. Although his eyes occasionally drifted to his nephew's body, Uncle Chuck kept his voice steady and calm as he spoke to the six ghosts with the team. "Elena, Enrique, Rosario, what happened to my boy?" he asked them.

"Sonic's fine, Charles. He just had us separate his soul from his body for a little while so he and my apo can have some time alone," Lola Elena reassured him, her eyes looking over Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, Rouge, Omega, and Dr. Eggman.

"W-wait a second!" Silver's golden eyes kept looking back and forth from Sonic's lifeless body to the three ghosts (two of them he recognized from the pictures in Uncle Chuck's photo album). "So Sonic's… temporarily dead?" he asked.

"In a nutshell, yes." Lolo Enrique floated forward. "How long he'll stay that way… honestly, we don't know. But it's to be expected. He and Fatima have a lot of catching up to do," he told them, giving the group a small smile.

Tails silently went over to Sonic and sat next to him. He gently laid his twin tails over his big brother's body. "Are you sure he's going to be okay?" he asked the ghosts, looking at them with pleading eyes.

Mama Rosario patted the fox's head. "No harm will come to Sonic, hijo. His soul is in limbo right now. As for his body…" she frowned at the injuries. "Right now, it's getting a much-needed rest. I can take care of the wounds if you'll let me," she offered.

Tails nodded and Rosario gently passed her hands over all of Sonic's visible injuries. Her light blue aura gave off a calming glow and, before everyone's eyes, the cuts and burns on Sonic's body began to heal.

"How…?" Blaze murmured, awestruck.

"We spirits have a little bit of Chaos Energy left over from the time we were alive that we can still use," Rosario explained as she finished tending to Sonic's injuries.

Sergeant Juni frowned and looked out over the village. "Still got a couple of stragglers wandering around," he observed, spotting a few dark spirits flitting in and out of view.

"We'll need to get rid of them, then." Lola Elena rolled her shoulders back.

"All of you, stay here and look after Sonic. We'll handle this," said Doña Celia before glaring at Dr. Eggman. "And as for you, Señor Eggman…"

"Emily, if you would?" Lolo Enrique gave the little squirrel ghost a sly grin.

"You got it!" Emily disappeared for a few minutes then came back with a long rope, which she used to tie Dr. Eggman to the Century Tree's burnt trunk. "This is for disturbing the resting place of Fatima and her family and for all those times you've hurt Sonic," she hissed, holding her rainbow lollipop like a police baton in her hands.

Uncle Chuck smiled fondly at Elena and Rosario. "I don't know where to begin… It's been too long…" he mumbled. For years, he had wanted to apologize to his old friends for everything. Now, he wasn't sure if all the words in the world would ever be enough to let Elena and Rosario know how sorry he was for leaving them and little Fatima alone during that night.

"Oh, hush, Charles. You and Sonic have nothing to apologize for." Lola Elena smiled. "We can catch up later, once Sonic and Fatima come back," she told him.

"In the meantime, rest. You all deserve it," Rosario added before she and the rest of the ghosts flew off to banish the last of Christmas Island's dark spirits.

Which left the whole team crowded around Sonic.

"I know they said that he's only going to be like this temporarily. But…" Knuckles clenched his fists, looking away from his blue friend's still form. "He's dead. How am I supposed to stay calm when he's not alive?" he muttered.

"We'll just have to wait and have faith that Sonic will return from wherever he is," Blaze said, sitting on the scorched earth.

Amy sighed and sat next to Tails, gently rubbing the young fox's back. She knew that seeing Sonic in this state, despite being temporary, was very distressing to the young genius. "It'll be okay, Tails. He's just talking to an old friend," she whispered.

Tails nodded, rubbing his eyes. He locked eyes with Shadow, the black hedgehog having never moved from his spot beside Sonic. He could tell that Shadow was just as worried as he was. Wordlessly, he allowed Shadow to maneuver Sonic's body until it was resting in his lap.

"All we can do is wait…" Rouge sighed, taking a seat next to her friend.

"HOW WILL WE KNOW WHEN SONIC'S LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS ARE ACTIVE ONCE MORE?" Omega inquired.

Silver shrugged. "Maybe we'll see a sign. If he starts breathing again, at least we'll know that he's come back to us," he said.

Shadow said nothing. He kept his eyes on Sonic, waiting for the slightest signs of life. A slight twitch of a limp blue ear, a flutter of the eyelids, anything.

Anything to indicate that Sonic was alive.

But he wasn't. His body was here, with nothing but Tails' fluffy namesakes to keep it from going cold and stiff, while his spirit was out there somewhere.

As much as he agreed with letting Sonic and Fatima do some catching up to address whatever problems they had, Shadow hoped they wouldn't take too long.

Limbo, according to Lola Elena, wasn't the vast expanse of white light and nothingness commonly depicted in movies and TV shows. Rather, it was always in flux, changing into any type of environment that had ties to the soul (or souls) that inhabited it.

Sonic opened his eyes and found himself lying under the branches of his favorite tree, the branches rustling gently in the wind. Getting up, he stretched and breathed in the fresh scent of flowers. Looking around, he realized that limbo had manifested an amalgamation of his favorite spot outside Mobotropolis and the flower fields he and Fatima frequented.

Emerald green eyes widened and frantically scanned the fields. "Fatima?" Sonic called out, walking over to the fields.

The snap of a twig made him look back at the tree, where he spotted a familiar brown face peeking out from behind it. Smiling, Sonic walked back to the tree. Fatima silently stepped out of hiding, her eyes downcast.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Sonic reached out and touched her hand. "I gotta say, limbo looks pretty nice, don't you think?" he asked.

Fatima looked up at the tree then at the flower fields. "Yeah… it does. It… reminds me of home," she mumbled then looked back at the tree. "I don't remember a tree being in the fields though," she said, touching the tree's rough bark.

"This is a tree I frequent back in Mobotropolis. I used to sit under it for hours after Uncle Chuck and I left…" Sonic said, sighing. His eyes lit up and he gestured to the fields. "Wanna go pick some flowers?"

Fatima gave him a confused look but followed him into the fields. For a moment, she watched Sonic carefully select and pluck the choicest flowers in the fields. But when the blue hedgehog came back and presented her with a most beautiful bouquet, she frowned.

"Why?" Fatima looked at Sonic, biting her lip. "Why are you being… so nice to me?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Sonic's gaze softened. "Because you're my best friend, Fatima," he simply said, giving her the bouquet.

"I don't deserve to be called that. Not after everything I've done." The bouquet shook as Fatima held it in her hands. "I hurt you. I hurt Uncle Chuck. I hurt your friends. I hurt so many people. I even hurt complete strangers. Don't you see, Blue Streak?" she whispered, her entire form suddenly becoming wreathed in smoke.

Sonic gasped as the bouquet burst into flames as Fatima's entire form was engulfed in black fire.

"Ashley and the others were right! I'm a freak! A witch! A monster! That's what those kids called me, and they were right all along! I'm nothing but a MONSTER!" Fatima cried, tears leaking out of her now all-white eyes.

Sonic sighed and reached out, gently brushing his hand against Fatima's cheek. "Not to me," he whispered, going closer to Fatima until he managed to press his forehead against hers. "But, to be honest, for a while… I was afraid that you had become a monster. I thought I lost you forever. But when you tried to stop your flames from hurting me, I knew that you were still in there," he said, tears welling up in his eyes.

Fatima went still, her eyes going wide. Sonic smiled at her, a single tear slipping down his cheek. "You're not a monster, angel. You're just a kid – a kid with a really special gift. A kid who got badly hurt. You were angry. I understand that. Believe me… I've spent a long time being angry at those guys because of what they did…" Sonic admitted.

The black flames cloaking Fatima's body went out. The brown hedgehog sniffed, looking at the ashes – the remains of the bouquet Sonic had given her - sifting through her fingers. "I-I was so mad. Lola, Mama, and I… we weren't doing anything wrong. We didn't hurt anyone and they still… killed us. I wanted them to pay… I wanted to hurt them like they hurt me, make them feel all the agony and suffering they inflicted upon us," she said haltingly before looking Sonic in the eye.

"How can I not be a monster, Sonic? How can you still call me your best friend even after I hurt you and so many people?" she asked him.

"Because I know how you feel." Sonic clasped Fatima's hands, giving them a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be honest, Fatima. I didn't want to return to Christmas Island at first. There were too many bad memories in that place. Heck, I wanted Arthur and every single one of our tormentors to pay for their crimes, too. But, when I thought about it… I realized that hurting them back wouldn't make things any better," he confessed.

Sitting down with Fatima amongst the flowers, Sonic looked up at the sky. "I can't forgive them for what they did to you and your family, angel. In fact, I doubt I ever will. But… I don't want to spend the rest of my life carrying all of this anger and bitterness inside of me. Sometimes, the best thing you can do… is to just let go of the past and keep running forward," he said quietly.

Fatima stared at Sonic, contemplating her best friend's words. To not forgive but still have the strength to move on, it sounded hypocritical but strangely… okay? Could she do that? The very idea felt a walking contradiction.

Looking at Sonic, Fatima couldn't help but think that her dear friend was a walking contradiction himself. From what she had glimpsed in Eggman's memories as well as that of Sonic's friends, he was depicted as a guy who lived life with no regrets and remained cheerful no matter how dire the situations.

Sonic's own memories were a stark contrast to all of that. He had a ton of regrets that he buried deep into his soul. And the biggest regret he had, the heaviest weight that he carried around in his heart, was failing to save her and her family.

"You say that the best thing to do is to let go of the past and move forward… but you're not really doing that, are you, Blue Streak?" Fatima asked, cupping Sonic's cheek in her hand.

At her gentle touch, Sonic felt the floodgates burst open. Sobs spilled out of the Hero of Mobius' mouth as he curled in on himself.

"I'm so sorry! I-I'm so sorry, Fatima! I'm so sorry I couldn't save you!" he choked out. The more he tried to wipe away his tears, the more he seemed to cry.

"Oh, Blue Streak…" Fatima wrapped her arms around Sonic, running her hand through his azure quills. "Shhh… it's okay…" she whispered, rocking him back and forth.

"No, it's not!" Sonic shook his head, trembling whimpers tearing out of his throat. "I promised you that I would protect you, that I'd be your hero! And, when you needed me most, I failed! I wasn't fast enough to reach you! I'm no hero, Fatima! I couldn't save you! I…" he exclaimed before the rest of his words were drowned out by weeping.

"Shhh… Shhh…" Fatima soothed him, nuzzling her cheek against Sonic's. Tears streamed down her own face as they stayed like that for a while, hugging and crying.

Finally, Fatima cleared her throat to speak. "You risked your life for me, Sonic. Even if you didn't save me, you still tried to get me out of that fire. You did everything you could, even getting your hands burnt. You acted like a hero that night, Blue Streak. You've saved so many people from Eggman and other villains. You've given hope to those who had none, risking your life for everyone's freedom with a smile on your face. You are a hero, Sonic," she whispered, brushing away Sonic's tears.

"You've always been a hero to me."

Sonic managed to crack a smile as he wiped the last of his tears away. "I missed you, Fatima," he said.

"I missed you, too, Sonic," Fatima replied, smiling back.

The wind blew through the fields, sending flower petals up into the sky. The two hedgehogs lay down, side-by-side, watching them dance through the air as they floated down. It was beautiful and peaceful. They would have liked to stay longer. However…

"Oh, shoot. We better go back. Uncle Chuck and the others are probably worried sick…" Sonic sat up. The battle against the Ghost Badniks and his desperate run up the Century Tree had definitely left his body banged up. If Uncle Chuck and Tails and the others had found his body by now, they were probably freaking out.

Fatima wrung her hands, not quite meeting his eyes.

"It'll be okay, Fatima. Trust me," Sonic told her, grinning as he held out his hand.

Taking a deep breath, Fatima nodded. "Okay…" she said, taking Sonic's hand.

Their bodies glowed with a brilliant white aura. The tree and flowers faded away.

Closing his eyes, Sonic tightened his grip on Fatima's hand… and the two of them went back to the realm of the living.

When Sonic opened his eyes again, he certainly wasn't expecting his first sight to be a certain Ultimate Lifeform's concerned face.

Blinking his emerald green eyes, Sonic gazed into Shadow's ruby orbs… then smiled.

"Hey, Shads."

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-GuardianDragon98