Whaaat?! An author's note at the start of a chapter?! What is this madness?! I promise I have a good reason! As you (hopefully) all know by now, I recently changed my name from 'RDFAN7669' to 'OnTheSpectrum', and I posted an author's note as Chapter 24 to clarify any confusion. When the real Chapter 24 was finished, I simply replaced the chapter content and changed the chapter title, so I'm unsure if the notification email went out to everyone. If the last thing you read was the author's note, then go back and read chapter 24 before going any further down this one.

Still here? In that case, on with the story! I'll see you at the bottom!

The next couple of weeks were pretty uneventful. The most dramatic thing that happened was that Tails and Amy had taken another step in their relationship and they had officially moved in together. He still owned the apartment in the city, and a lot of his belongings were still there, but he definitely spent more time at Amy's anyway, so he called it home. Not that Amy minded. They fight they had after Tails had revealed himself had practically been forgotten, with their forthcoming baby taking over their thoughts instead. Sally and the others had been round a couple of times as well, usually just to say hello, with the occasional GUN business, but their lives had become pretty calm, especially when compared to their lives during Eggman's reign. Right now, they weren't heroes, or GUN agents, or celebrities. They were just a young couple, living together in the suburbs, waiting for the birth of their first child. They were happy, of course, but they'd be lying if they said they weren't at least slightly bored. That would change soon, though…

Sooner than they'd think.

Sonic's nightmares were getting worse. Each time, they always seemed to end with a version of Tails killing him. Sometimes, it was Taylor, using his electric sword to slice him in half. Sometimes, it was the Tails from the cemetery, strangling him with his tails. Sometimes, it was a demon that only slightly resembled Tails, using an energy beam to stop his heart.

However, none of these were as painful as the times he imagined the eight-year-old Tails finishing him off. That was an image he would never be able to forget.

"I died because of you, Sonic."

"I loved you like a brother, Sonic."

Every death was preceded by a line like that, and each one rattled the hedgehog to the core. That was what made these nightmares unbearable.

Because they were right.

Sonic knew that there was no redemption coming for him. Rouge lost her boyfriend to him. GUN lost a lot of good agents to him. The world lost the echidnas because of him. Amy lost her arm to him.

And Tails lost his childhood because of him.

Even if they did forgive him, which he highly doubted, they would never trust him again. Not really. They'd all be watching and waiting for the cracks to start showing again. He knew he brought it upon himself, but it still hurt. Sonic the hero always surrounded himself with his friends. Even if he sometimes went off alone, he always found comfort in knowing that there would always be someone waiting for him to get back. Now, he had nobody. Amy was really the only person who had shown him any kindness recently, but now, after she had to witness him killing her GUN colleagues and fighting her boyfriend, he would be very surprised if she even wanted to breathe the same air as him again. He had alienated himself from everyone he had ever known, and they all looked at him with nothing but shame and hatred in their eyes. And honestly, he agreed with them. He hated himself. Ever since Tails had revealed himself, he had been getting more and more confused. It was as if his old personality had woken up after ten long years and was trying to fight back against the monster he had become. But, he wasn't sure if he could win.

As I said earlier, for Tails and Amy, the last couple of weeks had been pretty uneventful. But, for Rotor, they had been very busy. He had basically been working non-stop to get MTP 2.0 up and running as quickly as possible. As Bunnie had told him, pretty much every agent in GUN was terrified of being the guard posted to Sonic's cell, so the sooner he could get this finished, the sooner they could all relax. He didn't have too much left to figure out, though, and by his estimate, Sonic's new guard would be ready for action within the next couple of days. Sally and Bunnie had popped in frequently, asking how progress was going, even sometimes offering to help, so they knew he was getting close as well.

Rotor wiped the sweat off his brow before glancing at the clock. It was almost midnight, so he decided to leave it there for the day. After locking up the lab, he thought about his work. He knew that this would be a massive weight off of the shoulders of the agents, so he couldn't be prouder that he was the brains behind such a positive project. However, as he walked through the practically empty streets of Mobotropolis, he could not have known just how badly this would backfire.

But, that's gonna have to wait until the next chapter! I know, I'm evil! Not the longest chapter I've ever written, and this was mostly just building up to something coming in the future, but you'll just have to blame that on a minor case of writer's block. I'll hopefully be back up to full speed by next week! Hopefully, you all managed to successfully navigate the minefield that was these last few chapters. I don't plan on changing my name again any time soon, so I don't think we need to worry too much about this confusion happening again. In other news, welcome to the story 'CVGWJames'! I'm glad you like the story enough to add it to your favourites! Thank you! Hopefully I can continue to keep you entertained! The same goes for every single one of you, of course! To everyone who has reviewed, liked, followed, favourited, or even just read this story so far, thank you. I'm not gonna get too gushy here (I'll save that for the author's note for the final chapter), so I'll leave it there for now. See you again next week, and don't forget that once this story is over, I'm planning to do a Q&A, so please PM me any questions you may have about me or either of my stories. Mark them clearly as questions for the Q&A so I don't have to go searching for them. Anyway, enough rambling. Ciao for now!

OnTheSpectrum