AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter deals with depression and suicide. If you are sensitive to said content, please be advised if you do decide to carry on reading.

Also, if I should change the rating to M due to said fact, please let me know.

Ending 2: Regret

Nothing happened. Sonic remained lying on the stone table with his wounds still intact. Knuckles was baffled as he tried to perform the ritual again, only to end up with the same results: a bright white light, and then nothing else. It would seem as if Chaos refused to bring the blue hero back to life for some reason. Feeling out of hope, Knuckles hangs his head in sorrow, seeing that there's nothing else he can do.

"K-Knuckles? W-what's wrong? Why isn't he-" Tails asked before he was cut off.

"Just… get outta here," Knuckles pointed away without saying anything else nor looking at Tails.

"B-but… what about-"

"I SAID GET OUTTA HERE!"

"But what about Sonic!?" Tails demanded an answer.

"YOU KILLED HIM! ALRIGHT!? Is that what you wanna hear!? Huh!? Are you happy now!? You cold-blooded monster! Now get outta here before I hurt you!" Knuckles shouted again, tears of a mix of bereft and rage starting to form in his eyes.

Tails stood still in disbelief, not knowing what to do nor say. The revelation had practically broken him as he fell into a silent denial. But not long after, Tails moved from his spot as he was forced to dodge an incoming punch from a furious Knuckles.

"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME!? I SAID GET OUT!" Knuckles yelled at the top of his lungs one last time before Tails finally gets the message and flies off into the distance.

The next day, 8 AM. At a secluded location in Green Hill Zone, a funeral for Sonic the Hedgehog was held. The attendants include Amy, Knuckles, Rouge, Silver, Blaze, Cream and Vanilla, the Chaotix, and even Sonic's rival, Shadow. Everyone had finished delivering their eulogies and it was time to lower Sonic's casket. While the men were tasked with lowering the ropes, Amy fell down to her knees and started to cry hysterically as her other friends try their best to comfort her.

Moments later, the entire proceedings had finished. The grave has been sealed shut by soil, but Amy still couldn't let him go. She sat next to Sonic's gravestone, embracing it as if it was Sonic himself. While the men gradually left one by one, some of the women stayed to comfort her again whilst gently convincing her to let him go. But she simply couldn't. Even after the sky had turned dark, she was left all alone, still sitting next to Sonic's gravestone.

Later on, came Tails, carrying a large bouquet of flowers and wishing to pay his respects despite what he had done. He somehow found out the location despite not being told by everyone else and decided to pay a visit late at night when nobody is there. But he certainly wasn't expecting Amy to stay this long.

"Umm… Amy? I know you're mad at me, but-" Tails tried to explain before being cut off by Amy who refused to even look at him.

"How dare you show your face around here. Even after everything you've done, you still come here? And for what!? So you can rub your "victory" in my face!?"

"N-no, I'm here to say that I'm so-" Tails was cut off again when Amy suddenly swung her hammer at Tails which he dodged.

"YOU'RE NOT SORRY! YOU'RE A SICK, HEARTLESS TRAITOR!" Amy screamed as she continued to flail her hammer at Tails, eventually hitting him and launching him backwards to land on his back. Amy then slowly approached Tails who was cowering and frantically backing off, scared to death.

"If you ever show your face to me or to Sonic again, I swear to Chaos, I will do to you ten times worse than what you did to Sonic. Do you understand? Now scram!" Without a word, Tails nodded out of terror, pulled himself up to his feet and made himself scarce.

After that bitter confrontation, Tails would lock himself in his house for days, sometimes even in his room or even his bunk bed (which now has one vacant space). He would rarely leave his bed, only getting up to use the bathroom, sometimes even skipping all 3 meals in a day, causing him to drastically lose weight. During this time, nobody bothered to ever visit him as well, still in contempt for his unforgivable act.

Even though Tails mostly spends his time lying in bed, getting adequate sleep is not a reality. Far from that, he would spend most of his nights sleepless, unable to close his eyes since every time he does so, the same kind of nightmare would come back to haunt him; every single time. It usually starts with Tails waking up in either a black void or a variety of familiar, yet gloomy-appearing locations, perhaps places where he and Sonic once clashed and fought. From there, he would see Sonic with his back turned, standing still and doing nothing, as if staring into an invisible abyss. Tails would slowly approach him to apologize for his misdeeds, only to have Sonic respond in a violent way, attacking Tails mercilessly in an act of revenge to an extent nearing that of torture. Tails, on the other hand, could never bring himself to fight back, having believed that he deserves every hit he receives from Sonic. And every time, just before Sonic delivers the killing blow, Tails would return to reality, waking up in cold sweat and palpitating heartbeat. The vicious cycle would then continue throughout the days and nights, denying him of any chance to earn even the slightest of rest.

Soon, Eggman had found out about Sonic's death and decided to take advantage of it by increasing the number of attacks he carries out on a monthly basis. Every time an attack was launched, Tails' phone would notify him of it only for him to swipe it off and go back to bed, being too depressed to even want to do anything, especially hero work since it only reminded him of how he always did it with Sonic, causing even more sorrow. As a result, everyone else had to take over the role that Sonic and Tails had always filled, and it proved to be overwhelming. Even when combined, they all couldn't come to equal terms with the Unbreakable Bond's dynamics and strength.

Day after day, week after week, Tails' phone kept on blaring with alarms and notifications of Eggman's attacks, often being accompanied with incoming calls from his friends begging him to come and lend a hand. They were that desperate to even ask for help from the very person that had killed their hero. After nearly a month of isolation and constant blaring from his phone, Tails finally snapped and threw his phone to the wall, breaking it to pieces. Afterwards, he stopped to try and control his breath. He then began to break down as he fell to his knees before lying on the floor, tears escaping his eyes as he wailed and sobbed over the thought of Sonic, how he wished he could turn back time to prevent all of this mess from happening, and how he wished he could have at least properly apologized to Sonic at his deathbed.

A few days later, Knuckles and Amy finally decided to pay Tails a visit, in hopes of being able to convince him to get back on fighting Eggman. They knocked on his front door, only to be replied by silence, nothingness. Later on, they would discover that the door had been left unlocked which Tails couldn't even bother to lock. They would also discover that his house lied in shambles, broken furniture all over from Tails' fits of rage and frustration over his past mistakes. They both searched for Tails, calling him by his name as they meticulously search every nook and cranny around the house for any signs of him. No luck. They both then decided to split up; Knuckles searched Tails' workshop while Amy stayed to search the house. Moments later, Amy stumbled upon the bathroom door, unlocked. Her gut feeling tells her something's off in there. She then decided to peek in slowly. And then…

"AAAAAAAAHHH!"

A shriek of terror. Stains of crimson red littered the white porcelain bathtub as Amy discovered Tails, his corpse lying in said bathtub with a kitchen knife still embedded on a massive, slicing wound across his stomach, his mouth slightly hanging open and his eyes wide open, devoid of any signs of life. Amy then felt sick at the gruesome sight before fainting and collapsing on the bathroom floor. Knuckles overheard her scream and went to check out what happened, only to be left equally appalled. As Knuckles looked closer, however, the blood itself appeared rather fresh, seemingly only spilled hours ago. Perhaps they could've prevented this from happening had they come to his aid earlier.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, Tails woke up to find himself in a serene, lush, and green landscape. In front of him stood a large lake, its water clear, pristine, and shining bright, reflecting the sunlight and appearing enticing to even drink. As Tails pulled himself on his feet, he analyzed his surroundings to find that the lake is surrounded by what appeared to be a forest of pine trees with vast, white mountains on the background. Everything about this place felt peaceful. But still, Tails has yet to know what this place is.

"W-where am I?" He thought to himself, being unable to remember anything before he was somehow transported here. Was it perhaps another dream? The same one he's been having for the past couple of weeks? No, it can't be. The entire scenery was simply too pleasant for it to be another one of his nightmares.

Just then, in the distance, a blue hedgehog called out to Tails, waving his arm and beckoning for him to come there. It was Sonic. "Hey Tails! Good to see you, bud! Come over here and let's talk!" Sonic shouted from the distance.

It was only after seeing this familiar figure that Tails' memory finally clicked in which put him into a state of shock. Sonic is dead. He couldn't possibly be in whatever this place is, calling him to come over. Having been traumatized by the sight of his former victim still alive, Tails made a mad dash for the woods surrounding the lake.

Sonic would soon follow in pursuit. Tails could hear him nearing as he picked up the pace and propelled his twin tails even faster to escape his best friend.

"Dude, come on! I just wanna talk, that's all!" Sonic shouted from behind, keeping his pace steady to Tails'.

He continued to ignore him and kept flying away from him. Moments later, however, Tails found himself back at the same lake which baffled him. Not knowing where else to go, he frantically looked around for another route of escape, only to find that somehow, he's back at the exact same spot where he woke up. He then turned around and was startled by Sonic already standing behind him, causing him to step back, trip, and fall on his back. He then cowered into a fetal position, screaming and begging for this nightmare to stop.

"No! No, please! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me, I didn't mean to! I…" Tails stopped. At this point, he was expecting Sonic to take out his revenge on him but instead, Sonic stood there, doing nothing.

"Hurt you? Why would I? I said I just wanna talk. Look, let me explain."

Moments later, Sonic and Tails were sitting by the lakeside, conversating as Sonic began filling in the blanks for Tails.

"So… you're saying that this is…"

"Yup, we're in Heaven. Or at least that's what I think it is," Sonic confirmed.

"N-no way… everything feels so… real."

"Everything here's as real as it seems, bud. In fact, lemme show you something."

Sonic beckoned Tails to come closer to the edge of the water where, as if by magic, its surface revealed a moving image of Tails' funeral, his casket being lowered next to Sonic's, much to Tails' shock. "Is… is that!?"

"I'm afraid so. This is also how I've been watching everything that's been happening in your life these past few weeks. Like for example-"

"Hang on," Tails interrupted. "If this is really Heaven, then I shouldn't be here. I'm a horrible, cold-blooded murderer! If anything, I should be rotting in Hell right now!" Tails said as he looked away from Sonic with a sad expression on his face.

"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed while holding both of Tails' shoulders, prompting him to look directly into his eyes. "Come on, don't say that. I know you didn't mean to do it. I saw how guilty you felt, how you locked yourself up for days, punishing yourself, not eating or getting outta bed for days. It really hurts me to see you like that. And then I…" Sonic stopped as he started to sniffle, tears forming in his eyes. "I saw you drove that knife into your gut. I wish I could've done something to stop you then, but…"

And then, without a further word, Sonic took Tails into his embrace, hugging him tightly as more tears stream down his face.

"I'm just glad you're with me now."

Tails then started to cry as well, returning Sonic's embrace while sinking his head into Sonic's chest.

"I… I never g-got to… say s-sorry…" Tails cried his heart out as Sonic gently stroked Tails' head.

"It's okay, buddy. You don't need to. We're here now, we don't have to worry about a thing anymore."

Eventually, both Sonic and Tails calmed down after crying for a significant amount of time. Tails then asked Sonic.

"So… what now?"

"I dunno, Tails. All I wanna do now is just sit back and take everything in," said Sonic as he laid his back on the soft, green grass.

"Do you… ever go hungry here?"

"Come to think of it, no. I never do. I don't think the sun ever goes down in here either."

"Whoa… that's bizarre."

"Yup. Never thought this is what afterlife would be like. Seriously, come here and lie next to me, see what I'm talking about," said Sonic as Tails proceeded to do so. "Now close your eyes and take a deep breath," instructed Sonic once more.

Tails closed his eyes and began to inhale the fresh air from his nostrils and exhaled through his mouth. From doing that alone, he somehow already felt at peace, the serenity of the landscape complementing the experience.

"You see just how peaceful it is?"

"Wow, you're right, Sonic. I don't ever wanna leave this place."

"Me too, bud. Me too," said Sonic as he gazed at the beautiful, cloudy sky. With Tails by his side, everything felt alright.

"Hey Sonic?"

"Hm?"

"If this is Heaven, that means one day all our friends will be here too, right?"

"I sure hope so."

"When do you think that will happen?"

"I don't know, buddy. I don't know."