Chapter 6:      Long Forgotten

Not for the first time, Hawk lay with his arms under his head. He was starting to get attached to the view of ceilings now, he saw them a lot when he had something to think about. Yes, he had a lot to think about. He was here in his old home…well, hometown. It had been a good place for that year…it still was but for the terrible memories that now plagued it. Well, the next day he would see just how much of it and how really he could see. It seemed like an eternity ago now, almost like it had never happened, or was ancient history. Not that he had had a great amount of history lessons, just the basics…geography he had never paid any attention in. This town…Koringhn…something about how some flame tribe had abandoned it many years back during some war with such-and-such. It was North of the what's-its-name desert…started with 'I'…but…that wasn't the problem. The geography of this area was never a major issue for Hawk…rather a certain person who existed in this town. He was doing it again. Falling for her, like nothing bad had ever happened. Like none of his expectations had ever been misplaced. Like he had never assumed the stupid and impossible. Like she had never killed off half of his spark. He had learned a lot from what had happened around here…he had learned more in that three days than in his entire time at the secret service training rooms. No, he hated her for what she did to him, yet at the sight of her removing the destroyed hardware burying him, his heart had leapt. Bluehawk sighed and turned over. These connections never go away, do they? Quietly he sniffed out his first tear since almost a year ago and left his eyes closed.

The others were still asleep, but Minimaniac and Phantom headed downstairs for breakfast in the restaurant. It was a cosy place, with a good contrast of natural colours and black. The place was quiet, they were up fairly early, so they chose a six-seat table in case the others woke up and  sat down. Minimaniac grabbed a menu. "So explain the whole 'restaurant' thing…what are the customs?"

Minimaniac raised an eyebrow. "Heh…I keep forgetting you're not from this planet. Just…read the menu, choose what it is you want to eat from there, and the rest, follow my lead."

Phantom quietly wondered to himself if he should pretend to be Sama. But contrary to his thoughts, he nodded his head.  They sat there for about a minute before a waiter came to their table.

"Would you like anything?" The squirrel asked.

"Just looking for now, thanks." Minimaniac handed the menu to Phantom.

"What's a ku-rois ant?" Phantom asked suddenly.

"Quah-sohn." Mini corrected him. "It's a weird kind of bread thing." Phantom nodded in response. "You ready to order?" Mini asked. Phantom nodded again. Black Eagle pulled up a seat next to Phantom just as the waiter walked over.

"Ready to order?" He asked.

"Two croissants, please." Mini recited.

"Make that three." Eagle added.

"Toppings?"

"Just butter." Black Eagle.

"Same for me, I guess." Phantom said, wanting to taste the croissant and nothing else.

Mini thought for a moment. "Hmm…same for me." The waiter wrote this down.

"Three croissants with just butter. A drink?" All three of them shook their heads. The waiter walked off, swishing his tail. The three of them sat in silence, when Eagle decided to speak first.

"Yanno that weird squirrel girl? I kinda get the idea that Hawk knows her."

Phantom rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Oh, MY. How'd you get that idea? From the way they seem to hate each other?"

Eagle now was the one to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I figured you'd realize that…but…ah, never mind. It's none of our business anyway."

"Speak o' the devil." Phantom muttered. Mini looked up. Yeah, that was her alright. She briskly walked around a few tables and pulled up a seat next to Minimaniac.

"Hey, that seat's for Hawk." She showed no intention of leaving her position. "Did you hear me?"

She strategically ignored him as KK walked in, followed by Sama, and they both sat down.

"Hi guys!" KK chirped happily. Sama simply grunted as everyone said hi to them both. KK sat next to the squirrel girl and Sama next to KK and Eagle. "Where's your blue friend?" The squirrel girl asked finally.

"Still asleep, I guess." Mini replied. "And you're sitting in his seat."

"Well, doesn't that show a lot of gratitude for the way I ventured into that ship to help your friends!" She retorted conceitedly. Mini bit back what he was going to say before it was too late. Suddenly Phantom realized a steaming croissant was being placed in front of him, then one in front of Eagle and one for Mini.

"Steak?" Sama said curiously.

"Croissant." Phantom corrected him.

Sama shook his head, "I steak?" He repeated.

Phantom started trying to cut up his croissant with an un-coordinated knife. "Still learning!" He said cheerfully.

"Hold it with the fork." KawaiiKitsune suggested. Phantom tried this with a bit more skill than before. Eagle was already halfway through his. Sama, KK and the squirrel girl placed their orders, and the waiter walked away. Mini looked up to the door into the hotel to see Bluehawk walking in slowly. He was already wearing his sunglasses even though it looked like he'd only just woken up, and he looked pretty tired, too. He realized that all of the seats on his friends' table were taken and slowly walked over to another table by himself. He just sat there, looking straight at the table, leaning his head on his elbow. There was something other than the table bothering him, that was for sure. Phantom and KK seemed to have noticed as well. But the thing that most surprised them all was that Sama was the one to go over to Hawk. The blue fox looked up. "Hawk not happy." Sama said. "Hawk need friend!" Hawk just nodded silently.

"Hawk not happy at all." He replied finally. Sama sat next to Hawk in an attempt to cheer him up. Well, it helped that he was making an effort. Mini and Phantom exchanged glances, but it was the hedgehog who lifted his plate and walked over. "You don't need to say that something's majorly wrong for people to notice." Mini suggested. Hawk sighed.

"It's something I'd rather not bring up."

"Hawk need friends!" Sama said sympathetically. Hawk suddenly realized how unlike Sama it was to be sympathetic, he was so slow that he never understood anything.

"Well, if you ever need to talk, you have a lot of friends around, eh?"

 Hawk nodded. "Thanks."

Hawk had to be alone for this, it was the only way it would really work. He walked slowly towards the river…yeah, that was the place…a river in the forest…but would he find exactly the right place? Suddenly he realized he could vaguely hear trickling water…down a steep hill off the right side of the path. Not worth jumping…suddenly everything looked different. The sky was suddenly much cloudier…If I don't get there fast enough, I'll miss her! Suddenly he was leaping over the side of the hill…and he was back where he was a few minutes ago. He had jumped last time. He wasn't going to jump now. Should he even be doing this? No, he had to. It was a matter of facing his worst moment. Facing his fear again, in the same place, only in a different way. Without another thought, Hawk jumped off the side of the hill and landed with a thud on the muddy grass. The river was ahead, downhill…yeah, that tree looked dang familiar…the sky was suddenly cloudy again, the images blurred…he had looked up at that tree on his way down almost a year ago…it was more green then. The earth was muddier then. The sky was blue again. Hawk could hear the trickling water even more strongly than before. It was a beautiful place, tarnished by memory. Then the river was in sight. The sky was cloudy again…yep, there she was…dangling her bare feet in the water. The sky went blue again and she disappeared. Bluehawk choked. This was the place. The rock right there was where she was sitting about a year ago. He lifted the sunglasses off his eyes and examined them. He had had these for a long time. Since before he left the secret service in fact. Before he could break down Bluehawk took off back up the hill while using his chaos emerald…if he had stopped to look back he would have seen the black red-eyed figure drop down upon his ex-location. It knew he wouldn't come back, it knew where he was headed. Koringhn. It quickly waded through the river to report back to 'HQ'.

Hawk slowed down upon nearing the hotel, the others assumedly inside. He had an energetic spring in his step, yet he sagged painfully. The others weren't around, though…the rooms were empty. Hawk jogged down to the front counter. "Where'd my friends go?"

"Who were your friends?"

"Green hedgehog with sunglasses, yellow echidna, black hedgehog with blades on the arms…"

"Ah, that group…they're not in their rooms, in the restaurant?"

"Neither."

The person at the counter gave a hum of concern. "Oh well, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do for you."

Bluehawk stormed up to his own room like a grumpy teenager.

Bluehawk opened the door and drew back in shock. The room had been completely turned upside-down. The windows were cracked, the curtains on the floor and the TV facedown. Hawk rushed to the bedroom. Yep, there was a note…obviously rushed…reason to haste, obviously…Hawk pulled up his sunglasses and tried to decipher the message…No, the writing was too messy…then he noticed in the top right-hand corner…there was a date written in the corner, and unlike the rest, this was easy to understand. It was today…at 12:32…it was 12:35 now! There was still time…

Hawk skidded out onto the street, then realized that the intruders didn't leave through the front door. Within three seconds he was under his hotel room's window, next to a please keep off the grass sign…it had been trodden on already. Lucky it hadn't been mown the past couple of weeks, it seemed…fate had a hand in this once again…the trail led into the forest…further and further. Finally it led to a clearing, where there seemed to be a whole mess of footprints all sauntering about a small area, and mud had been blown aside from their central point. They had been whisked away into a helicopter or something. Hawk stamped his foot in frustration. He had come all this way just to be beaten by a stupid aircraft. They must have used some kind of tranquilizer, otherwise Sama, Eagle and Phantom would all have escaped… "DAMMIT!" Hawk suddenly cried, then withdrew at the sound of his echo in silence. Something wasn't right. No birds chirping, nothing. Just himself and the trees…this was very uncomfortable. What was going on? Hawk shook his head. There never was a huge amount of tiny fauna around here anyway…but this still felt unusually quiet…Hawk ran back in the direction from whence he came, dodging trees and fallen logs with ease. He listened as he sped to the rustling sounds of the branches he pushed out of the way…wait…there was an extra rustle just behind…Hawk sped up and kept his eyes ahead. There was something following him…and it was moving fast. Hawk grabbed the first thick branch he spotted and heaved, feeling that all-too common lurch of moving upwards. Whatever it was skidded distractedly and ran straight into a nearby tree with a loud thud. Yeah, another red-eye all right. It fell over backwards and stopped moving. Hawk heard another rustling from behind. He had to get out of there, that was for sure…he jumped down from his branch and used the Hawk Dash for quick acceleration through the slurpy mud.

Koringhn seemed fairly normal, the people in general knew nothing about what was going on that would disastrously effect them within minutes. Only the people in the hotel had a clue. One of the rooms had been ransacked and its sole occupant had sure taken off in a hurry, there were also a few missing persons: A green hedgehog with purple stripes on his spines, a black hedgehog with yellow stripes up his forehead and down his spines, his top spine hooked upward and he had blades on his arms, a navy-shelled armadillo, a yellow echidna and a purple kitsune. The blue fox who had been with that group had run off at breakneck speed, but to most it was an ordinary day. That was, until a completely unnoticed jet-black figure with red lenses on its eyes, who was standing on top of the hotel, put its mouth to a communicator, held down the talk button, and said quietly: "Now."

The blue fox was nearly back at the town, just 50 metres or so of forest, then a short strip of grass to pass through…suddenly there was a booming noise, like thunder. Hawk slowed as he felt a sharp chill up his spine. Then he saw the smoke, and could hear the noises of commotion. Then there was another rumble. Hawk sped up again. Something was definitely wrong today. Then there was a flash along with the next rumble as a building in full view spontaneously erupted into flames. The town was being bombed…but there were no aircraft in the sky. Demolished then. Suddenly there was a loud shriek from the street as Hawk entered…he stood there, in shock, the full capacity of what was going on not quite getting through, but full-on nonetheless. His old home was being overrun by…not ninjas…shadows. Shadows of men. Hawk only had about five bullets left now…he kicked upwards, and his gun whipped out of his shoe, elegantly catching it in mid-air. A shadow figure ran across his field of vision…Bang! Its head swung slightly, then it dropped backwards to the ground. Two more came out from opposing buildings, glanced at the body and turned their heads to Hawk. Everything seemed to be going so slowly…flames came out from the building the one on the left had just left. Bang! …Bang! The first one's head tilted sideways and the neck appeared to tear from the side as if it were woven. The second head was gone, a fountain of red water spurting from the top in pulses. Another shot was fired, a more distant shadow twitched as it was about to whack down a fox…then fell onto its shoulder. And finally Hawk turned around, startled, at a shadow so close it could have nudged him with its shoulder. Blood splattered his sunglasses. He didn't bother to wipe it off…all he could do was run. Run from the carnage and terror behind that he felt as if he couldn't stop…he could only prolong it, if that. Run from memories so cold, they iced his heart at their mere thought. And last but not least, run from the fear that they were after him. Their ulterior motive was to catch Bluehawk, he didn't know why…but that was a strong feeling in his stomach that he couldn't outrun however fast he could go.

Suddenly Hawk realized that the tears in his eyes had clouded his judgement of time. He lifted his sunglasses. It was getting dark already…all he had now was his gun, two bullets and his chaos emerald…which in some ways wasn't a good thing. Oh, and the clothes he had on at the time. How long had he been running for? Where was he now, anyway? Wait, he had been heading…close to South, but he had been running all day. He glanced to the chaos emerald…it wouldn't wear out with another couple of hours running, probably, considering how surprisingly little it had dimmed. But it was extremely dim compared to what Hawk had ever seen it become. Weird that it hadn't cut out on him about half an hour into the run, yet he had been running for hours and it was still going. Hawk took the time to check his surroundings. It was somewhat of a plain, grass everywhere (slightly dry) and the odd tree littered at roughly 100 metre intervals. He kicked the ground. The earth was tough…tougher than normal. He must have traveled quite a distance if the ground wasn't muddy. But he had to keep going. He couldn't sleep here, no telling what would be around. Plus the shadow figures may be after him…I just hope I've lost them somewhere…he thought to himself. But considering the speed he had been traveling at, they would have a trail to pick up. He couldn't wait until morning. It was time to keep moving…if only he had his chao with him, at least then he'd have someone slash something to talk to. What am I saying? He thought to himself. Chao aren't that intelligent! At least, not until they get really old. Suddenly he forced himself to skid to a stop…that was close, he almost fell over in this…dip in the ground. Definitely unnatural. For one thing, the grass was much shorter. Possibly because it got less sunlight, but it didn't seem to be the case. Hawk stooped, brushing it aside with his hand. The earth was mostly black, save a few spots where the earth seemed to have eroded upwards. It was all the same, boringly enough. There was a dim flash from the emerald as Hawk took off again…suddenly he had to stop again. There was another big dip, just like the other one, except for the fact that this one had a large rock protruding from the side. Too weird… He started walking through it…but then when he reached the upward slope the ground seemed shaky. He doubled back slightly. It seemed almost hollow. Quickly he checked underneath the (somewhat dry) grass…strange in a dip, the water should gather there. Sure enough, the earth wasn't burnt there, as if a hole had been dug which caved in. Hawk kicked it. There was air behind it, because it dipped in further. He kicked it again. This time the earth just fell through, revealing an albeit small tunnel. Throwing caution to the wind, Bluehawk ducked down and crawled inwards…it pressed in on him and pulled on his fur, but he was fine with that, he had to figure out what was up with this, so he crawled onwards, a strong chill in the parts of him that were touching the earth. It was damp and extremely cold. But he went on, not only would this make an excellent hiding place from the shadows, but it may even lead somewhere useful…like to food. Suddenly the ground beneath him crumbled and he landed flat on his back in a dirt corridor. Without even thinking about it he was standing up within a second, another second and his gun was out, alternating between pointing in each direction. No, behind him was a dead-end. So there was only one way to go. No other way out.