Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog in any way. SEGA does.
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"A Whisper in the winds", a Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction by A Lonely Gray Kitsune.
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A silver sun turned a dull red. Green, vibrant meadows turned to a dead, black rot. A tree…. a tree turned into a tortured, black monstrosity, screaming endlessly, shrieking its eternal death cry, praying, calling out for release.
It would never come. Nor did it matter.
A girl clad in red looked upon this pitiable realm with sorrow. She remembered the tranquil sea of green, the happy, shining sun… the proud, strong tree… she hated looking upon this place now. It brought her such sadness, this dead world. So why was she here?
Her gaze found something she had not seen before, a rock. Slowly, with a cautious gait, she made her way over. She found the rock was an ugly dark yellow-brown, she cold hear a vague moaning coming from it, almost as if it were suffering under a disease…
"Amy."
She gasped, and looked up. Shadow had greeted her like this, with her name, yet there wasn't a relaxed relief in the voice. It held urgency, and a sense of resignation, as though the speaker had fought what it must now do to the death. Perhaps it did.
She looked up, and saw that the speaker was far younger than Shadow, and not even of the same species. A small rabbit in a red dress greeted her eyes, no more than a child of six. Yet, the voice seemed far older… less innocent than a child's should.
"Who?" was Amy's perplexed question. For some reason, she felt as though she was not expecting this person, that her appearance was a great shock.
"Amy… I don't have much time. There's so much I want to tell you, I'm sorry…."
"What?"
"Please, don't speak. I have to warn you, now. You're being hunted by a wolf with red eyes…"
A curling bolt of fear struck through Amy. "R-red eyes?" The fear in her voice was more than apparent.
The child nodded.
"W-who… who is this wolf?" The fear her voice came out quiet, shaking, afraid of the answer, but needing it at the same time….
"... I can't stay…"
"Wait! I have to know! Please…" Begging. Desperately begging for a face to this fear she now felt…
"I'm sorry... I can't… sorry…" she faded.
As Amy watched, and she realized that this person had given her life to give her that warning. And it was useless to her. That person's final act had been in vain….
She put her hand to the air where the girl had been. "No… I'm sorry…" she whispered, "I'm so sorry. I'll be careful, I promise…"
With that, the poisoned, mocked dream faded, never to feel light upon it again.
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Amy awoke under a tree that somehow seemed darker than she remembered it. The warm, living light no longer lapped at her toes. In its place was a dull, gray light left by a ceiling of gray, hiding the sky…. or perhaps destroying it altogether. She rose, and started to walk home. This place was no longer a haven to her.
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She's dead…
It was the one thought that tore throughout his mind. Dead…
He kneeled down next to her. Ran his hand gently against the soft, pure fur, such beautiful fur… dead fur.
Dead.
He picked up the small, delicate body, cradled it in his arms… she was gone. She had hurt no one, on the contrary, she had done nothing but try to help her friends… tired to help him. She'd been a sister to him; she'd talk to him when no one else was around, hold him when the loneliness and cold overwhelmed him… and now… now…
She was dead. Dead.
DEAD.
Knuckles let out a scream that would've shattered the heavens, had they existed at the time.
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Station Square… they'd done a good job rebuilding, at least Sonic thought so. He walked along the sidewalk just beside Emerald Coast. It was beautiful… he wished she could enjoy it with him….
She. Her. No name… Sonic wondered if she even had a name. Did it matter? He wasn't sure… he'd like to be able to call her something. Anything.
He stopped and leaned against the stone railing that separated city from beach. The sunset was wonderful tonight, the sky was a wonderful blend of orange, pink, yellow that seemed so deep that you could fall into it and never stop falling… and never want to.
All it needed to be perfect was his angel.
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Knuckles gently set the mango furred angel down, running his hand along her face, closing her eyes… feeling that soft, comforting fur one last time…
The Guardian stood, and turned. And lo, there it was, the monstrosity that took his sister.... grinning. Mocking. Happy, happy that it had killed her!
Rage burned him alive. Vengeance became his sole thought. Vengeance against this thing, this demon. Explosions of dark, almost black purple fire filled the air, seeming to burst form every point in the ground… it ran. He chased, ignoring the explosions, the burns he was swiftly gaining…
Had he been thinking clearly, he would have wondered at the speed with which the obscenity ran with….
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It really was beautiful. Sonic wondered why thing like this couldn't exist more often. But he knew why.
If they were common, they would lose the rarity that made them special, would become normal. They wouldn't be as magical.
Things like these were so rare; he wished she were here to enjoy it with him. He might never see a sunset like this again…
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It ran to the edge of the floating earth, and leapt high above the blue floor that awaited it. Knuckles stopped at its departure point and stared upwards, watching it descend for Station Square. He said nothing, silent as death as he took to the air after the demon…
…. A demon with quills. BLUE quills…
Knuckles didn't give this a second thought. One had to wonder if he could.
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None of them would, if Eggman had his way. All Sonic had ever wanted up until recently was a way for his friends not to have to live in fear of death everyday, to wake up ever morning and wonder if the scythe would be made of steel, drip oil. That wasn't fair; no one should have to live with that. Amy, Tails…they were just kids, yet they had to be haunted by the thought that this day might be there last…
All he wanted was peace. And her.
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He hit the beach. His eyes darted around, searching for they're prey with a wild, screaming lust for its blood.
There. THERE.
He charged, letting lose the yell of an avenging angel….
Sonic had no idea what happened. One moment, a curling fear ran down his spine, the next, he was in a hole in the wall of the building across from the beach. In great pain.
The he didn't even have time to slump before a large, powerful hand burning with rage lifted him up. He barely managed to tilt his head up, yet still saw him…
"K..knuckles?"
One word, barely legible, exited the echidna's mouth. "Die."
Death came for Sonic not through a metal scythe, but a gloved one.
"NO!!!"
Death stopped no more than a half-inch away from Sonics face. Emerald eyes looked for their savior….
…and found soft orange angel to be the one. A crying, burnt angel.
All rage left Knuckles. He dropped Sonic, and faced Tikal, unbelieving. "T…Tikal?"
She held his arm in as best a grip as she could manage, and looked up at him, crying freely. "Please don't kill him..."
"But…he…"
"It wasn't him! It couldn't have been…it…it…" she seemed so close to just breaking apart. So close…
He held her as though she were made of glass. For all he knew, she was. "What?" All hate, anger and rage was gone from his voice. In their place, was compassion, worry, fear…
"It…got into the Master Emerald… Knuckles, it… it killed the chao!" with that last wail, she buried her head into Knuckles chest, and sobbed.
Knuckles just stood, staring down at Tikal, mouth agape. Tikal had been like a mother to the chao living in the emerald… "It…the chao? What about Chaos?"
"Gone…all gone…" the mango echidnas world had completely shattered. The only thing keeping her together now was her brother.
Sonic couldn't have been hit as hard as Knuckles with this, but he came close. "Oh…jesus…what did this?"
Knuckles turned his gaze to the hedgehog. "Something that looked like you. Exactly like you…."
"So that's why you attacked me…" Knuckles turned his gaze downward.
"Hey, hey, I forgive you…I'd have done the same thing if a look-a-like of you killed Tails…"
Knuckles didn't know whether he should be comforted by that or not…
He stroked Tikal's dreadlocks, trying to provide some comfort to the grief-wracked echidna.
Sonic looked skyward to see the burning Island "God…what do we do now? Could we try and take it back?"
"I don't think so…it's lost to us, now…" Knuckles stared at up at his former prison, watched as it burned under the worst of fires…
They both stood, trying to figure out what would happen next. Neither of them had been in this situation before, there was a pattern not being followed. The road ahead was going to be especially hard.
Ah, but here comes some familiarity. A soft rumbling, followed by an explosion of pavement and dust. The two heroes were far enough away that they were not affected by this, but very much close enough to see what arouse from the hole in the earth.
A large, swollen red head, with two arms of destruction on head side, cannons. A cold, gray tail twisted and writhed underneath, as the thing floated there, staring at the antromorphs…
Knuckles took a moment to figure out what it was, yet Sonic knew immediately. The thing that he had dueled with for so long….
"Eggman."
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Amy opened the door to her apartment. God, she was tired. She missed Shadow. She missed being warm, safe...
She sighed. At least she could get some sleep, now. She flicked the living room light on, and stared into the quarters. The light was dim, making the whole room seem falsely lit, almost as if there was no light at all. The couch was completely black, almost as if it were made of darkness. It just sat there, like it was waiting for a foolish child to touch it… and something sat on it…
Amy walked over, both apprehension and curiosity in her steps, picked up a bit of blue that could be seen from the couch. She brought it into the tenuous light…
…and saw her old Sonic doll. A childhood memory. Her eyes widened. A childhood memory. With red eyes.
She dropped the doll like it was made of fire. It was in full view now, and a note could be seen attached to its stomach:
WANNA PLAY?
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Well… I was going to add in a scene with Tails and Cream, but it ended with a cliff hanger, and I think two cliff-hangers is enough.
I'd like to apologize for the amount of time it took for me to get this out. It seems all ability to write left me in the past few weeks. I'm not even sure this chapter is very good, and I apologize if that's the case. I wanted this done with so I could get working on the rest of the story. I think whatever curse befell me has lifted recently, so the next chapter…could still take a while to get out. It should be decently long, however, so it'll be worth it. I hope. x_x
Ehhh… tell me if this is up to snuff with the rest of the fic. Pwease? You'll be helping me out a lot… I'll give you a cookie, or something.
Right…um… bai. *disappears in an explosion of plushies*
