Chapter 7 – Disaster Squared
Tails lay on his stomach on his bed with his face buried in his pillow. He sniffed slowly and then gulped. Slowly he raised his head slightly and looked at his pillow. The areas where his eyes had been were totally soaked with tears. But then he had been crying for a long time.
It was now the day after the events of the meeting and things were now in motion. Sally, Rotor and Bunnie has left the village earlier that morning bound for Robotropolis and last night Knuckles had set off for the Floating Island with Antoine and Mina. The village was now virtually dead.
Tails had stayed locked up in his hut since the events of the meeting. Thoughts and feelings had been jumping around in his head and even though he had tried he couldn't control them or sort them out. In the end he had resorted to letting them win and he had cried himself to sleep the previous night.
"Why is everything happening now?" he asked his pillow, "Why is my life going to pieces?"
Just then a very quiet knocking sound echoed through the room. At first Tails ignored it but then another sound was heard.
"H…hello? Tails?" said a familiar voice.
Tails slowly turned to look at the door. His eyes still sung from his tears and his vision was a bit blurred. The voice came again.
"Tails sweetie, you in there?"
Tails gulped and turned back to his pillow.
"Doors unlocked." he said slowly.
There was a rustling sound and the door opened. As Tails continued to stare at his pillow he felt someone's weight sitting down on the bed next to him. Moments later he felt a hand running over his head.
"There Tails, its ok." said the voice.
Slowly Tails glanced over his shoulder. The green eyes of a small pink hedgehog looked back at him.
"Hey Amy." he said glumly.
Amy just blinked at him and ran her hand through the fur on his head again.
"Tails sweetie, why so glum?" she asked.
Tails knew she already knew the answer to that. Everyone in the village knew about yesterdays meeting and the exchange he had had with Sonic. What else could be wrong? Maybe there was something else wrong. He sighed heavily and looked away from her.
"Come on Tails. I hate to see people like this." said Amy.
"It's just…..just…." Tails stopped to sob quietly, "….why Amy? Why is this all happening?"
"Sometimes life does this Tails. We can't stop it."
"But why? Why does it have to do it at all? Why can't life just be nice and leave us all alone?"
Tails looked back at Amy as she shrugged.
"Tails sweetie I know you're upset but you got to remember that life goes on. Sometimes bad things happen and all you can do is try to sort them out."
Sort them out, yes! Slowly Tails sat up and looked at Amy fully. Of everyone in Knothole, Amy was certainly the most energetic and outgoing. But as Tails looked at her he could tell that even she was upset. She was staring at the wall and seemed not to notice that Tails had sat up. This isn't right. This shouldn't be happening. None of this should be happening. Tails slowly leaned over and put his hand on Amy's. She jumped slightly and then turned to look at him.
"Tails?" she asked.
"Where's Sonic?" the fox replied.
"Sonic? He…..I'm not sure. I caught a glimpse of him over by the ring pool about an hour ago."
"Thanks Amy."
Tails removed his hand and slid off the bed.
"Tails were you going?" asked Amy.
"I'm going to find Sonic. I have to sort this out." replied Tails with a nod.
Amy blinked and then slowly a smile spread across her face. She jumped off the bed, took a step forwards, leaned over and planted a small kiss on Tails cheek.
"Good luck." she said before spinning and walking from the hut.
Tails stood for a moment in silence before raising a hand and rubbing his cheek. Of all the girls in Knothole Amy was certainly the most forth giving when it came to those cheek kisses. At one time Tails might have taken it a bit too seriously but as much ass he liked Amy he wasn't interested. He personally didn't think he could love anyone again, not since the incident with Fiona…
Tails shook his head and snapped out of his thought. Now was not the time to dwell on the past. He had to focus on the present, on Sonic. With a stern nod he walked from the hut. As he did he turned sharply and headed towards the edge of the village. A sudden thought came to him. What if Sonic was still here? What was he going to say? Would his friend want to see him? Does Sonic even consider him a friend anymore?
Tails soon made it to the edge of the village and pushed a low hanging tree branch aside. Ahead of him was a large clearing with a glowing pool of crystal clear water at the far side. This was it, the ring pool. Tails slowly looked across the clearing but couldn't see anyone. He stepped out of the bushes and made his way across the clearing. He stopped by the ring pool and turned around to look at the clearing again. Sonic definitely wasn't there. Tails was almost afraid to call out. Now that it came to it he didn't actually want to see Sonic as much as he wanted to talk to him. It turned out that he didn't need to shout though as a voice spoke to his side.
"Well fancy meeting YOU here." it said.
Tails turned to see a blue hedgehog standing at the edge of the clearing. He had his arms crossed and was staring at the kit with a cold gaze.
"So, you come to apologize or something?" he said.
"Sonic I…" Tails stopped, what exactly was he doing?
"What? Listen 'BUD' I got nothing to say to you. Not one thing. I trusted you! You have been my friend for years and then BAM! You go and do something like this."
Sonic turned slightly and made ready to leave.
"Sonic please!" cried Tails, "I….I….I need to talk to you."
"Why? So you can tell me why you betrayed our friendship?"
"SONIC!"
Tails was almost on the verge of crying again. His eyes started to water as he took a few steps forwards.
"Sonic please stop. Please don't leave. Don't leave me like this. It's not how you think it is. Please can't I at least tell you how I feel." begged Tails.
Sonic stopped and turned to look at the kit.
"How you feel? How about how I feel? At the meeting when I almost mentioned our mission I was terrified. I thought, what have I done? How could I do this? Only to find out seconds later that you had already told them everything! You can't imagine how that felt!"
Tails closed his eyes tight as he clenched his fists. Sonic wasn't listening, he didn't even want to listen. There was only one thing he could do to get him to listen. His eyes flew open as he looked up quickly.
"For the love of Mobius! SHUT UP!" cried Tails as he took a diving leap at the hedgehog.
Sonic wasn't expecting this and Tails connected perfectly knocking him to the floor. Sonic looked up the kit sitting on top of him. Tails was now breathing deeply and his eyes burned with a new found fury.
"Now you listen to me Sonic Hedgehog! You think I wanted this to happen? You think I wanted to betray our friendship?! HA! What the hell kind of a friend would I be if I wanted to do that? You want to know why I did what I did? I'll tell you anyway! You have been so damn wrapped up in yourself during the past few days that I have been worried sick about you. I've spent nights just lying in bed thinking 'what could be wrong with Sonic?'."
"What the hell do you mean?" growled Sonic.
"Oh come on! You've been moping around for days, snapping at people, going out on 'secret' missions, which turn out to cause more trouble than anything else."
"HEY! You were there too."
"Yeah and it's good thing I was or you would be barbeque hedgehog about now! Listen to me Sonic. I didn't just take the Tornado out without anyone knowing. You want to know what happened? I was so wrapped up about you that I went out to get some air and to try and workout what was wrong with you. Sally cornered me at the hanger and forced it out of me. After that I lost it. OK! I admit it! I ran away, you happy? But think of this, what if I hadn't been at the Floating Island? Maybe Knuckles and the Chaotix wouldn't have been able to fend off the foursome?"
"Holding yourself pretty high there aren't you?!"
"And you don't?!"
Tails looked down at his friend. Sonic wasn't struggling, just looking up at him with a piercing glare. He had said everything he could and Sonic still didn't believe him. Even if he had had more to say there wouldn't have been time as a loud ringing sound filled the air. Both Sonic and Tails looked back towards the village, it was the village attention bell, something was wrong. Tails quickly stood up and spun back towards the village. He took a step and was almost bowled over by Sonic as he shot past. Damn clown! Tails buried his anger and raced back to the village as fast as he could.
When he arrived he was met by a horrible sight. Sally, Rotor and Bunnie had arrived back but Sally was not there. Rotor and Bunnie on the other hand were hardly recognizable. Covered in blood and dirt they were being fussed over by a number of other Freedom Fighters. Tails blinked and then raced into the village at full pelt.
"What happened?" he cried.
"Argh…sugar." winced Bunnie as she leaned against a hand rail.
Tails just stared at her. Her robotic parts were scorched black and she was bleeding from various wounds and cuts all over her upper body.
"Bunnie! What happened?" asked Tails frantically.
"Yes what happened?" asked Sonic coming to a screeching halt next to the pair, "Rotor's too badly beaten up to talk. Where's Sally?"
Bunnie looked over at Sonic, her face a picture of defeat.
"It was Robotnik sugah. "cringed Bunnie, "He was waiting for us. He….he attacked and…Sally was captured."
Sonic's face suddenly fell. He went a pale colour and looked as if he was about to be sick. He took a few deep breaths and then looked at Bunnie again.
"We have to go! We have to save her!" he said.
"WHAT?!" cried Tails, "Sonic we can't. Bunnie and Rotor can't fight and the others are on the Floating Island!"
"Then I'll go alone!"
"Sugah no!" cried Bunnie taking a sudden step forwards and causing a wound on her side to open more.
She cried out and would have fallen over if Sonic hadn't caught her. Sonic looked down at her in his arms as she looked up.
"You can't go Sonic. You won't be able to get in. We barely got out. It's different, Robotnik was ready for us." said the rabbit.
Sonic looked from Bunnie to Tails and back again several times before his head fell forwards. He closed his eyes tight and then spoke.
"Alright." he said though gritted teeth.
"Thanks you sugah." replied Bunnie.
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It must have been a few hours later when Sonic and Tails sat back to back on a large rock to one side of the village. They were both lost in thought as they stared into the middle distance. Bunnie and Rotor were now both resting in the medical hut with fairly serious injuries. Finally Sonic broke the silence.
"Tails?" he said.
"Yeah Sonic." replied the fox not really paying much attention.
"I feel so empty."
"Empty?"
"Like the life has been drained out of me. Look Tails I want to say something to you and I really mean it. I'm sorry."
Tails turned to look at his friend. He looked over him and then turned away again.
"Yeah whatever." replied Tails.
"Tails I really mean it. I've been thinking about what you said. About how I've been acting recently. I guess I've just lost sight of what we are fighting for. Everything we do doesn't seem to accomplish anything. Everything important in my life is slowly being crushed into a fine powder. I…I just don't know why I'm fighting anymore. And now this has happened and…."
Sonic suddenly stopped and let out a dry sob. Tails turned to look at him again. He could tell he was terribly upset and Tails felt sorry for him. Was this really the reason he had been acting so funny recently? He put a hand on Sonic's shoulder.
"It's ok Sonic. I guess none of us have been acting normally recently. Don't worry, we'll find a way to rescue Sally and…"
Tails was cut off by another loud ringing sound. The village attention was ringing again. The pair didn't exchange a word as they jumped off their rock and ran into the village side by side. They arrived to find Amy frantically ringing the bell and a large group of people swarming around a figure. The crowd parted as Sonic and Tails arrived to reveal a rather battered looking Knuckles. Sonic and Tails both stared.
"Amy what's going on?" asked Tails.
"Knuckles arrived a few minutes ago. We got trouble." replied Amy.
Sonic approached Knuckles who was breathing heavily. Bruises and small cuts covered his body.
"Knuckles what is it? Why aren't you at Island with the others? What happened to you?!" he asked quickly.
"Sonic we have big trouble. I mean seriously big." replied Knuckles.
"What is it?" asked Tails steeping forward.
"The Floating Island has been attacked. Robotnik decided to launch a full scale assault on the place. He must have used his entire arsenal on us. The Island has been totally flattened. When we all came round after the attack we found out that the foursome had broken loose and then we found that the Master Emerald had been stolen too."
"What?!" cried Sonic, "Oh god."
Sonic suddenly collapsed to his knees with a thud.
"Sonic!" cried Amy rushing to his side.
"There's worst too." said Knuckles slowly, "Sonic, Mina's dead."
Everyone looked at Knuckles with a shocked stare. Only one voice broke the silence.
"No…" said Amy quietly.
