Distant freedom.
Prologue
Chapter 1 part 1: Last remaining of a fallen kingdom.
Anyone holding the knowledge on the same caliber as I know that the universe is a mixed bag of good and evil. Good is a like a plant that grows and blossoms and evil is like a disease infecting everything it comes in contact with. Without the proper self-discipline even the purest of life forms can succumb to evil's disease. And once one has been infected, how pure it was it previous days no longer matters.
Again, the universe is a mixed bag of good and evil and the planet mobius now ranks among those infected with evil. How it got infected, I'll tell you now.
Mobians , creatures that with the exception of a handful never knew the meaning of war. Their hospitality was once unmatched by any other. And their hospitality became their near downfall, as you see it was so great that they would welcome anything..even the disease.
The disease came in the form of a creature known as man, they came to mobius with peace in word, and word is all the acknowledgement that the mobians needed. They feared not, for as they knew that peace wasn't free, and it would have to be fought for if necessary. Several years went by, and it became clear to the people of mobius that their visitors were after the home that they held dear and the spoils it had to offer, but as stated earlier the mobians would not hesitate to fight.
The humans withdrew from mobius unexpectedly, as they revealed that they were so advanced that they had no need to soil their own hands. They simply left their lifeless creations to take mobius for them. The new threat was greater than the people of mobius expected, but they held their courage and for three years they fought to keep their home, and from the beginning this fight was obviously hopeless. But the mobians strict honor code wouldn't allow them so surrender their world. I almost no time mobius was covered in silence signaling to the humans that their patience had paid off. Mobius had evolved during the war, it was now a simple factory used by the humans. A factory managed by a man known as Ivan Robotnik.
Not all of the Mobian populous was wiped out however, small nests of survivors do exist, but they know the seemingly inevitable, but they refuse to except to let go of the one thing they have left...hope.
~?????
Lightening struck. The sky was cloudy and dead gray. It didn't rain ...only lightning. The sound of a vehicle roaring down pavement echoed through the dreary setting , the sound was shortly followed by an identical one. Then the fast paced rhythm of several much larger objects stormed after them. The first of the two smaller objects (two standard military jeeps) transported three mobian soldiers in full uniform and helmets that covered their faces as well as their heads. Two smaller figures, a young mobian girl and boy, road with them holding one another tightly. On the backside of both jeeps a soldier faced the back holding an assault rifle and firing relentlessly on the their pursuers. The pursuers were much larger, and much more difficult to make out form the jeeps. They were two jet-black giant metallic creatures closely resembling arachnids with one large glowing red eye in the head section. The bullets form the two assault rifles bouncing off of their shells, leaving no effect. The soldier doing the shooting in the first jeep turned letting the visor of his mask gleam in the light being generated by the headlights.
"CAN'T WE GO ANY FASTER!?" he shouted. The jeep sped up for a brief moment and what slowed it back down was the beam of red light that suddenly appeared in front of them causing dust to explode from the pavement. The driver skillfully avoided the beam then sat silent and continued to navigate the jeep, not answering his comrade. The gunner in frustration, turned and continued to fire. The chase continued on like this for an hour, and what broke the cycle was another red beam striking the front of the second jeep. The soldiers riding in it each let out a brief scream before the jeep exploded in the middle of the road. The two large black arachnids then closed in the first jeep with the gunner firing more frantically as they got closer. The driver looked back and saw them then turned again and tried to speed up the jeep; but the efforts were executed a moment to late, this was proven when one of the great legs of the arachnids came down hard on the back of the jeep after the gunner let out a scream in terror. He was crushed with no effort on the part of the robot and his blood quickly splattered on the back half of the jeep which was shortly after torn from the rest. The front half made a sharp left turn causing it to fall on it's right side, spilling it's passengers onto the street. One of the soldiers was left in the back half, which was stuck under the machines leg. He looked up at the great mech, frozen with fear. He quickly scrambled out of the wreckage on all fours, but didn't get far. The machine took him into it's claw and brought him up to it's on large red eye.
"NO! NO! HELP ME! OH GOD, HELP ME!!!" He shouted with fear in his voice. The eye began to glow and his screams became more vibrant. And then suddenly a red ray of light erupted from the machines eye. The soldier screamed his loudest and slowly the light stopped, the soldier was gone. The other robot approached the other who fell out of the jeep. One of the children (the girl) began to stir, and after about five seconds she began to stand, moaning in pain. She looked up and froze when she saw the other machine looming over her. She took a slight step back just as the remaining soldier dashed before her. He was holding a handgun and he took aim at the machine and fired. The robots eye immediately fixed on him and he fired yet again. He started stepping slowly to the opposite side of the street. It was obvious that the soldier was attempting to lure the machine away from her, but she had not acknowledged this yet. The soldier fired one last shot before the machine quickly took him into its claw, he screamed and dropped his gun as the girl watched in terror. His helmet came off, revealing to her his species: Feline. During his screams he was able to say his final words.
"RUN! I BEG OF YOU! YOU HAVE TO LIVE!!" the claw that was wrapped around his body begin to tighten. He let out a scream that could possibly be heard for nearly a mile, his eyes closed and his legs began to kick hard before he was split in two. The mobian girl screamed at the top of her lungs, eyes fixed on the upper half of the soldiers corpse that just landed hard on the pavement. But it was interrupted when the other mobian child whom of which seemed to be holing a long narrow object wrapped in a brown cloth, quickly took her by the hand and they both fled into the thick cover of the woods.
It had begun to rain and night began to set in. The two children had ran for hours, they were both exhausted and sore but the thought of the machines finding them kept them going. The girl had begun to fall behind, it was obvious that she couldn't run anymore. Out of breath she shouted.
"Elias!" She shouted as she came to a stop. The boy kept running, he obviously didn't hear her.
"ELIAS!" She shouted louder as she started after him again. Before she was able to get even a second step off she tripped and fell. She was lying twin with tears in her eyes, aware of her emotional state Elias hugged her close.
"Elias..what'll happen to us now? Where will we go?" Elias ran his fingers through her hair. He was silent, trying to think of a reply that wouldn't upset her. He couldn't find one.
"I.I don't know." She broke from his hug suddenly and walked over to a tree and put her hands against it and dropping her head.
"Then we should've just let them kill us."
"SALLY!" elias shouted less than a second after the last comment. She turned back to face him and they paused for at least ten seconds. She sat at the base of the tree ,stared at the ground and moved her brown hair behind her shoulders. Elias kept a blank expression. He took off his jacket and put it around the front of him. He sat next to her and blanketed her with half of it and she edged closer to him and rest her head on his shoulder. He put his head on hers, and the two siblings slept.
Sally opened her eyes, vision blurred by the piecing sunlight that made it through her eyelids. She sat for several moments and allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts. She leaned her head over and looked down at her clothing. She was dressed casual. She was ashamed of this thought, as she was forced into dressing this way due to terrible circumstances. She let her right side sink and stopped. She was silently filled with panic. She didn't feel the warmth of her brother; his jacket was laying to her far right but any sign of where he could be was absent. She got to her feet , stepped five times away from the tree and started looking around in circles in a panic. She cuffed her hands in front of her mouth and shouted.
"Elias!" she looked around faster until she saw her brother run out of the brush with a worried look in his face. He was holing his shirt in his hand like a bag, it's contents at this moment was unknown to her.
"What's wrong!?"
"I-I.When I woke up and saw you gone I got-."
"I'm sorry." Interrupted Elias. Sally let out a long sigh, and lowered her head and again noticed the way he was holding his shirt. She pointed.
"What's that?"
"The reason why I left." Elias said as he sat down and opened his shirt showing it's contents to be six apples. Sally folded her arms and scoffed at their current status, she looked back up at elias and her eyes fixed on the concealed long narrow object on his back. It was longer than he was so obviously it was a great burden for him to carry around. Sally was thought back and was amazed on how he was able to run for hours strait with the object strapped to him. She found it hard to believe that her stamina depleted before his. While she thought about this, she sat on her tail next top the apples and picked up one, Elias did the same.
"Aren't you tired of carrying that?" She asked before she took a bite. Elias held an apple in front of his face but didn't bite it, his eyes narrowed.
"I was told to watch over both you and it with my life." He answered. Sally pouted.
"Take it off, I know it's hurting you." She pleaded.
"I."
"Enough." Sally interrupted. She leaned forward and took the buckle on his chest and loosened it until it became loose completely and let it fall hard on the ground behind him. He rubbed his left shoulder and closed his eyes. Sally took it upon herself to do this task for him, she stepped behind him and started massaging his shoulders. He sighed.
"I'm sure if father were with us now he scold you for being over-loyal." Sally spoke. Elias remained silent and breathed slowly. Sally eyes trailed to the top of his head and she suddenly stopped.
"Elias, where's your comb?" She asked.
".I took it off. There's no point in dressing like this if we're going to leave at least one part of royal attire on. Besides they'd make us stand out, and we don't want to stand out. I suggest you take your tiara off." Sally's hands froze. She couldn't believe what she just heard. Her tiara, take it off? That was a thought that not once crossed her mind during her days of life. She had never removed her tiara without a reason that gave her no choice but too. It was like a part of her body.
"No, I refuse. I haven't lost that much of my pride Elias!"
"Is your pride more valuable to you than your life?" Elias said back calmly. Sally gasped briefly and closed her eyes. She knew he was right, but that fact killed what was left of her pride. She had already been forced out of her home and away from most of her loved ones, the tiara was all she hadn't been forced out of, or so she thought she hadn't for at this moment she realized that she had been all along. She snatched it off her head and threw it to the ground and began sobbing. Elias turned around and reached for her but she immediately pushed away from him and stood up with her hands on her face. Elias picked up the tiara and lowered his head. When Sally stopped crying she looked over at him.
"We're wasting the daytime hours, we should get moving." Elias nodded and scooped up the apples on the ground and tied his shirt closed around them. He bent down to pick up the heavy long narrow cloth concealed object when sally stopped his hand by grabbing his arm.
"It's not just your responsibility. Let me help you , Elias?" Sally asked. Elias stared back and smiled and answered her with a nod. They each took an end of the object and tied it around their back so that it was going horizontally across them and they had to walk side by side to keep it on. The twins held hands and continued on in the direction of their destination.
End of part one.
Chapter 1: part two: Shattered childhood act 1.
"Maurice!" a voice echoed through a small area of a rain forest breaking the otherwise gloomy setting. "Maurice!" The voice called again louder than before. A hedgehog male looking around the age of thirty or higher , blue with white bangs hanging in his eyes, walked out form the brush. He looked slowly to the left then again to the right. He had an assault rifle strapped across his back and wore camo attire.
"MAURICE!" He called even louder. He put a frustrated look on his face and kept walking. All was quiet and the only thing that could be heard was his feet crunching twigs and dead leaves on the ground. He used his right hand to move his bangs away from his jet black eyes and they shifted around. He could sense a disturbance in the surrounding atmosphere, but he was unable to locate it. He stopped and took a long look in all directions, slowly to make sure not to miss anything. The disturbance was getting greater and the hedgehog was aware of it. He slowly removed his gun form his back and held it in a ready position. His senses went wild suddenly and he then located the disturbance. It was behind him, he quickly turned to intercept it but he wasn't quite quick enough. He knocked to the ground by a small figure and after about five seconds of being on the ground he sighed and opened his eyes. Sitting on his chest was a small blue hedgehog boy, his quills hadn't grown fully in yet and his eyes were deep black.
"Got you." The boy said playfully. As a reply to his comment the older male hedgehog pushed him off his chest forcing him to come to his feet, he then set up and dusted off his pants.
"Maurice..what the hell is on your mind, boy?" he said coldly. The young hedgehogs expression quickly went sour and he paused before speaking.
"I." He said.
"You what!?" the older hedgehog shouted before standing.
"..got bored back there."
"Oh, is that it!? You were bored? And that's why you went against what I told you? Didn't I tell you it was dangerous out here!?" He shouted, slapping his hand on the child's shoulder and tugging at him slightly.
"Yes, sir..but."
"But what!?"
"It's been a while sense I've been able to do anything! I haven't had much to be happy about in months, I just wanted to."
"Not another word." The older hedgehog interrupted.
"But father."
"I said not another word!" He shouted, tightening his grip. "Come on, your mother's hair might fall out if we wait any longer." He continued on before walking in the opposite direction Maurice faced. Maurice hesitated but quickly followed after his father when he shouted another command to come.
It took them five minutes to come upon an area where the older hedgehog knew to stop walking. The reason for stopping was unclear. He tied his gun around his back again and calmly stepped over to a tree covered in moss. Maurice kept his head down as the older hedgehog moved what was obviously an unnatural patch of moss. Behind it was a small screen with a button under it and he pressed it. After a three second pause the screen came on projecting an image of a male Doberman with green eyes.
"Jules? You find him?" the Doberman spoke.
"Yeah, open the gate." The screen shut off and there was a brief pause that was broken by a small rectangular part of the jungle floor lowering into the ground. Right next to it another one lowered, then other and so on until a staircase formed leading under ground. Maurice started down and Jules, after taking a good look around went down after him. They walked into with rounded walls. The floor was hard mesh and to long lines of paneled light going parallel to one another lit the way down a long hallway. Running up the hallway, was a brown female hedgehog with her quills combed down and wearing a loss fitting ankle length white dress. While she approached them Jules closed his eyes and smiled and when she finally reached them she kneeled down to Maurice and hugged him tight. Then she pulled back from slightly and ran her hand through his quills and kissed her forehead in relief. She gripped his upper left arm tightly and spoke.
"Don't you ever do something like this again! You understand!"
"Yes mother." Maurice replied softly.
"Go to the bunk and wait for me there, now." She ordered. Maurice nodded and ran down the hallway until he went out of sight. Jules opened his eyes and fixed them directly on her.
"You should follow him, you know he might end up in more trouble." He said before yawning.
"Well can you blame the boy? He's not getting to live, Jules. Him and all the other children don't ever do anything."
"That's no excuse for him not doing what he's told."
"But you should at least understand!"
"I do."
"Then why do you insist on coming down on him so hard?"
"He's a victim of circumstance, Orchid. He's going to have to adapt to this no matter how much he doesn't want to." Jules said starting down the hallway. Orchid started after him.
"But he shouldn't have to adapt to this!"
"But he DOES! And if I let him think going out isn't as bad as it is, he'll end up dead! And for what reason!? Because he got bored and decided to do something!? I'll be damned if I let that happen because of such a piety reason, and you should at least understand THAT!" Jules said after stopping his walk down the hallway. Orchid was quiet for a moment and lowered her head trying to think of something to say.
"I know that.but I just want him to.."
"I understand that." Jules interrupted. "I feel the same way, but not at the cost of his life..hell no." Jules said as he started walking again.
"So what? Do you expect him to stay in this hole in the ground his entire life?" Orchid asked following him.
"Unless fate demands something different and leaves us no choice..yes..yes I do." Jules answered just as they came to a circle metal door. It automatically opened to yet another long hallway different from the last. This one had doors lined up on each side and each door was labeled with a number. The hall was filled Mobians, mostly children running and playing.
"Orchid, go meet up with Maurice, Damion wanted to see me about something important." Jules spoke leaving Orchid behind. She sat and started after him briefly then started on his order.
Jules entered a large open room. It was mostly dark and the few lighting there was generated from a flat but exceptionally large screen in the center of the far wall. In stood the Doberman from earlier, he had a smile on his face and motioned for Jules to come over. He did so.
"Yeah?" Jules asked as he approached him.
"I think you may like this, Captain. Earlier this morning a beacon was activated in the mountains north from here."
"In the Vacant silo?"
"The very same, it has to be another nest of survivors." Damion said smiling. He was obviously excited by the discovery, however the least could be said for his captain.
"This morning you said? It's more than likely too late. Whoever is or was up there must've set it off because they were discovered." Damions expression changed as he knew where Jules was going with this.
"Sir, we can't jump to conclusions, maybe it's a band of civilians that just figured out how to use the equipment. That would explain the delay."
"But that's only a maybe, and I'm not risking the possibility of walking into a death trap based on only a "maybe"."
"But a maybe is the luck we've had, sir! This could be vital to our survival down here if successful!" Damoin pleaded.
"And it could be our downfall if not successful! It isn't worth the risk, we're not going." Jules left the conversation at that and turned and started for the door. He got to the center of the room when Damoin spoke again.
"Sir, I think I speak for everyone down here when I say nobody wants to spend the rest of their life here. And more importantly, we don't want our children too."
"So you'd rather them recklessly leave their sanctuary?"
"This is a sanctuary now, but if we sit to long it'll become a prison! You..I can't believe you captain! You're actually willing to let the world crash around you and not give a damn as long as you're safe!" Damoin shouted. And that struck a nerve deep within the mind of Jules, so deep that he was unable to see himself dash back to Damoin , take him by the collar and slam and pin him to the console. Jules breathed hard and the look of rage burned in his eyes.
"Shut your mouth.." Damion stared back in the eyes of his superior.
"We'll die here.you think it'll be long before they find this place? I don't know about you sir..but I'm not going to sit and wait for death.no, not because of your assumptions, I don't deserve too." He paused, Jules begin to loosen his grip. "And your son doesn't either."
Jules suddenly let him go and turned around. Slowly Damoin stood back upright and rubbed his neck.
"Tell the others to Mobilize, we leave first thing in the morning." Jules sat for a few more seconds then walked out of the room.
Maurice slept soundly and he was being watched closely. Watched closely by his mother, whom of which let his head rest in her lap. They were both on the same bed, Orchid kept a lazed look in her eyes and she stroked his quills slowly. The sound of the door opening wasn't enough to catch her attention obviously. Nor was the sound of another body sitting on the bed. What finally made her attension direct from Maurice was the soft touch of fingers stroking her hair on the back of her head. Her eyes closed , she turned, and rested her head on her husbands chest.
"I only wish to guard him.and you." He spoke. Orchid sighed and rubbed her head against him, she reached up and touched his cheek and sat for a moment.
"But what the sense in living if you can't live to the fullest?"
The hours went by, the sun went down, and the underground colony rested. But it's defense stayed awake down in it's bowels. They worked through the night, preparing for the next sunrise, when they would journey to the location of the distress beacon. The mind behind the defense gathered his thoughts, and analyzed them. He eventually was eventually brought to peace once he added in the words from others he had heard.
The morning finally broke. Near the rear of the second half of the underground stronghold, the defense made final preparations. Two helicopters were running, and both were slowly being filled with soldiers. When they both finally were, Jules walked along the right side of the two helicopters next to young male cat whom of which was also dressed in combat attire.
"Are we ready?" Jules asked.
"All set sir, all we need is for you to give the word." The cat answered.
"Good, and you guys remember what to do if something were to happen before we get back?" Jules asked.
"Yes sir, you can count on us."
Jules brought his hand to the rifle strap on his shoulder, and put on foot on the right stand of the first helicopter and smiled at him.
"Nice work, now let us out. We'll contact you when we arrive."
"Yes sir!" The cat said before running to the far right side of the hanger. Jules got into the helicopter and sat down and the floor under both the machines began to rise. The ceiling above them opened, revealing the dead, gray sky. When the platform reached the top, the first helicopter slowly began to hover, then took off shortly being followed by the second one.
The soldier sitting next Elias looked over at him, his helmet id his face and species, but his voice had some joy in it.
"We'll finally have more freedom sir." He spoke. Jules looked back at him and after a short pause cracked a smile.
"Yeah." Jules replied.
Chapter 1: Fin.
Prologue
Chapter 1 part 1: Last remaining of a fallen kingdom.
Anyone holding the knowledge on the same caliber as I know that the universe is a mixed bag of good and evil. Good is a like a plant that grows and blossoms and evil is like a disease infecting everything it comes in contact with. Without the proper self-discipline even the purest of life forms can succumb to evil's disease. And once one has been infected, how pure it was it previous days no longer matters.
Again, the universe is a mixed bag of good and evil and the planet mobius now ranks among those infected with evil. How it got infected, I'll tell you now.
Mobians , creatures that with the exception of a handful never knew the meaning of war. Their hospitality was once unmatched by any other. And their hospitality became their near downfall, as you see it was so great that they would welcome anything..even the disease.
The disease came in the form of a creature known as man, they came to mobius with peace in word, and word is all the acknowledgement that the mobians needed. They feared not, for as they knew that peace wasn't free, and it would have to be fought for if necessary. Several years went by, and it became clear to the people of mobius that their visitors were after the home that they held dear and the spoils it had to offer, but as stated earlier the mobians would not hesitate to fight.
The humans withdrew from mobius unexpectedly, as they revealed that they were so advanced that they had no need to soil their own hands. They simply left their lifeless creations to take mobius for them. The new threat was greater than the people of mobius expected, but they held their courage and for three years they fought to keep their home, and from the beginning this fight was obviously hopeless. But the mobians strict honor code wouldn't allow them so surrender their world. I almost no time mobius was covered in silence signaling to the humans that their patience had paid off. Mobius had evolved during the war, it was now a simple factory used by the humans. A factory managed by a man known as Ivan Robotnik.
Not all of the Mobian populous was wiped out however, small nests of survivors do exist, but they know the seemingly inevitable, but they refuse to except to let go of the one thing they have left...hope.
~?????
Lightening struck. The sky was cloudy and dead gray. It didn't rain ...only lightning. The sound of a vehicle roaring down pavement echoed through the dreary setting , the sound was shortly followed by an identical one. Then the fast paced rhythm of several much larger objects stormed after them. The first of the two smaller objects (two standard military jeeps) transported three mobian soldiers in full uniform and helmets that covered their faces as well as their heads. Two smaller figures, a young mobian girl and boy, road with them holding one another tightly. On the backside of both jeeps a soldier faced the back holding an assault rifle and firing relentlessly on the their pursuers. The pursuers were much larger, and much more difficult to make out form the jeeps. They were two jet-black giant metallic creatures closely resembling arachnids with one large glowing red eye in the head section. The bullets form the two assault rifles bouncing off of their shells, leaving no effect. The soldier doing the shooting in the first jeep turned letting the visor of his mask gleam in the light being generated by the headlights.
"CAN'T WE GO ANY FASTER!?" he shouted. The jeep sped up for a brief moment and what slowed it back down was the beam of red light that suddenly appeared in front of them causing dust to explode from the pavement. The driver skillfully avoided the beam then sat silent and continued to navigate the jeep, not answering his comrade. The gunner in frustration, turned and continued to fire. The chase continued on like this for an hour, and what broke the cycle was another red beam striking the front of the second jeep. The soldiers riding in it each let out a brief scream before the jeep exploded in the middle of the road. The two large black arachnids then closed in the first jeep with the gunner firing more frantically as they got closer. The driver looked back and saw them then turned again and tried to speed up the jeep; but the efforts were executed a moment to late, this was proven when one of the great legs of the arachnids came down hard on the back of the jeep after the gunner let out a scream in terror. He was crushed with no effort on the part of the robot and his blood quickly splattered on the back half of the jeep which was shortly after torn from the rest. The front half made a sharp left turn causing it to fall on it's right side, spilling it's passengers onto the street. One of the soldiers was left in the back half, which was stuck under the machines leg. He looked up at the great mech, frozen with fear. He quickly scrambled out of the wreckage on all fours, but didn't get far. The machine took him into it's claw and brought him up to it's on large red eye.
"NO! NO! HELP ME! OH GOD, HELP ME!!!" He shouted with fear in his voice. The eye began to glow and his screams became more vibrant. And then suddenly a red ray of light erupted from the machines eye. The soldier screamed his loudest and slowly the light stopped, the soldier was gone. The other robot approached the other who fell out of the jeep. One of the children (the girl) began to stir, and after about five seconds she began to stand, moaning in pain. She looked up and froze when she saw the other machine looming over her. She took a slight step back just as the remaining soldier dashed before her. He was holding a handgun and he took aim at the machine and fired. The robots eye immediately fixed on him and he fired yet again. He started stepping slowly to the opposite side of the street. It was obvious that the soldier was attempting to lure the machine away from her, but she had not acknowledged this yet. The soldier fired one last shot before the machine quickly took him into its claw, he screamed and dropped his gun as the girl watched in terror. His helmet came off, revealing to her his species: Feline. During his screams he was able to say his final words.
"RUN! I BEG OF YOU! YOU HAVE TO LIVE!!" the claw that was wrapped around his body begin to tighten. He let out a scream that could possibly be heard for nearly a mile, his eyes closed and his legs began to kick hard before he was split in two. The mobian girl screamed at the top of her lungs, eyes fixed on the upper half of the soldiers corpse that just landed hard on the pavement. But it was interrupted when the other mobian child whom of which seemed to be holing a long narrow object wrapped in a brown cloth, quickly took her by the hand and they both fled into the thick cover of the woods.
It had begun to rain and night began to set in. The two children had ran for hours, they were both exhausted and sore but the thought of the machines finding them kept them going. The girl had begun to fall behind, it was obvious that she couldn't run anymore. Out of breath she shouted.
"Elias!" She shouted as she came to a stop. The boy kept running, he obviously didn't hear her.
"ELIAS!" She shouted louder as she started after him again. Before she was able to get even a second step off she tripped and fell. She was lying twin with tears in her eyes, aware of her emotional state Elias hugged her close.
"Elias..what'll happen to us now? Where will we go?" Elias ran his fingers through her hair. He was silent, trying to think of a reply that wouldn't upset her. He couldn't find one.
"I.I don't know." She broke from his hug suddenly and walked over to a tree and put her hands against it and dropping her head.
"Then we should've just let them kill us."
"SALLY!" elias shouted less than a second after the last comment. She turned back to face him and they paused for at least ten seconds. She sat at the base of the tree ,stared at the ground and moved her brown hair behind her shoulders. Elias kept a blank expression. He took off his jacket and put it around the front of him. He sat next to her and blanketed her with half of it and she edged closer to him and rest her head on his shoulder. He put his head on hers, and the two siblings slept.
Sally opened her eyes, vision blurred by the piecing sunlight that made it through her eyelids. She sat for several moments and allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts. She leaned her head over and looked down at her clothing. She was dressed casual. She was ashamed of this thought, as she was forced into dressing this way due to terrible circumstances. She let her right side sink and stopped. She was silently filled with panic. She didn't feel the warmth of her brother; his jacket was laying to her far right but any sign of where he could be was absent. She got to her feet , stepped five times away from the tree and started looking around in circles in a panic. She cuffed her hands in front of her mouth and shouted.
"Elias!" she looked around faster until she saw her brother run out of the brush with a worried look in his face. He was holing his shirt in his hand like a bag, it's contents at this moment was unknown to her.
"What's wrong!?"
"I-I.When I woke up and saw you gone I got-."
"I'm sorry." Interrupted Elias. Sally let out a long sigh, and lowered her head and again noticed the way he was holding his shirt. She pointed.
"What's that?"
"The reason why I left." Elias said as he sat down and opened his shirt showing it's contents to be six apples. Sally folded her arms and scoffed at their current status, she looked back up at elias and her eyes fixed on the concealed long narrow object on his back. It was longer than he was so obviously it was a great burden for him to carry around. Sally was thought back and was amazed on how he was able to run for hours strait with the object strapped to him. She found it hard to believe that her stamina depleted before his. While she thought about this, she sat on her tail next top the apples and picked up one, Elias did the same.
"Aren't you tired of carrying that?" She asked before she took a bite. Elias held an apple in front of his face but didn't bite it, his eyes narrowed.
"I was told to watch over both you and it with my life." He answered. Sally pouted.
"Take it off, I know it's hurting you." She pleaded.
"I."
"Enough." Sally interrupted. She leaned forward and took the buckle on his chest and loosened it until it became loose completely and let it fall hard on the ground behind him. He rubbed his left shoulder and closed his eyes. Sally took it upon herself to do this task for him, she stepped behind him and started massaging his shoulders. He sighed.
"I'm sure if father were with us now he scold you for being over-loyal." Sally spoke. Elias remained silent and breathed slowly. Sally eyes trailed to the top of his head and she suddenly stopped.
"Elias, where's your comb?" She asked.
".I took it off. There's no point in dressing like this if we're going to leave at least one part of royal attire on. Besides they'd make us stand out, and we don't want to stand out. I suggest you take your tiara off." Sally's hands froze. She couldn't believe what she just heard. Her tiara, take it off? That was a thought that not once crossed her mind during her days of life. She had never removed her tiara without a reason that gave her no choice but too. It was like a part of her body.
"No, I refuse. I haven't lost that much of my pride Elias!"
"Is your pride more valuable to you than your life?" Elias said back calmly. Sally gasped briefly and closed her eyes. She knew he was right, but that fact killed what was left of her pride. She had already been forced out of her home and away from most of her loved ones, the tiara was all she hadn't been forced out of, or so she thought she hadn't for at this moment she realized that she had been all along. She snatched it off her head and threw it to the ground and began sobbing. Elias turned around and reached for her but she immediately pushed away from him and stood up with her hands on her face. Elias picked up the tiara and lowered his head. When Sally stopped crying she looked over at him.
"We're wasting the daytime hours, we should get moving." Elias nodded and scooped up the apples on the ground and tied his shirt closed around them. He bent down to pick up the heavy long narrow cloth concealed object when sally stopped his hand by grabbing his arm.
"It's not just your responsibility. Let me help you , Elias?" Sally asked. Elias stared back and smiled and answered her with a nod. They each took an end of the object and tied it around their back so that it was going horizontally across them and they had to walk side by side to keep it on. The twins held hands and continued on in the direction of their destination.
End of part one.
Chapter 1: part two: Shattered childhood act 1.
"Maurice!" a voice echoed through a small area of a rain forest breaking the otherwise gloomy setting. "Maurice!" The voice called again louder than before. A hedgehog male looking around the age of thirty or higher , blue with white bangs hanging in his eyes, walked out form the brush. He looked slowly to the left then again to the right. He had an assault rifle strapped across his back and wore camo attire.
"MAURICE!" He called even louder. He put a frustrated look on his face and kept walking. All was quiet and the only thing that could be heard was his feet crunching twigs and dead leaves on the ground. He used his right hand to move his bangs away from his jet black eyes and they shifted around. He could sense a disturbance in the surrounding atmosphere, but he was unable to locate it. He stopped and took a long look in all directions, slowly to make sure not to miss anything. The disturbance was getting greater and the hedgehog was aware of it. He slowly removed his gun form his back and held it in a ready position. His senses went wild suddenly and he then located the disturbance. It was behind him, he quickly turned to intercept it but he wasn't quite quick enough. He knocked to the ground by a small figure and after about five seconds of being on the ground he sighed and opened his eyes. Sitting on his chest was a small blue hedgehog boy, his quills hadn't grown fully in yet and his eyes were deep black.
"Got you." The boy said playfully. As a reply to his comment the older male hedgehog pushed him off his chest forcing him to come to his feet, he then set up and dusted off his pants.
"Maurice..what the hell is on your mind, boy?" he said coldly. The young hedgehogs expression quickly went sour and he paused before speaking.
"I." He said.
"You what!?" the older hedgehog shouted before standing.
"..got bored back there."
"Oh, is that it!? You were bored? And that's why you went against what I told you? Didn't I tell you it was dangerous out here!?" He shouted, slapping his hand on the child's shoulder and tugging at him slightly.
"Yes, sir..but."
"But what!?"
"It's been a while sense I've been able to do anything! I haven't had much to be happy about in months, I just wanted to."
"Not another word." The older hedgehog interrupted.
"But father."
"I said not another word!" He shouted, tightening his grip. "Come on, your mother's hair might fall out if we wait any longer." He continued on before walking in the opposite direction Maurice faced. Maurice hesitated but quickly followed after his father when he shouted another command to come.
It took them five minutes to come upon an area where the older hedgehog knew to stop walking. The reason for stopping was unclear. He tied his gun around his back again and calmly stepped over to a tree covered in moss. Maurice kept his head down as the older hedgehog moved what was obviously an unnatural patch of moss. Behind it was a small screen with a button under it and he pressed it. After a three second pause the screen came on projecting an image of a male Doberman with green eyes.
"Jules? You find him?" the Doberman spoke.
"Yeah, open the gate." The screen shut off and there was a brief pause that was broken by a small rectangular part of the jungle floor lowering into the ground. Right next to it another one lowered, then other and so on until a staircase formed leading under ground. Maurice started down and Jules, after taking a good look around went down after him. They walked into with rounded walls. The floor was hard mesh and to long lines of paneled light going parallel to one another lit the way down a long hallway. Running up the hallway, was a brown female hedgehog with her quills combed down and wearing a loss fitting ankle length white dress. While she approached them Jules closed his eyes and smiled and when she finally reached them she kneeled down to Maurice and hugged him tight. Then she pulled back from slightly and ran her hand through his quills and kissed her forehead in relief. She gripped his upper left arm tightly and spoke.
"Don't you ever do something like this again! You understand!"
"Yes mother." Maurice replied softly.
"Go to the bunk and wait for me there, now." She ordered. Maurice nodded and ran down the hallway until he went out of sight. Jules opened his eyes and fixed them directly on her.
"You should follow him, you know he might end up in more trouble." He said before yawning.
"Well can you blame the boy? He's not getting to live, Jules. Him and all the other children don't ever do anything."
"That's no excuse for him not doing what he's told."
"But you should at least understand!"
"I do."
"Then why do you insist on coming down on him so hard?"
"He's a victim of circumstance, Orchid. He's going to have to adapt to this no matter how much he doesn't want to." Jules said starting down the hallway. Orchid started after him.
"But he shouldn't have to adapt to this!"
"But he DOES! And if I let him think going out isn't as bad as it is, he'll end up dead! And for what reason!? Because he got bored and decided to do something!? I'll be damned if I let that happen because of such a piety reason, and you should at least understand THAT!" Jules said after stopping his walk down the hallway. Orchid was quiet for a moment and lowered her head trying to think of something to say.
"I know that.but I just want him to.."
"I understand that." Jules interrupted. "I feel the same way, but not at the cost of his life..hell no." Jules said as he started walking again.
"So what? Do you expect him to stay in this hole in the ground his entire life?" Orchid asked following him.
"Unless fate demands something different and leaves us no choice..yes..yes I do." Jules answered just as they came to a circle metal door. It automatically opened to yet another long hallway different from the last. This one had doors lined up on each side and each door was labeled with a number. The hall was filled Mobians, mostly children running and playing.
"Orchid, go meet up with Maurice, Damion wanted to see me about something important." Jules spoke leaving Orchid behind. She sat and started after him briefly then started on his order.
Jules entered a large open room. It was mostly dark and the few lighting there was generated from a flat but exceptionally large screen in the center of the far wall. In stood the Doberman from earlier, he had a smile on his face and motioned for Jules to come over. He did so.
"Yeah?" Jules asked as he approached him.
"I think you may like this, Captain. Earlier this morning a beacon was activated in the mountains north from here."
"In the Vacant silo?"
"The very same, it has to be another nest of survivors." Damion said smiling. He was obviously excited by the discovery, however the least could be said for his captain.
"This morning you said? It's more than likely too late. Whoever is or was up there must've set it off because they were discovered." Damions expression changed as he knew where Jules was going with this.
"Sir, we can't jump to conclusions, maybe it's a band of civilians that just figured out how to use the equipment. That would explain the delay."
"But that's only a maybe, and I'm not risking the possibility of walking into a death trap based on only a "maybe"."
"But a maybe is the luck we've had, sir! This could be vital to our survival down here if successful!" Damoin pleaded.
"And it could be our downfall if not successful! It isn't worth the risk, we're not going." Jules left the conversation at that and turned and started for the door. He got to the center of the room when Damoin spoke again.
"Sir, I think I speak for everyone down here when I say nobody wants to spend the rest of their life here. And more importantly, we don't want our children too."
"So you'd rather them recklessly leave their sanctuary?"
"This is a sanctuary now, but if we sit to long it'll become a prison! You..I can't believe you captain! You're actually willing to let the world crash around you and not give a damn as long as you're safe!" Damoin shouted. And that struck a nerve deep within the mind of Jules, so deep that he was unable to see himself dash back to Damoin , take him by the collar and slam and pin him to the console. Jules breathed hard and the look of rage burned in his eyes.
"Shut your mouth.." Damion stared back in the eyes of his superior.
"We'll die here.you think it'll be long before they find this place? I don't know about you sir..but I'm not going to sit and wait for death.no, not because of your assumptions, I don't deserve too." He paused, Jules begin to loosen his grip. "And your son doesn't either."
Jules suddenly let him go and turned around. Slowly Damoin stood back upright and rubbed his neck.
"Tell the others to Mobilize, we leave first thing in the morning." Jules sat for a few more seconds then walked out of the room.
Maurice slept soundly and he was being watched closely. Watched closely by his mother, whom of which let his head rest in her lap. They were both on the same bed, Orchid kept a lazed look in her eyes and she stroked his quills slowly. The sound of the door opening wasn't enough to catch her attention obviously. Nor was the sound of another body sitting on the bed. What finally made her attension direct from Maurice was the soft touch of fingers stroking her hair on the back of her head. Her eyes closed , she turned, and rested her head on her husbands chest.
"I only wish to guard him.and you." He spoke. Orchid sighed and rubbed her head against him, she reached up and touched his cheek and sat for a moment.
"But what the sense in living if you can't live to the fullest?"
The hours went by, the sun went down, and the underground colony rested. But it's defense stayed awake down in it's bowels. They worked through the night, preparing for the next sunrise, when they would journey to the location of the distress beacon. The mind behind the defense gathered his thoughts, and analyzed them. He eventually was eventually brought to peace once he added in the words from others he had heard.
The morning finally broke. Near the rear of the second half of the underground stronghold, the defense made final preparations. Two helicopters were running, and both were slowly being filled with soldiers. When they both finally were, Jules walked along the right side of the two helicopters next to young male cat whom of which was also dressed in combat attire.
"Are we ready?" Jules asked.
"All set sir, all we need is for you to give the word." The cat answered.
"Good, and you guys remember what to do if something were to happen before we get back?" Jules asked.
"Yes sir, you can count on us."
Jules brought his hand to the rifle strap on his shoulder, and put on foot on the right stand of the first helicopter and smiled at him.
"Nice work, now let us out. We'll contact you when we arrive."
"Yes sir!" The cat said before running to the far right side of the hanger. Jules got into the helicopter and sat down and the floor under both the machines began to rise. The ceiling above them opened, revealing the dead, gray sky. When the platform reached the top, the first helicopter slowly began to hover, then took off shortly being followed by the second one.
The soldier sitting next Elias looked over at him, his helmet id his face and species, but his voice had some joy in it.
"We'll finally have more freedom sir." He spoke. Jules looked back at him and after a short pause cracked a smile.
"Yeah." Jules replied.
Chapter 1: Fin.