Don't Let Go...
I hate disclaimers! SEGA owns everything-ok?!
The six remaining Freedom Fighters stood silently at the foot of the monument. The sight whistle of the breeze as it blew endlessly through the trees the only sound to be heard. The sky, a deep, depressingly dull grey seemed to reflect how each of those stood at the foot of that monument felt. They had all seen what had happened and would remember it for the rest of their lives. It had been burnt into their minds, making it eternally impossible to forget. A tear streaked down several faces as their thoughts all went back to that one day-the day their lives were changed forever.
The plan could not have worked out any better. The Freedom Fighters had all gotten into Robotropolis without a hitch and had broken into the huge fortress that stood in the centre of the city without opposition. Now, Sally, Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine were all stood directly in front of one of the main security cameras positioned within sector four A of the building, intending to draw Robotnik's attention away from Sonic, Tails and Amy who were closing in on the Command Centre where the overlander was situated by the second. The ploy was working; they could tell by the way Robotnik had deployed a vast quantity of SWAT bots to terminate them. Even though the four of them had to give it all they had to fight off the evil robots, they were happy in the knowledge that the insane Doctor had been fooled by their plan and was distracted. They all knew that the three others had gone by route of the air vents and any minute now should be dropping in on Robotnik unexpectedly.
What they didn't know though, was that Robotnik knew exactly what they were up to and had planned especially. As he watched the four battling Mobians on one camera, his gaze turned to another screen, where three red dots could be seen travelling towards his position through the vents.
He grinned.
The four in sector four A were tiring. All that was keeping them going by now was the belief that they should be hearing something any minute now from Sonic to tell them that Robotnik was dead and that they could all go home.
Poor naive fools.
Tails was the first to drop down silently through the hole in the vent-Sonic had to wait and help Amy down so he was second with Amy just behind him. As soon as Tails landed gracefully on the hard floor, he knew his fate. Three over sized SWAT bots circled him, laser guns aimed and ready to fire.
"Oh no..." Were the only words he could manage to say. Well, if he was going to die, he was at least going to die fighting.
Robotnik turned around in his chair and watched in fascination as the fox attempted to break free from the robots that had now grabbed hold of him. To the evil doctor's surprise, the kit managed a frantic kick to one of their metal heads and knocked it clean off. Sparks flew everywhere along with gallons of heavy smoke. That was when Sonic made his move. He silently jumped down through the vent; the smoke made it impossible to see him, and wrestled one of the two remaining robots to the ground. The gun clearly aimed at Tails' face was flung wildly across the room as he did so.
Robotnik realised that the situation was beginning to get out of hand and now was his chance to retreat but, as he got up, a flying shard of white hot metal from the SWAT bot that Sonic had just destroyed streaked across the room like lightning and planted itself deep in Robotnik's chest. He howled in pain before crumpling to a heap on the shiny floor, gasping for air.
The third and final robot had Tails in it's vice like grip from where it stood behind the fox. One hand clenched around Tails' neck, cutting off all air supply, while the other pointed directly at the side of his head, ready to blow Tails away.
Sonic saw Tails gasping and kicking for air and immediately sprang into action. He dived from the corpse of the second robot and landed inches away from the third. Then, a swift kick to the head and the robot was as harmless as a bug. As soon as Sonic's foot made contact with the robot however, it made one last ditch effort to fire however and as it burst into flames, the deadly beam emitted from its gun ricocheted around the room. Tails didn't notice this though as he dropped to his knees in an effort to breathe and it was his chest that the shot came into contact with.
"NOOOOO!!!!" Sonic yelled as his best friend was thrown across the room by the force of the blow.
At the hedgehog's scream, Robotnik opened an eye slowly. Through his now considerably blurred vision, he could just make out the form of the blue creature as it knelt beside its comrade who was now laid very still on the floor. An opportunity presented itself to the doctor when he noticed the blaster from one of the fallen robots next to him. As quietly as possible, he reached for the weapon and then proceeded to aim at the pair across the room.
"See you in hell rodent..." Robotnik growled menacingly before pulling the trigger. Sonic took the full force of the shot in his back and before he even knew what had happened, he found himself on the floor next to Tails.
"You monster!" Sonic yelled as he felt his strength begin to leave him.
Robotnik died with a grin on his face.
By now Amy, who was too scared to leave the vent, was screaming erratically. She saw what had happened in its entirety and could do nothing else but scream over and over again. It was a hysterical sight.
Further into the fortress, the Freedom Fighters were congratulating themselves. The tide of SWAT bots had ceased which meant that Sonic and the others must have completed their mission. It was only when Amy's shrill screaming reached their ears that they realised something was wrong. Each of them began to race in the direction of the command centre.
Both Sonic and Tails were in extreme pain. Sonic looked over to where Tails lay next to him and saw him gasping in agony as a thin trickle of blood ran from the side of his mouth and onto the floor. The blaster hole in his chest leaked blood at an alarming rate even though Tails' gloved hand covered it. Sonic cringed at the sight.
"Tails," Sonic tried to say but it came out as a choked whisper. The fox opened his eyes groggily. "Just hold on now bro ok? Help will be here any minute now so just hold on...please hold on..." He whispered. Tails looked over at him with scared blue eyes and noticed the state Sonic was in. His face was as white as a sheet and small beads of sweat dotted his forehead. He watched petrified as Sonic's gloved hands became stained from where he had them clenched onto his stomach.
"I...it's 't it?" Tails whispered back. Sonic gave the ghost of a nod.
"Yeah...it sure is bro..." He replied.
"We...we're gonna die...aren't we...?" The fox continued quietly.
"Y...yeah..." Sonic replied, finally giving in and accepting the fact. Tails' pupils, Sonic noticed, were huge; probably an effort to let as much light in as possible to keep out the impending darkness that he knew was about to consume his adopted brother.
He gazed into Tails' frightened eyes again and for a moment, he forgot his own pain. The kid was so young-too young to have to suffer this awful fate-Sonic only prayed that the Walkers knew what they were doing. He watched the tear that slipped almost gracefully down the fox's face in awe. How could one small tear show affect him so much?
Suddenly, Tails removed his hand from where it was clutched to his chest and reached towards Sonic. Blood immediately began to pump from the wound like water from a tap.
"Tails NO!" Sonic gasped as best he could in his condition-which was worsening by the millisecond. Tails simply gazed at him with pleading eyes and Sonic understood.
"Please...don't let go..." Tails whispered as Sonic removed his own hand from his stomach and gripped Tails' outstretched hand.
"I swear I won't..." Sonic answered as he stared back into Tails' eyes. Neither of them noticed the pool of crimson liquid that quickly expanded around their bodies. Neither of them heard Amy's screams any more as they both slowly fell into a state of oblivion. Neither of them saw anything except each other's eyes, filled with emotion and silent words as the light faded. "I'll...never let go Tails..." He reassured the child and watched as the fox smiled a faint and distant smile in reply. Sonic smiled back.
Seconds passed and things were silent. Everything was silent. Silent, as though the world had stood still for a moment in respect for these two beings who had joined the circle of life. They kept smiling as they felt both their souls leave their bodies and became two joined spirits in the breeze-the breeze that whistled endlessly through the trees all around the monument that the remaining Freedom Fighters stood at.
They could all recall the way the pair had been found, the fox and the hedgehog smiling nostalgically as they each gazed into each other's eyes. At first, they had all thought that they were alive but after calling both Sonic's and Tails' names, found that that was how they had died, refusing to close their heavy eyes for the sake of the other.
Amy-who had managed to get herself out of the air vent, was quiet now as she rocked eerily back and forth in a dark corner of the room. She muttered three small words over and over, which were only just audible to the others.
"Don't let go..." She whispered in an endlessly pleading voice and had not spoken another word since then.
And that was why Sally Acorn, Amy Rose, Rotor Walrus, Antoine D'Coulette, Bunnie Rabbot and Knuckles Echidna all stood at that monument that day, staring up at the statuette of a blue hedgehog and an orange kitsune holding hands-as they would do forever more...
End.