Sonic Hill 2: DX
Chapter 9: Pleasure & Pain
------
Waves.
Such relaxing waves there were; swaying in the wind and splashing across the rock and stone walls on the edge of Sonic Hill. Long wooden pillars held up the stone flooring of the observation deck, which stole sunlight from the waters beneath it, keeping it for itself and those fortunate enough to stand upon it.
Today, only two stood there. But they did not take their place above the cool waters and below the bright sun for granted. In fact, they enjoyed their short time there much more than most locals of the town ever would.
Sonic and Tails leaned on the railing, overlooking the beautiful Lake Toluca. Every minute of that afternoon was spent standing there, the two lovers just enjoying the cool air and wonderfully loud silence of Rosewater Park. It was like a dream come true; a dream many others were not fortunate enough to experience; a dream that was theirs and theirs only.
"Man, what a great afternoon, eh Tails?" Sonic's calm and cool voice said, his bright emerald eyes gleaming with happiness. That happiness was what made Tails's whole life seem worthwhile. And for now, it most certainly was. "I'm glad this place isn't too busy today."
"Yeah…" Tails said, staring off into the crystal waters dreamily. It was strange. Though they still felt that slight shadow of worry when showing their respective signs of affection in public, no one in this town seemed to bother them about it. Everyone, for the most part, just left them alone. And they had no problem with that. Ever since those dark days in highschool, that was all Tails and Sonic Hedgehog-Prower had wished for. Now their wish had finally come true.
Tails's right yellowish orange hand reached down, cupping Sonic's dark blue one. They laced fingers together and held tight, knowing once and for all nothing can break them any longer. Their dreams were now a reality.
Life was perfect.
-----
"Miles?"
Miles blinked once, then a second time, suddenly being pulled back into the harsh reality that was his present day life. His eyes traveled across the short distance between the gray stairs in front of him and the hedgehog on his immediate left, for a split second seeing Sonic staring at him. But Sonic's bright young face quickly faded back into Shadow's dark concerned one.
"You alright?"
"Yeah…" Miles, once known as Tails, didn't sound very convincing, even to himself. "Just…spacing out a bit, that's all."
They were walking up the hospital's main stairway, Miles's flashlight illuminating their shadows spookily on the dusty walls along the way. The third floor door was at the top of the flight of stairs they were on at the moment. A gate blocked off the basement, making it inaccessible, but that meant Amy couldn't go down there either. The smaller the place was, the better.
Miles and Shadow reached the door and opened it into the third floor main hall, instantly knowing there were some nurse demons inside. The radio was screaming with life, probably becoming once again the very thing that saved them from a world of hurt. Miles glanced down the hall to his left, seeing a single nurse stumbling towards them, dragging its extra long pipe behind it in a fashion not unlike its sisters. He was getting very sick and tired of these things, and felt a disturbing sense of pleasure when he squeezed the shotguns trigger and tore the nurse down to the floor with the scattered bullets. The doom-insinuating static ceased after that, telling them that the hall was now safe.
Shadow walked up to the heavy steel S Corridor Door, which was parallel to the stairway door. "I think this is where we need one of those codes."
Miles shined the flashlight on the lock around the door's handle to see Shadow was right – there was a digital keypad on the door with numbers 0-9 on it. Reaching into the carrying bag and pulling out the map, Miles reread the number Shadow had written over the door and typed it into the lock: 72182. A beep squealed from somewhere, and the automatic door slid open.
The S Corridor was just as long as the M one but there were a lot more doors in this one. From the looks of it on the map, all the rooms in this corridor were much more compact, which explained why. As would be expected, it looked just as old and dirty as the other corridors, its dark green-blue walls and floor looking like they hadn't been occupied in ages.
"You ready Shad?" Miles asked, glancing at the young hedgehog beside him.
Shadow nodded, almost laughing at the nickname. "You bet."
And so, they went down the hallway following the same formation as before: Miles checking all the doors on the left wall, trying the purple key on every door that was locked, while Shadow checked the few right doors.
The third left door down, S3, opened up into a small patient's room. Miles gestured for Shadow to follow and entered with the hedgehog—who was still clutching his arm weakly—right behind him. The interior was pretty basic, just a soft bed on the back wall, a small boarded up window above it, and an even smaller white table on the right side of it. On the left wall was nothing but an old photograph of what looked like a female doctor stapled onto it. The flashlight showed a key on the table next to the bed, which Miles reached for and picked up. Upon closer examination, he noticed the word 'Roof' etched into the top of the key. He guessed that was the next place he'd have to check out, though he doubted Amy would be hanging out up there…
"This Sonic, I wish I could meet him. He sounds like a great guy."
Miles turned to see Shadow leaning near the door, staring at the doctor's photograph. It was more than a bit of an awkward way and place to begin, but he seemed to want to make conversation once again, and Miles didn't mind that. It was a lot better than the even more awkward silence that kept falling upon them.
"Yeah…" Miles smiled, looking towards the hedgehog, but not seeming to actually see him. It was as if he was looking at the wall behind him. "He looks so much like you…"
Shadow turned and flashed a toothy grin. "Are you sayingI'mhandsome?"
"Eer…" Miles sure as hell didn't expect that. He looked down to the floor, blushing slightly. "Well…"
"Heheh, sorry, sorry." Shadow said.
"Ever since he died everything's just felt so…pointless, you know?" Miles asked. Shadow was just joking earlier, but Miles was being completely serious, as usual. "He was my only friend…"
Getting off the wall, Shadow walked up to Miles and put his hand on the fox's shoulder. "Hey, I'm your friend too now though, aren't I?"
"Well, yeah. I guess…" Miles considered whether he should say what he suddenly felt the undying need to say next, and decided to. He couldn't help it. "For all these years, I've felt so empty and alone, without Sonic. But when you're around…well, it's as if I'm with him again. Heh, I know it's sort of cheesy, but…you really do make me feel alive again. I really like you, Shadow."
That's when something very peculiar happened. That burst of admiration collided with him once more, overwhelming his senses with a strange unsure feeling. Shadow stared into Miles's azure blue eyes, the fox staring back into his deep crimson red ones. He really loved those eyes; not as innocent as Sonic's, but so much more dark and mysterious…
"I've been so alone…"
He could feel Shadow's warm breath upon his, their faces mere centimeters apart. That strange needing wouldn't die, and he felt that it was a mutual need. Ever so slowly, the two males closed their eyes and leaned in; their lips just barely brushing against one another for a split second before Miles broke the small kiss and turned away.
"No…Sonikku…" he said quickly, taking in deep exaggerated breaths.
Ashamed, Shadow backed off and, like Miles did, looked away. "Miles…"
"Shadow…I'm sorry." Miles said, taking in a fifth deep breath and looking at the hedgehog. "I…I came here looking for Sonic…"
"I understand." Shadow said calmly, trying to hide the regret in his tone.
Try as they might, the fight against that awkward silence was lost, and it filtered into the room. Neither of them knew what to say. So they just stood there in the darkness, too ashamed to look at one another and too embarrassed to say anything.
Finally, Shadow spoke sorrowfully. "I'm sorry too."
"Shadow…"
"That was wrong of me to do." He walked past Miles and sat down on the bed behind him, crunching the hidden springs inside of it together a bit.
Miles tried to think of something to say, coming up with another nothing to aid his feelings. "I—"
Shadow lurched forward and let out a harsh, hard series of coughs, halting whatever the fox was going to say. Miles flashed a concerned look—feeling a strange, UFO of hidden terror for some reason for a quarter of a second—and waited nervously for the hedgehog to finish. After a few seconds, Shadow finally stopped and cleared his throat, laying down on the mattress and putting his hand to his temple with a low moan. "Oooh my head…"
"Are you okay?"
Shadow took his hand off his head and reached for the table beside the bed, opening one of the drawers and pulling out a medicine capsule. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a hangover, I guess." He said, opening it and taking one of the pills inside. "I think I'll stay here for a while."
"You sure?" Miles sounded just as worried as he felt.
Nodding, Shadow swallowed the thin multicolored pill. "I think I could use the rest."
'Maybe that's a good idea…' Miles thought to himself, unsure of what his factory of thought would produce next. 'I think I'm…'
"Okay." Miles glanced at the steel pipe beside Shadow. If something happened, he could at least defend himself, so maybe this was for the better for the time being. "I'll continue my search. I'll be back soon, okay?"
"You promise?" Shadow asked with an almost childlike innocence.
"I promise."
Shadow gave him a warm, thankful smile. "Thank you Miles."
"No problem." Miles turned to walk out of the room.
"Miles."
He turned back, looking at Shadow. "What?"
"Take care of yourself, okay?"
"Yeah…" Miles smiled back this time, disappearing behind the wall of wood as he exited the room.
Once he closed the door behind him, Miles looked at the wall across the hall from him and let out another shaky deep breath.
'I…' he didn't even know what to think now. What happened in the other room…'I can't let this get in the way…I need to find Amy, and Sonic…'
He shook his head, his mind suddenly feeling overloaded with thoughts of both Sonic and Shadow. Something felt very unnerving, and it didn't feel like it was just coming from Shadow.
'Stop it Miles. Just stop it now' He cleared his throat, trying his best not to think about it. It was best not to get lost in thought at the moment: he had more important things to worry about. Looking up and down the hall, he decided to check the roof first. He really didn't feel like even staying in this section of the hospital anymore.
The Corridor Stairway, like on all the other floors, was locked, so he had to take the main hall stairway if he wanted to get to the roof. He began to head back to the third floor main hall, feeling awkward and exposed walking through the hospital for the first time without his partner to accompany him. He opened the stairway door and walked up the steps to the rooftop doorway. Sliding the key into the slot and turning, he unlocked the door and pushed it open.
The roof was very cold.
Instantly, Miles rubbed his arms and shivered from the chill. He hadn't even noticed it, but it was a lot warmer in the hospital than it was outside, and the rooftop was even colder than it was on the streets. Had to be in the low 40s, or at least somewhere around it. That didn't make any sense. Didn't heat usually rise?
Shivering slightly, he looked around for anything of interest. The fog wasn't much different on the roof than it was on ground zero; endlessly thick and gray. In fact, it was even thicker than before, he felt. It might have been just a mental thing, but it sure felt visually real. He could only see about three feet before the world faded into grayness now, and that didn't make him feel very comfortable. He began to walk around, hearing the crunch of the small pebbles covering the surface of the barren roof as he moved on.
'Be careful…' he told himself. 'If the edge of the building is nearby, you won't see it till you're practically stepping off of it…'
Nervousness overlapped his thoughts, making him begin to sweat at his palms. That worry of falling off the building was replaced with wonder as he spotted something in front of him. Kneeling down, he picked it up to realize it was a small brown leather-bound book. Someone's diary perhaps? He opened the book and flipped through a few pages, seeing that it in fact was. Whoever had owned it previously didn't write in it much – only a few pages were filled out. Each of those pages though was filled with sloppily written notions and musings coated in depression, loneliness, regret, and many other moods and emotions he felt too accustomed to. After that, just plain white paper. He flipped back a few pages to read the last of what was written in the journal.
'May 9
Rain. Stared out the window all day. Peaceful here. Nothing to do. Still not allowed to go outside.
May 10
Still raining. Talked with doctor a little. Would they have saved me if I didn't have a family to feed? I know I'm pathetic, weak. I'm sorry. Not everyone can be strong.
May 11
Rain again. The meds made me feel sick today. If I'm only better when I'm drugged, then who am I anyway?
May 12
Rain as usual. I dont want to cause any more trouble for anyone, but I'm a bother either way. Can it really be such a sin to run instead of fight? Some people may say so, but they don't have to live in my shoes. It may be selfish, but it's what I want. It's too hard like this. It's just too hard.
May 13
Its clear outside. The doctors told me I've been released, that I've got to go home. I'
It ended there.
"I wonder who's journal this is…" Miles wondered to himself. 'Not to mention why the hell it's all the way up here.'
Getting no answer as usual, Miles closed the book and put it back down on the gravel, rising to his feet afterwards. Turning around, he decided to check out more of the place before going back inside.
-Shing!
Miles stopped walking and his fur stood on end in immediate response to the sound. A very metallic noise was heard not too far away, like metal had been dragged across concrete.
"H-hello?" Miles asked as he frantically looked around. All he could see was that goddamn fog. Terror quickly began to grow like a mold over his soul. "Is anybody there…?"
Silence.
Miles held still for a long time, waiting to hear something else, almost wanting to, but hearing nothing but his own respiration. After all this, it probably wasn't surprising he was just imagining things, and he sure hoped he was now. Slowly, he began to turn around.
And that's when Pyramid Head charged him head on and slammed its giant knife onto his back, cutting into his flesh. The force from which the knife hit Miles sent him stumbling forwards, trying desperately and failing to stop himself before the ground beneath him disappeared. Miles let out a mixed scream of pain and terror as he realized he'd been swatted off the building like a weightless ping-pong ball. It was a scream that quickly died out as the sound of his small body hitting something solid far below echoed throughout Sonic Hill.
And then, once again, icy cold silence filled the rooftop.