Sonic Hill 2: DX

Chapter 16: Tears of…

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'I could have saved him…'

The metal elevator doors held open, painfully but patiently waiting for their lonely carrier to leave. How long they had been open, Miles didn't know, nor really care.

'Shadow…Shadow…Shadooooow…nonononono…'

Tears of regret flowed down his dirty face, as they had been for a while now. He'd lost everything. Sonic…three long years ago, dying slow and painfully…memories of that had haunted him since that day all those years ago. Now he'd gotten a chance to possibly save his love, but he'd gotten…lost. Lost in the depths of the fog. He'd only known Shadow for about a day, but…that hedgehog was so much like Sonic it scared him. That hedgehog was his short-lived tourniquet, and without him Miles's shattered heart was left to bleed. Now he was gone too, gone forever.

Just like Sonic…

With his eyes staring up at his voided reflection in the knife above, Miles contemplated what he should do. He was mimicking the position that bat he'd met earlier that day had been in, lying on the floor of the elevator. Regret clouded his thoughts again; regret that he hadn't treated Shadow better, or tried harder to save him from that monster…but he knew there was nothing he could do now. He was too late.

"Everything…" Miles muttered silently, not really even knowing where he was going with that sentence. All hope of Sonic being alive was gone, now that the one that encouraged him throughout this ordeal was also. Searching felt pointless now. Both had died before his eyes.

No more reason to live. No more will. Miles Prower put the knife to his neck, knowing well that one quick, deep, strike would leave a nice wound, one that would never heal. Or maybe a heavy slash to the wrist would be better, painful, and final…

Static.

Had another monster come near? The elevator doors had been open for some time, and he was a little surprised no monsters had come by to do the killing for him. The hospital's front doors—the exit—were in sight from where he lay right now; just down the hall. More regret overcame him as he thought about what would have happened right now if he had only grabbed his hand or done something to help that black hedgehog who had been his only real ally in the town. If monsters had been in the hall, he wouldn't be so eager to stop them from giving him a harsh painful death, not anymore…

The static was followed by a voice, a very familiar one. His ears perked up and he pulled the radio out of the side-pack.

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

Sonic's voice came over the line.

"Tails!…ails…ere are you?……W…you k………………m waiting for yo………talk to…………d………me? Is……w…………..hurry………Are you lost? I'm…………Tails. P……e you Tails! Can't………ar………Ta……ails! Tails! Ta…"

The radio shut off.

"Sonikku…"

It was just like before. Sonic's voice was barely audible over the large amount of static. But it was still there, still his, just in time to reassure the fox enough to get back up and go on.

"I…I can't give up…not yet." Miles shook his head, shakily taking the knife away from his face and putting it back in his side-pack with the handgun. He got up slowly, wiping the tears away from his face in the process, before looking ahead and taking a deep breath. "He really is here…Sonikku…he's still waiting for me…"

Shadow had saved his life so many times, and he'd never been able to return the favor…but he couldn't let his friend's death be in vain. No way, and he couldn't let his love down either. He had to go on. For Shadow, for Sonic, and for himself.

It hadn't dawned on him that even though the elevator should have dropped him off outside of the hospital, it just ended up stopping on the first floor, defying the laws of physics. He would never even notice till long after he left the place, and by that time it didn't even matter. For the time being, he was checking all the doors in the first floor main hallway. He could easily exit, but this was the only place he hadn't checked yet since the hospital changed. He desperately wanted to get away from the place, but he had learned by now that just running ahead and ignoring his other options wasn't the best idea, especially in a key-ridden place like this.

The only door that wasn't locked though was the door to the Director's Lounge. He pushed it open, weakly shining the flashlight into the medium sized room. It was strange – he had been pretty much backtracking his way back through the hospital since it had changed. There was a piece of paper on the desk in front of a large window, which he quickly walked up to and examined. It looked like a report of some kind.

'Charmy Bee

He has attempted suicide three times in the past for reasons unknown. Although he is normally a model patient who follows doctor's and nurse's orders, he must be watched closely due to his past pattern of sudden and violent suicide attempts.

Espio Chameleon

His illness seems to be rooted in the fact that he believes he is guilty of causing his daughter's death. His symptoms suggest a psychotic break and paranoid delusions. Normally calm, but has a tendency toward violence when excited.

Vector Crocodile

History of hospitalization as well as numerous assault, battery and other violent offenses. He has a strong persecution complex and a tendency to solve things through violence. Extreme caution necessary.'

"Hmm…" it didn't seem to be giving any useful information – even if it did, he wouldn't need it anymore since he was going to leave the place soon. Somehow, the names almost seemed familiar to him…but he quickly shrugged it off, looking around the place for something else of use.

He found it soon enough.

On the wall to the right of the desk was a map of Sonic Hill South Vale, like the one he and Shadow had found on the street and the other he had found in the bar so long ago. Except this one—like the one on the street—had red markings scribbled in several places on it. There was a circle around the gay bar, a house on LeCompt Street—a street not too far away from the one the hospital was on—the Gates Bar, a fast food restaurant he hadn't been to yet, the Rosewater Park, and the Sonic Hill Historical Society. From the house on LeCompt Street there was a red line that went from the bar to the park to the historical society, as if it was drawing out a path. In the middle of the circle around Rosewater park was the word 'STATUE'. The word 'WRENCH' was written in the circle around the house on LeCompt Street, and finally the word the word 'SHOVEL' written in the Gates Bar circle. As for the other two circles, nothing was written.

Not only that, but there was something written over Lake Toluca in neat red handwriting.

'He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across The Abyss is not bold enough to stare into himself. The truth can only be learned by marching forward. Follow the map. There's a letter and a wrench.'

A weak smile formed at Miles's lips as he realized there was a connection. That note he'd read about earlier was talking about a key under the statue in the park. If it's the key to the museum like it said, then that means he could unlock the doors to the Sonic Hill Historical Society. Not that the place was somewhere he wanted to go, but what lie behind the historical society was of interest. He couldn't believe he hadn't even thought of this before, but there was a small dock behind the place.

If he remembered correctly, the Sonic Hill Historical Society was built right on the edge of the lake—just like Rosewater Park except a bit farther west. Basically behind and underneath the place was a dock he might be able to access through some door or something…if he recalled, it was a public dock so it shouldn't be too hard to find an entrance other than the one by the road, which was inaccessible thanks to another annoying chain-link fence with barbed wire. He was not sure of any of this though, and hoped that he was right. Looks like he was finally getting back on track. He felt some comfort in himself by knowing that.

Footsteps.

Miles's ears perked up from the sound—barely audible for it was very far away. He found who was causing it a second later by looking outside the window.

Amy was outside, her pink boots casually hopping across the street underneath her flailing dress.

"Amy!" he shouted. She didn't seem to hear him, but he would make her if he had to. Keeping the map, he ran out of the director's room, grasped the front glass double doors of the Brook Haven Mental Hospital, and pushed them open, breathing in the warm air from outside.

It wasn't the fresh air he had hoped for. Even some fog might have given him some sense of comfort about the situation, but both the cool air and the blindly thick fog were gone. It as if the whole town of Sonic Hill had been engulfed in shadows, for it was almost pitch black, his flashlight being the only source of light. The air reeked with the same stench that filled the hospital – the smell of rotting meat and gasoline everywhere, almost overwhelmingly bad. From what little he could see, the other buildings had fared just as well in the change of the town as the hospital had, all looking beaten, dirty, and broken, even more so than when it was misty. And most noticeably, the street…it was gone completely, replaced by metal grating like in the C Corridor. Below the grating was only more blackness, leaving Miles to wonder if it was a bottomless pit or just something invisible to the naked eye. He wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. What mattered most right now was catching up to Amy before she got too far away.

For the first time in well over six hours, Miles Prower left the Brook Haven Mental Hospital, never to return again. All he knew there was scarred memories and horrible monsters. While it was not very different out here, at least he had a goal to reach.

The clink of his feet across the metal grating rung in his ears as he ran down Audra St. after Amy. Catching up to her was surprisingly easy – he had spotted her pink fur and red dress right when he turned left at the end of Audra St. into Stiles St. There she stood—in the middle of the metal grating road—looking around casually like there was nothing weird about it.

"Amy!!!" Miles shouted, far past loud enough for her to hear. Fury was taking him over; an extreme hatred towards the little girl and how much trouble she had caused for him so far.

She was not scared by his shout, seemingly more amused than anything else. "You again." She said with a huge grin. "Did you learn your lesson yet?"

"Listen, this is no time for games. What the hell do you really know about Sonic? And where are you going!?"

"What would you care?" the pink-furred hedgehog asked, pushing her small gloved hand through her flattened out spines. "Meanie!"

Miles curled his hand into a fist so tight that his knuckles turned white. He gritted his teeth. "You caused all of this…if it wasn't for you, Shadow might still be alive…"

"Shadow?" she asked, a small grin on her lips that opened up as she started giggling. "You're friends with your own shadow!? Hahaha!"

"Grrrr, this is serious! How come the monsters haven't gotten you yet!?"

"You're crazy too!" she said with a laugh as she pointed at him again, ignoring his question. "Maybe you should have stayed in that hospital. You think you can get to Sonic before me, huh? Do ya? Well, I'm getting to him first! Neiner neiner neiner! You can't catch me!" with that, she turned and ran down the street.

"Come back here!!" he shouted, running after her again. He was quickly gaining on her, his longer legs and older strength far surpassing hers. At least he was until she hopped on a bunch of boxes beside a brick wall similar to the one she was sitting on earlier and jumped over the wall, kicking the boxes over in the process. "No!"

"Haha!" her annoying young laugh, along with her footsteps, disappeared into the darkness. Miles smashed his fist into the wall in frustration. If it hadn't been for her, they would have never entered the hospital in the first place. He and Shadow had gone through a lot of trouble to save her and she didn't even have an ounce of gratefulness for it. His profound hatred for the little girl grew for a moment, and then diminished as he let out a sigh and looked around.

"Goddamnit." he muttered. It was too late to stack the boxes again and climb the wall after her - she was already long gone. If monsters didn't get her, he hoped he would run into her again in the future and get some questions out of her at least, if not save her. As much as he didn't like her, she was still just a little girl. And little girls—hell, even adults—shouldn't be running around in this hellhole of a town.

But, it seemed, they did regardless.

---Later…---

While it was inconveniently next to a dead end like before, the gay bar was the closest circled place on the new map. Miles walked out of it, feeling that sense of dread and devastation wash over him again as he thought about when he and Shadow had been there earlier…thinking of it seemed to bring the pain in doses rather than all at once. There hadn't been anything useful in the bar, but there was something of interest. All the furniture in it was broken and thrown aside, and in the middle of the room stood a statue of a muscular human male holding his hand out. In its hand was a large purple emerald, just like the two he'd found in the hospital. Once again, not something he felt he would need, but he had taken it anyway. It was a very rare item to find.

Now he was jogging back down Audra St., evading the straightjacket monsters and mannequins as much as he could. They seemed to suddenly infest the town again right when he left the bar, and that wasn't good. Luckily the streets were so wide that he didn't have much of a problem avoiding them. The shotgun was now strapped to his aching back again, and he now had his handgun equipped in case any of the weaker monsters got too close for comfort. Thinking of how Shadow had been using the gun earlier only made him stop and become overpowered by that feeling of lonely angst again. After a few seconds, he recovered as much as he could and continued running.

While insanely different, the streets of dark Sonic Hill had the same layout as before, and after running down Stiles St. for a little while he eventually made it to the intersection between that and LeCompt St. If he continued forward, he'd enter East South Vale, and pass by that same trailer he had found the body next to when he'd entered the town a million years ago. He wasn't sure if that road would still be blocked off, but it didn't matter – he had no interest in going that way.

So instead, he turned left and ran up LeCompt St. There were a few houses along the road, and if he continued forward for a few more minutes he would eventually end up back at Doggie Avenue. On the way there he would pass by the intersection on Mission St., which led past the apartment buildings and farther into East South Vale. The town layout was becoming simplistically easy to memorize, though it was a lot harder actually moving around the place than just thinking about it.

What mattered most right now was finding that house circled on the map. He ran along the dark side walk, looking at all the houses he passed by but also trying to keep his eyes on the path ahead so he wouldn't run into any monsters. The static from the radio was almost constantly going on and off, for there were lots of monsters littering the area. One of the houses he passed by had a broken window with a mannequin inside of it, alerting him that they were even in the dark corners of all the residential houses. Thinking about that scared him. Imagine, monsters really under the bed and in the closet, hiding behind the stairs and limping down the dark empty hallways. Had those monsters killed all the citizens here? He wasn't sure, for he hadn't seen very many corpses of anything remotely human or furry in the town at all, other than the occasional one every once and a while. Seeing more of them would almost make him feel better about the situation, at least explaining the lack of population in the place.

While he was contemplating why there weren't many bodies there, he had accidentally passed by the house that was circled on the map. Stopping by a mailbox, he noticed he had forgotten it and turned to walk back. Two houses later, he stopped at the short front gate of the old fashioned two-floor wooden house. There was a short stone path leading up to it—going in-between two small lawns of dead grass—that led to a stoop for a front porch. The porch, of course, was right in front of the closed doorway of the house. More importantly, there was something on the railing for the porch, which he guessed was what he was supposed to be looking for. Pushing the black gate open, he walked up the path and the porch steps, turning at the door and looking at what lie on the edge of the wooden railing.

Like the map had said, there was a piece of paper – a letter, with an old wrench laying stagnant on top of it like a paperweight. Grasping the wrench, he looked at it closely for a second and then put it into his carrying bag to join the emeralds, the map, the first aid kit, and the ammo for his shotgun and handgun. Then, he picked up the piece of paper and read the contents scribbled onto it in the same handwriting that was written in red on the map.

'Or perhaps you are a fool. The truth usually betrays people. A part of The Abyss is in the old society. The key to the society is in the park. At the foot of the praying woman, inside of the ground, in a box. To open it, I need a wrench. My patient buried it there. I knew, but I did nothing. It made me uneasy to have such a thing near. I wasn't looking for the truth, I was looking for tranquility. I also saw that thing. I fled, but the museum was sealed as well. Now no one dares to approach that place. If you still do not wish to stop, Miles, I pray to the Lord to have mercy on your eternal soul.'

His heart skipped a beat. Whoever had written this knew who he was, somehow. Not only that, but whoever had written this knew a lot more about the town than he or anyone else did.

"The Abyss…?" he whispered, wondering what the hell that might be. It was mentioned on the map too…looks like he was right about before, there really was a key in the park that is for the Sonic Hill Historical Society door. If he needed a wrench, that must mean that the box was held together by a screw…

Whether he liked it or not, he had to go and check it out. He had to find Sonic…

First though, he knew he had to check out those other things listen on the map. The Gates Bar, and that one fast food restaurant – Happy Burger. Cheesy name; he hated those kinds of fast food places. Stepping off the front porch of the house, Miles began to jog back down the dark streets, taking Mission Street past the Creekside and Woodside apartments he had been to long ago. He went down that street, passing by a few straightjacket monsters along the way, until he reached another intersection between Mission and Manson St. All this running around was making him tired, more so than he had been after going through that hell of a hospital, but he had to keep going. Continuing forward, Miles went across the intersection and spotted the Gates Bar on the left corner between Mission and Manson. From the outside, it didn't look much different from before when the town was foggy. He grasped the handle and pulled the glass door open.

A few steps into the bar, and he heard something move. Cautiously, he looked around, thinking that maybe if the static wasn't going off that meant it was something other than a monster. Another movement was heard, and he shined his flashlight into the corner, surprised to see who was there.

"…hey, is that you Rouge?" he asked. The batgirl let out a shriek, making him jump with fright.

Rouge spun around, dropping an already broken bottle in the process. It hit the ground and shattered to pieces, only adding to her terror. He held out his hands, trying to make her relax.

"Whoa, calm down. It's only me." he said. He felt very glad to see her still alive - he hadn't seen her in ages.

"D-don't come any closer…" she said, backing away. The look in her eyes alerted him that she was very afraid. He turned around, expecting to see a monster behind him but not. She was looking directly at him.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked, taking a step forward.

"STOP!!" she cried, backing into the wall and screaming. "GO AWAY!!!"

Suddenly she jumped forward, pushing him down. He landed on his butt, letting out a small yelp of pain and looking up at her in confusion. Tears flowed down Rouge's cheeks, and he only saw her for half a second before she charged out of the room, pushing the doors open and running till her footsteps faded away.

"What the…?" he asked himself, slowly getting up. That was very weird; she hadn't even given him a chance to talk before she ran away. Baffled by the event, he looked to where she had been hunched over where he had entered the room.

Glass covered the floor, shards glinting off the light from his flashlight. There was only enough glass to support half a bottle of booze though, like the bottle was half broken off already. There was no rum on the floor, but instead a few droplets of blood. As if—

'She cut herself again.' Miles came to the conclusion. 'But…she's still alive…I wonder what's happened to her when I was in the hospital…'

There was something else on the floor. He kneeled down and picked it up; an old photograph. In the photo was a family of four. There was a tall, thin female bat, looking rather young considering she was holding a baby in her hand. Next to her was an even younger looking female bat, this one looking about six or seven. To the right of the little girl was a second tall bat, whose face was barely visible, for there was a large tear on that part of the photo. From the looks of the rest of its body though, it was a male. Maybe a father…

'Is this her family…?' he asked. Looks like the photo was very old – not only was there a large tear, but there was also quite a few scratches and tears in other places, like the photo had been carried around for a very long time and suffered the effects of age and use. The younger female bat had the same features of Rouge, only missing the large bosom basically. It must have been her…

"I'd better keep it and give it back to her." He said to himself, putting the photo in his fur-pocket next to Sonic's photo. "In the meantime…where's that shovel?"

He looked around the shattered bar, trying to find where that shovel was that the map mentioned. His eyes widened in horror when he saw something written on the wall, where there had been a different note written earlier. There was large bloody handwriting dried onto the brown walling, leaving a message that was clearly meant just for him.

'if you really want to see your precious sonic you should just DIE'

The amount of blood it must have taken to write that was far too much to be from one person's wrist, so it couldn't have been Rouge…who was it then? Miles didn't know, and he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know. Being there made him feel extremely uncomfortable now, so he tore his eyes away from the cryptic message and looked around the main pub part for the shovel.

Where the map had been laying that morning was a small garden shovel. Grabbing it, Miles ran out of the Gates Bar for the final time, not wanting to go there ever again. It had scared the hell out of him. Now all he had to do was check out the Happy Burger, and then head for the Rosewater Park where he would hopefully find that key…