Hi there lovely Tails fans. I hope that I am not disappointing you with the way that this fic is working out. Not too much nastiness in this chapter although it is a bit angsty so watch out kiddies! Lol. I'm a bit sad that I only got 2 reviews for my last chapter-I guess it's because people seemed to think that it was I had finished the fic and my last chap was just an epilogue or something-yeah right! Oh well, thankyou to my two reviewers anyway. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!
Chapter 13: Into the abyss…Sonic was still in his hut. He had laid Tails on his bed and was sat on the floor. By now he felt as he had lost all hope and there was no point in continuing his life. It was his fault that Tails had had to go through so much pain and it was his fault that he was now dead. He felt like he wanted to go through the same pain. He felt like he wanted to die so he could be with Tails again.
He went over to his kitchen, it was more of a closet with a couple of drawers and an oven in it but it did it's job. He picked out a small kitchen knife and took it back to his bedroom. He resumed his position at the side of the bed and looked at the implement.
"I deserve this." He said aloud to himself before slowly pressing the knife to his arm. He winced in pain as he watched the blood flow freely. After he had cut deep slashes in each of his wrists, he sat back and watched the pool of blood slowly grow larger on his floor. Every so often, he went over the cuts again with the blade to keep them fresh although they probably wouldn't have stopped bleeding anyway due to the depth of them. Around ten minutes passed and he began to feel very tired and woozy, the pool had increased in size dramatically but Sonic didn't feel scared. He felt strangely calm. He was going to be with Tails and that was all that mattered. He didn't care about the immense pain because he knew that Tails had endured much worse and had still not given in.
Little did he know that Amy had seen what he was doing through his window and had alerted Bookshire and the other freedom fighters who were on their way towards his room. As soon as they got there, Rotor kicked the door hard, breaking it off it's hinges instantly. Sonic was too spaced out to acknowledge this and as they rushed into his room, a terrible sight met their eyes.
Sonic was sat on the floor, he was covered in his and Tails' blood but due to the large pool at his feet, they thought that it all belonged to him. Sally and Bookshire were the first to rush over.
"What have you done to yourself!" She frantically asked as Sonic, who had still not acknowledged their entrance, just sat limply. He had no more strength left in his body.
"Here I come lil' bro…" He finally managed to say with a smile on his face before sliding to his side and collapsing in a heap on the floor.
"Oh my God! Has he…Is he…" Bunnie stuttered.
"Get him to the med hut now!" Bookshire shouted at them and Bunnie ran over and lifted him into her arms easily with her robotic limbs. She then ran out of the door in the direction of the medical hut with the others following. Sally ran alongside Bunnie and went to hold Sonic's hand but dropped it again in terror as she noticed the huge gashes in his wrist.
"God Bookshire-look!" She said, her voice shaking.
Bookshire looked at his arms as soon as they had got Sonic into the medical hut.
"O.k. You are all going to have to leave while I try to fix this." He ordered.
"But…" Sally started.
"Go now!" Bookshire repeated with a stern look that he didn't use very often. Sally knew better than to argue. They all left and sat outside the hut. Each was jabbering incessantly. Sally, Bunnie and Amy Rose were crying as were several villagers that had heard the news and gathered round. Rotor and Antoine were holding them. Antoine stroked Sally's head and Bunnie's was buried into Rotor's shoulder. Sobs echoed around the village as more and more of them heard of what had happened.
"First the fox and now Sonic!" One cried.
"Wanna know what I think?-I think that if Tails hadn't have died, Sonic wouldn't have done this!" Another commented.
"Yeah!-It's that little mutant's fault!-I'm glad Robottnik killed him!" A third shouted above the others.
Everyone went silent as they noticed Sally and Bunnie stop sobbing and raise their heads.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!" Bunnie said in a tone that could kill a person-if voices could kill that is.
"Well…um…I-" The villager, who was a male fox, stuttered. Before he could make any sort of explanation, Bunnie had dived on him shortly followed by Sally. Bunnie hit him with her robotic arm and knocked him out. They both stood up and Sally called for the guards who promptly came over.
"Take the traitor to the cells! I will deal with him later!" She commanded.
The rest of the villagers decided that it would be best just to keep quiet from then on.
"How could he say that?" Sally asked as she began sobbing again. Antoine came over to her and began to urge her towards her hut out of the public eye. Rotor decided that it would be best to stay together to avoid any more incidents like what happened with Sonic so he began to take Bunnie in the same direction. This left the villagers stood at the entrance to the medical hut, unsure as what to do next…
Whilst all this was happening, Knuckles was having problems of his own. He had arrived back at the floating island and was trying to see if the Master emerald could give an explanation to what was happening to Tails' Chaos emerald. The Master gem was in the centre of his cave, surrounded by the other six gems. He placed Tails' along with the others then walked up to the Master emerald and laid his hands lightly on its surface. He tried to focus his mind and concentrate as hard as he could. He had to block out all noises and distractions. After several minutes, the emerald started to glow brighter than usual. Knuckles saw this and asked it his question in his mind.
"Is Tails still alive?" He asked. He waited a few moments and just when he thought that it wasn't going to answer, the voice of what Knuckles could only presume was the emerald, pierced his mind.
"The two tailed one is alive by soul…" It said.
"But why did his emerald start flashing?" Knuckles asked perplexed.
"Because all is not lost for him…" It replied in its eerie, echoed voice. This confused Knuckles further.
"How is all not lost if he is dead?" He persisted.
"I told you, the soul is alive…"
"How do we get it back in its body then?" Knuckles said trying a different approach.
"He is in The Nothing…" It said and Knuckles felt the voice leave his head.
"What's the nothing!" He asked, but the voice had gone. He opened his eyes and as soon as he had got his bearings again, he sped back off in the direction of Knothole…
Dr. Bookshire had been operating on Sonic's wrists for about an hour. He had repaired the ripped blood vessels and stopped most of the bleeding.
"Close them up for me please nurse." He told the young female cat from earlier. Bookshire was totally drained. Tails was already gone and he had nearly lost Sonic on two occasions and it had really scared him. What would happen without their hero? Would everyone blame it on him?
"Yes Doctor." She replied and immediately set to work.
Sonic was stood in darkness. He could feel ground under his feet but when he tried to reach down to touch it, he could feel nothing. He could not see anything except darkness in all directions.
"Where the hell am I?" He asked the darkness.
As if to answer his question, Sonic saw a small light in the distance. He stood and watched it and realised that it wasn't just a light, it was a figure. As the figure came closer, Sonic realised that it resembled someone very familiar.
"Tails!" Sonic asked in disbelief as a small, orange fox walked towards him. Tails stopped around two feet away from Sonic. He was bathed in a golden kind of glow and didn't appear to have any of the injuries on him that he had had when he died.
"Hello…" Tails replied. Sonic looked around him as the voice echoed all about him. It sounded like there were several hundred of Tails stood all around Sonic.
"What the hell is going on here!" Sonic stuttered.
Tails then dropped to his knees in front of Sonic.
"Please Sonic, you've gotta take me home! I've been walking around in the dark for ages and I haven't got a clue where we are! There doesn't seem to be anyone else here but I keep hearing weird noises like a monster or something!" Tails sobbed as he raised his head to look up at Sonic. Sonic was just about to reply when he began to disappear.
"Sonic! Please don't go! Don't leave me here!" Sonic heard Tails screaming before disappearing completely. Suddenly, he felt like he was falling at a great speed. He yelled out loud as he suddenly felt a bump and opened his eyes. He was in a hospital bed and Bookshire was standing over him.
"Tails, I'm gonna make a promise to you right now. I SWEAR I'm gonna get you back. No matter how long it takes. Even if it means that I die trying. Even if I get robotocized. Hell, even if I have to end up working for Buttnik I swear I'm gonna find a way to bring you back. I know you can hear me where ever you are and I know that you wouldn't want me to get hurt trying to get you back, but that's what I have to do." Sonic vowed to himself at that moment.
"We thought we had lost you for a while back there!" Bookshire said.
"We?" Sonic asked before looking around him. Then he noticed that Sally, Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, Amy and Knuckles were all stood at the foot of his bed.
"Why the hell did you have to do something so stupid!" Sally asked before they all rushed up to him and hugged him.
"Hey! You're all gonna smother me in a sec!" Sonic protested as they squeezed him.
"Any way," Sally said as they backed off a bit. "Knuckles has some good news. Tell him Knux!" Sally said cheerfully. Sonic had a feeling that he knew what Knuckles was going to say.
"Tails…he's not…well…he's kinda not dead…" Knuckles said proudly before they all looked at Sonic for his reaction. His expression was not one that they expected.
"I know…" He said as he suddenly felt very sleepy. He drifted off before the others could respond to this. They were all totally confused.
"What did he mean?" Rotor asked.
"Maybe he can't believe that Suga-fox died or something." Bunnie suggested.
"Maybe its all the drugs doc gave him." Rotor made an attempt at answering his own question.
"Maybe…" Knuckles started.
"Maybe what?" Sally asked.
"Maybe its something to do with that near death experience he had." He said. Everyone was silent.
"D' ya really think that he could have seen Tails?" Bunnie asked.
"I suppose its possible." Rotor said.
When Sonic opened his eyes again, the others were still there waiting for him. He was touched that they had stayed with him even though he was asleep.
"Hi again guys." He croaked. It seemed that his voice hadn't woken up yet.
"Hi…Now what were you saying?" Sally asked straight away.
Sonic told them about everything he had seen and they all came to the conclusion that it must have really been a near-death experience.
Sally then noticed that Tails' Chaos emerald was glowing again.
"Knuckles-look!" She said excitedly.
The freedom fighters gathered around the emerald as a picture appeared on the surface of it. It was Tails. He was wandering around in the dark looking afraid and lonely.
"Where the hell is he! That's where I saw him earlier." Sonic asked no one in particular.
"He's in the Nothing" Knuckles replied as if he knew what 'the Nothing' was. Sonic wasn't sure whether he was supposed to worry about his friend at this news but from the looks of it, Tails wasn't enjoying himself too much.
"What's The Nothing? And why is he there? And what's going to happen to him? And-" Sonic was cut short as Tails face turned to one of fear. He stared upwards at something that no one could see. Then Tails spoke.
"Who are you?" he stammered.
A voice replied as Sonic and the others stared on feeling helpless.
"I am Aurora, the Guardian of the Nothing. You are here because of your untimely demise."
"What do you mean? Where's Sonic? You had better leave me alone or else Sonic will be here any minute and he will-"
"Silence. We have many things to discuss. Come with me." As the Guardian said this, Tails was lifted off the floor by an invisible force and taken in the direction of the Guardian. Once he could no longer be seen, the emerald turned back to its normal colour.
"What just happened?" Bunnie asked.
"Well…to me it looked like a weird floaty kinda thing just came over to Tails and took him off somewhere with a sorta magic force type thingy." Sonic tried to explain.
"Somebody please translate that into normal language." Bunnie said sarcastically.
"That meant that he doesn't know." Sally giggled. Sonic flashed her a look of mock anger.
"And I suppose you DO know do you!" He said just as sarcastically.
"No but at least I don't pretend to know like some of us!" Sally shot back.
"Now, now children. Stop being immature!" Rotor chastised.
"She started it." Sonic muttered under his breath.
"You have to have the last word don't you hedgehog boy!" Sally laughed.
"Yep!" Sonic said as he had the last word.
"I think that we have more important things to talk about at the moment guys!" Knuckles said. He was growing impatient listening to them. They shut up. They all sat in silence as they thought about what they had seen in the gem. Sonic then realised something.
"Oh my God!-The poor little guy doesn't even know that he died! Did ya hear him? He thinks that I'm still there to protect him-But I can't now can I!" Sonic said. He tried to sit up in the bed but as he tried to push himself up with his arms, an excruciating pain made him fall back down.
"Ahhh!" He yelled and made the others jump.
Sally and Antoine helped him into a sitting position.
"Iz diz bedder?" Antoine asked.
"Yeah. Thanks Ant." Sonic replied.
"I think it'll be better if we all get some rest for the time being. Maybe we should call it a night for now." Rotor said. He needed his bed.
"What about Tails!" Sonic asked.
"Well there isn't much we can do at the moment. We will come back in the morning and we can discuss a plan of action." Sally said.
"But-" Sonic started.
"No buts Sonic. We all need to sleep or we will be no good at trying to save Tails will we?" Sally interrupted.
"But Sal-" Sonic protested again.
"Sonic! Don't argue with me. I'm still angry at you for putting yourself in this place so don't even try to push your luck!" She said. Sonic decided to leave it.
Well, what did you think? I hope this was enough to satisfy your needs for this week. Hope to see you all really soon with yet another chapter for your enjoyment! NOW REVIEW!