Hello again guys. How are you all! Well, the last chapter received mixed reviews so I decided to reply to some of them sepsarately:

I LOVE FMA: The next chapter is up……now!

DAX THE METALHEAD: Thanx for being so nice!

SHADTIKAL4EVER: Thank you as well for your support!

SONICRULES12: Hey, I can't be perfect all the time you know! Lol. I agree that the name could use some improvement but it serves it's purpose and sums up the place just as good as something fancy would do! Thanx for your constructive critisism anyway. If I told you how (and if) they were going to save him, there would be no point in writing this fic would there so just hang on to your hat matey!lmao. Thanx for always reviewing.

JHONIC: Thankyou. This seems to be the way that a lot of my fics turn out so I'm glad that you like my style!

SHADE-THE-HEDGEHOG: I hope you checked your mail this time and noticed this update! I know it's a cruddy name but oh well…whattdya do! Thankyou for your continuous support.

Thankyou again everybody and I hope you all continue to review and tell me what you think of my longest fic ever-Can you believe that last time (When I posted this as a one-shot) I only got something like 9 reviews for it! You people are so nice!

CHAPTER 14: Heroes Never Die…

It was now 7:00am and as the freedom fighters made their way into Sonic's hospital room, they saw that Sonic was awake. He undone the bandages around his wrists and was observing the damage with a look of shock on his face.

"I can't believe I did this to myself Sal." He said as she came closer. The freedom fighters once again took their positions around the bed and peered in to look at Sonic's wrists. As soon as they had caught a glimpse, they immediately turned away. Each wrist had a large line of thick black stitches running across it. The cut's were each covered in dried blood which Sonic attempted to remove. As soon as he touched it however, he jumped back. They were still very sore.

"Maybe you shouldn't have taken the bandages off Sonic." Sally said calmly.

"Why? Are you scared!" Sonic joked.

"I'm not, but Antoine is." She replied and everyone turned to Antoine whose face had turned a greenish shade. He looked at them and tried to act as if he was alright.

"Anyway, lets take a look at Tails' emerald to see if he's there." Rotor said changing the subject. At this, Knuckles lifted onto Sonic's bed where they could all see. He placed his hands on it gently like he did with the Master emerald and concentrated. Everyone peered into it hoping to get a glimpse of Tails.

The emerald's surface became black and cloudy and a picture of Tails appeared in front of them. He looked just like he did when he died. The blood still ran freely from his mouth and every now and again, he let out a croak and a cough.

"But when we saw him last, he looked perfectly healthy-there was no blood or anything!" Knuckles said confused.

"I think I can answer that for you. You see, when we saw him last, he didn't know that he was dead did he?" Rotor said.

"No he didn't know, but what does that have to do with anything?" Sonic replied even more confused.

"Well, we also saw this Aurora thing say to Tails that she wanted to talk to him..." Rotor took a breath. "So it must have told Tails what happened to him and now that he knows that he's dead, his body has become like it was when he died." He finished.

"Poor Tails...He's still hurtin' even though he's dead!" Bunnie exclaimed as they gazed at the painful expression on Tail's face as he coughed again.

"You wouldn't think there would be anymore blood left in the poor kid." She continued.

"That doesn't help matters Bunnie." Sally said. She was distressed enough just seeing Tails in that state again.

"Remember Bunnie, this isn't the real world. Tails probably has an infinite amount of blood in there-seeing as he cant die again-can he?" Rotor said as he looked at Knuckles who had begun to whisper some sort of strange language into the emerald. After Knuckles finished speaking, they watched as a golden emerald Tails was holding-presumably given to him from Aurora-began to glow.

"What did you do Knuckles?" Sally asked him.

"I tried to see if we could communicate through the emeralds and it appears its working." The echidna replied as Tails gazed into the emerald and saw Knuckles face staring back at him from the surface of it. He smiled.

"Hey Tails can you hear me?" Knuckles said into the emerald. Tails could see his mouth moving but couldn't tell what he was saying. He had a puzzled look on his face so Knuckles turned back to the freedom fighters.

"He can see me but he can't hear me." He said hopelessly.

Sally passed him a piece of paper and a pen. Knuckles scribbled something down on it and put it up to the emerald for Tails to see.

Hope you're o.k. Dude. We all miss you and we are gonna get you out of there. We aren't sure why you're in there yet but we sure as hell are gonna find out how to get you back to us. Everyone misses you and Sonic tells you not to be scared. xxx

"Knuckles that was sweet!" Bunnie told him as they saw Tails do a thumbs up sign before starting to cough violently again and fell over clutching his throat. Everyone was worried but at least there's a chance they might be able to save him this time.
Suddenly, a voice pierced the silence.

"I am Aurora. I am not here to hurt Miles. He is here because he died with a completely innocent conscience. Robotnik killed him when it was not his time to die. This is the Nothing. Souls wait here to return to their lives but they only have a certain amount of time."

"How much time?" Sonic asked into he emerald.

"The length of time a soul has before it totally 'dies' is the amount of time it took the body to die on Mobius-in Miles' case-3 days."

"How does he get out?" Rotor asked.

"Well...I'm afraid that I cannot say…you have to figure it out for yourselves." She told them. "If you are prepared to risk your own lives for the sake of his, then there is a strong chance that you will discover the way to save him. I will look after his soul for now. Remember, the quicker you discover the way, the sooner Miles will get better. He still has the injuries he obtained from Robotnik and is basically going through the whole 3 days over again."

"THATS JUST CRUEL! WAS IT NOT TORTURE ENOUGH FOR HIM TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT ONCE! ITS EVIL!" Screamed Sally at the emerald. She was usually the calm one in every situation but now she had just lost it.

"Do not shout at me. It displeases me-I did not hurt Miles. But I am capable of doing if you want."

At this, Aurora levitated Tails off the ground with the same invisible force as earlier. Everyone could see that he was coughing again. He then let out an ear splitting scream of agony as Aurora shot him in the stomach with a blue beam of electricity.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Sonic and Sally screamed as blood poured out of the new wound and Tails fell to the ground. They couldn't tell if he was dead or just unconscious.

"Don't worry feeble hedgehog-remember, the dead can't die-but they sure as hell can feel pain!" Aurora laughed as Tails opened his eyes and was trying to crawl across the floor away from Aurora. A trail of blood was left behind him as he whimpered and called out in pain.

"Sonic...please Sonic...come save me... where are you?...it hurts..." Tails fell silent as he passed out again.

Sonic decided to take the soft approach.

"O.k. Aurora you win. Please just don't hurt him anymore. He's gone through enough. We will go and figure it out O.K.?"

"Good idea hedgehog. Remember, the quicker you save him, the sooner he becomes pain free." And with that, Aurora was gone and the emerald was back to normal.

"So, has anyone got an idea?" Sonic asked.

"I think someone has to go get him." Sally said quietly.

"What iz you meaningz my prinzez?" Antoine asked. If he had thought about it for a bit longer, he probably would have realised that whenever Sally came up with an idea, he always felt as though he wished he'd never asked what it was.

"Aurora said that if we were going to save him, we would have to risk our own lives to save his right?" She stopped to see if the others were following her. "Well maybe we have to go into The Nothing and get him." Sally finished as she looked around the small group to see if everyone understood the meaning of her plan. Antoine wished he'd never asked.

"How d' we get ther?" Bunnie questioned. It was clear that she did not want to hear the answer that she thought was coming.

"Well…think about it, how did Tails get there?" Sally replied. She put it this way so that she didn't have to actually say what they had to do.

Bunnie went silent.

"I'm up for it Sal." Sonic said. He had promised Tails that he would do anything to get him back…

"Me too Princess." Knuckles said. He didn't want to be outdone by Sonic.

"Well some of us have to stay here to hold the fort-who knows what Eggman will be up to while we're away." Rotor said.

"I vill stay here." Antoine said, happy for an excuse not to go.

"I'm going to have to stay too I'm afraid." Sally told them. "The village won't be able to rule itself."

"O.k. , that settles it, we'll all go except for Antoine and Sally." Knuckles finalised.

Later that day, all the freedom fighters gathered in Rotor's hut. They all looked pretty scared except for Sonic who had a look of total determination and focus on his face.

"Are you all sure you're up for this?" Sally asked nervously. They were all standing out in the Great Forest so as not to be followed by the villagers. Sally and Antoine were stood facing the others in the clearing.

Sonic noticed that nobody answered.

"Hey, if you can't do it it's o.k. I know this is a biggie for you all…" He told them. He didn't want them to risk their lives just because he was doing. They had to want to do it for Tails' sake.

"I'm ready." Knuckles said. Actually, he was feeling pretty calm about the whole situation which surprised him.

Sonic looked to the other two. He realised that they weren't really ready at all.

"Sal, I don't think that Bunnie and Rotor should do this. That Aurora thing said that we would have to be ready to risk our lives if we were going to get Tails back and I'm not sure they are." Sonic said.

Sally thought about this for a moment.

"Are you sure that you are capable of doing this of your own free will. I won't let you go just because you think that Sonic needs you. It doesn't work like that." She finally said.

There was a long pause from Bunnie and Rotor which gave Sally her answer.

O.k. you two. I see that you have doubts so I'm not going to let you go. Sorry guys." She told them.

Bunnie and Rotor both felt a wave of relief wash through them, closely followed by guilt.

"I'm sorry Sonic. It's just…I've been brought up to preserve life at all costs and I just can't let myself do it." Bunnie said.

"Soz guys. Its not my fault, I can't help having second thoughts. I really wanna help Tails but-" Rotor was cut off by Sonic.

"Hey. Its o.k. guys, I know it's a big thing but I've just gotta do it-I swore to Tails that I'd get him back and that's exactly what I'm gonna do." He said.

Bunnie and Rotor now walked over to Sally and Antoine's side and also faced Sonic and Knuckles. As both Sonic and Knuckles reached for the guns they had each been given, Sonic felt bad.

"Guys, ya know, maybe you shouldn't watch this. Its way past uncool." He said. He hoped that they wouldn't watch.

"Sure Sonic, Knuckles. Whatever makes this easier for you." Sally said and all four of them turned around and held hands tightly. They couldn't even bear to hear the gun shot when it came.

"See ya on the other side Knux." Sonic said as he tried to sound cheerful.

"Yeah-I hope so!" Knuckles replied. Knuckles then turned and faced Sonic and they stood like that for a while with their guns raised at the sides of their own heads.

"The count of three?" Sonic suggested.

"Sure. Bye Sonic." He replied.

"Bye Knuckles." Sonic said before starting. "One…" They both stared each other in the eye. "Two…" Sonic closed his eyes closely followed by Knuckles. "THREE!" Sonic called and each of them instantly pulled the trigger. Blood flew from them and some of it hit Sally's back. She screamed at this and made the others jump.

After a few moments of standing silently with their back's still facing away from the two, Rotor broke the silence.

"Do you think we should check their pulses…just in case?" He said in a whisper.

"Um…I guess we should." Sally replied before slowly turning towards the two who were now lying next to each other on the ground. The others turned shortly after she did. Sally dropped to her knees and started to sob erratically.

"Don't Sally…Please don't cry…" Bunnie begged before she started crying herself. Rotor walked past them to the two corpses and checked each pulse.

"I hope you made it to Tails…" He said before picking up Sonic.

"Ant…Get Knuckles." Rotor asked. Antoine just about managed to do it without being sick. He really hated blood and now there was loads of his friends' all over his body.

They managed to smuggle the two bodies back into Knothole without raising attention and placed both of them side by side on Sonic's bed. From then on, all they could do was wait and pray.

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