The pain returned with sunset. First came the searing, piercing heat of the bullet penetrating the skin, soon followed by the tearing of flesh. A sudden, sickening jolt as it hit the bone. Then came the numb moments before realization. His head swimming and somersaulting as he was overcome with a sudden vertigo. Legs gave way beneath him as he fell onto the packed earth as the pain finally set in. Flashing lights danced across his vision. The world around him dulled to a soft hum. His leg burned with invisible fire. A living nightmare, one he'd see every time he closed his eyes, one he'd feel every time he took a step. It was a dream from which he could not wake, but Sonic knew this dream well.
Sonic sat upright in bed, not from shock, such memories happened too often to provide anything other than a dull and familiar terror, but motivated instead by an overwhelming desire to escape. Such things were ridiculous, he reasoned, one could not outrun his own body, but the prospect of escape seemed so inviting. He took one tentative step onto the hardwood floor, pain shooting through his knee. He winced, but allowed himself to shakily put weight onto his leg. It trembled under the pressure, but held firm. It wasn't usually this bad, but the onset of his dreams brought with them the pain that had long since been tucked away into the furthest reaches of Sonic's mind.
The ancient floorboards creaked and groaned as Sonic slowly crept along the hallway. From afar, one might confuse the shambling, limping creature for a ghost. Years of inactivity hadn't treated the blue hedgehog well, leaving him gaunt and thin well before age had begun to set in. As he walked the pain in his leg began to recede. Step by step it faded until eventually it returned to the back of his mind. The faintest tug of a memory. Sonic busied himself with his morning routine, allowing his body to carry out the familiar actions while his mind wandered. It looked like rain today. Dark clouds had gathered on the horizon, obscuring the rising sun. Bad luck, his father had said, was the day that the sun rose behind clouds. An omen of misfortune to come. Sonic had never believed in such things, but the memory brought a smile to his face.
The wind blew gently outdoors carrying with it the soft scent of rain. Sonic lingered by the window for a moment to look. A shadow had fallen across the rolling hills that surrounded his small house and rain fell like a blanket. It inched closer and closer, filling the air with the soft patter of raindrops on leaves. The wind rose to join it, almost obscuring the muted sounds of footsteps in the room over.
Sonic paused. More footsteps could be heard, coming now from the rear of the house. Whoever had arrived hadn't used the front door and Sonic wasn't expecting any visitors. Sonic silently slipped into his small kitchen and cautiously opened the cabinet under the sink, from which he withdrew a USP-45. He didn't cook much, so had instead relegated his kitchen into a storage area for all manner of firearms and other such weaponry. A pistol would do fine for a small scale break-in. Anything more would just cause undue damage.
The footsteps drew closer. Sonic could discern two muffled voices echoing down his narrow hall. The floorboards creaked as the intruders slowly approached his position.
"Are we sure this is the right place?" A low and gravelly voice muttered.
"This is it." The other responded, this one much stronger and louder. It was the voice of a creature Sonic knew well. A voice he hadn't heard in years, and one he certainly never thought he'd hear again.
"Knuckles." Sonic said as he rose, pointing his gun at the red echidna's forehead, "It's been too long."
Knuckles let out a broad grin, "So you hadn't forgotten about me. I was beginning to worry that all this isolation had gone to your head."
Knuckles took a step forward, but stopped when Sonic gestured for him to back away with his gun. The second intruder, a black hedgehog sonic didn't recognize, raised his hands in a sign of surrender. Both were unarmed, as far as Sonic could tell.
"Maybe it has, maybe it hasn't. Who's to know, really?" Sonic responded, shifting his aim over to the black hedgehog, "Maybe I'll just put a few bullets into a couple of intruders."
"It'll take more than a few bullets to stop me from kicking your ass!" Shouted Knuckles' companion.
"Shadow, shut your damn mouth! We're here to get his help, not start a goddamn fight!" Knuckles snapped back. The red echidna once more took a cautious step forward.
Sonic lowered his gun cautiously but kept his finger hovering over the trigger. "You say you need my help. Whatever it is, I'm done. You aren't making me come back."
"The fate of the world–" Knuckles began, but Sonic cut him off.
"I don't give a fuck! Get someone else to handle this. You got contacts. You can get anyone you want on this mission."
"Nobody else has your experience." Knuckles argued. Frustration was evident on his face, but the echidna would be careful to keep his tone relaxed. He was tiptoeing around volatile old Sonic like always. "You were with me when we took down Project Solar. You remember what we found. What it was building to."
Memories returned in force, flooding and blinding Sonic from all directions. Burying him in pain and noise. Faces, names he'd long set aside.
"Project Solar was destroyed. We stopped the threat. We walked away." Sonic muttered, more to himself than to the two intruders, "Nothing you say is going to make me return to that life.."
"You can't walk away from this one, Sonic! You started this!" Knuckles erupted. The red echidna let out an exasperated sigh before continuing in a much calmer voice, "Remember Marrakesh? Back in '09? You owe me."
Sonic's skull burned as the memories dug their claws into his mind. He could see the sand, the flames, the blood that stained the earth beneath his feet. The screams of agony carried by the driving wind. Why couldn't he be free of this nightmare? Sonic slowed his breathing, just as he'd been trained. The past faded once more.
"Fuck… You…" Sonic managed to gasp out, still dazed from his visions. "Fuck…"
"It won't get any easier if you keep hiding from your past." Knuckles strode across the room and gently laid a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Help me finish this."
Letting out a deep sigh, Sonic hung his head. Knuckles was right. The only way he'd be able to escape his past was to confront the consequences of what he'd started.
"Fine. Let's finish this." There was no fear in his voice, no doubts. His pain ended today.