Authors Note: Same as before but my editors told me I can't say *uck. That really sucks. I liked that word. I hate my editors and I hate this job. I hope you see this Grant. I wanted to go write a broadway musical but now broadway's shuttered and so I have to go back to writing fanfiction. So 2 years later here we go again and I know it's terrible timing but this fanfictions existence does predate Corona so the disease actually has nothing to do with Corona. Thanks, please don't cancel me Sonic fandom much love 3
The doors of the hospital sprang forth like the familiar echoing tune of the jump pads back in Green Hill. Nostalgia gripped Sonic's mind in the most twisted and bitter sweet of sinister ways. It had been a few years since he had stepped into a surgeons position and trained his last student. Grooms was a patient and loyal Echidna who reminded Sonic of one of his old friends. He had taken a specific liking to him and decided to offer up his position when he finally decided to step down. In his day Sonic was the best surgeon the world had ever seen. He stood on a golden podium above any living man. His swift hands meant that a patient's death was rare and he could bring anyone back from the worst of circumstances even when other doctors would consider the operation a failure. He was an expert in the entire medical world and had produced the cure to several diseases. Though some, even Sonic was unable to crack. It was this looming failure that even in a sea of success always made Sonic feel as if he was being crushed by the weight of a world that relied on him to keep turning. It was a feeling that made Sonic truly believe that in the situations like these even he would be helpless to save his patient in time.
"Alright Grooms, talk to me. What are we dealing with here?"
Grooms suddenly broke into a full on sprint to keep up with Sonic who was already halfway down the hall.
"I told you everything I know. This is like nothing I've ever seen before."
Sonic grabbed his temple and shook his head wondering how it was possible that such a thing could exist that would evade even the most incredible of sciences. He thought to himself, "If this disease was as deadly as Grooms had described"... A horrible possibility crossed his mind as Sonic pressed an important question,
"Have you contacted the W.H.O yet?"
Grooms nodded his head in response, "Of course, that's one of the first things I did."
Sonic let loose a sigh of relief and realizing that Grooms was struggling to keep up slowed his pace to close the gap.
"Good, because if this has gotten out. We have to make sure to treat it quickly. If this is contagious and even 10 people are able to pass it on, it would lead to the worst pandemic in human history."
Grooms shivered. He had considered the possibility but had not completely let it slip through his mind. The idea that something like this could be a contagious disease was almost too horrible to think of. Sonic however had thought of almost every possibility that could occur within the next few days, hours, and minutes. Beyond his fast hands and his formerly fast feet his mind raced at a speed faster than anything he had matched before. He could see it all. Part of that had led Sonic to his current state. He had seen his future in its entirety, hundreds and hundreds of times. He had seen dozens of potential paths and lives and in each one it always led into a similar direction. Sonic had discovered the disparity of man and the realization that no matter how fast you can run, that you can never run outrun the constant decaying sands of time. In his mind was a sparkling diamond that reflected on its many faces the ways he would fail over and over and over again to him. To any normal person the rotation of failure and success could be described in the same way as to that of the Yin and the Yang. Whenever someone failed it would eventually be balanced by success. Minor and major, regular people living in the present moment could always find some kind of formula to suggest that if only a tiny, bit life may be at least a little bit fair. Sonic however was different. In the crystal fractals of his vision he only saw devastation in clumps. A penny in the dirt or a green light in a maze of possible reds could not outway the immense amount of horrors that plagued the hedgehog's life. Sonic believed he had long ago found the true folly of man, that life wasn't fair but it was essential that people convince themselves it is or could be. This realization however meant that Sonic could no longer live on in blissful ignorance.
Lost in his thoughts Sonic barely noticed as Grooms slammed open the door leading into the boys room. Preparing himself for another vision of life's unbalanced scales, Sonic stared forward and was met with a horror that even him in all of his adventures and life threatening escapes could barely comprehend.
"This, Sonic, this is what I was referring to."
Sonic looked forward and felt as if the light of the room's fluorescent bulbs had sucked out behind him and into the world he had just left behind leaving nothing but a room cloaked in darkness. His eyes pulsing and his mind racing, Sonic's thoughts all had one similar connecting theme as he stared at the poor boy fighting for his life, "Truly, life can not be fair."