A/N Hey here's next chapter and we'll be getting a few answer about Sonic and other stuff. Not much to say besides that, here we go.

Sonic sighed , the subtitles confirming this. He looked so tired and defeated, the natural glow in his eyes had been glazed over with despair. His fur was messy and clearly hadn't been washed in awhile, ash making his fur look dull. He didn't look like Sonic anymore.

"So…. I guess, I should leave some kind of video log or something. Well, I'm Sonic the hedgehog…. Former leader of the Freedom Fighters" he looked away for some time slowly forcing himself to continue.

"About, two weeks ago Dr Ivan 'Eggman' Robotnik began a mass attack of Mobius. At this moment from what I've learned his victory is pretty much complete now" The normal Sonic would have been more light hearted and joking around, he even said Eggmans full name. Losing everyone was weighing on him deeply.

"I called in all the Freedom Fighters and other able bodied heroes I knew and I decided to attack Eggmans fortress….. well….. As you can see I'm badly injured. During the attack everyone was taken down due to my terrible plan." He began to cry admitting this.

"All of my friends, all of them gone because of my impatience, because I wanted to stop Eggman so fast and not make a plan. Because I was so angry, and everyone else was so angry they couldn't see it either…. Chaos…. Shadow was right" he went into a crying fit.

Nobody watching the screen spoke, the lack of sound didn't mean anything, they could all his voice clear as day watching as the once stoic hero broke to tears of agony over the loss of everyone he ever loved, and more importantly failing the people he wanted to protect.

When the fit ended he composed himself "But obviously…. I'm still alive, after everyone else was killed and me trying to buy time so Shadow could save anyone else worth saving I still got out. I have no idea, I felt pain and everything went black and my body just drove me out by itself"

"I don't even know if Shadow or anyone else made it, I never found them. I was hurt after I had to stay down for days healing and avoiding being caught. I searched, and searched but I just couldn't find anyone. I realized I couldn't go to any of the small towns or risk having the place destroyed if Eggman even got a wiff of me being there…. So I came back here after I couldn't search anymore…. Even Nicole is gone now" he sniffled clearly feeling so alone.

"So here I am, somehow alive, all alone forced to watch as the world falls apart because there's nothing I can do… it's what I deserve for leading my friends to their fate, and letting everyone down" He didn't even cry, he must have felt crying meant he felt pity for himself, why would he feel pity for himself after leading his friends to death? No he simply sat there for awhile looking away from the camera until he finally pressed a key ending the video.

Nicole faded into view and another speech bubble appeared "There are more, if you wish to watch them later" she guessed some of them couldn't see anymore for now.

Tails simply stared past the lynx still replaying the video in his head over and over. So Fiona nodded for him, Sonic had looked absolutely broken and beyond repair, she couldn't see him like that for awhile.

Shadow was first to speak "So he must be the one who made this wheel to power the base. He had nowhere to go and suspected everyone was gone" the ebony hedgehog looked down clenching his fists "Had I known, I would have come and got him, but…" even he looked a little depressed learning this revelation.

"There's nothing we can do now" Fiona whispered "Hopefully we'll get more clues to what happened to him further in the logs"

"Well where is he!" Shadow suddenly yelled "Where did he go, he had nowhere to go and no purpose. Where is he? There's no body anywhere!?"

Blaze could see Shadow was now feeling guilty for leaving Sonic behind and said "Shadow calm down, we'll get answers if we watch further, for now, we should rest and digest the information we have learned, and cool our heads"

The hedgehog didn't seem to listen to her at first but soon his muscles loosened and he took a deep breath "Yes…. You are right"

He walked away quietly planning to do as Blaze suggested. Things had been stressful for them all and knowing heir friend suffered by himself for so long didn't help anyone getting some time to cool off and think was what they all needed.

Scourge approached the screen and said "I guess I was wrong"

Fiona looked to him "What do you mean?"

"I once said to him that one bad day would him just like me, guess I was wrong. He got even worse than me"

On the screen Nicole was trying to look composed like always but was also having a hard time getting past what they all witnessed.

She kept searching through the computer at the same time but nothing else was new besides Sonics logs.

Fiona walked to Tails and said softly "How you holding up?"

Her voice forced him out of his trance "Huh?... Ya… I'm fine" he looked away and got out of the chair wanting to get away from her.

It was pretty obvious so with curled back ears Fiona reached out for his shoulder "Tails, you can talk to me"

He quickly shrugged her off "Leave me alone"

By now Scourge had walked off leaving the fox alone. She sighed slouching and fell back into the chair Tails had been sitting in. It was pretty scummy and uncomfortable, but still better than the floor.

It took her a moment but Nicole was trying to catch her attention on the screen. She just barely caught her waving and looked up to the lynx.

In text Nicole frowned "I know it can be hard"

Fiona sighed heavily again "You know that Rosemary asked me to take care of him, right?"

"Yes"

"Well with her gone…. I feel like I'm the only one who can help him" she leaned forward on the console covering her face in her hands.

Nicole crouched near the bottom of the screen to simulate being closer to her "If you believe that then what will you do?"

"I don't know what I can do, he doesn't want to talk to me. If I try he either avoids me or gets angry. How can you explain anything to someone who refuses to listen?"

"Persistence, I know it may seem obvious but, you have noticed Scourge and I?" The lynx asked.

"I'd have to be blind to not notice Nicole" Fiona smiled, despite wanting help she kinda hoped she could get some answers of what was going on with them.

"Well my basic programming is a personal assistant. With Sally gone I have been somewhat unoccupied. All the information I could learn I was able to instantly download when I was plugged into Rosemary's systems, either information I already knew, which was most of it or a small amount of new information that had been accumulated in two years. So I ran out of exploration quickly there"

"So like you said you essentially got bored?"

"Yes, Sally and other freedom fighters helped me in learning to be more Mobian… but they are obviously gone. So I decided to look for a way to learn on my own. I saw Scourge and realized he might need some kind of help, that filled in my assistant programming and he is…. Very different to other people I interact with, so it would be a good experience to learn from and with him" she explained, she seemed to be off topic, but hopefully she'd get back to it.

"Learning from him was hard, I'd need to talk to him. He was resistant… and rude too. But I kept trying and eventually I've slowly broken down his barriers and seems to enjoy my company now" clearly her lesson being that persistence would show she cared. What kind of friend tries to talk once then gives up?

Fiona nodded getting the lesson and smiled warmly "Oh ya I have noticed him enjoying you being around. Hell he went back for you during the attack, told us to not wait for him too" she gave a teasing grin. She had also found that interesting too, he'd never risked himself for someone else before.

Nicole looked away sheepishly "Really? He did not mention that, I assumed he ended up there and just happened to be there to save me"

The fox smiled again and finally asked "So, what's up with you two, or atleast what you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well it's obvious this is more than just a experiment now right? He seems to genuinely like having you around and you seem to like being with him too"

"Well I guess I do, I enjoy speaking with him. I enjoy listening to his stories when he feels like talking about it and I like getting him to smile"

"You like seeing that green guy smile?" Fiona chuckled.

"Well shouldn't I want to see other people smile too?" the lynx asked confused.

"Well of course but, tell me, do you get a different feeling seeing him smile?"

The lynx frowned confused "Why do you ask?"

"No reason I guess" the fox shrugged with a mischievous smile.

Nicole continued to look confused but smiled when Fiona got up looking better.

"I hope what I said helped" she smiled waving.

"Ya it did, thanks, I'm gonna go take a nap for now ok?"

She nodded "I will keep an eye on things, if something comes up I can turn on the alarms"

Fiona nodded and looked through the bed rooms. Unlike Tails she couldn't help but frown and think about her former friends. There wasn't much in each room anymore, whatever had been inside was either burned, stolen or succumbed to time and absence of care.

She may not have been with them for a long time but seeing all this made her wonder how things could have gone. Perhaps she could have been able to walk through these doors and be greeted by a smile from a friend.

Sadly she left and ruined any chance if that.

She sighed and decided sleeping in those rooms would be wrong, nobody would say it would be but she felt sleeping in there would not only be wrong but a little disrespectful.

So she found a wall to sit up against and doze off.

Now she was afraid of waking up, last time she fell asleep the bases ceiling fell in.

Luckily for her waking up was more pleasant than last time, no attacking or waking inside a cage.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned. After getting up she twisted left and right crack her back and looked around tiredly. Nobody was around but she could hear some voices in the next room.

She followed the sounds and found that the room had been furnished with the best stuff around the base. A few chairs that seemed to be able to hold someone's weight, a small table and a desk that looked more like it was gonna be used for preparing food or something.

At the table was Shadow, Silver and Blaze. Looked like Blaze just woke up while the two hedgehogs were fully awake.

"… It was nice of you to look around and find some furniture to make this place a little more comfortable" Blaze said.

Silver just shrugged it was nothing, I just used my telekinesis to carry everything" despite his recovering wounds he sounded like using his powers hadn't tired him out too much.

"You should have let me do it and let you rest" Shadow said.

"I can handle myself Shadow, no need to worry about me. I'm not the inexperienced hedgehog you met on his butt cowering from a gun"

The ebony hedgehog scoffed "Don't get over confident from a few fights, you are still far from being having the experience the rest of us have"

"Ya but I'm not a kid and I can handle my powers unlike before" he defended himself.

"I'm not saying you have the capabilities to be like us, I'm saying experience is what you need, and with enough time you'll realize how much you'll appreciate rest" Shadow calmly explained, wasn't trying to beat him down he was just overly eager sometimes.

Blaze piped in "I understand wanting to be useful, but he is right, you're more useful getting back to full health sooner than pushing yourself for no reason"

Silver sighed looking down at the table "I just hate feeling useless, I get what you mean it's just that…"

"We know Silver, we've been through it. It is something you just need to get used to. It is far more dangerous putting someone who's hurt on the battlefield than not having him there at all" Blaze explained.

Shadow nodded and continued "Yes, having to worry about an injured teammate puts another problem on all our minds"

"Makes me sound like I'm a burden" Silver sighed.

"No of course you aren't, if anything you are one of the more powerful people on the team, having you at full strength is a benefit" Blaze smiled kindly.

Silver looked up to her "Thanks Blaze, means a lot" his smile was warm and appreciative.

Shadow had to awkwardly sit there at the two smiled to one another but Fiona was there to interrupt and embarrass them "Hey you two lovebirds, and Shadow, how are things?"

Blaze looked away while Silver looked down trying to hide his blush.

Shadow just nodded to her "Nothing much, Silver just moved some things around so we could have some kind of normal around here"

"Thanks Silv, where's everyone else?"

He recomposed himself "Uhh, I think Scourge went for a run, Nicole is in sleepmode and Tails has been in his old workshop all day, or maybe he was out getting scrap or junk.. We literally haven't heard from him since we watched Sonic, well besides some noises inside the workshop" Silver explained.

"Really?" she sighed "Hopefully he's working single mindedly on that weapon he mentioned then take a break"

"Well hopefully he's nearly done, he could use some sleep if he's been straight working" Silver nodded.

"I'll handle him in a bit, or atleast try" she sighed.

"Good idea" Blaze nodded.

"So anything else going on?" The fox asked taking the last seat.

"Besides these two staring at each other for uncomfortably long times, no" Shadow smirked.

Silver once again swung his head down a dull thud on the table.

A couple hours later…

Fiona had actually managed to go and rummage through the city and found a book or two that weren't totally destroyed. She was gonna go and read them later but hearing nothing inside the workshop made her wonder if Tails was done for now.

So she decided to take a look and walked to the door. She found it unlocked. It made her wonder why he hadn't locked it, maybe the lock wasn't working.

She went inside and found Tails sitting at the desk. That weapon he was working on was nearby, still unfinished but he was huddled over a bit head in hands. She guessed he must be exhausted and may have fallen asleep.

She approached but her footsteps made him rub at his eyes and wipe away from his nose.

"What do you want?" he didn't look at her but his voice gave it all away. He wasn't doing too hot and had been crying.

"Tails are you alright?" she asked taking one step more for now.

"I'm fine, just taking a break, what do you want?" he asked again, a little harsher.

"I wanted to see how you're doing, none of us have seen you in awhile, thought you might have dozed off"

He didn't answer for a second but nodded "Ya, sort of went for a nap, so I'm fine" sounded like he wanted her gone but she wasn't going anywhere.

"Could use something to eat I bet, Shadow found emergency rations deeper in the place. Guess they had sort of a plan for something like this"

"I'm fine" he rolled his eyes.

"Nah come, on, it will do ya good to get out of here for a bit and just relax"

"I don't need to relax, I was working at this pace for years, I can handle" he growled.

She frowned "Tails please just rest ok, have something to eat. Your mom wouldn't…"

"MY MOM WOULD BE ALIVE RIGHT NOW IF NOT FOR YOU!" he was suddenly at his feet rage and agony in his eyes inches away from attacking her.

"What happened wasn't anyone's fault" she cowered a little but tried to show she wasn't afraid, it failed with her ears folding back.

"Yes it is, if you hadn't come and found me, my mom and I would still be there alive and well. Now it's all gone. I worked for years on that place, worked for years to make her my mom and now she and it is all gone!" Tails yelled even louder.

Suddenly all her of her own pent up anger exploded out at him coming back with equal force "Oh and hiding away and doing nothing would have been better? You sitting in there like the only world was in there? Avoiding the big problem everyone on the surfaced had to face. You were content to hide away like a coward!"

The very word made him go wide eyed before grabbing her collar with both of his hands and pushing her against the desk "Coward!? You call me a coward? You ran away from responsibility? You hit a kid doing it and did all those bad things without a fucking care and that bitch smile on your face! I still tried to help people afterwards, you only hurt people from then on!"

His female counterpart was terrified now, she was cleanly in his grip now and pinned "I was scared, you caught me in position I could never explain, so I panicked and there was no going back"

"You panicked!? You did everything you could show which side you were on"

"What do you want me to do? Admit I was wrong? Because I already have, you let me and everyone else in and led us to that prison and factory. You gave us a place to fight back and gave us a purpose. You knew the risks but you knew what was right!" she growled back on her tippy toes.

"Everything was fine until you came, why couldn't you all just leave me alone!?"

"Because deep inside I knew you were in there, and I was right, you came back. I missed that Tails, I missed seeing that smile, the wonder in his eyes… I missed all of him, I regretted doing what I did but how could I explain why I was sneaking off with Scourge. At first it was exactly what it looked like but soon I saw the real him and I was planning to tell you guys, give a false sense of security to him and one day we'd catch him together, but you found me too soon. How could I explain all that and not look like I was lying, so I was forced into what happened. I was scared… scared of what you or Sonic might do….. I was so scared of what you'd think of me" she sniffed beginning to cry.

"All I ever wanted was to do something right, I'd never had a chance to do the right thing my entire life, imprisoned since I was a child, grave robbing with Nick…. Then I joined the freedom fighters and I felt so proud. I hid my past because I didn't want it effecting what you thought of me, but it was no use! Then I tried to help catch Scourge and it all fell apart… and from then on I was stuck in the life I'd been given…. I'm sorry… please I'm so sorry…. I just wanted to do what's right once in my life before this world finally kills me" tears streamed down her face filled with regret begging for forgiveness.

"I saw who you became… and then you came back…. Then it all went to hell and now you aren't him anymore… your mom asked me if I'd take care of you if anything happened… I'm not even doing it as a favor, it's because I know who you are, and this isn't you. I want what's best for you just like her" the grip on her shirt didn't loosen at all, but through her tears she could see he was crying too, but behind the tears he still showed plenty of rage.

Before he could speak she whispered through hiccups "She loved…. Just like I do…"

Ah this was much shorter than last chapter but that's because I hated leaving such an open space between updates and having such a short chapter didn't seem fair. But here's this one. About 3.5k if anyone cared.

So let me know what you think, do you think her story is believable? And we'll see more of Sonic probably next chapter.

Live long and prosper

Admiralkirk