Sonic the Hedgehog
Forced AU
Rating: R
Pairing: Undecided
Follow story developments on tumblr blog: sonicforcesau
An image of a beautiful scenery of nature was painted into the male musician's mind; his imagination, as he expressed the notes written on the music sheet to the best of his abilities.
A year had just passed, once more...
When did he start learning the piano? He briefly wondered to himself, as his red-furred fingers danced across the keyboard gracefully, producing beautiful tones out of the equally beautifully crafted instrument.
The sounds of indescribable, exquisite tones that somehow; perfectly described the phrases: Beautifully tragic, and wonderfully sad.
When did this start?
It was nearly six years ago, and Gadget the Wolf was only at the tender age of twelve.
Twelve.
And at that age, misfortune had struck his life. He could almost remember what happened:
"Hey, who wants to take a look at what the nerd's got in his diary?" a loud voice had exclaimed to everyone in the classroom as the mobian entered, while a hand held up a small, black book.
Nearly all of the males in the classroom turned rowdy at the interest of the diary's contents, along with some slightly interested females.
Gadget was some distances behind the bully. He ran, in order to catch up; in order to snatch back the book full of his secrets, and his own private thoughts - his own safe haven to express himself.
"I guess I'll read it out loud, then! November 4th, 1249-" at that point in time, Gadget had ran into the classroom, causing some attention to fall on him. "-oh hey, nerd! Or should I say... fag?"
He froze. His breath stopped. His eyes widened.
No...
Nobody was supposed to know. Nobody was supposed to know of the secret that he kept to himself all this time. Nobody was supposed to know that he was - in fact - attracted to his own gender.
Feeling desperate and hopeless of the situation, Gadget dived for his diary.
"Give it back!"
"I don't think so, fag!"
He slammed his hands on the keyboard suddenly - producing a harsh, hideous sound that rang out of the Yamaha instrument.
He felt rage. He felt despair. He felt futile.
With his right foot off of the sustain pedal; he lifted his hands, causing the piano to stop ringing.
That was the day he stopped talking, the day he actively searched for another medium to express himself; to let the world know what he felt, without having the need to actually make himself vulnerable, or the need to be understood by words.
Since then, Gadget changed. He wasn't like what he was before. He chose to stop talking. He chose to stop writing. As a result, his grades in school plummeted, and not one single staff in the educational institution knew why.
And to add salt to the wound: in that terrible, dreadful year; his mother - who had him at the age of around 20 - had died while protecting the young wolf from Doctor Eggman's vicious robots, during one of his attempts to conquer the world.
The family of two had just moved houses from the countryside to the city - uncreatively named City. And just a week after they settled in; the infamous Doctor Eggman struck.
She had told him to run; to never look back, to never stop.
A week before Gadget's mother's tragic fate, she had heard what happened - from the young wolf himself - and transferred him to a Music School; because she understood what their sweet, innocent child wanted:
He just wanted people to know how he felt, without the need for words.
And she found him his solution: Music - with its endless mysteries, and its endless possibilities. To the red wolf, it was a language that allowed the communication of emotions, without the need to be defined by words.
And it was also the parting gift of his mother to him.
For that reason, Gadget had fully accepted the medium of music - Classical Music - the most powerful form of expression and creativity that is required out of an individual, and for the sake of acquiring the full range of expression that he needed - craved - he chose the piano.
The piano, with its range of seven octaves of notes to choose from, was the instrument with the most versatility, with the most ability to express, with the most ability to speak without words.
It was an instrument that allows him to play all by himself with so many voices to choose from - a full orchestra laid out in front of him within all 88 keys - an instrument that lets himself be alone, in the safety and comfort of his own mind.
He stared at the score laid out in front of him.
To Gadget, the notes written on the scores didn't just instruct him on what to play on the instrument - it told him a story. A story; that he could wrap up with his imagination, and express out through musical notes with every press of the ivory key using his fingers.
It allowed him to express himself without exposing himself - It was the perfect solution.
He didn't need to talk anymore, because the piano will do all the talking for him.
As such, it meant that he was incredibly shy in social situations.
However, most of the students in the music school - being sensitive musicians - had understood him. Although they didn't know any specific details from the wolf himself, they understood what he had to say, from the tones that any piano produced whenever he sat behind them and played.
And Gadget was thankful.
He placed his hands onto the keyboard of the piano again, ready to improvise a piece in the simple key of E Minor, and he started to perform the first few notes that he desired to play.
Without warning, his phone rang, interrupting his improvisation.
It was an alarm set in the afternoon for his part-time job in a computer shop in the central areas of City, in Sunset Heights. It was an okay job, and it paid decently; to add on more, he didn't need to talk because he assembled computers in a room away from the main part of the store.
With a sigh, he packed up his scores, covered up the keyboard neatly, and left the practice room. He desired some excitement in his life; not this routine of music, performing, and going to work to earn a living, and performing more - for money.
Gadget the Wolf slowly walked down the hallway towards the lift.
Although he loved his craft, it was getting tiring - it was becoming a chore, it was becoming boring.
And if Gadget knew: he would be finding his life being thrown into a new, unknown, entirely different path in the near future.
The red wolf was making his way to his part-time workplace, in Sunset Heights, when all of a sudden, a somewhat familiar voice of a mad, old man started to cackle out of nowhere, and robots appeared in his path.
"Look out!"
And he was suddenly pushed harshly onto the ground, as he heard a loud explosion going off near him, followed by some screams.
That hurt quite a bit...
"Fool!" he heard someone shout angrily. "Don't hit anyone! Who am I going to rule if everyone dies?"
What the hell was that?
Gadget looked to the person who just saved him from literally being hit by an - although, small - explosive: it was a young, yellow fox with two tails - and the mobian seemed, somehow, incredibly familiar to him…
In the corner of his eyes, he could see people running away, panicking, screaming.
"Everyone, try to stay in cover!" he shouted out loud as he stood up from the ground, using his tails to propel himself into the air like a helicopter, and began to speak into a device wrapped around his right wrist. "Sonic, where are you?"
A bitter feeling settled in his gut as he heard the Hero of Mobius's name, but...
Wasn't that fox... the one named Tails? The same fox who constantly hung around Sonic the Hedgehog, saving the world from Doctor Eggman more times than anyone could ever imagine...?
It definitely was, but right now, it wasn't the time to recall memories of someone he didn't know.
A link clicked up in his mind. He somehow expected this; the day where he could unfortunately get caught up in one of Doctor Eggman's attacks, but he was never really ready for it.
Today might very well be his death day.
With urgency and panic of the perilous situation, Gadget the Wolf scrambled up from the ground that he was sprawled out on, and began to run away from the robots.
However, one of them was blocking his way, impeding his escape from the area.
He felt dread and hopelessness flow through his body, and he never realised that you could feel your own blood flowing through your veins before, until this moment.
All of a sudden, the robot that stood in front of him burst into flames, and he shielded himself with his arms from the smithereens.
What happened?
He scanned the surroundings with his eyes and…
Wow.
Somehow, the young yellow fox was able to redirect rockets shot out by the evil madman's robots by changing their trajectory as soon as they launched out of the barrel.
He caught himself - this was not the time to stare and be impressed! He had to get out!
However, another quick scan of the area had revealed that there were no escape routes available; they were all blocked off, either by rubble or enemy.
It seemed hopeless.
"Not so fast, Egghead!"
It was Sonic the Hedgehog! And right after he appeared, he started taking down all of the evil scientist's robots in the square with practiced ease.
Gadget had never seen the blue hedgehog in person before… but he had to admit that the hero was quite… handsome.
No! Now was not the time to think about these things!
He had to escape before he gets killed!
Gadget got up from the ground for the second time, while he heard people cheering for the hero as he destroyed the final enemy in the vicinity.
"Get them out of here, Tails!" he heard the blue hedgehog shout over to the fox as he landed on the ground, ready to engage another wave of enemies, and jumped once more into the air.
"Roger!" the fox wasted no time and started to clear up the path for a blocked alleyway that Gadget had seen moments prior, as other mobians joined in to help.
Usually, he didn't bother with being helpful; but this time; he decided that he would provide his services to clear up the path too - his life was on the line.
In just a few moments, the mountain of piled up debris from the damaged structures had been cleared away, and the alleyway - the path to freedom - was now open.
Immediately after the path was finally opened, all the trapped civilians had began to make their way through the path frantically, not wanting to stay in the square for any longer than they had to; and Gadget followed along into the small alleyway.
While that happened, Sonic the Hedgehog had already finished his work and took down all of the evil scientist's robots that attacked City; and now, the robots were nothing more than scrap metal on the grounds of Sunset Heights.
Looking behind him for one final time, he could see Sonic the Hedgehog talking to the evil Doctor Eggman about who-knows-what; and Gadget felt slight anger flare up within him as he wondered why on Mobius wasn't the hero taking down the enemy and ending the invasion immediately.
He firmly believed, and felt that Sonic the Hedgehog - the Hero of Mobius - shouldn't take his time on these things; especially on preventing the loss of even more lives! But instead, he was standing there, talking to his nemesis like old friends who never met in a long time!
His mother had died because of him - the blue hedgehog that prided himself in speed; as Gadget has seen multiple times on television and news reports.
Maybe he wasn't such a good hero as everyone saw him, after all.
Furious, he began to walk away from the area with heavier footsteps; in a slightly stomping manner, while the other mobians around him pondered on the possible reasons of the red wolf's sudden mood change.
"The area is clear!" he heard someone ahead of them exclaim in joy.
Excellent.
Perhaps he can finally get out of this place and continue with his stupid, sad, and boring life.
Just like how it was always meant to be.
He knew he had to escape from the city, but before that; he had to pick something up from his apartment.