WHEN DO MY STORIES END CHAPTER 5
Chapter 5: Hero
"Damn! Where the Hell are you, exit?" I asked myself, growling lowly. I haven't been called by Tails—either that or Tails was attempting to communicate with me—and the base looked like it wasn't going to hold up any longer. Everything I saw was red and in flames. The sirens were going off at every corner of the base, and I thought that my ears were going to bleed. I was beginning to think I had gotten deeper into the base than to have gotten closer to the outside. Everything was being enveloped by flames around me. Burn marks were making themselves visible on my blue fur.
"This base of Eggman's is huger than I thought!" I continued to run while I thought to myself. It was weird having a conversation in my head, but it was the only bright thing to do at a time like this. "I hope Knuckles managed to get out of here safely..." my mind rolled over to my echidna friend. I mean, I did tell him to get on ahead of me. Shaking my head, I wouldn't let myself think any more negatively than I already was. I didn't want to think about me not being able to return to Tails and the others; that would mean that I broke my promise to him, to Tails. I said that I'd return to him all in one piece, scratched or not!
With my newfound determination, I sped off down the halls. I would've used my spin dash to saw through the walls, but there was a high possibility that I would hit a bomb that was placed there. I shuddered at that thought; I wouldn't want to end my life like that. Ugh, got to stay focused. I have to return to my friends. Soon, my mind rolled back over to the subject of my friends, and how important they were to me, "Tails needs me, and Knuckles needs me even though we don't always meet ends with each other. Heck I would even return to Amy just to see her smile, and Cream too..." Then an image of Shadow flashed through my mind.
Shadow...
Now, I really wanted to head back. I was just beginning to understand that Faker. I didn't want to stop here. I didn't want him to end his life without me having to stop him. I wanted to show him that there was so much more to life, and I still do. I need to get him out of the Hell hole he got himself into. I want him to treasure the life and friends he has now. No way was I giving up. He was going to be resistant, that's for sure, and we're both stubborn—not a good combination, I say.
My ears twitched at the sound of beeping. The beeping was slow at first, but within seconds, it ticked faster. I didn't slow down to see what it was; I just kept on running forward, jumping over the burning debris and avoiding any dangerous hazards. Just then, the beeping stopped and an explosion erupted from my left, and I felt myself being thrown to the side. My head hit something hard, and it felt like vibrations were sent throughout my brain. It hurt like Hell.
The next thing that happened was that my ears began to ring, and that my head was aching more than ever, plus I was having trouble breathing due to the smoke that surrounded me. There were small flames lingering on whatever they could touch. I didn't know what happened, and I tried to get back up on my feet but couldn't. I turned my head around to see what was going on, and I found hunk of metal sitting on top of me.
I struggled and tried to pull myself out with my upper body. I yelped when I felt more weight on me. UGH! As if I already had enough to deal with already! I'm exhausted, my head is aching, I'm in pain, and I can hardly breathe and...I'm afraid...
Me, Sonic the Hedgehog, afraid? I would've laughed if there was another me standing in front of...me...right now looking down at me. Oh wait, I'm sure Shadow would be laughing at me right now, too. Makes me want to think that he doesn't care about any of us, even if we did manage to become—Wait, do I see blood?
I looked at my hands and blinked a couple of times, wondering where it came from. Then I felt something trickling down my forehead. I pressed my gloved hand against it then brought it back to where I could see. Yes, I was bleeding, from my head. Not now! Of all the times to start bleeding, you decide to do it now!
Then, I shrieked again when something else fell on top of the things that were already piling on top of me. I thought I heard something snap from within me. My eyes were blurring. I think I'm...about to...slip into unconscious... No, I can't let that happen! I'm a fighter, not a quitter! I looked around and found nothing that would seem to help me out... I was...beginning to think that...my adventuring days were coming to an end...here.
"H-Help me, someone!" I croaked. Wow, my throat is really dry, and I was just beginning to notice that, but this was humiliating... My mind kept telling me that no one was going to save me this time. Nobody knew where I was with the exception of Knuckles and Tails, but it would even take them awhile before they could find me... To think that I would desperately ask help from someone that was just so out of character. I would never stoop this low. In actuality, I never saw myself in this desperate kind of situation. I always found myself getting out alive, and the flames were not helping... I was wheezing for oxygen. My head was becoming heavy... I didn't know whether or not my head was up or pressed against the metal floor, or what I thought was the floor. I didn't know what was happening around me, and I didn't even want to know. My eyesight was becoming hazier, and my eyelids were falling downwards. All I could see was red, and the sirens wouldn't stop blearing into my tired ears.
Just when I was an inch away from becoming unconscious, I felt less pressure on my body. What was going on? I felt like my body was able to breathe again after being smothered and crushed, but I was still so weak. Just then, I realized that someone was helping me, but whom? I wanted to know. More of the debris was lifted off of me, and I wanted to turn my head around to see my savior but couldn't because my head weighed a ton to me and refused to move. Could it possibly be Knuckles helping me? Damn it, if it was him, I'd hit him because I told him to get Tails out o' here!
My ears perked towards the sound of a smooth, yet dark, voice. ...Okay, not Knuckles, but whom?
"You're such a nuisance, you know, hedgehog?" I heard the other voice mutter. Whoever, this guy was, he was close, close to my face. I tried to breathe out a word, but I coughed. My dry throat got to me before I could say anything. My eyes clenched tightly shut. My chest hurt, my body ached, and my head wasn't helping anything feel any better. I groaned a bit when the stranger lifted me from the ground. Who is this person? How did he know I was here? I tried to open my eyes. I only managed to take a small peek, and my blurry vision caught a sight of black with some strings of fuzzy white.
"Everything will be okay...Sonic..."
My mind pulled a blank, and I finally fell into an unconscious state—still not able to figure out who my savior was.
XXXXXXX
"...ing yourself for what happened, it's not your fault Tails," my ears twitched at the sound of a voice. I figured they were talking about me; people always talked about me, but I wondered what.
"Yes it is! I shouldn't have let him go in there! I should've continued to fight against the fact that we shouldn't go straight to Eggman's place. Sonic already looked weary from talking to Shadow, and who knows what happened between the two. I just wanted Sonic to be okay," Tails' voice rang.
"Tails, you did your best, didn't you? It's okay, plus, this is Sonic we're talking about; he'll be okay," I didn't have to guess who said that. Amy just knows how to make everyone feel slightly better.
I managed to let out a groan, but it was a weak one. I didn't know if anyone in the room heard it. I tried to open my eyes and when I did, all I saw was blackness. Was something over them? It felt like it. I shifted a bit in the bed trying to get myself in a more comfortable position, but my muscles were aching like crazy. They were begging for me to stop moving, so I did...for a while. What happened anyway? The last place I remember being was in Eggman's base. I was about to get blown up with it, wasn't I? I was trapped because of that stupid wall that fell on top of me.
Wait a second.
I was saved. Immediately, my reaction was to try and sit up as if everything was just a bad dream. But I could barely move, my muscles were too weak and they ached horribly. I let out another groan, and this time—thankfully—it was louder than the one before. Surely, it reached someone's ears. Darn, my throat was still dry. To think it'd become less painful while I was unconscious, right? I needed to drink something to make it stop aching for moist, and fast. Anyway, who saved me? I tried to remember what had happened. I tried to think of some little detail I had of the person who supposedly saved me, but my brain wouldn't let me think. My headache worsened.
I heard a gasp coming from Amy, "Oh my, I think I heard a sound coming from Sonic! I think he's coming conscious!" And just as Amy said that, I heard a clatter of footsteps come up to my bed if it was even my bed. "Sonic! Sonic! Are you okay? Oh my darling," Amy continued on babbling about me. Ugh, could she at least leave out the "My darling" part? I don't like that, and I probably never will. Can't she see that I'm still alive? She needs to stop worrying about me.
"Amy calm down, you know Sonic still needs his rest," I heard Tails say.
"Yeah, I think he already has enough pain to deal with," Knuckles remarked with a laugh afterwards.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Amy squealed. I would've sighed and smacked my forehead if I wasn't in this condition. I believe Tails was doing it for me even if I couldn't really see what was going on around me.
"Ugh...you guys... You really need to learn...how to keep quiet..." God, it really hurt to speak. Slowly, I grasped my neck. I swear, the way my friends spoke could be able to wake anybody from sleep. Why did that have to talk in this room of all places?! Anyway, my voice sounded different. It sounded like I was sick or something as if I like some kind of sick puppy. D'aww, I don't need to be treated like a baby. Not by my friends, especially Amy—even if she had more experience with helping people recover from fighting or illness.
"Sonic, you shouldn't try to talk, more or less try to move either. You're still not well enough to do anything," my little buddy informed while handing me a small water bottle. Too late, I had already tried to do that...like earlier, and every muscle in my body was aching like crazy. Plus, I was trying to sit up once again, but I felt a hand press against my chest. I let out a growl, but it came to sound like someone trying to fake a cough or something. But the hand that pressed against my chest moved away, and I managed to sit up successfully. I unscrewed the cap from my water bottle and drank from it greedily. My conscious was squealing with joy at finally having something cool and moist traveling down my pipes. I did my best not to rush myself.
I never did like being in this condition, especially since I had something covering my eyes this time. Speaking of which, why were my eyes covered anyway? I was confused and wanted to ask, but my throat refused to make a sound at that moment. I sighed mentally. I would have to be bedridden for days. The worst part is whenever my friends picked out the person to watch over me. The majority of the time it would be Amy since she loved to be near me, obviously. But, if I was saved by some miracle, and Amy wasn't available, Tails would be watching over me. Then if Tails couldn't be able to, Cream's mom would be glad to watch over me, and sometimes, Cream would be keeping me company. Heh, she would even ask me if I could join her tea party, and everything else just varies. Hmm...I wonder who would be it this time.
"Oh, I'll go and make my dear Sonic some warm soup. You must be ultra hungry~. I'll be right back, Sonikku~!" Amy exclaimed. I felt her give a kiss to my forehead, and my ears perked forward when the sound of her footsteps faded.
"So...what...happened..?" I asked, and Amy better have that soup ready soon 'cause I am hungry like she said. It feels like I've been avoiding food for weeks, but I may be wrong because I don't know how long I've been out.
"Save your questions for later Sonic, I don't want you to strain your throat, but I promise to answer your questions when your get better," Tails sighed.
"W-Well...can't you answer me this? How long was I out?"
"About a day, you weren't hurt all too badly," Knuckles answered. "Now then, go rest while Amy gets the soup ready. Tails and I will leave you to rest."
"H-Hey...wait!" my hand immediately went up to my throat, grasping it tightly. Surprisingly, it was still dry after drinking half of the water bottle. Plus, I yelled, so of course it'd hurt! "W-Why are there bandages over...my eyes..?" I heard Tails let out another sigh, but this time, it sounded more...heartfelt. The whole room became quiet. What did I say? Did it have to do something with me? My lips pursed into a slight frown as my annoyance grew. Why aren't they telling me anything? Why am I being kept in the dark about this? It couldn't be that hard to tell me what was with them. I hate this! I wanted to blurt out whatever I was saying in my head.
"Sonic, you need your rest," I heard Knuckles say. I frowned more as I heard footsteps softly thump against the floor. I was guessing that my friends were going to leave me alone to `rest`. I sighed, lying completely still in my bed, or at least, I think it was my bed. Without really thinking about it, my hands reached to my bandaged eyes. I wanted to remove them. What was wrong with them anyway? Why won't my friends answer me? They usually don't act like this. Is this another nightmare that I can't escape from? If so, how do I wake myself up?
Slowly, I tried to feel for one end of the bandages, so I could start removing them from my eyes. Luckily, my arms weren't as sore as the lower part of my body, but it still hurt to raise them up when I was wea—no, not that word—exhausted fits better. Yeah, I was exhausted—oh! I got the bandages to loosen. Now I just need to unwrap it around my head. I used both my arms to support me to sit up once again. I positioned myself so that I was leaning against the headboard of the bed. I sat there panting a bit. I didn't realize I would feel this exhausted from just trying to sit up; I mean, I wasn't like this the first time I did it. I waited awhile to catch my breath. After that, I resumed to unwrapping the bandages around my head.
As I got more of it to unwrap, I felt the bandages loosening around my closed eyes. I stopped the gesture, my arms already tired of being used. Luckily, the bandages were loose enough, and they were slowly sliding down my face. I didn't hesitate another minute and slowly, and easily, opened my eyes. The room was dark, and I couldn't see any source of light anywhere.
I had my head look down at myself and was surprised to not see anything. In fact, I couldn't see anything. I raised one hand up to my face. I made it come close to my face, and I didn't know how close it was getting. Only then did I realize that I poked my eye. I gasped a bit. I closed both my eyes shut and caressed the pained eye. Was the room really this dark? I didn't think so.
Blinking a couple times, I took another look around the room. Still, I couldn't see anything. Geez, what was wrong with my eyesight? Wait...what is wrong with my eyesight? Once again, I made an attempt to try and look at myself. No, I can't be... I just can't.
"No... No, no, no... NO!" I shouted. Why? Why am I bli—No! I won't believe it! It's just a bad dream. It's not real. I'm probably still asleep on the roof of my house. Fighting Metal Sonic again was not real. Sneaking into Eggman's base didn't happen. Having the look of Tails' worried face was never there; I would never scare him like that, and I didn't want to. I didn't go up into space to meet Shadow because he was still on Earth living in his own private home wherever it may be. I didn't go talk to Rouge... But...everything was so...real. How many times was I going to tell myself that none of this happened? It's clear that it all happened. The evidence was here. It was me. Whatever happened to me, and whatever I was remembering just now, was real.
My ears twitched to a sound in the room and feeling a tiny pinch of Chaos energy appear in the room. At that, I was immediately pulled out of my thoughts. I didn't think I made that noise. It could've been my friends, but they were all somewhere else in the house, and if they did want to come into the room, they'd open the door and greet me warmly. I tossed my head round; it was a terrible attempt to try and see even when I knew I couldn't.
"Who's there? W-Who are you...?" I asked. Crap! My voice cracked, and I blamed my throat for not working right. I turned my head, having my ears point in many directions, as to let the other person know I knew they were here.
"Have you already forgotten all about me hedgehog? I'm right next to you..."
At the sound of the all too familiar dark and silky voice, I drew in a sharp breath and held it. I didn't want to try looking at Shadow 'cause then he'd figure out that something was wrong with me. I did not want to risk embarrassing myself by looking in the completely wrong direction when he was in a completely different spot. What was Shadow doing here anyway? How did he know I was here? Wait a minute... Didn't I hear this voice back in Eggman base? He was the one who saved me? Wow...what a surprise... Really! It surprised me. 1) I would never have expected Shadow to come and save me. 2) Shadow would've been glad to watch me burn to death. And 3) I wouldn't have to get in his way of being the fastest thing alive or mock his reputation as the `Ultimate Life Form`.
"S-So... Why did you...save me?" I asked silently and quite nervously. I wanted to know the answer, but at the same time, I didn't. Who knows what I'd get from Shadow.
I heard a sigh come from Shadow and some shuffling afterwards. He was probably crossing or uncrossing his arms—one of those things I guessed. "Do you always have to ask questions?" Shadow huffed. "You should've known by now that even you need saving..."
"Y-Yeah but...saving me isn't your thing... I mean, I know you've done that some time before, but I thought you were serious about staying on the ARK," I mumbled.
"Son–Faker," Shadow almost called me by my name, and my ears twitch toward his voice. I waited for him to say what he needed to say, unless that was all he was going to say. The silence was stretching which made me feel very uncomfortable. Luckily, I heard Shadow start up again, "...The things you said may have had some...meaning to them..." Shadow's voice had faded towards the end. I almost couldn't hear it, but I managed. I swear I felt some heat in my cheeks, and I think my heart had skipped a couple of beats. I hope my face wasn't noticeable. Okay, what I said about Shadow being mysterious and full of surprises, yeah this is when it comes in. I never expected him to say anything...what, positive? Yeah, positive. I'd never thought of Shadow to say anything positive about me, but then, he has his reasons...
"Well, it's good to know that you have decided to stay," I smiled still keeping my voice at a low. I was kind of looking upward now. I wondered how I looked now. I wondered how my eyes looked. Were they the same shade of green, or were they a grayish green? I don't know...because I couldn't see anymore...
My hands tightened on the bandages in my hands and the blanket underneath them. How was I going to run now? Without my eyes, I couldn't see. How was I going to protect the world from danger? I can't stop evil being blind. I won't be able to know what my enemies are up to. How was I going to be Sonic the Hedgehog? Sonic the Hedgehog! I am a God damn hero for Mobius' sake! I should be able to see! I have been able to pull through the worst of conditions. I was able to stand back up on my feet again and again—and with both of my eyes working fine too!
"Where is Amy? Where is the soup she promised to make for me? Don't tell me they've completely forgotten about me now..." I thought. Okay, I know that was a completely different thought, but I am extremely hungry. Why aren't my friends coming to check up on me? I don't need to rest! I need to RUN!
Run...
Running was Sonic the Hedgehog's thing...
It is my thing. I saved a bunch of people and many dimensions using the power I had...
I didn't realize 'til now that I was tearing up. I had tears develop through the corners of my eyes, and they were beginning to fall down faster than the one that fell before it. Ugh, this is the second time I've cried this week, and I didn't think a full 24 hours had passed from the last I cried! Why was I so weak back there? Why didn't I run faster? Why did I have to get myself lost in that base? I feel so vulnerable without seeing anything. Anyone can be able to take advantage of me. I don't want to feel this way! I want to fight like I always had—with my eyesight! I don't want to be reduced to standing by the sidelines, not knowing what to do.
"Faker...are you..."
"Don't look at m–ACK!" I exclaimed. I immediately grasped at my throat and turned away from Shadow while my tears streamed down my face. I didn't want to look at Shadow at all. I just couldn't face him, not like this.
Ugh, why did he have to be here? Of all the times he could've visited, it just had to be when I was conscious! But for some reason, Shadow also sounded a bit...concerned. Why, in Chaos' name, would he be concerned for me? The Shadow I knew would be laughing in my face and talking about how weak and pathetic I am, especially in this state.
Suddenly, I felt warm arms wrap around my shoulders. I tensed at the comforting notion. Was it Shadow who was hugging me? I was deeply confused, and I wanted to pull away at the same time; so I did. I wriggled from Shadow's grasp, but he wouldn't let me go. He held me close, so very close. He was warm—I had to admit—and his warmth really made me feel just a bit better. But it also caused me to have unwanted feelings to swarm in me. My heart was oh so broken; I swear it sunk all the way down into my stomach. I was disgusted with myself. Only then did I realize what Shadow was doing.
More tears began to fall from the corner of my eyes, and I began wailing my heart out in Shadow's chest. I gave up in struggling from his hold. I couldn't win this battle in the condition I was in. So many tears were falling down that they seeped through my clenched teeth. I had apparently swallowed the salty liquid... Shadow didn't even know what was making me feeling this way, and yet, he's comforting me... Or did he know? But for now, I didn't seem to remember what I was crying about. I just felt so...heartbroken.
I then felt gloved hands petting my head gently. "Hush, Faker," I heard Shadow mutter, his warm breath passing one of my sensitive ears. My eyes glazed over a bit. His voice sounded so...gentle. It was completely different from the demanding and unfriendly tone he used the majority of the time. My cries were silenced within that moment, but my tears continued to fall like a waterfall. I wanted to stop the distraught and mere helplessness I was feeling. I wanted to do something to take my mind off things.
So I started, "Sh-Shadow...I–"
"Sonikku~! I heard some noises coming from your room! Are you okay?"