Man, what a chapter. I cried. I honestly cried. This is actually the final chapter. Not a big way to go out, but the ending is similar to Just Hate Me. Like I said, just imagine a broken record playing the quotes at the end. I think it adds more emotion. x3
So anyway, quiet an emotional finish. I'll be starting on a new story soon, one requested by a certain friend o' mine. :) That should be up soon. So until then, enjoy the final chapter of my awesomeness story, Here.
Until my next story! Sayonora! x3
Here
Chapter 6
The news of Sonic's death spread fast. No one outside of Sonic, Tails, and Amy really knew anything about his illness; Sonic had wanted it all under-wraps, so nothing would be stirred up between anyone. His wishes were respected. But when it got out that Sonic the Hedgehog was dead, the news spread like fire in a dry field.
Amy was called up first thing. She had been away on a business trip, and was on her way back when she heard Sonic had been hospitalized. She was too late. She was just unboarding the plane when her cell phone rang and she received the news.
Knuckles the Echidna was next. He was on Angel Island, which now floated above the Mystic Ruins. He had been told Sonic was ill, but not that he was dying, so the news came as quiet a shock. He promised to be down from Angel Island that afternoon. Tails didn't really care how he reacted either. He was too busy in his own mourning.
The news spread. Media was contacted, the town in an uproar. Their hero was dead. It seemed impossible, but it had happened all the same. Sonic the Hedgehog was no more.
The hospital managed to keep the press away. Tails defiantly didn't want any more attention on the matter. Before Amy and Knuckles arrived, Tails was alone with Sonic in that dark hospital room. The hedgehogs body was uncovered, something Tails had requested until all the friends could get there. It looked as if the hedgehog were merely sleeping instead of dead. But when Tails would reach out to touch his hand - maybe some unseen shread of hope remained that he would wake up - the icy coldness of Sonic's skin sent shockwaves through his body, and the hope was shattered.
The tears wouldn't quit falling from Tails eyes. They continued to drip down his face, even when his sobs stopped. He couldn't shake the feeling of grief that surrounded him. The heart monitors screeching alarm still rang in his ears, long after it was gone, and Sonic's final, haunting smile was there when he closed his eyes. Tails couldn't seem to grasp the fact that he was gone, that he would never wake up and smile at him again. His big brother, his best friend, was gone forever.
Amy walked in later, her eyes bloodshot, swollen and red. Upon seeing Sonic's still form, she broke down, not even making it to the bedside before she fell to her knees sobbing loudly. Tails didn't look at her, although the heartwrenching display caused a lump to form in his throat, and several more tears to fall. She managed to pull herself together enough to pick herself up and walk to the bed, reaching to squeeze his icy cold hand slowly, before she was sobbing again. Tails wondered if he should try to comfort her, but thought against it. She needed to do this on her own first, just like he needed to.
Knuckles arrived some time after Amy, and when both Amy and Tails looked up with their swollen eyes, he hesitated. Tails could see the strange mixture of emotions in his face when he walked up to the bedside, staring down at Sonic's still body. The horror that glowed in his eyes was again almost too much for Tails, and he looked away. Knuckles left only a few minutes later. Tails couldn't blame him; Knuckles wasn't good with this kind of thing.
After awhile, Tails decided it was time for him to go forward a final time, just as the doctors stepped into the room to take Sonic away. The kitsune stood shakily, his entire being weak, both mentally and physically. The doctors were paused at the doorway, Amy standing nearby the bedside, sniffling gently. Tails took a few shaky steps forward, and when he came to stop beside the still Sonic, he swallowed hard, looking down at him. The pain collapsed over him, and he reached out, grasping the hedgehogs hand gently. The cold feeling that sprung into his hand shocked him, and he swallowed again, the tears blurring his vision. Behind him, Amy sobbed quietly.
"Sonic..." Tails stopped. He couldn't say anything else. Instead, he bit back a sob, looking away from Sonic a second before looking back, as if the hedgehog could hear him, could see him. "I'm sorry..." His voice was barely a whisper, almost inaudible, and as the doctors neared him with the sheet, Tails found the room spinning, everything blurred and mixed together, and a nauseous feeling exploded in his stomach. He dropped to the ground, listening as the sheet fluttered as they placed it over Sonic's body.
Then, the emotions came to a boil, and Tails suddenly felt even sicker.
He jumped to his feet and rushed into the bathroom, barely making to the toilet before it was too late. Everything he had eaten that day was suddenly out of his stomach and into the toilet. He retched several times before he fell to his knees, sobbing loudly. It was all over.
Tails was unable to watch as they carried Sonic's body away.
xxx
The funeral was private, small. Only a few people close to Sonic attended. Tails walked up to the casket, feeling sick again as he did so. He didn't want to see his best friend buried. It would make things to final, force him to believe he was really gone. But Tails went anyway, simply out of respect, and once the dirt clanged against the metal outside of the casket, Tails felt something inside him crack, something that could never be repaired. And he walked away from the cemetery without a word to anyone.
He headed back to the house, the cool wind ruffling his bangs. He walked instead of running, just allowing it all to soak in. His eyes were burning, from both the wind and from his crying. He glanced at the forest as he passed it, the tears welling up and falling again until he passed it.
It was too hard to believe he was actually gone, that he wasn't coming back. For so long Tails had depended on him, and those past six weeks, Sonic had depended on Tails. Tails felt like he had let the hedgehog down, even though he knew there was nothing he could do. It was the worst feeling in the world. Tails shuddered as the wind whipped around him.
Where was Sonic now? Hadn't he promised he would never leave Tails? Tails's eyes narrowed. Then how come he felt so alone at a time like this? How come Sonic wasn't with him now? Tails sniffed silently, continuing his silent trek home. Sonic had left him after all. Sonic was no longer with him.
And the thought of that almost shattered Tails completely.
xxx
Over the coarse of the next few days, things only got worse for Tails.
He refused to see anyone. He wanted to mourn and think alone, and demanded to be left alone. Amy attempted to come see him several times, but Tails refused to let her in. He simply sat alone in the dark house, waiting for a sign that he wasn't alone. And the sign never came.
It finally became too much for him to sit around and down nothing in his morning. So he began working on the house. First, he cleaned, and for two days straight, he cleaned every corner of the house, from the bedroom to the kitchen. It was spotless when he was finished. Then, for another day, the thought of Sonic came up, and he collapsed in his misery, sobbing. Oh, how much he hated him not being there...The house was so empty. The pictures on the wall seemed to haunt him, follow him, and he finally resorted to taking them down, lying them face down on the floor. Every picture in the house soon joined them. Tails was slipping more and more into his depression with every day.
It was a week after Sonic's death that things changed. The hedgehog came to him in a dream one night, on random night...It was a strange dream. Tails and Sonic were simply sitting on a pier overlooking the ocean, talking. Talking about nothing in particular. It was like he had never left.
The sun was setting, and Sonic stood up suddenly, startling Tails slightly. The kitsune pulled his eyes away from the beautiful sunset to look up at Sonic, who was smiling gently at the sunset.
"Time for me to go, buddy," the hedgehog said, looking down at him. Tails cocked his head in confusion.
"Go?" he repeated, blinking. "Where are you going to go? I'll go with you." He started to stand, but Sonic shook his head, smile wavering just slightly.
"You can't go with me this time," he said, and all at once, a familiar argue was beginning. Tails opened his mouth to protest, but Sonic spoke again first. "You really can't. It's impossible." The sun was sinking lower now, and Sonic looked down at Tails, that familiar grin on his face. "I'll see you later, buddy. Remember where I am." Tails blinked in confusion, opening his mouth to speak again, but the sunset suddenly sunk into the ocean, and with it, Sonic disappeared.
After he awoke, the dream stayed with Tails throughout the day, something that wouldn't leave him alone. That simple conversation they had watching the sunset seemed to stand out to him, as well as his last words; "Remember where I am..." Then, all at once, at the end of the day as he watched the sunset alone, he finally understood.
He was watching the sun set, the dream lingering in his mind, when all at once the sun simply disappeared. Tails was sitting in darkness for several minutes before he stood from the cliff side and walked inside, the door clicking shut behind him. As he turned off all the lights for bed, he noticed something, something flickering dimly, then suddenly brightly, on the windowsill. He neared the window, looking into the small space between the window and the wall, and saw two lightning bugs sitting there. One was lying still, its light dim and barely flickering. The other was standing near it, seeming to watch it, its light glowing much brighter. Tails didn't move either of them, simply watching as the first lightning bugs light grew dimmer and dimmer, before it diminished completely. The lightning bug was dead.
The second lightning bug simply seemed to stare at the body of the first for a moment, taking a hesitant step toward the dead bug, as if hoping for it to wake up, to not be dead. But the first lightning bug didn't move; it was gone. After a few moments, the second lightning bug turned away from the body, looking toward the window almost longingly.
"You can't go with me this time..."
Tails lowered his hand to the lightning bug that still lived, gently scooping it into his fingers. It didn't resist. He carried it to the door, which he opened with a small click, and opened his hands to the sky. The lightning bug lingered on his fingers only a few moments, and Tails couldn't almost feel it hesitating, as if afraid to leave its dead friend behind. But after a few moments, it fluttered its wings and took flight. Tails watched it silently until it disappeared before turning back inside the house.
"I'll see you later, buddy..."
Tails stopped when he was in the living room, his dream and the lightning bugs seeming to mesh together to make sense, a weird story as it were. The dream suddenly was alot clearer, and Tails looked toward the dead lightning bug lying still on the windowsill, then toward the door where he released the other. Somehow, even after losing what may have been its only friend, the lightning bug had proceeded to fly anyway, not losing its wings to something it could not stop.
"Remember where I am."
Tails walked toward the bedroom, everything becoming more clear, the weight on his shoulders slowly being lifted. The lights were still on in the kitchen, and he walked into it, reaching for the light switch to turn it off. But something on the opposite wall caught his eye; the spot in the wall that didn't match anything else.
Tails walked toward it, somehow feeling something powerful about the spot on the wall. And suddenly, simply looking at the wall, it all made sense.
"Remember where I am, Tails."
Tails unconsciously lifted a hand to his chest, putting it in the exact same place Sonic had placed his before his death. He heart was beating beneath his fingers, slow, steady, healthy, and he listened to it, felt it. His eyes were still concentrated on the wall.
"I'm not leaving, Tails," the hedgehog whispered. "I'll never leave. I'll always be right here." His smile weakened. "I will be right...here." He lifted a weak hand and placed it over the kitsunes heart. "Don't think I'm leaving. We'll see each other again later."
The pain in Tails's heart pounded into his veins, and tears leaked into his eyes for a moment. It was going to be hard, but Tails knew he could do it. He could learn to fly again, just like that lightning bug had after losing its friend. It was the least he could do for Sonic, the least he could prove. He could make it on his own. However hard it would be, Sonic believed he could do it. And Sonic had never lied to him before.
Blue eyes shimmering with tears, Tails lifted one hand, brushing it against the wall slowly, touching his own shadow. There were some things he wondered if he would ever understand about Sonic...even after he was gone.
Slowly, Tails turned away from the wall, from the strange spot on the wall, and flicked off the lights in the house. No matter where 'here' was, Sonic would be 'here'. And now, Tails knew that.
"I just...Sonic, I don't want to lose you." He looked up at Sonic, and both stopped walking. The breeze picked up around them, and the single tear beginning to fall from Tails' eye was blown away. "You're my brother. Losing you is like...losing a part of me." He held a hand to his chest, hovering over his heart.
Sonic watched Tails, his own green eyes wide and glimmering. He didn't say anything for awhile. Then, he reached over, lifting the kitsunes hand as it fell away, placing it back over his heart.
"Tails...you'll never lose a part of yourself. You'll never lose me." He smiled sadly, and his eyes were shining with unshed tears. "As long as you think of me, remember me, you'll never lose me. I'll always be right here...with you."
xxx
"Do you know how many times we've sat in this very spot?" he asked quietly, allowing his voice to be carried gently across the breeze.
"Will you...stay with me? Help me to not be afraid?"
"Have you ever noticed how, when the sun sets in the ocean, it looks like the water just...reaches up and grabs it?"
"Sonic..." he whispered hoarsely. "We're here, buddy. I'm here." Tails clutched Sonic tighter. "Don't think you're alone through this."
"Lil bro...Don't leave...okay?"
"You're so much more than a little brother. You're my best friend, and you've been my lifeline for so long...Thank you for being there. Thank you for not leaving and not running away."
"This isn't goodbye..." the hedgehog whispered, his voice so low Tails could hardly hear it. "Goodbyes are forever...Lets not...say goodbye Tails...Lets...not..."
He paused, looking away, and Tails stared straight ahead. "Is it wrong to not be scared that I'm dying?"
"Not goodbye, Sonic...See you later..."
"Tails..." Sonic started, hesitating, before continuing, his eyes sparkling. "...I don't want to die...I really don't..."
"I know...And you have absolutely no idea how much that means...how much...how much I need you to be here."
"See you later. Never goodbye."
He opened his hand for the lightning bug to leave, and watched as it, hesitantly, took off from the tip of his fingers, glowing almost happily as it flew away from him. For some reason, Tails smiled before turning back into the house.
The lightning bug lingered on his fingers only a few moments, and Tails couldn't almost feel it hesitating, as if afraid to leave its dead friend behind. But after a few moments, it fluttered its wings and took flight. Tails watched it silently until it disappeared before turning back inside the house.
xxx
"You can't go with me this time," he said, and all at once, a familiar argue was beginning. Tails opened his mouth to protest, but Sonic spoke again first. "You really can't. It's impossible." The sun was sinking lower now, and Sonic looked down at Tails, that familiar grin on his face. "I'll see you later, buddy. Remember where I am." Tails blinked in confusion, opening his mouth to speak again, but the sunset suddenly sunk into the ocean, and with it, Sonic disappeared.
xxx
"See you later...Sonic the Hedgehog..."
End of Story