Disclaimer: Sonic and co © Sega

All variations of Egglings and Lilith Kaynon © Blank the Nobody

Chapter Twenty Five

Requiems, Lessons and Miracles

1 Hour and 45 Minutes after Black Egg Armageddon had started

"Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark."

-George Iles

A chill ran up Sonic's spine as he came to the shocking realization to what had finally happened to him. His emerald eyes stayed fixated on the figure cloaked in black standing in front of him. Twinkle Park had been frozen in time, the flames stuck in their fiery positions and Eggman's foot which was firmly placed on Sonic's physical body. The air was cold and odorless, but the scent of blood seemed to linger around in the azure hero's nostrils.

His body no longer hurt since he was in his spiritual form, and yet he could still feel pain. His heart felt heavy and he could feel his soul getting crushed, knowing that he wasn't able to say goodbye to his friends. That wasn't really the way he wanted to go out. He didn't want to die like some pitiful weakling; he wanted to die to knowing that he had saved the world one last time. Or die after growing old with his friends, with the person he loved the most, Amy. He found the thought ironic. The one time he confessed to his love, the one time he wanted to express his feelings towards Amy, his life just had to be taken from him, like an unborn baby being killed in the womb. Sonic felt like he had never gotten the chance to express all of his love.

But now he was dead and that thought hurt much more.

Most of the time he was pushed to the brink of death, but never before had he crossed the line. Sonic fought back his own tears, but he couldn't and a stream of warm tears cascaded down his cheeks as he broke down on his knees. Never before was he forced to slowly accept the fact of his own death. Why did he have to suffer? Why did he have to be shown his own death? Was it really how he was supposed to go out? Either way, Death had finally taken him, the Reaper had at last taken hold of the greatest hero in all of Mobius.

The figure clad in a black cloak walked towards him and looked down at the hedgehog crying on the ground. Sonic looked up to see that the figure -who he called the Reaper- still had its hood drawn so her face was still covered in the darkness. The Reaper drew its hood back and Sonic was shocked to see that the Grim Reaper looked nothing like the depictions inside of books and artwork. For a second he thought he was hallucinating, but he was dead so it really didn't matter much

"Get up," said the Reaper as she stretched an arm out to help Sonic up, her voice matching that of a teenage girl's.

Sonic hesitantly took hold of the Reaper's hand and got back to his feet, his legs still shaking and some dried tears on his face. The azure hedgehog looked at the so called Reaper, and he made sure that his jaw didn't drop open in shock at what she looked like.

The Reaper -a girl looking about Sonic's age- was a Husky, with bright green eyes, white fur and long white hair with two bangs covering her left eye. Her slender body fit easily into the black cloak that she wore and without her hood, the azure hero could see that she meant him no harm. It was a weird feeling, knowing that Death was trying to help him instead of take his soul. Sonic was thankful for not being killed, maybe there was some greater purpose behind all this.

She stretched out a white furred hand, a warm smile on her face. "I'm Lilith, you don't need to tell me your name, I know all about you." she said kindly.

Sonic grabbed and shook Lilith's hand and instead of feeling cold, the girl's hand was actually warm, like she was alive. Like she cared.

"So I'm dead right?" asked the hedgehog as he withdrew his hand to scratch the back of his head, a confused look on his face.

"Technically speaking yes, you are dead," Lilith walked behind Sonic and stared at Eggman's frozen expression of happiness and joy. "But this is actually a near death experience, so after our talk, you'll be up and running again." The second to last word in her sentence hurt Sonic.

'Running' Sonic remembered his last moments back in the physical realm. The pain he felt as Eggman broke both of his legs by the knees. He cringed at the pain as he remembered it and he turned to face Lilith. "How can I run, when Eggman broke both of my legs?" he asked, pointing to the monster's foot, which was crushing Sonic's physical body.

Lilith looked down at Eggman's foot, a disgusted look onto her face at the sadistic sight. Sonic's physical body was frozen in its last moments, crying and pleading for mercy. It was a horrible expression, something that she tried to avoid at all times. But she had seen many deaths during her time on the job and she had guided so many souls into the afterlife. She had witness loved ones dying on a hospital bed, murderers being executed in the electric chair, rape victims being killed sadistically and even soldiers horrifically dying on the battlefield. Everywhere she went there was death, but that was no surprise since she was Death given breath.

"Listen to what I have to say and I'll give you back your legs." she said plainly, helping people wasn't in her job description, but she wanted to help Sonic because if she didn't then there would be a lot more souls to take.

A shocked look swept over Sonic's face at the words and seconds later his ears were at attention. His legs were his most prized possessions, without them he wouldn't be useless.

"Alright, I'm listening." he said eagerly, ready to get back to the world of the living and back to his friends.

Lilith turned to face the hedgehog, a calm, yet hollow expression on her face. "Why do you think you died?" she asked, her tone suddenly cold as ice.

Sonic took a step back, a confused look on his face and his mouth gaping open with no words coming out. He really had no clue how to answer the question, and yet he had the feeling that he did know the answer. The azure looked at the ground, trying to find the right words to answer the question, but he was utterly speechless. He had never died before, so finding the reason for his death was hard for him since there were a lot of contributing factors. Like his fear, his nervousness, his strong anger that seemed to blind him, the lack of planning, the list seemed to go on and on.

"I- . . . . I don't know." said Sonic dumbly as he scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed manner.

The female Reaper didn't seem surprised at Sonic's answer. She didn't expect him to know anyways, it was her job to show mortals the error of their ways and make sure that they wouldn't die the same way again. Lilith shot the hedgehog a warm smile and sat down on a large piece of torn cement wall behind her. She then crossed her legs.

"You sure you don't know?" she asked playfully.

Her questions made Sonic feel a bit stupid and he felt like a student being thrown suddenly under the teacher's mean glare. The hero searched his mind for any possible answer, but nothing seemed usable. His legs locked him in place, looking down at the ground dumbly. A thought then came into his head, he thought it was a stupid answer at first but it was probably better then saying nothing at all.

"I dunno, probably because I was scared, or because maybe because I wasn't really sure of myself." said Sonic finally, as if forcing the answer out of him. The Reaper giggled at the answer, knowing that it was wrong. Sonic then tried to find other answers. "It's because Eggman's stronger then me, or maybe I wasn't really focusing at the time."

Still no clarification that he was right or wrong was given to him and Sonic was slowly starting to feel like a moron. What was he missing? What had he overlooked? Lilith wasn't really the patient type and she was never really good with Near Death Experiences. She would definitely feel better if she just told him the answer, but it didn't work like that. Instead, she had to give hints.

"You used the word 'I' a lot in your crappy explanation, why?" she asked curiously.

Sonic was starting to get better at the game and he announced his answer in a somewhat sure tone.

"Because Eggman's my problem, he's my enemy and the villain that I fi-"

"Wrong," said Lilith plainly, stopping Sonic before he finished his statement.

Her words confused Sonic. The hedgehog looked at the large doctor standing over his physical form, the doctor's maniacal smile still adorning his face. For the longest of time, Eggman had brought up large robot armies and a weapon of massive destruction. And every time Sonic had thwarted him. Ever since he could remember, Eggman was his enemy, the malicious villain that was the pun of every fat joke. Now he had changed into this monster. But why wasn't he his enemy anymore?

Sonic looked at Lilith with a serious glare, almost matching his ebony rival's cold look. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Lilith got out of her seat and walked out in front of Eggman. She seemed a bit irritated by Sonic's incorrect answers, but she couldn't help it. Sonic wasn't one of the brightest people she had ever met so of course the hedgehog couldn't find the answer by himself.

"A long time ago, this bastard," she pointed a finger at Eggman. "was your enemy." her voice was a bit scornful. "You keep going on and on about how you should beat him because you're so damn used to it." Sonic was still confused and he just payed attention. "Think out of the box Sonic!" she yelled angrily, making Sonic jump. She had more important things to do then teach some retard values. But her yelling did seem to clear his thoughts and he felt like he was slowly starting to find the answer. "HE'S NOT YOUR ENEMY ANYMORE!" she yelled as she stretched her left arm to face her left side.

Mist and electricity started to flutter and spark into reality besides the Reaper. The mist started to form colors and images that were blurred and incoherent, and yet, they seemed familiar to Sonic. Slowly and carefully the images started to form the bodies of some very familiar faces. The images formed into his dearest of friends and the mist soon turned into a hologram-like image of Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Cream and every single one of his friends stood in front of the azure hero, a smile on all of their faces. A last person then started to appear in front of the group, the last image was that of a cocky blue hedgehog, flashing a smile that Sonic hadn't used in months due to fear. It was an image of himself.

"Eggman's not just my enemy anymore," said Sonic calmly, finally realizing what he had been missing. The hedgehog then walked forward and took the place of his holographic self. Lilith calmed down and crossed her arms, an impressed smile on her face. The azure hero felt a sense of fulfillment now, as if his lust for adventure had been renewed. Sonic looked at Lilith, the same cocky, trademark grin on his face.

"He's our enemy."

Lilith smirked at the sight, mission accomplished.

The images faded away and darkness started to surround the hedgehog. The hero then looked at Lilith as she drew her hood once again. As the darkness started to obscure Sonic's view he could hear Lilith's last words.

"Finish this one," she said, before the darkness engulfed him, "hero."

I learned a very valuable lesson that day.

That standing with my friends is much more powerful then standing alone.

I thought that Eggman and I were supposed to be forever locked in some eternal battle.

I was wrong.

There are lots of people around me who would gladly help take down that maniacal bastard.

My best of friends

And even people who are willing to set aside their differences against me and stand with me.

There's hope

And that's the only thing we need to keep on fighting.

Pain slowly started to manifest itself everywhere on Sonic's body. He felt tired, his muscles felt like they were on fire, and his head felt like it was bashed with a hammer. His legs felt constricted and aflame, and he knew the reason why. Sonic slowly opened his eyes, Eggman's brawny form towering over him his insane smile on his lips. The hedgehog's heart had started up again, but he was in no shape to move again. An insane laugh filled the air and Eggman threw his head back in joy.

"Get the hell off of him!" yelled an angry, yet familiar voice.

A large yellow bolt of Chaos Energy rammed into Eggman's head, causing the brute to stagger backwards and off of Sonic's legs. The doctor grasped his face, as if feeling pain for the first time in a long time. Blood started to trickle down the doctor's face out of a large burn wound that seemed to cover his entire right cheek. This was an odd sight. Had Eggman gotten weaker in some way?

"Target sighted, firing automatic weapons." said a monotonous robotic voice, before a stream of bullets rammed into Eggman's chest.

Some of the bullets seemed to just fall off of the doctor's body, but some bullets left a small bean sized bruise on Eggman's abdomen as they bounced off. A large red and black robot, its machine gun integrated arms pointed at Eggman, fired rapidly at the doctor as an ebony hedgehog stood next to the metallic warrior. The ebony hedgehog had his hand pointed at the doctor and a small flicker of energy was starting to build up. Omega was keeping the doctor at bay while Shadow charged up for another Chaos Lance. Shadow looked irritated and annoyed at Eggman's presence, anyone could tell by the smirk on the ebony hedgehog's face.

Sonic then felt his body getting pulled backwards, and he could feel the rouge gravel being rubbed against his sore back. The blue hedgehog looked up to see who was aiding him and he found a panicking pink hedgehog and a nervous golden fox pulling him across the concrete street. Tails and Amy, thankfully they were unharmed.

"Espio! Charmy!" called the fox over the sound of gunfire. "Grab Knuckles! He's down, but not out!" yelled Tails in a leader-like tone.

Sonic turned his head to the side to find a purple chameleon and a bee kneel down and lift a bruised and beaten echidna out of a crater. Knuckles was covered with his own blood, his body wrecked, but still usable in the next battle if there ever was one. The echidna's two comrades started to heft the Crimson Insanity back, along with Sonic. Knuckles amazed Sonic. After taking such an intense beating and even smiling in the face of death, the echidna was still alive. That was either a miracle or a horrible curse.

Eggman turned to face Omega as the bullets continued to hit his chest, an angered expression across the doctor's face. The burn on his face was still there and it bled freely. Something was affecting his body and making his regeneration slower and slower by the second.

"NO! NOT NOW! I CAN'T RUN OUT OF BLACK BLOOD RIGHT WHEN I'M ABOUT TO WIN!" yelled the doctor as he charged Sonic.

"Oh, no you don't." said a gruff, familiar voice before a large green croc zoomed past Sonic and into Eggman.

A loud thud filled the air as the croc smashed into the doctor. With his arms pressed against Eggman's massive body, Vector pushed the behemoth back, trying to give Sonic more time to get away. For a long time Sonic hadn't seen his friends, and now they were coming together to save his life. Before, the azure hero was blind, relying on his own strength, thinking that he was the only hero. But now, on the brink of consciousness, he realized that he was wrong. There were other heroes ready to jump into the battle alongside him, ready to fight whatever battle that was in their way with the courage of an entire army.

Vector gained some extra footing and he shoved the doctor a couple steps back before falling back. Juggernaut Egglings started to appear left and right, out of the shadows and out of alleyways, roaring in anger at their injured master. The ground started to vibrate the guttural roars and Sonic could feel them as he was dragged into the back of a large army personnel carrier. Knuckles was taken into another vehicle and Sonic felt safe knowing that both of them had made it out alive.

Sonic never got to see what happened next, because he blacked out once he had reached the truck. The truck got away and Vector, Shadow and Omega retreated along with them. The hero had made it, injured and battered, but still alive. That's all that really mattered.

An Hour Later

Deep in the confines of an old metal laboratory, where thick cobwebs had gathered and where the old chemicals had evaporated and disappeared, a tall broad figure stood in the darkness. In front of the brute was a tall array of video screens that were layered with dust. He hadn't looked at the screens in months, and yet now he wished they were on so he could watch something of decent value. His head was facing the ground in solace, and his erratic thoughts flew around in his mind. He wasn't planning anymore, he was daydreaming and cursing at himself for not fulfilling his dream.

"That hedgehog is just so hard to kill." thought the doctor as his weight sat on top of a large metal chair which he hadn't used in months.

The chair buckled under his weight and every time he moved it squeaked loudly from the un-oiled and rusted hinges. At any other time the chair would've felt inviting and comfortable, now it felt unfamiliar and awkward to sit in. It was built for a fat, genius; not for a brawny, psychopath.

"He's still got hope . . . lots of it."

The grunt looked forward, feeling a familiar presence that was both familiar and unwanted. It had been a long time since he had felt that presence and he honestly thought he had gotten rid of it. But with his growing insanity, it wasn't a surprise that his imaginary friend was back.

"How do we get rid of hope?" asked a voice from behind Eggman.

Eggman knew who the voice belonged to. It belonged to his insanity, his own craziness made real. The thought didn't scare him anymore, he accepted the fact that his psychotic desires had finally manifested into something useful. Reise walked up behind Eggman, the delusions black coat swaying behind him and a smile on his face. He placed a hand on the doctor's shoulder. The delusions touch felt warm and unimaginably real. Eggman didn't pay much attention to Reise though, his mind was really trying hard to give off the illusion that someone was really there with him.

The doctor then looked at the ground and continued to think. Some of his plans didn't make any sense, his insanity mixing in with his dwindling intelligence. Eggman then looked forward at the dusty computer console as an idea hit him.

"You don't get rid of Hope," said the doctor as his insane smile spread across his lips. "You get rid of the people that have it."

What? You think I was going to end it so soon?

After a near death experience Sonic has learned a very valuable lesson. Will he put it to good use? Or die trying? All will be answered in the sequel 'Turning Point.'

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