Ch. 4

A Goodbye… and a Hello

Sonic's heart sank like a rock in water when he saw what was on his front yard. There were streaks of blood leading into his yard from the sidewalk, and an injured and cut up person was slowly crawling to his front door. Even at a distance, he could tell who the familiar figure was.

Elise.

Sonic ran to her side, and examined the many lacerations across her body. If she didn't get help soon, she'd bleed to death.

"S-sonic…" She moaned, but was cut off when Sonic put a finger to her lips.

"Shhh, try not to talk… you might make things worse." Sonic looked at tails, who was standing off to the side with a look of disbelief on his face, and said "Quick tails, call an ambulance. We need one as soon as possible!" Tails nodded and ran inside to dial 911.

Looking back down at Elise, who was staring up at Sonic with a smile of comfort on her face now that she was in Sonic's arms, He picked her up and carried her back inside, then laying her on the sofa. Tails ran into the room with Sonic and Elise. "They're on their way, don't worry." Tails said. Sonic was holding Elise's hand, tears streaming down his face. He was muttering things to Elise like 'everything's gonna be fine.' And 'don't worry, you'll get through this.' It dawned on Tails that this was the first time he had seen the sapphire hedgehog cry, although he didn't blame him; this was scaring Tails too.

They sat there in silence for maybe 10 minutes when the sound of sirens hit their ears. Paramedics rushed out of the ambulance, and took Elise from Sonic, who had been standing outside with her in his arms when he heard the sirens approaching.

Sonic rode with her to the hospital, doing nothing but staring at her, and every now and then holding her hand. When they reached the hospital after what seemed an eternity, Sonic was forced to sit in the waiting room, along with Tails.

Tails could see that Sonic was very troubled, had this been anyone but Elise he might have taken it better. But after all, Elise was the one girl that Sonic had ever had a crush on. He sat with his hands clasped, and rested his forehead on them.

20 minutes later, a doctor emerged from the room Elise was in. Sonic couldn't tell if his expression was happy or somber, since he was wearing a facemask.

"Well, we think she'll make it through, the wounds aren't as bad as they look. She's suffering from blood loss, so she might not wake up for a while." The doctor told Sonic, who had reverted back to his former position with his head in his hands.

After a long silence, Sonic replied "Thanks. Try and take care of her." He looked around, and stood up to head for the door. Tails followed right behind him, not saying anything. Sonic opened the door, not expecting the resistance of a red echidna on the other side. Even after what just happened, seeing Knuckles rubbing his head while on the floor was enough to force Sonic to let out a good laugh.

"I came all the way from Angle Island, and this is what I get?" he asked with a smile on his face. Sonic held out a hand to help him up, which he took hold of.

Sonic chuckled. "So how come you're here?"

"I heard about what happened with Elise. Is she okay?" The smile faded from Sonic's face at the mention of Elise again. Knuckles then saw the redness of his face, and assumed he had been crying not long ago. He didn't think that Sonic cared so much for Elise; he had thought of them as only friends. But he might be proven wrong.

"Yeah, we were just leaving… she's gonna be out for a while they said." Sonic diverted his gaze to the floor.

"Well, I guess I'll come with you guys. I really don't want to have come out here for nothing."

Sonic looked up, and gave Knuckles a toothy grin. "That'd be cool! There hasn't been much to do around my place lately anyway." Sonic thought for a second. "Is it alright if we use your car, Knux? I rode in the ambulance up here, so I don't have my car up here. I'd just run, but you can't keep up with me." Sonic said, making Knuckles feel lesser compared to the blue blur, since it was true that Sonic was ten times faster than him.

They walked down into the parking lot, and spotted Knuckles' car standing out from all the others. It was rather easy to distinguish; it was the only Ferrari in the parking lot. Sonic didn't understand how he could afford it, what with doing nothing but guarding the master emerald. He assumed that his family had a lot of money from earlier times, when the master emerald was everything to the world, and his ancestors had gathered quite some riches by guarding it.

Tails gleefully hopped in the back seat, while Sonic sat in the passenger's side and Knuckles was driving.

"Bet you're not used to this sort of luxury." Knuckles said just to gloat once more about his precious car.

"Shaddap and drive." Sonic commanded playfully. He looked back once more at the hospital, hoping Elise wouldn't go through too much trouble. He quickly shook off the feeling, reverting to his new motto, 'I can't live in the past.'

Knuckles had just exited the parking lot when he put a CD into the radio.

Sonic scowled, and looked at Knuckles. "…Fall out boy?" He asked quizzically.

"What's wrong with them? They're a good band, how can you NOT like them?" Knuckles exclaimed. Sonic smirked and put his arms behind his head.

"Meh. They're okay." He said. "Hey Tails, you've been really quiet, something wrong?" He looked back at Tails, who had been staring into space.

"No, just thinking, that's all." Tails said, forcing a smile on his face.

Sonic paused. "Alright then." He went back to lying in the reclined seat. What Tails didn't mention is that he was thinking about the recent events, and how they are most likely all connected.

"So what was it that happened with Elise? She hurt herself?" Knuckles asked Sonic.

"I'm gonna ask her when I go visit her in a few days. I'm guessing she was attacked by someone." He clenched his fist when he thought of the pink cat and the green hedgehog, knowing they could be responsible for it. He decided that that wasn't for Knuckles to know just yet.

"So whoever did it is still out there? Makes me kinda worried."

"Yeah, whoever did it is going to pay big, though. You can count on that." Sonic replied darkly.

There was a silence for a chunk of the time of the drive, until Knuckles began to sing along with the music, and he wasn't good at it either.

"They say she's no good with words but I'm worse."

"Hey, right as I was starting to like this band." Sonic chuckled. "Then you had to go and sing along, you tone-deaf Echidna."

"Then why don't YOU do better, you lousy hedgehog?" Knuckles retorted.

Sonic replied with only a 'Hmph' seeing as there was no way he could sing along with the songs he didn't know. "So how's things been over at Angel Island?" Sonic said, trying to get a stable conversation going.

"Nothing's really happened much, with the exception of that storm that blew through and damaged the shrine a good deal." Knuckles then pulled out a hand-held screen that displayed the master emerald. He used it when he was away from Angel Island, so that he wouldn't get too paranoid about not being close to it.

"And how are you and Julie-su doing?"

"We broke up actually."

Sonic opened one eye. "Oh really?"

"Yeah; things didn't go according to plan." Knuckles said somberly.

"You mean she broke up with you because you love that enormous gem more than her." Sonic said sarcastically.

"Shutup! That wasn't the reason, you know that. And cut the sarcasm." Knuckles spat back.

"Sure." Sonic said with even more sarcasm. Tails was giggling in the back at the two having their usual arguments between them. He couldn't understand why they can never seem to agree on something.

Knuckles began to turn onto West Street, but Sonic corrected him.

"We don't live there anymore."

Knuckles sighed. "I should have known you were fired from another job. Alright, where's your new place?"

"Hey- I wasn't fired, I left. I didn't agree with the way things were run there, let's leave it at that. And we live on Autumn Drive now."

"Damn. That's all the way across town. Why do you always have to move so far away all the time?"

Sonic shrugged. "That's just how it always turns out." Sonic looked once more back at tails, who was deeply entertained playing 'Final Fantasy' on his handheld. He then looked at the side view mirror, seeing a purple Lexus behind them. I saw them at the hospital; are we being followed? Sonic scowled when he thought it. He was going to keep an eye on that car.

"Hey Knux, are we being followed?" Tails asked. The whole purpose of staying silent about it was to keep Tails from panicking, and when Tails noticed it made Sonic let out a small sigh.

"….I noticed it too." Knuckles said, looking in the rear view mirror. "I'm gonna try and lose 'em." He began to take many detours, and avoided the path towards Sonic's house.

"I can't see who it is; they've got their windows tinted pitch-black!" Tails exclaimed as Knuckles took more turns and swerves while slowly speeding up. Then the trio all let out a sigh of relief when they saw a familiar face, peek out the open window.

Shadow, to Sonic's astonishment, was wearing a smile on his face. Knuckles began to pull over into a nearby parking lot of a shopping mall. Knuckles parked, and stepped out of his car to greet Shadow, as did Sonic and Tails.

Sonic was very excited to see Shadow. The last time they spoke was 3 years ago. Time had changed his appearance; he now wore a black leather coat that went down to his knees, and he had a gold chained amulet – more likely a locket – around his neck.

"Shadow! Long time no see!" Sonic shouted, opening his arms as if to give a friendly hug.

"Hey." Was all shadow said, not returning the embrace from Sonic.

"How've things been? Last I heard you were living back in Rail Canyon." Knuckles said.

"Yeah, I thought maybe I should disappear for a while and let my bad reputation in Station Square die down." All four of them remembered the scenes of Shadow shooting countless G.U.N. soldiers when the Black Arms invaded.

"So what brought you here, Shadow?" Tails asked, fidgeting around. He never felt too comfortable near Shadow.

"I decided that maybe it was time I show my face around here. See if anyone still remembers me."

"Ah." Tails looked around, with a lack of things to say. Even after 3 years, he couldn't come up with a single question. "What were you following us for?" He finally said.

"I couldn't miss that big red echidna, or that sapphire hedgehog next to him." Shadow smiled, making Sonic feel like he wasn't talking to Shadow. He never smiles. "So I thought I'd follow you guys and see where you lived." Shadow stuck his hands in his coat pockets.

"Well, that's where were headed! Knuckles was just taking us back from the hospital." Sonic explained.

Shadow looked at Sonic quizzically. "The hospital?"

"Oh! Forgot you don't know. Well, apparently someone attacked Elise, and she was just crawling on my lawn, badly wounded. The doctor says she'll be fine, but I'm still a little worried about her."

"Ouch. I feel sorry for her. She's so innocent." Shadow said. Sonic finally had to ask.

"You act differently Shadow. Did something happen?"

"No, I've just been trying to become a more approachable person. I don't want to be that dark, mysterious hedgehog I was for all my life." Shadow said, averting his gaze to the sun beginning to set on the horizon.

"Tch. Not a bad idea!" Knuckles commented.

"I will still hurt you if you make me mad, though." Shadow replied darkly. Knuckles squirmed a bit from the hostility.

"You want to come back to my place? Knuckles here is already going to spend the night, one more person doesn't bother me."

"I didn't come down here for nothing. Sure, why not?" Shadow stated.

"Alright! Let's get going then." Sonic smiled and hopped in Knuckles car.

((wow that was a long chapter!! Had so much inspiration I thought I'd EXPLODE! Anyways, please please please review!!! You can have a chili dog with sonic if you do.

Sonic: - I don't mind company.

MSF: see?))