Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or any related characters.

Chapter Three

The first thought that Tails had when he regained consciousness was, 'Am I in heaven?'

Then he felt a twinge of pain in his arm and heard the steady beat of the EKG.

'Guess not,' he thought, 'I can't even kill myself right.'

Tails opened his eyes and glanced around the room to find that his friends were all around him, but they were all asleep. Amy was sitting by his bedside with her hand intertwined with his. Cream was sitting beside her. Sonic and Chris were sitting in chairs at the foot of his bed, and Knuckles was leaning against the wall.

'I've got great friends,' he thought, 'I don't deserve them. I've lied to them, worried them. They don't deserved what I put them through. Everyone would be better off if I wasn't here.'

He closed his eyes again.

When he awoke the second time, he saw only Amy sitting beside him, this time awake.

"Amy," he said weakly.

"Tails," she said excitedly, "You're awake. I'll call everyone back; they just left…"

"Wait," he said, "Don't worry about it. Besides, I want to talk to you."

She turned and looked at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"For yelling at you," he added after seeing the confused look on her face.

"Don't worry about that," she said.

"No," he said, "I had no right. I know that you guys are worried about me. I was just so ashamed that you found out, especially the way you found out. I wanted to tell you all the truth, but I was afraid of what you might have thought."

"Tails," she said with tears forming in her eyes, "The only thing I don't understand is why. If it's still about what happened to Cosmo, we understand. She was our friend too. We all loved her."

"That's just it," he said calmly before suddenly raising his voice, "You don't understand. Cosmo wasn't just a friend to me. There's no possible way you felt the same pain that I have, and you never will. The person that you love most in the universe is Sonic, right?"

She nodded slowly.

"The only possible way that you personally could feel the same way I feel is if Sonic was dead by your hand."

His words hit her hard and the only thing she could say was a whispered, "No."

"I pulled the trigger," he said definitively, "She's dead because of me. That's the pain I feel."

He lowered his head, and his tone of voice returned again to a calm speech, "The one I loved the most in the universe is gone, and it's all because of me."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Amy spoke, "Tails, I…"

"Just go," he said staring at the floor beside his bed.

She stood up and walked toward the door. She turned her head back to see her vulpine friend rubbing tears from his eyes. She turned back around and wiped her own tears as she walked out the door.

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