A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I've been pretty busy with life but I told you I wouldn't forget about any of my stories. Not much to add here so, please, enjoy :)

Chapter 11

The Blame Game

"No!" the frustrated swallow yelped, watching from some of her hidden cameras and lookouts throughout the great Avian canyon. She worried about the continued reinforcements that the Mobian army was garnering. "No, no, no, no!" She repeated again and again, running her talons through her tangled feathers. Stress and hopelessness were evident in the black bags underneath her red eyes.

"First Big kills Jet and Storm, then some new freak takes over and now Shadow has taken Fiona," Wave lamented as she wracked her brain, trying to come up with an answer to this conundrum. "Now it looks like all of Aves is about to be taken from me, too."

Wave paced around the room, her eyes darting from the grey floor to the buzzing monitors, a cloud of dread steadily hanging over her wherever she went. As reality descended upon her, she realized that there was no way to get out of this alive by herself.

"How did grandma do it?" She pondered aloud, a claw stroking her chin in contemplation. "Large took her land but she won it back. His forces were greater than Shadow's command yet she overcame him. How?" Suddenly it hit her, she clicked her fingers in triumph.

"That's it. She teamed up with the other communities. That's all I have to do," Wave grinned as she rushed over to the door of her command room and grabbed a thick, black leather coat from the wall and threw it over her broad shoulders.

"First stop, Vapos!"

…

Tails opened his eyes, or at least he thought he did. He couldn't see anything around him. It was all black, only darkness. He knew his eyes were open, as he blinked a few times but to no avail. That's when he realized something was strange. He was sitting up, but couldn't feel anything underneath him. No rock, no ground, nothing. It was almost like he was floating in air, except there was a distinct lack of air. He tried breathing in, sucking oxygen into his lungs but there was none around for him to take. However, he didn't feel like he was suffocating. He just didn't require the oxygen.

"Hello?" Tails called out, but there was no response. There was nothing. No sounds of people nearby, no sounds of wind billowing through the cave he assumed he was still in and not even the sound of his own breathing. Nothing. That's when he saw it. The unmistakable shade of blue. The thin, yet muscled long legs. The lanky arms and rugged torso. The messy and unkempt yet cool looking quills that draped down his back. The unmistakable smile that always made Tails melt and those eyes, the most beautiful sea of emerald he had ever seen. "Sonic?"

Just as the words escaped Tails' lips, Sonic's expression changed. No longer was he smiling. Instead, it was replaced by the most menacing and evil scowl Tails had ever seen his best friend make. His eyes changed to the wickedest and vile shade of crimson and his fur began to fade to a midnight black, starting from his heart and slowly seeping outwards as it contaminated his whole body. Suddenly, Sonic had transformed into the spitting image of none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. The ebony Sonic let out a low, blood curdling demonic scream, growling inaudible words like a phantom and then, all of a sudden, Sonic vanished into thin air. One second he was there, and the next he was gone.

"Sonic?!" Tails shouted as he shot up, his eyelids ascending quickly as he shot them open and panted heavily. His fur was coated in a thick layer of sweat as he scanned the surroundings. It was hard to see through the darkened atmosphere and the dust heavy air but he could just make out four other bodies lying on the floor. A few, thin rays of sunshine shone through the cracks in the blocked entranceway of the small cave. Tails remembered all that had happened. The battle, the cave they retreated into and seeing the small, metallic birds drop bombs onto the battlefield.

His pulse quickened as panic took ahold of him. He quickly pushed through the turbid air, thick with dust and over to Sonic. The hedgehog had a few bruises and cuts around his face and body but otherwise looked unharmed. Tails gently placed his hand against Sonic's face, rubbing his thumb gently in circles around his cheek as he whispered his name.

"Sonic."

"Wh-huh?" Sonic murmured as his head tilted from left to right. "T-Tails?"

"That's right. I'm right here, Sonic. I'm right by your side, like I said I always would be," Tails soothed. Sonic peeked open his eye, staring right at Tails who offered him a weak smile.

"What… what happened?" Sonic asked as he sat up, holding his pounding forehead which inflamed in pain at each heartbeat.

"I'd like to know as well," Knuckles murmured as he mirrored Sonic's actions but ceased when an immense jolt of pain shot up his left arm. Knuckles howled from the pain, wincing as he clutched his left arm with his right. His scream snapping both Blaze and Tikal awake. Upon seeing the injured echidna, both girls rushed to his side, inspecting the damage.

"I don't see any bleeding," Tikal spoke in a panicked tone, not know what to do or say to help Knuckles who was muttering curse words under his breath to deal with the nearly agonizing pain.

"Here, let me take a look at it," Blaze commanded, a confident tone drifting on the words, surprising everybody.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Knuckles asked, unsure whether to trusts Blaze as she glanced at him.

"Knuckles, trust me," Blaze urged. Knuckles glanced at her, his indigo eyes molding with her amber ones before he nodded.

"I trust you."

"Mum's a doctor, remember," she chuckled, trying to lighten the mood as she poked and prodded his arm, seeing how far it would bend but to each movement Knuckles let out another shriek of pain.

"Stop being such a baby," Sonic laughed. Knuckles scowled, picking up a small pebble with his good arm and hurling it at the hedgehog, unamused.

"Maybe now isn't the best time," Tails chimed in. "Here, help me try to get some of these boulders out of the way. Maybe we can create a hole to squeeze through this blockade."

"Tikal, go help them," Blaze instructed as she looked around the cave for anything to help stabilize the bones in Knuckles arm. She tried to argue at first but after a couple growls, Tikal begrudgingly plodded over to the two teenagers to help find a way out of the cave.

"Sorry Knuckles, I can't find anything," Blaze frowned. "You'll just have to deal with the pain until we can get back to civilization.

"Great," Knuckles rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Maybe this will help," Blaze smirked as she leant over and pressed her lips against his, the soft sensations rushing up his spine. Knuckles couldn't help but enjoy the kiss, missing the feeling she used to so easily instill in him when they were trapped on the island.

After helping him to his feet, his broken arm hanging limply in the air as his stronger arm was draped around Blaze's shoulders, the two waddled over to the rest of the group who were throwing stones all over the place, tunneling through the cave in.

Finally, as both Sonic and Tails grabbed one of the larger boulders and managed to roll it away, the rest of the blockage began to rumble and, eventually, crumble away to reveal an entranceway big enough for all of them to comfortably squeeze through. Well, as comfortably as Knuckles could handle.

They tried to scan the horizon, but none of them were able to see more than ten feet ahead of them. The whole desert was clouded in a thick layer of sand and dust that had been disturbed from the many explosions that rocked the area. It was so dense, the atmosphere around them seemed to be a mesh of orange and yellow. Sonic took the first tentative step out, covering his mouth with his hand to avoid unnecessary sand inhalation. He coughed a few times as he tried to look around. Tails stood next and began to follow when Sonic turned around to halt him.

"Stay here. We don't know who else might be out there," Sonic warned. "I'll call for you if the coast is clear, but it'd be better if we take caution and only send one of us out."

"But Sonic-"

"This is not up for debate. Wait until I call," he commanded forcefully and Tails nodded obediently, remaining in the cave. He watched with worry as Sonic's figure disappeared into the turbid war ground. Tails felt a hand placed on his shoulder. He turned to see a sympathetic, warm smile flashed his way by Blaze.

"Don't worry, he'll be just fine." The four waited, ears hunting for the sound of Sonic's call to signal everything is good when suddenly a loud shout was heard.

"Tail-" There was no doubting it. It was Sonic. It didn't sound like the call they were looking for. His words sounded panicked, like a call for help. Tails jumped up and bolted out into the blinding sea of sand, ignoring the warning call of Blaze, Tikal and Knuckles. All he could think of was Sonic. The worst scenarios were running through his head. Captured, silenced, shot? Suddenly, without warning Tails collided headfirst with the sapphire speedster.

"Ouch," Tails moaned as he rubbed his forehead. "S-Sorry, Sonic."

"Tails, I thought I told you to wait inside," Sonic growled uncharacteristically.

"But I heard your call and you sounded like you were in trouble," Tails replied instinctively wrapping his arms around Sonic. Sonic squirmed in the grasp before pushing the fox off him. Tails looked up at him, eyes filled with hurt.

"Right, I did call. I just think the coast is clear, I guess," Sonic shrugged.

"Tails, Sonic, are you two alright?" Blaze asked as she emerged from the dust, Knuckles still draped around her arm with Tikal in tow.

"Oh great, the whole gang is here," Sonic rolled his eyes, annoyed.

"What's gotten into him?" Knuckles asked rhetorically, still focused on the pain shooting up and down his left arm.

"I don't know, but we should get out of here incase whoever sent those drones is coming back for a second round," Tails remarked as he slipped his palm into Sonic's, wrapping his fingers around the hedgehog's. Sonic growled, retracting his hand away.

"Don't touch me!"

"Sonic?"

"Dude, what's up with you?" Knuckles asked.

"Look around," Sonic said somberly, his eyes glazed over and hazy. His iris' dim and foggy, like he wasn't really there. Like he was a shell of himself, unable to come to terms with what he was seeing. The dust was slowly receding, peppering back down onto the sandy earth beneath them but with each new meter visible was another bunch of dead, bloodied bodies. "All this… So much death, so much destruction. Countless bodies piled on top of each other. Each one, a life. A person with a family, with friends, with a life. And now it's ended, all because of a stupid war."

"But Sonic, we are trying to end this war," Tails pointed out.

"Are we? Because last I checked all this death… all this destruction… it was all our doing! No. It was all you're doing. This is all your fault," malice dripped from his tongue as venom laced his words.

"My fault?" Tails gasped, baffled by just how suddenly Sonic turned on him. "Don't blame me for this. It was both of us, and now we can fix this."

"Both of us? Last I checked, you were the one who confessed to loving me. You were the one who first kissed me. You were the one who caused everything!"

"But-"

"Because of you, Big targeted me. Because of you, Wave, Jet and Storm came to that stupid park. Because of you, Big slaughtered Jet and Storm and therefore, because of you, Wave started this war. Because of you loving me, my own father wants me dead. Because of you, Vector fought back. So, because of you, all this death happened," Sonic raged, each word stinging Tails more and more.

"Sonic… you can't mean that… you can't be serious," Tails whimpered.

"I've never been more serious."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Blaze piped up, unhooking herself from Knuckles and letting him lean on Tikal for support as she took a cautious step forward, trying to defuse the situation and lower tensions. "Let's not say things we can't take back. Sonic, I know this is a lot but you just need to calm down and-"

"Calm down? How's this for calm?" He yelled, pulling out a gun that he had concealed and trained it at Tails. He began rambling, almost to the point of insanity as his hand trembled, his finger itching on the trigger. Tikal and Blaze gasped whilst Knuckles just steeled his face, unsure what to do due to his current condition.

"S-Sonic…" Tails tried to keep his nerve but the hurt and betrayal plastered across his face was too hard to miss. His heart thudded in his chest, fear fueling his next actions.

"Don't S-Sonic me," Sonic mimicked Tails' quiet pleading. "You did this to yourself. You caused all this. I just wanted to live my life but no, that wasn't good enough for you. You wanted more! Well, maybe this can save everybody. Maybe if I kill you and show dad that I did it, he'll forgive me. Maybe he'll call off his forces and we can go back to being peaceful again.

"Sonic… please, this isn't you. Snap out of it," Tails begged, tears streaming down his face and dripping from his chin, staining his golden fur.

"This is the me I have to be."

"Sonic… I love you," Tails cried out as he clenched his eyes shut tightly and flinched as he heard the ear-splitting sound of a gun. Crack!

Tails waited for the shredding pain as the lead rips though his body, puncturing his already broken heart, but he felt none. Cautiously, he peered open one eye but could only gasp when he saw what had happened. There, lying in front of him, her white dress soaked a deadly shade of crimson, lay Earthia, Queen of Zuncon.

"Fucking plants," Sonic growled as Blaze ran up to him and swatted the pistol out of his hands. "Always ruin everything." Tails just stood there, unable to comprehend what had just happened as he saw the cobalt hedgehog turn and flee into the dusty distance, his tracks covered by the sand.

"Mother!" A high-pitch shriek sounded from the distance. Blaze, Tikal and Knuckles all whipped their heads around to see two plants rush into the area, ignoring everybody else to slide down to the ground next to Earthia.

"Cosmo…" she choked, her eyes opening as they began to pale and cloud over. She turned her head, moaning in pain as any attempt of moving caused pain. "And my dear Galaxia."

"Mother… save your strength," Galaxia responded, her voice shaky. She held her mother's hand in her own, trying to steel her nerves and stay strong.

"Please don't die," Cosmo sniffed, not as in control of her feelings as tears were streaming down her face, cascading from her puffy red eyes.

"I… I need both of you to be… brave… for me," Earthia forced the words out, the colour draining from her face as the life faded from her body.

"We won't have to because you will be there to help us be brave," Galaxia explained, her face emotionless and distant.

"That's my girl… already brave," Earthia smiled. "You were always my… my tough little girl. You could… take on the whole world… I know that strength will make you a great… leader." Earthia gritted her teeth and squeezed Earthia's hands. She turned her head back to Cosmo, letting a groan escape her mouth. "And my little Cosmo."

"Mummy," Cosmo whimpered, sniffing the snot back into her nose. She was quickly becoming a mess.

"My darling, sweet Cosmo… you were always so… so kind. You could… always see the best in people… I know that compassion will also make you a… great leader." Cosmo continued to cry, blubbering and pleading, begging her mother not to die as she squeezed her other hand.

"You have both made me… so proud," she whispered, her voice growing fainter as the life left her eyes. "You will both be… great leaders for… Zuncon. I… love… you… both…" she choked out before her head fell limp and her eyelids grew heavy and shut, a smile on her face as she left.

"Mother?" Galaxia croaked."

"Mummy!" Cosmo shrieked into the sky, her emotions completely taking ahold of her. Tails, Knuckles, Blaze and Tikal all watched on, not sure what to say.

"It came from over here," a feminine, controlling voice called out. Blaze instantly recognized it, knowing that it belonged to that of Abyss the Squid.

"Let's get Earthia and her children," the gruff voice of Razor called out through the dust, loud and angry. "She killed all of our men!"

"We need to get out of here, now!" Knuckles called to the two girls and his companions.

"Leave? Never. I'll kill Razor for what he did!" Galaxia cried out, anger taking ahold of her. Cosmo said nothing, unable to move.

"Blaze, get Cosmo and I'll get Galaxia. We need to go," Tikal cried. Blaze nodded, as they both acted, grabbing the two girls, leaving Knuckles to fend for himself. Suddenly, a few Zuncon forces rushed out from behind, drawn to their position by Cosmo's shrieks. Upon seeing the deceased body of their leader and the steadily increasing sounds of boots closing in on them, their training took over. Lumina and the other troops who survived the blast scooped up Earthia's body, along with the distraught Cosmo and raging Galaxia and retreaded backwards. Tikal grabbed Knuckles and followed behind, Blaze following shortly after when she stopped short.

"Tails, c'mon," she called, noticing he still stood still, like a zombie. A shell of his former self. She sighed, groaning as she grabbed his wrist and pulled. His legs began to run, following her although his face didn't change at all. He couldn't think, couldn't talk. All he could do was let himself get guided by Blaze as they all retreated back to the safety of the Zuncon grove.

…

Vector sat in his throne room, his face shrouded in darkness as he brooded, the gears in his head spinning as he was deep in thought. The disk-like device that he held in his hands began to blink red and he tossed it across the room, watching it skid to a halt before a bright flash of blue light illuminated the room, revealing a hologram of the masked figure.

"What news have you got for me?" Vector barked, fed up of waiting. His plans were accelerating perfectly, almost ahead of schedule but it had been a few days since he had last heard from his accomplice. "Did it all work?"

"Everything went according to plan," the figure stated happily. "The drones were dispatched and the battlefield was bombed."

"And what of the casualties?" Vector demanded.

"We are unsure who survived. We must wait for the dust to settle but I think our Zuncon and Vapos problems are all but solved," the figure laughed darkly. "Have you acquired Aves' capital yet?"

"Almost, I just need to do one last thing with my two generals before I send them back out for the final march."

"Excellent."

"Yes, it seems everything is going according to plan," Vector grinned.

A/N: Sonic, turned evil? Blaming Tails? How could he have done that? What happened? I'd love to hear all of your theories :P Yes, with all of them surviving the explosion, although not all coming out unscathed as Knuckles left arm is now completely broken, they escaped. However, when Sonic couldn't take seeing all the death, he turned on Tails and killed Earthia. I hope you all enjoyed her death scene, I worked hard to make the family connections between her and her two daughters believable and real so this scene would pack more of a punch rather than if I didn't take the time to develope their characters. Some of you questioned why these seemingly side characters were getting so much developement, well this is why. Don't worry, we haven't seen the last of Galaxia or Cosmo, or even Razor or Abyss. We still have another 13 chapters to go! And yes, Wave has decided to set off on her own quest to reunite the four tribes like her ancestors did 100 years ago, but will Razor believe her or be antagonized by her, considering his act first ask questions second nature.

Also, don't forget that chapter 13 will be the big musical chapter. And I'm pleased to reveal all the 12 songs that I will be parodying this time (yes all songs have been written and finished!) In no particular order... Still Breathing, Jar of Hearts, Emperors New Clothes, LA Devotee, Strangers, Ride, Mr. Brightside, Battlefield, Not Afraid, Who Knew, Be Prepared and What I'm Made of! So, get hyped :P

Please, if you enjoyed this chapter don't forget to reveiw to let me know what you think and don't forget to answer the question of the day :) And, as always, thanks for reading.

QotD: Who are your favourite group of side characters? The Vaposians (Razor and Abyss), The Zuncons (Earthia, Galaxia and Cosmo), The Avians (Wave and Fiona) or the Mobians (Vector, Shadow and Amy).

Next time on Sontails: War of Faith - Chapter 12: Shard