Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 16

Max leaned against the corner opposite the training area and watched as Bunnie tried to teach Antoine to think positively. It was honestly a pretty good idea. As Max knew all to well, fear and paranoia were a state of mind. He let a smile cross his face, though it was shallow and breif.

The smile had faded because his thoughts started to drift back to his former tank gunner partner Purdue. The two had been good friends and often ate together and trained together. There was hardly a moment that they could be seen apart, as the two had quickly become best friends.

They never thought that they'd see any actual combat due to the relatively peaceful nature of the Acorn Kingdom and the fact that it was surrounded on all sides by the United Federation which was rather peaceful itself. So when combat finally came to the Acorn Kingdom due to Robotnik's attack it took both of them by surprise.

Purdue was always afraid that when it came time to do what they'd been trained to do that he wouldn't be ready. He was actually a rather timid individual, much like Antoine, though not to the same extent. It had taken Max months to help Purdue see things in a positive light. It was hard, but he considered it worth the effort.

By the time the call came in to mobilize the tanks and take down the Robians, both Max and Purdue were ready. Only moments after they were told to mobilize, the two of them were rolling through the city streets in the tank that they'd been extensively trained to control.

Within moments they'd found their first target, and if not for Tails, would've taken it down. But he'd yelled something. Upon finding out that there was a person inside of the suit, both of them had second thoughts. That person wouldn't know any better and would've been killed for no reason.

If only that was where the memories ended. But no, his mind kept trekking forward. In his mind's eye he could see the Robian leap atop the tank and rip open the hatch. His memory grew progessively indistinct as the Robian grabbed Purdue and smacked his head into the side of the tank, trying to rip him from the gunner's position.

Max felt nasuea come over him like a wave. He could've stopped it! He had a sidearm within reach and could've easily fired at it to get it away from his best friend. Or did he have it there? Protocol called for it just in case, but it might not have been there for a number of reasons. Did he even remember to check for it? Did he reach for it? No, he didn't, of that he was sure. Instead he hesitated. He wasn't sure that he could hit it without doing serious damage to the person inside of it. But he did instinctively try to reach for his knife, or, that's how he now remembered the scene. He was hoping to somehow scare it off. It didn't work.

Max nearly vomited as he tried to clear his memories out and move on with his life, but they wouldn't let go, even though they were essentially just a soup of those few moments all jumbled together and stuck on replay in his mind. To make it worse, every time he replayed the events, they got cloudier and cloudier due to the shock of the experience.

He was drawn back to reality by a voice. "You should've done something." It was straightforward in tone and just a little scratchy. Max recognized it immediately.

"Purdue?" He looked up to see his old friend standing in the middle of Haven and staring at him with a hard edge to his expression.

"Yeah." Purdue simply snapped to Max's side in an instant. "You could've done something, but instead you did nothing." He pointed an accusing finger at Max. "You never really were my friend were you?" He stopped speaking for a moment as if to take a breath, but no air passed through his lips. "You know, I just remembered. You told me that you thought my girlfriend was nice. You let that thing kill me so that you could get to her didn't you?"

Max snapped at his former friend. "NO! You know I wouldn't do that!" He quickly turned his head to Tails who had asked who he was talking to. Max turned his head back to where Purdue had been standing a moment ago and saw nothing but empty space.

Knowing that the stress was getting to him, Max decided not to respond to Tails question, but, rather to simply apologize, say he wasn't feeling well, and then leave Haven to take a walk in the now vacant city above.

Mighty, having seen this outburst, decided to follow Max and see if he could discern what was troubling his new teammate. He was trying to make friends with everyone in Haven anyway, so he might as well start with the one who seemed to need his help the most.

To start, Mighty simply followed the Siberian Husky through the subway, up a staircase, down a couple of streets, and into an old military base. The base had a nearly-worn-off symbol of an acorn on the side of its hollow walls.

Upon stepping inside, Mighty could see just how hollow this place really was. There were definitely boxes of equipment along with vehicles of various kinds whether they were flying, armored, or transport, here at one time. Now, all that was left was a cracked concrete floor, a ceiling with several holes in it that had let in the rain, and tread marks from both trucks and tanks.

Max was standing in the middle of the empty military base and staring at its bare walls with great interest. As Mighty continued to wait for the right moment to inject himself into Max's... whatever he was doing, he heard Max start up a conversation with someone that didn't exist.

"You know that's not true." Max said in a pained voice.

Mighty watched as Max mouthed some sort of reply softly to himself. It was then that Mighty realized, Max wasn't talking to someone, he was hallucinating. Whether the hallucination was due to mental or emotional instability, Mighty couldn't tell, but he knew that he should try to help.

"Max." All Mighty said was his name, but it was enough to get Max's attention. He walked over to Mighty and stared at him with a mildly aggressive look on his face.

"What?" Max asked. But he didn't let Mighty answer before he jumped all over him. "I came here to be alone." His tone was very sharp, but not quite exclamatory.

"I'm sorry." Mighty said as he held his hands up in defense. "I'm just making sure you're alright."

Max recoiled a little bit, noticing that he'd snapped a little too hard.

"Who were you talking to?" Mighty asked.

"Just a voice in my head." Max said with a shrug.

"Yeah, with that tone?" Mighty said with a note of sarcasm. "It's someone you lost isn't it?"

Max sighed and rubbed his eyes before he replied. "My best friend Purdue was killed when Robotnik took over. One of the Robians was trying to grab him and take him away to be put in one of those suits, but it slammed his head against the top of the tank we were in as it pulled him out. It snapped his neck and killed him instantly."

"I'm sorry." Mighty's shoulders dropped noticeably in response to the sour feelings bleeding through Max's words. "I lost someone too."

Max lifted his head and looked at Mighty inquisitively. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah. A flying squirrel named Ray was my best friend. He was killed when Fleetway first attacked us." Mighty explained. "Strangled. He was twelve. I still think about him almost all the time. Losing him doesn't seem fair." He shook his head as if to disagree with the universe.

"I guess we've both lost someone close to us huh?" Max said with a sunken expression.

"Yeah." Mighty said in a very similar low tone. "But we need to stay focused on what lies ahead and what else we still have to lose!" He put as much enthusiasm in his voice as he could. "I come from a world where even the weather is an enemy you have to contend with every day. The only people you know are the people you walk and talk with every day, the people who you skip meals for so that they don't have to go hungry. Losing things is a part of life. I learned a long time ago to not live for the things you lost, but the things you have to lose, the people around you that you still have to care for. Ray and Purdue were great people who were killed before being given the chance to live a life of some kind. It's not fair, but few things are. A lot of people are counting on us to be there when their lives are on the line and to support them when they lose someone. So that's what we need to do. We need to be there for them, and we need to be there for each other."

"Spoken like a true soldier." Max said. "You're a little bit better at controlling your emotions than me."

"That doesn't mean that I don't feel or that it isn't hard." Mighty said as he walked toward Max. "I still sometimes look around the room and wonder where Ray is only to be reminded that he was killed for no good reason. It hurts everytime. And I often blame myself for not stepping in sooner and trying to get him away from Fleetway before it was too late. But it wouldn't have done any good. More than likely, I would be dead as well. And the same goes for you too. If you'd tried to stop Purdue from being killed, what do you think the odds are that both of you make it out of there alive?"

Max put his hand over the hole in his jacket where the knife had cut into him and nearly killed him. "Maybe you're right." He said as he took a deep breath and tried to keep tears from coming to his eyes. "Thanks."

Mighty smiled. "Don't worry about it dude. Just promise me that if I ever start beating myself up over Ray that you'll knock some sense into me. I'm probably gonna need it sooner or later."

Max smiled, the first one to come to his face in a while. "Sure, I guess I can do that."

"Great." Mighty said as he turned his shoulder and gestured toward the door that led back out to the street. "Why don't we head back before we both start crying?"

"Sure." Max said as he walked to the door.

Mighty knew that it wouldn't be the last time that Max would end up like this as it took more than one talk to get someone this emotional back into shape. He also knew that he wasn't at one hundred percent either, and would probably need Max's help to come back to reality. But, for now anyway, both of them were managing to keep it together. And eventually, the memories would get easier to deal with.