Three days have passed since Minus's trial and execution. The Home Kitchen was bustling with customers, like always. And, as always, Amy was running around, backed up on orders and trying to keep up with the demanding crowd.

For some reason, the orders weren't coming as quickly as they were advertised to be. Customers were starting to get agitated because their meal was ten minutes late. The mysterious wind that delivered their food wasn't as efficient, it seemed.

They were onto something. The mysterious wind was, of course, Sonic. But, for some reason, he felt really winded after each run, delivering food. This wasn't supposed to happen often. As a vampire, he was supposed to have a young, strong body forever. This was completely abnormal and he had no idea why. He's been feeling weird ever since Minus's execution. However, this wasn't the first time Sonic experienced this. This sometimes happened when the convicted's blood wasn't clean or their type was so rare that Sonic's body had a harder time utilizing it. He dismissed this as normal and continued serving guests as always, albeit a bit slower.

However, when Amy and Sonic closed shop for the day, he became aware that something was definitely wrong and abnormal. His entire body was shaking like a leaf and he felt overly fatigued. He had never felt like this before, at least while he was a vampire.

A few hours after the restaurant closed, Amy found Sonic at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. His shaking body was making the table tremble. He looked like a blur.

"Sonic?" Amy asked worriedly, approaching him. "What's wrong?"

He didn't answer.

Amy immediately knew that something was wrong, but she didn't push it. She had just turned away when she heard something shift.

She looked back at Sonic, who had removed his hands from his face. He was smiling at her, but that smile looked forced.

"I'm fine, Ames! Don't be such a worrywart," he lightly teased her, but something in his voice sounded…off.

"If you say so," Amy said suspiciously, and turned away again to start emptying the dishwasher. "So, what movie shall we watch tonight?" she asked as though nothing was wrong, still facing away from her husband. "I was feeling more of a romantic comedy myself–"

She heard a screech as the chair Sonic was sitting in got pushed back. She turned around, still holding a few plates. Sonic was standing with his back to her, gazing out of the window. A beautiful sunset was emerging, and the clouds looked like they were splashed with pink and orange.

She noticed that his body wasn't shaking anymore. He looked sort of stiff.

She put a hand on his back. "Hey–"

He grabbed her hand and spun around so fast that she felt her bones rub together in her wrist. He was always gentle with her. This wasn't natural.

Suddenly, he pressed her close against his body. She gasped. "Sonic! What are you doing?" She giggled nervously, thinking that he was trying to be romantic.

That wasn't the case.

When she raised her emerald green eyes up to meet his, she nearly lurched back. His eyes weren't a bright red. They were a sickly yellow.

No. No, no, no… She couldn't fathom what she was seeing. The last time she had seen that exact color was when Shadow–

She couldn't even finish her thought. Sonic's hand tightened on her wrist, shattering all the bones in it. She screamed, but the sound only echoed around the house. No one could hear her.

"Sonic!" she screamed. "Snap out of it! Let me go!"

"Gladly."

The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air only to collide with the opposite wall. She slumped bonelessly down it before crumpling into a heap on the floor.

Blood pooled from a wound on her head, dripping through her quills onto the floor. She hissed with pain and tried to stand up, but her broken hand would not support her. She fell down again.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sonic's shadow approach. She desperately tried to scoot away, but his hand grabbed the corner of her dress, halting her progress. She looked up fearfully into his cold, yellow eyes. He grinned, fangs poised. She shut her eyes, making peace with her death.

But the strike she expected never came. She opened her eyes and looked up again.

He had released her dress and was backing away, staring at her. His eyes were back to crimson red, and they were wet with tears.

"Sonic…?" She reached out for him with her good hand, but he scooted back, shaking his head. His body was trembling again.

In a split second, he was gone. The door stood wide open. She stared after him, and her hand dropped. She slumped forward into a pool of her own blood, closing her eyes.

I'll just rest for a minute, and then I'll contact them. They need to figure out what's going on…

A few minutes later, Sonic was sitting down, his hands clasped together and his head bowed. He had come to one of the only places he felt truly safe: Silver's orphanage.

Silver managed an orphanage on the outskirts of Sunset City, but it also served as a safe space for the three brothers. Silver was the most reasonable of them all, and he served as a good listener.

All the orphans were upstairs playing, so Silver and Sonic were alone. Silver wasn't saying anything. He was just sitting next to Sonic, waiting for the blue hedgehog to find his words.

For a while, he couldn't. His mind kept playing that scene over and over; Amy lying in a puddle of her own blood, one hand reaching out to him, pleading with him. Sonic…

When had he even done that?

And, to his horror, his body had liked the smell of Amy's blood. It had been hard enough to run away. He had always feared that one day, he would lose control. And that had happened.

Finally, he spoke. "I don't know what happened. One minute, I was sitting at the kitchen table feeling weird, and the next, I was standing over Amy like…" His voice shook. "Like I was about to kill her."

Silver somehow looked calm. "But you didn't, and that's what matters. You really don't remember anything?"

Sonic shook his head. "No…"

Silver's communicator lit up. All three hedgehogs, plus Amy and Rouge, wore communicators at all times so each person could easily be reached.

The communicator flashed a picture of the person who messaged him. It was Amy Rose.

Discreetly, Silver tapped on the message to read it. His eyes widened even further with each passing moment.

The message detailed exactly what happened, and it ended with this sentence: "His eyes were a horrible shade of yellow. Almost exactly like what happened to Shadow. Something is making him lose control."

Silver closed the message. It was then that he realized that Sonic was watching him.

He put his hand behind his back, discreetly filling it with his psychokinesis power. "What is it?"

"Who was that message from?" Sonic asked. "Was it from Amy?"

"You don't need to worry about that, Sonic," Silver said. He revealed his charged hand. "I promise I won't hurt you. I just need to contain you until we can figure out what is going on."

He was shocked when a low chuckle burst from Sonic. It sounded demonic and…evil.

"You see, I can't have that." Sonic's eyes slowly changed from red to yellow. "There can be no witnesses. I will take care of you and then I will go back to finish off Pinkie. And I can't have you calling for help either," he added, for Silver's hand was going slowly to his communicator. Sonic crouched like a predator. "This will be fun."

Silver shot off a supercharged Psychokinesis Blast. Sonic dodged it like it was nothing, and rushed at Silver, grabbing him by the neck and propelling him to the wall.

The wall crumbled like dust because of Sonic's raw strength, and the impact sent Silver sprawling in the grass of his backyard. He got up, dusting off his legs and baring his teeth. He took up a fighting stance.

"I don't want to fight you, Sonic. But, if you keep acting like this, I will have to subdue you."

Sonic tossed his head up and cackled. "How cute! You really think you can stop me?! Me, the strongest being on the planet! I'd like to see you try!"

Silver leaped towards Sonic, both of his hands supercharged.

Sonic sighed. "Kids these days." He grabbed Silver by the leg and flung him to the ground. In one swift move, Silver's leg was crushed underneath Sonic's foot.

To his credit, Silver didn't even whimper. He only grimaced and used his powers to float in the air above Sonic, his broken leg dangling uselessly. "I'm not going to give up!"

"I hoped you wouldn't." In the span of a millisecond, Sonic had leaped into the air and grabbed him by the throat, bringing him forcibly down. He squeezed.

Silver choked, scrabbling at Sonic's hand desperately. One hand powered up, but Sonic simply flicked it aside and squeezed tighter.

For one paralyzing second, Silver stopped thrashing and hung limp in the air.

At that moment, Sonic's eyes changed back to red. He looked around himself, confused, and then realized that he was holding Silver. He gasped and flung Silver away in his haste to get his brother away from him.

Silver crashed against his fence and lay spread-eagled on the grass, feebly stirring. Thankfully, Sonic had regained full control before choking Silver to death.

Not again! How could this happen again?! First Ames, now Silv!

"I have to get out of here," Sonic muttered, speeding away, leaving Silver behind.

Silver weakly lifted his hand and tapped the communicator a few times before expelling all of his strength. His head fell back, and he fell unconscious.

However, the communicator had done what he had meant it to do. An SOS call was going to the last person who could stop Sonic.

Sonic sat atop the hill where his tree was, his head resting on his knees, which were pulled up to his chest. His entire body was shaking with fear. He couldn't believe what just happened. He had nearly killed two important people in his life, and he didn't even remember doing it.

He looked up, staring into the distance. He had to get away. Far away. Where he couldn't hurt anyone anymore.

He almost stood up to leave when he heard quiet footsteps behind him. They sounded…familiar.

Sonic kept his muscles locked so he wouldn't spring on the intruder and kill them by mistake. He kept his head turned to the side and heard someone sit down next to him.

A deep sigh. "How is it that whenever I'm gone you seem to get yourself into trouble?"

Sonic stiffened even more, if that was even possible. No, no, NO! Please no…

Sonic turned his head reluctantly to look at the newcomer.

It was a hedgehog, just like him. He had grayish fur with red flames on the ends of his quills. One eye was a bright blue and the other was a deep red. He wore blue rocket shoes and was none other than Sonic's older brother, Shadow.

"I thought you were on a mission," Sonic mumbled, not meeting Shadow's piercing gaze.

"I came back early, on account of a call I received. About you, Sonic."

Sonic finally met Shadow's eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"I received an SOS call from Silver, and the topic was 'Brother Trouble'. What's going on, Sonic?"

Sonic stood up and started backing away. "Go away, Shads. I don't want to hurt you."

Shadow stood up, too. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on." One thing these brothers had in common was stubbornness.

"If you don't go away now, you could get hurt, or killed!"

Shadow took one step closer. "Please. You could never beat me."

"Stay back!" Sonic shouted. With horror, he noticed his body started shaking like a leaf. It's starting again…

"Please, Shadow! Go take care of Amy and Silver! I nearly killed them…"

"And I took them to the hospital as soon as I got here. They're fine, Sonic. You showed enough restraint to not badly injure them, or worse."

Shadow kept getting closer until his hand was on Sonic's shoulder. "Let me help you. We can figure this out together and keep you from hurting anyone else."

Sonic's hand closed over Shadow's arm and he flung him away. Shadow backflipped midair and landed on his feet. Quick as a flash, Sonic was standing over him, yellow eyes blazing.

Of course, Shadow recognized that shade of yellow. "Sonic! Wake up!"

"You should have run away when you had the chance, hedgehog," Sonic sneered. His voice timbre was the same, but it lacked the kindness Sonic had.

"Who are you?!" Shadow shouted, backing away slowly from the blue hedgehog. "What do you want with us?!"

"I want you dead," Sonic hissed before zipping over to appear right before Shadow. He grabbed his brother by the arms and launched him into the nearest tree.

Shadow slammed into it and fell to the forest floor. He sat up, slightly dazed, and touched a hand to his head, which was throbbing. It came away bloody.

At the sight of the blood, Sonic froze. His teeth bared and he shifted into his hunting crouch.

Shadow slowly stood up, still dazed, and took up a fighting stance.

They both rushed at each other with the exact same force, colliding. Each held the other in a deadly wrestling match.

Sonic was the one who broke free first and tried to speed around Shadow, but the gray hedgehog was one step ahead of him. "CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow shouted, and time froze. Sonic was stuck as a blur, one disabling fist raised.

Shadow launched himself over Sonic, knowing he had only seconds left. He kicked Sonic in the back of the head.

At the perfect time, time unfroze, and Sonic landed in a heap. However, he wasn't down for the count. He spun around, looking truly frightening.

However, Shadow wasn't in sight. He looked around wildly, but there was no trace of Shadow.

Then, a crackling noise came from behind him. He spun around and was met with a Chaos Spear right in the chest.

Shadow and Sonic stared at each other, until Sonic started chuckling. "Wow. You actually defeated a vampire. You're more powerful than you look, Shadow…" At that moment, Sonic's eyes rolled backward and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Shadow stood over him, panting. Sonic's chest rose and fell evenly, but there was something else going on.

Blood was slowly leaking from Sonic's ears, dripping into a small pool, dyeing it red.

Shadow narrowed his eyes. He didn't recall hitting Sonic on the ears, and vampires weren't supposed to bleed, anyway.

He stooped down and scooped Sonic up carefully. He looked down at his younger brother's face. "I'm sorry to do that, Sonic. That Chaos Spear was not powerful enough to kill you, just disable you. And, I promise, we'll figure out what's going on."

He started racing towards Sunset City, Sonic unconscious in his arms.

To be continued…

RECOMMENDED SONG: /LSvOTw8UH6s (youtube)