Fallen Idol
Concept by The Tears of a Mad Man
Written by Sean Catlett and The Tears of a Mad Man

Chapter 7

Morning.

The sun rises early, even before the early crew workers assigned to paint the storage room on the bottom floor of the complex. The sun rises even before the moisture is finished washing down into the drains on the sidewalks. The sun rises even before the fan-fiction writers finally turn in for the night.

But, as early as the sun rises, it still wasn’t early enough to win the race against Sonic, Amy, and Tails. They were up, ready, and gone before the sun could catch them in the act. That’s how serious they were.

Each of them had only gotten about two hours of total sleep, but despite the early wakeup call and the overall exhausted feeling, sleep was the last thing on all of their minds. In fact, sleep would probably not come easy for a long time.

Escape was priority.

Escape was all priorities.

On his desk, in plain sight for the police, press, superintendent, crazed fan, or assassin to find was a resignation letter, signed by Sonic, Tails, and Amy. Each in their different, generic, fan-assigned colors. No one would catch the sarcasm, most likely.

“Dear Everyone,

We Quit.

Love, Us.”

Simple. Sonic allowed it to be this way because of his theory that they would all miss the point no matter what was said in the letter. At least this way, it seemed like they didn’t really give a shit. Exactly the effect they were going for.

Before the sun entirely emerged from the blanket of the horizon, the trio had split up and tied the loose ends. Tails collected debts from his “friends.” Amy said goodbye to her parents. Sonic withdrew money from the ATM. Tails carried everything he could to Goodwill and left it there, thinking maybe someone would find a use for his old junk. Amy returned things she had borrowed from numerous people. Sonic delivered his will to a good friend of his.

And then to the storage sheds.

The trio stood on the outside of the door to their unit, all lifting as hard as they could. The giant metal shield came upward, so loud that a flock of birds nearby fluttered and scattered away. Dust poured out from the inside of the thin, aluminum shack. It was too dark to see inside, but the airplane’s outline could be seen rather clearly.

Tails was the first to walk inside.

And exactly fifteen minutes later, they were airborne, sailing the skies to an unknown destination that no one below would ever know.

**********

“So, how much did you figure out on this case?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… while you were gone, I tried to investigate by interviewing some witnesses. Heh, as you can imagine, it didn’t go well at all. I am definitely not a private eye.”

“Hmmm.”

“In the end, I just gave up and decided to go looking for you. I didn’t find shit out about the exploding, er, liquefying people except that the survivors are fine, save for one.”

“… One?”

“Yeah, Mrs. Kurtsweil. Nice old lady, but… slightly changed from the experience. Bunch of creepy holes on one of her arms.” Sonic made whooshing noises and swept his hand in front of his face. “Clean through.”

“Hmmm.” Tails rolled out from under the plane, covered in oil. He handed the wrench back to Sonic and stood up. “She should fly.”

“A man of many talents, you are, Tails. So did you beat anything out of the poor bastard?”

“… Actually, uh… I just, I don’t know… I guess, he was making them liquefy by some psychic ability, maybe…”

“Huh. How is that even possible?”

“Well, Robotnik, he uses metal and shit effectively. I mean, fuck, he can make a giant robot powered by an ancient emerald.”

“So you think maybe he enhanced himself?”

“Genetic tampering is a possibility. He mentioned that this entire thing was his ‘work,’ his ‘legacy,’ so on and so forth. He was very self-absorbed and cocky.”

“They all are.”

Tails sighed, resting on a tool box, his face monotone and emotionless. “I guess… we can never really know what his master plan was. Somehow, he had found a way to use his mental powers and intentionally harm people without touching them. I mean, you can’t deny his brilliance. His genius. He was so… methodical, so… precise. He managed to outwit the cops, the press, us, and even when I caught him, he still didn’t reveal his plans to me. I beat the shit out of him and he didn’t even wince. Didn’t even blink. Now that… is true power.”

“What about Charlotte?”

“Who?”

“Mrs. Kurtsweil. The old lady.”

“Hmmm… maybe we stopped him just in time to save her life…”

“How do you mean?”

“He was maybe in mid-concentration when we went after him. Wouldn’t be surprised if ten more people ended up like her. Did you check all of the witnesses?”

“Actually… I kinda stopped with her.”

“Well, in any case, you’re right, Sonic. You’re not a private eye.”

Sonic stared at his melancholy friend, and started laughing, his voice echoing in the hangar. Tears started forming in his eyes and he couldn’t stop himself, even when he was out of breath. A week’s worth of tension finally released. Only when Amy came into the hangar did he stop, wiping his face swiftly and standing up. The pink hedgehog dumped all five of her suitcases on the ground, smiling.

“Hope you guys don’t mind, but I packed a few things to bring. We ready to go?”

**********

“Well… I think we finally did it.”

“Yeah… we did…”

“… WOHOOOOOO!”

“Shit! Don’t yell right in my fucking ear! Ouch.”

The wind rushed past Tails’ ears with a roaring fury that a dragon could probably muster, and yet he could hear the conversation in front of him with surprising ease.

“Oh come on, Sonic, loosen up!” Amy called out, wrapping her arms around his neck. He groaned over the slight noise of the propeller, which was a few feet in front of him. He eyed it carefully, as if it brought up bad memories…

“As soon as we land…”

“And I’m so glad you decided to take me along, my little huggy-bear!” Her arms wrapped tighter, causing him to barely choke out the words, “Huggy-bear?”

After she released her iron grip, Sonic turned to face her, grinning and pointing his thumb at the pilot in the back. “It was Tails’ idea!”

Tails couldn’t see Amy’s expression because he was too busy watching the skies, seemingly in full concentration of the road ahead. It did not matter to him that he had missed what was probably a humiliating gaze or an uneasy reaction from someone he had once had a crush on, but it was more important to him that the plane get to the destination as quickly as possible.

The horizon lay low ahead of them. The sun had completely risen above the burning edge of the planet. Waves of heat distorted the already dull and distant surface. The three refugees could only imagine what had happened to the world they left behind.

“So, where’re we going, exactly?”

“A place I used to go before I landed on civilization, or rather, it landed on me.”

“Sounds fun.”

Indeed.

The morning passed with as much regularity as anything else in the world. Soon, it was almost lunch time, the time where it was absolutely a perfect idea to set up a picnic, that the slightest bit of green color started to appear on the infinite blue sea. As the distance closed in the island got bigger and bigger until, finally, it was time to land.

“The Green Hill Zone.”

**********

Amy stretched the blanket out over the area Sonic had led them to, about five-hundred yards from their landing spot. She marveled at the deep level of green that the trees were set in, the lush green plants, and more importantly, the perfect blending of infinite debris scattered as far as the eye could see. Tails stood away at a distance, taking in the serenity. He sat down on the blanket and tried to pretend that he wanted to eat something.

“Industrial perfection at its best,” Sonic called out, hefting the basket of food out of the plane. In a flash he was back with Amy, not even breaking a sweat, a huge smile breaking on his face. “I haven’t seen this place in ages. Man… it brings back memories…”

In his mind, Sonic saw a simpler time, where being a hero wasn’t being hero, where fighting for a belief was nothing more than a typical day, where survival came first. Where it didn’t matter if no one was watching.

“I’ve all but forgotten about this place…”

It’s just that easy, you see. It’s that easy to forget.

“Let’s stay here forever.”

“I wish.”

The place might as well have been dead.

“So, is this what we’re going to be doing for the rest of our lives?” Amy hugged Sonic across the waist and pulled him down to the blanket in a sitting position.

“Wandering? Scrounging for food? Hiding from the masses of the inhabited world? I’m afraid so.”

“It doesn’t sound so bad. As long as I have you.”

“Don’t make it easier for us to leave you behind, Amy.”

“Sonic!”

“Aw, hey, calm down, I’m just kidding with you.”

“Still… it hurts me.”

“You’re so stuck on me.”

“Like super glue!” Squeeze. Gasp.

“Let… me… GO!”

“Nope!” Giggle.

Sonic reached for the nearest item, which happened to be a can of tomato soup, and he poured it all over the pink hedgehog that clung to him. Like insecticide to an insect, she released, retreating in horror.

All Sonic could do was laugh his ass off.

It was a benevolent war. Replacing weapons of death with weapons of life. Food. Water. Thrown back and forth in piles of themselves, gravity lost. Laughter replaced screaming. Words uttered at high volume with distinct similarities to other words, forming sentences, sort of. Something like “And THIS was for Huggy Bear!” mixed with giggling. It must not have seemed real anymore. Like, maybe, it was all a recording, a mixture of what was supposed to be fun. These were actors. This was a set. Everything was painted and filled in with other things, that were real but trying to be something else. It was all an illusion.

This, I can assure you, was what it must have been like watching it all unfold. No one can properly decipher the mind of someone like Tails, but you can come pretty fucking close if you know what it’s like to…

He didn’t speak, you see. He didn’t say shit.

He was silent the entire time at the Green Hill Zone, and they didn’t even notice.

When they left the island in the afternoon, the masses were hot on their trails, and when they reached the green pastures of debris, all they found were chunks of food and stab marks all over a nearby tree.

Nothing more.

**********

Flying again.

The winds blew over their faces at such high speeds, but that didn’t stop Amy from talking.

One could only wish.

“Where to now, huh, Huggle-Bunny?”

Tails had a wild guess that Sonic didn’t exactly like that nick name, as small struggle of “What did you say?” and giggles followed into one more tickle fight. This was the third one on this flight. Sonic sure flirts a lot for someone who can’t stand rabid fans.

Soon, a puddle of crystal clear water came into view. As the three drew near, the puddle became larger and larger until it was a full blown lake. Landing on a dilapidated runway, Tails couldn’t get out of the plane faster as the two in the back continued their little struggle…

**********

An old raggedy cabin sat next to the lake. This wasn’t expected, but it was a pleasant surprise. Indeed. Inside were a few old beds but they still seemed to be in good shape. The cabin had a fireplace, a wood stove, and a perfect view of the lake. Night was starting to set in and the stars looked beautiful.

Tails sat outside, by himself, looking up the stars. His face was totally blank, and it like he was looking beyond the stars, searching for something else… and at that moment, Tails heard footsteps heading towards him.

“Hi, Tails…” Amy said, sitting next to him. “Sonic kicked me out… said I was getting annoying! Can you believe that?! Humph…”

Tails’ stare never left the sky. Amy blinked a few times, and waved her hand in front of his face. “Tails? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sure, fine,” Tails muttered quickly.

Sigh. “Look Tails… I need to talk to you.” Amy’s voice turned a bit more serious as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “I know you have feelings for me… and… well… even though I flirt with Sonic, it’s just for fun… I really do like you, Tails…

… I want to be with you…”

A smile spread across Amy’s face. Tails slowly turned his head towards her, and said, “… I want to be with you, too, Amy…”

**********

Yawn. Stretch.

“… Amy?”

Oh. Right. Amy’s gone. Remember, Sonic?

Poor Tails, thought Sonic to himself. Having to deal with Amy the entire night. Still, it was a sort-of favor. He had told Amy about Tails’ crush, then they had come up with a plan to get them together. Amy was actually, quite surprisingly, all for it. She had a crush on him, too.

It was too perfect to fail.

Course, there were ever so slight feelings of rejection and inadequacy, but Sonic sifted past those in a hurry. Amy’s crush could have never blossomed into something further, simple as that. Besides, it was fun while it had lasted, but all good things must come to…

Huh?

What’s this?

“Tails?”

“Yeah?”

“… Where’s Amy?”

Oddly enough, Tails was working on refueling the plane, working busy like a bee. Alone. No one else around for miles around. No signs of young love. No pink hearts swirling in the air. No giggling.

Nothing.

“Oh. She went home.”

“What?!”

“I took her home. She said she didn’t want to be around us anymore.”

“… I see.”

“Yeah. I didn’t sleep last night because I had to fly her bitch ass back to Station Square and not get caught. I had trouble keeping my eyes open on the way back, since on the way up all she did was talk about what a horrible bastard I was.” Tails scratched the side of his head with the wrench, the bandages almost coming off.

“… Funny. I didn’t hear the engines.”

“Stone sleeper you are.”

“Hmm. I guess.”

“She said that she regretted leaving you, but she just couldn’t stand the tension anymore. Any idea what she was talking about?”

“… Yeah.”

“Ah. No surprise, then.”

“… Nope. No surprise.”

“You want to get out of here?”

Something wasn’t right. This wasn’t right. Amy gone? No way, no fucking way. Tails talking this much? Odd, very odd. Getting in the plane with him would be one of the stupidest ideas anyone could ever do. Get away, turn him down, turn him in, let the masses handle the escape. Let the heroes do the dirty work. Don’t get in the plane, DON’T DO IT!

“Sure. Let’s go.”

**********

Tails was silent again, and even though Sonic did not turn his head around to look at him, he knew that it was not the sky the Tails was watching. He could practically feel the eyes burning into his skull…

“Hey Tails!”

The engines were so loud that a reply could have slipped by without being noticed.

“Tails!”

“yeah?!”

Sonic was growing increasingly worried about Amy’s condition. Was she dead? Was she tied up somewhere? Did they leave her at the lake? What the hell did Tails do to her?

Things were not all okay. Not by a fucking long shot.

“Did Amy say anything about our plan?!”

“… plan?!”

“Yeah! We were trying to hook you two up!”

“what?!”

“Yeah! She didn't say anything?!”

“no, i mean, i didn't hear what you said!”

“Amy had a crush on you, Tails! She was TRYING to ask you out! She LIKED you!” The anger was starting to surface, but Sonic kept his hardened stare on the darkening horizon. “Look, I realize that the past week has been a little rough on you, but for fuck’s sake, you didn’t have to take it out on Amy! She’s fragile! She’s not the type of person to pick a fight! There’s no way in hell she would willingly argue with you!” Sonic paused, waiting for a response. None came. “Look, all I’m saying is that something else must have happened between you two! Whatever it is, just tell me! I won’t…”

… Tails?!”

No answer.

“Tails?!”

Still no answer.

Now Sonic had figured, even if he didn’t want to admit it, that in the back of his mind there was some doubt about Tails’ condition. It had frightened him to the point of staying as far as possible from the theory that Tails really had gone insane…

But that’s stupid, right?

Right…

And when Sonic turned around, all he saw was the flash of a giant, red-stained wrench being swung at his head.

**********

“… I want to be with you, too, Amy…”

The wrench had impacted with Amy’s skull, cracking it wide open. A vein on her forehead opened up, spraying blood across the grass, silhouetted by the moon. She still had a smile on her face when she went down, her body convulsing and shaking violently. Tails grabbed her foot with one hand and dragged it to the edge of the river. Placing the wrench between his teeth, he grabbed an arm, any arm, of Amy’s and bent it towards himself as far as he could, to the opposite direction. It didn’t take much to snap it, but he kept bending it until the back of her hand touched her shoulder blade. He did the same with her other arm, this time bending it sideways first. Her voice starting to come back and her shock starting to subside, along with her smile, Amy started whimpering, her volume increasing dangerously. Tails took his wrench and smacked Amy in the face once more, knocking a couple of teeth out.

And then threw her body as far as he could into the lake.

**********

Sonic was seeing double by the time he pieced everything together. Merrick… the explosions… Merlinger… revenge… blood, oh God, the blood

“Tails! Stop!”

Tails swung the wrench again, this time catching only the hard metal of the plane. Sonic jumped out of his seat, swaying from side to side in the harsh wind. The wrench had caught Sonic on the left side of his head, screwing up his equilibrium and vision. Sonic could feel something hot running into his eyes.

Tails recovered and brought the weapon up again, a stone expression on his face. The exact same one that he had been giving them for the entire week. Ever since all of this started…

“Tails! Don’t do this! I’m your fucking friend!”

The wrench came quick once again. Sonic barely dodged out of the way.

“What did you do to Amy, Tails?! HUH?! Did she beg for her life?! Did she tell you that she liked you?!” Sonic could not bring himself to fight back. Tails was his friend, after all, his little buddy. His only hope was to try and negotiate, to appeal to Tails’-

Swing. Miss. Sonic was being forced to the front of the plane, the wind whipping and tearing at him even faster. He was blind in one eye because of clotted blood. Down to the very backs of his heels, Sonic could feel the front propeller slicing through the thin cushion of air, so close to his feet. He was at the end of the line.

“Miles! What the fuck is the matter with you?!”

Tails gripped the wrench even tighter, a slight smirk growing on his face. The wind was tearing at his fur and bandages violently. The plane was picking up speed.

Sonic’s vision had cleared up enough to where he could dodge easily out of the way when Tails attacked. That and the added momentum of the plane catapulted Sonic to the exact distance he needed to get clearly out of the way and behind his attacker. Tails, however, was not so lucky, for when he saw Sonic dodging his mighty blow, he had tried to correct himself.

Tails tripped over his own two feet, falling head first into the front of the plane, arms still outstretched. He freed one hand from the wrench and tried to brace himself, but the other hand still on the weapon flew straight into the propeller.

When Sonic landed on the other side he immediately got a face full of blood. Chunks of flesh also hit his arms as he tried to deflect the debris, almost being knocked over but quickly regaining his footing. When he looked ahead again, squinting from his vision and the wind, he saw the wrench flying off into the horizon.

Tails had instinctively rolled over, gripping his severed hand in pain, but what he rolled on top of was the slender nose of the plane, rolling downward into the ground far, far below.

The blue hedgehog starting running as fast as he could, already seeing Tails falling over the edge.

**********

The police, still on the trail of Sonic and crew, reached the cabin by the lake. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary; scattered dirt from a landing airplane, a bed that looked slept in and used, an unlocked door, some trash. Then it came to the attention of one careful observer that the grass in one area was matted down and unusually red. It led in a trail down to the lake.

**********

Sonic’s hand grasped firmly around Tails’ mangled hand, saving him from falling to his death. His other hand was hanging limply at his side, as if he were already dead.

Over the howling wind and the unbearable whir of the propeller and Tails’ screaming, no one noticed the mountain that they were headed for.

“Tails… why did you do this?!”

The fox hanging over oblivion immediately stopped screaming, giving Sonic this look of utter anguish and despair. His other hand flew up to his eyes to catch the tears flowing from them. His body convulsed as he cried.

“I don’t know! I killed Amy, Sonic! I killed her and I don’t know why! I can’t stop doing this!”

Amy Rose… dead. Dead and gone and never coming back.

Sonic looked at the crying fox beneath him, his grip slowly losing itself, slippery from the pulsing blood. He look at the sobbing form beneath him and worked up the courage to speak.

“Miles… I’m not mad at you.”

Sonic used his other arm, gripped around the nose of the airplane, to try and pull Tails up. He figured everything would be just fine. Everything was finally going to go back to normal…

Tails reached into the bandaging on his head and pulled out a hypodermic needle, and in one smooth motion he slammed it into Sonic’s skull as hard as he could, depressing the plunger and sending all of the air it contained. Sonic’s reaction didn’t quite hit until a few seconds later when the pain finally washed over him. Sonic looked into Tails’ eyes and saw a contented expression plastered all over his face.

Sonic lost his grip on both ends. Together, they fell. They fell longer than the plane flew.

**********

Well, my friend, I am nearing the end of my tale, so to speak. There isn’t all that much more to tell. The police had trailed the crew all the way to the mountain where Tails’ airplane crashed. Sonic’s body was found nearby, dead for at least a week. As for Tails, they found him crawling around the island, mumbling to himself and screaming fits of rage. It didn’t take long for everyone to figure out that everything was his fault. Tails never tried to pass the blame to anyone. He admitted everything at his trial, and the sentencing was swift and just. And here we are. Those screams that you hear, those are his. Even from four stories down, his siren penetrates down to every room on every floor. He is somewhat of a legend in this place, a sort of fable. In fact, you could call us his fan club. It’s not that we admire that kid, mind you, but we do respect him a great deal. He is a man of awesome power, and we feel that, some day, he may spare us when he tries to break out of here. Oh, don’t you dare think that Merrick didn’t plan for this to happen. Merrick was a man of science and mysticism. He could have easily passed on his gift to little Tails. And anyway, he got the recognition he so rightly deserved, wouldn’t you say? Don’t you think that the fame that he strived for was achieved?

Sir?

Well, whatever. You are one voice amongst a throng of followers. You do not matter in the grand scheme of things. I’m sure you’re not alone in the normal, everyday world…

But here it is not the case.

I wouldn’t sleep tonight if I were you.

The End

*ahem* Well, and so ends the project that is exactly a goddamn fucking year in the making, the project known as “Fallen Idol.” I’m not sure I remember exactly why or how I got starting on this, but I think Tears once said something to me like, “Hey, dude, wouldn’t it be cool if Tails killed his idol Sonic in some sort of gruesome, contrived way?” and I said something like, “Actually, yes, that would be pretty cool, but gee, TTOAMM, writer of Click, who would be brave enough to take on such an endeavor?” and then he hit me in the face and said, “WHY WE WOULD, OF COURSE!!” and so it was.

Granted, that probably isn’t exactly the way it happened, but when it’s been a FUCKING YEAR since the idea was first conceived, it becomes hard to retain such knowledge. Maybe it’s also because it started to gradually take us so much effort in releasing new chapters. I think somewhere along the line we got lazy and forgot entirely about it. I call this the “Sonic: Sketchy” syndrome.

All of that aside, this project is cool in my book and I wouldn’t have traded in twenty horny women or 2 million in gold for blah, blah, blah, the usual sappy bullshit I pull out of my ass.

Happy trails. Hope you all enjoyed the ride.

-Sean Catlett

And so it was, two lazy teenagers finally finished this damn story. When did we start this? A year ago. How many chapters are in it? SEVEN. SEVEN chapters. A YEARS work. Just think about it.

Anyway, working with Sean was awesome. I’m honored to be such a worthless author and be able to work with him. He might be a gay, cross-dressing hippie who likes crack cocaine, but he’s okay in my book.

I think one of the main reasons we wrote this was to see either some GOOD Fanfiction flow into FF.net, or just write some bloody, twisted shit. Either way, it was fun, and I’d do it again anytime.

Well, I hope someday me and Sean will work together again one day . . . and hopefully we won’t be as lazy as we were on the story at hand. Go outside, read a book, kill something.

Have fun reading something else, and Jhonen Vasquez said it best, "SMILE UNTIL YOU STOP."

------TToaMM