FicWad

Manic laid on his bed, staring at the wall. He knew it was daylight, going by the little bit of light seeping through the gap between his room darkening black curtains and his dark gray walls.

His phone lit up.

Manic idly reached for the phone.

Dozens of texts had come through over the weekend. None of which he felt like answering and he hadn’t bothered to read them other than the names and the times they were sent.

Texts from his sister and mom, all of which were sent pretty close together. That meant they were extremely worried.

Shadow, Sally, and Tails had sent a couple of texts each.

His girlfriend Surge sent the rest of them.

Honestly, he was surprised no one showed up yet.

Then, the last message popped up.

Manic sat up at that, but flopped back down into his bed when he realized iPhones had a scheduled text feature.

Sonic had an iPhone and used that feature regularly, often scheduling to send texts up to a month in advance while it was on his mind so he wouldn’t forget, which was common for someone with his short attention span and a desire to live in the moment without fiddling with a phone.

Manic sighed. “I should’ve known it wasn’t a dream.”

He should’ve felt a little better that he was able to get a text from his brother, but he wasn’t.

Technically, that was his brother’s last text and happy birthday wishes, scheduled to send it because he planned on marrying Sally the day before his birthday and they were leaving for their honeymoon in Green Hills as soon as the wedding was over. That is, aside from his tendency to forget to send messages regardless of the occasion.

The wedding never happened. Sonic was killed in a battle with Eggman about three weeks before the wedding.

Manic squeezed his eyes shut as the memories came back.

*

-flashback-

Manic and Sonic were fighting a bunch of Swatbots with Shadow and Tails’ help at Tails’ workshop.

Tails flew up to avoid an attack, smashed the robot with a wrench he had on him, then had to make a hard landing to avoid an attack from a bee bot.

Tails cried out in pain as his ankle snapped.

Manic took out a robot with a mallet he found, then looked at Tails. “Tails is hurt. Finish-”

“I’m on it.” Sonic said as he bolted over to his honorary little brother.

Manic rolled his eyes and continued fighting. He knew Sonic would be fine and they’d finish the fight as soon as backup arrived.

Sure enough, Shadow showed up and started fighting alongside Manic.

An explosion rocked the ground.

Shadow and Manic looked at each other.

“No!” Dr. Eggman screamed. “It took me years to perfect Metal!”

“Sonic!” Tails screamed.

Shadow finished off the last two robots as Dr. Eggman flew away in his hovercraft and Manic rushed over to Sonic and Tails.

A destroyed Metal Sonic was laying in pieces around Tails, who was cradling a battered and burned Sonic.

Tails, with tears streaming down his face, looked up at Manic. “He pushed me out of the way. Metal just… I don’t know… I called….” He broke down in tears.

Manic knelt down and gently pried Tails away from Sonic.

Sonic was somewhat cold.

Manic quickly checked for a pulse.

Sonic’s pulse was faint, then stopped completely.

Manic quickly laid Sonic on the ground and started CPR.

Shadow caught up to them.

“I sent a message to the emergency room.” Tails said, voice shaking. “We’re there so much, we created a system with them.”

Shadow looked around. “The coward left.”

“Come on, bro.” Manic said, voice breaking as he did chest compressions. “C’mon, you’ve survived worse injuries than this. Please, wake up. Stay with us.”

The ambulance finally arrived.

As soon as the EMTs reached them, Shadow pulled Manic and Tails away.

One of the EMTs called Sonic’s time of death, then Manic and Tails nearly collapsed.

Shadow held Manic and Tails upright as the two screamed and cried.

*

-present-

The rest of that day was a blur.

Manic vaguely remembered that Shadow left Manic and Tails at Aleena’s house with their family and the rest of their friends, saying he’d be back later.

Shadow kept his word, showing up about five hours later.

Then, word got out that Eggman mysteriously went missing with no evidence as to what happened.

Manic suspected Shadow was behind it, but never asked and the latter certainly wouldn’t tell anyone, not even Sonia as she was as clueless about the situation as anyone.

Manic opened his eyes. He happened to catch sight of the framed shadow box Sonia had made of one of the flowers from the funeral.

*

-flashback-

Manic took his seat between Surge and Shadow at Sonic’s funeral. He looked around.

Every seat in the entire church was full of Sonic’s family and friends as well as people and Mobians he probably never knew.

Some people and Mobians were actually standing in the doorway and behind some of the seats.

Manic wiped his eyes and sniffled. He had cried so much the day it happened and for the next few days prior to the funeral that he had nothing left in him to cry.

Surge rubbed Manic’s back.

Sonia reached in front of Shadow to hold Manic’s hand. Her other hand was giving Sally (who was sobbing hysterically) a tissue.

*

-present-

Then it felt like the rest of the world went back to normal.

Well, his family and close friends were still struggling, adjusting to life, but that was to be expected.

The rest of Mobius seemed to quickly forget Sonic since Shadow stepped up to be the hero, though he wasn’t showy about it as Sonic was. He did his work in the… well… shadows.

Manic knew his family was struggling, but none of them seemed to be taking it as hard as he was.

He had mentioned he felt empty, dead inside. Anything that gave him any sort of comfort or enjoyment, he no longer had any interest in. All he wanted to do was sleep or stay in the shower when he finally did drag himself out of bed. Though he hadn’t showered in about three days. The last time he went out, it was a beautiful spring day, but the skies honestly looked gray to him.

He honestly wanted to die, but couldn’t bring himself to take his own life. He couldn’t hurt his family, he just… hoped it would happen though. He’d groan every morning that he woke up and wonder why he was still here.

He hadn’t mentioned that to anyone. He was sure it would upset his family and they were only in denial that he was hurting that badly because they couldn’t bear the thought of losing another loved one.

He flinched as his doorknob started rattling, then sighed.

Either Tails or Surge was picking his lock since they were the only ones he’d taught how to do that.

Shadow would’ve just kicked the doors down and Sonia and Aleena would’ve just beaten the door down while screaming for him since Manic never had spare keys.

Finally, the door opened.

Sonia, Surge, and Aleena came in followed by Tails and Shadow.

Manic slowly sat up, his spines (the ones that hadn’t fallen out) were a mess. His fur was matted and the ratty old TapOut shirt he was wearing hung off his way too thin body.

Surge breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, we thought you were dead.”

Manic rubbed his forehead. He hadn’t had coffee in days, which he suspected was why he had an awful headache.

Shadow handed Manic a cup of coffee he had bought from Manic’s favorite coffee shop.

Manic sipped it. “Thanks.”

Surge sat down beside him. “What’s wrong?” She asked. “Why haven’t you answered us?”

Manic gave a weak shrug.

Sonia knelt down in front of Manic. “I know; we all miss him.”

Manic bit his lip.

“He wouldn’t want you to give up on life.” Sonia said.

“I… I just want to see him again.” Manic muttered.

“So do we.” Sonia replied.

Shadow and Surge looked at Manic.

“Manic, are you thinking about suicide?” Surge asked.

Sonia flinched.

Aleena froze.

Manic closed his eyes and slowly nodded.

Surge hugged Manic.

Manic finally broke down in tears.

“He wouldn’t want that, Manic.” Shadow said.

Tails stepped over. “He’s right.” He replied. “A year ago, when he wound up in the hospital for a week, he told me that if anything happened to him, he wanted us to keep going.”

Manic pulled away from Surge. “Yeah, he told me that too.”

“If you need to talk, we’d all love to talk to you.” Sonia said.

Aleena walked over and sat down. “We don’t want to lose you, Manic.”

Manic nodded. “I’m sorry, everyone.”

“It’s okay, we just want to help you.” Sonia said.

Surge helped Manic up. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and out of the house.”

Manic got up and stretched, his back cracking loudly. “Alright.” He said. “Give me a minute to shower.”

“It’ll give us some time to clean.” Sonia said.

*

Manic changed into the clothes (his world domination for hedgehogs shirt, black socks, and black fingerless gloves) someone hung up on the doorknob, then shuffled out of his bathroom.

Sally had arrived at the house during the time Manic was in the shower.

The room smelled like Sonia’s lavender potpourri and the sheets were changed. The dirty sheets were stuffed in a laundry bag by the door.

“I’m sorry I worried everyone.” Manic said. “I didn’t mean to.”

Sonia hugged Manic. “I know.” She replied. She let go of Manic. “Mother, Sally, and I joined a grief support group. We thought you’d like to join it.”

Manic ran his hand through his damp spines. “Eh… I dunno. Does it help?”

“It helps to talk about Sonic.” Sally said. “We’ll always miss him and think about him.”

Shadow exhaled through his nose. “The pain fades, but it never really goes away.”

Surge gave Shadow a dirty look. “You’re not helping.”

“You didn’t let me finish.” Shadow said. “But he wouldn’t want you to give up. It’s okay to miss him, talk about him, or cry about him.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Surge replied.

Shadow handed Manic a letter. “Maria said this to me before she died.” He said. “I think Sonic would agree.”

Manic looked at the letter.

“I know I’ll see you again.” The letter read. “Even if fate draws us apart, I’ll always be in your heart.”

“I think so too.” Manic replied. He handed Shadow the letter. “Thanks, Shadow.”

Surge handed Manic his spiked wristbands. “Come on, you need to get out.”

“We’re all going to Aleena’s to hang out, have ice cream.” Tails said.

“And wash your disgusting bedsheets and clothes.” Sonia replied. “Your room needs to air out too.”

“Fine with me.” Manic said, snapping his wristbands on.