Smoke filled the empty air, darkening the world and covering nearly everything from sight. Fire lashed out at nearby trees, like a predator jumping at its prey, and burned the wooden trunks and wobbly green leaves to black ash. A few trees exploded, their sap being the fuse, resulting in a huge wild fire. Everything seemed as though hell had broken loose, with all the dead bodies of innocent mobians being cooked, then burnt in the intense heat.

Firon laid his back on a tree that stood far from the burning part of the forest, bleeding nearly everywhere on his body, with his muzzle and arms burnt to a black crisp. One of his eyes had gotten cut in half, disabling its vision and making him one-eyed. The tips of his ears were burnt, with the flaming pieces of dead skin falling into his ears and tampering with his ear drums, adding to his already bad enough level of pain. His legs laid out on the ground at an unnatural angle, broken. His chest was scarred with deep cuts that ran out of blood, and his lungs became effected. Now, the gray hedgehog could only wheeze in order to breath in the air he needed to live.

The gray hedgehog lay still as he closed his eyes and tried to calm his wheezing, slowly sliding his back off the trunk of the tree until he laid completely on the ground. He tried to ignore the sound of burning flames that lashed throughout the scenery, the exploding sap in nearby trees, and everything else his damaged ears could hear. He tried to get rid of the pain by letting himself pass on, tried to let go and to stop his suffering.

Before anything could be done, he reopened his eyes, only to see darkness. He could feel himself still lying on a surface, even though he was surrounded by nothing. He tried to stand up and surprisingly succeeded, noticing that his wounds were no longer present and he was not on the verge of death.

He stood, in the middle of nothingness, with no clue of what was to happen, until he heard a familiar voice.

"Welcome back, Firon..." the voice made the gray hedgehog turn hurriedly towards the source, seeing the glowing red eyes of a demon whose body camouflaged with the darkness. The body of the demon lightened up its black color, just enough for Firon to fully adjust to the familiar outline.

"Hello Shadow Shade..." he replied harshly in a cold-blooded manner, spitting in disgust at the nothingness below. He could see the grin behind the black hedgehog's darkened muzzle, angering the gray hedgehog with hate that he had never felt before.

"Did you enjoy the show?" the dark hedgehog asked crookedly, laughing manically at his most evil pitch. Firon leaped forward and attempted to punch the demon with all his might, but missed ultimately. Firon turned around, his eyes reddened with a hate so powerful, nothing could get rid of it.

"Shut up! Just shut up! I hate you! I'm going to kill you for everything you made me do...I swear it! I will get my revenge on you...you lifeless piece of shit! You pathetic rag doll from hell!" Firon screamed at the top of his lungs, charging forward again with shocking speed, forming into a speed dash attack form, only to miss again by an inch. Shadow Shade darkened his form, disappearing into the darkness.

"Your hate is what started this whole thing, Firon the Hedgehog, not me...you're the one to truely blame for the death of your people and your planet," the invisible hedgehog spoke coldly and silently. Firon's red eyes glowed as he sensed the black hedgehog nearby, his fists begin to charge with chaos energy.

"You should of left me alone...you should of let me do the job...I would've learned...it's too late now...but it ain't too late to kill the one I hate the most..." Firon replied, swinging his fists backwards and grabbing solid flesh, throwing it over his head and onto the ground with surprising strength. Shadow Shade had been detected, and the gray hedgehog now stood over the demon with a devilish grin.

"What? Impossible!" Shadow Shade yelled out, disappearing before the hateful hedgehog could do more "How did you sense my approach?"

"A better question would be...how did I not sense your approach?" Firon's grin turned to an unlikely evil smile as he turned around slowly, concentrating throughout the entire darkness that surrounded him and his opponent.

He lifted his energy-soaked hands, bending down, then laying the palms of his gloved hands on the solid ground of nothingness, as if praying. He shot the energy from his arms into the ground, lighting up the darkness, turning the color black to white. He continued to do so until the darkness no longer existed, and Shadow Shade stuck out like a sore thumb.

Firon stood up from the ground, now surrounded in the color white, the same going for his opponent. Shadow Shade was stunned, shocked by the sudden change in atmosphere, with his cover being blown permanently. The gray hedgehog walked slowly and as casually as possible, raising his fists with newfound power. His red eyes disappeared into blank white spaces, forming red cracks and broken blood vessels throughout his eyes, seeming as though he had popped everything in the white spaces of his eyes. He frowned dreadfully, his teeth showing their surprising new growth into sharp, blade-like needles.

"You think you're the best here, Shadow Shade? Guess again..." the gray hedgehog disappeared in a dash of speed, as if teleporting, right to the side of the seemingly frozen black hedgehog, punching him in the chest with a powerful killing blow. Shadow Shade gasped, his entire body seemed as though it had exploded from the inside.

"H-how...how did you...?" Shadow Shade lost his voice as Firon drove his fist in further, deeper and deeper, until the dark hedgehog seemed as hopeless as Firon was before when the gray hedgehog lost control of himself. The gray hedgehog showed a twisted amusement in the black hedgehog's pain and suffering, shoving his other fist into the back of his opponent, forcing out another gasp and making droplets of blood spill out.

Soon, after minutes of intense pain, Firon removed his fists and positioned himself away from Shadow Shade, watching the black hedgehog drop to the ground, gasping and wheezing loudly. The demon lifted his eyes up towards the victorious hedgehog, blood pouring out of nothing from the darkness of his muzzle.

"How...how did you...get this power?" Shadow Shade asked slowly in a disturbed voice that was crooked as it was damaged. Firon's grin returned to his face, revealing his needle teeth once again. He bent down low, his hands on his knees, staring deeply into the weakened hedgehog's blood-covered red eyes.

"How? How did I get this power you ask?" Firon thought for a moment, pretending to take a long time to let the demon suffer as he thought. He finally finished his thoughts, and looked even deeper and closer to demon's red eyes one again.

"Let's just say...you're no longer needed...goodbye," Firon lifted his right hand to the black hedgehog's face, a huge stream of energy shooting through his arm and out of his palm, enveloping him in no time at all. Shadow Shade screamed at a volume that seemed to shake the nothingness around him. The pained screams amused the gray hedghog as he increased the energy of his attack, becoming more evily amused by this torture.

The demon screamed one last of scream of tortured pain, then finally dropped to the ground, dead. Firon stood up from the dead corpse of what was once Shadow Shade, realizing what he had done. Without his hatred, the light around him vanished into darkness, and his energy and power disappeared. He dropped to the ground, lying motionless and spread out as everything faded into the color black, filling up the view and covering the dead bodies from sight...

The fire in the forest had finally calmed, leaving a huge black scar across the Great Forest. Many miles from the Freedom Fighter Camp were fallen trees and dead bodies, along the way was the stench of burnt fur and flesh. Dark smoke began to fade in the air above the ruins, along with the smog pollution from what was once Robotroplis, its ruins on the ending of the path of the destroyed forest.

Violet limply walked through the forest, holding her damaged shoulder with her hand, carrying her mission pack in her other. She walked slowly through the trees that still stood, not believing how lucky she was in order to survive. The memory of death and disgust was still fresh in her mind, and she tried to shake it off, but to no avail.

Worry and guilt was heavy on her shoulders, making her walk slower then before. She thought everything was her fault, that all the death caused and all the revenge thrown at one another was caused by her. She felt that it was too late to lift the guilt from herself, to get rid of the worry for the loss of someone close to her, for the loss of several people who were close to her.

Tears dropped from her eyes, with her sniffling as she was completely saddened. She finally dropped to her knees, dropping her mission pack, and an item that she had held for quite a while. She picked up the item, revealing itself to be a golden circle-shaped picture frame. Inside the frame was a photo, and even though the it was small, it was easy enough for the purple hedgehog to see.

The picture showed herself, next to the familiar gray hedgehog who had always protected her, guided her, taught her, and befriended her. She smiled as she saw the smile on Firon's photographic face on the picture, with her tears beginning to dry up as memories came back to her.

When she was little, around the age of five or six, she was captured by Dr. Eggman and was to be roboticized into a slave. She would of been, if Firon hadn't appeared at the scene. The speedy, light-voiced hedgehog used his unbelievable abilties and speed to destroy the roboticizer machine and the many robots in the room, freeing Violet from the iron rings that held her down, and saving the day.

As soon as she was taken to the Freedom Fighter camp for the first time, Firon had introduced her to everyone and began teaching her the skills of a freedom fighter. She was a fast learner at the time, and became a very close friend of Firon's. Violet, when she became around the age of 10, usually flirted with Firon by rubbing his shoulders and calling him a "muscle boy" which would make the gray hedgehog blush deeply and laugh a little.

Violet lowered the picture from sight, closing her eyes and sighing as if all her troubles went away. She smiled heavenly and felt the guilt begin to lift. However, when she opened her eyes once more, something caught her view and made her gasp, vanquishing her smile.

"Firon!" she screamed, running towards the gray hedgehog's mortally wounded form on the tree trunk. She ran as fast as her legs would allow her, not caring if she grew tired from what seemed like a long distance. In a flash, she was by the gray hedgehog's side, ducking next to him and hugging him gently. Firon rocked his head from side to side, groaning a bit, opening his eyes in order to see who had woken him.

"V-Violet? Is that...is that you?" he asked weakly. Violet became horrified by the sight of Firon's badly cut left eye, making the gray hedgehog notice immediately and close his left eye, to hide the cut from existence. Violet calmed herself with sighs of relief. Tears shot out of her eyes as she smiled widely, hugging Firon a littler harder then before.

"I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're okay!" the purple hedgehog cried and sniffled, keeping Firon in her arms for what seemed like an eternity. The gray hedgehog spoke weakly as he responded.

"I ain't...sure...I dunno if I can...go on..." the words made Violet gasp and become frightened, making her grab the gray hedgehog's shoulders.

"What? Please don't tell me you're giving up on life...please don't..." the purple hedgehog replied sadly and weakly, her tears pouring faster then ever. She held the picture in her right hand tightly, the golden frame protecting the photo from being crumpled.

"I won't give up...I'll never give up...but....but..." Firon struggled to stand up, but fell back unwillingfully, feeling his spine crack. He yelled out and gasped in pain, with Violet coming to his aid almost immediately and as fast as she could.

"Firon, don't move...just rest okay? Please don't give up..." she said to him softly, trying not to startle him. Firon glanced at her with a weak stare, smiling as best as his lips would allow, only to lose his smile as sadness and pain overwhelmed him.

"I'm...sorry...I can't...I'm sorry..."

"Firon? What's wrong? Firon!"

"Violet...please...just let me die...let me end my suffering...please...I'm sorry..."

"Firon! Please don't die! Please don't die!" Violet screamed in fear, shaking Firon gently. The gray hedgehog closed his eyes, his breathing cut short. With his last breath, he said one last thing to the purple hedgehog, as she began to break down into tears.

"I...love you...Violet," with his last words said, Firon's heart stopped pumping, his breathing at a complete halt. Violet couldn't speak as she saw the gray hedgehog die in her arms, her eyes wide with shock. She shuddered violently, unable to speak. Her heart beat increased dramatically, raising a hand to her chest as she felt herself gasp and wheeze. Finally, with the last bit of reality and death in her mind, she shook her head back and screamed out the name of the gray hedgehog in despair.

"Firon! Why? Why did you have to die? Why did everyone have to die? Why did everything go wrong? Why? Why!" She dropped the picture to the ground, crying her eyes out and lying on the ground, unable to move. The golden picture frame landed softly, away from the separated pair of hedgehogs without a sound.

It showed what was once the past, where everything was great, special, and full of life, separated from what reality was like today. The smiles and great times of the past no longer existed, and reality had finally corrupted and turned upside, forming a future, where the only thing that existed...was hell.