(Please be warned, this is actually my first time making an argument between the Sonic crew, so it's most likely Out of Character and badly written...)

Smoke, thick and heavy, hung in the gray light of dawn. It swirled past the broken ruins of businesses and empty streets. It clung to those that struggled to stay standing, those surrounded by the crumbled remains of mechanical killers.

"I'll get you next time you idiot blue rodent!!" Unfocused emerald eyes drifted from the damage around him to the floating vehicle above the carnage.

"I'd like to see you try, Eggface." The reply was more instinct than choice. Coming out with a tired grin that was entirely fake. His normal response, the response that came out before he knew what he was doing. What he really wanted to do was lay down, curl up and forget everything that's happened and happening.

They won't be happy with his choice. He knew it was right, and maybe the reason seems selfish. But the world counts on him, so he had to make the choice. Because if he chose to..to..he wouldn't have forgiven himself. He wouldn't be able to hold off the constant flow of doubts and pain. He would drown in the sea of his emotions.

As it is, he barely is afloat.

He had to save him. It was the right choice.

They won't see it that way.

He's tempted to just run, run until they cool off and everythings okay and no one's angry at him. But he can't, too many need him here. And he's run for too long, (Running, don't stop running, don't turn into one of the bots.) He promised to face his problems and not run from them. So he had to stay.

He turned, and looked for the friend closest to him. A shuffle of rock behind him signaled Shadow digging himself out of the rubble. He limbed closer, careful of his busted ankle and the gash above his right eye, and started to help pull the rocks off the hybrid.

After a few minutes that felt much longer, Shadow finally emerged. Worse for wear, but okay for the most part. The black anthro nodded to Sonic, accepting the offered hand silently pulling himself off the pile of rocks.

"You ok?" His voice came out quiet, the confident tone used before gone. Shadow frowned at him, torn between being angry and understanding.

Wait...Understanding?

He was sure Shadow would be the angriest out of everyone, after all Shadow was pretty angry when he didn't let him take Mr. Tinker. He thought if anyone were to be furious with his decision, it would be his rival. Where was this understanding coming from?

"Yeah, you look pretty rough though." Shadow narrowed his eyes, looking at the blood soaking most of his fur. He wasn't even sure if most of it was his or not, he helped a lot of injured people flee the city...and his fur makes the blood stand out so bright. He shivered, the blood felt heavy on his fur. Like a weight that symbolized all that rested on his shoulders. It also made his queasy, the scent of copper making his stomach churn as he finally realized he was covered in blood not his own.

He swallowed and shook his head.

"I'm fine...the others though..." He looked around them, Knuckles keeping Rouge on her feet. Blaze leaning on Amy, who had a broken wrist. And Tails...wait..where's Tails?!

"He's with Silver." Shadow placed a hand on his shoulder, keeping him from panicking.

"Oh...right...where's Silver?"

The hybrid pointing to their left, inside an old bakery without a front wall. Its pink exterior laying in pieces in and out of the store. He stumbled over the crumbled concrete, and scanned for signs of yellow and silver.

There, leaning against a wall.

He's ok.

He's...bleeding from his stomach.

"Tails!" He called to the younger boy, climbing over the rubble to get to him. Hissing softly as he landed on his ankle. "Tails? Are you ok? How hurt are you?"

The fox looked up, face tight and brows furrowed. "I'm fine." He answered shortly, looking back at Silver who was currently looking at the wound.

"No you're not, you're bleeding. Sliver, how bad is it?"

The silver hedgehog glanced up, frowning harshly. "Well, it's not good."

Sonic huffed, "I see that. But how bad is it?"

"How hurt is the fox?" Shadow came up behind him, walking to the duo in front of Sonic and crouching as to take a look at the wound.

"He got sliced by a piece of metal, I slowed the bleeding down. But he's going to need to go to the hospital Shadow."

Oh, answer Shadow but not Tails brother. Perfect. But what else did he expect? He knew they didn't approve his choice. He's lucky they're not screaming at him yet.

"Alright, let's get him to the shelter and we can take care of it there."

Sonic stepped forward at this, placing one of Tails arms around his shoulder before anyone could object. Shadow took to Tails' other side, helping to guide the fox out of the broken store. Tails frowned, softly glaring at the blue hero, but didn't object to the help.

Sonic took that to be a good sign.

Everyone was gathered in the middle of the street when they climbed over a rather large piece of rubble. Amy perked up as they drew nearer, green eyes scanning the four of them for injuries. Her eyes widened at the gash on Tails' stomach. "Tails!" She gasped, and rushed over.

"I'm fine Amy, I just need to be patched up once we get to the shelter." He assured her.

She didn't look convinced, but a nod from both Shadow and Silver kept her from saying more. She turned her gaze to him, looking him up and down, gaze catching on his head and ankle. "You need to get those taken care of too." Her voice is too soft, it's not the voice she uses when she's worried about him. It's the voice she uses on civilians, the strangers she wants to make sure are ok. Her gaze is guarded as well, it screams of conflicted emotions.

He looks away, to the ground at his feet. "I'll take care of it later." He mutters, knowing full well he'll probably forget without Tails to remind him.

If she knows this too, she doesn't say anything. Insead she turns and scans the streets, sighing heavily. "This will take months, years even, to rebuild..."

Rouge frowns, taking in the damage as well. "We just finished rebuilding from the Metal Virus too..."

Sonic looks at the crumbled city, and he lets out a shaky breath.

(Broken homes, lives shattered, it's his fault. He caused the virus. His fault.)

It was happening all over again, the city torn apart because of a choice he made.

(Voices screaming and children crying. Metal spreading. Buildings collapsing under metallic hordes.)

A choice he had to make. The right choice.

(It was the right choice. Mr. Tinker deserved the chance to be happy. He made the right choice. Right?)

"This is just like the Metal Virus."

Sonic blinked back to the present, tired eyes catching violet ones staring right at him. Knuckles looked at him, face full of anger.

"You know the common factor between now and then Sonic?" Knuckles carefully sat Rouge down on a rock beside them. Turning to face the hero.

Sonic sighed, "What would that be, Knux?"

He was tired, they had this same talk time and time again. Alway as a lighthearted chat, a suggestion of maybe finally ending Eggman that never led to heated arguments. But always toed the line. They were all tired of the large schemes and of the city and world they worked so hard to rebuild, getting destroyed again and again. They wanted it to stop, as much as he wanted it all to stop. And he knew, he knew they were right. Ending Eggman was the only way to make sure it actually stopped. This adventure alone they told him time and time again, 'If we get a chance, we're getting Eggman. We're stopping this fight once and for all.' And he agreed. He thought he could go through with it.

But then he actually got a chance.

Eggman was trapped, a building was falling. He could, he should, have left him.

But he didn't. He couldn't.

It wasn't right, yes he wanted it to stop. But killing Eggman, or letting him die, to achieve that? That wasn't right, it wasn't ok.

They didn't see it the same way.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?" Knuckles was inches from him now, Tails and Shadow over with the others.

He had spaced out. He's been doing that more and more.

He opened his mouth, to say what, he wasn't sure. But he was saved from having to respond by Amy.

"Sonic, we talked about it! We agreed, if given the chance we would get rid of Eggman! You agreed!" Her shoulders sagged as she looked at him, eyes full of wounded anger.

"What happened to following the plan, Sonic?!" The guardian glared at him, waiting for an answer.

One he wasn't going to like.

Sonic closed his eyes, blocking out the image of his friends, his family, staring at him with betrayal in their eyes. "I...I was going to, but..."

"But what Sonic?" It was Tails who spoke up this time, looking just as tired and exhausted as he was.

"I couldn't just let him die, I'm a hero. I'm supposed to save everyone I can! Not just...leave them to be crushed!" He exploded it out, quick and sharp. He turned away, running bruised hands through equally broken quills. "I was going to, I swear! I wanted to! But..."

"No buts Sonic! You just risked millions of INNOCENT lives to save, what? One stupid old man that has been trying to kill you every day of your life?!?"

He flinched lightly as the sound of Knuckles punching a rock right behind him reached his ears. "I'm sorry ok! I jus-"

It was Shadow who interrupted him this time. "That's what you said last time Faker! You can't keep protecting the doctor!"

"I'm not protecting him! I'm just not going to kill him!" He whirled around, and ouch they're all looking at him with broken gazes, and he did that didn't he?

"Sonic, you can't save everyone. You told me that yourself." Blaze took a step toward him, and yeah, ok, he did say that didn't he?

"This is different, Blaze." He whispered. "I could save him! So I did."

"But WHY?!? Why save him, Sonic? Why put the city in danger just to save him?!"

Why?

Because every night his screams of fear and agony would mix with the buzz of the phantom ruby and the cold sharp pain of liquid metal in his veins. Because he wouldn't be able to go a minute without hearing his pleads and begging for mercy. Because he would replay the sight of life leaking out of his eyes over and over. Because it wasn't right to just kill him no matter how easy it would be. Because he knows, deep deep down, Ivo Robotnik had a heart.

He wanted to scream this, scream it to them until his throat was horse and they finally understood.

Instead, "You wouldn't understand." And they wouldn't, because they never did. Because Sonic was the hero, he had to always be ok and nothing could bother him. Because he had to always be sure of himself and have that smile on his face.

He had to always have that mask, and there couldn't be anything broken or scarred underneath.

"I'm done with you! You never take anything seriously, you never follow the plan, you never seem to ever give a fuck!" Knuckles grew quiet, and Sonic knew that look. He was making a plan, and shit he wasn't going to like this next part is he?

Sharp violet eyes met his own. "You made the joke earlier, remember? About how we were sort of like a club almost? What did you call all of us? Team Hero?"

His heart was in his stomach now, because he was pretty sure he knew where Knuckles was going with this, and Gaia please don't let him be right. They wouldn't, couldn't..."Knuckles-"

A raised gloved hand paused him, "No, this time you're listening Sonic. We are a team, we all call the shots. And you haven't been listening to any of us! So, I thin-" Knuckles suddenly paused and took a deep breath, as if bracing for his next words. "I think...until you shape up...I think you need to be exempt from Team Hero."

It would have hurt less if a giant robot stepped on him.

This wasn't simply kicking him off the team, this wasn't simply telling him to take a step back.

This was so much more.

"You...you can't do that! Knuckles, that's not fair and you know it!"

"No Sonic, what's not fair is the millions of lives lost today because you chose Eggman over them!" Amy stepped up, and there were tears in her eyes, and oh god they all were looking at each other, and they've all been talking about this.

The tears he has been holding back burst forth, and holy shit was this actually happening? "You...I..." He looked from Amy's tearful but stern face, to Knuckle's grim but equally stern face, to Blaze's solemn expression, to Rouge's turned face, to Shadow's stoic face, and Silver's stern face. And finally Tails, baby blues met emerald greens, and Sonic felt his heart shatter.

"Their right Sonic, I'm sorry but..." Tails didn't seem to be able to finish, but Sonic didn't need him to. He understood all too well the unsaid words.

"You can't, guys you can't just..." He took in a shuddering breath, hoping to stabilize his voice somewhat. "We're family, and Team Hero is the whole reason for that...you...you can't just kick me out of that."

No one said anything and Sonic felt what was left of his already broken self break further. "Guys," He whispered brokenly.

They started to walk past him.

He stared as they brushed past him without a word said. It wasn't until they were about to turn the corner he finally managed to squeeze out the words. "You guys know what this means to me."

He looked at each one of them. "Y'all are my family, you can't just walk out on me."

"We're not walking out on you Sonic, just teaching you a lesson." With that, they left.

And he was alone.

It's funny, in a sad sort of way.

They say to follow your morals, they say there's all these great outcomes. They never tell you about the bad outcomes, the times following your morals only get you trouble and pain.

~*~

He doesn't know how long he stood there, but it was long enough for him to start feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

He was still bleeding, he realized.

He should probably go to the shelter. Patch up.

But they would be there, and he can't face them right now. So he turned around and ran the opposite way. He didn't know where he was headed, and that was probably a bad idea with a busted ankle and gash on your forehead. But he found that he honestly didn't care.

He never really did care about when he got hurt.

It was always Tails that cared, always Tails that made him bandage himself up.

Did he even have that anymore?

He knew they weren't going to like what he did, but this?

He would never have thought that they could leave him like that.

It burned.

~*~

He had been runing for hours, when it happened.

Had he been not fighting a concussion, had he not been so deeply lost in thought he might have seen it. Might have been able to stop in time, but as it stands the wire went unnoticed until far too late...

He tried to stop, but he was going to fast, the rubble and dust causing him to continue skidding.

He tripped over the wire.

He tripped with a busted ankle, an open head wound, and going approximately 100 mph.

The last thing he remembers before everything goes dark, is the sickening crack of his head hitting the concrete.