Chapter 83

Buck furrowed his eyebrows. The nerve of this hedgehog. The nerve of all his little friends. They did nothing all day but tell each other how great the other is. This isn't how it was supposed to be. This isn't how friends work.

Buck remembered his time in the herd, how other deer communicated with him. None of his friends were like this. Whenever there was a meal, they'd take it from him. Whenever he was in a good mood, they'd do the slightest little things to tick him off. "Yeah there's something wrong..." Buck muttered.

"Oh... is there anything I can do to help?" Sonic asked.

"Hmph..." Buck jeered. Soon, he began to chuckle. Then, broke out into a fit of laughter. He felt something inside of him snap. Sonic began to back away, with all of his friends in tow. Just as Buck thought. He wasn't one of them. He was like... his own group of friends! All wrapped up in an extremely handsome package. "Yeah, there's something wrong... let me just TALK TO YOU ABOUT IT!" He lunged for Pico, and wrestled him out of Sonic's arms before Sonic could react.

"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed. Pico squeaked from surprise, but when he realized it was Buck he quickly calmed down, looking around him as Buck held him. Though... something about the way Buck held him was unloving. Physically cold.

Buck felt like he had a moment of clarity. He looked down at this woolly mammoth. Pico trusted him enough to not squirm out of his grasp and go running back to his rightful adoptive parents. For a moment, Buck thought what he was doing was stupid. But then, he furrowed his eyebrows once more as he felt cold surge through his veins. Like injecting water into your bloodstream and having it freeze.

Sonic didn't make any sudden movements, though he walked towards Buck with fear in his eyes and his hands forward in case Buck tried anything. Sonic took note of the jagged, rusty nail in his hand... only so far away from Pico's back!

"Buck... hey... we can talk this out, buddy..." Sonic said, cautiously. A sweat made its way down his face. Buck smiled, as he took a step back. He held Pico up tightly and held the nail against his throat. Pico squealed, and began to kick and hit at Buck. Everyone else gasped.

"Get away from him!" Knuckles shouted in a blind fit of rage. He lunged towards Buck and tried to take a swing, but the slightest touch of Buck's elbow sent him flying into the wall. Pico followed his crash into the wall with his head, but soon looked back to Sonic and the rest of his conscious family.

"If any of you take one more step..." Buck hissed. "I'll slit your precious Pico's throat and let him bleed dry!" Buck cackled, with a mad grin. Sonic noticed human teeth.

Sonic stopped his slow advance forward, puzzled, confused, and fearful. Sonja had a look of terror and fear on her face. Tails looked near tears. Knuckles was unconscious on the floor. Pico had stopped fighting, tired. He breathed in and out quickly, all whiny and baby-like while looking up at Buck. God, it drove Buck INSANE!

"Ma... pa... Piho... love... y-y!" Pico sputtered while looking at Sonic and Sonja, not able to string the words together properly. Sonja wailed, tears flooding from her eyes. Pico felt slight safety in their presence, through the tears streaming down his cheeks. He knew papa would save him. Papa... always saved him! It was just a matter of time. Pico smiled weakly.

This broke Sonic's little hedgehog heart, but he had a plan. He would take a step forward, and then another, all the way towards Buck. He'd slice his face off clean for even threatening his baby. But first, he had to lower Buck's guard. "Buck... put him on the ground. Talk to m-" Sonic rushed forward in a blur, but Buck's reflexes were too fast.

Buck, in one swift motion, one that made it look like his arm had teleported, jabbed the nail into Pico's throat, and slit it across his neck. There was only a horrible, dying scream as Pico fell dead and his blood splashed onto the floor. His head fell back, only attached to the rest of his body by a slim collection of fur and skin.

Sonic saw this mid-dash, and punched Buck square in the nose with all the strength he could muster. Buck went flying into the door behind them, crashing into it and making a deer-sized dent in it.

Sonic looked down as Pico's body made a bone-crunching splat onto the ground. Sonic knelt down, thinking Buck was unconscious, to check if his baby was okay, by some... any chance. Sonic put his ear to Pico's chest, but heard nothing.

"No... come on, come on!" Sonic screamed, gritting his teeth and pushing back tears. He held Pico up and then hugged him tight. "PICO! PICO, NO! AAAAAAHHHH!" Sonic screamed, with the grief of a father over his own son's death.

Sonja dashed forward, but Sonic heard her being punched back by something hard and bony. She went tumbling on the ground, as ectoplasm splashed out of her nose. She got up, only to see Buck standing there with the biggest, goofiest, stupidest smile. She wanted to kill him. She. Wanted. To. Kill him. She felt the flames of the deepest depths of Hell reflect in her eyes.

Sonic seemed to share the same sentiment as he got up, lying Pico's corpse down behind him. He felt darkness overcome him. Buck was unfazed as Sonic, yet again, transformed into Dark Sonic.

"You..." Sonic muttered, his voice deep and rough. More than before. He started to levitate. "You do not fear me, do you?" Sonic didn't know why, but he felt like he was acting a lot like Infinite right now.

"Why would I ever fear a stupid hedgehog like you?" Buck asked. "I'm a deer. I was gifted the right of being above you by birth."

Dark Sonic furrowed his eyebrows, and scowled. He almost pitied this poor, misled creature. This insect. "Only fools don't fear me," Dark Sonic growled. He Boosted forward, but to his surprise, Buck caught him with his hoof, his nail being bent and thrown out of his hand. But Buck was not hurt. Strange. A head-on, full power collision with Dark Sonic could kill anybody easily.

Buck laughed. Then, he began to stretch and shake, until... his skull poked out of his head. It was that of an Earth deer, only it grew much bigger. He began to grow, his skin stretching and tearing at the seams.

Dark Sonic was thrust back, but as he was, he found the environment around him instantly snap to what can only be described of the inside of a globe... if that globe was a texture of the storm. It felt like a skybox in a 64-bit video game as it stretched and appeared around Dark Sonic and Buck. Buck himself was now a complete monstrous entity. His head was now a giant deer skull, his antlers had sharpened and grown in size, and began to twist inwards like an ingrown nail.

His body was skeletal and in proportion to his head, with a huge convulsing heart behind his ribs. His arms stretched out and apart from each other, growing arm upon arm upon arm. The hooves were now in the shape of all kinds of lethal sharp weapons. Knives, swords, axes, nails especially.

Dark Sonic stared down his worst enemy. Ever. He had surpassed the vileness of Eggman, Zavok, Chaos, Metal... everyone he had ever fought combined. This was the absolute scum that killed Sonic's precious child... This was the stain on Mobius... the embodiment of the ever-lasting evil that smeared the name of anything good and innocent.... This was the fight of his life. He would either get revenge, or die trying. He was not going to let the latter happen. He made a promise. And this absolute embarrassment had broken it for him.

Dark Sonic charged forward, his eyes a blinding white and a dark purple shield surrounding him. He gritted his many teeth, and then screamed long and hard into the space around him. It echoed spine-chillingly, the voice that had come out was not Sonic's usual voice at all. It was the booming voice of rightful vengeance and hatred. Dark Sonic collided with Buck, as the two fought for no other reason than the sake of the other one perishing.

On one side, was Buck. Neglected by everyone. Forgotten. But no one feel sympathy for him. On the other, was Sonic. The one who had been wronged far too many times. The one time he had something precious to him that made him want to keep living, it was stripped away by someone vile and broken into a million pieces.

Dark Sonic called forward more energy, and burst through Buck's ribcage. Buck screamed out something unholy, as the bone Dark Sonic had collided with broke off and fell into the storm.

Buck swatted Dark Sonic away, something that did not hurt Dark Sonic in the slightest thanks to this shield. Dark Sonic came back stronger than before, bashing into Buck's skull. He was not going to kill Buck just yet, though he knew that the heart was his weak spot. He would break him down to very little, and then subject that horrible little to his full wrath, ending him.

Dark Sonic spun into Buck at blinding speeds. This broke off two ribs, this time. Buck cried, no longer capable of actual speech. Just mindless roars and screams. Dark Sonic continued to break down Buck, until Buck smashed his head down onto Dark Sonic, breaking his shield.

Dark Sonic, now without a shield, had to swiftly end his murder. A shame. He wanted to bathe in the blood and tears of Buck, but it seemed that was no longer in the question. Above all else, he couldn't let Buck live. "Hey, hotshot!" Dark Sonic shouted from overhead. This caught Buck's attention. "You said you're somehow assigned BETTER THAN ME at birth, huh?"

Buck growled. Dark Sonic, gritting his teeth, clenching his fists, and staring down at this mess of a being, flew forward in a Spindash. The sound of a thunder clap accompanied the impact he had with Buck's heart. Lightning burst from all around Dark Sonic as he drove himself deeper into Buck's heart.

Buck flailed around while screeching as he tried desperately loosening Dark Sonic from his heart. But nothing. Dark Sonic was already too lodged in. And then, he spun out the other side of Buck's heart.

Everything turned white.

Sonic now stood with one foot on Buck's chest, back in that room. Buck was back to normal, as was Sonic. Buck was beaten and physically scarred. He had an expression of fear on his face. Sonic stared down at Buck, yet again... a broken hedgehog.

Sonja and Tails stood behind Sonic, frightful just by the sight of Buck. Knuckles was conscious again, staring down at Buck apathetically. But he stepped back. This was Sonic's kill. And Pico... he was on the floor, as dead as since Buck had done the unforgivable.

Sonic leaned down to Buck's ear, and whispered... "... Well, what are you now?"

And then, Sonic began to lower his foot down. Breaking bones could be heard as Sonic smashed his foot into Buck's heart, squashing it and having its contents splash out. Sonic turned away, taking his foot out from the open cavity in Buck's chest. He turned to Pico.

Sonic walked over and fell to his knees, as the guilt washed over him. Sonja, Tails and Knuckles surrounded him as he fell to his hands. The tears fell from his face and onto the floor. Sonic hadn't cried like this in a long time. But he couldn't not cry right now. Pico was dead.

Sonic remembered all the times they had. The times that made him love Pico to the vast reaches of space and back. Seeing him in Green Hill Zone, chasing him down like it was a game. Holding him in his arms for the first time. Seeing the look on Sonja's face when she too got to hold him.

Petting his soft ears, his cute little trumpet sounds that he would make when he was happy. His nonsensical grasp on English, where he would babble out nonsense and sometimes be able to string together words.

When he called Sonic pa... tears in his eyes and in the freezing, hateful grasp of the now dead Buck. Seconds before meeting his horrible end. The tears were now in a large puddle on the floor. Sonic couldn't stop them from coming.

Sonja and Tails weeped, and Knuckles looked like even he was close to crying. The happy thoughts of Sonic taking Pico to all of these wonderful places, having all of these wonderful experiences, that future was now stripped away and shattered like a window.

And as usual, nobody paid attention to Buck. He was completely deceased. But nobody cared. In fact, everyone present was glad he was dead. But it couldn't fill the void left in their hearts by the loss of innocent little baby Pico. They were still heartbroken, still weeping. This hadn't brought back Pico. This hadn't fixed the bad that had already been done.

Everybody felt this reality weighing down on them as time and everything ever ended.

Goodbye, Pico.

Bad ending reached: "Pico's Last Breath"