Downpour

Disclaimer: I don't own the Sonic Franchise. SEGA does and I would never own it.

A/N: This is another alternate universe story with a new take on a genre that has been bugging me for a long time so I decided to attempt it. This story is inspired from a story called 'Still Fighting' which is a zombie apocalypse story (Check it out! It's a very awesome story) written by this awesome friend of mine, AHeartForStories (who's also the one who gave such awesome ideas for this fic and for helping me in choosing a title for this so I'm really thankful for all of the help) and the psychological horror game, Silent Hill.

(Shadow's POV)

Dark. Everything is too damn dark. I couldn't see anything but an infinite void and I couldn't hear anything except my muffled heart beating inside my chest coupled with the gushing sound of blood propelling inside my blood vessels.

Everything feels so warm that I could feel a sense of tranquility surrounding my every being. My body felt very weightless like I am gently being cradled in a fluid-filled environment.

'Where am I?' I asked myself; the voice in my mind resonated around me. I attempted to move my limbs around but the buoyancy only made them feel lighter than I expected.

'Am I underwater?'

A strong surge of wave suddenly disrupted that once tranquil ambiance and the next thing I know, the water around me began to turn hostile by pulling me deeper into the abyss.

I panicked and began thrashing my limbs to get away to save myself from sinking further into the depths of the unknown. The strong instinct to survive filled me when my body felt the need to give up. I gathered every bit of my strength and propelled myself away from the water's grip without realizing that doing so would only put me in a much dire situation.

The air that I've kept within my lungs left me; allowing the water to suffocate me with its malicious grip. I choked at the feeling of water forcefully gushing inside my throat and nostrils. The feeling is horrifying. I could almost feel my life draining out of me.

I am drowning but there's nothing I could do. There wasn't even a surface of this body of water I am in.

'Get me out of here!' I screamed inside my mind. Hoping that someone could hear me but it was only a bluff to trick my mind that someone would indeed hear my calls of plea.

Until…

'Shadow.' I was bewildered when I suddenly heard someone's voice calling out my name but I couldn't decipher whether it was a male's or a female's voice.

However, for an inexplicable reason, the voice sounded familiar and it's enough to calm my frantic self.

'Wake up, Shadow.' I continued hearing the voice as I was being pulled into the darkness with one of my hand still outstretched to hold onto something that might pull me out from this void.

'Who are you and how did you know my name?' I decided to answer back as my body completely became limp from expending all of my energy by freeing myself but before I could even hear that voice respond, a bright white light shone before my eyes and blinded me with its rays.

(Shadow's POV)

My eyes shot wide open and found myself lying on a concrete road with my body completely soaked from head to toe. The trench coat that I wore already stuck on my body from being drenched that merely moving my body felt heavy.

My hunger for air soon kicked in when the feeling of water lodged on my airway distracted me. I did all that I could to expel that blockage by vehemently coughing it all out of me. The near-drowning sensation burned my nose, throat and chest; the feeling was truly excruciating.

Feeling that my throat and lungs are no longer incapacitated, I rolled to my side while taking every ounce of opportunity to breathe in the oxygen around me as much as my lungs could tolerate like it was the best thing I've ever had in years. My body soon brimmed with life when I felt a rush of blood filling every vital organ inside of me.

I lied there for a while trying to get a grip of myself and that strange voice I heard.

Whose voice was it? Where have I heard it before?

I rubbed my aching chest and took deep breaths to calm myself and that's when I began to wonder my whereabouts. My eyes started roaming around to survey the area. Nothing around me except a dark, empty road with dead city lights surrounded with an eerie ambiance. There's not even a sight of other mobians around and I was only left to conclude one thing: I might still be dreaming.

'Where am I and what have I been doing in this place' are questions that I've asked myself a million times already every time I see myself wandering in this wretched world but were often left unanswered so I didn't even bother asking anymore and just keep convincing myself that this is all just a dream and nothing more.

Besides, I'm certain that I would wake up anytime soon. I feel like I've been here a lot of times already. I just couldn't recall how I got here and how I managed to escape this wretched abyss but despite that, I always wake up no matter what.

I forced myself to stand despite the heaviness of my coat and looked around for something that might be worth checking out until I noticed something bright just a few feet away from me. It was my tactical flashlight that I got from the police force where I used to work with before I got a week of suspension for going against the rules in order to save a comrade by shooting a criminal point blank.

They let me turn in my weapon, badge and ID except this flashlight. I've been keeping it with me at all times in case of emergency. That tactical flashlight is much more durable, waterproof, and emits a strong bright beam that could cover at least a few feet away from me; convenient enough to see things from a distance.

In fact, flashlights are the most underestimated tool for self-defense. Not a lot of people are aware that you need a flashlight more than your gun. As much of a gun-lover I am, I'd rather have a flashlight with me for a couple of reasons: You could carry them around especially in a society governed with strict rules in handling firearms, it helps in identifying and disorienting your assailants, and most of all; it could be used as an improvised weapon.

Relieved that I haven't lost it, I quickly picked it up and prepared myself to trek into the darkness; wondering to myself if I could find a light once again to get me out of this place.

On this desolated place, I found myself rambling aimlessly on an empty road with only my flashlight in my hand beneath an infinite darkness.

Empty houses, empty cars, a haunting ambiance and a nightfall that never ends. It's like being stuck in a nightmare with no way out.

My body trembled from the cold air that follows me like an entity wherever I go that if it weren't for the long and dark trench coat that I wore, I would have been frozen to death already.

The ambiance is downright unnerving that I could feel every fur in my body raise. Sometimes I could hear someone or something wailing from a distance but I kept convincing myself that it was just the wind passing through me. Whoever or whatever made those sounds is better left undisturbed with the uncertainty of this world and the 'demons' that might be lurking within it.

A gasp escaped me when I felt something cold pelting on my muzzles. Looking up, I was met with a sight of tiny raindrops falling from the sky.

Chaos, it's raining again.

I hastened my pace to get away from it as fast as I could before things might start getting worse.

Rain.

Rain is often symbolized as something harsh, mischievous, as well as despair, sorrow, rejection, discontentment; nearly everything that invokes a forlorn mood. Whenever the rain starts pouring, I often get a notion that it's a harbinger of something ominous that's about to happen anytime soon which made me somehow tremble inside just thinking about it.

I've always despised the rain because in this world, the nightmare begins when it starts to pour.

I continued to wander in this bleak and desolated place as my body gets drenched once again by the rain's endless downpour while staying alert for incoming threats that may hinder my tracks. I could hear my own footsteps and the pitter patter of the raindrops that bathed this empty world echoing around me and it's making my soul flicker and flutter. It's both giving me a calm and disrupting feeling all at the same time that I couldn't state into words.

I could feel a life force around those tiny raindrops like it's alive and breathing along with me. I felt my body quivered at the thought but as always, I chose to ignore it.

As I ventured through this dismal world, a familiar-looking park met my gaze just ahead. It was Station Square's Central Park but for some strange reason, the once verdure abundance that circled around it has already withered.

The once sweet-smelling flowers were no longer there, the ground turned into barren fields instead of the once green grass that filled it and the huge water fountain in the middle has turned muddy instead of the once clear water that shoot out from it.

Everything has changed. Everything looks so frightening. The sight of the once beautiful park has turned into something devastating to look at, it was horrible. As much as I am withholding myself, curiosity beckoned me to take further steps into that park when I heard sounds of laughter from a distance.

My ears perked in response and I quickly ran towards the source of the sound, hoping that I'd be able to take a glimpse of other mobians for once until I came across a children's playground.

Strange as it may sound, the playground is as desolated as the park I was once in. The broken wooden see-saws, the empty sandboxes, and what truly caught my attention were the seven rocking see-saw animals with springs underneath them: a purple horse with a chain on its neck, a green dog with a scarf wrapped around its neck, a red bear with dismembered limbs, a blue goat vandalized with drawings of snake-like figures, a yellow frog with many burned holes, an orange pig swarmed by flies and a blue ox whose horns and body appears to have been burned into a crisp.

Four of them, particularly the horse, the dog, the bear and the ox were all stained with blood and below each blood-stained rocking animal was a circular figure drawn in blood with an arrow that joins together pointing on a certain direction just before it.

I took a step further and saw a piece of paper where the direction of the blood stains are pointing at.

Judging from the letter print, it must have been torn from a page of a book.

Out of curiosity, I took the page and read what's written in it.

A Tale of a Fallen King

He is God, or so he thinks, sitting on his throne, wasting away; Oblivious to the evil of his ways. The longing to deprive the weak gives him strength; expecting everyone to crawl before him. His fury burnt like living flames devouring a forest as he feasts on and on in his round table both from meals and the drunken thoughts of the flesh. The more he sees, the more his desire burns as bright as the sun. He soon took a step down from heaven and buried his soul in the depths of hell, feasting in nothing but in his faulty bliss and hearing nothing but the demons cackling on his fallen grave.

The rest of the text were already smudged from the blood and rain which makes it unable for me to read but strangely enough, the text at the bottom were still legible.

'Animals pointing on a tale of a fallen king. That's quite odd. Is this a riddle of some sort?'

I did not understand what those bloody animals and this piece of paper are trying to convey but regardless of that, I've decided to keep this piece of paper inside my pocket, thinking that it might be of use later on.

I feasted my eyes further into the surroundings; thinking that I might find something useful until an eerie vibe started tapping on my shoulder.

"Tag, you're it!" I heard a child's voice yelling behind me that made my fur at the back of my neck to rise. I looked behind me and pointed a flashlight at my assailant and to my surprise, there's no one there.

'Chaos, I could have sworn someone was just behind me…'

All of a sudden, strange images begin to haunt my mind.

I saw images of real life mobian children running around the park but one of them was a little mobian hedgehog girl that caught my attention. She has short mid-length quills that reached her shoulders with two stubby elevated ones at the back of her head and has silvery-white fur that made her stand out from the rest of the children as well as her crimson eyes that looked vaguely familiar. She wore a navy blue dress with a bow of matching color on the top of her head.

The other mobian children suddenly ceased playing and circled around her.

"Hello. Would you like to play with us?" they urged her and she happily stood up without hesitation with her bright smile.

"Since you just joined our game, you're going to be IT," said one of the children.

"What's the game about?" she asked.

"Just play along," one of them quickly responded then they began to circle around her and started chanting a nursery rhyme.

Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
"Ashes, Ashes"

I saw one of the children walking behind her and pushed her to the ground.

"She falls down!" one of the children ended the song as they all chorused in laughter then eventually leaving her all alone in that spot where she fell and she scraped her knee.

"Hey, leave her alone!" I called out and ran towards the fallen girl but before I could even have the chance to get near her, she suddenly disappeared and I ended up landing on that same spot where she was once in.

I feel a cool gust of wind accompanied with a spine-chilling sound of the children's laughter making its way towards me that made my body unwillingly shiver in response. I was soon distracted when a sudden downpour completely soaked me from head to toe.

'Chaos, it begins…'

I looked up and I found myself completely petrified from the dreadful sight before me. The mobian children, the same children who pushed that girl, now have lifeless dark eyes as they circled around me with their mouths slit on the sides; giving them a huge and permanent sinister grin on their faces.

They laughed as they sang that dreaded nursery rhyme over and over again while they slowly circled around me like they're performing some sort of ritual.

"What the hell is going on?" I muttered to myself

I felt one of those children grabbing on to my leg while another pulled on my arms.

"Come play with us," said one of those demented children.

"We won't hurt you," said another that grabbed me by my quills.

The children pulled me into different directions as though they are trying to rip off my limbs from my body.

"Join us." They chorused in sadistic laughter.

"Get your hands off me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs while doing my best to shake them off me but every time I do, another one of those demented children cling back to me.

"Damn it!" I cursed and strongly pulled my hand back towards me that sent a couple of them falling out of balance which gave me a chance to break free from their grip. As soon as I got my arms and hands free, I hit some of them with my flash light while sweeping my leg across the other demon children clinging on my feet which gave me a chance to escape.

I quickly stood from the ground and ran away from the playground as fast as I could while still hearing their melody playing inside my head.

'Ashes…ashes…'

They keep repeating that word over and over again as though implying something. I continued trekking through the darkness until I reached a clearing that leads to an establishment. A hospital.

Hearing them still nearby, I switched off my flashlight and quickly made my way inside the hospital doors to catch my breath.

I slid behind the hospital doors and sat on the floor from exhaustion as I shivered from my drenched form. At least, for now, I am safe from those children and that blasted rain.

I took off my trench coat and squeezed the water out of it and put it aside for a while as I sat there in exhaustion.

Thoughts about that little mobian girl began to plague me as well as that torn page I've just read.

That girl...She looks strangely familiar but I'm certain that we haven't met before. Still, it makes me wonder why she resides here inside my nightmares.

Faint whispering voices began to fill my ears. Voices that I couldn't make out. Voices that could almost be mistaken as apparitions singing a dreaded melody chorusing along with them.

My ears perked, attempting to push those awful sounds away from me but my efforts were only left in vain. The voices only got louder. They were no longer whispering but instead, they sound more like they were chanting something in a strange language I've never heard of before.

"Make it stop…" I pleaded as I folded my ears down to stop myself from hearing that sinister melody that's already literally scraping my brain in the process. "Stop it, please!" I continued to plead. "Enough!" I lost my patience and started yelling hysterically to mask those horrendous sounds from reaching my vulnerable ears.

"Shadow, wake up!" I heard a feminine voice calling out just beside me and the moment I opened up my eyes, I was surprised that I was in my bed all along. My heart raced terribly inside my chest that if it weren't for my rib cage, it would have sprung out already.

'I…I'm awake…I'm finally awake!' was the first thing that came into my mind as I internally jumped for joy and noticed that I am completely drenched with my own sweat.

'That was the strangest nightmare I've ever encountered.'

Looking at my side, I was met with the sight of a bat with snow-like fur and teal eyes looking down at me with a pained expression drawn all over her face.

It was my wife and judging from her expression alone, something seems really wrong and it got me worried.

I sat upright and held her gently by the shoulders. "What's wrong, Rouge?" I asked but she just held her swollen belly as she winced in pain.

"I…I think my water just broke…"

What could Shadow's nightmare represent? Could that riddle have anything to do with his life?

A/N: Chapter 1 done. Thank you so much for reading. I am really thankful for your continued support.