So this is way long overdue and honestly, I forgot that I even wrote this. So what I do is I write in between my college classes and yeah. This is something I wrote in 2018 as a request for one of my friends. He wanted to see Sonic succumb to darkness and I decided to write that. So, I hope you and everybody else reading this enjoys.

A Hero's Fall

Sonic didn't know when it started.

He didn't understand what had changed.

And unfortunately… He didn't know if he could stop it.

It was almost unnoticeable at first, he would get slightly rougher with the Badniks or a little testier with Amy than usual. It wasn't like him at all.

But it just kept on getting worse and worse…

~A Hero's Fall~

A few months prior, Tails had tried to speak to him about him about it.

"Sonic…" The fox tentatively approached him.

"Yeah, bro?" Sonic grinned.

"Are you…" He paused, trying to find the right words. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Never better! Why?"

"Well…." He held the end of that at the tip of his tongue, still unsure of how exactly to put it. "You were a little more… rough on the Badniks than usual…"

He gestured to the land around him to show the busted robot parts scattered all over the place in odd directions, the indents in the ground from thee spindashes and homing attacks that had been done with a little too much fore and the trees that had been sawed in half by the aggressive nature of the supersonic hedgehog.

But Sonic brushed it off. "Eh… you know me. Always getting into trouble. Nothing out of the ordinary, buddy."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine."

Tails looked tentatively at his older brother and slowly nodded.

~A Hero's Fall~

"What the hell was that?!" Shadow snapped at him.

Sonic just shook his head. "What's wrong?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, idiot. Breaking the sound barrier in the middle of a city!"

"I had to!"

"No, you didn't!"

"Yes, I did!"

"You caused immeasurable destruction with that stupid stunt!"

"Eggman was getting away!"

"You're not this irresponsible!"

"Who cares?!"

"People could've died!"

"Well more would've if I didn't catch him when I did! For Chaos' sake, I didn't have another choice, Shadow!"

"You always say there's another choice!"

"Well, this time there wasn't!"

The Ultimate Life Form glared at the fastest thing alive for a long time, inspecting him, trying to see what was wrong with the fast footed hero. Sonic the Hedgehog was never like this, at least not in the years that Shadow had known him. Shadow knew him as a fool with an ego bigger than the amount of Chaos Energy he had packed into him. But he always respected him for his desire to help others and make sure everyone was safe even if it was in his own unorthodox way.

But what he saw before him today, he had zero respect for. The scowling hog with his back to him, brow furrowed, arms crossed and nose upturned in disgust was more like looking into a mirror than looking into the usually calm emerald eyes of the true blue hero and he hated it. Sonic was reckless but he wasn't stupid. Not where he would risk the lives of thousands in favor of catching the mad doctor or any reason for that matter. And this whole argument was different than his usual brand of immaturity. He was usually met with snarky remarks, dumb jokes and the coolest smirk the hog could muster not this foolish defensiveness that he was facing today.

Just what was the matter with him?

And that's when he felt it. Like a slap to the face or a bucket of ice cold water dumped on his head, he felt it.

"Y-your Chaos Energy-" Shadow stammered.

Sonic looked at him, raising an eyeridge.

"It's negative." Shadow stated.

Sonic brushed this off. "Please, you must be joking."

Shadow didn't stop glaring at him.

"Nothing's wrong!" Sonic yelled. "You guys keep moaning and groaning about something being wrong with me. But I'm fine! And right now, the only thing I care about is stopping Eggman."

With that, the hedgehog ran off, not uttering another word.

~A Hero's Fall~

"I have to admit Sonic," Eggman smiled. "I'm a little impressed."

"What are you talking about?" Sonic snapped back.

"Exactly that." Eggman laughed. "This new attitude you have lately."

"I don't have an attitude."

"Oh, but you do." Eggman insisted. "But even that's not the part I care too much about. Not really."

Sonic continued to glare at him.

"No, I am impressed that you've finally put all that power you've got to good use."

He then gestured to Metal Sonic who was missing an arm and a leg, had fire spilling out of the thruster on his back and was spazzing uncontrollably on the floor. The glass that made up his eyes had a spider web of cracks that if one squinted they could see his eye flickering between his usual irises, line of code and just emptiness.

"You took down Metal Sonic as soon as I called him out. I had heard rumors that you had turned to rage but seeing it up close? This is beyond what I ever could've imagined."

"I am not angry."

The Doctor laughed. "In all the years we've known each other and you think you can lie to me? I can read you just as easily as you can read me, you know? And even so, that unbridled rage is written all over your face. It's hilarious."

Sonic growled. "Cut the chatter, Eggman. You know why I'm here."

"Yes, but I'm going to keep talking. I just want to say that this is a good look for you, Sonic. We've always been two sides of the same coin, you and I. Playing this game of cat and mouse since you were a mere child. And now? Well, it seems we're more alike than you'd care to admit."

"I am nothing like you!"

"But you are. Using your rage and aggression to fuel you; using all the power at your fingertips to take the world and have it bow to your will. Who does that sound like to you?"

At that, he didn't even get an answer. Instead, his eggmobile shook and he was surprised to see his nemesis had clung onto it. He was so fast that he hadn't even seen him move. Just as quickly as he landed on it, he had grabbed Eggman by the collar of his shirt.

"Stop it!" The hedgehog snarled at him. "Stop all of it now!"

But the doctor simply laughed. "And this is exactly what I'm talking about. But stop? No. Not when I'm so close to attaining the ultimate power."

Sonic growled at him, pulling him even closer.

But the doctor was prepared for this and quickly punched a large yellow button on his console.

Immediately, thousands of volts of electricity jumped off of the hull of the pod and into the hedgehog's body. He could feel himself collapsing to the floor before everything went black.

~A Hero's Fall~

And now he stood on the day of his enemy's triumph watching as the world set ablaze and everything he knew and loved was destroyed. It was all his fault.

He looked on in his anger, in his rage, in his pure unbridled hatred at it all.

And he knew he had to be the one to stop it. And with that, he called upon the seven emeralds.

They appeared before him in a radiant flash of light. He dug deep, calling on the power within his heart and within the emeralds.

At that, his fur turned not to the comforting gold that those knew but to a spiteful obsidian; his eyes were not a righteous crimson but instead a soulless black void and his aura an ugly coal color instead of the powerful sun.

Darkness had taken the hero's heart and as he took in his new form, he couldn't help but be fueled by more hatred.

Dark Sonic had arrived and he wanted nothing more than revenge.

R&R