Hi, this is my first fanfiction so sorry about any mistakes with grammar or spelling. please review.

PROLOUGE

He looked around.

What? What was happening? His eardrums threatened to burst as the thundering cheers of the crowd, his friends and the constant humming of the X Tornado deafened him. And yet, there were a blur, a hazy noise echoing in his ears. He had no memory of what he just did despite doing it less than five minutes ago. Was that why they were cheering? Because of whatever it was he did?

Sonic jumped slightly as a breeze brushed passed him. He turned to face his brother and hot-headed friend as the wheels of the Tornado skidded across the roof of the sky scraper before stopping beside the blue, puzzled hedgehog. The echidna leapt off the wing and patted Sonic's back, chuckling with a grin plastered on his face. The twin-tailed kitsune flew down from the pilot's seat, hugging his friend tightly.

Both were completely oblivious.

Both were clueless.

Both had no idea.

"…..Sonic! That wasn't funny! You could've died!" cried his best friend. The eight-year-old's arms wrapped around the speed demon's torso, burying his face into his chest as tears spilled. Died? Sonic hugged the fox back. He could've died? As he had missed the beginning of the mechanic's sentence, he had no clue what happened.

"Shhh, Tails. It's okay; I'm okay," he soothed. A minute or two later, Tails reluctantly moved from his arms, wiping his eyes and smiling.

"I was worried, we were all worried...especially Amy. She wants to see you. In fact, I'll bring her!" he said, racing to the plane, "C'mon, Knuckles!"

The two clambered in the plane and flew down. Sonic looked at them before gazing at the sky, feeling his quick, shallow breaths escape him. It was blurry. He was dizzy. He stumbled, balancing on the edge of the sky scraper. The cheers were replaced by gasps. Sonic looked down. The people were dots. He staggered uncontrollably as he felt his consciousness snatched away from him. No one could save him. He couldn't save himself. The last thing he saw before black was the sky. The cloudless sky. Before he fell. And fell. And fell.

CHAPTER 1: IT'S A MASK

"Erm…. I think that's it," she said, grabbing the basket and heading for the door. Amy stood still for a moment, staring at it as if it had said something she didn't know how to react to. She placed the basket on the floor and clasped her hands together. Her eyebrows furrowed as she closed her eyes tightly.

"Oh, please let him come today," she pleaded to herself, "Please,"

She recalled the last time they were all going to have a picnic, even Shadow and Rouge came (though the black hedgehog was muttering darkly that the bat forced him out of bed and that she had only wanted to go to see Knuckles). It had been a beautiful day with summer creeping over the fresh grass at Green Hill, the birds twittering excitedly as the mobians unpacked the food. Sandwiches, chilli dogs, cakes, and cookies; all freshly home-made by Amy, Vanilla and Cream. However, she just realised, her beloved Sonic, who arrived incredibly late (which was strange), hadn't even touched his chilli dogs. As she looked back, she remembered the confused looks Tails, Knuckles and Shadow also gave him. That was completely unlike the blue hedgehog.

Shaking her head to clear it, Amy picked up the basket and ran to the same picnic destination they had chosen. The pinkette didn't live far from Green Hill.

The heat caused her face to turn a shade of pink just lighter than her fur, but the gentle breeze that graced Mobius cooled her down. When the pinkette arrived, out of breath like Tails, Cream and Cheese who had been chasing each other, she was delighted to see everyone already there. Scanning around, she saw everyone was busy: Rouge was, obviously, teasing Knuckles and Shadow was stood, arms crossed and eyes closed with his back to a tree, this came as no surprise. But what did was the blue blur slumped at the foot of a large tree, hidden in the shade and quiet. Quiet, Shadow knew, never matched with Sonic. Never. So why now?

He had been watching the hedgehog for several minutes, noting the slight differences that only he, Knuckles, Amy and Tails seemed to notice. Clearly Vector, Espio and Charmy, who were all sat talking about random things (Vanilla in Vector's case), hadn't noticed, and neither had the rabbits nor Rouge. But what was wrong with Sonic and why, Shadow would never know. Again, like last time, the speed demon hadn't touched his chilli dogs, claiming with a toothy grin that he wasn't hungry. In fact, instead of preventing concern from his four closest friends as he was seemingly trying to do, his statement created the exact opposite effect. Sonic would never give up a chilli dog. Seeing the worried expressions on the other mobians' faces (Amy, Knuckles, Tails) Shadow nodded to them, earning one from each in reply. The plan was set.

The thin line of pink hovered above the horizon, spilling out different shades of orange as the colours splattered around. The still cloudless sky gave deep, sinking feelings to the four mobians who sat upon the grass of Green Hill. All the other animals were gone: leaving Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow and Amy to gaze at the setting sun. Any minute, Tails thought, and they would find out what was wrong with his best friend. He turned to Amy, who turned to Knuckles, who turned to Shadow, who nodded. They all turned back to each other, silently, with mouths shut, nodding. Tails caught the signal and faced Sonic.

"So…erm-Sonic?" he asked

"Yeah?"

Tails looked back at the others, all of whom nodded and gestured to him to carry on, eyes wide

"Uh, I was wondering, why, uh, you didn't eat your chilli dog, I-I mean, you never leave a chilli dog to waste," he said quickly, adding that last sentence so as not to make him suspicious.

No reply.

"Sonic?" Knuckles tried, "What's going on? You haven't been yourself lately."

"What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine and perfectly normal; so what do you mean, I haven't been myself lately?" the blue hedgehog asked in slight anger, finally snatching his emerald eyes away from the sky only to bore them into his friend's. "What do you mean?"

All four mobians were slightly taken aback at the speed demon's words, but that wasn't what had affected them most. It was the irritable anger desperately concealed in his words. Even Shadow had his share of the slight surprise.

"N-nothing, we- I just- I didn't mean-"

The blue blur snapped.

He stood up and faced his friends, eyes narrowed in aggravated rage. "What did you not mean?" he asked, "And, what do you mean, 'NOT MYSELF?!'"He roared angrily at them, either not noticing their puzzled, surprised and terrified faces or just ignoring them. "I AM SICK OF YOU GUYS SAYING THAT I'M, 'NOT MYSELF!' I KNOW WHAT I AM AND I KNOW THAT I AM FINE! NOTHING, NOTHING IS WRONG WITH ME, GOT IT?!"

His friends cringed back. Sonic had never shouted them and never again do they want to be shouted at, but his anger just made them want to help him more. During his outburst, the mobians had noticed his quills rising a bit and his fur turning just a bit darker. That was enough to confirm it.

Clearly, the speed demon was annoyed. Clearly, something other than their questions was causing that. Clearly, his happiness these last few weeks had been a mask…