LC; Well this might be my greatest achievment to date.

Sonic; Your writing what you think my past might be, cool!

Tails; Sonic! You shouldn't be happy about this!

Sonic; Why not? Someone's finally recognizes my awesomeness!

Tails; You don't know?

Sonic; Don't know what?

LC; Your a girl in my fic!

Sonic;...WHAT!

LC; Yeah, I have this love of gender bending. I guess I should've warned you!

Sonic; Forget that! I'm outta here! *Fails*

LC; Sorry but you signed my contract. I am allowed to toy with you until further notice.

Tails; Sonic, why didn't you read it before signing it!

Sonic; Reading is too slow!

LC: And that is how illiteracy bites you in the butt ladies and gentlemen!

Disclaimer; I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog! He's too fast for me to catch him. I'm catching up though!

Chapter 1: Be Free to Run.

Years before the event that seperated Earth and Mobius, before the gene bombs wrecked so many lives and enhanced so many others, there was a period of magic and wonderment. Here on Earth, a being lived with great power. He had the power, to peer into the future, although he was in turn powerless to interfere in its procedings.

One day, he saw something very strange indeed. A young, blue, hedgehog like creature. She ran at speeds unimaginable in his time and was good of heart. He knew then and there that this girl would be the deciding factor in his world's future. Would they all be destroyed, or perhaps she would save them all. Time would only tell.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, who are you? What made you?" It was the latter question that sparked this story, the one I know write using quill and ink. I didn't always like Sonic, in fact I thought she was a reckless, selfish, thrill seeking, poor excuse for a warrior. I guess that tells you how time can change your perspective.

My name is Knuckles the Echidna, guardian for the Master Emerald, protector of Angel island. I am old, ancient in the tongues of my people. My son, Kahul, is shaping up to be a very fine guardian and I look forward to retiring and allowing him to take my position. Ironically, I am the first of the brotherhood to actually retire.

I have fought in many battles, spilled blood, and expierienced great love. I have led a good life and am not afraid to die. However, there is something I feel must be done before the world continues forward, before it forgets.

I am here to write the story of Sonic the Hedgehog, her life from birth to death. She is a hero, and all too many times have heroes become little more than legend. With her gone, I feel as though its my duty to tell the world that she was real. She was a mobian, like you and me! She lived, she loved, and she died for what she truly believed in. I don't want anyone to forget what she lost and gave and earned in the name of Mobius.

The Master Emerald heard my grief and has agreed to give me what none know and fewer seek. I am here to write her past, as stated before. The Emerald will show me how she lived and I shall tell her story to everyone. Especially her son.

Sonic was a bright blue hedgehog female, one who ran at the speed of sound, as implied by her nickname. She valued freedom above everything else and would gladly die for her friends and family. She saved our world and many others more times than I can count, and maybe more than I even know.

That is what everyone knows about her, now here is something you may not have known. Sonic's real name was Serina V. Hedgehog and she was born a normal, dull brown. A normal hedgehog.

Here is where it gets interesting.

"I think Serina is a beautiful name for a little hedgehog girl." The ram doctor complimented the bed bound Bernadette Hedgehog.

"Thank you, she's named for her great grandmother." The soft spoken female said.

The ram nodded and wrote the name on his chart before clipping it onto the bed of the new born hedgehog. Serina was the last of her litter and on the small side, though not a runt. Size didn't matter to hedgehogs though. All they really cared about was health and she was perfectly healthy.

Three days later the husband, Jules, brought his family home. Home being an intricate assortment of tunnels where the entire subteranion community lived. The hedgehogs lived next door to the gophers on one side, and the meerkats on the other.

"Welcome home mother!" James, a son from an earlier litter, called out.

"Are these our new brothers and sisters?" Delila, from the last litter, asked.

"Yes, now come meet Sonia, Charley, Christopher, and Serina." Bernadette said, holding out the four young'uns. Serina began to cry.

The first seven years of Serina's life were loud and fast paced. Despite her smaller size, she was the first of her litter to crawl, then walk. Talking did not come as easily but she mastered that in time as well. As soon as words were open to her and she was mobile, it seemed nothing could stop her.

She was energetic, prone to tears when others were hurt around her, and seemed far more independent than any other young hedgehog!

This, while likable in most other families, was looked down upon in their community. Hedgehogs should be quiet, easily frightened of new things, and slightly defensive. Serina however, was loud, curious, and thick skinned. She was a source of both exasperation and shame to her family.

"Its not your fault Bernadette, there's one in every family." Gary Gopher assured the mother during a visit one time, Serina sitting just a few feet away.

"She's still young, there may be hope yet for a cure." Serina did not think she was sick. She didn't understand why her family always pushed her to the backrooms when friends came over. She didn't know why her father would constantly ask her if she'd like to sit down and read for a bit. She didn't know why her mother alwats gave her less treats than her brothers and sisters, though she knew it had something to do with the sugar.

Serina sighed before politely asking to be excused. As soon as the relieved 'go ahead' was given, she escaped through the front door and continued her personal mission.

The tunnels of their community were long and winding. They were so long that it was unheard of for children to leave their homes without an accompanying adult. Serina however was the exception. She loved the freedom of travelling the dark, dirt paths.

This was one of the few pleasures she was allowed to indulge in. Her parents had taken a lot of convincing for them to accept that she could travel without risk of exhaustion. Somehow she felt that instead of the hoped for pride, her family was only more put off by her success.

That didn't matter at the moment though, because she was doing something she enjoyed doing. She did something out there, in the tunnels where no one would see and discourage her. Serina the Hedgehog ran.

Her arms spread out wide and the wind flowing through her quills, the rush of air in and out of her tiny chest and the pounding of her blood in her ears. The feeling of leaving behind all her worldly worries and fears, all her insecurities and frustrations in pleasing her family. All of that vanished with this feeling. Running was her dirty secret, her forbidden pleasure. She loved every step of it.

Stopping was always something she dreaded, ever since first running to the end of one hall. Every day she pushed herself a little further in an effort to stop time. She hated to stop running. She thought she was getting very good at it, but she doubted her parents and siblings would be happy for her.

She knew if they knew she was actually running that an end would be put on her lone trips. Serina could not bear the thought. Losing this small taste of freedom seemed to her a crime she could not forgive, and so she kept this her secret.

When she stopped that day, she had broken her previous record and made it all the way to the Badger's home! That was nearly a mile from her house!

Her little limbs shook with the effort of walking home, but running wasn't an option. She was too tired, hungry, and cold to run right now. Serina made it home just before dinner, but was last in line. She had to make due with just some mashed potatoes and gravy, a bun, and a glass of milk. She didn't get a cup cake, like the rest of her siblings.

Serina had a lot of (silent) complaints about her family. They were all too boring and quiet, they all looked through her like she wasn't there, and she never got a dessert. One thing she couldn't complain about though, was nighttime.

All the children slept together, all in one big room of pillows and blankets and warm bodies. Sometimes the younger ones would kick or cry out, but normally they were all huddled together in security and comfort. Serina loved to cuddle next to her brothers and sisters, feeling their warm breath on her skin as she slept in ease.

She especially loved being the last to fall asleep! Everyone else loved sleeping a whole lot, so they closed their eyes immediatly, but not her. Nights like tonight, when every little hedgehog was fast asleep except for her, she loved.

She would stay up for a while and listen for a weaning baby to cry and she would comfort it before it woke her parents. She figured for all the trouble they went through for her during the day, she could take care of the young'uns at night.

Sure enough, a youngster named Nathaniel began to whimper in fear. She quickly got up and plucked him up from his litter mates and softly cooed until he quietened and stopped trying to curl up. When he was sleeping again she placed him down and returned to her spot in the mound to sleep. Everytime someone whimpered or curled though, she got up and comforted them until they slept again.

She would never know, but her younger siblings admired her for that.

The next morning she went to school with the other children. They climbed the stairs with help from older siblings and parents in order to make it to the bus stop in time. To Serina's eyes there were a hundred buses waiting to pick them all up and drive them to school. Serina was now in second grade, and she didn't like school very much except for P.E. class.

She always made sure to get a window seat. She loved seeing how fast the landscape would blur by. One day she hoped she'd be able to go that fast. Maybe even faster!

"E-Excuse me, can I sit with you big sister?" Serina turned to see Elizabeth, she was only five and was just starting school.

"Go ahead Elizabeth." Another way she was different from the rest of her family, she always remembered all her siblings' names. There were so many children that most of them were addressed by age and gender, but she named them all by name.

"Thank you." The chestnut hedgehog girl said thankfully. She didn't have any friends yet. She knew that her big sister was different from the rest of them, but she didn't see it as a totally bad thing. Big sister knew when to be quiet and never asked for more food and even helped her when she was afraid of the dark. Elizabeth thought that big sister was probably the most well liked sibling among the newer generation.

She also always remembered Elizabeth's name, something her own mother never accomplished without a hint.

Serina sighed inwardly in contentment as she felt how fast the bus was moving. They were speeding through the roads and she wished she was running beside it. Maybe that should be her new goal, since just running in the halls was getting stale.

Yeah, first she'd figure out how far away the school was from home in miles! After that she would practice running with a timer until she could go that far. She'd get up early to train and everything! She bet she could do it wothin a year!

School ended quickly enough, Serina asked her teacher Mr. Bear how far away the school was from the subteranian community and learned it was twenty five miles. She was slightly discouraged by the number. She had just managed one mile, it would take a long time to get twenty five in a reasonable amount of time.

When Serina got home she was surprised to find that the Badger's had come for a visit, but took it in stride. After all, her parents never said no to her leaving whenever company was over. Although sometimes they made a show of sending an older sibling with her. She hoped they'd send James, he didn't mind her as much as the others and usually wandered off to do something else.

"Mama, may I go outside to play?" She asked politely, holding a book to her chest for show. Her parents liked it when she impled she'd be doing hedgehog activities whenever other people were around. So whenever company was over, she excuse herself by saying she would go outside to 'play' and then leave the book around the corner.

"Take Noah with you." She said dismissively, not even looking to see which child had asked. Serina winced inwardly at the name. Noah was one of the oldest siblings and was going to move out soon. More than that though, is that he always disliked her un-hedgehog likeness. He always made it his job to try and correct her about everything!

She obediently asked Noah to come out with her and he followed her to a large domed area. This is where the subteranian children came to play. There was a little library, some hammocks, blocks, and even a little food court incase the kids got hungry but couldn't make it back home.

Serina knew from seeing the school's playground that parks on the surface were a lot different. They had slides and swings, and teeter totters and round-abouts! Children were expected to run up there, she hoped one day to play up there.

"Why don't we go to the hammocks?" Noah asked without really asking in that obvious tone of his. The one he only used on her.

"Yessir." She mumbled quietly, keeping her head bent down and shuffling to the hammocks like a normal hedgehog. The only thing she liked about hammocks was that sometimes they swung a bit like a real swing.

Noah lifted her onto one without saying anything. He already knew that if she had her way she would make a big show about struggling to get on in order to purposely make it swing. He knew all her tricks. He sat behind her and she opened the book she had brought.

It was at least a favorite of her's, the only one she actually owned. It was Destiny Deer's Big Race. It was about a little fawn named Destiny and her being challenged to a race in order to save her family from the mean Borris Bear.

It wasn't a book normally seen with hedgehog children, Badger children were its more favorable fanbase. She had falllen in love with the book the moment she saw the word race on it. At least no one complained since she actually read it, like a normal kid would.

Noah eventually fell asleep and Serina took the oppurtunity to carefully climb out. The park was empty so she was able to run around until her legs and lungs ached or until Noah woke up. Whichever happened first, and if she was quiet, it would be the former.

It was only a short twenty minutes before her brother stirred though and she quickly strode to the blocks to make it look like she had gotten bored with reading. Blocks were pretty much the only toys they played with, since subteranian kids were normally very unenergetic.

Noah took her home and she managed to be fifth in line this time and got a cookie! Today was a pretty good day, even though she couldn't run for very long. She figured she had made some progress on her new goal though. She had found the distance, now she only had to make it!

Serina slept fitfully, waking often because Emily kept waking up from a nightmare. It was her first night without mama after all, so that was normal. Still though, Serina was so tired.

Days passed uneventfully. She found an excuse to stay after school on Mondays and Thursdays by joining a board game club. In a board game club they played with tons of games like chess, shougi, mahjong, snakes and ladders, candy land, and lots of others.

She always left halfway through the meetings though by telling the teacher that her parents didn't like her being away so long. A sibling would come and pick her up at the regular time of five at the parking lot though. This gave her time to run and play at the upper park. Now she could run for a longer time, though she wasn't sure about the distance yet. It didn't feel like twenty five miles.

It was just after her eight birthday that her world started to change faster than she could keep up with it. Her parents started looking more stressed and kept forgetting everyone's names. They didn't take as many visits anymore and never told her to be more hedgehog like anymore. At first Serina thought it was because they had given up on her but she soon learned it was the same for all of her siblings, even the youngest ones.

She knew it must have something to do with the surface, but she didn't know what or how it would affect her passive family.

Then the disappearings started. The first time she noticed it was when her teacher Mr. Bear was replaced with a Ms. Goat after three weeks of the new semester. The next was when her favorite uncle Charley stopped visiting every week and she didn't see him for a whole month. He was the only one who told her she didn't have to be more hedgehog like, only more Serina like.

Next to vanish was her biggest sister Angela. She asked her parents where Angela was at dinner and it led to a panicked, but still somehow lazy, head count. Angela wasn't there. Suddenly she wasn't allowed out alone anymore, nobody was! Even if they were almost an adult someone had to go with them! Serina got scared.

It was almost May when nobody came to pick her up from her club meeting. She waited a whole thirty minutes before starting the long trek home. She had bought a map and knew which way their community was in the village, so it shouldn't be too hard.

She made it home late that night. She had run a lot of the way but the mud weighed her down. The funny thing was she didn't think it had rained at all recently. The rains only came in winter but the ground was all muddy now! She hoped there wasn't any flooding from the river, her home was made of dirt after all!

It had flooded once and they had all been moved to the school, everyone from the subteranian community had to go until the ground was completely dry!

She entered the ground to find herself ankle deep in water. Her red and white shoes were all wet now but she didn't mind too much. It had flooded, which meant that her family and everyone else should be busy evacuating and saving valuables. She passed the Moles, but their hall was totally empty! She figured they were either already done and had left or that they were helping other people. The moles were a pretty small family so they often helped the large ones, despite their bad eyesight.

Not seeing the Meerkats worried her, especially as the water height had grown to her knees. The meerkats had a lot of little ones and would take even longer than her family to leave, but she hadn't seen anyone else yet. The door was closed, but it felt like water was coming from inside!

Hesitantly, because she knew it was rude to open the door unannounced, she opened it. Water came flooding out, knocking her down. She felt something hit her and when she managed to claw her way up to standing position again, she screamed.

The thing that hit her was a little meerkat. Now all of them were floating around in the hall, evem the adults! The water had risen to her waist. Serina was no longer scared, she was terrified.

She pushed and pulled and kicked her way to her hall but was absolutely horrified with the door closed and the water already up tp her chest. Nobody underground was a good swimmer, but hedgehogs didn't even float because of their spines!

"Plase! Please! Please! Please!" She panted, grabbing the doorknob. As soon as it was twisted she was pushed away as the hall was filled to the tippity top with water. Dear Ancients where was the air! She couldn't breathe! Couldn't swim! Couldn't see!

"Mama!" She cried helplessly before being pulled under. The water pressed in from all over and she felt like she was being squished. She couldn't tell which way was up and which down anymore, but she certainly felt it when their living room coffee table floated up next to her.

She grabbed to it as her only life line but it only took her so far. The water kept coming and there was no way out! She could see bodies floating around her all over! Dear Ancients that was Elizabeth and she wasn't moving!

It felt like hours but suddeny she felt the Earth above her and began to instinctively dig. The water followed her but she kept digging. She knew they weren't very far down from the surface, maybe she could make it!

It turned out she didn't have to, the water pressure did it for her. It sprayed upwards, tossing her into the air and bringing her back down again all to fast!

It felt like the water was trying to drag her down but she kicked and fought, thinking only one thing. She wanted to run again! She had to feel that feeling and keep moving forward! She wanted to keep running and never stop!

"I want...to LIVE!" She screamed finally, putting everything she felt into that last word.

Maybe the Ancients heard her, maybe they didn't, but she survived that flood. She survived, but not unmarked. After that day she never approached water without feeling afraid and seeing floating bodies, though their shapes changed all the time.

When she woke up, her first thought was that she was cold. Her second was she was wet. Her third was that she must've slept in because she felt the sun. Her fourth was that she could feel the sun.

Serina's eyes sprang open and it was like a scene from the legendary Zone of Silence, or at least how she pictured it based on the discription. It was raining fire and brimstone and there was ash in the air. People screamed in every direction, and the sun's heat wasn't really the sun but the fires raging all around her.

She heard crying nearby and numbly stood to investigate. It was a little Fox boy, probably only three years old. Foxes and Hedgehogs normally didn't associate, despite both living underground, but she was never a normal hedgehog. She walked over to the little fox, who she realized was strange too. He had two tails.

She didn't know his name, and didn't know how to comfort a little fox, but admist all the death and fire she could not leave him. Not next to the red stained fox parents next to him.

"Hey Tails, don't cry okay?" She tried, making up a little name for the kit until she figured out his real one. She picked him up, he was heavy, and bounced him up and down. She didn't smile, she wasn't sure she could, but she talked with a happy tone to try and soothe his spirits.

"Hey look, there's a couple kids alive!" The voice was strange, it didn't sound natural somehow. Serina, to her credit, did not freeze. She slowly turned and saw a thing from a nightmare. It's silvery body reflected the flames and its big mouth glistened with fangs. It's claws were gruesome and covered in dripping blood.

She didn't fear for her life, in fact she had begun to doubt she was still alive, but she feared for Tails' life.

She turned and ran. She kept Tails as sheltered in her arms as she could as she heard the clunk of the robot following her. She didn't stop, only ran faster and faster until her heart was fit to burst. Her limbs began to shake with the effort of carrying both of them but instead of collapsing or dropping the fox, she ran.

Her breathing grew raggered and her steps faltered more than once but she didn't slow down. She passed by burning buildings and saw others running for their lives. An older rabbit was zig zagging as another robot chased him and he was doing pretty good at avoiding injury.

She stopped thinking and just ran when the robot began to swipe at her. She had slowed without thinking about it but now she pushed herself even harder. She felt something starting to circulate her body and she felt better than before, more energetic than ever and she sped up even more. She was neck and neck with a young cat woman carrying a kitten in its mouth and running on all fours.

Tails had stopped crying but kept making strange warning sounds, she guessed he wasn't sure about a lot of words but he seemed calmer than before and was at least helping. He would scream louder whenever the robot got too close she noticed.

Serina wasn't sure where she was running, only that it was away. She saw the cat woman stagger again and again but couldn't do anything to help, she already had too much of a load. The robot behind them swiped again and caught the cat on her back legs. The woman lurched forward painfully and tossed a look her way.

"Toss him to me!" She wasn't sure what she was thinking. She couldn't possibly carry the kitten and Tails! Still, she found one arm reaching out when the cat woman let go of her kitten.

"His name is Ashten!" The woman called to her. Serina hefted the kitten into her arms and made Tails hold him. Behind her, the cat turned around and charged the robot to buy time.

Serina knew that the cat woman died that day, but she couldn't do anything about it. All she could do was carry the infant kitten and the three year old Tails and pray she could keep running.

Serina found herself racing a train. She had seen it through the corner of her eye passed some buildings and she made a turn without thinking. The train was filled with people fleeing the massacre.

"Hurry child! You can make it!" An elderly owl woman urged her, reaching a wing out to try and grab her hand. Serina puton a burst of speed then tossed the kitten.

"His name is Ashten!" She found herself repeating. Why was a name so important anyway?

She felt Tails grip harder, he must've realized what she was trying to do. She didn't care and ripped him from her arms. She tossed him with all her strength to the owl woman. She caught him.

She tried to catch up, she really tried. Her legs couldn't keep up though and she began to fall behind. She heard the clunk of the robot behind her again. The cat woman had bought her son time to escape, but it looked like Serina wouldn't get away.

"Faster child! Just a little farther!" A man encouraged her. She recognized him as a gopher and found tears of relief pouring from her eyes.

"Come on!" "Hurry!" "Just reach out and take my hand!" She pumped her legs for all she was worth, and then she jumped.

Her hand ghosted over the railing and she was certain she wouldn't have made it if the people hadn't grabbed her dress. She did make it though, and she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding.

On the fast moving train she turned around and saw the robot. Oh Ancients the cat woman's paw was hanging out of its grizzly maw!

It was catching up to the train. Serina sobbed, wondering if they'd get away. She was almost ready to give up, she almost reached out to let the monster take her. Then she remembered.

Tails was on this train. The kitten Ashten was on this train. The elderly owl was on this train. So was the gopher, so were so many others too. They were on this train with her and if that robot caught up with the train, they would all die.

Something in Serina snapped.

"I'll gobble you all up!" The robot shouted.

"How about a knuckle sandwhich instead!" She shouted, louder than she ever had. She put a foot on the rail and shoved off. She landed her left foot right between it's ugly eyes and the momentum of her push knocked him down, hard.

She saw him crumple with the force and noted in a detached manner that she may have sprained her ankle. Slowly, she turned to the speeding train, where everyone was staring at her in shock.

She lifted a hand, and waved.

END OF THE CHAPTER AND I THINK IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME SO NNGH!

LC; Yeah, that was a good chapter.

Sonic; That's not what happened!

Tails; Yeah!

LC; It is in my dreams! And this is fanfiction, so I can write whatever I want!

Sonic; Why is Knuckles writing my story?

LC; I like Knuckles, he has potential to be badarse!