Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Honestly, you’re not quite sure what led you here. Even as you run through it over and over again in your head, it doesn’t make any more sense. If anything, you understand it even less. 

You remember getting out of bed and brushing your teeth… You had a fever for the last few days, but you took your temperature again, and you were back to normal. You had a weird dream last night, not in the “whoa, this movie character just had a vision of the future that they’re totally going to ignore”  way, but in the “what the hell kind of fever did I have to produce that trippy garbage” way. 

You went to work… You came home, but even though you didn’t feel sick anymore, you still felt slightly “off”. (In hindsight, you guess that could’ve been a premonition of sorts; but, how unbelievably cliche would that be? What, you weren’t at 100% after being sick, so you should’ve predicted some magical bullshit was going to happen to you? Bullshit.)

So, since you felt slightly “off”, you looked out the window, saw the daylight, and thought to yourself, “You know what? Maybe I’ll take a walk before it gets dark. It might help me feel a bit better.” 

You remember grabbing your keys and opening the front door. 

And that’s the last thing that you remember before everything abruptly went to hell. 

Frozen.

Lights. 

Yellow, pink, yellow, white, neon… Flashing and moving all at once. 

Faster than you could comprehend, glimmering, sparkling, and blinding, all at once. 

Blinking. Flickering. Blinding. 

Like ten thousand gems were embedded in the walls in all directions, and every single one of them was refracting light directly into you. 

Not just into your eyes; a reverberating sensation, too vast and too overstimulating to even begin to comprehend, let alone understand, what you were experiencing. 

It would be beautiful, if it wasn’t by far the most excruciating thing you’d ever experienced. 

Pain. 

Tearing from your insides.

Were you bleeding? Were you dying? You couldn’t see your body. Were you even seeing? 

Sensations ripped through you, as though claws had ripped through your middle, skin and flesh unraveling. Burning, searing. 

All at once, it felt as though your body was falling apart. 

You couldn’t think, or hear; but if you’d been capable of it, then you’d certainly be screaming, not that you could tell either way. 

On a level beyond your ability to comprehend, from whatever core you had left, you felt a concrete sense of absolute certainty: 

You are going to die.

Please, make it stop, your scrambled mind managed to force to the surface. 

The intensity of the sensations running through you defied all comprehension; under normal circumstances, you’d be unconscious by now, and free from the pain. But the unnatural nature of whatever was happening to you seemed to be keeping that at bay, forcing your continued awareness. 

The sensation of tearing was spreading, lightning fast, as though you were being ripped from the inside out. 

Pieces of your essence, slithering and falling away. 

You felt your head and mind unraveling, falling to pieces, pulling away. You’d claw at your face if you could. Desperate to shield yourself from the end. 

MAKE IT STOP!!!!!! 

Thud.

… 

… 

…

Silence. 

All at once. 

You felt yourself catching your breath. Breath? Oh, thank God, you were still breathing. 

The sensation of a gentle breeze brushing over you, if you were in the mind to process it, would have also assured you that your body was intact. 

A numbing, dull pounding ran through your body… Never had your own heartbeat been so soothing. The sudden catharsis was utterly consuming; already, you could feel yourself slipping away to unconsciousness, and instinctively, gladly welcomed it. 

Soft… wonderful… 

…Comforting… 

… 

Thud. 

A shudder ran through you, and you abruptly sucked in a gasp, sending a shockwave of adrenaline through your body, and your body jerked itself upright, eyes snapping open. Open? Oh, they were closed. 

Your half-comprehending gaze drifted across your surroundings, first over your own legs (still there), then over the grass (oh), then to your hands (clutching the dirt so tight that it was digging into your nails), before it suddenly dawned on you. 

What the hell just happened?  

You raised your hands to your face, looking over them with new awareness—slightly dirty, but still there. 

Stunned, you lowered your head to rest on your hands, feeling your hair and skin across your own fingers, and stared blankly at your lap. 

You replayed the events you’d just experienced in your head, only becoming more baffled as you thought about it more. Quickly glancing left and right, you noted the grass surrounding you and the unfamiliar surroundings, and became more and more certain that you understood absolutely nothing. 

You staggered to your feet, almost falling over yourself as you did so, but distantly noted that your body felt phantom shivers of where the pain had once been, but was otherwise in perfect condition. If anything, your body felt better than usual, save for the state of utter shock your mind was currently experiencing. 

Did I… die? your brain managed to produce, but you quickly batted the thought away, feeling the definitely very real sensation of clothes and sweat sticking to your body, and the pounding of your heartbeat. 

Another fever dream? you thought, utter bafflement rising through your body as you wildly looked around. But that doesn’t explain how I got here?? 

Was I drugged??? The tone of your internal confusion was only rising. I… I don’t remember, but it’s the only thing that… What the hell kind of drug did they give me? Your brain wracked through the faint memory of drugs. Fentanyl? No, I don’t think… What the hell was that drug I read about that causes extreme pain and hallucinations? Article… There was something… I can’t… 

You wracked your brain to produce the name, but for the life of you it wouldn’t come. Finally, you gave up and slapped your hands to your thighs in frustration, only to—

CRSSSHHHHH! 

You whirled around to the source of the noise, only to see—holy shit, is that a plane?? And was it exploding??!?!

Roughly a few hundred feet away, an absolutely massive red structure had come crashing out of the sky, and it was definitely currently exploding. 

Right. Welp. 

Understanding could come later. 

Right now you were going to run the fuck away. 

Painfully slowly for your liking, you managed to pull yourself out of your reverie, and after a brief stumble over your own feet, you were booking it.

The sound of your labored breathing was quickly overtaken by another BMMMMMMMMMMKSHHHH, followed by shrill whistling, and you pushed yourself even harder, definitely hearing and feeling that stuff coming off the explosion was coming closer. 

“Holy shit,” you gasped out. 

BMMM, KSSSHH, sheEEEE—  

“Holy shit holy shit HOLY SHIIIIT!!!” 

The cacophony of noises was getting closer, and out of your periphery, you could see what could only be debris flying, almost keeping pace with you where they landed. Flashes of reds, blacks, yellows, and a speck of blue registered in your brain, but you had absolutely no time to identify what sorts of debris was chasing you as you continued to push yourself even faster, if it was even possible. Finally, something landed too close behind you, and with a deafening BOOMMM, you went flying. 

Head over heels—

—Heels over head—

—Limbs flailing as you tumbled and flailed in the air, feeling bits of rubble pelting your back as you flew. 

You braced yourself for impact against the ground. 

THUD. 

Loud scraping noises filled your ears as your body tumbled uselessly over itself, completely out of your control, spinning over and over as you fully lost the ability to see your surroundings. 

Tumbling… 

Rolling… 

Rolling… 

…Stop. 

You panted heavily, though your ears were ringing, so you could barely hear yourself. 

Holy shit, I’m alive? you thought, laying blankly as you struggled to regain your senses. 

“What, a human?!? ” 

An incredulous voice came booming out around you, echoing as though through a megaphone of sorts. You jumped a bit, and a part of your brain marveled at the fact that there was somehow a living person around after all of that; but though you scrambled to get to your feet, a cold, massive, metallic object wrapped around you before you could so much as crawl, and then your head was spinning again. The world whipped around you as your body was raised high in the air against your will. 

“…Oh, well. I can improvise.” 

You managed to (yet again) regain your senses just enough to understand that a giant robotic hand was holding you, and you were being dangled in a tight fist in front of… something out of your line of sight. 

“One move and the girl gets it!” 

You heard a startled shout from a different male voice, much quieter and distant than this loudspeaker one. 

“Now—AGGGHHH!” 

Another boom went off, and the giant machine spun around back in the direction it’d come from, with you in its hand; only for a deafening metal-slicing sound to happen right next to your ear, and you were falling. 

“Gotcha!” 

Hands grasped you firmly, and you blinked furiously as you were falling through the air, eyes stinging. You could feel a warm body holding you tightly, and could see blue in your periphery as the world rushed past.

You braced yourself for a painful impact, but it never came. Instead, a loud thud echoed around you, and though you were dizzy reeling from the sudden stop, you were otherwise untouched. 

You heard distant explosions, but, to be honest, after all the bullshit you’d just experienced, you couldn’t be bothered to so much as wonder what was causing them, much less attempt to look. Instead, you hung there, limp, somewhere between a dead fish and a ragdoll, completely surrendering in the arms of… something. 

The arms holding you shifted, and you were slowly placed on the ground, stumbling a bit as you regained your footing. “Hey,” the masculine voice from before spoke behind you. “Are you okay?” 

Though you were in a daze, your mouth started moving on its own as you quickly attempted to gain composure. “Oh, yeah, I’m…” You turned around. “...fine…” 

Oh god.

You once again found yourself dumbfounded, pondering the events that had led you to this moment. 

Well, it was certain now. 

Nothing else makes sense. 

You were dead. Or, heavily drugged. Or, in some sort of hallucinogenic purgatory. 

There really was no other logical explanation. 

After all, as far as you could remember, you were a normal human, doing normal human things in the real world, just as recently as a few hours ago.

So… You’d love an explanation. Could anyone give one? Hello? Universe? 

Please? 

Why the hell was the iconic, meme-ridden, video game character Sonic the fucking Hedgehog standing next to you?

Chapter Text

You almost collapsed.

“Whoa!” 

Hands that were frankly completely disproportionate grasped you and kept you (mostly) upright. 

Well, as much as an approximately-3-foot creature could possibly do so. 

Ha. Ha.

Holy shit. 

“You sure don’t look fine.” Distantly, you heard the sound of, once again, Sonic the FUCKING Hedgehog laughing a little, and the surrealness of the situation made you join in. 

“Ha, ha, yeah. You know what? You’re right.” You, somewhat jerkily, straightened yourself, a painful grin growing on your face from the sheer mind-numbing hysteria you were currently entering into. You point-blank refused to look directly at him. “I think… I might be dying. Or dead. Or, about to die.” 

“Weren’t two of those the same thi—Uh oh.” 

Hands abruptly grabbed you again, harder this time, and it wasn’t until that moment that you realized you were falling over again. “Oh. Sorry,” you mumbled, awkwardly shuffling in an attempt to right yourself again, but this time you were scooped off your feet instead. 

“Yeeaaah, sorry, you don’t look at all capable of walking right now. You’re not going anywhere.” 

You huffed lightly. “I—I think I’ve got it now, actually,” you mumbled, squirming a little, but he didn’t budge. “Really, I can…” You trailed off, knowing that you were absolutely not convincing anyone of anything right now. 

“Hey, don’t sweat it. I’ll figure this out.” In your periphery, you saw Sonic looking up to the sky past you, though at what you couldn’t imagine. “Thankfully, seems like Egghead’s outta here already, so that’s one problem solved.” 

“Egghead…” you repeated, the incredulity ironically keeping your voice much more muted than you would be otherwise. 

“Oh, sorry, Eggman. Yeah, it was crazy, whew! I just took down his new ‘prototype’. Yeah, so I was fighting him off of some sort of ‘experiment’ agai—” 

You abruptly burst into tears.

“Whoa! Hey, hey, it’s okay! Look, I’ve got everything under control. He’s already gone, see? I’m here. Everything’ll be okay.” 

You weren’t quite sure if you were laughing or sobbing (mostly the latter, probably), but the humiliation of being held and shooshed like a baby was only really counteracted by the surrealness of Sonic the fucking Hedgehog being the one to do it. You slowly piped down, occasionally still hiccuping as tears ran messily down your face.

“Okay, okay, easy. See? Everything’s fine,” he continued to reassure you, completely oblivious to the fact that he was definitely part of the reason you were crying to begin with. “Look, I’ll help you get patched up and you can get back on your way, okay?” 

You hiccuped again. “Howww, thooouuughh… ” you moaned, covering your face with your hands. 

Fuck the humiliation of the situation, you were in hell. You had a right to cry like a baby. 

“Ssshh, I’ve got some bandages, so—” 

“Nooo, not that!” you moaned louder, burying your face into your now-soaking, dirty hands. “I don’t even know how I got here! And—and I think I fucking died on my way here!” 

“You’re not dead, ma’am.” His voice had shifted to sounding very much like scolding a petulant child. 

You sniffled. 

“P–please don’t call me ma’am, I’m not that old…” you managed out weakly. 

You could feel him heave a heavy sigh, and abruptly the shame over your current behavior returned to you, partially cutting through the hysteria and disbelief. 

“S–Sorry…” you whimpered quietly, shrinking as far away as his grip would let you. 

“It’s fine,” Sonic responded, and you felt him carrying you somewhere. You sucked in a quivering breath, attempting to steady yourself. “...So, if you don’t want to be called ‘ma’am’,” he began in a more light-hearted tone, “What name should I be calling you, then?” 

You sniffed again, and blinked a couple times. “Oh, I… I’m (y/n),” you said quietly, meekly looking down at yourself.

“Great.” His voice sounded half-sarcastic, half-relieved. “I’m Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. But you probably already knew that, huh?” 

You fell silent, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that, yes, you absolutely knew who Sonic the fucking Hedgehog was. 

He gently set you down on the grass, and you obediently followed his movements, staring blankly. He reached behind him and pulled out some bandages—wait. 

“Wh—where the hell did you get those from?” you blurted out before you could stop yourself, immediately feeling shame for your outburst, but he just froze and looked at you strangely.

“Uh, pocket space?” Sonic responded, sounding incredulous. “Are you sure you’re okay?” 

“…No,” you said flatly, and went back to staring as he reached out to—

Oh. 

“I’m bleeding,” you said lamely, looking at your thoroughly scraped up body, torn shirt, numerous bruises, and most importantly, the multiple bleeding gashes running across your body. 

“Took you long enough to notice,” he retorted, shaking his head slightly as he started rolling the medical bandage over your torso. “Thankfully, it’s not too deep, so as long as you get back wherever you came from and rest a while, you should be fine. Though, you probably have a concussion.” You saw him look you up and down again. “Actually, you definitely have a concussion.” 

“…Uh.” 

Your head had started reeling after something he said.

The reality of the situation was pressing down on you uncomfortably quickly now. 

You needed to tell him. You had to. 

“So, don’t go to sleep for a while, and make sure to get a follow up with a doctor—” 

“I—I don’t know where that is.” You stumbled over your own tongue trying to get out the words. 

“Don’t know where what is? A doctor?” he asked, not even bothering to look at you as he continued his work. 

“…Where I came from,” you said flatly, and he fully stopped and stared at you. 

“…What?” he responded incredulously, tying down the bandage he was working on before turning to stare at you. 

“…I think… I don’t know how I got here. Orrr, even where here is.” You felt yourself start laughing nervously, and you held your head as it started spinning again. “Iiii… know you said I’m not dead, and, uh, I know I’m not dead, but, I think I almost died. Like. For a little bit. I was—” 

A loud, ear-piercing screech reverberated through the air, and you flinched and tried to cover your ears as you saw Sonic’s head shoot up out of the corner of your eye. You heard him curse under his breath as he stood up. 

“Shit.” 

He leaned over and scooped you up into his arms again. “Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but it looks like the party’s back. I’m gonna have to head off.” 

A growing panic crept up your chest, and you gasped as he pinned you by the back of your head against his chest and he took off. 

Extreme vertigo instantly took over your body, and it took everything you had just to stay still; but all at once it was over, and he was setting you down under a tree. 

“Stay here, and if any of them come this way, start running.” 

“Wha—wai—!” 

You reached out towards him, but he was already vanishing in a blue streak, and then he was gone. 

You felt your heart pounding, and you held your chest and started breathing deeply. 

“Okay… Okay. Everything is fine,” you muttered to yourself. “Yeah, okayyy, that was fucking Sonic, but everything is fine, and you’re maybe not going crazy, and everything is going to be okay —” 

Another ear-piercing screech reverberated through the air, and you looked around as you slowly staggered upright, using the tree for support. 

Off in the distance, in the sky, you could see a black cloud of… something swarming down from the sky, pieces of it tearing off and gliding towards the ground. You stared.

“God, what the hell is that,” you mumbled to yourself, then held your pounding head and leaned back against the tree. You looked around yourself, seeing the other trees in the forest around you, and ducked further under the cover of nature. You heaved a sigh.

“Well, at least it’s not my problem,” you muttered, closing your eyes and contemplating the blue… animal… person(?) you were just speaking to a minute ago. 

A bona fide “hero”. An honest-to-God savior of worlds. The “fastest thing alive”. 

And, most importantly, a fucking video game character. 

You shuddered and pushed back up against the greenery, before exhaling softly. 

“At least, it sounds like he’s coming back after he’s done,” you said out loud. “Unless he gets caught up in whatever that is and can’t. In that case, I’ll just… wander off until I find something to help myself with, I guess.” 

A plan. 

Yes. 

Not much of a plan, but at least it was something … the bare minimum to hold onto in this crazy, nonsensical world.

For the first time since you’d regained consciousness from whatever that senses-destroying nightmare was just a little while ago, you felt yourself start to relax. 

Breathe. 

“REEEEEEEEEEE—”

You opened your eyes again, and straightened somewhat. 

It sounded closer than it had before. 

Uneasily, you peeked out from under the forest cover, but try as you might, you couldn’t see where the black cloud had gone. Slowly, carefully, you crept backward; your breathing hitched, and you cautiously slid further into the cover of the trees. 

“It’s alright,” you murmured even more quietly to yourself as you slowly meandered further into the brush, the tone sending little waves of comfort through your chest. “It’s alright, it’s okay. They’re not after me, they’re after Sonic. There’s no reason to think they’d come this way. He probably left to get them in the opposite direction before fighting them. Yeah, that makes sense. Right? I’m not even involved; I literally just got here. Yeah. It’s okay. It’s fine. It’s okay…” 

“REEEEEEEEEEE— ”

Shit.

You held onto your bandaged side and took off running. 

Running through a forest is much more difficult than through an open field, like you were in a minute ago; and while it was much less immediately desperate than running from an active explosion, it was much more terrifying suddenly knowing you were being chased by something that might be targeting you, that you could not see. 

You weaved through the trees and branches as best as you could, groaning as your adrenaline was most certainly not helping you forget all the bumps and bruises you had anymore.

Shoes pounding against the ground, you found yourself thanking whatever deity existed in this universe that you, at least, had not lost your shoes on the way. 

At least, that’s what you were doing, before you felt something sharp tear into the back of your shirt as a tree fell behind you. 

Shit. 

“SHIIIIIIIIT! ” you screeched, hurtling yourself over the shrubbery and branches in your way as the thing behind you grazed your skin. You rolled across the dirt, stumbled, but managed to keep going while hardly slowing as the creature(?) let out another deafening noise.

Gasping for air, your thoughts raced while you ran. Why? Why is this happening to me? What the hell happened? What the hell is CHASING me? Why the HELL—

You yelped as your foot caught on something it couldn’t break through and you tumbled painfully over yourself. Fighting through it, you tried to keep going, but a loud crack of another tree being toppled over behind you sent your heart dropping to your stomach. You attempted to crawl forward, but a smaller tree landing on the back of your calves made you gasp. 

Shit. 

This was the end. 

What a chaotic, confusing, stupid way to die. 

And the worst part is, you’d never even know why this bullshit happened to you! 

You could hear cracking sounds of something forcing its way through the trees, and could almost feel it about to tear you apart—

A sharp whistling sound. 

And then suddenly, you were being pulled out from under the tree, and you were in newly-familiar arms again. 

Relief. 

Pure, wordless relief. 

“THEY’RE AFTER YOU?!” you heard him yell incredulously as he expertly weaved and jumped through the trees, and you snapped back to reality. 

“I DON’T KNOW!” you cried, quickly covering your face after getting painfully whipped by some passing branch.

“SORRY!” 

“I’m FINE! Just RUN!” 

You felt him grunt and increase his speed, and proceeded to quickly lose all ability to grasp what sorts of moves he was making as overwhelming dizziness and vertigo consumed your senses. Distantly, you thought, Well, this can’t be good for my concussion, but you weren’t able to reflect on that for very long before getting pulled into another series of flips and turns. 

Finally, you heard a gasp of relief, and you felt a surge of movement; and all at once, the constant pelting of little things against your body was over, and you felt him land and skid to a halt. “Finally,” he said, the smirk evident in his voice, and you were once again placed on the ground, too dazed to react. The sound of rubble and rocks screeching against sneakers filled the air, and you heard him say, “You ready to rumble, whatever you are?” 

And, finally, you managed to get a look at what's been chasing you. 

A strange, black and murky creature, with dots of glowing white eyes and a mouth; and though it reminded you, distantly, of the Dark Gaia creatures from Sonic Unleashed, these things were oozing and steaming apart, as though their very bodies were made of ink and oil, and they were evaporating as you looked at it. 

A couple more, smaller black creatures rose behind the other one; but that was the last thing you saw before a blur of blur glided across your vision, tearing through the strange black creatures one after another, all in one go, and he expertly slid to a halt. 

Plop. 

Nasty bits of the black creatures squelched across the ground, pattering all at once like some sort of sludgy rain. Part of you wanted to gag, but, stunned, all you could manage to do was slowly raise to your feet, inching away from the tar.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Sonic stand again and straighten; he seemed to effortlessly shake off what remained of the goo-like substance. You expected it all to sit there, looking grotesque and clumpy across the ground; but instead, as you watched, it started evaporating into thin air, until it slowly disappeared entirely. 

“Alright!” Sonic cheered, smugly spinning in place as he turned to face you. “Now, how’s it goin’? Hanging in there okay?” 

Slowly, you lifted your head to get a better look at him. You felt something wet run down the side of your head.

Yep. There he was. Through your swimming vision, you still managed to see him decently clearly; blue and peach and green eyes and red shoes and all. 

“…Yeah,” you managed finally, a half-laugh escaping your lips. “Yeah, I think I’m okay. But… I think I’m in hell.” 

And then you blacked out.

Chapter Text

“Shit!” 

Sonic lurched forward across the opening and caught the human before her head once again hit the ground, and promptly breathed a sigh. 

“Yeah, that… seems about right,” he muttered, looking at the thoroughly injured, unconscious girl in his arms. “If anything, I’m shocked you didn’t pass out sooner.” 

He grimaced as he pulled his emergency bandages out of pocket space again, eyeing the brand-new cut on her forehead. Sonic cursed himself a little… not that he’d ever let anyone hear him do that.

If you’d been more careful, this wouldn’t have happened, a voice in the back of his head chastised him once again, but he promptly forced the thought out of his mind and returned to his concentration.

After ensuring it wouldn’t bleed any more, he laid the girl—(y/n), she said her name was?—carefully on the ground.

A groan escaped him. Sure, he knew he was the fastest thing alive, but how could things have gone downhill so quickly? 

He’d been having a pretty good day up until the point where, by sheer chance, he caught a glimpse of what was obviously one of Eggman’s airships in the distance; so, of course, he found a way on and proceeded to tear through his machinery. Eggman had apparently not expected this stroke of extreme misfortune for him on a day when he wasn’t even taking anything over yet; he was yelling about his experiment being ruined, yada yada, and said he’d take him down with his prototype. 

It would’ve been an easy win, if those things hadn’t swarmed out of whatever he’d been experimenting on and started careening the ship out of the sky; and after he finally tore through the horde of ghoulish black creatures, he barely managed to keep track of Eggman’s escape. Only to discover that, somehow, some way, there was a civilian out here. Out in the middle of nowhere, where he’d been fairly certain there was literally no trace of civilization for thousands of miles before. 

Fantastic. 

And now there was a wounded civilian in front of him, Eggman was gone, and the creatures that he thought he’d gotten rid of had returned, and were, apparently, targeting this civilian specifically. 

Today was a bad day. Not the worst, by any means. But, bad enough. 

He ran a hand through his quills as he thought. 

“I guess that means those black things are going to keep coming back,” he mused, eyes drifting across the open field where he’d finally had the room to finish them off. 

Then his eyes fell on the unconscious girl. 

“And she seems to be being targeted by them, specifically, instead of me or Eggman…” 

He groaned and held his face in his hands. 

“…Which means I have to stick around, or she’s going to die.” 

Sonic shot one last hard look over his shoulder; he half-expected another oozy monster to appear on the spot, but thankfully, it didn’t. At least for now. 

With one last sigh, he scooped up the vulnerable girl in his arms and assessed his surroundings. 

“Well,” he said, adjusting his grip and getting into position, “Guess I’d better figure something out, and fast.” 

And he took off into the distance. 

You felt like you’d just woken up with a fever, a hangover, and soreness from the hardest exercise of your life simultaneously when you finally regained consciousness. 

Immediately, as aches and pains surged across your body, you felt the urge to go back to sleep; but a secondary headache pounded in the back of your head, and despite your best efforts, your eyes started to blearily crack open. 

Hell. This is hell.

You glanced around through half-clouded eyes.

A… campfire? And a blanket. The air smelled like wet soil, and you felt an odd, gentle breeze. You squinted and finally comprehended you were in a cave, and it seemed dark outside. 

Was this cliche? You think it was cliche. You’re not sure.

You tried to move, only to become newly aware of the bandages on your body, weighing it down. You lightly grazed your head—it seemed there was a new bandage, too. How did—

“Hey. You’re finally awake?” 

The voice made you jump, and you spun around, only to glimpse the blue hedgehog and promptly groan. “No, no, nope, I’m not doing this, I’m going back to sleep,” you snapped, more at the universe than him, as you promptly attempted to cover yourself with the blanket again. 

“Oh, no you don’t.” 

Despite gripping with all the force your feeble hands could muster, the blanket was easily yanked away, and your back thudded against the ground, suddenly very chilly.

“…Ow…” you complained, but reluctantly looked back up at the visibly unimpressed hedgehog. You grumbled a little, but obediently roused yourself, avoiding looking directly at him.

A mug was thrust into your hands, and you cautiously accepted it. You slowly turned it in your fingers, confused.

“Water,” he said bluntly. “Drink it.” 

“Oh.” Fumbling a little, slightly embarrassed, you managed to drink the liquid. You weren’t sure what you were expecting, but it was just that: clean, purified water. 

“I’d give you a change of clothes,” he said, gesturing to your torn and bloodied outfit, “but as you can imagine,” gesturing to himself, “I don’t really carry that stuff with me.” 

You glanced back up at him. “How did you get all this stuff, anyway?” you asked. 

He shot you a sassy look and gestured broadly to his side. “Uh, pocket space?” he repeated snarkily, making a “duh” gesture. 

Unimpressed, you shot him a half-glare over your mug. 

“I don’t know what that is.” 

He stopped, looking truly stunned for a moment. He blinked. Then he shook his head. “Not important. Anyways, (y/n), right?” 

“Uh… ye—yeah…?” you responded, slightly surprised at hearing your name. 

Should you be feeling flattered that Sonic the Hedgehog remembered your name? You felt kind of flattered. 

You felt embarrassed that you felt flattered.

“How in the world did you get out here?” 

…Oh. 

Oh, right. 

The memories of your absolutely god-awful experiences suddenly came flooding back through your head, and you felt what little energy you had drained from your body.

“I… I don’t know,” you stammered. 

Sonic squinted at you. “Yeah, you said something like that before. That you don’t know where—” 

“—Where I came from. …How I got here. …Yeah.” Uncomfortable under his scrutinizing gaze, you inched further away from him and took a long sip of the water, avoiding eye contact. 

A beat of silence.

“…Okay, then, suppose that’s true. What happened? What do you remember?” 

“I…” 

Visions of the flashing yellow hellscape ran through your mind, and you shuddered. “I think… I was transported here somehow,” you began, then grimaced at how cliche that sounded. “I—I remember I was going on a walk, in my neighborhood, and then all of the sudden, there was this—” 

You wracked your mind to come up with the words to describe your experience beyond “hellish” and “like being boiled alive and gutted like a fish at the same time”. 

“This… light. I guess. Yellow. And, glowing… It was… really bright. And it hurt a lot. Like…like I was dying. And then… I was just… here.” 

Your voice had gone quiet as you spoke. 

A silence filled the air, but you couldn’t bear to look at his expression, so you kept staring at your mug and began rambling. “And—and then I was laying down in a field of grass, bu–but, I heard an explosion, and then I saw that thing fucking EXPLODING, sss–so I started running, but stuff was flying everywhere, a–and—” 

“Alright, alright.” Abruptly, hands were on your shoulders, and you fell silent. You realized you were hyperventilating. “Got it. Weird magic shit happened and you were here. It happens. You don’t gotta say anything else.” 

Oh. He believed it, just like that.

Even though it was such an unbelievable, nonsensical thing to try to tell someone. 

Hell, even you still weren’t fully sure you hadn’t just been horrifically drugged. Or, maybe, in a coma somewhere, and dying in a hospital. 

Sure, maybe he was a magical supersonic hedgehog from a video game world, so magical bullshit happened around him all the time. 

But… 

Why did that make you feel so relieved? 

You felt tears prick in your eyes, but you forcefully shoved them away, and took a big gulp from your cup. You hoped he didn’t notice. 

“Uhhh… Anyways.” You cleared your throat, and a wobbly grin came to your face. “So, how long was I out, anyway?” 

“About 45 minutes, give or take,” came the response almost instantly. 

“Ah. So, not too bad, then.” The sarcastic grin widened across your face, and you looked up at the ceiling of the cave. 

“So, then… Today. I almost died… three times today.” 

A half-hysterical laugh bubbled up from your chest, and you rubbed your face wearily. “Well, that’s just great, huh?” Your gaze fell from the ceiling to Sonic’s surprised face, and you smirked. “You know what? Maybe if we’re lucky, I’ll go for round four today. Spontaneous heart attack, maybe. That could be exciting. Who knows?” 

Despite how bleak your joke was, you started giggling. After a moment, you glanced over and saw him holding back a snicker. You started giggling harder. He chuckled harder.

“... Actually,” Sonic began, and you muffled your giggles for a moment, “while you were out, a few more of those black things showed up.” 

“Oh,” giggle. “Oh, no.” 

“Yeah.” Snort. “You’ve… already had four.” 

Incredible.

“So… round five!” you hollered, thrusting your mug into the air, laughter peeling out again. “Give it up for round five! What’ll it be? Sudden onset heart failure?! Or, perhaps, being struck by lightning! Spontaneous combustion! ” 

Your half-hysterical laughter, combined with the contagious laughter from Sonic, poured out of you like a dam that had just been burst. Then, finally, after a minute, your mutual laughter started to die down. A few quiet chuckles, and you finally settled. You coughed a little. 

“Um… thanks,” you said sheepishly, looking down shyly. “I…don’t think I said thank you for… saving me earlier. …And then again.”  

An eyebrow arched, and then he shook his head, grinning widely as he turned away. “Don’t mention it. I’m Sonic. It’s what I do.” He winked and finger-gunned, and started backing up towards the entrance. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” 

A sudden burst of anxiety welled up in you, and you reached after him. “W-w-wait—!” you stuttered, then abruptly realized you had no right to stop him, and quickly covered your mouth. “Uh… n-never mind.” 

Sorry. 

He looked at you for a second, but sighed with a half-smile. “I’m not going to be gone long,” he said, tone bordering on condescending, but still light. “I’m just gonna grab some supplies, and I’ll be back faster than you can blink. Besides, you’re in no condition to be left on your own, anyway.” 

“…Oh.” Your shoulders dropped, and you sighed in relief, even as a spike of shame and embarrassment reared its ugly head. 

He sighed and shook his head again, then reached behind him and pulled out the blanket again. Oh, you know. Pocket space, your brain supplied sarcastically, and you awkwardly accepted the blanket. 

“Get some more rest, if you can. You’re looking, uh, pretty rough.”

“…Oh. Yeah. Sure.” …Yeah, okay, if you didn’t look like shit after being through a massive explosion and being chased through the woods, you would have to be the patron saint of beauty.

“Yeah… Don’t worry. I’ll find out what happened to you, and then you’ll be home snug as a bug in a flash. Alright. Sayonara!” He waved over his shoulder, and promptly took off out of the tunnel. 

You laid there, sitting with a mix of relief, confusion, and exhaustion. 

Then, after a few minutes, it suddenly dawned on you. 

Did I just miss my chance to tell him that he’s a video game character?

Chapter Text

You felt lighter than you remembered. 

As if moving through water, your legs seemed to float and drag behind as you took a step forward. You raised your arms to try to push yourself through, but your pace seemed unchanged.

You drifted through the dark for a minute, wondering where you were. Every once in a while, soft red currents slid around you; you reached out to touch them, but could never quite reach. 

You sighed. The sound didn’t seem to come from yourself; it echoed, almost ethereal. 

Yeah, it was kind of frustrating how you couldn’t quite move how you wanted. And, for some reason, you felt like you were forgetting something important, tugging on the edge of your mind. But, at the same time, it was… kind of… nice. 

You weren’t sure what you were forgetting, but whatever it was, it couldn’t be nicer than this. You stopped fighting to move. It felt though you were floating; the dense air surrounding you wrapped around you like a warm blanket, and you felt as though a weight was lifting off your chest.

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed a light. You turned, no longer minding the faint resistance of the air around you. Slowly, you drifted closer, legs barely having to move to carry you where you were going. 

As you got closer, it became more apparent what you were looking at: a screen. A game was paused, it seemed like. 

Oh, that’s right. You remembered now. You were playing a game. 

There were explosions, and getting knocked around, and getting chased by strange black creatures. 

Sonic was there. Right… you were playing as Sonic, right? It was a Sonic game. Of course. What else would you have been playing? 

Well, that was fine. You liked playing games. Even though it seemed like it was kind of intense sometimes, it was a video game. And you enjoyed those. 

You wanted to keep playing. 

“Let’s see…” you mumbled to yourself, voice still sounding like it came from all around you. “The controller. Where did it go? I need to…”  

As you scanned in front of the television, your eyes caught sight of the controller, and a relieved sigh surrounded you. “There it is.” 

Approaching the controller, you dropped behind it and sat down. You reached for the controller, but… for some reason, you couldn’t grab it. 

The controller was right there. Why couldn’t you pick it up? You needed to pick it up. 

You reached for it again, harder this time, but it wouldn’t budge. Your fingers seemed to be hovering over an invisible barrier; even as you quivered and got closer, it never quite touched it. 

This is wrong, you realized. 

A feeling of dread emanated from your core. 

All at once, a black gust of smoke and tar erupted from the screen in front of you. You yanked your hands away from the controller, and started scrambling away, but now, the resistance from the air around you seemed far more sinister; try as you might, your movements were barely above a crawl. Despite this, you scrambled through the dense pressure, barely making it to your feet in time to avoid the claws grazing your back.

You could hear your panting all around you, even as your own mouth barely moved, and your body struggled against the pressure around you. “Help,” you heard yourself cry out, but it sounded far away; nobody could hear you. You could feel the creature right behind you—if you didn’t power through the pressure as fast as possible, you knew it would be all over. 

Abruptly, you gasped; you felt your foot get caught on something that wasn’t there, and you glided through the air, tumbling just out of reach of the creature. 

Then, at once, you spotted something. 

“Sonic? Sonic!” 

Painfully slowly, you forced yourself through the air closer, only to see the blue hedgehog, his shoes and quills stuck in clumps of black ooze. He seemed to be struggling to come unstuck from the fluid, flicking parts of his body furiously to move. 

“Sonic! I’ll—I can help you!” you hurried out, reaching to pull him out or wipe it off him, only for your hands to glide right through him. Stunned, you stopped, holding your quivering hands in front of you. 

A cold, dreadful feeling settled inside of you. 

“Oh.” 

Slowly, achingly, you turned behind you, and saw the large black creature, fading in and out of the mist, towering behind you. “I… I’m not really here, am I?” you heard your echo ask in a small voice, as you shrunk into yourself. 

A low, guttural noise reverberated from all around you, and glowing white eyes narrowed, as though evaluating an annoying bug on a piece of paper. 

“No,” growled back the inhuman voices from all directions, startlingly understandable for being so alien. “No, you are not.” 

“…I’m alone,” you whispered. 

The creature’s silence was an affirmation of its own. 

From behind you, you heard a sigh of relief, and you turned again to see Sonic shaking off the last of the goo. “Finally!” His voice came out perfectly clear and undistorted, unlike you or the monster’s voices. “Well, I’d better get going. I’ve got things to do, and eggs to fry.”

Sonic grinned and got into a take-off position. You reached out feebly, even as you knew the pointlessness of it. He took off in an instant, and you watched as he shrunk into the distance, and finally, disappeared into the darkness. 

You felt the monster boring down over you, as though waiting, and judging. It did not even seem angry; it only seemed to be an inevitable, certain force of destruction, waiting. You felt yourself shiver. 

“I don’t want to die.” 

You spoke quietly, softly, even as the understanding held firmly in your core. It could hardly even be considered a plea. 

The being simply looked down at you, whatever expression it wore impossible to decipher. 

“Neither did we.” 

And in an instant, you felt talons shred your body apart, and felt as every remaining piece of you evaporated away. 

In moments, you knew that you were truly awake, as all at once, all the heaviness and stinging returned to your body. You faintly heard a groan and a cracked voice, and knew it was coming from yourself. Despite the terror from moments ago, the sheer weight of the aches and pains of your body hitting you all at once was almost enough to make you decide to return straight back to unconsciousness. 

Still, the weight of the nightmare, and the force of your pounding heart, all but forced you awake in spite of it all; and so, almost out of your control, your eyes cracked open. You blinked to clear the fog from your eyes; then, you noticed the wet streaks running down the sides of your dirty face, and you quickly wiped it away. 

Really, you hadn’t planned on falling back asleep before he’d come back—but, evidently, your exhausted body had other ideas. Though, you supposed it was no surprise you were so tired. Not after everything you’d been through yesterday. 

Reluctantly, you rolled to the side. Sonic seemed to be sitting further in the cave, working on something with his back to you. 

Though your head was still pounding, and you were certainly not in much better capacity than yesterday, you found your mind slightly clearer than it had been the night before. You reflected on your hysteria… the way you’d looked at him without truly seeing him, and the way you laughed and joked with him, as though it were natural, and your world wasn’t falling apart. 

You slowly blinked again, watching as the blue hedgehog’s back shifted slightly as he worked. You watched him breathe. 

Yep. This is real.  

God. There was no way to avoid facing it now. Somehow, some way, you were here; and the real, actual Sonic the Hedgehog was in this cave with you, apparently taking care of you, after you’d been put through whatever hell chamber brought you here, exploded, chased through a forest, and then passed out. 

Now, why you were living your 13-year-old self’s fantasy right now, as a grown-ass working adult—well, that was beyond you. Besides, you were pretty sure your childhood fantasies involved less blunt force trauma. Or mental trauma, for that matter. 

Why you? Why here? Why now? 

As if with new eyes, you watched him, newly focused, eyes scanning up and down his back for a while. The way his movements, even the small ones, seemed like one of those insanely-polished SFM Sonic animations come to life. 

The spikes on the back of his body… Quills. Were they sharp? Would they hurt if you put your hands in them? Normal hedgehogs were pretty spiky, and hurt to touch, you were pretty sure. Would his hurt you, too? 

Finally, you decided it was time, and you began to sit up, only to gasp sharply as your aching muscles exploded in pain. You winced and gripped your side, and you felt your head pounding harder. 

You saw one of Sonic’s ears twitch in your direction. The blue hedgehog’s head swiveled around to face you, and he stood, holding a large stone in his hands.

“Well, hey there.” He leisurely strolled towards you, his self-assured attitude seeming to carry him with every step as he swapped the large stone between his hands. “So, how’re you feeling this fine morning?” 

Though your face was contorted in pain, you side-eyed him through your grimace. “Like I got stabbed and then run over by a bulldozer,” you retorted hoarsely. 

He barked a laugh, flipping the rock over in his hands. “Well, at least you’ve got some fight in you.” He grinned and stopped in front of you, pointedly gesturing towards you with the rock. “Seems like you’re gonna need it.” 

You scowled and half-glared, though as tired as you were, it probably looked more like a tired squint. “Great. Fantastic. Any other good news?” you snarked flatly. You eyed the stone he’d been playing with. “And… what’s with the rock?” 

Sonic hummed a bit, then spun the rock around to face you. “Not a rock. A tablet.” 

You blinked, then slowly took the offered stone tablet. You noted the inscriptions on it, clearly a writing system, but not one you could understand. Plus, there seemed to be burn marks running across the edges. “What’s this?” 

“It’s a little something I scavenged from the wreck of the Egg Carrier,” Sonic said, straightening and rubbing his nose proudly. “There were others, but everything else was blown up beyond recognition. This little thing was still intact, at least.” 

“…Huh.”

You studied it for a second, then looked up at him. “…Do you know what it is? Or what he was using it for?” 

Sonic seemed almost surprised at the question. But he recovered quickly. “Well, when I got there before, it was all glowing and stuff.” He ran his finger over the inscription. “This one, and a bunch of other ones. Oh, and his machine was glowing too.” 

After looking at it for a second, you nodded slightly and handed the tablet back to him. He grinned and took it. “See?” he bragged, waving it in the air. “Already, I’ve almost got it figured out. All I need to do is take this back to my buddy to see if he can figure out what it was for, and we’ll probably have whatever’s attracting those things to you fixed, and we’ll be sending you home.” 

That’s not at ALL almost figured out, you thought, not sure if you were annoyed or amused; but when you went to open your mouth, you gasped. Abruptly remembering what you’d been meaning to say before you passed out, you snapped up to look at him. You mulled it over for a split second, but ultimately decided to go for it. “A-about that, actually, there’s something I needed to tell you,” you began, staggering to your feet. “I’m from a—”

BRRRRRMMMMMMMM—

You abruptly cut off as the ground shook, and you saw some dirt fall from the roof of the cave. Then it went eerily silent…

…

A hellish screech. 

Sonic huffed, and he moved the tablet behind him.

“Well, that’s our cue,” Sonic said snarkily, rolling his eyes, and suddenly you were being pulled off your feet again. “Hold on tight.”

“O-Ohh… kayyy—” 

You yelped as you were once again slammed against his chest at high speeds. 

…Welp. Guess I’ll have to save that for later.

Overwhelming dizziness was rapidly overtaking your head. You groaned, squeezing your eyes shut.

Oh my GOD. Could I catch a break, please? you silently prayed to the universe. I haven’t even been here for 24 hours. Come on. A bath would be nice. Some ice cream, maybe? Hello? 

Unfortunately, the universe remained as cold and unforgiving as ever, and you were quickly reminded as much. 

You felt Sonic’s gasp, almost at the same time as you felt the ground burst underneath the two of you, flinging you both into the air. Bracing yourself, you had just enough time to shield your face as you toppled across the ground, Sonic landing with a thud next to you. You heard him grunt, quickly righting himself. 

“Eggman…” you heard him mutter, not quite seething, but certainly much less playful. 

“Ohhhh, goodie. I’d HOPED you were still here.”

Peeking out from against the ground, you looked into the sky and got your first proper glimpse of “the doctor”. 

Atop a red-and-yellow machine, towering far over you, the iconic half-bowl hovercraft hovered in the air. From here, you could see his bald head, his glasses, and his comically large (albeit shockingly well-groomed) mustache, and his fists tightly clutching the controls of his machine. 

“Really, Eggman?” you heard Sonic say, and you flipped your head back to look at him. Hurriedly, you started scrambling back, away from the giant machine, but neither of them seemed to pay you any mind. “Look, I know you love me and all, but couldja leave me alone for ten minutes? I’m sorta busy right now.” 

A furious cry rumbled out in the air, and a loud BANG was heard as he slammed his fists on his dashboard. “I know you’re so full of yourself, Sonic,” Eggman spat, “But, as always, you’ve made a mess of everything with your actions, you fool. I don’t have TIME for your insufferable little games.” 

Sonic laughed. “Well, neither do I!” 

Yelping, you were flung over his arm (holy shit, he was small, how was he so strong), and your limbs dangled in the air as you were whisked away. You saw the massive robot lurch forward, structures popping out of its body as it prepared to take off after you.

“YOU GET BACK HERE, YOU INSUFFERABLE LITTLE HEDGEHOG! ” 

“JUST TRY ME, EGGMAN!” he yelled back at the top of his lungs, then faced forward and redoubled his pace. 

Once again getting flung around like a limp puppet, you contemplated the nature of your existence as the world flew past at breakneck speeds. A startlingly loud screech made your ears ring, and you flinched against the gusts of wind soaring around you.

Sonic cursed, and you were unceremoniously dropped on your ass as he spun around to face the creatures of ink and oil. He leapt and tore through the air, a sharp whistling sound cutting through the wind as his ball-shaped body shredded through the bodies of the monsters. You flinched, attempting to shield yourself as you got splattered with a bit of the black goo. 

You looked down at your newly-soiled arm in disdain, eying the small black glob dripping off you. 

Gross.  

You looked up just in time to notice a smaller explosion a bit away; not close, but certainly not as far away as you would prefer.

Though it was now partially obscured by trees and shrubbery, you saw the massive Eggman robot, more than half-covered by a bunch of the black creatures swarming around it. They seemed to be almost in a dog-piling frenzy, attempting to break through the glass shielding Doctor Eggman within his mech. 

Holy shit, how many of these things ARE there? you wondered, a sense of horror starting to creep up your skin. You heard a loud growl of frustration, amplified by whatever speaker the mech carried. 

“Oh, come OFF of it, you blasted clumps of goo.” 

One of the limbs of the robot wrenched its way off out of the sticky mess of creatures coating together, and a glow began expanding from the mechanical arm. All at once, another explosion burst from its cannon, and you watched as dozens of creatures were evaporated at once. 

“BEGONE!” he bellowed, as his mech swerved and swiveled its weaponry, beginning to take off into the air as the remaining monsters pulled hard against it. 

You felt a tug on your arm, and your head snapped in that direction. Sonic was looking down at you, a faint sense of urgency coming off of him; still, he waited for you to get your bearings.

“Alright, then. While those guys are keeping each other occupied—we need to get going.” 

After a moment to process, you gave him a huff of acknowledgment and a slight nod, and obediently rose to your feet. He grinned, and gently, he scooped you up bridal-carry again. 

“Alright! Let’s go!” 

He took off, leaving the worst of the chaos behind you. Through the ducking and weaving through trees, you felt some of the dread start to fade from your chest, and you almost felt ever-so-slightly better. 

You felt a shift in the breeze against your skin, and you took in a sharp breath—the air seemed clearer, and your head felt lighter. Feeling Sonic’s head rise, you too looked up, seeing the now-distant frame of the flying mech soaring not quite directly above you. A shrill series of screeches echoed through the air, and what black creatures weren’t already clinging on and hacking away at the mech seemed to be making a beeline after it, soaring through the air. 

“…Welp,” Sonic remarked, carefully setting you down—on your feet this time—before turning to watch the display. “Looks like they’re off our tail… for now.” 

“…Yeah,” you finally agreed. “Yeah, it does.” 

The two of you kept watching for a short while. Pieces of rubble—seemingly metal pieces falling from Eggman’s mech—fell out of the sky in the distance, like a strange, metallic starfall. 

Out of the corner of your eye, though, you noticed Sonic’s posture slightly lower than before. Then, you shifted to look at him properly—though he was hiding it well, even he seemed to be breathing a little heavier. You looked back up at the mess that the two of you had just escaped from. Yeah, you mentally agreed, I’m pretty tired too.

You decided to step back and give him some space. 

Wordlessly, you turned and began walking casually away; Sonic glanced at you for a second, but quickly returned to studying the sky. You glanced down at yourself, then suddenly noticed the black clump of goo still on your arm. You grumbled, and redirected your path to the edge of the lake, promptly plopping down beside it. 

Plunging your arm into the lake, you began scrubbing at the ooze with your other hand; it took a second, but soon, it began sliding off your arm, dissipating into the water. You breathed a sigh of relief. 

 “I just don’t get it,” you heard Sonic say, and you turned as you pulled your freshly-cleaned arm out of the water. “I get why Eggman and I would be chased by those things. But, why you? Why were you being chased by them? You’re just an ordinary human, right?” 

You locked your eyes on his form. “Maybe we’re just in hell,” you deadpanned, shaking water off your arm as you stood. 

He chuckled, and shifted, turning to face you. “Well, I don’t know—maybe you are, but I certainly haven’t done anything to deserve this,” Sonic retorted; then his eyes landed on you. 

His expression shifted. 

His lips parted. 

And at that very moment, you saw the shadow shifting behind you out of the corner of your eye. 

Oh, no.

Well… 

It seemed like you were right, after all. 

Maybe Sonic wasn’t. 

But you, at least, really did seem to be in a hell, created especially for you. 

…I hate being right. 

And all at once, you felt a tendril wrap around your leg, seizing with extreme force. 

As you were yanked back harshly, faster than you could respond, your hand reached out.

You met Sonic’s eyes. 

And for the first time, you saw an expression of genuine fear beginning to form on his face.

Even as he got into position to take off, you felt a sinking feeling in your stomach, and knew it wouldn’t be enough. 

You blinked.

Your fingers grazed the tips of his. 

You sucked in one last gulp of air. 

And all at once… 

You were plunged deep underwater.

Chapter Text

The explosive splash was only audible for a fraction of a second before your ears were submerged in the rush of water, and the world became muffled. 

The unsettling quiet was only disturbed by the sound of your limbs fighting against the water, bubbles rushing past you as you sank deeper and deeper. 

Your head shot up, and you saw the pale, glowing blue light of the waves up above, a distant shimmer rippling across the surface. From beneath the waves, the motions seemed far less turbulent than they really were, and far more ethereal; and as you sank deeper into the darkening waters, you thought about how beautiful it would be, were it not for the fact you only had one gulp of air to burn through before you were gone. 

You felt your pulse pounding in your ears. 

Shit. 

Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT! 

You kicked furiously with your free foot, but being underwater fully clothed was quite different from wearing a swimsuit; your body felt almost twice as heavy, and every motion took far more concentration to make against the semi-independent ripples flowing through your clothes. You fought against the current to grasp at the thing wrapped around your leg, but the force of the water, and pockets of air rushing past you, thrust your arms back up your body.

With great effort, you forced your head down against the current. It was hard to see, through the stream of bubbles rippling around you; but, after concentrating for a moment, you managed to identify the thing that had slithered up your leg and forced you down at an impressive velocity. 

A thin black tendril, looking as though it were made of smoke, had wrapped itself firmly against your calf. Despite how almost non-existent it looked in places against your body, it felt very much there. 

Against the dark background of the bottom of the lake, it seemed as though the black tendril disappeared into nothingness, and you couldn’t see where the thing ended—but, from what you could feel, it couldn’t go too much further past the end of your leg.

You just had to get it off, somehow. 

You looked up to the increasingly-distant surface again; this time, your eyes scanned across the span of the surface, searching for something desperately. Specks of something collided with the surface of the water, far away, but you paid them no mind. 

How long had it been, now? Five seconds? Ten? 

With you instinctively managing to take in a gulp of air on instinct before you went under, you knew you could hold your breath for a fair amount of time. 

But it could only last you so long. 

Though your eyes scanned through the ripples running across the surface, you couldn’t find what you were looking for. Grimly, you poured through your racing thoughts, before, in a burst of realization, the thing that had been tugging at your consciousness from the back of your mind came rushing to the forefront. 

There were dozens of iterations of Sonic the Hedgehog. 

Different games. Comic books. TV shows. Movies. 

Dozens of different continuities, all contradicting each other and telling their own narratives, with hundreds of thousands of different concepts floating around between them. 

And yet, despite that, there was one thing that was consistent, across almost every single one. 

And that was that Sonic the Hedgehog, for all of his skills, could not swim. 

You choked back the sound rising from the back of your throat, and saw a little bubble rise from your nostrils; as you watched with keen eyes, the tiny thing rose higher, and higher, and higher, up towards the surface of the water. A cold sensation took hold in the pit of your stomach. 

Oh, my god, this lake is so deep, you thought, despairingly, and almost imperceptibly slightly shook your head in the water. Oh, my god, I’m so far down. What the hell do I do? 

You kicked back against the thin tendril clutching your leg, but to no avail.

Sonic can’t save me. He can’t fucking swim—He’ll drown, too. He can’t afford to die—there’s other people who need him, aren’t there?  

Visions of the other characters from the franchise flashed through your head. 

I have to… 

Something. I have to do something. 

This thing. It won’t let go. 

Really? Something so small? After almost dying so many times? 

I can’t die like this. Not after EVERYTHING I’ve been through. 

I have to do something. ANYTHING! 

Twenty seconds.

Finally, you felt as though the tendril clutching your leg in a death grip had begun slowing down slightly. Seizing the chance, you thrust your arms downwards, fumbling to grasp the tendril; but as you did so, your fingers went straight through it. 

Shocked, you tried again, and again; but it was the same outcome, every time. Your fingers glided through the surface of the tendril as though it weren’t even there, and no matter how you clawed and scraped at the water around your leg, not only would the black substance not budge—you couldn’t even make contact with it. 

You felt your eyes get burning hot, and even though your vision couldn’t get any more blurry, you knew they were filled with tears. 

Thirty seconds. 

Why? you asked the world, the feelings of indignation and disbelief burning in your chest. This—this is ridiculous. This is insane. This is—  

You clawed through the water over your leg again furiously, raking your nails across it, not caring if you tore open your calf in the process, but even that had no effect. 

—This is unfair. This is BULLSHIT!

You were no longer really being dragged down; you were only really being held in place, only passively falling down towards the floor of the lake. 

You clutched the sides of your head. 

I—I can’t touch the things that are trying to kill me, but they can touch me—I can’t fight, I can’t run, and now, I can’t even do this?!

What’s the point? What kind of sick torture is this? Why? How? What kind of broken rules am I playing with? 

You felt your head getting hot, and you squinted and shook your head, fighting to stave it off. But you were certain you could feel the oxygen deprivation kicking in, and you weren’t sure how much longer you would be thinking clearly. You remembered that the longest a human could hold their breath underwater was about two minutes; but whether or not you, specifically, could make it that long, well… there was really no way to know. 

How long had it been? It had been… forty seconds? Fifty? You weren’t certain. 

In spite of the sense of futility sinking in, you spun around rapidly, eyes desperately seeking any solutions you could find. Half-crazed, your eyes settled on the floor of the lake, now more visible—the sand, underwater plants, and clumps of rocks of various sizes. 

Your mind flashed back to the way the black monsters had clung to Eggman’s mech, rather than, for instance, phasing through it. You remembered how Sonic could tear through the black creatures effortlessly. You remembered how, despite it seeming to cling to your body, it began dissipating and sliding off of your skin when you initially tried to wash off the clump of ooze in the water. 

Maybe I can’t touch it, you realized, gears turning in your head a mile a minute, but other things in this world can. 

You looked down. You couldn’t quite identify the exact distance between yourself and the lakebed; with the water all around you, constantly flowing, your perspective was warped. If you were lucky, it was about ten, twenty feet. If you weren’t, it could be as much as thirty or forty. 

If I can get one of those rocks, I can try to tear through it or bash into it, you thought, eyes darting wildly across your surroundings. It’s strong, but it’s not very thick. If I wait till this thing finally drags me to the bottom, I can grab one of the rocks, and I can start tearing this thing to shreds. 

It wasn’t much better than a shot in the dark. Part of you thought you were giving yourself false hope; you wondered if that would make failure easier to swallow, or make the end that much worse. 

But, even so. 

Now… 

You had a plan. 

A swell of purpose ran through you, and you felt yourself settling into a mindset of cold, calculated determination. 

I can do this, you thought, almost marveling at the realization as you drifted closer to your goal. I can do it. 

Faintly, you heard the sound of movement through the water. You looked up. 

Your mouth dropped, not releasing any air of your own, but the remnants of the air trapped in your mouth escaped into a bubble, soaring skyward. 

SONIC?! you thought incredulously, seeing the now-familiar blue sphere tearing through the water. 

And, indeed, there he went—evidently, you could tell that he’d done something to gain some momentum, as a trail of ripples followed him through the water, far further than you would’ve expected him to go. 

Your heart pounded in your chest. Your eyes followed him for just a moment, a mixture of conflicting emotions rising just under the surface of your calculated composure. 

And, yet… Even now, you could tell it wasn’t going to be enough. 

He was losing speed, the force of the water pressure steadily slowing him down; and the unsteady wobbles of his descent as he came out of his ball told you at a glance that it wasn’t that Sonic the Hedgehog could suddenly swim. 

An experienced hero wouldn’t have jumped without having confidence in a way to get back out, would he? Your head swiveled around. He could spin to float higher in the water, but he couldn’t do that while carrying me … Was he planning on using the bottom and sides of the lake to get back out? you thought, eyes quickly re-scanning your surroundings. But, the incline is so steep… Against the water pressure, he’s not gonna be able to build up the momentum needed to get back up. …Can he? 

…He probably didn’t realize how deep this is.

You had a choice to make. 

On the one hand, you could wait for Sonic to reach you, and let the “hero” do his thing. How many people had he saved before? Even if the layout wasn’t exactly ideal for a miraculous rescue, he was, quote unquote, “Sonic the Hedgehog”. Even if it seemed like a hell of a long-shot, maybe he could really pull off getting you, maneuvering through the deep waters, and saving both of your lives. 

But… on the other hand, you were running out of oxygen. He probably wouldn’t reach you before you touched the bottom. And, it really was incredibly deep… and the angle of the side of the lake, though not a straight line, was pretty steep. 

If, God forbid, he drowned while trying to save you…? 

…Oh, god damn it. 

Change of plans. 

You needed to be faster. 

Well, under normal circumstances, you would be horrified. So many horrible things had happened to you; and, every second that you began to let your guard down, something else went wrong, and you were plunged back into the depths of hell. The task of saving yourself and Sonic? That was crazy. 

At this point, you no longer had an estimate for how long you’d been underwater. All you knew was that you could feel time slipping away. 

But, in this moment, your mind seemed clearer than ever. 

You spun towards the surface; now, you could see specks of something else hitting the surface of the water. Shrapnel. Pieces from the mech falling from the sky, evidently torn shredded from the body of the robot by those black creatures. 

Bingo. 

Strips of metal rushed through the water, much faster than Sonic’s descent; you watched several pieces spread far out across the body of water, tear through the depths and sink to the bottom. Too far. You needed one closer. 

A small piece tore through the water—it looked like it would pass within about five feet of you. 

Got it. 

With a burst of force that almost surprised even you, you flung yourself forward, against the pull of the black tendril, in the direction the thing was falling. You thrust your hand through the water, narrowly swiping the scrap of metal out of its path towards the bottom. A cloud of red puffed out of your hand, the sharp edges slicing bits of it open, but you couldn’t afford to reflect on the pain. You flicked it into place in your fingers, and promptly locked your eyes on the swirling tendril of smoke wrapped around your leg. 

It’s over, motherfucker.

In one precise move, you tore through the little bastard. 

A shrill, inhuman shriek ran through the water; it sounded simultaneously muffled and echoed, a ripple bouncing throughout the waves. Everything seemed to freeze and hang in the water. Then, the remains of the tendril seemed to wither and fall away, crumbling and disappearing into nothingness. 

Your head snapped up again. Locking eyes on the descending blue form, you swiftly kicked off, all at once feeling a surge of energy rippling through you at the newfound freedom. 

Adrenaline surging through you like a bolt from the blue, you tore through the water faster than you’d ever thought your body could manage. The pounding in your ears was deafening, utterly drowning out any other sounds from the waves. 

Making a beeline for the hedgehog, you swam harder than you ever had in your life. As you quickly rose up next to him, you locked eyes with him and caught his surprised expression—which only seemed to become more shocked when you reached out and snatched his wrist, yanking him towards you. 

His mouth opened in an incomprehensible garble, large bubbles coming out before he promptly slapped his free hand over his mouth.

Don’t do that, you fucking moron.

You pulled him hard as you passed, quickly wrapping your arm tightly around his body. Clutching him hard, you desperately willed him to hear your thoughts: Don’t FUCKING move, or you’ll make this even harder than it has to be! 

Thankfully, he seemed to get the message, and he didn’t struggle against your body. You felt his face pressed up against you, and he more or less went still. His arms went around you in turn. 

Finally, you set your gaze up the hundreds of feet of water above you; you kicked furiously and leaned hard in the direction of the edge of the lake. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

Your head felt way too hot. Already, your warped vision was getting worse. The glare of the sun peeking through the waves was excruciating and seductive all at once. You clenched your eyes shut. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

Your chest, already tight, felt more and more suffocated. Seconds passed. It became harder and harder to keep it together. 

Sonic was heavier than you’d expected, given his size. Thankfully, it was still far less than a full-grown human’s, or this venture—and you—would’ve been dead in the water. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

Thump. Thump. Thump.

You were close. You could feel it. The light was far brighter now, and you could almost feel the air on your skin. But the force on your chest got stronger—you found yourself struggling to keep your lips sealed, your throat involuntarily quivering. 

Desperation, and fear, finally overtook your controlled emotions, and you squeezed him tighter. 

Am I going to make it? 

Thump. Thump. Thump.

You cracked your blurry eyes open, truly unable to distinguish much of anything; but, you could see the light, and you could see the dark edge, and that was all you needed. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

But, if you breached the water like this, would you even have the strength to get Sonic out with you? Already the strength was leaving your limbs, though you forced yourself beyond your limits, legs and arm gliding for your life. 

Momentum. You needed to use the momentum. Your arm loosened around Sonic, though your grip remained tight around his wrist. 

Thump. Thump. Thump.

You were almost there. You squinted, almost fully blind. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

NOW. 

As you almost reached the surface, you gathered every last bit of strength in your body, and you drew your arm out and threw Sonic as hard as you could as your fingers hit the surface of the water. 

The force of your effort inadvertently forced the air from your lungs, and against your wishes, your body sucked in a breath. 

NO!

Instantly, you felt the water flood your lungs. Your body spasmed, but quickly, you felt yourself going slack. For a brief, tantalizing moment… it felt good. Wonderful, even. 

What was left of your vision went dark. 

THUMP.

… 

You were only able to figure out the following string of events in retrospect. 

You couldn’t exactly throw Sonic very far (what were you, a demigod?), and so your throw was only barely enough to get him partially onto the surface; but that was all he needed. 

Though you had started to drift back down a few inches, Sonic had spun around and grabbed you by your still-outstretched wrist, and in an instant, you were out of the water, your brain jolting back into awareness as the crisp air hit you.

The force of your violent coughs wracking through you was all you could feel for a good while. Eventually, you became faintly aware of how you were being thumped on the back. 

After what felt like ages, the hacking died down, and instead, you were left heaving, gasping for air. You slumped, uncaring, against the ground, surrendering to the earth. 

Finally, you half-cracked your eyes open, blurry vision settling on the blue form over you. 

Over your heavy chest, you sucked in the air to speak. 

“Y, you… fucking idio—” was all you got out before you broke into another coughing fit. 

A short time passed before your coughs died down again, and the air fell silent again. 

Finally, Sonic’s voice broke the silence. 

“How did you know I couldn’t swim?” 

Reluctantly, you rolled over to face him. Though your vision was hazy, you caught a glimpse of the hedgehog’s face—and though he didn’t exactly seem upset, the blankly inscrutable expression on his face was unnerving enough on its own.

Processing his words, you shut your eyes. A thousand words ran through your mind—where to even begin? How many words would it take to explain it all? Could you even handle that discussion right now? 

Finally, you opened your eyes again and gave him a deadpan look. “Later,” you muttered flatly, flinging an arm over your eyes to shield them from the world. 

The two of you sat in silence for a little longer. Then, Sonic broke the silence again. “You know what?” he said, tone turning good-natured again. “I think you were right. I think we’re both in hell.” 

Startled by the sudden joke, you burst into a laugh, quickly followed by another coughing fit. He moved closer, but you weakly held a hand up, stopping him. He waited for you to regain your bearings.

You eventually cleared your throat. 

“You… didn’t have to—cough—come after me, you know,” you responded dryly (or… wetly, you supposed). You looked up to the sky, suddenly feeling quite far away; a soft, somber feeling came over you. “…Sure, you’re a hero—hffff—… But, you’ve got… other people to save, don’t you?” 

Almost as though you were falling into a trance, you stared at the clouds in the sky. You spoke softly, almost more to yourself than to him. “…I…it’d be okay if you let me die. I wouldn’t be mad or anything. You’ve… already helped… a lot.” 

Light bore down on you from above, and as though you were coming untethered from everything around you, you felt yourself get lost in the sight of the open sky. You felt more and more light-headed. 

You were… 

…Tired. 

Warm hands suddenly wrapped around your own, and you jumped, abruptly returned to reality. 

“Hey.” 

His voice was not harsh, but firm. 

“You’re not going to die. I’m not going to let that happen.” 

You blinked. Dazed, you gazed right back at his somber, determined expression. His green eyes felt far more intense, his conviction coming off of him in waves. 

Your breath hitched. You felt your heartbeat, which had finally started to come back down, rise and skip a beat. 

A warm feeling spread across your chest. 

“…Oh… o—oh.” Through your daze, you felt a weak, goofy grin start to spread across your face, almost in spite of yourself. “…Re…really?” your mouth asked without your permission. 

Sonic tilted his head. An absolutely brilliant smile spread across his face in turn. “Of course!” he cheekily responded, his grin so bright you almost couldn’t look at him. He thrust a thumb towards his chest confidently. “After all… I’m Sonic the Hedgehog.” 

“…Oh. …O-okay…” 

You felt more light-headed than you had a second ago. Were those stars flashing across your eyes? 

You tried to get up, but the dizziness promptly overwhelmed you, and you stumbled. Warm hands caught you again, and you felt a blanket being wrapped around you. 

Ah, yes. Pocket space. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Once again you were scooped into his arms, this time thoroughly bundled. You blinked stupidly, trying to register what was happening.

“Don’t worry about a thing, alright? Get some rest. You already did enough.”

You almost didn’t process the soothing words being spoken to you. You half-nodded and slumped back, feeling the waves of dizziness wash over you. 

And as you were gently carried off, your racing thoughts fluttered in and out of consciousness. 

Chapter Text

Sonic stumbled a bit, but hastily recovered, quickly shifting the girl in his arms. Thankfully(?), she didn’t seem to notice, half-lidded eyes occasionally fluttering open before closing again. He continued walking, carefully this time, concentrating on not shuffling the visibly-unwell human girl more than necessary. 

Quietly—despite himself—Sonic sighed. 

He was soaked. His gloves and shoes were dirty. He was tired. And, most importantly, he hadn’t slept in over 24 hours. 

Sure, he’d pulled his fair share of all-nighters. In fact, he’d pulled many of them back those Dark Gaia days. Still, at least back then, the danger wasn’t so unpredictable and persistent; he could sneak in an hour or two of a nap in the middle of the day, and he would be good. Sonic didn’t need to sleep that much. 

(Though, to be fair, he did occasionally end up pretty sour and grumpy during the night.) 

But even a little bit of sleep was better than none at all. 

Sonic shook his head quickly. 

Now’s not the time to think about that, he thought, attempting to push the weariness out of his mind. He stopped and stood for a split second, rapidly tapping his toe. Let’s see… What do I do next? 

Tap tap tap. 

Between getting off the island, checking up on (y/n), finding some clues about the black things, hunting back down Eggman… What do I do first? 

Sonic’s thoughts were interrupted by (y/n)’s quiet coughing in his arms. 

His eyes flickered over the girl’s face; in the last couple minutes, she had become paler, and she was notably shivering, in spite of the blanket. 

…Right. Making sure she doesn’t get hypothermia, that’s step number one, he chastised himself dryly. I’ll be fine, but she’s just a human—she probably won’t be. Got it. Another cave, another fire… Maybe some food. 

…Oh, and some rings. 

He reflected on the events that had just passed. The abrupt loss of control of the situation, the black snake-like cloud that pulled her into the water… 

…and the way she’d made eye contact with him in the water—looking like she was almost scolding him—scooped him up, and began swimming to the surface. 

There were a lot of things that he was used to, with rescuing people. Hero worship, fawning over his speed, feverish compliments about how beautiful and blue he was (though that one was kind of weird), asking to have one of his socks (REALLY weird), stuff like that. 

This one, though, was a new one. 

It wasn’t exactly a “secret” or anything that he couldn’t swim—it just really didn’t ever come up, and news reels would talk about his “daring rescues” or whatever, not the finer details of his mobility in water. It wasn’t information he particularly wanted to broadcast, either. Thus, it stayed more or less just an understanding shared between his closer circles… and Eggman, too, unfortunately. 

But, she seemed to already know. 

A massive cyberstalking fan who’d poured over every detail of his publicly-available history, maybe? …Possible, technically. But, not likely—she hadn’t been googly-eyed and gushing over him, despite multiple opportunities to do so. If anything, she’d seemed… disturbed. 

A secret agent working undercover for Eggman? Even more vanishingly unlikely. Aside from her (admittedly, genuinely impressive) show of bravery in the face of almost drowning, literally everything about her practically SCREAMED, “has absolutely never seen so much as a second of real-life combat before in her entire life”. Especially the way she’d abruptly started bawling like a baby the day before… Uhhh, yeah. No undercover agents here. Not that terribly many of those types existed to begin with. 

Plus, why would she even try to save him from drowning, then? That was a dumb concept to begin with.

…In addition, there were some other weird things about her.

The way she almost seemed to flinch when she looked at him sometimes. The way she’d avoided looking right at him, for the most part. The way she didn’t seem to dislike him, and even joked around with him, despite those things. The way she said she didn’t know what pocket space of all things was… 

He’d gotten a couple ideas of what could be going on. But, for now, they were just theories. And, well, he wasn’t really a big “theories” guy. He’d talk to his little bro if he wanted to come up with theories. 

He evaluated her for a minute longer. Soaked to the bone, in a daze, shivering… Seeming shockingly small in his arms, for a human. 

His grip tightened. 

Sonic took off… at a much slower speed than usual, being mindful to shield the girl in his arms from the rushing air. 

You had been more or less in a daze for a while, disorganized thoughts fluttering in and out of your mind as your heavy head teetered on the edge of its consciousness. Then, after an indeterminate amount of time, you felt your body shift, and you felt yourself being placed against a wall, and you blinked, attempting to force yourself back to awareness. 

After a minute, you regained enough of yourself to comprehend your surroundings; you were apparently in another cave, and you could see Sonic, a few feet away from you, evidently working on creating another fire. A swell of conflicting, confusing emotions rose in you, but you chose to set that aside for now. Instead, you focused on the rest of your surroundings. 

Another cave? Really? you wondered. Just how many caves ARE there here, exactly? 

Finally, the spark seemed to take, and a small fire started to grow. He pulled out a very small bottle of fuel from somewhere, and poured a little liquid over the flame, instantly making it swell in size. He stood, brushing himself off, then turning to look at you. 

“Oh, hey.” He looked back towards the fire, then back at you. “How you feeling? Not going to drop dead at any moment or anything?” 

You stopped and considered. 

“Uhhh… Don’t… think so?” You half-shrugged, the gray blanket wrapped like a burrito resisting against you. “’m pretty tired ’n cold, but…” 

You coughed a little, the tiniest bits of residual water coming into your mouth. You grimaced and spat to the side, feeling disgusting but not particularly having the energy to care about it. 

“…buuut, I think ’m mostly fine… Jus’ feels like shit.” You rolled your head to the side, letting it thunk against the wall of the cave. “…I don’t think ’m still in danger of suffocating to death or anything.” 

Sonic seemed to carefully regard you, looking you up and down. “…Alright. In that case, stay close to the fire, okay? …Oh, but don’t let the blanket catch on fire or anything.” 

You groaned, eyes rolling to the back of your head. “I’m not a fucking idiot, Sonic,” you complained. “I know not to catch myself on fucking fire.” 

He held his hands up in surrender, though he seemed to recognize there wasn't a real bite behind your words. “Hey, hey, don’t get mad at me! You almost just drowned—how am I supposed to know how alert you are?!” 

You sighed, resigned, knowing he had a point. “Not un-alert enough to light myself on fire, I can assure you,” you responded sarcastically, shutting your eyes. 

God, my head is pounding. 

You heard him heave a sigh, and you cracked an eye open to see him shaking his head out of the corner of your eye. “You’re really incredibly mouthy, even for me, you know that?” 

Wearily, you shot him a sarcastic half-grin. “What? Too much sass for you? Would you rather me be sniveling and weeping on the floor for an hour? I could do that, too, if you’d like.” 

He groaned. “Chaos, no. At least the attitude, I can deal with.” 

“See? That’s what I thought.” You thumped your head against the wall again and shut your eyes. “Watch your mouth unless you want me to become way more insufferable in a completely DIFFERENT way.” 

“Alright, alright, I get it. Gaia.” Another sigh, sounding both exasperated and amused. “Is there anything else you need, your highness?” The shifting of rocks beneath his shoes. “A back massage? A drink, maybe?” 

You shot him another look and grinned cheekily. “Some hot cocoa would be great, actually.” 

He groaned, much louder this time, and you giggled cheerfully at his expense. 

“Well, I’m glad you can’t be doing that badly.” He waved his arm dismissively as he turned, beginning to walk towards the entrance. “Think you can stay alive for ’bout five minutes? I need to grab some stuff.” 

You went to wave him off, but remembered your arms were currently pinned by the blanket, so instead you just shrugged. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it. I’ll try not to spontaneously combust in the time you’re gone.” 

He sighed. 

“Good. Be back in a flash!” And then he vanished outside the lip of the cave, and he was gone. 

Now alone with your thoughts, you stared after him in the direction he’d disappeared. The silence settled in the air, and you shifted uncomfortably, already kinda regretting giving him the go-ahead to leave you alone. Regardless, there was nothing you could’ve done about it now, so you just turned to stare into the fire. 

Memories were running through your head, now unfettered by the headaches and without any distractions to keep them away. You grimaced as you thought about the many unpleasant experiences, though you were able to mostly set them aside… but there was one thing that couldn’t quite leave your mind: 

Why the FUCK did I react like that?

Blankly, you stared into the fire, unsure whether or not you wanted to jump into it to escape your thoughts. 

You remembered the way that you’d started grinning against your wishes when Sonic had reassured you. And, while weird, your appreciation for the reassurance made sense —you’d literally almost just died, after all (yet again!); and you were definitely still partially oxygen-deprived. 

But… his smile ? The way you felt when he looked you in the eyes? 

…Did that seriously make your heart skip a beat? 

Lost in thought, a feeling of abject torment began washing over you, as you pondered yourself. You sat in silence, a million different emotions washing over you as you thought. 

Then, suddenly, a lightbulb came on in your head. 

You slammed your fist against the floor of the cave. “Of COURSE! The Suspension Bridge Effect! ” you shouted, simultaneously relieved and cursing yourself mentally for your stupidity. 

AKA, the “misattribution of arousal”. 

Whenever someone experiences something that causes their heartbeat to rise, including fear, if given the right stimuli, their mind can mistake their fear for something else—i.e., feelings of attraction or excitement. 

In other words… One could assume that their heart was pounding for romantic reasons, not “fear of death” reasons. 

You let out a sigh. 

Well, at least that’s one concern resolved, you thought, still wrestling with the embarrassment of your past feelings as you leaned back against the wall. 

Still, you could see why someone would develop a crush from being saved from a near-death experience by him—that smile of his was incredibly potent, and charismatic. And if somebody didn’t already know better, they could easily fool themselves into believing it meant more than it did. 

You suddenly felt quite bad for Amy. 

Finally feeling a little more comfortable in your own skin, you started wiggling out of the blanket, grateful for the temperature. You inhaled deeply, not particularly minding the bits of smoke filling your lungs as you reveled in the warmth. 

You noted you were feeling quite bogged down by the wet bandages and clothing. You grumbled, knowing there wasn’t much you could do about the clothes (unless you wanted to give Sonic a strip show, and you were feeling quite embarrassed enough already, thank you very much), but you could at least address the bandages. You studied your body and began unraveling a bandage around your arm. 

You took a look at the wound, and you winced. It wasn’t terribly deep, but it did look pretty nasty, like it was getting infected. 

The water probably fucked me up more. Greeeaaat. Another fucking problem to deal with. Why does the universe hate me? 

A loud skidding sound rang out, and you looked up to see Sonic sliding to a halt at the mouth of the cave. “I’m back!” he called out, waving brightly. He kicked some dirt off his feet as he got closer. “Didja miss me?” 

Feeling much more comfortable, now that you comprehended what your feelings were, you also felt much more comfortable teasing him. You grinned sweetly and placed a hand over your chest. 

“Oh, of course,” you crooned, feigning swooning in delight. “How could I not miss my hero?” 

He openly snorted, shaking his head. “Oh, I’m flattered.” Walking quickly, he soon closed the gap between the two of you, before he came to a stop in front of you. Appearing from nowhere again, he thrust a handful of gold things in your direction, grasping them like one would grab a handful of clothes hangers—

Rings.

“Here,” he said bluntly, dangling them in front of you. “Some rings. Take ’em.” 

 Hesitantly, you reached out, and slowly, you wrapped your hands around the solid golden things, taking them from him. 

A beat passed. 

“Hey, I know it’s not a replacement for medical care, but it’s better than nothing, you know,” Sonic complained, crossing his arms. 

You just looked up at him, feeling baffled. 

“…And what am I supposed to do with them?” you asked, shaking them up and down. 

A look of complete and utter bewilderment came over his face. 

“… HOW?!” Sonic cried incredulously, shaking his head. “HOW don’t you know that?!” 

Defensively, you leaned away from him, scowling as you continued to shake the rings. “I don’t know! I just got here fucking yesterday! I’ve never held one of these before!” 

“But literally everyone—ugh.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay. You just kind of think about absorbing them into your body, okay? Easy as that.” 

Absorbing them? So, when you saw that in the games, that was literal, then? 

Wordlessly, you turned to look at the golden rings in your hands, seeming utterly innocuous and exactly as physical as you’d expected them to be. Attempting to ignore the embarrassment coming over you as Sonic looked down at you, you focused hard on the idea of absorbing them through your hands. For a second, you thought it wasn’t working—but then, the rings started glowing, a trail of white glimmering off the edges. Slowly, you watched as the objects gradually dissolved into white light, before finally disappearing entirely. 

“…Huh.” Sonic’s voice came out, and you looked up at him, where he was staring at your now-empty hands. “Well, that’s new. Usually, it’s pretty much instant. …Huh.” He scratched his face, pondering it for a second, before he turned to look at you. “…So, how do you feel?” 

“…Uh.” 

You looked down at yourself. Studying your body, you realized you did actually feel slightly better—in a way that you’d almost forgotten hadn’t been the case before—your muscles feeling significantly less sore, and your head hurting slightly less. You looked at the wound on your arm that you’d uncovered—it wasn’t gone, but it was slightly smaller, and the angry coloration had gone down considerably. 

“…Huh.” It was now your turn to be surprised. “…Yeah, I do feel a little better, actually.” 

“Great!” 

A gloved finger was suddenly shoved in front of your face, making you jump. 

“Now you can explain what in the world your deal is,” Sonic said bluntly, putting his free hand on his hip. 

A chagrined sensation came over you, and you huffed, flipping your head away. “I wasn’t trying to hide it on purpose or anything, you know,” you retorted defensively, crossing your arms. Unimpressed, he didn’t move, continuing to stare flatly at you. You huffed and smacked his hand away. 

“Fine! I was gonna get to it anyway, damn it, give me a second!” 

Sonic stood there, tapping his foot, and you awkwardly shifted away, trying to think. Finally, you took a deep breath. 

“I’m from another world,” you said bluntly.

To your surprise, Sonic just sighed. “Yeah, I’d kind of figured that much.” 

You whirled around to face him. “WHAT? After all that?!” 

Sonic threw his hands up in a shrug. “I mean, you don’t know about stuff as basic as pocket space, and you don’t know how rings work. Obviously there had to be something funky going on.” 

Ugh. 

The common sense stung you hard. 

Frustrated, you squinted at him. “FINE, then,” you began, thrusting a finger in his direction. “But did you know you’re from a video game series? Did you know you’re a fictional character?!” 

Sonic blinked, and paused, lowering his arms. “…No,” he finally admitted. “No, that one’s a new one.” 

You huffed, feeling vindicated as you crossed your arms. “See?!” you complained. “It’s fucking weird, okay?! It’s hard to think about! I didn’t know where to start!” 

Sonic put his hand over his mouth, pacing a little in contemplation. He rubbed his cheeks a little. 

“…So.” He finally spoke up again, seeming to scrutinize you, looking up and down your body. “Is that why you knew I couldn’t swim? You saw it in the games?” 

“…I mean, yeah.” You shifted a little, adjusting emotionally to the shift in tone. “You’re the main character—well, for all but a couple of ’em.” 

He hummed thoughtfully. 

“So, does that mean you’ve seen a lot of me? All of the stuff I’ve done?” 

“I mean, I think so.” You tapped on your thigh in consideration. “Obviously there was lots of stuff left out, I’m sure, but, uhhh, I think I’ve seen most of the big stuff. Like… uh… Perfect Chaos and Dark Gaia and the Time Eater and stuff like that.” 

He hummed again in contemplation. The both of you went silent for a little bit. 

“…So, are they any good?” 

“What?” You looked at him, surprised. 

“My games. Are they any good?” 

You stared at him. A feeling of dread washed over you as a million images ran through your mind. 

How the fuck could you explain? How could you describe all the high highs, and all the horrifically low lows? How could you explain the constant shifts in writing, the arguments about which games were good or not, the “Sonic Cycle”, the memes, the fetish art, the eternally-conflicted feelings of the Sonic community? 

How could you explain Sonic ’06? 

Sonic’s ears were perked up in interest. His green eyes were locked on yours inquisitively, waiting expectantly; it even seemed like his quills were raised a little in excitement.  

…You couldn’t do it. 

“…Yeah,” you finally lied, nodding back at him. “Yeah, they’re pretty good.” 

“Woooo! ” he cheered, fist pumping in place with enthusiasm. He stood up straight and rubbed his nose confidently. “Well, of course they’d have to be good, huh. I’m the main character, after all,” he bragged, seeming entirely smug. 

The miserable conflicting emotions rose up at you as he casually celebrated in place, all-too-pleased about your lie. You tried not to let any of your disgruntled emotions show on your face, even as the despairing thoughts swirled around your head. 

Yep. Of course. How could you have forgotten? 

You were still in your own personal hell. 

Chapter Text

Feeling like you wanted to fucking shrivel up and die, you stewed there sullenly, watching Sonic’s glee. 

Ohhhh boy.

This is gonna be rough. 

Sonic whirled around to face you. 

“You said I was the main character for most of ’em. Does that mean you’ve played as my friends, too?!” 

You sighed heavily. “Yes, Sonic, I’ve played a few of them.” He cheered again, spinning gleefully in place. You ignored it and continued. “There’s a couple games centered around the others, but there’s also a few games where you’re the titular character but the others get their own stories and adventures.” 

“Really?! Who is it? Who are they?!” 

“Who are the ones I’ve played as, the ones that’ve gotten their own game, or just the characters I know of existing?” 

He hummed for a second in thought. “Uhhhh, how about, each of those?” 

You let out another sigh, more or less expecting that answer but still feeling disappointed. “Alright, alright, just give me a second.” You held a hand to your temple. “Uh… alright, well, first, let’s just list off the people I know of, or know of ‘for sure’ anyway…” Or at least as reasonably confident as I can be, given the tentative nature of literally any of this existing to begin with… 

Looking up at the ceiling as you thought, you saw Sonic’s curious eyes still locked on you from out of the corner of your eye, waiting. 

You sucked in a massively, comically deep breath. 

“Tails Amy Knuckles Shadow Rouge Vector Cream Vanilla Espio Omega Charmy Blaze Silver…” You sucked in another breath. “Big… and, uhhh maybe Mighty, though I don’t know if he’s real or not.” Since he hasn’t shown up in, uhhh, a long time.

You sighed, already feeling completely exhausted from the long list. You were sure you’d probably forgotten a few, but couldn’t bring yourself to care. 

Sonic let out a long whistle. 

“Wooowww,” he mused, rubbing his chin. “You know a lot of ’em.” 

“Yeah. I know.” You grimaced, unsure if you were feeling burdened with far too much knowledge or blessed with so much information. Probably both, really. “There’s a handful of humans, too, and some others, but those are probably the big ones.” 

“Yeah, pretty much,” Sonic agreed, and you felt relieved at least at the near-confirmation of Sally Acorn and the rest of the SatAM/Archie universe not existing here, as you had a feeling he would mention her right now if he knew her. THAT would have so many implications, and be far too much for you to deal with currently. “There’s a handful of others, too, but those are the big ones, yeah.” 

You briefly considered pressing to learn which other characters existed, but you thought of all the mental energy it would take to discuss, and promptly discarded the urge. 

“Yep. Um.” Head spinning, you attempted to reorganize your thoughts and get your words in order. “Well, uhhh, most of ’em have been playable at least once, but I personally haven’t played every single one. There’s… a lot.” 

“I see!” He hummed enthusiastically. “So, who were the lucky ones who got their own game?” 

“Mmm…” Your head was starting to hurt again. “Uhh, there was one called Knuckles and the Chaotix, and there was also one for Shadow?” There might have been some others too, but they were from the retro days and you were having an incredibly hard time parsing through your memories.

“Huh!” He whistled again. “Good for Knuckles, then, and the others. But Shadow’s a surprise.” 

“Yeah. Shadow’s was a weird one.” You squinted your eyes as you thought. “There were, like, ten different endings, and I think over 300 possible ways to reach the endings, and the ‘true ending’ has elements of a bunch of other routes in it, so literally nobody knows what actually happened in that game.” 

“Huh!” He scratched the side of his head thoughtfully. “Was that… Was that with the Black Arms, maybe?”

“Yes! Yes, that was it. It was with the Black Arms ’n everything.” 

“Wow,” he breathed, shaking his head. “That’s wild. ” 

“Ooohhh, you don’t even know the beginning of it.” 

Finally seeing an opportunity to get back at him for the rapid-fire questions, you grinned and crossed your arms. 

“I don’t remember super well, but if I recall correctly, in at least one of those endings, I think Shadow fucking murdered you,” you deadpanned bluntly, and Sonic jumped. 

“He WHAT?!” Sonic yelled, and spun around as though Shadow would appear for him to fight right behind him, but of course there was no one there. He sighed and turned back around. 

“Well… as you can see—” Sonic gestured to himself— “I am very much not dead.” 

“Yeah, I noticed,” you drawled, running a hand through your hair. “Like I said, literally nobody knows what events really happened in that game.” 

“Wow. That’s wild.” He turned away, putting a hand partially over his mouth in an aggravated, contemplative expression. “That bastard. I could totally see him doing that,” Sonic muttered heatedly, looking displeased for the first time in this conversation, and you felt yourself becoming quite entertained at his agitation. 

“Yeah. It was a wild one. At least in the game itself, there were a bunch of guns and stuff. Did Shadow really use guns?” you asked. 

He blinked at you, looked up in thought, and then groaned. “Oh, yeah, I remember that. I remember wondering what in the world he was thinking—we have super speed, Shadow! Why would you bother with guns?!” Sonic rolled his eyes and shrugged, turning away. “Maybe he forgot that, too,” he muttered sarcastically. 

You couldn’t help but snicker. 

You saw Sonic’s ears twitch, and he turned back to you. A grin started returning to his face, and you felt a feeling of dread start to come over you as he remembered the fact he’d been grilling you for every detail of the Sonic franchise your overworked mind could remember. 

“Oh, yeeeaaah, that reminds me,” he began, sauntering closer. “I totally need to introduce you to my friends. They’d go absolutely crazy over this!” 

“Oh, no kidding,” you retorted, rolling your eyes a bit. “I’m pretty sure you’re one of very few people who would react so positively to such an existential concept as their entire existence was fictional, you know.” 

Sonic paused, then looked to the side thoughtfully. “…You… might have a point,” he admitted, scratching his head. “I think Tails believed me ’bout going into books, but I don’t think Ames ever did.” 

“Oh, so the storybook games are canon, then?” you asked off-handedly, and somehow, Sonic’s eyes seemed to grow even brighter. 

“You know about those, too?!” he said excitedly, darting closer to you. 

He grabbed your hand and held it between his excitedly. 

“Which ones?!” 

“U-ummm…” Your brain struggled to keep up with everything that was happening. “They were called, uhh… Sonic and the Secret Rings, and Sonic and the Black Knight?” 

“So, then, those must be—” He tapped his foot excitedly. “That’s the Arabian Nights, and—”

“—King Arthur, yeah,” you finished, and he gasped. 

“Yeah! But, are those the only ones?!”

You blinked rapidly. “Ummm… y–yeaaahh…?” 

He laughed and hopped slightly on his back foot. 

“Ohhhh, man, if those are the only ones you know about, BOY do I have a LOT to tell you about!” He laughed and shook his head. “Oh, man, it’s gonna be great! I can’t wait to introduce you guys. Tails especially is gonna have so many questions—”

“Wait wait wait wait… pause.” You held up a hand, and awkwardly pulled the other back from his. “You’re going way too fast for me, and I can barely think straight.” 

His hyperactive movement slowed, and he paused, looking at you. 

You awkwardly kicked some pebbles. 

“Look… I admit I’d probably like to meet the others.” Sonic’s expression brightened, but you continued, looking away as you rolled over a rock with your foot. 

You proceeded to pour your heart out with more honesty and genuineness than you had in a while. 

“But, I’m just one person… And I’ve been in danger ever since I got here. It really would be nice to meet all the characters I’ve liked, really, but I don’t want to die for it. And I also don’t want to have to spend all my time with a hedgehog looking over my shoulder just to keep me alive.” You sighed and kneeled down, crouching over some rocks. You began to twiddle one of them back and forth with a finger, refusing to look back at him. 

Oh, boy. Look at these rocks. How interesting.

“…I’ve felt so useless, damn it. You keep carrying me around, and then I try to avoid getting killed, then I get almost killed again, and then you rescue me again, and it’s just—” 

You clenched your fist around the rock and slammed it against the ground. 

“It’s fucking humiliating, alright? All I can do is run away, but you’re so much faster than me, so if you can’t catch up to whatever’s getting to me, then I’m just fucked, you know? I can’t fight. I can’t run. I can be mildly clever, sometimes—but that’s nowhere in the same league as Tails, or, hell, fucking Eggman.” Half of a bitter laugh escaped your throat. “Where’s room for me, here? What am I supposed to do? Play the damsel in distress? Maybe share some fun facts about my video game history?” You glared down at the ground and threw up one finger in the air. “Save for just this one time, a little bit ago—with me being able to swim, and you not—there’s literally nothing I can do that makes me feel like a real person here. I feel so useless. If I stay like this in this world for too long, I think my mind is going to break from the pressure.” 

You held your face in your other hand, and the air was silent for a moment. “I’d love to meet them, really… And it’s one thing if I meet them along the way to figuring out a way to get me home. So it’s fine if I meet Tails or whatever, and we start trying to… develop a way to send me back or something. But I can’t stay and wait to meet them, just for fun. I want to. But I just can’t.” 

Another silence fell in the air. A small part of you wanted to cry, but you absolutely refused to give into the urge. 

I REFUSE to humiliate myself anymore. I can’t. 

“…You’re right,” Sonic’s voice finally cut through the silence. “I wasn’t thinking. I get what you’re saying. I’m sorry.” 

Your shoulders slumped, and you dug your chin into your knees a little further. His apology almost made you feel worse. 

“…It’s fine,” you mumbled. “Like I said, it’s not that I don’t like you guys or anything. I’m just tired of being chased by those fucking black things.” 

You heard him hum a little. “…Would it be any different if we could figure out a way to get those monsters off your tail before we sent you home?” Sonic asked. 

You peeked up at him. “…And get me the hell away from Eggman?” you asked. 

He chuckled a little. “And get you away from Eggman.” 

“…Then…” You looked back down at the ground, avoiding eye contact. “…I guess it’d be okay if I stuck around a little longer.” 

A short, warm laugh rang out, and a hand was thrust out in front of your vision. “Alright. We have a deal?” 

You looked back up at him. Sonic’s head was tilted slightly, a friendly smile sitting brightly on his face. 

Tentatively, emotions conflicted, you reached out and took his hand. 

“…Deal,” you said, and he grinned as he pulled you to your feet. 

“Perfect.” 

Sonic let go of your hand, and you awkwardly looked away, brushing yourself off. You looked towards the still-moving campfire. 

“…So, uh, where are we going?” you asked, desperate to get your mind off of the tender feelings that had just been in the air. Sonic made a “hmmm” noise. 

“Well… I wanted to see if I could find any more clues about how you ended up here, but, I haven’t found anything so far. That tablet is the only thing I’ve got.” He tapped the side of his head. “Soooo… Either we could keep looking around anyway, or we could work on getting off this island, and we could see if my buddy—errr, Tails, you know him—can figure out what to do with this thing, and then we can see about either getting rid of the black things, or getting you home.” 

“Hmmm.” You looked down at the campfire. “Yeeeaaah, my vote is we just call it good and get the hell out of here. Tails could probably figure this out way better than either of us.” 

Sonic laughed in surprise, nodding. “You know what? I completely agree!” 

You shot a look back deeper into the cave, then out towards the entrance, and began inching closer leisurely. “So, what are we waiting for?” you drawled. “Let’s put out this fire already and get outta here.” 

Sonic, seeming slightly surprised, glanced between yourself and the fire. “What? Are you sure? Aren’t you still pretty cold?” he asked, picking up his long-discarded blanket off the ground (oops, you’d forgotten about that). 

“Uuuhhh… Nope. I’m fine, I think.” 

“Really?” He seemed quite skeptical. 

“…Imma be honest, the burning shame and embarrassment over our conversation that has been running through my body has warmed me up thoroughly, so no, I do not need the fire anymore,” you admitted bluntly, awkwardly turning away from your undesired confession. 

Great. You were warming up with shame again. 

You heard Sonic make a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, but acquiesced all the same. “Fine, fine. Whatever you say,” he agreed, approaching the fire. 

As you watched, he reached out behind himself—evidently into “pocket space” again—and pulled out a little orb of some sort. As you watched, he seemed to pinch it between his fingers, then he dropped it into the fire. 

Abruptly, a burst of air rushed out from the campfire and there was a massive white glow, and all at once the fire was gone. 

“HOLY SHIT! ” You whirled to look at him. “What the fuck was that?!” Then you groaned and held your head. “Don’t tell me that’s more ‘common-sense’ magical bullshit here.” 

Sonic barked a laugh. “Oh, no, not at all.” He admired his handiwork, only the charred bits of wood remaining. “Tails made it for me, ’cuz he was sick of me running around and kicking dirt in his eyes to put out campfires. Ain’t it cool?” 

“Jeez,” you breathed, shaking your head as your mind reeled in shock. “Yeah, that was wild.” 

Stunned, you began walking towards the mouth of the cave. After a moment, Sonic’s shoes echoed up next to you, and then the two of you were walking side-by-side. 

“So,” he said suddenly, breaking the silence. “You must really love me then, if you know so much about me.”

You were quickly uncomfortably reminded of the warm feelings rushing through your body.

…Shit.

Your thoughts raced for a moment. 

Welp.

It was clear the awkwardness wasn’t going to leave for good unless you cut through it with something way bigger. 

And after a second…

…You thought you had exactly the kind of big guns to do it. 

You grinned, and eyed him out of the corner of your eye.

“You know…” you began, and his head swiveled around to look at you.

“Eggman was almost the protagonist of the franchise, you know.” 

Although you kept moving forward, you saw him stop dead in his tracks. You continued walking for a few seconds. 

“You… He… You’re…” he stammered, and you glanced over your shoulder purely to get a good glimpse of his increasingly mortified and disgusted face. The grin was turning almost devilish on your face.   

“He FUCKING WHAT??!?!” Sonic finally exploded, the cave echoing excruciatingly loudly around you.

You laughed and in an instant began to take off, shoes pounding against the dirt and grass as you darted out of the cave. 

Before you could blink he was right next to you again, effortlessly keeping up with you with his simultaneously furious and horrified expression on his face. 

“No, no, you can’t just drop that on me and move on like nothing happened,” he seethed, and you thought you could see his quills bristling and bunching up in the wind. You had not ever seen this hedgehog so angry before. “You’re going to explain that one right fucking now, so help me Gaia.” 

“Of course! ” you responded cheerily, waving a finger in the air as you ran. “There were actually a bunch of different designs they went through, before they ultimately settled on—” You raised your hands in the air and made air quotes. “‘Mr. Needlemouse’.”

“Needlemouse,” he repeated almost breathlessly, and you could see his ears flattening against his head. “I’m not a mouse, Gaia damn it. I’m a fucking hedgehog.” 

“Sorry!” You shrugged impassively, though the smirk remained wide on your face. “That’s just the literal translation, I’m afraid.” 

He made a strangled noise, and you returned to what you were saying. “So, anyway, when they settled on what eventually became you, they actually loooved the other design they had too much to throw it away,” you practically sang, wagging your finger. “And soooo… they repurposed it to be the antagonist of the series.” 

“You’re lying,” he hissed, voice cracking. “You’re lying to me.” 

“I’m nooooot, I’m afraiiiid!” you openly sang. “It’s the truuuuth!” 

“You know what?” Far rougher than usual, you felt yourself getting yanked off your feet, and getting roughly shoved into his hold. You squeaked. “I changed my mind. Not ONLY are you not walking on your own after all, I’m not introducing you to anyone. You’re going home without ever breathing a word of that to anyone else.” 

Despite being roughly deprived of your freedom of movement, again, you threw your head back in a boisterous laugh, not giving a single damn. You heard Sonic hiss again. 

“Yeah, I hope you’re happy, you absolute demon,” he seethed. 

“Not quite so comfy in your existentialism after all, are you, Sonic?” 

“Say another word and I’m going to drop you,” he threatened, baring his teeth. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” 

As you felt the forceful winds rushing past you, and the very upset hedgehog bitterly dashing forward, you reflected on your situation. Though your situation wasn’t good, at least you could make yourself laugh, and maybe, just maybe… that was enough. 

Maybe… you thought. 

Maybe this isn’t all such a nightmare after all. 

After a few minutes, you heard the seething hedgehog speak up again. 

“You know,” he started, glaring only slightly-less-angrily ahead, “I can’t wait to send you back home. I’m sure you’ve got lots of friends and family who miss that fucking mouth of yours.” 

You felt your breath hitch. 

Millions of thoughts flew through your mind, before they ultimately settled on the image of you, alone, sitting on the couch of your apartment, playing video games in silence. 

…Oh.

Yeah. 

Right. 

Chapter Text

After running for a few minutes in silence, the grumpy hedgehog began to slow to a stop, and he let you stand on your feet before he turned away, sour expression still on his face. 

“I can’t believe you fucking said that to me,” Sonic muttered bitterly, holding a hand to his forehead. “I can’t fucking believe it.” 

You laughed a little, attempting to suppress the negative feelings that had started swelling up in you a minute ago. You were… mostly successful. 

“Look, I’m not the one who did it,” you responded, holding your hands up in mock-defensiveness. “I just informed you of the truth. Don’t shoot the messenger.” 

He shot you a glare out of the corner of his eye. “The messenger had literally no reason to tell me that. The messenger should have kept her mouth shut.” 

“Oh? And miss out on such a hilarious reaction?” You laughed a little louder, and he groaned, running his hands across his face. 

“You’d better not say that to anybody else,” he said threateningly, glare turning a little darker. 

“I make no promises,” you responded cheekily, and he groaned even louder, holding his face in his hands. “Oh, but don’t worry—I won’t breathe a word to Eggman. He is also on my shit-list, right after those ink creatures.” 

“Good,” he forcefully retorted, rubbing the sides of his head before dropping them with a sigh. “Gaia, you’re insufferable, you know that?” he complained, taking a few steps to the side.

“Hey, aren’t you the one with the reputation of being a sassy blue hedgehog? How could lil ol’ me hurt your feelings so bad?” you asked, innocently holding up your hands. “I’m just a harmless little girl, with human abilities, and nothing but my tongue to hurt you. I couldn’t possibly hurt your tough-guy feelings, could I?” 

He shot you a half-lidded look, seeming as though his pride was withering away in front of you. “Can it, (y/n),” Sonic snapped, voice turning almost pleading. “I can’t handle this. I can’t handle this shit.” 

You sighed, tempted to keep tormenting him, but his pained voice and expression pricked at your conscience. “Fine, fine, I’m done. I’ll leave you alone.” 

A massive sigh of relief came out of the hedgehog beside you, but you ignored him and turned around, taking in your surroundings. “So, uh… where are we?” you asked, taking in the grass and bushes and wild plants and small hills. “You said something about getting off an island, before?” You thought you could almost smell the scent of saltwater in the air; but it was rather faint. 

“Yeah,” he affirmed, straightening as he seemed immensely relieved at the change in conversation. “It’s a big island, but it’s kinda far out. I took a plane to get here—that’s where we’re headed,” he said, gesturing off into the distance. 

“Plane? Is it… the Tornado, maybe?” you mused, and his eyes lit up. 

“That’s right! ” Sonic grinned and put his hands on his hips. “It’s the Tornado. It is mine, technically, but I gave it to Tails. He’s a better mechanic, anyway. And it got pretty beat up, so I couldn’t really use it anymore. But Tails has several of ’em now, so once in a while, he lets me borrow it.”

“What were you doing out in the middle of nowhere, anyway?” you asked, suddenly remembering how there had been literally nothing in sight but nature, the weird monsters, and Eggman. “Were you just chasing after Eggman, then?” 

“No, actually,” Sonic responded, shrugging his shoulders and looking around. “I was just tryin’ to explore the world, y’know. See the sights. It’s what I do.” 

Yeah, that does sound a lot like him, actually, you admitted mentally, but didn’t dare voice it in case it re-triggered the storm of the “You must really love me, huh” that you’d narrowly avoided before by dropping a psychological nuke on him. 

“I just happened to see Eggman on the way, and decided to wreck some mechs, but then those things appeared, and all THIS happened,” Sonic continued, proceeding to gesture broadly at both yourself and the sky.

“I see…” you said in turn, looking out over the horizon, before you spotted something. “Then I guess we should keep go—Wait. HOLD up.”  

“What?” 

Quickly, you darted a couple yards further, though not enough to see much better. “Is that…” you began, eyes scanning rapidly. “Is that a fucking loop-de-loop?!” you gasped out incredulously.

“What? ” Sonic responded, almost equally incredulously, though for an entirely different reason. He glanced out in the distance, and then back to yourself. “Uhhhh… yeeeaaaahhh…?” he droned out questioningly, looking at you a little bit like you’d lost your mind, but you completely disregarded it. 

“What the FUCK?!” you cried, stumbling in confusion and breaking out into not a full-on sprint, but still a decently-fast jog, towards the object in the distance. “That… that doesn’t make any sense! We’re out in the middle of nowhere—that—the loop-de-loops made sense in the game , but this is reality! There shouldn’t BE that kind of natural—” 

“What?” came Sonic’s voice, matching pace perfectly beside you after your impulsive take-off. “Do they not have loop-de-loops like that in your world?” 

“NO! ” you retorted. “NO, we absolutely do NOT!” 

Sonic made a slight noise. “Weird. Chaos, your world is just weird,” he sighed, and you started slowing to a halt, suddenly remembering your goal. You glanced quickly off into the horizon, then back at the loop-de-loop-shaped silhouette. 

It took a moment longer, but he stopped in front of you, too, looking at you questioningly. “What?” he asked, putting a hand on his hip. “Didn’t you want to take a closer look?” 

“No…” you lied, then realized how unconvincing you sounded while staring longingly at it, so you quickly shook your head and turned away. “I-I mean—” You looked quickly at the patiently onlooking hedgehog, then felt your burning curiosity pulling on your head, and felt yourself drifting back to look at the object in the distance. “No, I-I mean… yes, kind of, bu–but, we should get going. We have to get to the plane. We shouldn’t… I shouldn’t… ” 

The hedgehog was suddenly right behind you, gently but firmly pushing you forward, and you yelped and half-attempted to resist, shoes scraping uselessly against the ground.

“We—we need to go, Sonic!” you squeaked feebly, half-resisting even as your gaze quickly darted between looking over your shoulder and back at the loop-de-loop. “We can’t—I can’t look at it! We need to get to the plane ! What—what if the monsters show up again?! Or Eggman?!”

“Then I’ll kick their tails in,” Sonic retorted bluntly, and continued pushing you forward. “Come on, take a look.” 

You let out a high-pitched whine in protest, but this only seemed to egg on Sonic even further and he grinned, promptly sweeping you up into his arms and strutting forward faster. 

“Stop fighting, (y/n), it’ll be fine. Ten minutes. Tops. It’ll be in and out. Easy.” 

You erupted in a groan, throwing your head back dramatically. 

“Fine! We’ll do it your way, I guess. But if we get in trouble or something for some fucking reason, it’s your fault,” you said, voice accusatory. 

“Sure, sure, whatever you say. Let’s go! ” Sonic responded cheerfully, and jumped into a much faster speed, sending your head reeling.

In less than a minute, Sonic was slowing down again, and he let you wiggle your way out of his arms, standing carefully. You looked up at the towering structure, looking as tall, imposing, and, well, “loopy” as you’d imagined. 

Taking a couple hesitant steps towards it, you knelt down, studying the base of the ramp. “…It just doesn’t make any sense,” you said aloud, running your hands across the side of it. “There’s just no way a structure like this could occur in nature. Does gravity still exist?” 

You stood back up and pounded a foot against the dirt, almost as though trying to prove a point to yourself, as gravity stayed very much stable. 

“I mean, there’s nothing around here for miles, and there’s no signs of civilization anywhere. Could this have been made a long time ago, maybe?” 

You started pacing around the front of the structure. 

“But, if it’d been that much time, then it would’ve been worn down by the elements, wouldn’t it? It wouldn’t even be standing, probably. It would’ve collapsed ages ago. What the hell?” 

You stopped in place and looked up towards the roof of the dirt-and-grass loop. 

“I mean, is there a metal structure under there or something? But why would anyone do that? Unless it used to be a populated place here? But then, there’s no ruins around or anything.” 

You started pacing again, eyes running fervently up and down the body of the structure. 

“I mean, it makes sense in the video games. They’re stages made especially for Sonic. But if this is real, then it wouldn’t make any sense for these to be here, without somebody PUTTING them here. Right? There’s just no way. It doesn’t make any sense.” 

Your body darted towards the base of the loop-de-loop, eying up and down the length of the circular shape. 

“Eggman wouldn’t do that, right? He wouldn’t. He hates Sonic. He wouldn’t make these pointless things to run around on. Plus, it could just help him build up momentum and go somewhere, but—” 

Frustrated, you stomped your foot again. 

“COME ON! This isn’t a fucking video game anymore! Level design makes sense, but this fucking DOESN’T! What kind of fucking planetary structure would CAUSE something like this?! Are we just in a fucking video game, after all?! Sonic, are we in a fucking video game right now?!”

You spun your head back to look at the hedgehog standing there with his arms crossed, but quickly returned to evaluating the loop-de-loop structure. 

“Sonic, if we’re in a fucking video game right now, you have to fucking tell me. You haven’t been hiding a screen UI from me, have you? If you have, this is your last chance to tell me, or I’m going to fucking strangle you. Do you have a ring counter?! ” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sonic called back, and you grunted, furiously rubbing your hand up and down the outside of the loop structure. 

“GOOD! If you did, I would have to fucking kick your ass! GOD!” 

Suddenly remembering yourself, you whirled back to face the hedgehog properly, who was simply standing there, watching, arms crossed, looking very amused. 

“Glad to see you’re enjoying yourself,” Sonic said, sassily shifting his weight to his other foot. 

You leaned back, hissing a little. “Don’t fucking look at me like that.” 

“Oh? Why not?” Sonic asked, grin twitching a little wider. 

“You’re mocking me. You’re fucking mocking me.” 

“Me? I would never.” He shifted, putting a hand on his hip instead. “I’ve just never seen anybody get so worked up about a loop-de-loop of all things.” 

“WELL, IF YOU WERE FROM A REALITY WHERE EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE, YOU WOULD BE GETTING WORKED UP, TOO!” you yelled, then quickly crossed your arms and spun away from him, taking several steps away to sulk. 

“Awwww, come on (y/n),” you heard Sonic’s voice say, and heard a quick tap tap tap until he was right up behind you. “Don’t be mad. You sounded so smart!” 

“Well, I’m not,” you snapped back, pouting harder. “Shut the fuck up, Sonic. I’m not that smart.” 

“Really? Now, that’s a surprise. You were sounding pretty smart to me.” 

You huffed and looked down ruefully. “I’m not fucking smart. I’m just… occasionally verbose, that’s all. I have a good vocabulary. I just sound fucking smart, that’s all.” 

Sonic sighed and patted your back, and you whined and pulled away. “Don’t touch me, damn it! Stop judging me!” 

“Alright, alright, I won’t!” He held his hands up in surrender. “I wasn’t judging you, I swear! I’ve just never seen somebody react to a loop-de-loop like that before. They’re all over the place here—It’s interesting, that’s all. I’m not judging you, I promise.” 

You squinted at him warily, feeling ridiculous. “Really…?” you asked skeptically. 

“Really,” he affirmed. “Gaia, strike me down if I lie. It’s okay, you can go back to what you were doing. I won’t judge you. I swear.” 

You sighed, feeling a bit of heat in your cheeks, but reluctantly turned back to the structure. “…It’s just so weird, okay?” you insisted, stepping closer until you were walking next to the inside of it. “I don’t know why it’s so different here, but my understanding of how the world works just doesn’t fit with this. It’s uncanny.”

You ran a hand through your hair, and then stuck your hand into the side, running your hands against the interior of the circle. “I’m not that smart, but my understanding of physics just—OH MY GOD WHY IS IT SO FUCKING SMOOTH,” you exploded abruptly again, focusing on running your palm up and down the inner side of the circle again. 

You heard Sonic burst into laughter behind you. 

“NO, SHUT UP, YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY, BUT IT’S NOT. IT MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE! ” You scrubbed the palm of your hand up and down the interior wall furiously. “WHERE is the friction?! This is fucking dirt, isn’t it? Where the FUCK did they PUT it?!” 

“Man, if this is how you react to loop-de-loops, I can’t wait to see what you think of floating rails,” Sonic said mirthfully behind you, and you whirled around to get right in his face. 

“THE FLOATING RAILS ARE REAL, TOO?!?!” 

He threw his head back in laughter, holding his face. “Ooooohhh, Chaos,” he gasped out, shaking his head. “Ohhh, Chaos, this is incredible. Ooouuugh…” He trailed off, making a slight groaning noise as he descended back into chuckles. 

Sighing, you turned back to look at the loop-de-loop, deciding to ignore him again. “It’s just so fucking… weird. You said these are all over the place? Just out in the wild? It’s like…” You wracked your brain for the words to say. “It’s like… like the structure of the fucking planet is just made of fucking chaos,” and you abruptly sucked in a gasp of realization, pounding your fist against the side of the dirt. 

“IS THAT IT?!” you cried, throwing your hands up into the air. “Oh my god it’s GOTTA be. It’s the fucking Chaos Emeralds. THEY’RE what’s causing this shit. Or maybe the Master Emerald. At least one of those things is causing the fucking planet to spontaneously create impossible structures, just born out of pure Chaos energy. God.” 

Sonic whistled behind you. “Wow, I’ve never heard that one before. Is that what you think?” he asked. 

“I mean, obviously I don’t know for sure,” you responded, turning to face him as you widely gestured to the offending object, “but it’s the thing that makes the most sense to me. It’s ’cuz of Chaos, probably.” 

Sonic hummed. “Well, I don’t know, but I can assure you I have absolutely no idea why these things turn up,” he said, shrugging. “Might wanna ask Tails when we see ’im or something.” 

“I guess,” you agreed. 

The two of you proceeded to stare up at the massive rounded structure in silence for a little bit. You felt a breeze brush gently across your body.

“…Wanna give it a go?” 

Startled, you flung your head in his direction. “What?” 

“The loop-de-loop. You wanna give it a go?” 

Conflicting emotions started rising up in your chest, and you glanced quickly between the loop-de-loop and the blue hedgehog in front of you. “I…” You shook your head rapidly, unable to help but glance back at the loop-de-loop as if you were drawn to it. “I can’t,” you insisted, taking a step back. “I can’t move fast enough.” 

“I’d carry you, obviously.” 

“But…” Your brain wracked for other excuses. “But—but we need to get going! We’ve already been here a while—we should just head back to the plane…” 

Unimpressed, Sonic crossed his arms. 

“Another thirty seconds isn’t gonna kill us, (y/n).” 

“But…” Tentatively, you glanced between him and the top of the spiral. “…You promise you’re not gonna drop me?” 

“Promise.” 

“You swear?” 

“I swear.” 

As you hesitated, Sonic rolled his eyes. “Chaos, you’re paranoid.” 

“You would be too, if you’d almost died like seven times in one day! ” you retorted defensively. You threw your hands up in the air in surrender. “Fine! I’ll do it. You happy?!” you asked sarcastically, feeling a wave of deja vu rushing over you. 

“Very,” Sonic confirmed, and you were swept off your feet in one swift movement. 

You were quickly carried off a good deal back from the loop-de-loop, and Sonic bounced you in his arms. “Hold on tight!” he said cheerfully, and you hastily threw your arms around him. 

“Ready?” he asked, and you gave the tiniest little nod against him. You could practically feel him grin. “Here we… GO!” 

You were suddenly thrusted forward at intense speeds, and you heard yourself shrieking as he snickered. 

The world whipped around you violently, and you held on for dear life. In moments, you felt the world tilting and spinning, and you squealed, holding on tightly. The whole world seemed to be moving faster than you thought possible, and vertigo spun your head in all directions as you spun almost weightlessly in the air. 

Then, before you could even truly process that the two of you were upright again, you felt a hard rush of force, and you heard the ground loudly screeching against Sonic’s shoes as the two of you gradually slowed to a stop. 

Panting heavily, you looked up at him. 

“See?” Sonic grinned widely. “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?” 

“Ahh…” A giggle started bubbling up from inside of you. “Ahhh… aha, ahhha… ah aaa—” 

You broke out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. 

“I’M SO FUCKING DIZZY!” you shrieked out through giggles, feeling your head spin as you promptly gave up on attempting to hold yourself up. “I CAN’T SEE ANYTHING!” you hollered, feeling Sonic entirely bracing you from falling to the dirt with your limp body. 

He was chuckling too. “Are you okay? ” you heard Sonic say, though that only made you laugh harder. 

“I’M FINE! I JUST CAN’T FUCKING SEE!” You exploded into hysterical laughter, feeling the waves of dizziness ever-so-slightly starting to dissipate. “I CAN’T SEE AAANYTHIIIING! ” 

Sonic’s laughing grew stronger. “Don’t you die on me after EVERYTHING!” he complained, chest bouncing against you with the force of his laughter. 

After what felt like a long time of hysterical laughter bouncing off each other, the both of you slowly but surely quieted down, just a few remaining chuckles punctuating the air. 

“You ready to go, now?” Sonic asked, grip tightening against you. 

“Yeah,” you agreed, letting your head roll and thump against his chest without resisting. “Yeah, I’m definitely ready. Plus, I don’t think I could walk without faceplanting into the dirt right now if I tried.” 

He chuckled. 

“Alright, let’s get going then. We’ve got a plane to catch!” 

Soon, the two of you were zooming away quickly again, and you just closed your eyes, not trying to fight to stay in control anymore. When you weren’t futilely trying to remain aware of your surroundings, it suddenly didn’t feel so bad, and you felt a small smile still holding onto your lips. 

Faster than you’d expected, you felt Sonic’s body start skidding to a halt once more. 

“Alright!” he cheered, and you felt yourself being set back onto your feet, and you shakily stood. “Now, (y/n), let me introduce you to… The TORNADO!” 

As you shook your head to dispel the dizziness, you straightened, observing the thing in front of you. 

Right before where the grass turned into sand stood a small, but still decently-sized metallic red plane, looking clear and vivid as though it had recently gotten a fresh coat of paint. The midday light bounced off the plane brilliantly, seeming utterly pristine, almost taking your breath away. 

“Uh, hey, Sonic?” you began. “You said this plane was pretty beat up. This does not look like a fucking beat-up plane to me.” 

Sonic laughed brightly. “You can thank Tails for that!” he cheered. “I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s the best.” 

You nodded slowly, feeling extremely impressed as he off-handedly gestured you towards it. “Come on, (y/n),” he said, spinning and beginning to walk towards the plane. “Let me show you how this baby runs.” 

Half-stunned, you nodded and began to follow after him, approaching the—

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—” 

Sonic’s head swiveled back as a thoroughly annoyed expression fell over your face, both of you looking up towards the sky. 

“Greeeeaaaat.” Sonic shook his head, seeming truly aggravated. “Guuuesssss who’s back again,” Sonic drawled sarcastically, and you groaned, running a hand through your hair. “I’m not so great at shooting and flying at the same time, so I guess we’re just gonna have to hold on a little longer.” 

“Yeeeeeaaaah, yeah,” you drawled back, rolling your eyes. “I get the picture. I’ll just sit back nice and pretty, doing exactly nothing, and you can go be a fuckin’ hero, I guess.” 

Sonic gave you a grin, though this one was tempered by the oncoming annoyance. “Great. Thankfully , they don’t actually seem all that strong, so far—just annoying. And persistent.” 

You wondered idly if they really weren’t all that strong, or if they just seemed that way to Sonic. 

After a moment, the cloud of monsters appeared over the horizon, and Sonic tensed, getting into a fighting stance. “Stay behind me, (y/n),” Sonic said firmly, and you rolled your eyes again and waved him off. 

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I get the drill now, Sonic.” 

“’K.” He crouched. “Get ready…” 

You inched back a bit, nonplussed, no longer particularly capable of feeling fear anymore after the near-constant barrage of bullshit over the last 24-ish hours. 

“…Here they… COME! ” 

In moments, a cloud of black mist and ink appeared, individual monsters seeming to drip out of it and tear themselves free before surging forward, aiming towards you, loud, disjointed shrieks filling the air. Effortlessly, though, the blue blur began shredding through each and every one in short order, dozens of the goo creatures splattering apart in seconds. Having learned your lesson after the “rinsing off and nearly getting drowned” fiasco, you leaned away from the storm of goop, making sure not to get close enough to let any of it touch you. Piece by piece, shed bits evaporated away into the sky, little clouds of smog puffing out before fading into the air. 

Still, though, there were quite a few of them; and after about 20 seconds or so of this, you noticed the stream of monsters beginning to get wider and more spread out. 

“Uh, Soniiiic…” you called out tentatively, beginning to inch back a little more. 

A few of the monsters tore their way out of the bunch. 

“Soniiiiiic,” you called out again, more urgently this time. 

The black creatures began diving forcefully for you .

“SONIIIIC!” you shrieked, diving out of the way just in time for several of the monsters to soar past you, quickly followed by a harsh whistling noise as an orb of blue tore through the air after them. 

You heard shrieking, then splattering, then several loud “THUD ”s rang out through the air. 

Suddenly, you thought you could smell burning. 

You heard Sonic begin to sigh in relief, then suddenly cut short. 

You looked back in his direction. 

You saw the plane, now with a few evaporating bits of goo coming off of it, partially dented, with a large hole in the side of it, smoke coming out of it. 

“Ohhh, no.” 

Sonic urgently got closer, head flicking back and forth. 

“Ohhhh, no no no.” 

Abruptly, he threw his hands up, clutching his ears in despair. 

“MY PLANE!” 

Chapter Text

The wind was blowing gently. The danger, and the monsters, had now passed; shreds of black goo slowly evaporated into the air into nothingness, as though they had never been here to begin with. The grass swayed gently in the breeze; the salty air felt somewhat moist against your skin, and across the horizon, the sun reflected against the ocean brilliantly. 

And amidst all that sat one, freshly dented, slightly damaged, and visibly smoking red plane. 

“SHIT! ”

Sonic scrambled over the side of its wings, shoving his head partially inside the smoking hole; then, after some coughing, fumbled over the top of the plane and stuck his head underneath a seat, with some thudding noises and making the occasional grunting noise. 

After a bit of this, he popped back out, holding some sort of red toolbox. He grunted and hopped off the side of the plane, a loud klink klink of scraping metal ringing out through the air as he landed, set the toolbox on the ground in front of him, and dropped to a seat, face unreadable. He was muttering to himself, holding one hand against his forehead as he flicked through bits and bobs with the other. 

“Ooooohhh boy.” You pursed your lips, observing the not-joking-for-once hedgehog as Sonic rapidly combed through pieces of metal, not seeming to be particularly satisfied with anything he was finding. “I take it the plane’s absolutely fucked, then?” you asked bluntly, not bothering to mince your words. 

He groaned. “It’s not completely ruined, but it definitely can’t fly,” he complained, rubbing his forehead. 

You hummed in acknowledgment. A thought crossed your mind, and you eyed him suspiciously. “And… I take it you don’t have any way to reach out to Tails? You don’t carry a phone on you or anything?” you guessed. 

Sonic blinked, looking back and forth between you and the toolbox. “I mean… uh… not exactly,” he finally admitted. 

Your eyes narrowed further in suspicion. “And… is there no way to send a distress beacon or anything?” you prodded, voice dropping a little lower. 

“Ummm…” He shifted away a little bit, not looking you directly in the eye. “…Tails was planning on fixing something for me soon, but it wasn’t ready yet?” he admitted sheepishly. 

“Oh my god.” 

You stomped over a few feet in front of him and leaned over, glaring down at him intensely. 

“YOU FUCKING IDIOT, SONIC!” you exploded, forcefully placing your hands on your hips. Sonic reeled back, flinching, but defensively crossed his arms as he looked away in a huff. 

“Look, it’s not usually this big of a problem, okay ?” he retorted defensively.  “Usually, even if something happened, I could get home on my own, okay?!” 

Leaning back, you sighed and rubbed your face. 

“…And I don’t suppose you can run blindly across the ocean to our destination?” 

“I mean… I could, but…” He sighed heavily and ran a hand over his own face. “There’s all those waves, and then I’d get so hungry after a while, and I couldn’t do that while carrying a person—” Sonic shook his head abruptly. “It just wouldn’t work, okay?!” He threw his hands up in the air in frustrated defeat. 

Reluctantly, you took a few steps back, observing him silently. After glancing at you wearily for a moment, he returned to shuffling through the red metal box and standing up to peek into the hole of the plane. He reached in, feeling for something, but seemed to pull away, looking more disappointed. 

“That was my plane, too…” you heard him whine under his breath. 

You hummed thoughtfully to yourself. Contemplatively, you looked at Sonic’s plane, at him, and then out across the horizon. 

This is… bad.  

You nodded slowly to yourself. 

Very bad. 

No plane… Out on an island, with, seemingly, no other inhabitants other than wildlife… No distress beacon or communication devices… Just you, him, the black creatures, and (maybe) Eggman. 

The gears began turning in your head. 

Looking out into the distance, you started to think. 

“So…” you began contemplatively, and Sonic glanced back at you for a second before returning to his (evidently, fairly fruitless) work.

“Yeah? What is it?” 

You tapped your chin thoughtfully. 

“So… I didn’t know you were much of a mechanic. I knew you could pilot a plane, but not work on one. Did Tails give you some tips or something, then…?” 

“Yeah, pretty much,” he responded, flipping a wrench into his hand as he stood and looked into the hole again, practically sticking his whole face in the less-smoking-now hole and shoving his arm in. He grunted with effort, followed by a couple clicking sounds; but this was promptly followed by a groan of defeat and he pulled himself back out again. 

“…So, what’s the problem, Sonic? How bad is it?” He glanced at you inquisitively for a split second, but you hurriedly continued, “Don’t give me the mechanical details, they’ll go straight over my head. Just give me the short version.” 

“Short version?” Sonic crossed his arms with a sigh, still wielding the wrench in one hand. “Short version, it’s not completely ruined, but there’s parts that need to be replaced, and we don’t have the parts to replace ’em. I could get it in the air, but it wouldn’t last long, and we’d probably be soaring into the ocean in minutes. IF it didn’t explode first.” 

“How uncommon are the parts? Or, how finicky?” you prodded, and Sonic’s head flicked between you and the plane again, looking puzzled though not any more annoyed than he already was.  

“Uhhh, not very?” he responded, somewhat snarkily, as your thoughts began to race a million miles a minute. “But, again, we’re in the middle of nowhere, (y/n)—Even if the parts aren’t hard, there’s no way to get them out here. I’d have to somehow run all the way to the nearest populated island for them, or the mainlands, and I couldn’t carry you with me like that.” 

“What if you didn’t need to leave the island for parts, though?” you asked, and you could feel your heartbeat quickening. “What if you could find some? Or, repurpose something?!” 

Oh my god. 

Ohhhh my goddd. 

Is this it? Is this really working out? 

Do I have a plan? 

“I mean, that’d be great, but I don’t see how we could possibly—”

I do. 

“Sonic,” you breathed emphatically, whirling to face him with an intense grin spreading on your face. “Sonic, I think I have an idea.” 

“You do ?!” Sonic cried incredulously, expression rapidly flicking from a brief tinge of hope before settling into a hard expression again. “(y/n), there’s no way! We’re going to have to figure something else out, so—” 

“Do you wanna steal from Eggman?! ” you blurted out all at once, all but leaping with excitement. 

Stunned, Sonic’s eyes went wide. VERY wide. 

“I… That’s… You’re…” Sonic stammered, taking a shocked step back. Evidently speechless for once, he continued fumbling for things to say. “That’s…” 

A hand went over his mouth, and Sonic began to pace in place in front of you. 

“That’s not… It’s not… IS it? It can’t…” 

Quickly, he swiveled in place to face you again.

“Eggman might not even be here anymore,” Sonic said urgently. “Him, and his mechs. They were—” 

“I know he was being chased by the black things, but listen to me. Do you really think those black creatures were strong enough to chase him off?” You got up in his face, shaking your fists in front of your chest fervently for emphasis. “Come on, even you said they weren’t very strong. Do you really think Eggman wouldn’t have been able to fend off some goopy black things?!” 

Staring fervently back at you, underneath his fingers, Sonic's disbelieving face was beginning to turn into a stunned smile, green eyes shifting brighter. 

You leaned away from him a little again, straightening upright to make a point as you continued. “I don’t know if Eggman has compatible parts, but if you’re able to jerry-rig something at all, then it could work. I doubt there’s anything leftover from the crash from before, but you didn’t even know why Eggman was out here to begin with, right? He could have a robot factory hidden somewhere, for all you know! Or, if all else fails, we might be able to hitch a ride on that thing of Eggman’s, or we could see if we could find loose flying mechs, or—” 

“(y/n), you’re a GENIUS! ” he yelled, and you abruptly felt forceful arms flung around you, and you were being yanked off your feet and twirled in the air against him. “What do you mean, you’re not that smart?! That was BRILLIANT, (y/n)! It would’ve taken me ages to think of that!” 

Feeling your face becoming flushed, the strength of your grin still managed to overpower it, despite your embarrassment. “I’m not that smart, Sonic, I was just thinking where we could find parts! Maybe you’re just slow!” you retorted defensively, despite your giddiness; but contrary to your expectations, the hedgehog didn’t seem even the least bit bothered by your jab. 

“Who, me? Never!” Sonic countered, laughing cheerfully, and he spun you in the air again one more time before quickly setting you back on your feet. 

Half-dazed, you shook off the flushed feelings in your face and quickly returned your gaze to the blue hedgehog, beginning to jog backwards (extremely lightly, for him) on his feet. 

“I’ll have to scout out the island and see what I can find—oh, those black creatures don’t seem to respawn right away, right? Yeah—so, I’ll be quick. It’ll just be five—no, ten minutes, tops. And if I find something but it looks like it’ll take too long, then I’ll come back and grab ya just in case, so you’re in reach if they show up again. Oh, but if I hear them, I’ll be back in a flash. Sound good?” Sonic called out, face suddenly settled into a determined, confident grin. 

Your thoughts ran quickly as you processed his words, mentally flicking through and confirming the gaps between the appearances of the black creatures. “Uh— YEAH! I GUESS! ” you called back, still mind reeling from the rapid turn of events. 

“GREAT!” He finally stopped a good distance away. “NOW… IF YA KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU, COVER YOUR EARS!” 

“MY EARS? WHAT—”  You gasped abruptly and clamped your hands forcefully over your ears. “YOU’RE BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER?! ” you cried out. 

Sonic’s unwavering grin was your only confirmation, and he crouched, still looking over his shoulder towards you. 

In moments, you heard a massive BO-BOOOOOOOOOM, and you both saw and felt the explosive gust of wind, pushing you a little even though he’d made a great deal of space between you; and he’d already vanished into the distance before you could recover. 

Steadily, the loud explosions of the appropriately-dubbed “sonic boom” tearing through the island grew quieter, until it almost turned completely silent again, with nothing but the busted plane and the quiet breeze remaining with you. 

You stood there, quietly, still feeling your heart pounding with excitement. Your face still felt flushed, and the grin on your face was starting to hurt; but you managed to shake it off. 

That… You placed a hand over your pounding heart. I… I did something, didn’t I? 

The smile hurting your cheeks grew slightly softer, but didn’t fade. 

“I… I DID SOMETHING!!!” you cheered, hopping and dancing as you thrust your fists into the air. “I HELPED! I WASN’T COMPLETELY USELESS!” 

You continued spinning gleefully, no longer giving a damn how you seemed now that you were completely alone. “I’M NOWHERE NEAR AS SMART AS TAILS OR EGGMAN, AND IF TAILS WERE HERE, IT WOULD’VE BEEN FASTER! BUT I DID SOMETHING! I HELPED ! I HEEEEEEEELLLPED!!” 

You cheered in place giddily a little longer, the sheer rush of relief making you almost dizzy with sheer glee. Your hysterical laughter practically tore through your body as you celebrated. 

But, finally, your hysteria began to fade, and still (painfully) grinning, you sighed blissfully and turned away. 

So much bullshit you’d been through. So much that you couldn’t tolerate. So many close calls. 

But, for the first time, you contributed something. 

And for the first time—unlike swimming and saving Sonic from the water—it wasn’t something just anybody else could do, was it? 

Even if it wasn’t big, and others could do it better, it was something. 

You’d done something . 

Is this okay? you asked yourself, looking out across the grass, the plane, the plants ruffling in the wind, and the water-covered horizon. Is this alright? Does this mean I can be useful, maybe? Am I not just a burden, anymore? 

You thought to yourself a minute. After a bit, your lips twitched downwards, an unpleasant realization coming over you. 

Waaaiiit, wait, I’ve seen this before. I’m genre-savvy enough to know what this is. You gave a slight scowl to no one, knowing that no one could hear you, but affirming it for yourself. This is foreshadowing, isn’t it, (y/n)? Dramatic irony? Everything is just going to go to shit again soon, isn’t it? 

You sighed, a good deal of wind coming out of your sails as you felt quite certain that you couldn’t let yourself get too comfortable. 

Right. 

But… still. 

You felt the soft smile tug back on your lips again, and you looked left and right, smoothed your pants, and sat down on the grass. 

You looked off into the distance, watching the gentle waves shift and patter against the approaching sand. 

Still… for now at least… Maybe it’s not all so bad. Maybe… Maybe this is enough. 

Simply sitting in silence, enjoying the salty air, you sat there for a little bit. You let your mind wander, not really thinking about anything. 

Then, your passive thoughts started to nag on something, and you paused. The gears started moving in your head again, rewinding the clock a bit. 

“…those black creatures don’t seem to respawn right away, right? … …Oh, but if I hear them, I’ll be back in a flash. Sound good? ” 

Wait… You gasped aloud. The realization suddenly dawned on you, and you turned back in the direction that he had taken off in. 

Wait, Sonic—if you’re moving faster than the speed of sound, then you probably wouldn’t be able to hear them. You probably wouldn’t be able to hear anything. 

A mixture of conflicting emotions—primarily amusement, frustration, and growing exasperation—began growing inside you. 

“Sonic…” you muttered in complaint to the one who was no longer there. 

You threw your hands into the air. 

“SONIC, you FUCKING IDIOT!” 

As promised, after you’d waited for less than ten minutes, you heard the distant sounds of a sonic boom getting closer. As he popped into sight on the far-off horizon, the exploding noises seemed to stop happening, and you saw the trail of dirt getting kicked behind him as he slowly but surely came down to Normal Human Speeds, roughly a hundred feet away. 

“I’m baaaack! ” he called, waving smugly. “Didja miss me?” 

“No,” you deadpanned, less giddy than you were previously but still in a decent mood. 

“ Awww, you wound me, (y/n).” He placed a hand mockingly over his chest as he approached. “And here I just did so much work for you.” 

You snorted. “You would’ve ended up needing to do it either way. It’s your plane. If you were wanting to keep it, anyway.” 

“I do, actually! And I’m VERY glad to not just ditch it here on this island.” Sonic finally stopped roughly five feet in front of you, putting his hands on his hips. “So, anyway, turns out, you were right on the money! I found another one of Egghead’s ships. But it’s pretty big, so I don’t know how long it’ll take to tear through it, so I figured I’d stop by and grab you first.” 

You shrugged, entirely unperturbed. You’d already been dragged around enough, lately—what was getting tossed around a couple more times and waiting for him to finish his business? “What? You can’t just spindash your way through the walls of the ship or something and grab it?” you inquired half-seriously. 

“I mean, if I got enough of a headstart, I could,” Sonic drawled, “Buuuut there’s too many issues with doing that, so I’d rather not.” 

“Sure, whatever. If you say so.”

“Glad you understand.” He reached over and scooped you off your feet. 

In an instant, you were once again getting pulled away from your ability to comprehend your surroundings, and understanding at least well enough not to try now, you completely went limp in his arms, shutting your eyes and trying not to dwell and the encroaching vertigo making your head spin. 

…You were starting to feel a little sick again, after all. 

“Here we are, (y/n)!” you heard Sonic say, and you were set down carefully. You realized you were set down in a forest of trees, just about 20 feet away from a cliff. He raised a hand, pointing down the side. “Take a look at that thing. ” 

You turned to where he was pointing, only to let out an incredibly sharp gasp. 

An absolutely massive red metallic structure—a deeper shade than Sonic’s plane—extended for hundreds of feet below, though partially shielded by trees and canopy, as well as tucked within a valley between sharp hills. 

“Holy fucking shit?!” 

“Yeah. Pretty crazy, huh? Thankfully, at least in this case, ‘subtlety’ isn’t really Eggman’s ‘thing’. So, not that hard to find.” 

You just kept staring, the sinking feeling that had miraculously left you for a time suddenly beginning to come back with a vengeance. 

“Uh, yeah, how the fuck does he even get the resources to build this shit? Much less two of them?!” you gasped out, recalling that this must have been like what made the initial explosion when you first got here.

Sonic laughed, though to your surprise, there was a tinge of humorlessness to it. “Yeeeaaahh, I know. I ask myself that all the time.” 

He sighed, running a hand through his quills, before promptly beginning to stretch. You felt a twinge of anxiety run through you, and you looked over at Sonic. 

“Hey, hold on a second,” you said, and he paused, looking down at you. “Are you just going to get into a fight with Eggman? I know it’s probably tempting for you, but, like, we should really just sneak in, get the parts, fix the plane, and get out of here, shouldn’t we?” 

He rolled his eyes a little. “Oooohhh, it’ll be fine, (y/n). You worry too much.” He finished his arm stretching and hopped up on his toes a couple times. “I know what I’m doing. I do this all the time, remember?” 

You sighed, not losing the bad feeling, but reluctantly acquiescing. 

“Fine… whatever. You’re the ‘hero guy’, you probably know what you’re doing. It’s whatever.” 

You tried to ignore the ever-encroaching dread in your heart. 

Sonic stopped his bouncing, and made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “Yyyyep. Don’t worry about it. I’ve got everything under control. You’ll see.” 

“If you say so…” you mumbled; he paused, then shot you a bright, confident grin. 

“Just stay up here, and if anything comes your way, hide under the trees and stuff. I don’t THINK anything will come your way, but even if it does, I’ll be back pretty soon.” 

“Okay…” you reluctantly agreed. 

“Hey.” He gave you a reassuring grin. “I already told you, didn’t I? I’m not gonna let you die. Everything will be fine.” 

“Oh…” Despite the uncertainty nagging within you, you finally gave him a smile. “…Thanks, Sonic.” 

“Not a problem at all. Anyways. I’ve got eggs to fry.”

He chuckled, getting into a running stance, waving at you. 

“See ya! I’ll be back in a jiffy!” 

And then he darted off the side of the cliff in a flash of blue, sliding underneath the red structure, and then he was gone. 

You sighed, and leaned back, sitting up against a tree. 

You waited. 

…And waited. 

… 

And waited. 

Humming a little to yourself, you very loosely hit the notes from ‘Open Your Heart’, not particularly caring if it was in tune or not. 

You prodded a rock in the dirt; eventually, it rolled out of place where it was stuck, and you rocked it back and forth with your finger. 

…

And waited. 

…

… 

You ran a hand through your hair a few times, dislodging some little tiny bits of debris that you hadn’t known were stuck there. 

Quietly, you fiddled with the hem of your shirt. 

… 

… 

… 

And waited… 

…

Oh my god this is taking fucking forever. 

Was this how Sonic’s friends felt, waiting for him to catch up for the next (in-universe equivalent) “cutscene”, twiddling their thumbs idly while he went through his “stages”? 

How fucking boring it was. 

Sighing, you leaned back and thunk-ed your head against the bark of the tree you were on. 

You weren’t sure if it had actually been all that long; it was kind of hard to keep track of the seconds that were dragging by. Maybe it was just the culmination of waiting around for him to return to the plane before, and then this on top of it; maybe it had really been a weirdly long time for Sonic to take; or maybe you were just, well, easily bored. 

To be fair, the constant stimulation you’d been receiving from both never having more than a few minutes alone and actively running for your life weren’t exactly conducive to having good “boredom regulation”. 

You became aware of a tingling across your body. You groaned, becoming reminded as the seconds ticked by of the pains and discomforts that you’d forgotten about, being otherwise occupied. 

Uncomfortably, you began peeling off other bandages (thankfully, seeming to be biodegradable ones), discarding them haphazardly around you. Taking note of the varying degrees of deepness, serious-ness, and types of injuries, you grimaced. 

Your head was slowly getting heavy again. 

Trying to force it away, you glared at the ground. No! I’m NOT fucking nodding off while waiting for Sonic to come back! That’s ridiculous! He probably hasn’t even been gone that long! Think about how humiliating that would be?! I’m a grown-ass adult—I’m staying ALERT, damn it. 

You shook your head aggressively; but, now that you had regained your awareness of your bodily sensations, it was not proving as effective as you’d hoped. It only took seconds to become tired again; and then, soon, very tired. 

Stay awake, damn it, you ordered yourself; but, partially outside of your control, you felt the exhaustion sweeping over you, all the aches and pains seeming to be begging you to get some more rest than you’d gotten. 

Fine, you grumbled to yourself, resting your head back against the bark, slouching down further to the ground. I’ll just rest my eyes, and when Sonic gets back, we’ll head back to the plane, and maybe I can take a nap while we’re flying. If he doesn’t mind. …If the jerry-rigging is successful. …Whatever. 

You allowed yourself to rest your eyes for a bit, relaxing them shut. 

… 

… 

… 

…

…? 

Confused, you began to turn, opening your eyes. 

You were in a dark place, with the world seeming to be moving slowly, almost painfully so, around you. As you adjusted, the air seemed to press up against you, like treading through water, or walking through tar. 

Soft, gentle currents of red glows flew past, distantly, like the most gentle brushes on the cheek. 

It was… familiar. Not entirely pleasant. But not inherently unpleasant, either. 

After you’d gained enough awareness to comprehend your surroundings, you went to sit up from where you were propped up, only to feel resistance against your body, and you looked down. 

…Goo? Black goo? 

Indeed, you were slightly trapped by a layer of black ooze, wrapping around your legs and feet and backside, pinning your lower half to the ground. 

Faintly miffed, you slowly, but surely, stood up anyway; you slowly yanked against the confines of the black ooze, and you felt your weary head spinning ever-so-slightly as you gradually resisted, eventually (painfully slowly) pulling yourself most of the way out of the black goo. You sighed, in a combination of relief and irritation, and struggled just a little more, freeing your feet of the black ooze. 

Finally freed, you took a slow step forward, then another. Even though you “felt” like you were moving as quickly as you could, it seemed that either your body, or the world around it, would not completely cooperate. 

Hazily, you processed your surroundings, slowly reaching up to hold your head. 

This… is familiar. I’ve… been here before, haven’t I? 

Quizzically, you shifted your gaze across your surroundings. 

…Right… Yeah, I’ve been here before. Where am I? How did I get here? I was… 

You struggled through the fog, your mind seeming to move at as much as a crawl as your body was. 

I was… waiting for Sonic, right? Right. He was coming back. Where is he? 

I… where am I? What happened? 

A feeling that was just slightly-too-detached to be “fear” pricked at your heart, but it dissipated shortly, as though it were a powder dropped into a cup of water. 

Well… Wherever I am, I need to get out of here. Your mind wracked itself slowly for answers. Right. I need to go home, right? I need to go home. 

Once again as though wading ever-so-slowly through the thickest water, you began to move forward. 

Sonic, when you get back, I’m going to have some complaining to do, you thought distantly, almost aimlessly drifting forward, though not entirely without purpose. 

You continued stalking forward for a while; it was hard to tell how long, but it was almost equally difficult to care. 

Why should you be worried? Nothing was wrong. Everything was alright. There was nothing to be afraid of.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. 

Your “footsteps”, despite being so slow and heavy, echoed through the air around you as you walked. Regardless, you continued moving forward, drifting through the abyss, feeling as though you were searching for something. 

After an indeterminate amount of time, your eyes fell upon an object in the distance; and, though you were unsure it was what you were looking for, it seemed to at least be distinct from the endless void and the faint whispers of red, so you trudged onwards towards it. 

Finally, you were close enough to identify what you were looking at: suspended in the air, as though the pillars above and below it were holding it there, sat a lone, familiarly-shaped, glowing yellow gem. 

A Chaos Emerald. 

The recognition, despite the haze, rang through your mind; and, curiously, you wondered what such a thing was doing here with you, with so little else of note, and so little of meaning. 

Ever growing closer, you finally stopped in front of it, looking up at it. It was in arm’s reach; if you reached out, you could take it. 

You reached. You felt your fingers, steadily as ever, drifting through the thick air towards it. 

Your fingers soared right through it, without so much as flinching. 

For the first time, you felt a sense of concern begin to pierce through the all-consuming indifference.

Again, you reached out to touch it once more, only for the same thing to happen; it slid directly through it harmlessly, as though trying to catch the light on a projector screen. 

Suddenly, you heard a harsh, familiar shriek, and you flinched, moving to cover your ears far too slowly. 

You turned. 

You saw, roughly 30 feet away from you, or about 9 meters, a dark cloud of evaporating darkness and a clump of goo, steadily taking a familiar shape. 

A cold feeling of dread tore through the haze with abrupt clarity, as though taking a knife through paper. 

I need to move. 

Still too painfully slowly, you scrambled forward, darting away from the Chaos Emerald and the living clump of ooze, feet pounding against the invisible ground. You felt like you were going slightly faster than you had been, now, that you were trying to run full-speed… but only slightly. Not enough. 

You could feel the creature already hot on your tail as what you could feel of your body burned, as though on fire. With as much strength as you could muster, you forced your way through the resistance and kept running, running, running as fast as you could, hearing your own distorted gasping for air echoing through the mist around you. 

However, it was as you’d feared; it was not enough. 

All at once, you felt something that you couldn’t truly feel wrap around you, causing what only felt like an echo, an impression of the intense pain you should be feeling as it squeezed your body so tightly. 

Futilely, you struggled. 

The glowing white eyes of the beast stared down at you, utterly unfeeling, utterly uncaring… utterly lifeless. 

“It is just an illusion,” boomed a somewhat-familiar, distorted, growling voice from all directions. Even its voice seemed disjointed and choppy.“It is over. It must be done. It is the end.” 

You stared back, wide-eyed, silent, unable to make a noise come past your lips, despite your efforts. 

“Goodbye.” 

And you felt your body being crushed to bits, and fading away. 

You woke up abruptly on the grass to the sound of an explosion. 

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long for Sonic to slip his way into the massive airship. 

Even though Egghead sure tried his best to make his ships pretty, uh, “rodent-proof”… There was little Eggman—or anyone else, for that matter—could do to keep the hedgehog out of a place that he was determined to be in. 

Getting back out, on the other hand, could be a little trickier. 

But not by much. 

(He still thought of the time he got thrown in prison instead of Shadow sometimes, though… much to his chagrin.) 

Sonic stood in the newly-breached egg-craft, looking around, taking in his surroundings, stretching as he did so. The halls, the electrical currents, the machines, the weaponry, the currently-deactivated robots, the complex shapes of hallways and corridors constructed carefully, deliberately, all just to stop him from getting in. 

And all of it, as always, would be effort wasted. 

He rolled his shoulder, bracing it with his other hand, grinning widely; he felt a bit of a tug of discomfort, and he felt his head getting a little droopy from the continuous effort, reminding him just how long it had been now since he’d last truly rested. Still, Sonic quickly shrugged it off for now, recovering swiftly and focusing on his surroundings.

His eyes honed in on the small trio of robots in front of him, sitting neatly in a row in front of him. They seemed like simple enough, non-sophisticated robots (well, to the degree that Eggman’s pride would let him create, anyway). 

Really, he could just get in and out, if he really wanted to. It’d be kinda tricky, as Eggman liked to block his routes of escape to try to force him into death-traps; but, with enough caution and deliberateness, he could probably find a way to get what he needed, avoid getting trapped in the ship, and get out of there. 

But… 

…Being “stealthy” wasn’t really his “style” . 

Sonic smirked. 

“In and out. Easy-peasy.”

Watch this, (y/n). 

He aimed. 

In an instant, he had dented and shred open a hole in the chest of the robot in front of him.

Immediately, sirens began blaring as the machinery around him began springing to life, a loud thud echoing behind him the way he’d come as a metal wall came down to trap him inside, but he ignored it and immediately threw himself through one now-awakening robot, and then the other. In moments, each of the robots had collapsed, loud thuds and clangs ringing out. 

“Alright, let’s get some scraps, then.” Sonic eyeballed the holes in the robots that had fallen around him, and then quickly reached in, harshly yanking and tearing a few dislodged pieces out of one, then another. Quickly, he shoved the bits into his pocket space, removing himself in time to leap out of the way of a giant pink-and-red laser targeting him. Swiftly, he darted up the wall, jumped off into a ball and tore through the machinery of the laser pointing at him. It shattered to pieces, a small explosion happening right behind him as he quickly landed back on his feet. 

Machine parts along the walls were already moving, but Sonic boosted ahead in time to slide through another closing wall, sneakers pounding too quickly to see against the metallic floor. Another laser aimed at him, then another, but he darted up the wall sideways, lasers scorching a long line of holes in the wall behind him, sprinting ahead until they could no longer reach him. Sonic backflipped out of the way in time to avoid some spikes descending from the ceiling in front of him, then jumped up out of the way of a rush of metal blocks emerging from the walls to flatten him. 

Robots were aiming guns at him, but he effortlessly avoided their blasts, once again leaving holes in the walls behind him as he dashed forward, shredding through more enemies in seconds. As he fell another laser abruptly emerged from the ceiling, and he narrowly sidestepped out of the way in time to avoid getting scorched, leaving a hole in the floor where he stood before Sonic leapt and tore through this, too. 

Sirens screeching utterly deafeningly around him, the occasional red lights on the wall flashing, Sonic’s smirk only deepened, swiftly lunging forward as some sort of bashing weapon emerged from the wall, and then slid expertly underneath another closing metal door. Then another. The last one had already closed by the time he reached it, but having already built up enough speed, he blew through the door, flinging apart the metal around him and sending pieces of it scattering ahead of him.

Narrowly avoiding falling directly into a pit of machines spewing fire, he leaped forward onto a pipe ahead, grinding down it like it was built for such a thing even as it began to buckle behind him. Flipping forward, Sonic landed on his feet again on solid ground as the pipe collapsed behind him, falling down into the flaming pit. 

Flying robots lunged towards him, but he sidestepped them as well, sending them right into the pit of fire as well, then threw himself forward to the floor as a cutting device abruptly swung out of the wall ahead of him. He then rolled out of the way of another table saw-type device attempted to slash straight through him on the floor in one smooth movement. 

Abruptly, water began rushing into the room, gushing rapidly out of dozens of holes in the sides of the wall; Sonic spun forward, but noted there was no opening directly in front of him. A bona fide “death pit” made specifically for the hedgehog.

Sonic quickly glanced up and down the wall extending above him, and then began building up a spindash, water spewing forcefully off of him in place, throwing a large splash of a wave behind him; after a few moments, he released the building tension, abruptly flying up the wall in front of him, then grasped onto a pole coming off the machinery, spun himself like a gymnast or an acrobat, and threw himself forward into a corridor. 

More robots were emerging from the walls ahead of him, but despite the tight corridor, Sonic grinned widely, rolled into a ball, and spindashed through the approaching horde, tearing them to pieces as he continued unflinchingly onward. 

Sonic ducked out of the way of an approaching cannon blast from the wall ahead of him, then rolled to the side as a wall of spikes slammed down on the floor next to where he’d previously stood. Effortlessly standing again, he lunged through another wave of slashing, shooting, and flying robots, some even with electricity coming off of them; but rather than bother finishing them off himself, Sonic quickly noticed the shifting wall and leaped up again, causing several of the bots to be immediately crushed beyond recognition, and he quickly backpedaled and flipped into the remaining stragglers, denting them badly enough to collapse on the spot. 

“Phew!” Sonic rubbed his nose in pride. “Not bad, Egghead, but still, you’re just too slow.” 

He looked up and down the giant door with one of Eggman’s face icons on it in front of him; after a moment, he built up another spindash, building up as much tension as he could without more room behind him, and then finally released it. 

It dented. 

He repeated his actions. 

It dented further. 

One more time, he built up pressure again.

BANNNG! 

Sonic finally shredded through the metal door, leaving a gaping hole in the metal barrier behind him as landed, firmly, smugly, on the floor. 

Now in a massive room, looked up confidently to lock eyes with Eggman, who was already seated in his flying mech, descending and locking into the same mech that he’d been in last time he’d seen him. Though, now , it was visibly much worse for wear; there were massive scratches in the paint running along the sides, the edges of the mech looked rather scuffed, and there were patches of it that had clearly been hastily repaired, with just a massive, unpainted slab of metal hammered back onto it. 

“Already, hedgehog? Again? Really?” the Doctor deadpanned, visibly unamused. “Haven’t you heard of knocking, or is your rodent brain too small to conceive of such a thing?” 

“Oh, welllll, sooorry, Eggman,” he drawled, rubbing his nose cockily. “If I’d known you were going to have been so accommodating, I would’ve brought some potluck for the party.” 

Sonic smirked, looking Eggman’s mech up and down as the Doctor openly groaned. 

“Looking pretty beat up, eh? Those black creatures really got ya good, huh? Wanna surrender now, so that I don’t have to leave ya defenseless against those monsters, or should I tear it apart for you anyway? ” He pointedly smacked his fist against his palm, arching an eyebrow cockily. 

Eggman sighed heavily. “If your insufferable face hadn’t turned up again so soon, I would have been more than ready to crush you. Alas, you’re as infuriating and impatient as ever, I see.” 

“Awwww, don’t be shy! You know you love me, Egghead!” 

“Thankfully, I don’t need to be at full capacity to deal with you right now,” he sneered, slamming a button. 

Abruptly, a massive earthquake ran through the ship, and Sonic yelped, jumping out of the way as the ceiling dropped down where he’d just been. 

The ceiling of the ship began to open, and the whole world began to shift and rotate around Sonic as the aircraft morphed, disassembling and reassembling itself into a new shape.

“OOOOOOOHOHOHOHO! Welcome back to my world, HEDGEHOG!” Eggman crowed. “YOU’LL REGRET PICKING A FIGHT A SECOND TIME!” 

There was a series of BOOMs and CRASHes , and sounds like an explosion or two erupted through the air. The craft shifted, thrusting the platform Sonic and Eggman were on up high into the air, the backdrop of the craft behind Eggman remaining comfortably in place. Sonic nearly tumbled off of it, the force of the air shoving him backwards, but a barrier made of glowing-red electricity rose around him, and he was thrown back against it. 

Sonic cried out in pain, feeling a sense of burning rushing through his quills; but quickly pulled himself back out, shaking himself off and reorienting himself. 

A bubble of electricity began building up around the ship, encasing it like a barrier. 

“NOW THEN, SONIC,” Eggman boomed, mustached mouth curling upwards with vicious, spiteful glee. “I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU TRY TO GET OUT OF THIS ONE!” 

Explosions began erupting between himself and the Doctor, and he yelped and spun around, facing the newly-formed track that had spawned on the back of the ship; bots, bombs, and live electric fences now appearing in front of him, encased within the barrier, all leading back in the direction of the way he’d come. And also that, back on the far side of the ship, back in the direction he’d come, was a tall structure forming in the colors of the ship; with a path winding all the way up around it, encased in a giant pillar of electricity, even extending above the cliff he’d come from. 

The one where he’d just left the vulnerable girl he was trying to keep alive. 

…And now, with the barrier keeping him in, even if the black creatures showed up, which is the whole reason he brought her here in the first place, he probably wouldn’t be able to get out of the electric barrier in time. 

Well… shit. 

Wincing, though hiding it well, Sonic slightly grimaced to himself as he hurried to avoid the explosions that were right on his tail, without running directly into the numerous obstacles blocking his path to harm him. 

He’d never admit out loud, but… 

Maybe… 

He grimaced, but covered it with a grin.

…Just MAYBE I really should’ve just gotten in and out after all. 

Jolting awake in a panic, feeling a wave of your physical body’s complaints hitting you all at once, you frantically swiveled your head around, trying to find the source of the explosion. 

You stumbled, head spinning fiercely, scrambling instinctively away from the source of the explosion. 

Quivering violently, you felt your heart pounding forcefully in your ears as you observed what was happening where Eggman’s airship had been: 

The structure was shifting apart, pieces popping out of the sides and shifting across its surface mechanically, and the top of the shift was forming into a runway. Furthermore, although the airship wasn’t stationed right up against the edge of the cliff, a massive, cylindrical-shaped red structure was forming, roughly 50 feet or so away from the edge of the cliff, pieces beginning to break apart and turning into platforms around it, and forming something like a platform and another tall structure that was mostly out of line-of-sight on top of it. 

(Despite everything, very distantly, in the back of your mind, your brain made a stupid joke in the fake-voice of Eggman, even as you were progressively more mortified: “That's right, this is what you get: MY SUPER LASER PISS! Except I'm not gonna piss on the Earth, I'm gonna go higher; I'm pissing ON THE MOON!”) 

But the slight hysterical humor rising from the back of your mind wasn’t enough to stave off the rapidly rising dread, swimming head, and nausea.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

You became aware of how your hands were trembling violently, and then fully aware of the extent that the rest of you was. Quivering, shaking, hyperventilating —when had you last been like this? You had felt fine before, hadn’t you? Just a little while ago? 

Why the hell did you have to go and fall asleep? Why the hell did you have to wake up feeling like this? 

God damn me. Fumbling over yourself, you struggled to stand and scramble backwards, but the force of your abrupt and unprepared awakening, combined with the hyperventilating, was enough on its own to almost make you trip back over yourself and collapse. Instinctively, you managed to right yourself before you hit the ground, but not quickly enough to avoid painfully slamming your shoulder against a tree. 

Hissing, clutching your shoulder, you shook your spinning head and shakily backed away, staring at the explosion- and technology-riddled ship, avoiding falling over yourself again; only to have your back make contact with a large object. Quickly you swiveled your head back around to see the large tree your back was now pressed up against, then darted it back towards the direction of the towering structure. 

Despite everything in your body screaming at you to run away, you had just enough sense to remember, no, you couldn’t do that—the whole reason Sonic brought you here was in case the black creatures showed up again to attack you, and you were left vulnerable. But now, judging by the massive, sparking, electrical barrier surrounding the whole thing… he’d have a harder time doing that. 

Shuddering, you threw your head back against the bark, not caring at all about the pain that distantly registered. Your arms had come up beside you, pressing themselves up against the side of the tree, as you attempted to sink yourself inside of it, forceful, wide eyes not even so much as blinking as you continued watching the structure, as though a robot or an explosion would lunge towards you at any moment. 

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Although partially obscured by the massive structure now towering roughly a hundred feet away from you and about forty feet above, your gaze still honed in almost instantly when the blue blur came into view, tiny as he looked from here. Rapidly, he was ducking and weaving through obstacles, outspeeding the explosion almost keeping up with him even as he was constantly forced to weave in and out of obstacles and robots attempting to murder him on the spot. He disappeared briefly, only to reemerge as he began darting around the circular spiral that sprawled all the way across the rising cylinder. Your eyes followed his rapid path as he rounded it, disappeared, reemerged slightly above, rounded it again, disappeared, and ad infinitum as he progressively climbed the structure, a trail of explosions following a step behind him the whole time. Your ears were ringing deafeningly, and even as your heart almost soared with relief, it was massively outweighed by the encroaching horror that you just could not force down, despite your best efforts. 

Doing your best to remain hidden, your gaze quickly darted back and forth between the forest of trees surrounding you and the structure ahead, and swiftly, cautiously, you moved as silently as possible, almost entirely holding your breath as your ears continued to pound. 

Finally, Sonic disappeared again as he rounded the top—now obscured again by the massive round platform that had grown out from the top of it. Faintly, it dawned on you that it resembled the arena for the combat phase of the Squid fights from Frontiers, albeit with the looming Eggman-branded structure puncturing through the middle instead of the strange Ancients’ technology. Furthermore, even though most of the track was either destroyed or retreating back into the surface of the ship, the giant electrical barrier was still broadly wrapped around the outside of the platform, utterly encasing the unlucky blue inhabitant inside it. 

Great. Just fucking great. Unsure whether you were more terrified or nauseous, you aggressively rubbed the front of your forehead, as though attempting to scrub away the crippling sensations by force. 

The loud sound of Eggman’s roaring laughter burst through the air, and you saw his mech emerge from the outside of the barrier, flying over it. You noticed how damaged it looked, compared to before, and it quickly occurred to you how dangerous those black things had to be to cause that much damage to Eggman’s seemingly indestructible (save for Sonic, who was one OP motherfucker) machines, even if they were supposedly “not very strong”. 

The power in numbers, I guess. 

Almost instinctively, you pinned yourself against the base of a tree and submerged yourself against the ground and the shrubbery, trying to make yourself blend in as much as possible. 

“HOW DOES IT FEEL, HEDGEHOG?!” he sneered, voice amplified by whatever kind of speaker he was using to broadcast his voice outside the mech. “HOW DO YOU LIKE THE SHOW?!”

You could faintly hear Sonic’s voice on the wind, but whatever wisecrack he was giving back was utterly indecipherable from here. 

Still, whatever he said must’ve successfully gotten under his skin, as you heard a loud BANG, no doubt from Eggman slamming his fists on the dashboard. “HAVE FUN, HEDGEHOG!!!!” 

Soon you could see blasts of both pure laser-like energy and missiles of some sort tearing out through the air from his mech, and, too stunned and horrified to even comprehend the situation, you could only watch numbly. The lasers and missiles seemed unimpeded by the barrier, and you heard explosions followed by harsh noises, and you watched as the flying mech circled the giant platform, no doubt following the speeding hedgehog as he raced across the surface to avoid his demise. 

While you watched, mutely, unable to make a noise save for your suppressed harsh breathing, the pattern continued for a short time: shooting out bursts of attacks, the robot swiveling and turning through the air, confidently following the path of the Blue Blur. 

Then, suddenly, it spun in the air, hung there, and made a dive through the electrical barrier.

…Wait, what the FUCK? your mind abruptly spoke. Why would he do that? He’s got Sonic pinned inside of there, doesn’t he? Why the FUCK would he just expose— 

A sharp gasp inadvertently escaped you, and if it weren’t for the fact that your throat was entirely clenched shut in fear, you probably would’ve screamed aloud: 

SONIC!!! NO!!!!!! 

You could practically hear Sonic’s snicker, and as you watched, the mech hovering partially-obscured behind the platform went in front of the structure sticking out of the platform. No-doubt soaring through the air, you didn’t need to see to understand what happened: the mech had either dodged deftly away or a trap had triggered, and the hedgehog had gotten caught up in it. 

Instantly, a loud, almost deafening noise boomed through the air, and the structure stuck to the top of the cylinder began coming unattached, and you caught a glimpse of the blue hedgehog dangling upside-down from something by one leg, but immediately lost sight of him as he rocketed through the air. The already awful feeling in your gut became worse as you could only stare dumbly after him as the rocket-like structure rapidly ascended. 

Eggman’s booming laughter was not quite enough to break you from your reverie, but enough to glance in the direction of his mech as it began descending.

“OOOOOOO HOHOHO! OOOOO HOHOHOHOHO HOOOOOOO! SO LONG, you miserable little rodent! THIS was a DELICIOUS victory, even IF it wasn’t my goal THIS time.” 

Between glancing at the sky and back down to Eggman’s mech, you remained as still and unbreathing as you possibly could, not daring to shift an inch as you huddled under the cover of the shrubbery. His little half-sphere mech with the glass barrier over it exited the bigger mech, and seemingly on autopilot, the other mech returned to the body of the now-reassembling ship. 

The lid popped off the dome, retracting back into the metal casing, and as you fell even more silent and frozen stiff, you saw Eggman press one of the gold “buttons” on his chest. 

“Sage.” Eggman’s voice, no longer echoing from the mech speakers, rang out normally through the air as he began flying off, flying overhead in a direction past where you were. “Keep scanning the area and update me on anything you find. We need to find that THING before the situation gets any worse.” 

The weird hovering sounds of the mech passed overhead, and after a few moments, the world fell completely still again, save for the gentle brushing of air and greenery. 

Sucking in a sharp gasp for air, you finally, finally scrambled upright again, leaning against a tree to recover. Your whole body felt like garbage, but your brain? Worse than maybe ever. 

Utterly struck dumb, you could only stand there, gaping like a fish as you stared up at the sky, following the increasingly-shrinking dot straight above.

Even IF the hedgehog did survive—and a very small part of your brain still had the sense to suggest this and consider other “feats” you had seen, even though it was faint—it didn’t change the fact he was rapidly shrinking in the air above you, getting torn away faster and faster. He could just fucking get dropped in the middle of the ocean—IF he got out of the thing before reaching outer space at all. 

Millions of thoughts spun through your mind at breakneck speeds. 

The plane. Broken. Without the parts. Even if you were capable of flying it yourself, or fixing it, which you very much were not capable of either.

The black creatures. Ever-chasing, ever-unpredictable, and could show up at any moment, to which you seemed to have no way to begin to counteract, if the fact your fingers went straight through the tendril in the lake was anything to go by. 

The very dangerous egomaniac Dr. Eggman, who was quite entertaining to watch on-screen, but suddenly felt WAY LESS HUMOROUS when faced with massive, towering structures and beyond-complex machinery that this one man alone had created. 

The fact you were alone, without any real experience in surviving in the wilderness alone, even without the “bonus” hazards.  

The fact Sonic might seriously just be gone, just like that. 

Ohhhhhhhhhh no. 

Rapidly shaking your head, you tumbled over yourself ever so slightly as you half-chased after the vanishing dot a few steps forward. 

Ohhhhhhhh nonononononono… 

You threw your hands up against the sides of your head. 

I’M SO FUCKING DEAD!!!!!!!! 

Chapter Text

Uselessly, numbly, you continued staring up into the sky.

As though you were somehow going to catch a literal rocket shooting straight up into the air on foot, your body had started moving on its own, stumbling over itself somewhat. But, after feebly chasing after the shrinking dot for a few seconds, the pointlessness of your course of action caught up to you, and you slowed, but didn’t stop completely. Instead, you just… slowly trailed forward after it as it shifted slightly further past you, away from the direction of the cliff, further through the forest of trees. 

It hadn’t been that long… probably (every passing fraction of a second felt stretched by orders of magnitude), but the cold, almost unspeakable feeling of dread set heavily in your stomach. 

Emerging at the edge of the forest—albeit in a different direction than the one Eggman had gone—you stopped at the edge of a clearing, the flat ground extending for a while before rising high above again, further than where you had been at the top of the cliff, into taller peaks. Hand resting against a tree, your eyes remained locked towards the sky as the dot almost disappeared entirely. 

The dread in the pit of your stomach coiled tighter. 

Oh, my god. Is this it? 

Is—is he okay?

Without Sonic, there’s no way I can survive. Can I? 

I can’t protect myself at all. He was the only thing keeping me from dying… 

He’s—he’s strong, right? 

He’s been through so much worse than this, right? He’ll be fine, right?

…Oh, god. 

A sudden realization struck you even colder, almost stopping your hyperventilating entirely.

Did he get too worn out because of me? 

Images from the very brief yet extremely tumultuous time you’d spent together so far raced through your mind at lightning speeds—times when he stopped something from hurting you, times when he ran into danger for you, times when he went out of his way to just make you feel better, times when you’d been unconscious only to wake up and see him still moving—oh god. 

Wait. Oh god, had he even slept?  

Your thoughts dug through your memories, but you couldn’t remember so much as seeing him with his eyes closed for longer than to blink. 

…Oh god. If he’d been on the alert for the entire time—and, if he were on the alert in case those things showed up again, then he very well could have been—then that meant he was awake , or at least not resting deeply, every single time you were unawares. When you fainted, when you were being carried away and protected from the black monsters that came when you were unconscious, and all night when you’d passed out while waiting for him despite your efforts to stay awake—he wouldn’t have properly rested through any of that. 

…Oh, god.  

Almost outside of your control, you felt yourself sinking to your knees against the side of the tree, barely feeling your legs’ stings of pain. 

Is this… my fault? 

The absolutely terrible feelings swarming around in your body and skull seemed to be combining and morphing into something even worse—the nausea, the bodily soreness, the fear, and now, a feeling that was starting to feel a lot like despair, and guilt. 

I… I didn’t…  

Memories of your time with Sonic, brief as they were, flashed through your mind. He really was nice, and crazy strong. And, really, he was the “fastest thing alive”, supposedly, and such a “hero”—so, next to you? …How could you have survived anything so far if he hadn’t been here? 

What…What should I have done? Desperately, you searched for any alternatives in your head—a way that things could’ve happened differently. Should I not have asked him to get the Eggman parts? But, there was no other choice, was there? What SHOULD I have done? We would’ve been stuck here, otherwise. I didn’t choose to come here—should I have just… laid down and died? I… 

Resentment started rising, mixing in with the despair and regret. I didn’t FUCKING CHOOSE THIS! NOTHING about this is fair! How was I supposed to know that some experienced “HERO” was going to do something as reckless as not resting at all, just to protect some RANDOM bitch he met somewhere once?! You desperately gripped the sides of your head, pulling your hair in frustration. That’s STUPID! Why would you throw your life away like that?! Sonic is too cocky! You can’t DO that shit! You can’t—

Your chest burned, and, not for the first time, you felt your eyes welling up with tears… though, the emotions felt a little more complex, this time. The volatility of your uncertainty and confusion, your guilt, your gut-wrenching terror, your desire to live, your desire to not be the reason someone else could die, your feeling that things couldn’t have gone much differently, or maybe that they COULD’VE if you’d just been more perceptive—Truly, it was a cocktail of vile, insidious, almost repulsive emotions, like the limbs of a sea monster clasping up against a ship and mutilating it to pieces. 

Miserably, your gaze locked on the sky… only to notice something a little off about the distant mark. You blinked, staving off the tears, focusing harder on the sky. Shakily, you rose to your feet, squinting hard to try to process what your eyes had glimpsed for a second. 

You watched.

… 

A tiny piece of the sky seemed to be… shifting.

Almost despite yourself, you felt something like a swell of relief rush over you—though you weren’t out of the woods for dread just yet. Shakily, almost outside of your awareness, you took a step forward, then another, and then suddenly you were breaking out into a full-out sprint. 

IS THAT SONIC?!?! Your shoes pounded vigorously against the grass and dirt. Is he okay?! Where is he going to land?!

You kept your eyes locked on the sky as you sprinted full-force, barely able to even identify that there was a thing up there at all, much less whether it was Sonic or not—although you had a decent feeling it had to be. 

If he wasn’t careful getting detached from that thing, he could just fall RIGHT into the fucking ocean, right?! —Or, that’s even assuming the games are accurate at ALL, and he really can survive a fall that high. What if he can’t actually survive a fall like that?! Did he grab something to help slow his fall?! Is he holding onto a mech?!

The mark was getting bigger and more distinct, and while you couldn’t identify literally anything about it from this distance, you were now almost certain it had to be Sonic. As you sprinted forward, desperately attempting to calculate his landing spot/flight trajectory in real time, the gears in your head spun like one of the hedgehog’s spindashes, whirring frantically in your mind. 

As the speck got a little bigger, you started being able to identify the actual direction a little better. It became more apparent, as it got closer, that it was moving roughly in your direction. 

It’s—he’s gonna land closer?! Relief spread wider through your body. I don’t—I don’t think he’s gonna—He’s gonna connect with land! He’s gonna land within the island! If he’s not gonna die from it, he’ll be OKAY! 

Grinning in exhaustion and partial relief, you continued darting faster in roughly the direction of the soon-to-be collision point, hoping to meet up there in time and see the condition the hedgehog was in after the fact (and praying it wouldn’t be as a blue and red stain in a crater). 

Then, a thought came over you, and your excitement and relief shifted into something else. 

Wait. Your eyes studied the sky, as you felt your speed starting to drop slightly, starting to slow to a halt. How close is he gonna fall? 

As you slowed, you struggled to identify the expected trajectory through the air; but after a few seconds, it became more apparent. 

Oh my god. Wait. It’s gonna be close. 

Immediately, you started backing up on your heels, stumbling over yourself a bit as you did so. 

Oh god. Oh god. How close?! 

If he hits the ground from THAT HEIGHT he’s going to hit the ground like a fucking METEOR—

“OHGODOHGODOHGOD OH GOOOOOOOOD!” 

Now fully booking it even faster immediately in the opposite direction, you heard yourself screaming like a lunatic as you frantically darted as quickly as your feeble human legs could carry you back in the you’d just come from. 

You started hearing a loud, whistling, almost-shrieking noise. You pushed yourself harder, the absolute panic gripping your chest tighter than pretty much anything you’d ever felt, HOPING and PRAYING you were going to be able to get far enough out of the way in time and not die an even stupider, more pointless death than you’d been anticipating. 

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! 

The shockwave of the impact absolutely tore through the ground and the air, fully knocking you off your feet and sending you flying forward. You were rolling, scraping, tumbling… further… and then… finally… stopped. 

The air was suddenly shockingly, eerily quiet. 

Dazed, not quite sure you were really alive yet, you slowly raised your head and attempted to stand. Staggering upright, you held onto your side, feeling the stinging pain of your muscles rippling through it. 

Awkwardly, you began limping and turning around, staring back in the direction of the explosive collision. 

There was an absolutely massive crater, brown dirt caving into the ground at least twenty feet or 6 meters deep, if not more. As you awkwardly trudged closer and closer, you finally saw the tips of blue spikes, and a surge of both relief and disbelief as you got closer and confirmed that, yes, despite everything, somehow, this absolutely ludicrous excuse for a living creature was still INTACT. 

You’d known that Sonic’s feats of survival were pretty bullshit, but, really?! After all that?! And with the depth of this crater?! 

Still, he wasn’t, uh, moving. He was clearly face-down extremely deep in the crater, blue spikes up in the air, limbs and head partially submerged in the dirt. 

…Honestly, still pretty comical in terms of the “Sonic faceplanting” running gag, but the humor of it was far outweighed by your concern. 

“Sonic?” you called, but there was no response from the limp hedgehog. The dread and discomfort began returning to the forefront of your head.

You quickly scanned the side of the crater, then hopped in, guiding your body to slide against the rocks and dirt under your feet down to the middle as best as you could. You stumbled a little, but successfully came down next to the hedgehog, and managed to stop and slow to a halt. 

Crouching down, you evaluated him, seeing that there wasn’t at least any visible “bleeding” or anything, but, well… that doesn’t say much about “not being injured” after such a ludicrously-high fall. 

“Sonic!” you repeated, now that you were right over him, but didn’t get a response. You could see him faintly shifting, though, so at least that confirmed you weren’t looking at the corpse of your childhood hero right now. You quickly scanned your eyes up and down his body again, then reached out to touch his back—only to gasp and yank your hand back. 

A single blue quill was stuck in your finger. You blinked, more in surprise than pain, rewinding your memories and the times that you’d held him while swimming and being carried, suddenly realizing that this was the first time one of his quills actually “hurt” you. 

Well… I guess that answers one of my questions? After staring half-stunned between the quill in your finger and him for a second, you gritted your teeth and tensed your hand still, quickly but precisely yanking the quill out with your other hand. You hissed a little, a little droplet of blood emerging, but you shook your newly-freed hand, tossed the quill to the side, and returned to looking at the unconscious hedgehog. 

“Sonic. SONIC!” This time, you reached for his shoulder, avoiding the large spikes on his back and the little ones you could see. You grabbed the non-pokey, peach-colored fur and started shaking. “Sonic, WAKE UP!” 

“WHOA!” 

Almost smacking you in the face from the force of his abrupt jolting upright, he pretty much threw himself upright out of the ground, sputtering wildly and flipping his head around. 

After a second of his head darting back and forth, his wide eyes landed on you; Sonic stared blankly for a second, and then abruptly broke into a relieved grin. 

“(y/n)! You’re okay!” 

You squinted at him. “Uhhh, yeah, I’m fine. But you just fell from the fucking sky and were literally just fucking unconscious, so…” 

“Oh, what, that?” Sonic laughed, sounding completely confident but utterly failing to sell it in literally any other way. He jammed his thumb into his chest. “I’m doing GREAT! I’ve been through way worse, I’ll have you know! This isn’t even a problem for me!” 

He started doing air-punches with a confident smirk, but visibly started leaning after a few seconds and had to quickly right himself. 

“I could go back after Egghead right now if I wanted to! Heck, maybe I’ll go do that! Give him my ‘thanks’ for that little skydiving adventure he just gave me!” He put his hands on his hips and laughed cockily, throwing his head back boisterously, but his head also lolled just a little bit to the side like a puppet on a string. 

You stared at him silently for a bit, pursing your lips. The surrealism of… everything, the many emotions that were still swarming within your body, and the blatant display in front of you almost fully had you at a loss for words. He stared back at you brightly, grin never wavering, waiting for your response. 

“…Sonic,” you finally said. “…I have eyes.” 

Sonic’s face drooped into a genuinely disappointed look, and he openly groaned, hunching forward and holding his head. “Alright. FINE. I’m not… in perfect condition, alright? But I’ll have you know I’m just fine. C’mon, you said you saw me in the games or whatever, right? So, you gotta know I can take a hit just fine! ” 

Conflicted feelings were rising in you, some of them agreeing, but some of them genuinely slightly annoyed. “…I mean, yeah, but, uh, I don’t think ‘taking a hit’ is the same as being ‘okay’?” 

“But I’m—”

“—AND, ALSO, ” you interrupted, “I realized when you were unconscious that I have no fucking idea if you’ve slept. When was the last time you slept, Sonic? Was it before I got here?” 

Apparently not expecting to be called out, Sonic shut his mouth and crossed his arms, looking away with a barely-restrained expression. “…I… might’ve rested my eyes a few times,” Sonic muttered, kicking a little rock a bit. “But, come on, I got the plane parts we needed, so, I can worry about that later! C’mon, let’s just go, and I’ll fix the plane, and we’ll be—” 

Sonic took a step forward to get out of the crater he’d created with his descent a minute ago, but immediately, the unstable dirt slipped out from under his sneakers and he fell flat on his face again. You would’ve laughed if it wasn’t so sad. 

Instead, you let out a long-suffering sigh. 

… 

…You did… not… feel… entirely like yourself. The way you felt off-kilter, slightly “off”; whether it was from the prior concussion, or from the dread, or some other combination of factors swirling in your thoroughly-fucked-up head. 

And, perhaps that’s why you did something that did not feel entirely like something a sane version of yourself would do. 

“Okay, Sonic? I’m seriously sorry, don’t hate me too much for this.” You crouched down over him, hesitating for a brief moment longer. You braced yourself to get poked all over, but, hey, you’d survive.

Sonic was pulling himself upright, stumbling a little even as he did so, half-spinning back to look at you. “What’re you—”

In one swift movement, you yanked your arm around him and threw him over your shoulder. 

“WHOA!” Immediately, Sonic began squirming, struggling against you, but surprisingly, you did not in fact get filled with quills the second he made contact with your body. “HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE—” 

“—I literally just watched you fall on your face again and you literally can’t stand up right. Also, I don’t know about you, but I don’t wanna fly in a plane fixed by somebody who hasn’t fucking slept? …Oh, and I don’t exactly know magic-whatever hedgehog anatomy, but if there’s any points in common at all, I feel like you’ve definitely got a concussion or something.” 

He made a strangled noise that definitely sounded displeased, but his struggling did slow down. 

You grimaced ever-so-slightly, feeling a pang of emotion in your chest, but figured you should press on. “Look, I don’t really wanna do this either, but I also just watched you fall out of the fucking sky and I definitely feel like it’s at least partially my fault and the guilt is gonna eat me alive if I don’t at least make a half-assed attempt to help, even if I’m fucking useless otherwise. So, like, even if you hate it, just give me, like, TWO minutes. Tops. Plus, if you hate it THAT much, you could always just kick my head off and run away.” 

“That’s—… I’m not going to—…” Sonic started, and then just gave up and groaned loudly and fully slumped against your body, letting his head fall against your shoulder. “FINE,” he grumbled, and you could practically feel the waves of irritation and shame coming off of him. “I’m getting back at you for this later, though.” 

“Fine, fine, whatever.” 

Beginning to work on getting yourselves out of the pit, you felt him remaining mostly still, being shockingly cooperative all things considered. A grin almost tugged at your cheeks, but you quickly suppressed it, figuring that Sonic would NOT appreciate noticing that; so you’d rather not screw over him accepting your help.

(Although, it could also have been just him not wanting to hurt you. …In fact, it was probably at least partially that. You hoped that, deep down, it was at least partially accepting your help.) 

It took a bit, partially balancing and hoisting yourself forward with your free hand and making sure not to lean in a way that would make you drop him (GOD that would be fucking mortifying after all of that), but eventually you managed to half-walk, half-climb your way out of the crater with the very displeased hedgehog over your shoulder. 

“There.” Carefully, you shifted your arm and worked on setting him down, and he hopped down the rest of the way. “That wasn’t so bad, now was it, you prideful bastard?” 

“This is the most humiliating day of my life,” Sonic grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away, still visibly unsteady on his feet. 

Blatantly, you scoffed. “Oh, really now? Is getting carried around like a limp sack of potatoes humiliating or something? Really, I would have no idea,” you drawled out, voice absolutely dripping with sarcasm. 

He groaned and ran a hand over his eyes. “Alright, alright, you’ve made your point.” He put a hand on his hip and gestured his arm broadly at you. “What was I supposed to do?! Just let those black things get you?!” 

You pursed your lips and rolled your eyes. “Nnnnope, I’d much rather thoroughly debase and humiliate myself and eviscerate my self-esteem than actually just die. At least I can address that with a drink, or twelve.” You shrugged. “I’m just sayin’: I am Straight Up Not Having a Good Time right now.” 

He sighed and you saw him shake his head and shrug out of the corner of your eye, and you let out a short laugh and began to stretch a bit, trying to recover your sore muscles. As you did so, you felt a slick sensation of your shirt rubbing against your side, and you paused, half-turning and craning your neck to look at the source of the sweaty sensation. 

“…Oh.” 

At the sound of your suddenly flat tone, Sonic began to turn to face you inquisitively as you quickly grabbed your side. “Hey, uh, Sonic? You wouldn’t happen to have any more bandages on you, would ya?” You laughed a little nervously. “I’m bleeding.” 

“You what?!” Quickly, Sonic glanced over you, eyes falling on the darker stain that had seeped through the half-hidden side of your clothes. “Gaia, (y/n), what were you thinking?! Why would you try to carry me while you’re injured?!” he demanded accusingly while reaching behind him, though the genuine concern teetered on the edge of his voice, causing a brief little spark of warmth inside your chest.

You let out another nervous laugh. “Okay, to be fair, I don’t think picking you up is what actually did this? I think my wounds already got reopened before and I just didn’t notice.” Another strained chuckle. 

You considered the way you’d been sprinting before, and the way that you’d been blown back a good deal off your feet when Sonic had made impact against the ground. 

“I mean, I was kinda focusing on the fact the literal only thing standing between me and imminent death got yeeted millions of feet into the fucking sky, and also the giant fucking crater he made. By the way, I’m genuinely impressed by that?” Grinning a bit awkwardly, you accepted the gauze he was offering to you, continuing to ramble as you placed some gauze under your shirt, pinning it against you tightly. “I mean, YEAH I’ve seen you survive some crazy shit, but like, that’s in the GAMES, right? Watching somebody fall that fucking far right in front of you and make such a big crater and not be dead? That’s fucking WILD, man.” 

Sonic seemed to be all but ignoring your words entirely, briefly rolling his eyes as he leaned closer, studying the dark spot on the side of your clothes. “Alright, welllll, let’s get you patched up again, then.” He pulled out a bandage and started unraveling it, leaning closer to you, but a surge of sense suddenly came to you, and you lightly slapped his hand away. Sonic blinked at you. 

“I can do it myself, Sonic!” you insisted, reaching for the bandages. 

Sonic pulled back slightly, avoiding your hands and reaching back in again. “Don’t be stubborn, (y/n)! I know how to do this, just let me take care of it and then we’ll—” 

“I’m going to have to take off my fucking shirt, dipshit!” you interrupted bluntly, giving him a deadpan stare. “Just turn around! I know how to do it!” 

Sonic froze, his hands still in the air. Then you snatched the bandages and remaining gauze out of his hands before he quickly turned away, raising his hands in surrender as he put his back to you. 

“Sorry! Sorry!” He scratched the back of his head through his quills, and you could pretty much feel the embarrassment coming off of him. “I wasn’t trying to—I wasn’t thinking!” 

“Well, I’m glad you are now,” you snarked dully, unraveling the bandage with your other hand. Awkwardly, you half-suspiciously watched his back, before shuffling your way out of the shirt that was sticking to you. It took a bit of effort, but you managed to slide it off, feeling the moisture spread over other parts of your body like a slick coat (gross). 

Eying the wound, you sighed. It had definitely been reopened, if it had ever closed at all, and, well… it wasn’t an absurd amount of bleeding or anything, but it was certainly more than you’d like. You couldn’t quite “feel” the pain right now, beyond a bit of stinging, but, you were certain that if you did, it would… not be pleasant. 

“This stuff is biodegradable, right?” you asked as you separated more strips of gauze and ran them up yours side, as Sonic half-flinched in your direction but didn’t actually turn around. 

“Biode—sorry, what? ” Sonic questioned, awkwardly wrapping his hands together behind his head. “Uhhh, yeah. Are they not in your world?” 

“I meannnn… I’m not sure?” You grimaced, feeling the faint sting as you rubbed the gauze hard against your body, then carelessly dropped it into the dirt after it was utterly stained red, grabbing another. “I think that some probably are, but, maybe not all? Hmm.” 

You thought as you wrapped another piece of gauze onto your side, then, now that it was not immediately soaked through, held it there as you tried to wipe off more of the rest of the blood on your body. 

“Medical tape! Errr, or is it exercise tape? Um. One of those probably. I’m pretty sure at least most of those aren’t? Maybe? I don’t know, I don’t normally spend my time learning about bandages.” 

You and Sonic both sighed to yourselves, and you continued working on cleaning yourself up. You awkwardly tied the bandage around your waist as tightly as you could, feeling fully ridiculous and like you were wearing some sort of weird rib-corset. Then, you sighed again, looking down at your shirt. 

It’s so fucking dirty… you moaned to yourself. It’s so fucking bloody and dirty and there’s grass stains and pieces of dirt and it was all underwater and—Uuugh…

Reluctantly, you rubbed the bridge of your nose before picking it up again, shaking it out as best as you could. Really, it hardly did anything appearance-wise, but you hoped it would at least mean there was less dirt on it to get into any open cuts or anything. 

You uncomfortably shuffled back into the now-disgusting shirt, feeling the cold wet substance once again smearing against you (EW). You grabbed the gauze again and attempted to pat and soak up the worst of it through the outside of your shirt. 

“Alright…” you called back out reluctantly to Sonic, whose ears perked up at being addressed. “I’m done, I think.” 

He turned around to face you, and his green eyes visibly darted up and down your body. “You good?” 

“I mean, as good as I can be, given the situation.” You groaned and ran the non-gauze-holding hand over your face, not even caring that a bit of blood probably also smeared on your face. “God. I just want to go home and, like, drink until I pass out. Or something.” 

“Please don’t tell me you’re an alcoholic,” Sonic replied wearily, shaking his head as he came closer. He stumbled slightly, but didn’t fall. 

A low huff-like growl escaped your chest. “I mean, I wasn’t before, but at this rate, who knows?” You discarded yet another bloody piece of gauze into the dirt, then stared in annoyance at the remaining large stain on your shirt, deciding it was time to give up. “Uhhh, I don’t know if you’d want these back?” you asked sheepishly, awkwardly holding up the remaining bandages that had gotten little streaks of blood accidentally smeared on them. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to—” 

To your surprise, Sonic took them from your hands, returning them behind his back into pocket space. “Yeah, I’m keepin’ it alright,” he retorted. “At this rate, it looks like you’re gonna be needing loads of it.” 

Grumbling a little but not really able to disagree in the slightest, you shuffled a little awkwardly, attempting to ignore how uncomfortable your shirt, the bandages, and, well, everything felt. “Alright…” You sighed, looking back at Sonic. “Um, anyway, so you said that you got the plane parts?” 

“Yyyyep.” Still looking a little weary, he shrugged and grinned. “I’m the fastest thing alive. If I can’t grab a couple a’ Eggman parts, what kinda hedgehog would I be?” 

You sighed again. “Fine, whatever. I don’t care about pocket space and how they didn’t get crushed or whatever right now. Anyway, like I said, I for one do not want to ride in a plane either fixed OR operated by a guy who hasn’t slept in God-knows-how-long, so, how about we try to find a place to rest or something first?” you asked, crossing your arms. 

Sonic blinked. “Uhhh… the black creatures?” he pointed out, hands on his hips. “And Eggman? Did you forget about those guys?” 

Mildly irked, you narrowed your eyelids at him. “I am FULLY aware of both of those things, Sonic, but if something COMES, I’m at LEAST capable of waking you up or screaming or something. Or are you suggesting that I’m incapable of literally just waking you up?” 

He sighed and shut his eyes, pinching above his nose. “Fine, fine, yeah, we can do that. I guess. I’ll go take a nap, and then I can fix the plane, and we can head off. I won’t need that much sleep, anyway.” 

“Great. Sounds like a plan, Sonic. Now, do you know where another cave is around here, or are you going to take off looking for one, and I’m going to have to watch you trip and land on your face again?” you deadpanned, and he glared back at you. 

“Actually, I do know where one is already. It was…” He looked around the open field and the surrounding mountains for a second, before finally pointing in a direction away from the both of you. “…That way. I saw one that way when I was looking for Eggman’s ship.” 

“Alright, sounds good.” You straightened, and took a step forward. “Wanna head off, then?” you asked, then grinned a little, albeit a strained one. “You know, at a normal walking pace. No ‘getting carried around’ or anything for once?” 

Sonic rolled his green eyes back at you, but returned your weary grin. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, (y/n). Let’s just go, then.” He turned and made a ‘follow me’ gesture over his shoulder as he slowly started forward. 

And soon, the both of you were walking—not quite side-by-side, but close enough—limping steadily ahead, together. 

Chapter Text

For once, almost silent, both you and the hedgehog moved forward together, limping steadily ahead. Occasionally you heard a very faint grunt from the hedgehog next to you, and occasionally, your breath sounded a bit more unsteady, but you did your best to not let it be obvious. 

The gentle breeze brushed against the both of you, and you inhaled deeply as you walked, faltering only slightly every once in a while. The grass swayed ever-so-slightly in the air, but it was otherwise quiet. 

Steadily, the both of you progressed onwards, Sonic leading the way a few steps ahead as you approached closer to one of the surrounding mountains. You both re-entered a forest of trees, and your eyes followed the intricate details of the leaves, the shifting of branches, and the light gently emerging from the gaps in the air. 

Almost in a trance, suddenly you stumbled a bit, abruptly feeling your abdomen squeeze in pain. Hearing your gasp, the hedgehog quickly spun around to look at you, stumbling a bit himself in the process. 

“(y/n)? What’s wrong?” Sonic asked urgently, though he visibly winced for a split second as he leaned towards you.

“I…” You held your stomach awkwardly, feeling both embarrassed at the concern and annoyed at yourself for not realizing sooner. “Before you go to sleep, you wouldn’t happen to have any food on you or anything, would you?” You gave a weak laugh. “I just realized, I, um, haven’t eaten anything since I got here.” And it’s been over a day, your mind added. 

“Oh, shit!” Sonic abruptly swore, almost making you jump with the forcefulness of it, quickly reaching behind himself and pulling something out of pocket space again. “I meant to give you this earlier. Gaia, what was I thinking?!” He held out the blue object towards you. 

You blinked a couple of times in surprise, and slowly took it from him. Flipping it slightly in your hands, you took in the thing you’d been given: a large, rectangular object encased in something resembling a blue wrapper, with the words “Chaolerina Bar” splayed in a large red-and-white label over the front of it. Some distant part of the back of your mind was bothered by this, nagging at something, but… you… couldn’t… quite place why. The texture also didn’t feel like a normal granola bar wrapper, though—it was like it was… some sort of fabric? 

“…Huh.” Glancing up at Sonic for a split second, you glanced back at the bar and started attempting to open it. “These are the granola bars in this world, huh?” 

“I mean, food bars, but yeah.” Sonic made a kind of half-gesture as you struggled to get it open. “Yeah, that’s the norm. …Do you… uh… need help with that?” 

“NOPE!” You attempted to bite to tear open the wrapper, but all you accomplished was almost getting your teeth stuck in the fabric-like texture. “JSSS… MNEED… TRRR… UGH!” Finally you yanked it out and threw your hand in his direction, covering your eyes as you held your head in defeat. “I’ll stop embarrassing myself. Please just get this thing open for me.” 

Sonic chuckled a little, and you felt a bit more shame surge within you, and a bit of heat returning to your cheeks. You didn’t bother to look at him as you felt the thing removed from your hands, and then heard a swift ripping sound, and felt it return. You looked back up and held it closer, now able to see the top part of the dark brown leather-like material, like a shiny brick.

You stared. 

“…Okay, I know they don’t LOOK the best, but they actually taste fine. I eat ’em all the time when I’m on the run.” 

Glancing between him and the bar in your hand, you ultimately just shrugged. Well, beggars can’t be choosers. Sinking your teeth into it, you slowly began to chew… 

…

And then instinct kicked in and your ravenous body took over, tearing through the bar like an animal. 

Over the sounds of your frantic devouring, you heard Sonic make a noise somewhere between a sigh and a laugh, not that you could particularly care given how FUCKING HUNGRY you were. “Alrighty. Let’s keep going, okay?” 

Managing to stop your feverish feeding frenzy for long enough to look up at him, you nodded a little and began walking next to him again, forcing yourself to take deliberately-slower bites. Now that you could actually TASTE what you were eating, yeah, it actually wasn’t bad. Not mind-blowingly delicious or anything, but pretty good. 

Steadily, the two of you progressed through the woods as you consumed the bar until it reached the wrapper. Uncertainly, you crinkled the fabric-ish material, and Sonic’s ear twitched in your direction before he turned to face you again. “Do I, um… need to hold onto this? Or is this biodegradable, too?” 

Sonic extended his hand towards you, and awkwardly, you returned the wrapper to his hands. “Technically, it’ll break down on its own eventually, so it’s ‘safe’ to throw out anywhere,” Sonic explained as he returned it to pocket space, continuing to walk forward, “but it’s still better to bring it back to places that are actually made for breaking them down. Still, in an emergency, I can just toss ’em—part of the reason why I carry these things around with me.” 

“I seeee…” you mumbled in a slightly intrigued tone, and nodded back at him. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah! Okay. Sure. You made a pleased noise to yourself. 

Your belly now full, you suddenly felt… MUCH better than you had felt for, well… a while. Perfect condition? Oh HELL no. But at least the sheer relief of the dopamine feedback from the food, and the no-longer-painful stomach pains, flooded you with enough relief to feel incredible in comparison to a few minutes ago. 

Pleased, you felt a low vibration in the back of your throat, and you half-skipped ahead a few steps faster, past Sonic, lightly kicking a rock a short distance. You went to hop a little bit, but flinched at the reminder of the pains in your body, so instead you just bounced slightly in place as you turned back towards him, grinning at the mildly-intrigued blue hedgehog, continuing to walk backwards before flipping back around to watch where you were going. 

“Hey, (y/n)?” Sonic suddenly asked, and you swiveled your head to face him. 

“Hmm?” You weren’t sure why, but responding made the pleasant tingling in the back of your throat go away, so you were slightly displeased.

“What’re you humming?” 

You froze in your tracks. Blinking, you started looking at yourself, mind rewinding back the clock to try to comprehend. 

“I was…” I was humming? Perplexed, you stared at the dirt for a second, slowly realizing that the vibrations must have been humming. But Sonic’s question even stumped you, for a minute. “What the hell was I humming? Hold on a second.” 

“(y/n), it’s not that important, let’s just keep moving,” Sonic called out, but you half-glared at the ground. 

I DON’T KNOW what I was humming, I need to figure it out, damn it! “Just gimme a sec…” you mumbled, slowly filtering through your brain. 

Then, all at once, it clicked and you gasped, throwing your hands against the sides of your head. “I’VE GOT IT! Ohhh…” you groaned just a bit, not deeply upset but slightly embarrassed. “Alright, that’s a little embarrassing, actually.” 

“What?” 

You turned back to the half-curious, half-impatient (but all-exhausted) hedgehog, beginning to walk forward again. You were in a good enough mood that you decided to just explain yourself, even if it was slightly embarrassing. 

“Sooo, a bit of context.” A slight nervous laugh escaped you. “Sooo, uh… don’t get a big head over this.” You shot him a meaningful glare, and his expression shifted from half-annoyed to even more curious. “So, like, even almost more than you?” you hedged, hoping to stifle the stroking of his ego somewhat, “the Sonic franchise is known for its EXTREMELY good music. Like. Obviously not every single one is incredible, there’s a couple suckers in there, but it’s got some genuinely just extremely good music. I was bored earlier when you were gone, and I was humming it then, and it must’ve gotten stuck in my head.” 

“Really?” Sonic hummed a bit in thought as you pressed onwards, and you saw what resembled the mouth of a cave in the distance. “What’s it called?” 

“The song?” 

“Yeah.” 

A soft noise left your throat. “Well… it’s called Open Your Heart. It’s an old one, but it was the theme for, uh, when you fought Chaos?—I mean, Perfect Chaos, sorry.” 

“I seeee…” Sonic mumbled, almost marveling, scratching his chin a little in thought. 

As you got closer to your destination, you noticed a very small stream weaving through the forest, slowly winding its way through the mouth of the cave. You felt yourself perking up a bit more. 

WATER! you all but cheered inside. And unlike the lake, it’s not DEEP! 

“Wanna sing it for me?” Sonic asked. 

You whirled around like you’d been slapped. “Ex-cuse me?” 

A grin was playing on his own lips now. “The song. If my music’s so good, why don’t you sing it for me? I’d love to hear it.” 

Becoming mortified, you gave him a burning glare. “Absolutely not.” 

“Why not?” Sonic complained, the smile not quite leaving his face as he held his hands behind his head. “You didn’t have a problem with humming it.” 

“Yeah, and singing’s completely different. I’m not going to do that.” 

“Awww! What if you just keep humming, then?” 

“NO.” 

“Why notttttt?” His voice was almost a whine, but it was still definitely mocking you. “I need to get to sleep, don’t I? It could be like a lullaby! ” Sonic placed a hand over his chest in faux-sincerity. “Even heroes need to sleep sometimes, riiiiight? Don’t you want me to be in perfect condition to fix the plane?” 

You raised a fist pointedly. “If you have so much trouble getting to sleep, I could always try to find out how long it takes me to put you to sleep?” You punched your fist into your other palm. 

Sonic rolled his eyes. “What are you, a certain knucklehead I know?” 

“Don’t fucking call me Knuckles or I will actually do it.” 

Sonic threw his head back in a laugh. “Oh, CHAOS, the fact you already know everybody opens up so many opportunities!” 

“Opportunities to piss me off, certainly. Maybe when we get off this island I’ll just go and hunt down Shadow or something and try to convince him to help me instead, in exchange for learning your secrets.” 

Sonic’s face suddenly turned into a glare. “You. Wouldn’t. Dare. ” 

“I mean, if I was able to track him down, consider: what would he think when he heard that there might be a timeline where he successfully fucking killed you?” 

“I SAID. You. Wouldn’t. DARE.” 

“You don’t know that!” Merrily, you whistled as you felt the faintly-seething hedgehog trailing behind you. 

Another loss for Sonic, another point for ME! 

Finally, the both of you were entering the cave. The little stream extended its way deeper into the cavern, and seemed to form a small pool before disappearing into a wall. 

“Mmmm. Hey, Sonic?” 

“What.” The now-slightly-moody hedgehog’s voice was flat, but you ignored it, figuring that he couldn’t actually be all that upset, even if his pride was surely slightly wounded. 

“This might be a long-shot, but—you wouldn’t happen to carry any soap with you?” Turning to him, you gave him a half-shrug. “You don’t have to give it to me even if you do. Just, I feel extremely gross in these clothes, and I’d really like to at least scrub THEM while you’re out, even if I can’t get clean.” 

Sonic’s green eyes darted over your form, taking in the… well, everything about you at this point (ow). He sighed and closed his eyes in resignation, pulling out and handing over a bar of normal-looking soap. “This is the spare I was gonna use later, but you need it more than me. Ugh.” 

“You don’t have to give it to me,” you responded, taking an awkward step back and holding up your hands. 

Sonic forced it into your hands. “No, (y/n), I definitely have to, and I’d give you a mirror too if I had one.” 

“Okay, OW?!” Accepting the soap, you put your hands on your chest in a very blatant display. “HURTFUL?!” 

“I’m NOT playing nice with the one who just suggested they’d go find SHADOW over me. Shadow? REALLY?! ” Sonic jammed a thumb into his chest. “I’ll have you know I’m WAY more of a ‘hero’ than that guy could EVER be. You know he tried to destroy the world once, don’t you?!” He crossed his arms. “Besides, even now, he’s not exactly the friendliest guy to be around! If he were here, he would NOT be NEARLY as nice to be around as I am, you know!” 

You sighed a little in resignation, and rolled your eyes at him. “Yes, yes, I know. Actually, if he’d been here, I probably would’ve been either completely miserable or dead by now. Assuming he didn’t just ditch me to begin with.” 

Taking a step closer, you saw him look slightly less annoyed. You knew he couldn’t have actually been that upset, but you wanted to truly make sure he wasn’t. 

“In all seriousness, I’m actually really happy you were there when I got here.”

At your sudden honesty, you saw Sonic freeze ever-so-slightly, still looking slightly unsteady on his feet, but you were in a good enough mood now to continue being honest. You slowly continued to approach, your mind rapidly flicking through thoughts of everything you wanted to say. 

“Eggman or black creatures or anything aside, I don’t think I would’ve survived very long. Maybe I wouldn’t have starved, but I fully would’ve had no way to get off this island. And even if somebody was here, I don’t think there’s many people out there as nice as you, who would’ve made it slightly more tolerable to be suffering all the time, even if they DID help me out. And, I mean, you’re not actually that annoying—I get the vibe that you mostly joke and fuck around to keep the mood up, right? Can’t have everybody fall into despair when bad things happen. I mean, it’s probably 50/50 for funsies and for morale, but, hey, I appreciate it.” 

You stopped right in front of him, and leaned over a bit, crossing your arms. Sonic’s eyes were somewhat wide and frozen from your sudden speech, but you currently weren’t moved by his shock, instead focusing on what you really wanted to say. 

If nothing else, you at least had to convey your sincerity, just for this one moment. 

“I know that it certainly isn’t personal or anything, I’m not that dumb, but I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me so far. I know it’s your whole ‘thing’ to be a hero or whatever, but even though it doesn’t mean anything to you, and it’s probably literally just another day of the week, it still matters a lot to me that somebody’s here who’s not just helping me, but being really nice and funny about it. As for me—” 

You uncrossed your arms and instead placed a hand on your chest. 

“—I’ve been losing my mind this whole time, and while I can be a pretty good sport about shit going wrong, this is a fucking LOT, and I don’t think I would be nearly so level-headed as I am, if you hadn’t been here. I mean, well, even now, I’m pretty freaked out, because I’m looking directly at a guy who definitely shouldn’t exist, as far as I know, but he’s very real and very right in front of me and he’s being very nice and helping me in a lot of ways he didn’t have to, even if he’s a hero and likes helping people or whatever. So, like, even though I’m definitely already having a mental breakdown, and I’m definitely going to get worse when I’m not in the thick of all this, I still genuinely appreciate everything you’ve done and are doing for me, and I don’t want you to think that I don’t, because I promise I really do.” 

You gave him what was probably a more sincere smile than you’d given him this entire time, and you kind of took a bit of glee in the way that he stumbled a bit backwards in surprise, but didn’t go far. 

“If I’ve hurt your feelings at all ‘for real’ this whole time, I’m really sorry. Seriously. I’m just in a really bad place right now, as I hope you can imagine.” 

You tilted your head a little, observing the way his very wide eyes, his quills rising slightly, and his very-highly perked ears at full attention all fed into his almost completely dumbfounded expression, all hints of his exhaustion practically erased from his face. “Cute,” a part of your brain supplied, but you ignored it. After all, anybody would find someone getting so moved by what they had to say rather cute. 

“Thank you for saving my life. Thank you for being so nice to me, and being so okay with the bullshit I’ve been putting you through. Thank you. Thank you for everything.” 

Gently, you lowered your eyelids a bit, hoping to convey your sincerity (although admittedly, some of it was leaning into the effect you were having). You gave him the warmest smile you could manage, despite the pains and suffering calling out to you in complaint. 

“If I had to wake up in this world, I’m glad it was next to you.” 

The speech hung in the air, and for a moment, you could swear he wasn’t breathing at all. 

After several seconds of complete silence, your face split into more of a grin, and you lightly pushed his shoulder and turned away, beginning to make some space again. “Oh, don’t look so shocked! Even I’m capable of being flattering sometimes, you know.” You heard him forcefully exhale behind you at the sudden tension-breaking. “Besides, can’t have my ‘hero’ getting too offended and running off on me. I need him to live! ” 

You heard his voice crack slightly as he gave a very heavy sigh. “You really are a lot to handle, you know?” Even though you couldn’t see him, you could tell he was shaking his head wearily. “Chaos. I’m light-headed.” 

“What? Was that too flattering for you? Awww. Am I too charismatic and charming for you?” you teased, spinning back around and placing your hand on your chest. “Don’t go making this weird, now. I’m stuck with you, remember?” 

Sonic’s emerald eyes glared at you as he held his head. “I was talking about my CONCUSSION! Remember? ‘Falling out of the sky’ and everything?” 

You gasped a bit as the realization swam through your head, and you threw the hand not holding the soap over your mouth. “Wait, SHIT! The concussion! I’m so sorry!” 

Sonic shook his head wearily again and turned away, heading deeper into the cave and pulling out a blanket from pocket space as he approached the wall. 

With the sudden spike of nervousness returning to you, you felt your mind scrambling to think. “Wait. If you have a concussion, is it even okay to have you sleep right now? I mean obviously I want to get off this damn island as soon as possible, but I don’t want you to die in your sleep or anything!” 

Sonic gave a half-laugh and shook his head, wrapping the blanket over himself and dropping up against the wall of the cave, sitting and leaning back against it. “Don’t worry about that, (y/n),” he said, closing his eyes. 

“Really? Are you sure? ” you pressed, anxiously leaning over him. “Don’t just be overconfident, I don’t want you to die from something so stupid.” 

He chuckled again. “Yes, I’m sure,” he confirmed, easing up and slouching somewhat against the wall. “Animilians don’t have to worry about sleeping after a concussion.” 

Your brain shattered. 

“Wh…” 

Sonic, oblivious, attempted to relax, blue eyelids shut, but your thoughts were now in utter chaos. You could NOT let that one go. 

“What fucking word did you just say?” 

Sonic’s ear twitched, and he cracked an eye open, half-annoyedly returning your stare. “What? Animilian?” He rubbed his face a bit, looking faintly confused. “Did you not know the word ‘animilian’?” 

“I very much did NOT.” The incredulity ran through your skull feverishly as the befuddlement sank in. “What the fuck is an animilian?” 

“Uhhh, me?” Sonic pointed a finger to himself, both eyes open now. “And everybody else? All the friends like me? We’re all animilians. We’re different kinds, but we’re all animilians. You didn’t know that?” 

“No,” you repeated, in almost complete disbelief. “No, I did not fucking know that. The closest thing to ‘official’ that you guys have ever been called is, like, ‘animal-people’ or something? ‘Sonic-people’?” 

You thought about all the words you’d heard for the “animal-people” of the Sonic world. “Mobian” was the most common, but admittedly, probably not canon, since it came from Archie. More recently, you’d sometimes seen humans referred to as “Mainlanders”, and Sonic-people referred to as “Islanders”, from some media that implied that humans were usually on the mainlands and the non-humans usually lived on the islands. It wasn’t a very clean nominator, given that anyone could literally live anywhere if they moved, but it was something, at least. Hell, there are any number of words you could’ve come up with that might’ve been appropriate. 

But animilian? Fucking “animilian”???

“Well, then, now you know.” He held up his hand and held up two fingers. “There are two ‘groups’ in this world: there are ‘humans’, and there are ‘animilians’. And I’m an animilian. And we don’t really need to worry about concussions like that.” 

Sonic shut his eyes again and rolled over. 

“Anyway, I’m going to sleep now. Wake me up if anything happens, but I shouldn’t need more than a few hours of sleep anyway. Just don’t go too far, and they’re super loud, so my ears’ll pick up the screeching of the monsters or whatever. Goodnight!” 

Speechless, you watched as the hedgehog curled slightly on himself, then seemed to be completely out in seconds. His head drooped, and his breathing immediately slowed, his whole body visibly coming un-tensed.

Blinking, you continued to stare at him a little longer. Your thoughts kept pouring over the interaction the two of you had just had. 

…

…

I…

I…I think “Mobian” is still a better word… 

With a sigh, you dropped your shoulders from their tensed-up state, turning around and heading towards the slightly-wider pool part of the cave, crouching beside it. Awkwardly, you glanced between your shirt and the curled hedgehog, but he was very clearly out like a light—you were pretty sure you’d need to be making a LOT of noise to disturb him. 

Really shows how tired he was, huh?

… 

…

…Maybe that’s why SEGA still lets everybody call them Mobians? Because the actual name sucks? 

Sighing again, you awkwardly shimmied your way out of your bloody top, grimacing a bit. You tried not to think about the soundly-unconscious hedgehog not-too-far from you as you lifted it over your head and stuck it into the water.

You began scrubbing away at the dirt, but especially the blood stains that had soaked through it. Your fingers and the bar of soap kept getting caught on little tears in the fabric, and especially one larger one in the back. You remembered how the black creature had almost swiped you before, the first time—that must’ve been what this one was from. 

After some time of scrubbing in silence, you removed the shirt from the pool and wrung it out, a very vivid stream of dark reds and browns pouring out into the water and flickering through it and evaporating into the water. Though, due to the sheer quantity of stuff you’d just washed out, the water was visibly tinted red, now, at least in this spot. 

You stood and flicked the shirt a few times, attempting to get out the remaining water, and held it out in front of you; it was still pretty bad-looking, but at least it was mostly just the places it was torn, and not the fact that it was completely fucking filthy. 

Uncomfortably, you held the wet shirt over your arm, partially covering yourself just in case he woke up, and headed out of the mouth of the cave. 

You eyed the path of the stream, and saw the direction it went. Maybe if I follow it, I’ll be able to find a better spot to wash the rest of this? I mean, I can’t go TOO far, but… 

It didn’t take long for you to find a good divot in the stream, where it was still not terribly deep, but it was enough to at least partially-submerge yourself and wash the rest of it. You turned and looked around at the forest, finding a good branch hanging very close by and tossing the shirt over it to dry. Then, you stood next to the edge of the deeper section of stream and started to disrobe. 

If Eggman or something fucking shows up when I’m naked I’m not even going to need Sonic, I’m going to commit fucking violence on my own, you grumbled to yourself, beginning to repeat the process with each individual piece of clothing. That’ll be it for the last shreds of my fucking sanity. You set your shoes aside and focused on scrubbing the shit out of everything. 

Wait… Something dawned on you as you went over your pants pockets. My phone. Where’s my fucking phone?! 

You rewinded the ol’ tape yet again, and considered when you went into the lake before, or were getting chased, or even when you were outrunning the initial explosion. You sighed. 

Well, if I ever had it to begin with, it’s fucking gone forever, now. I hope it won’t be expensive to get a new one… 

After cleaning each individual piece of clothing, you carefully draped each one over a branch. Then, after a moment of hesitation (and verifying there weren’t any stray black tendril monsters anywhere), you turned back to the little stream and entered yourself, sitting half-submerged, bar of soap in hand. 

It was somewhat too cold, and it wasn’t at all like taking a bath, but it wasn’t too bad, all things considered. The rocks were uncomfortable, and the water wasn’t completely still, but it was whatever. At the very least you were grateful to not feel quite as disgusting, even if the water wasn’t what you’d call “clean”. 

Using the bar of soap, you began scrubbing the parts of your body that were already under water, and then carefully rubbing over the rest of you, being mindful not to soak the bandages too much. Finally, you dipped your hair into the water and attempted to at least partially untangle it and make it less full of dirt and rubble. 

It took a while, but you were finally, well… not pleased, but satisfied enough. You ran your fingers through your slightly-improved hair and eyed your not-completely-perfect but good-enough level of cleanliness, and finally accepted that this was the best you were gonna get. You didn’t wanna be naked and exposed too long, anyway. 

It was kinda lame, half-heartedly dripping and shaking off without a towel or anything, but at least it wasn’t all THAT cold. It took a while, but eventually you were fully-clothed again and sliding your shoes back on, albeit still mostly uncomfortably moist, both in body and clothes. 

You sighed, and stood, hanging out in the open air, in the middle of the forest. 

It hadn’t been that long since Sonic had gone to sleep. He for sure needed more rest, preferably a couple of hours more, especially if the black creatures were being shockingly cooperative and remaining absent right now. Eggman could be anywhere, but you didn’t hear or see anything other than the sounds of nature. You were wet, and kinda cold, but not actively dying—yet at least. Everything was quiet, save for the breeze and the shifting of the leaves. You even thought you could hear some distant birdsong. 

The world was… 

…peaceful?

Sooo… you thought to yourself. You scratched your head. What now? 

You turned back in the direction of the cave, no longer able to see the mouth of it due to the curve of the rock wall, but still pretty close. You could go a little ways before you’d have to worry about not being able to run back or scream loud enough to be heard in an emergency. I could wander around… but is that wise? Making a low noise, you looked up through the leaves at the midday light peeking through. I could just hang around… Stay close as possible. Or maybe I could just relax? I HAVE been in constant danger and stressing all this time. Should I relax while I can? …Do I need to relax? 

Considering, you focused on letting the tension fall away, starting to let your mind just… rest. 

Breathe. 

And then immediately regretted it as the memories of the black monsters, the explosions, the drowning, and the constant running and helplessness flooded your mind. 

NOPE, no relaxing, that was a mistake. Quickly you focused on getting the thoughts out of your mind, head darting back and forth. Distraction. I need a distraction. 

Maybe the constant stimulation, running for your life, and never being left alone for more than a few minutes had fucked with you more than you’d thought. 

Glancing between the cave and the rest of the trees, you took off a bit further into the trees, not far enough to be out-of-reach but making just a little bit of distance. 

Find something to do. Gotta find something to do. 

It had easily been over two hours now and you were fully losing it. 

You had tried stretching, pacing back and forth, humming to yourself, picking at your bandages, circling between trees, breaking off branches and smacking trees with them, picking at wounds that weren’t bandaged, reopening little cuts, rinsing out those cuts AGAIN, and now you were upside-down, up in a tree, contemplating if it would be worth it to start gnawing on bark. 

But, still, you weren’t QUITE ready to go fully feral yet, so you, slightly reluctantly, did not bite the branch you were hanging from, and instead let yourself drop to the ground. 

“Ooof.” You held your head, and eyed the side of your shirt where the bandages covered your biggest wound, hoping that it hadn’t reopened yet again but simultaneously not caring much if it had. 

Even the pain didn’t particularly bother you—at least it was SOMETHING exciting. 

…Maybe you were turning into an adrenaline junkie? 

…Or, at the very least, you were becoming incredibly unstable. 

Somewhat haphazardly, you stood, grabbing the best broken branch that you’d acquired as you did so. Longingly, you looked back in the direction of the cave, obscured by the trees and a decent amount of forest, but still no more than a two-minute walk away. 

When are you going to wake up? you pleaded. Sonic, I’m begging you, don’t stay asleep for too much longer, I’m going to lose it. I changed my mind, I’ll get on the damn plane even if it blows up, just please get me OUT OF THIS HELL!!! 

Unsure if you were joking or not, you half-debated going and genuinely waking him, but you instantly felt like too much of an asshole for even considering waking the poor guy up. So instead, you moaned helplessly and returned to playing with the stick in your hands. 

It really WAS a nice stick. 

“I’m so fucking bored.” 

SMACK.

You lightly swatted at trees as you started wandering through the forest again, mind wracking for new alternatives to entertain yourself. 

You remembered the conversation you’d had about how Sonic music was good, and you latched onto it, beginning to filter through good options. 

Finally, you landed on one that seemed shockingly appropriate. 

You let out a sigh, not entirely of frustration this time, but of partial relief. You glanced back in the direction of the cave, and around yourself quickly—you still seemed to be entirely alone. No black creatures, no Eggman, and no Sonic in sight. 

Whatever. As long as you weren’t facing in the direction of the cave, he wouldn’t wake up unless his hearing was “supersonic” too. Which you highly doubted, given that you were able to do stuff next to him while he was sleeping just fine. 

You began to hum to yourself, quietly remembering the pacing of the song and allowing yourself to settle into the intro notes. You relaxed somewhat, easing into it. 

“Come with meeee…” you murmured, your faint singing voice ringing with a tone that made you feel a bit better. “I’m staaanding on the booordeeer of everythiiiiing… Liiiisten clooose!” 

You looked up to the sky, remembering the black creatures, and wondering what they were. You wondered if the next line of the song would be appropriate for them. If not, well, at least there was the rest of the song. 

“Can you hear the spiiirits SIIIING, lost mess-a-gesss from looong agoooo…” 

The beat dropped in the music at this moment, and you began flicking the stick between various trees to the beat, banging on them like drums. Bada-bada-da, bada bada bada, bada, bada DA, badadadaDA— 

Continuing to bang on trees, you hummed more of the interlude, already starting to feel a bit better even though you still felt alone. You considered the words of the song, and how much you needed to believe them in this moment. 

“Leeaave… the LIFE you knewww befoooore!” Your voice had raised in volume, but you felt utterly comfortable doing so, given that there was very obviously nothing around, and that Sonic would not wake up unless you were directly facing that way and probably also got even closer back to the cave. 

You focused on your words, the rhythm, and really, really trying to believe in the words of the song, more than you ever had before. “Seeee… A new WORLD WORTH FIIIIIGHTING FOR!” 

Focusing on being swift and deliberate in time, you jammed the stick into a tree, where it bended slightly but didn’t break. It was a REALLY good stick. You were proud of your choice. You continued swatting it back and forth again like a sword. “Find the truuuth of who ‘mm meant tooo becOME!” Another stab. “Another paaath I must now waaaalk ooon!” 

Harder than ever before, you slammed the stick against the tree, and jammed a fist into your chest. You fully broke into song, uncaring, completely comfortable now in your boredom-induced fervor. 

“I’m HEREEE!” (Smack.) “REACHING FAAAAAR ACROSS THESE NEW FRONTIIIIERS!” 

Feeling the words more than ever in your life, you gripped your chest against your shirt hard and almost keeled over, screaming the words with as much passion as you could muster. “WITH— MY—LIIIFE! IIII! FIIIIGHT! THIIIS! FEE-EE-EAAAR!! ” 

Almost choked up, you bit back the tears that threatened to consume you if you dwelled on it too long, focusing instead on throwing yourself into the words. “IN MY HAAANDS I hold the ooones IIII LOVE! Crossss forrr-waard throoough THEEee COOOLD DAAAWN!” 

You threw your stick at another tree, throwing your hands into the air defiantly, punching the air repeatedly for emphasis. “ALLL-WAYS—TO—NEWWW—HOR—IIIII—ZOOOONS!!!” 

Panting, you remained there for a few seconds, reveling in the catharsis you were receiving, probably for the first time since you’d gotten here. You considered chugging onwards through the rest of the song, but figured you’d return to it again in a bit if needed, instead turning towards a tree and thudding your head against the bark. 

“I’m going to fucking lose it,” you muttered. “I’m going to fucking die here, and it’s not gonna be because of the fucking monsters or Eggman, it’s gonna be because of ME. I made Sonic go to sleep, and now I’m going to fucking die of boredom before he ever wakes up. FUCK me.” As though interrogating a witness, you threw all sense of decorum away and grabbed a thinner tree, shaking it furiously. “WHY did I do that?! WHY did I argue with him?! I don’t CARE anymore if I blow up in the fucking OCEAN! SONIC, PLEASE WAKE UP AND GET ME OUT OF HEEEEEEERE!!!” you practically wailed. 

“No need to—”

You screamed.

“—worry about that anymore. I’m up.” 

Whirling around to face in that direction, you felt all the blood rush to your head as you saw a very amused (and much more energized-seeming) Sonic, once again, standing and staring at you, eyes half-lidded in a smirk. 

Silently, you stared at him, and he stared back at you. You felt cold beads of sweat running down your back, and though you did your best to remain steady, your knees shook slightly. 

“…S…Sonic,” you greeted finally, deciding to go the overly-polite and refined route to try to make up for your display. “Good morning. I’m glad to see you doing better. Um, I—I’m sorry. Did—did I… wake you?” 

Somehow seeming more amused, his mouth twitched. “Oh, no, I woke up on my own, I assure you. I came out and started looking for you.” 

“…I see.” You desperately tried to hide your emotions and appear composed, though you were pretty sure you were failing decently miserably. You found yourself glancing between the hedgehog and one of the (inferior) sticks that still remained by your side. “Well, I’m glad to see you awake, then. I hope you have the energy to fix and fly a plane?” 

“Oh, easily.” The smile on his face never wavered, and his amused expression continued resting comfortably on his face. 

“…Well, great! I’m glad to hear that.” You glanced between the stick and the hedgehog again, hoping that, with the way things were going, he wasn’t going to bring anything up. Maybe he’d take pity on you. Maybe then your mind could pretend that he hadn’t seen as much as you were afraid he had. “Well, then, in THAT case. What do you say we go back to the plane and get off this island now, then?” You laughed nervously. “I think we’re both ready to go home.” 

“Is that so?” Sonic crossed his arms and tilted his head cockily, and you felt a sinking feeling in your stomach, wondering which part of your disgraceful display he was going to address. “Well, as for me, I was actually hoping to ask you about that little song you just sang. By any chance… and this is just a shot in the dark…” He tapped a finger on the side of his head, and his grin widened. “…would that happen to be one of those ‘extremely good Sonic franchise’ songs?” 

You felt yourself flinch, inching back a little, and his smirk grew even wider. 

“I’m right, aren’t I?” He grinned almost evilly.

You’d made your decision. 

In one swift movement, you yanked the stick off the ground, chucked it directly at him, and took off in the opposite direction. 

In seconds, you could hear him directly behind you, laughing hysterically, but you ignored him and desperately pushed yourself to your limits in terms of speed. Naturally, it did nothing to shake him off, but at least you felt proud for making the effort. 

“I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL MYSELF, ” you yelled against the wind, desperately glaring into the distance. 

“Oh, just CALM DOWN, (y/n), it’s FUNNY!” he yelled back, and furiously, you began to spin back around to yell at him. 

“NONO WAIT—” 

At once you were hit with a fast-moving object, both of your bodies colliding against each other, and you felt yourselves rolling over each other, spinning a couple times before you finally stopped. Sonic, being the smaller and lighter one, had ended up on top, and you were splayed out uselessly on the ground below him. 

“Ha…” you chuckled involuntarily. 

You heard Sonic snicker too. 

And at once you both exploded into a fit of violent laughter, wheezing and falling over yourselves.

“THIS IS SO FUCKING STUPID!!!” you yelled, and Sonic more or less just flopped his way off of you, sitting next to you on the grass. “I’m LOSING IT!!!” 

Through his gradually-slowing, but still-present chuckles, he held a hand out to you as he stood. “Hey, at least you’re not the only one,” Sonic responded, gesturing a bit with his other gloved hand. “I think I’m also going a little crazy here.” He let out an amused sigh, finally stopping his laughter. “How about we both get the hell off this island, already?” Sonic asked. He beckoned a little for you to take his hand. 

You glanced between him, his gloved hand, and looked up into his eyes again. “Yeah,” you agreed, firmly grasping his hand, and his grin widened as he pulled you upright. “Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here.” 

For a moment, Sonic’s grin turned into a softer, warmer smile.

Then he scooped you up, and you were both off like a rocket. 

Chapter Text

It didn’t take too long before you were slowing down again. 

“Phew!” 

Sonic let out a little exclamation of relief and began setting you on the ground, and stumbling disorientedly, you managed to gain your footing and stand upright. You stood up again, looking around at the familiar scene—you were now both at the plane again, and, finally, finally, had the ability to repair it. 

Sonic sauntered over confidently, and you watched as he jumped into the plane, dug out the toolbox again, and then, cheerfully this time, pulled out some tools. You watched, kind of shuffling around a bit, as he started humming to himself, seeming quite pleased and animated when compared to his last attempt at this venture. He flipped a tool in his hands, reached behind him, and pulled out some… pipes? And scraps of something? Whatever they were, he seemed quite pleased with himself as he hopped back onto the plane, shoved his head into the hole, and started to work, the noise of tightening screws and scraping metal ringing out through the air. 

Not sure if you were feeling curious or awkward watching him, you shifted a little more, lightly scraping the ground with a shoe. The faint noises coming from the cheerful hedgehog ultimately led you to awkwardly cough ever-so-slightly, causing him to partially pull his face out to glance at you before returning his smiling but determined eyes to his work. 

“What’s up?” Sonic asked, and you heard him grunt a little. 

“Oh, just…” Uncomfortably, you kicked the dirt and grass again, averting your eyes from staring directly at the back spines of the blue hedgehog. “I was just, uh, wondering if it was okay to talk while you’re doing that. I don’t wanna, um, break your concentration or anything.” 

Sonic glanced back at you again, and his determined smile seemed to shift into more of an amused—or maybe pleased?—grin, quickly returning his gaze back to his work. “Oh, no prob! Actually, it’s a little easier to focus if you talk to me. Keeps the brain and hands moving at the same time, y’know?” 

“Oh…” A warm, conflicted twitch of something—embarrassment? Happiness? Shyness?—rose in your chest, but you coughed again to yourself, trying to just focus on the words he’d said. “Oh! Well, Iiii’m… glad. As you ‘miiiight’ve’ picked up on already—” Sheepishly, you shrugged, recalling your earlier display— “I don’t seem to be doing too well with boredom right now.” 

Sonic openly snorted, sticking his head in deeper as he reached for something before pulling his head further out again. “Oh, I’ll say!” More grunting and scraping noises. “I thought I was the impatient one. Are you sure you’re not me?” 

Defensively, you huffed and crossed your arms. “I’ll have you know I’m NORMALLY VERY patient! I think I’m just going stir-crazy. …Kind of.” 

And, just, completely losing my mind, your brain added, but you stifled the thought.

“Whatever you say.” Smack. Grind. “Well… Alright, to be fair, I am also going a little stir-crazy being stuck here for so long. Without my plane.” 

“And you aren’t SCARED!” You grumbled under your breath a bit. “You can fuck those things up in seconds! The—those freaking monster things! I’ve literally almost died to them! Several times!” 

Sonic fell silent for a bit. Scowling slightly, you stared at his silent back as you waited for a response. 

“…Milliseconds.” 

Your eyes squinted a bit. “What?” 

“Milliseconds, not seconds.”

Your eyes narrowed further. 

“I can screw them up in milliseconds.” 

With a disbelieving gawk, you scoffed at him derisively, looking away. “FIRST of all, REALLY?! NOW?! SECOND of all, that’s not true for ALL of them! The bigger ones take at least a second or two!” 

Sonic groaned aloud, and your eye twitched, your lips twisting and curling between a scowl and a sneer. You went to open your mouth again to yell at him for being so blasé about your literal life-or-death situation and your constant flipping between pants-shitting terror and the general, all-encompassing dread and anxiety when you weren’t being actively harassed by the hedgehog in front of you. 

“I’m TELLING you, you don’t need to be SCARED!” Sonic suddenly snapped, throwing his head out of the hole and thrusting a finger out towards you. “I’m fast enough to take on anything! I already TOLD you! I’m not gonna let you DIE!” 

Your breath hitched and your words caught in your throat, staring back wide-eyed at the determined, not-quite-angry, burning emerald green eyes of Sonic the Hedgehog. 

Then Sonic huffed and swiftly returned to his work, agitatedly pulling on something. “Seconds, milliseconds, whatever! Doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what happens. You’re stuck with ME for now. And as long as you’re stuck with me, I’M not gonna go down. Those things can’t touch me. And so long as I’m standing, I’ll come out on top one way or another.” 

Finally, he jumped out of the plane, landing in front of you, and you found yourself backing away a bit as he boldly walked right up to you and leaned up towards you, staring directly into your eyes without so much as flinching. 

Sonic abruptly broke into a cocky grin and pulled back again, lazily puffing out his chest as he put his hands on his hips, shifting his weight to one foot. 

“So, why don’t you try hedging your bets on this hedgehog?” He shot you a quick smirk, tilting his head. “You’ve seen me win a thousand times before, haven’t you, (y/n)? What’s one more?” He backed away a bit, planting his hand pointedly on his chest. “This kinda stuff ain’t for everybody—but I’m not just anybody, y’know. Remember? I’m Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. ” 

Abruptly, he darted into a crouch and almost vanished in front of you, becoming a blur, and you felt a whirlwind almost knock you off your feet as you attempted to shield yourself. He slid to a stop again, skid marks now surrounding the ground around you. 

“And you said it yourself! This is just another day of the week for me, right? Who’s gonna stop me? Eggman? It’s been over a DECADE, and that ‘eggo’-maniac still hasn’t managed to keep me down.” He shrugged with his hands in the air, and gave you a quick wink before whirling around and leaping into the air, flipping in a blur before hitting the wings of the plane in a perfect three-point landing. He stood again and rubbed his thumb once across his nose sharply. “So, you can stop worrying your pretty little head about it, y’know.” 

He leaned down over you cockily, and you felt your uneven heartbeat pounding in your ears as you somehow couldn’t bring yourself to move, even as your dazed, still-somewhat-concussed mind launched itself to the surface, a thought rising in your head, keeping you just grounded enough not to make your head spin entirely. 

“You can rest easy. Just sit back and let this guy take care of it, and you’ll be going on your merry way.” 

Sonic gave you a smile that—for once—did not look entirely like a grin. 

He placed his hand on his chest. 

“Don’t worry about it. I’m here.” 

For a moment, you just stared back at him. The air was almost still.

You heard your heart pounding distantly, but not as fast as it had been a minute ago. 

Finally, you managed to make your lips move. 

They twitched into a smirk. 

“Sooo.” You grinned mischievously back at him. “You think I’m pretty, huh?” 

Sonic’s face immediately dropped into a deadpan expression. 

You threw your head back with laughter, tense feelings evaporating instantly (save for a faint, residual nervous tingling in the middle of your chest), cackling madly even as you could feel the hedgehog rolling his eyes. “Well, aren’t YOU egotistical?” the blue creature asked dryly, turning around and shaking his head. 

“Oh, says you! ” you retorted, shaking your head in turn with an easy, unaffected shrug. “YOU just went on, like, a thirty-second speech bragging about how invincible you are.” 

“Well, it’s not bragging if it’s true!” Sonic responded casually, hopping off the side of the plane and reaching behind him. 

“Sure, but, c’mon, the run-around?” You gestured to the newly-formed circular pattern around you. “That was wholly unnecessary. You cocky motherfucker.” You grinned, eyes falling into a half-lidded, lazy expression. 

You heard him heave an over-dramatic sigh, not sounding the least annoyed despite his efforts. “Well, at least the plane’s almost fixed.” He pulled out a sheet of dented metal, roughly the size of the hole. “Just gotta seal this hole and we’re all good to go.” 

Pleasantly surprised, you hummed, unable to keep the relieved grin from your face. “Really? That fast?” 

“Just who do you think you’re talking to?” Sonic shot you back a grin over his shoulder. 

You in turn forced an over-dramatic groan, and he gave a higher-pitched chuckle back at you. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll spare you the rest.” Sonic pulled a hammer and nails out of his toolbox, confidently approaching the plane. “We’re almost done here. Ya might wanna cover your ears for this!” 

Quickly, you covered your ears just in time for the loud BANG BANG BANG that proceeded to ring out through the air. You groaned, instantly developing a headache, wholly unable to hear yourself as he continued his pounding of metal against metal. Plugging your ears, you grumbled a bit and walked a short distance away, slightly reducing the volume of the banging as you let your eyes wander away from the area. 

Your gaze drifted to the sky, and you found your newly-recovered energy beginning to slip away. Shades of blue, pink, yellow, and pale, fluffy whites, drifting and mingling over each other across the backdrop of the sky. 

Eyes scanning over the horizon and the symphony of colors, you felt the dread that had briefly left you starting to sink in again. 

After a while of waiting in silence, the banging finally stopped, and slowly, you turned, gradually pulling the hands from your ears. Sonic stood in front of the plane, wiping his forehead as he admired his handiwork. The newly-added patch wasn’t a perfect match, and stuck out like a sore thumb against the rest of it, but despite looking slightly too dented and wavy, it was certainly an improvement on before. 

A somber sensation—not fear, but just enough tentative feelings—settled over your chest. 

Sonic, looking satisfied but still focused, hopped back onto the plane and slid into the pilot seat. If you were not in the somber state you were in, you might’ve been watching with utmost curiosity; but as it stood, you were more somber, but still ended up half-watching between your glances away. 

He started flicking switches and dials, and you heard a low humming sound as something started up. It got louder, and then a bit louder, and Sonic held a hand over his mouth thoughtfully. Then he started flipping the switches off again, a sigh that wasn’t quite disappointed but still slightly less energetic escaped his mouth. Sonic flipped around, hopped back out off the plane and landed with a faint grunt, and then casually strolled a few feet away from you. 

“Sooooo…” Sonic began, still facing the plane, and you shifted your gaze from the plane and the sky to the blue hedgehog on your right. “Do you want the good news or the bad news fir—” 

“Bad,” immediately escaped your lips, and both you and the hedgehog flinched at the sudden forcefulness of it. 

Sonic slowly turned his green eyes towards you, and you felt yourself twitching a little from the discomfort, inching away from his stare. 

“…Uh… I… I don’t know why that came out like that. Um.” You chuckled a little nervously, failing to hide your discomfort in the least. “Just… Bad. Yeah. Bad news first, please.” Awkwardly, you force-chuckled again. 

Sonic’s somewhat wary, not-quite-identifiable expression stayed evenly on his face for a bit. Then, he shut his eyes and let out a low sigh. “…Alright. Well, it’s not actually that bad. It’s just… We can’t make it all the way straight to where Tails is like this,” he began. 

You felt your already-solemn face set its lips into a thin line. 

“But!” Sonic hastily pressed on. “We’re still good to go! We just have to make a pit-stop along the way, alright? It just can’t go quite as far as usual, but it’s not gonna blow up or anything. And there’ll be civilization there! It’s another island, but there’s people on it. And that means, better parts! …Or, well, parts I can actually work with that aren’t Eggman tech of all things.” He grimaced and gave the replaced piece of the plane the side-eye, evidently still somewhat displeased by the concept, despite all his efforts to get to this point. 

 You stayed silent for a bit, processing his words as you stared down at the hedgehog beside you, whose hands were partially-held up in a placating way. Slowly, you let an almost-silent sigh escape your lips. 

“…That’s fine.” Deliberately, cautiously, you gave a nod of acknowledgement. “That’s not so bad.” 

“Yeah!” Sonic seemed ever-so-slightly relieved, but still somewhat restrained. “It’ll be a bit bumpier than this baby usually flies, but nobody’s going down in the ocean today or anything. It should be an easy flight.” 

Feeling somewhat somber, you looked from him, to the plane, and then back out towards the open sky. Your gaze slowly drifted across the air, not quite searching, but… 

“…Do you think those monster things will show up while we’re in the air?” you heard yourself ask softly. “…It’s been a while. They’re not gone, are they?” Even though it sounded mostly like a question, deep down, you already knew the answer. 

“…I doubt that,” Sonic eventually responded, also following your gaze. “If my track record’s anything to go by, then it’s not gonna be over until I beat some giant, world-ending monster or undo whatever Eggman did or something.” 

You nodded again slowly, still looking out into the expanse of the sky, not feeling even the least surprised… but deep down, a twinge of something negative tugged on your chest. 

“…Will we be okay?” Your voice was even quieter this time. “Or if Eggman shows up. Will we be alright? Can the plane take it?” 

Startled, you jumped a little and whirled your head around to face him when you felt contact with your hand. You stared at him as he took your hand into one of his, squeezing it gently.

“It’ll be alright,” Sonic said softly, not even a hint of insincerity on his face. “I know I said I’m not the best at flying and shooting at the same time, but I’m still pretty good. I’ve done it without Tails here before. Mostly, the important part is just getting to full speed in the air first. We might even be able to outspeed anything that shows up, if we have to. I’m better at maneuvering than shooting. But I can still do both. Even if anything shows up, we’ll be fine. Everything will be okay.” 

You stared back at him for longer for a moment, eyes taking in everything about him—his solemn but soft emerald eyes, the way his face had drooped ever-so-slightly into his serious expression, the way that he still seemed sure and firm, even beneath the incredibly-gentle exterior. 

You looked away, back towards the rest of the island. 

Part of you wondered if you were making a mistake. Part of you wondered if you should’ve told Sonic to go try to dig for clues back in the wreckage of the airship one more time. Or maybe, there were some ruins, or some hidden ancient technology, or something related to the Chaos Emeralds hidden on this island? Maybe Sonic had simply been too fast and missed something. Completely plausible, right? And it’s not like he’d had all that much time since he’d been stuck with you, anyway. 

What if there was even a faster way home? What if, by leaving now, you were making a huge mistake? 

…Was this really the right plan? 

You felt Sonic’s gloved hand, large and warm, enveloping your own. Gently, but firmly. 

You heard his words ringing in your ear. 

“Everything will be okay.” 

…

When people said that, you often had a hard time believing them.

Hell, sometimes even you would have a hard time convincing yourself of those words. 

But…

…

“Everything will be okay.” 

Swallowing thickly, you slowly nodded one more time. 

“Alright,” you said finally, looking purposefully towards the plane, forcefully peeling your attention away from the island and the sky above. “Let’s get going, then.” 

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Sonic’s lips pull into a small smile. “Sounds like a plan,” Sonic agreed, letting your hand slip away from his as he pulled away, then hopped up onto the plane. He held his hand out to you again, and after a slight moment of hesitation, you took it. Once again surprisingly easily (godholyshithewassosmallhowwashethisstrongsuperstrengthwasn’tevenhisTHINGoranything), Sonic pulled you up onto the plane, and you somewhat-clumsily hoisted yourself over the back of the passenger seat and slid into place. 

Sonic followed suit, easily sliding into the pilot’s seat, and he flicked a switch, causing a low hum to rumble through the machinery around you. Sonic partially glanced back at you for a moment, then reached for something, pressing a button, and to your surprise, a glass barrier suddenly popped out of the rim around both of you, encompassing you both in a sort of dome. 

“I don’t think I knew this could do that?” you half-asked, half-observed, looking around at the newly-formed “cockpit”. 

You heard a bit of a pleased hum from Sonic as he started flicking more switches, and the humming grew a little louder, but not by much, now that you were encased in the barrier. “Another one of Tails’s ‘enhancements’, on top of being made into a bigger two-seater,” Sonic responded, sounding very at ease. “We don’t usually use it, but, I figured that you’d rather not have to yell over the engine and the wind for the next few hours.” 

You let out a noise of agreement, somewhat surprised, and though the negative feelings were still slowly simmering below the surface, you felt like they were beginning to fade. Slowly. 

The plane started vibrating more, and then it was moving. You pressed your face against the glass, eyes watching with some fascination as the world began picking up speed, and then steadily, began drifting away from the ground. 

“Whoa…” you mumbled, marveling despite yourself, and you heard Sonic chuckle. 

“Pretty cool, huh?” 

Silently, you watched as the island began to shrink, the green grass and ring of sand around the island rapidly growing smaller and smaller. You saw the peaks of mountains begin to become more clear, and the ripple and shimmer of a beautiful lake, finally able to get a better glimpse of the island and its size. 

It really was a pretty island. If only you hadn’t been trapped here, and running and fighting for your life, you probably would’ve enjoyed it more. 

You continued staring back at the island as it shrank further and further, glancing between it and the horizon you were heading towards. 

Finally, the island became too small to really see, and when you blinked, you could no longer find it. Wordlessly, you glanced back over the direction you’d come one last time, before turning and facing forward, over Sonic’s shoulder, into the approaching near-sunset sky, and the reflection of the orange-yellow light rippling and shimmering across the waves. 

For some reason, you felt… tired. More tired than you thought you should. Was it the injuries catching up with you? Was it the muscle soreness catching up with you after all the running? Was it the residual concussion? Or, was it something else…? 

You felt yourself sinking back, and your head lightly thunked against the glass. One of Sonic’s blue ears twitched in your direction, and he turned, looking over his shoulder at you for a second. 

“…You look exhausted,” the hedgehog informed you, turning to face ahead again. “You should really get some rest, if you can. It’s not like I need you awake to fly this thing.” 

“…” 

Silently, you turned and looked out over the ocean, eyes drifting over the waves. Already, you felt dazed, as though you were being sucked into them, dragging you down into an endless slumber. 

“…Okay,” you responded finally. “I’ll try. I’ll see if I can sleep.” 

You heard a low noise of acknowledgement from the blue creature in front of you, but no more words were exchanged. It was quiet now, save for the humming and vibrating of the plane around you. 

You felt your eyes blinking slowly outside of your control. 

Ultimately, you decided to give into the urge, letting your eyes remain open a crack for just a bit longer, scanning the waters, before they shut completely. You let yourself start falling slack against the seat. 

Your mind flitted across your memories, hazily recounting the events leading to this moment. But most of all, they landed on the black monsters that had been chasing you, hunting you, seemingly targeting you. 

They haven’t appeared in a while. You felt your eyebrows crease slightly, even as your eyes remained close. Why? Is it random? Or is there something making them appear?

Leaning in on yourself, you tried to remain comfortable, blocking out the light from your eyes as best as you could. 

…If they’re targeting me, could it be caused by me? You felt your brows furrow harder, and you recounted the events in your head. Did I… Your mind wracked itself for ideas. Is it because of my fear? Or my suffering? Are they fueled by my negative feelings? …Or even my positive ones? 

You thought about the times you’d almost—or at least mostly—relaxed. They hadn’t showed up when you were at the loop-de-loops and letting your frustration run free, or when you’d been laughing like a maniac from dizziness and the thrill of the adrenaline rush of being carried through it. When you were excited to see the plane, they had showed up; but they hadn’t showed up any other time when you’d experienced some sort of relief. 

You had been bored, stressed, and even feral for the last several hours. They hadn’t shown up then. You had even started becoming morose, worried, tired… afraid, before getting on the plane. They had not shown up before boarding the plane this time. 

They had not showed up when your emotions were rising from Sonic’s speech. 

But, they had showed up when you had let your guard down, and walked away from Sonic, only to get yanked underwater.

For a brief, horrifying moment, you felt an unsettling potential “epiphany” crawling under your skin; you almost fully stopped breathing. 

Is that it? Is it waiting for me to let my guard down? 

Mutely, horrified, too disturbed to even open your eyes, you stiffly sat there, frozen, mind racing frantically. 

…

Wait. 

But they weren’t just targeting you, right? 

They had also gone after Eggman. 

They had still been attacking him when you had stepped away; it was just because the tendril was on you that you got dragged underwater. 

…

There didn’t really seem to be any other point of connection between your emotional state and the monsters. 

Or if there was, it was too inconsistent of a gap or reaction to be calculable. 

You slumped again, in a state of numb relief. 

At least it didn’t seem like it was your fault, specifically, that the monsters were showing up. At least, you didn’t seem to be doing anything that caused it. And it wasn’t exclusively after you; it would attack and even get outright distracted by other things, like by Eggman, or by Sonic.

Hell. Maybe the black monsters had still been appearing this whole time—maybe they had been going after Eggman throughout that whole period. Or maybe they were appearing somewhere else, where you couldn’t hear them. 

Whatever it was, it seemed pretty damn random. 

If there is a pattern at all, then I just don’t have enough information to draw that conclusion yet, you thought to yourself, letting yourself sink into your exhausted state. As far as I can tell, they’re “drawn” to me, but I don’t think I’m doing anything to actually cause that. And I don’t think that I’m, like, “making” them appear or anything… Not that I can tell.

A faint feeling of disappointment, combined with relief, went through your body. 

Ugh. It’d be nice if it were that simple… But I’m glad it’s at least probably not my fucking fault that those things are appearing. 

Whatever. If there is an answer, we’ll find it eventually. And if there’s not, whatever. The problem will get dealt with one way or another. 

You once again huddled in on yourself somewhat, letting the exhaustion flow through you, and you felt yourself getting sucked into the darkness. 

There’s no point in worrying about it any longer. I can’t figure out the answers right now. I need to just put the black monsters out of my mind for now… Let’s get some sleep. 

Steadily, you felt your tension beginning to leave your body, or at least becoming less aware of it. Your brain flitted across other things, becoming more and more loose in its impressions, slowly becoming untethered from everything. 

Distantly, you felt the sleep envelop you, and the dark welcoming you. 

Visions, thoughts, memories, all loosely flickering through your brain. 

Until, finally, as you were coming entirely unraveled from all of it, the most “solid” of all memories flashed through your head: 

“Everything will be okay.” 

It all went dark. 

… 

What were you doing? 

Confused, you began to look around yourself.

You were… at work? At your job? 

…Oh. Of course. Of course you were at your job. You need money. 

The walls of the building around you extended around you, as solid and encompassing as ever. It was a little… blurrier? Than you remembered? 

Maybe you were just tired. 

You sat down in front of the computer, returning to your work, trying to remember what you’d been doing. 

I feel like there was something bothering me. Faintly, you struggled to recall. Was it important? I don’t know. 

Giving up on your memory, you simply focused on typing away at the computer in front of you, only for a shadow to overtake the counter in front of you. You looked up, making eye contact with your boss. 

“(y/n),” you heard your boss say, and you slowly blinked. “You can go home for the day. We’ve got enough coverage, and it’s slow. Don’t worry about it.” 

Tilting your head, you stared back at him owlishly. You felt… mildly confused. 

Well… this doesn’t seem right? 

“Are you sure?” you asked. 

“Yep. We’re all good here. Just go home for the day. It’ll be fine.” 

Slowly, you nodded, and stood, leaving the computer behind and heading for the door. 

Once you pushed open the door, you were suddenly surrounded by grassy fields, and the noonday sun. You turned and looked at the building you just exited from, and then around at the field, and then shrugged it off. You kept walking forward. 

“Hey! (y/n)!” 

You blinked again, and turned to see Sonic skidding to a halt not too far ahead of you. He smiled and straightened, walking closer to you. 

“How was work?” Sonic asked, wrapping his fingers behind his head as he began walking alongside you. 

You looked away thoughtfully, tilting your head as you looked up to the sky. “I don’t know. I guess it was okay?” 

Sonic made a thoughtful hum. “Well… no news is good news, I guess, right?” 

Again, you considered what he said. “…I don’t know. I feel like there was something I was working on, but I couldn’t figure it out.” 

“I see…” 

You saw him turn his head towards you, and you turned your own head in kind. 

“Well… I hope you figure it out, then, (y/n)!” Sonic responded, shutting his eyes and looking utterly carefree as he continued strolling next to you. 

“Yeah,” you agreed, looking back up to the sky. “Yeah, I hope so too.” 

The two of you passed under a tree, and when you blinked, the sky above suddenly seemed darker. You stepped out from under the tree, and suddenly noticed the night sky. How had you not noticed before?

You heard Sonic let out a whistle next to you. 

“Oh, boy. Look at that.” Sonic released his hands from behind his head and took a few steps away, gesturing to follow him. “C’mon. Let’s go look at the stars.” 

Obediently, you followed after him, and you soon found yourself standing on the edge of a grassy cliff. You felt a prick of fear in your heart. 

“(y/n).” Sonic held out his hand to you. “Come with me.” 

Hesitantly, you glanced towards him, then towards the edge of the cliff. You grimaced, and clenched your eyes shut. 

You took his hand. 

You jumped. 

And then you were sitting on solid ground. 

Confused, you opened your eyes, hand empty, and looked around. 

You were on another cliffside; but the sky suddenly looked even more brilliant than before. There was an array of colors mixed in, occasionally sprinkling its way through the night sky. It was not an explosive, chaotic, exciting display; it was a slow, beautiful, twinkling one. 

“Isn’t it pretty?” you heard Sonic ask next to you. You turned towards him, and he was sitting closer than you’d expected—he was only inches away. You felt surprised at how close he was to you. 

You felt surprised at how okay you felt about it.

You returned to looking at the sky. 

“Do you see that?” Sonic asked, and out of the corner of your eye, you saw him pointing towards a yellow star. “I know that things are different in your world, but some people call that one Solaris. Some people call the sun Solaris, too. And a few other things Solaris.” 

You snorted. “Actually, we also have a Solaris.” 

“Really?” he asked, and you glanced at him and gave him a slight grin. “Huh. Well, I bet OUR Solaris is quite different than yours.” 

You considered this, and felt a slow grin spreading across your face. You started chuckling. 

“What? What’s so funny?” 

You gave him a side-eye. “Yeah, you’re right,” you agreed. “Our ‘Solarises’ are quite different.” 

“…I don’t like how you just said that.” 

You chuckled again. “Don’t worry about it.” 

“I don’t like that either.” 

“Whoops.” 

“Tell me what you meant by that, (y/n).” 

“No.” 

“Tell me…” 

“Nope.” 

“(y/n)...!” Sonic said threateningly, and you simply grinned cheekily at him. 

He groaned and rolled his eyes. 

“Fine. Keep your secrets.” 

Sonic leaned back and looked at the rest of the sky. 

The multicolor array delicately shined down on you. 

“There’s so many things I want to tell you about, (y/n).” You looked back at him again, eying the way the different shades reflected across his fur. “I’ve gone on so many adventures. Like, right now? I’m thinking about the wisps.” 

“I see…” Thoughtfully, you stared at the night sky, and slowly nodded.

The two of you gazed at the sky a little longer. 

“…Are you scared right now? ” 

Confused, you looked at him, and then down at yourself. 

“…I… I don’t think so?” 

He hummed. 

“That’s good. I’m glad to hear that.” 

The blue hedgehog next to you was quiet for a bit. The lights in the distance silently illuminated the air. 

“I just want to be okay, Sonic.” Your words finally cut through the silence. 

“(y/n).” You turned towards him, and his face was startlingly close to yours. 

The lights reflected in his eyes, and for a moment, you felt warm. 

“I don’t know what answers you’re looking for. But I do know you can’t run forever.” 

“…Do I need to wake up?” 

The silence fell again, not uncomfortable, but simply… there. You waited for his response. 

“Eventually,” Sonic confirmed. “At some point, you’ll need to wake up.” He looked above. “But I don’t think now needs to be that time. I think you can rest a little longer.” 

Shifting a little, you stayed silent. 

After a bit, he spoke up again. 

“So, just stay a little while.” You looked at him, and you saw the stars reflecting in his eyes. 

The emerald tones mixed with the flickers of other colors seemed to be drawing you in. 

“It’ll be okay, (y/n).” Sonic’s serious eyes looked back at you. “Just rest a while. Everything will be okay.” 

You felt, despite the strange situation, a little bit better. 

And the two of you simply sat and watched the stars in silence, the colors washing over you and illuminating you both as you sat close to each other—never touching, but never far apart. 

The stars were beautiful tonight. 

Distantly, you could hear your name being called. 

You felt something poking your cheek, too. 

It took a lot of effort; but, slowly, you managed to blink open your eyes. 

Slowly, you managed to crack them open enough to meet with emerald green ones. 

Blue eyelids blinked back at you, and a grin spread a little bit across Sonic’s face. 

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Sonic whispered, voice soft but still teasing.

You squinted at him, and awkwardly attempted to shuffle away from him. It was at this point that you realized it was actually dark out—and, furthermore, the plane had landed, and Sonic was sitting on the exterior of it, glass dome down, waiting for you to get up.

Raspily, you muttered back as you slowly attempted to straighten yourself, “S’n’t m’rning…” 

“Hmm?” 

Involuntarily, you yawned. “S’not m’rning… It’s nigh’.” 

Sonic chuckled quietly, straightening himself on the wing of the plane. “Well, with how long you were out for, it might as well be. Honestly, I’m impressed you didn’t wake up during the landing—it wasn’t the smoothest one.” 

Slowly, you blinked again and started looking around, attempting to gain control over your vision. Now, you could see that the plane had landed on some sort of runway, and even though it was dark, there was the occasional… streetlamp? Something? Alongside the road, illuminating a streak of tire tracks that led up to the plane. 

Blearily, you blinked at it, and then slowly back to him. 

Sonic extended his hand out to you. 

“You coming?” 

Foggily, you stared back at his hand, then wearily dragged your hand into the air, reaching for it. Sonic grasped it out of the air, and pulled you out of the seat, only to quickly secure his arms around you and leap with you in his arms, landing precisely on the ground. He set you down, and wobbily, you strove to gain your balance. 

“Welcome to Kaeseko Island, (y/n).” Sonic leisurely strode a few feet away from you and gestured around. “What do you think?” 

Dazed, you slowly took in the surroundings—the plane had slid under some sort of canopy that went over the runway, but otherwise, there was only nature around, a lighter shade of dirt surrounding the area with tufts of plants spotting the environment. “S’ boring,” you mumbled.

Sonic chuckled at you again.

“Well, it’s night time, and we’re not in town right now. I just wanted to make sure you were awake before I took off for a bit.” 

A tired, confused noise slipped past your throat as you looked towards him questioningly. 

“I mean, I could take you if you wanted,” Sonic assured you, “But I’ll only be gone for a little bit. I wanna scope out the area, make sure things are how I remember them, and check to make sure there isn’t anything to worry about before we go to town in the morning.” 

“Town…” you repeated drowsily, stumbling a little as you took a few steps aside. 

Sonic shook his head a bit, a somewhat-amused smile on his face as he stepped under one of the lights, coming more into view. “Do you want to come? I figured you’d want to just hang out here for a bit. Don’t wanna move too much, too quickly.” 

Blearily, you again blinked at him, and then over the environment. “S’whatever,” you mumbled, shrugging, plopping down tiredly on the dirt next to the road. “Don’ wann’ go ’nywhere…”

Chuckling, Sonic stepped further into the streetlight and spun around. “Alrighty then. Well, I’ll be taking off, then.” 

You shrugged carelessly from your place on the ground, feeling your head attempt to tug itself over and pull you down, but fighting just enough to stay awake.

Sonic cleared his throat to get your attention, and you looked up at him, blinking slowly. 

Sonic winked at you, and finger-gunned. A playful attitude came over his demeanor, and you felt a little spark of awareness catch in your head, and you straightened a bit in surprise. 

“Don’t worry, honey—I’ll be home soon!” Sonic called cheekily, leaning into his teasing expression. You felt yourself blink involuntarily in surprise, straightening a little further. 

Sonic’s face turned into a half-lidded, flirty smirk. “Don’t miss me too much while I’m gone, sweetheart!” 

You felt yourself go utterly still.

Sonic laughed as he turned away, not seeming to notice your reaction. “I’ll be baaack!” Sonic called, merrily skipping a bit away down the road, and then suddenly taking off into the night. 

You sat there. 

Suddenly wide awake. 

The sound of your pulse suddenly blaring in your ears would’ve been enough to knock yourself off your feet.

Slowly, numbly, as wide-eyed as your newly-alert face could manage, you looked down at the ground. 

You felt your pounding heart shift to something closer to utter mortification and horror. 

Almost unable to move, you slowly, painfully, began shaking your head. 

Ohhhhh, no…

You shook your head faster, stumbling and forcing yourself to your feet. 

Ooooohhhhh, no no no no… 

Rapidly, you shook your head desperately, and then clutched at your pounding chest, beads of sweat pricking up and down your back. 

The hairs on the back of your neck stood up straight. 

Ooooooooooooh nononononononono.

Chapter Text

Standing there, you stared off in the direction that Sonic had disappeared, feeling the deafening, thudding pounding of your heart and the crippling feeling of dread running through you. You could barely stand, but you couldn’t let yourself fall to your knees, either. Instead, you were simply frozen, held hostage, feeling your face physically hurting from the force of your wide-eyed expression. 

Sonic had not been actually flirting with you. That much was apparent. It had been evident in everything about him: his body language, his tone, his laugh, his casualness. It might not have even crossed his mind that it could be taken seriously, even for a second. 

Now, sure, your half-awake mind hadn’t immediately recognized that. It’s understandable that you would’ve been caught off-guard by that. For the split second where you were confused, it made sense that you’d suddenly start becoming more alert. It made sense that you might even be flustered for just a moment—hardly anybody could be completely unphased, even without the slightest bit of attraction, when somebody abruptly started flirting with you. 

What didn’t make sense is why your heartbeat had continued to rise. Why your heart rate had started up with a jolt, and then kept rising. Why your head had continued to spin, even after realizing that he was making a joke. 

…

…The concussion…? 

…

…No. 

No, that was absurd.

No, there were no excuses left. 

You had just woken up. You were barely awake. Your heart was still incredibly slow, and you were barely able to keep your eyes open. 

You hadn’t been scared—you hadn’t just escaped danger. And you hadn’t been running around, getting excited or overwhelmed, or getting dizzy in a loop-de-loop, or anything else. Your heart rate was perfectly level. Your emotions had been perfectly even. 

You couldn’t even blame the suspension bridge effect. 

This was… 

Mutely, you gripped your chest, the overwhelming combination of unease, confusion, and dread running through you like your veins were made of it. 

Desperately, you forced yourself to laugh. 

“I mean, come on, (y/n), he was joking.” You took a few steps to one side, gesturing widely and pointedly as if trying to convince someone watching. 

You waited. Your heart rate didn’t slow down. 

You took a few steps to the other side. 

“Come on, this is ridiculous. Me? Getting feelings?” 

Another chuckle forced its way out of your chest, but it almost caused physical pain as it did so, leaving it to fade and evaporate from your lips in seconds. 

And… as your mind continued to spin in a whirlwind… you also realized. That dream you’d just had? That was with Sonic. You couldn’t remember every word, even though you could remember most of it… but, you did remember being so close to him… and the lights reflecting off of him. The lights reflecting off his eyes. 

It hadn’t been a strictly… uh… “romantic” dream, necessarily—there was no holding hands, or cradling each other, or whispering sweet nothings…

But… why hadn’t your dream self at least hesitated to be so close to him? 

Anxiously, you made yourself take a few more steps in the other direction again. 

“Come on. COME ON. He’s—he’s an ALIEN! He’s a CARTOON CREATURE!” 

Restlessly, you glanced quickly in all directions, hastily looking across the horizon for any sign of anyone else around, but there was no one. 

There was no one else to view your encroaching shame, paranoia, and humiliation than you. 

Your lips quivered. 

“I mean… not that there’s anything wrong with that,” your voice said, almost-casually, as you forced a shrug. “It’s just weird, y’know? Maybe others are into that, but not me. ” 

Discomforted, but feeling your heart slowly beginning to lessen, you continued to pace in place between your words. 

“I mean, think about it. How much shitty art have you seen over the years?” 

You grimaced, thinking about your experiences with… well, “the internet” in general. 

“Sonic aside, furry art is—ugh, sure, SOME of it is aesthetically pleasing, SOMETIMES. But MOST of it is fucking repulsive! ” 

Quickly, you ran a hand through your hair, gesturing widely in front of you. 

“You don’t like that kind of stuff! Maybe others find that stuff attractive, but not you!—Not ME! I’ve never found that stuff attractive!” 

Staring at the ground, you very slowly nodded to yourself, almost convinced. But, slowly, a thought rose to your mind, a faint flash of Sonic appearing in your mind: 

…But HE isn’t repulsive, is he? 

Blankly, you kept your eyes on the ground, your mind slooowwwly wading through the noise and chaos as your thoughts started returning into focus. 

I mean, you’ve played the games for YEARS. And you’ve watched the shows, and you’ve been so excited when you watch the cutscenes, or do a cool trick, or see a good character depiction, or see him give one of those grins … 

Face shifting a little, you felt your jaw set into an almost-grim expression. 

I mean, it’s not like it’s never ONCE crossed your mind befo—

You promptly shoved that thought out of your mind, shaking your head firmly as you turned away. 

No. No, that’s ridiculous, and you know it. 

You held your head, beginning to rub at your temples. 

Haven’t you SEEN what they DO to that guy? You grimaced. You recalled all the art that would stretch out his limbs/make him tall, or give him closer-to-human/proper “human” proportions, or art emphasizing his feet/shoes, or do all that, or even on top of it give him a—

You gagged. 

Mortified at even considering it, you once again forced that picture out of your mind.  

“Fucking disgusting.” Hating yourself for even envisioning that on the real person in question for even a split second, you proceeded to clench your fist and bash it against your head repeatedly, hard enough to thunk over and over. 

Sighing, finally, you let your hand drop. 

“All of that is fucking disgusting. YOU HEAR ME, SONIC?!” you abruptly yelled, cupping your mouth, hysteria suddenly prompting you to scream out into the horizon. You were unsure if you hoped he could hear you or not. “YOU’RE FUCKING DISGUSTIIIIING!” 

But even as your voice echoed in the distance, there was no sign of the hedgehog or anyone else around, and you felt yourself wilting, unsure if you were disappointed or not. 

Reluctantly, you slowly let your hands fall again, the hysteria giving way to sheer unease again. Quietly, you scanned your eyes across the runway and dirt again. 

Without making a sound, you tentatively made your way back where you’d come, past the plane, and ultimately stood just out of the light of one of the light posts. Awkwardly, you shifted, your mind gradually combing its way through its thoughts. 

But… your mind piped up again, unbidden. Would it really be so bad if he just looked like himself? 

You turned and looked back off into the distance, conflicted. 

You know what he looks like. You’ve seen him in person, now. He’s not repulsive to look at, is he? 

Pursing your lips, you took a few steps forward until you were up against the metal, and lightly thunked your head against it, staring blankly at the ground. 

He really does just look like himself. It’s not weird or lanky or gross. It’s weird to be next to him, cuz he’s a fictional character, but… 

You squinted at your feet, feeling light-headed. 

If he’s just like his video game self… 

Would that be… 

… 

Even your own thoughts trailed off, returning your mind, along with the air around you, to silence. 

But again—gradually—common sense started returning to you. 

Memories of the black creatures, constantly swarming and chasing after you, and Eggman. Constant life-or-death situations, being on the run, violence. Even if the black creatures WERE taken care of, the Sonic world was, like, constantly in danger. Sonic was just one guy, and every damn game was featured within his lifespan—holy shit, could you even begin to handle living that way? 

And, the physical incompatibility. You were, like, twice his size—even if you were, hypothetically, to be “attracted” to him… which you AREN’T —you just, like, tower over him. Obviously he didn’t seem scared of you or anything, but it was pretty weird, right? It had to be. It’s one thing if he’s just doing his thing and saving a random citizen, but, being with a human? Plus, Eggman was a human, so he probably couldn’t mentally associate with humans that way. 

Sure, there was that thing with Elise, you supposed, but, well, it’s not like it ever really made it explicitly clear if Sonic reciprocated those feelings or anything, even if she, very obviously, had them. Right? It’d been a long-ass time, sure, but you couldn’t really remember anything beyond Sonic just being very nice and supportive towards her, like he was to pretty much anyone, especially someone helpless and in danger. 

I.e., someone like you. 

And, of course, finally… it was just fucking weird. You couldn’t develop feelings for a video game cartoon character, “fictional” or otherwise; and even if he was pretty damn nice to be around in the bad moments sometimes, he was a literal “animal”—ugh, “animilian”? Whatever—and NOT a human. Maybe if he was a human—

Wait. 

Ew. 

Nope. 

The idea of a human Sonic kinda repulsed you too, actually.

It just seemed… wrong. 

You shuddered. 

…

But even if the real hedgehog didn’t fundamentally disturb you, that was different from gaining actual “feelings”. Which, for any number of reasons, was just… ridiculous. 

Sighing, you shook your head, finally starting to come down to reality. 

Obviously, it was a complete non-starter in every way. 

“Alright,” you mumbled to yourself, “I’m not going to get a crush on Sonic the fucking Hedgehog.” 

You stared out into the distance, nodding slowly to yourself. 

“I’m not. I’m not for three reasons:” 

You took a deep breath. 

“One, I need to get home. I can’t get a crush on a video game character.” 

You sighed, shaking your head, rolling your eyes at yourself for even considering it. 

“Two, I’m a human. He’s probably not into humans, anyway.” 

Pointedly, you gestured up and down your body, then gestured your hand to the side, roughly approximating where his height would be next to you. You shook your head in exasperation.

Then, you groaned, shaking your head in aggravation, and pointedly thrusting your finger out into the darkness. 

“And, three: I’m not a fucking furry!” 

Finally, you sighed, dropping your hand, feeling the tension beginning to evaporate from your body. Beginning to feel something resembling relief, though tinged with exhaustion, you slumped over, cradling your face in your hands. 

I feel so fucking stupid. 

You rubbed at the sides of your head, attempting to rub the tension away from your skull. Gradually, you started releasing the negative feelings, deciding to try to fully get your mind off of the previous series of events. 

You blinked and sighed again, trying to move the tone of your thoughts to something else. 

Well. That was a complete waste of time. 

Annoyed at yourself, you looked around, eyes running over both the plane and the general direction where Sonic had disappeared. 

You focused on returning your thoughts and feelings about him to something normal and casual, reverting to neutrality—like hell you were letting Sonic get an inkling of the freakout you’d just had.

…Not that I’m doing anything right now, ANYWAY, I guess. When’s that fucking blue thing coming back? 

Sighing, you turned, eying the plane for a bit before going closer. 

You leaned up against it, yawning—

“REEEEEEEEEEEEE—” 

In disbelief, you looked up towards the night sky and scowled, the unease setting in again. 

Fucking incredible. Well, it took them long enough, I guess. 

It was nighttime, now, and it quickly sank in that it was a new, different danger—with the creatures made of black, oily, evaporating material, with glowing white eyes and a mouth, it’d be genuinely impossible to spot them against the night sky. Still, at least it didn’t sound THAT close—meant that you had time to figure out what you were going to do.

You looked at the plane, then decided to make a fair amount of space between you and the plane—you weren’t making THAT fucking mistake again. 

You knew you couldn’t go too far, or Sonic couldn’t find you; and BOY did you not wanna deal with THAT little hiccup when you could die at any moment. Still, you could probably go, like, fifty to a hundred feet away from the plane, and so long as you tried to remain in the light of one of the posts, you should be able to be found.

Pinching the bridge of your nose, you considered everything as you headed down the runway, creating a good bit of distance. Your eyes trailed over your surroundings, darting between each light and the sky and the far-off distance, attempting to see if you could spot any movement anywhere. 

This was the first time—aside from before the two of you had realized that the black creatures were targeting you—that you’d been alone when they started their chase, wasn’t it? Or, wait, there had been a couple times you’d been alone—wait, those times were just dreams, right? …Or, well, nightmares, rather? 

…Had there been a time you’d been alone in real life and chased yet? The memories were starting to blend together. 

…

…God, your head was getting tired of all this. 

Scowling, you looked around, finally deciding you’d made enough distance and coming to a stop under a light. Unsure if you were scared or bored, but definitely at least annoyed, you found yourself tapping your feet, slowly turning around and eyes scanning around you. 

Soooo, who’ll it be first? you thought grimly. The savior of the day, or the fuckers who’ve been on my ass since I got here? PUT IN YOUR VOTES NOW!!! 

Sarcastically, but still uneasily, you flipped your head from side to side, as though one of them would appear in front of you. 

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—” 

SOUNDS LIKE THE FUCKERS ARE IN THE LEAD!!! Groaning, you leaned back and smacked the back of your head loudly against the post on purpose. ANYBODY GOT ANY SURPRISES? ANYBODY WANNA MAKE A LAST-DITCH SAVE? NOW’S THE TIME FOR SONIC TO TRY TO TAKE THE LEAD! CAN HE MAKE A COMEBACK?! LET’S HOPE FOR A MIRACLE FROM THE FASTEST THING ALIVE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! 

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—” 

THINGS ARE NOT LOOKING TOO GOOD FOR SONIC THE HEDGEHOOOOOOOG! Anxiously, you felt the fear starting to pierce through your veil of snark. You felt yourself twitching, nervously backing away towards a further light post. 

Or for me. 

“Soniiiiic…” you mumbled, trying not to break out into a sprint as you re-emerged into the light of another post. “Please get back quicklyyyyyyyyy…” 

Then, you finally noticed some movement in the shadows of the night. 

You froze. 

…

… 

… 

Something let out a deafening screech.

“SHIIIIIIIIIIIT!” 

Frantically, you began taking off further down the runway, feeling sweat dripping down your back. Shoes pounding against the ground, you prayed for a miracle. 

ANY SECOND NOW SONIC! you all but screamed in your head, too focused on sprinting for your life to let it out as you rapidly passed in and out of beams of light. ANY SECOND NOW WOULD BE GREAT!!!

You heard what sounded like a wave of roiling and rippling, and inexplicably, noises as though the air itself was morphing and tearing around them, and you knew they were hot on your tail. 

But, at that moment, you felt a rush of air blow right past you, and you knew you were going to be okay now. 

“SORRY I’M LATE!” 

WHSSHH WSHH WHSSSSSH— 

Instantly, you heard the whistling of Sonic hurtling and shredding through the air, followed by the sounds of splattering across the road. You started slowing down, finally able to turn around now that you knew there was an obstacle in their path. 

The blue blur easily darted in and out of the air, in between the crevices of the mounds of darkness. The monsters—what you could see of them, anyway—seemed to flick their “faces” towards you, only to become distracted by the blue hedgehog darting between and in front of all of them, instead redirecting their violence towards him. 

Though you could barely see him, you could catch glimpses of him underneath the lights for brief moments, and you could almost see his face grinning in determination as he spun through the air. 

Every time something got torn, there was a screech—albeit a much quieter one than the massive ones when they appeared—before they splattered apart. 

One after another, dozens of black creatures went down; splashes of tar-like goo ricocheted all around the area, and you found your mind stirring once again. 

Thoughtfully, you took a step or two aside—half-watching just in case a black creature slipped far enough past him to reach you again—but attempting to focus on your train of thought. 

When Sonic had been fighting the black creatures before… when it had gotten on you… it had stayed there, until you ended up at the side of the lake, and attempted to wash it off. 

But… you clearly remembered, even as soon as the first time Sonic had torn through them in front of you, that they started dissolving and evaporating on the ground. As well as every other time that he’d fought them. 

Sonic had been shaking it off, but… had they been dissolving while they were still on him? 

Biting your lip, you looked back up in the direction of the ongoing combat and noises, now observing with extremely careful, analytical eyes. Every once in a while, you could catch a glimpse of either Sonic or a monster or two underneath the lights, and you honed in on roughly where he was moving, training your eye on following his movements as best as you could. 

It was impossible to tell, with him moving so quickly; but when he’d emerge under the lights for a moment, it seemed as though parts of him (although definitely not the majority) were indeed coated in black goo, and continuing to stay there, at least for long enough to still be there when he moved back under another light. 

But, it took time for the goo to dissolve and evaporate, anyway. 

Touching your fingers over your lips, you watched intently as, in the cover of night, Sonic steadily ripped through one after another. You couldn’t see all of them very well, what with their shifting and eternally-evaporating forms combined with the black tar that their bodies were made out of; but you could confirm that the general outline of all the dark, shifting shapes, oozing and stacked on top of each other or close together, seemed to be getting smaller. 

Soon enough, the numbers seemed few, Sonic was gradually slowing and winding down, and you felt confident enough to begin to approach, still watching carefully. As you got closer, it became a little easier to identify exactly what was going on, and how many were left in the shadows.

A feeling of both dread and determination started coming over you as you approached. 

It only took a little bit longer—about five or ten more seconds, maybe—before Sonic was completely done wiping the floor with these creatures, finally landing back on solid ground, fully illuminated under a light, in a three-point landing with a soft thud. 

You picked up speed as he stood, looking pleased, starting to shift into shaking himself off. “NO, WAIT!” you hurriedly interrupted, making Sonic freeze and look quizzically at you. Quickly you came up in front of him, his somewhat-perplexed eyes following you as you did so. “I need to test something,” you said quickly, eyes scanning over his body. They landed on a decently-large splotch of black goo on his gloved hands. 

In your peripheral vision, you could see Sonic tilting his head, and you raised your hands a bit, reaching, but now hesitating uneasily. As you watched, you confirmed that there did seem to be a faint fog of the thing evaporating, and it did still seem to be shrinking and disappearing, albeit slowly, like the rest of it. 

Swiftly, you glanced up towards Sonic’s focused green eyes, then back down to the splotch on his hand. “Do you mind just, uh, getting ready to yank it away or crush it or something?” you asked somewhat nervously, fingers clenching and pulling away ever-so-slightly. “I just need to see if something happens.” 

You felt Sonic staring at you, clearly taking a few seconds to consider and process. “Uh, sure,” he said finally, not-quite-incredulously raising his goop-covered hand towards you. “Go ahead?” 

You glanced back up towards his eyes, giving a quick, slightly-strained grin in gratitude, before you took a deep breath and quickly clasped both hands over the small clump, yanking it away. 

Instantly, you both noticed, the evaporating stopped. 

Already feeling some twitching from the hairs on the back of your neck at the near-confirmation, you and Sonic stared apprehensively. You were pretty sure you weren’t breathing. You took a slight step back, nervously taking in the sensation of the solid goop in your hands, feeling it squish uncomfortably between your fingers. 

One… two… three… four… you counted silently, anxiously watching and waiting. 

Suddenly, you felt a twitch, and you promptly tossed it towards the ground, a weird squelch noise coming from it as it hit the ground. 

You both heard a faint, high-pitched, quiet shrieking, and the black goop suddenly began writhing and wriggling on the ground. After only a second or two of watching it, Sonic promptly began stomping on it, and it didn’t take long for the noise and the writhing to stop, and it fell still. It soon began dissolving again. 

Mutely, you stared at the new black splotch on the ground, and you knew Sonic was staring at both the dissolving thing as well… and at you, too. 

“Is that why they’ve been chasing you?” Sonic said, half-incredulously, and you slowly looked back up at him. His face was entirely serious, large but resolute emerald eyes gazing back at yours. “They get stronger when they touch you, somehow?” 

Uneasily, you started glancing back down, towards the evaporating goo. 

“They start coming back to life…” you mumbled back without really answering his question. Your voice was almost entirely emotionless. 

Both of you stared silently at the ground for a while. 

Out of the corner of your eye, Sonic began to cover his mouth, and you lifted your head up to watch him turn away, taking a few steps aside as he went deep in thought. Without a sound passing your lips, you just… watched him. Thoughts of your own were racing through your mind, but you wanted to hear what he had to say about this, first. 

“So, keep those things away from you at all cost.” Sonic’s voice finally cut through the silence, nodding grimly to himself. “I wasn’t gonna let them touch you anyway, but now I know for sure —I can’t let them touch you.” You saw him bite his lip. “Who knows what’ll happen if one of them that isn’t just a piece of one gets their hands on you?” 

Slowly, you nodded back, not bothering to say a word in response.

You both fell quiet again.

After some time, you made a faint noise to clear your throat, and Sonic looked back at you. “Soooo… this means that they’re leeching energy off of me or something?” you questioned aloud, more for your own sake than his. 

Sonic’s gaze leveled seriously back at you, face darkening ever-so-slightly. “Do you feel more tired?” Sonic questioned back, voice edging on urgency. “Do you feel like the life got sucked out of you or anything?” 

Pursing your lips, you pulled your fist closer to your chest, feeling your body as you thought. You considered, very carefully, very seriously, every sensation running through your body. 

“…No,” you said finally, and you could see him relax even more than you just had. “I don’t… think so. I was already tired before, but… I don’t think I feel any different. I think I feel exactly the same.” 

Sighing, though not sounding entirely relieved, Sonic nodded. “That’s good, at least,” he responded, shifting back slightly. 

You closed your eyes. “But, it could always just be that it wasn’t big enough, or long enough,” you added. “Maybe if one of the full creatures, and not just a little splotch of it, got onto me, it’d start sucking the energy out of me until I couldn’t move.” 

The silence following your words set heavily, and you knew, without either of you uttering a word, what you both were thinking: 

We are going to do everything we can to avoid finding that out. 

After a bit more silence, you heard Sonic make a noise, and you shifted and looked towards him again. “So, you were… what. Made into a power source or something?” Sonic suggested, putting a hand to his head and gripping it, fingers clenching and loosening. “How the hell could that happen? …What the hell was Eggman doing this time that made some normal human girl from another world get dragged here, and become some sort of power source and lightning rod for… whatever those things are?!” Forcefully, he rubbed his hands over his face, clearly staving back the frustration, and even something… bordering on anger. 

But it seemed he successfully fended off the worst of his negative feelings, as he seemed to lose most of his tension and turned to look at you again. 

“You’ve seen most of my adventures, right?” Sonic asked, gesturing broadly towards himself and the world. “You’ve seen a bunch of Eggman’s schemes, right? And a bunch of different things? Giant creatures? World-ending monsters?” 

He crossed his arms and gazed seriously back at you. 

“Do you have any ideas?” 

Continuing to solemnly stare back at him for a moment, you then broke eye contact, eyes drifting towards the ground as you again considered. 

There were lots of different things that crossed your mind. Maria getting chased down and killed, for example. But that was because of military interference, not her being some sort of energy source. Obviously, there were also the “Flickies”, or whatever you wanted to call the little animals (Flickies was still a stupid fucking name); but they were utilizing specific Eggman tech to use them as a power source or something, not as a power source for just anything. This was clearly different. 

There was also Shadow and his, presumably, inherent and constant Chaos abilities, but it wasn’t like he’d ever been chased down to use him as a “power source” for them (at least, that you could think of? You didn’t know, you didn’t see EVERY side-story or non-canonical comic ever). If that was Eggman’s goal, though, Shadow would’ve been the easiest (well, maybe not “easiest”, but most predictable) target, as someone who already had those powers and energy. Why would he grab a random girl from another world? It couldn’t have been on purpose, anyway, right? 

Shahra briefly crossed your mind—but she was a genie, not a power source. Sure, she had powers, but they weren’t the kind that “leeched off of her” or anything, right? And they weren’t even powers considered strong enough to counter the villain—they were just weak abilities mostly for granting little wishes. Speaking of The Secret Rings, you supposed that Sonic’s flame in his chest could count; but it was just a time limit and draining the life out of him, not necessarily feeding it to anything else, unless you counted the fact that he was “supposed to” be sacrificed at the end of it. 

You considered the Ancients’ technology, and Chaos, and the ARK. You couldn’t really find a clear correlation for any of it. You considered Dark Gaia, and the Time Eater, and even Mephiles. None of these things really seemed to have any clear connection that wasn’t a huge reach. Sure, the creatures kind of resembled Dark Gaia monsters… superficially. But the Dark Gaia-related creatures were completely solid, for one, and they weren’t just… around, during day and night. And Dark Gaia and the fractured planet would have to also be out and around, surely?

There was… Cyberspace, you supposed? Wasn’t there something about… the souls of the Ancients’—and maybe Sonic’s friends’—being burnt away as a fuel source to contain The End? 

…Concerning thought.

But, that was while his friends were trapped there, specifically—they couldn’t really interact with the real world, even after being freed from those red “containment bubbles” or whatever. 

Both you and Sonic would need to be within that dimension right now— and, while for a moment of dawning horror, you thought it could make “sense”, since this whole place was a video game world to you—but, it quickly dawned on you that it wouldn’t make much sense otherwise. 

“Sonic,” you simply called, and his ears twitched in response. “You don’t think we’re in Cyberspace right now, do you?” 

Sonic briefly appeared puzzled… thoughtful… and then snorted a bit and shook his head. “No. No way. This doesn’t feel like Cyberspace at all—definitely the real world.” 

“Yeah, I thought so.” You shrugged. “It’s technically possible that it could somehow be Cyberspace just for me, since, y’know, the whole video game thing? But, I mean…” 

You took a couple steps closer and lightly set your hand on his shoulder. It felt very solid, and very real. “I can still interact with you and everything else just fine. The only thing I have trouble touching are those black creatures themselves.” You removed your hand, stepped back, and shut your eyes for a moment in thought. “If anything, those black creatures would have to be somehow from Cyberspace. But, I don’t think so. They don’t seem that way to you, either, right?” 

You peeked out of your shut eyes to see Sonic shaking his head. “Nope. Not glitchy enough. Not spazz-y enough. Too goopy.” 

You hummed a bit in acknowledgement, and went back to considering, taking a few more steps away to give yourself space to think. You contemplated a bit longer, mulling over the possibilities in your head. 

Finally, you considered Elise. She was a human that was being constantly chased as well, right? Hunted by Eggman specifically, even. 

But that wasn’t for her “energy”, exactly. She had Iblis and the Flames of Disaster within her, but that wasn’t being used as a power source—Eggman wanted to utilize it to control time or cause destruction or something. And, Solaris, as far as you or anyone else could tell, was erased entirely, right? So, what, were you supposed to assume that somehow, Solaris/the Flames of Disaster were brought back a second time, but inexplicably shoved into a random other girl from another universe, for… some reason? As far as you could recall, the Flames of Disaster had been put into her body by very specific means—it wasn’t as though it could’ve just “happened”. And how would the black creatures fit into that, anyway? 

Oh—and if that had been the case, you remembered when you’d burst into tears within minutes of arrival here. So, well, if it HAD been the Flames of Disaster, somehow, inexplicably, impossibly—that would’ve been game over right then and there. 

Out of everything you could think of… The only thing that could “fit” for being “used” like that somehow, at mere touch, would be… inanimate objects. Such as the Chaos Emeralds.

…

…Suddenly, you remembered seeing a Chaos Emerald in a dream. 

You froze. 

“I…” Your lips started moving breathlessly, incredulously, and Sonic looked you in the eyes as you feebly considered the concept, unsure if you were grasping at straws. “Am I… am I somehow a Chaos Emerald or something?” you slowly asked, feeling almost entirely insane for even suggesting this. Sonic’s eyes suddenly widened forcefully, pupils shrinking, and you continued. “Did I somehow get infused with a Chaos Emerald or something when I got here? Or did he purposely bring someone from another world to make me an energy source?” 

Sonic’s eyes darted hastily between your own, whole body tensing and bristling. He suddenly quivered—not with fear, but something more like… deeply disturbed. His face was morphing more and more into overt, unfettered, undisguised shock and horror as Sonic slowly shook his head. 

In an instant, he appeared inches in front of you. “Wait,” Sonic all but demanded, deadly serious. “Don’t move.” 

You didn’t so much as twitch in resistance, unable to so much as consider defiance as you mutely stood. 

Sonic reached his hands out, gripping one arm of yours, and then the other. He shut his eyes, squeezing them in concentration as he held onto your arms. His grip tightened, and you could see his quills rising, bristling, almost shivering with effort. 

His hands slowly trailed higher up your arms, until they ultimately landed on your shoulders, and the blue blur turned towards them, green eyes almost physically scorching as he stared at your shoulders, never so much as twitching in the direction of your own. The intensity was so strong, so forceful, that you almost couldn’t breathe, and if he’d been actually making eye contact with you right now, you were sure you’d be cowering on pure instinct. And you were all but certain you had never seen Sonic look like this in any appearance of his—his firm, dark, emotionless, unflinching gaze bore straight through you. 

It was unnerving.

… 

And then, suddenly, his shoulders dropped, and he stood back, releasing you while you both let out a rush of air from the abrupt release in tension. 

“…No,” Sonic said finally, shutting and resting a hand over his eyes. “No, I don’t think so. I can’t sense any Chaos energy from you.” He sighed again, clearly relieved, looking pretty much like himself again (albeit very drained) as he hunched over slightly. “I guess it’s still possible, and Eggman did something to hide it really well, but unless something reeeeaaallly weird happened to you, I don’t think so. It’s probably something else.” 

You felt yourself let out a forceful sigh of relief, too. You slumped a little bit.

“It was worth checking, though.” Sonic gave something almost resembling a grin, but it was too weary and strained to fully reach it. 

You both stood there, feeling both exhausted and relieved, letting the release of tension flow over you. 

Then, Sonic’s emerald eyes returned to looking at yours. 

“Any other ideas?” 

Quietly, you stared back at him, rekindling the spark in your head as you ran through your memories again. Everything you’d ever seen. Every concept you’d seen played with, even outside of “true canon”, or even ideas and concepts from fanfiction sources. 

You thought. And you thought. And you thought. 

Almost imperceptibly slowly, you felt your head moving, shaking wordlessly. 

“No,” you finally whispered, almost inaudible. “I have no idea.” 

And the tension settled over both of you again, as you silently stared at one another; two individuals, so very different, alone, under one source of light, surrounded by the darkness. 

“Hey,” Sonic suddenly said, cutting through the tension. It wasn’t as quickly as usual, but his face did morph into a sort of comforting grin. “Don’t worry about it. No matter what’s going on, we can figure it out, right? We’ll go see Tails soon, and we’ll get all these mysteries solved. And I can take care of it. Everything will be okay.” 

Silently, you returned his gaze. Reluctantly, you slowly nodded.

But this time…

…You were not fully convinced. 

Chapter Text

It didn’t take that long, sitting in the uncomfortable silence, for Sonic to decide to break the tension. 

He coughed a bit, and you tilted your head in response. 

“Well… we’ve figured out all we can, for now.” Sonic’s comforting grin widened, but, having seen past the veil a little bit, you could still tell he wasn’t entirely unaffected. Still, he only seemed slightly on edge, now—mostly, he was completely calm. 

You heard yourself make a soft noise of acknowledgment, looking down and to the side. 

“Anyway!” Sonic clapped his hands a bit decisively, making you jump slightly. “Wanna run with me for a bit?” Under the light, you could see him wink at you, and jerk a thumb back over his shoulder. “I found a good place to hide out for a few hours until the sun rises. Sound good to you?” 

Taking a moment, you stared back at him, unable to quite come up with any words for a bit. 

Part of you, normally, would think that someone reacting like this meant that they weren’t taking the situation seriously. That they didn’t realize how deep your concerns could be—how serious the situation could be—how real your feelings were. You would feel like your pain and stress and concern and even genuine fear were being completely overlooked. Disregarded. 

But… you’d seen him taking it seriously just a minute ago. And his attitude didn’t seem disregarding in the least—he was just, well… being “positive” about it. 

—And again, normally, such a thing you’d probably consider “toxic positivity”. …But not the way that he was doing it. 

Sonic wasn’t ignoring the gravity of the situation. He was looking at the possibilities and dangers head-on; he’d even thought about and considered the options with you. He’d asked for your input, even. 

Still, he was choosing to be steadfast, and reassuring, and confident, and to try not to worry you. 

…You decided you should do the same.

You heaved a sigh, and Sonic perked up expectantly, as though paying extremely close attention to your reaction. Straightening, you steeled yourself and stared him back dead in the eye. 

“Yeeeeeeaaahhhh, no thanks,” you drawled, leaning on your back foot casually. “I’m not really that competitive, but I’d really rather not get into something I know I have literally NO chance of winning. And if you slow down for me, uhhh, that’s even more humiliating.” You sighed, leaning over as though slumping in disappointment… then switched to a sly grin, glancing right back up at him.  “Or are you really that desperate for my attention?” you practically purred. 

Sonic’s green eyes shot wider for a split second. 

Lazily, you shrugged your shoulders, leaning over him in amusement. “Well, if you wanted me to thank you for being my ‘hero’ and all, you could’ve just asked .” 

For a moment, it appeared as though Sonic seemed genuinely startled—or… maybe something else? But, it didn’t last long—quickly, whatever reaction he’d had vanished, and he slipped into something more like relief, followed by a pleased grin. 

“Ohhhh?” Sonic asked, placing a hand on his chest as he backed away, his grin evening out into something more smug. “Are you really declining an invitation to spend time with your ‘hero’? ”

The blue hedgehog tilted his head as he spoke, voice matching your playful tone. 

You rolled your eyes forcefully. “I literally see you, like, almost every second I’m awake now. I couldn’t spend more time with you if I tried.” 

Sonic chuckled, and you found yourself—surprisingly genuinely—chuckling back. 

After a bit, you saw him shift out of the corner of your eye, and you looked back up at him to see him offering his hand. 

“Well, wanna walk with me for a while, instead?” he asked, tilting his head a little and grinning. “No running required.” 

Instinctively, you felt your fingers twitch, but before your hand could actually reach towards his, an emotion suddenly arose, making its presence known in the forefront of your head.

Reminding you what you’d conveniently forgotten, amidst the other worries of yours. 

Reminding you of the unacceptable, impossible, fleeting thoughts you’d had. 

You felt something inside you squirm and tighten in unease. 

Soon, the thought settled in your mind: 

No matter how fleeting they are, you can’t risk enabling them. 

You can’t risk them growing out of control. 

It’d only taken course over a span of moments—but soon, you’d gone from your brief hesitation, to anxious, to a feeling of grim determination. 

And now, with that determination in hand, you switched gears yet again. 

Flip it around. 

You scoffed aloud, and, very gently, swatted his hand aside, his hand dropping away as you brushed past him. 

Make it a joke. 

“You don’t need to hold my hand, Mr. ‘Hero’,” you retorted snarkily, though the good humor was audible in your voice. “I’m not a child—I can avoid getting lost. Or,” you added, “is this supposed to be a date? ” 

Sonic’s face, though partially obscured by the cover of night, visibly turned unimpressed as he dramatically rolled his eyes. “Aaaaalright, let’s get going then.” 

He spun around, using the same hand he’d been offering to gesture to follow him. 

“Come on, then, (y/n)…” 

You giggled, and cheerfully skipped up closer alongside him, the two of you beginning to match pace as you followed just a step behind him. 

“I mean, if it was a date, I’m afraid I didn’t think to wear anything nicer,” you continued, and as you both left the light of the lampposts, you could still see his outline shaking his head wearily. “I mean, not since I left my house and got dropped into another fucking world,” you deadpanned. 

An exasperated noise was audible in the night from the hedgehog beside you, which egged on your giddy teasing. 

You shrugged over-dramatically, and even in the dark of night, as your eyes adjusted, you could see the hedgehog placing a hand on his face as he hunched a little in exasperation while he walked. 

“Though, I DID finally manage to wash out these damn clothes, at least.” Suddenly, you gasped, realizing. “Wait, did I tell you that yet?! Yeah, while you were unconscious earlier, I finally got to wash my damn clothes.” 

“Yeah, I noticed,” Sonic replied wearily, and you could see the outline of his silhouette shaking his head.

“You did?” 

“I mean, your clothes weren’t literally covered in blood and dirt anymore, so, yeah, I figured.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” 

“…Oh.” 

“Uh huh.” 

“…I guess.” 

“Yeah.” 

“…Um…” 

“…” 

Awkwardly, you fell into silence, and so did the hedgehog in front of you—the cover of night suddenly felt uncomfortable again, and as you walked together in silence for a bit, you wondered what kind of face he was making. 

Was he annoyed? Amused? Tired? Did he want you to keep talking? Did he want you to shut the hell up? 

…

The unease from before was creeping in again, though not as strongly as before. Still, it would be better if you didn’t let it fester too long, lest it become too thick and uncomfortable for you to speak anymore at all. 

You wanted to cheer me up, right, Sonic? You wanted to distract me? So you can’t complain if I’m annoying. Right? You can’t be upset about me not shutting the fuck up. Fuck you. 

You plunged past your poorly-concealed unease and started speaking again. 

“So, we’re, uh, we’re on… Kay… uh… Keese…” 

Now, you were struggling to recall the words he’d spoken to you not-too-long-ago, but, granted—you’d just woken up at that point. 

“Kes… Kesko… Keh… …Uhhh, what was the name of the fucki—”

“Kaeseko Island,” Sonic helpfully interrupted. 

“Kaes… Kesko…” you tried. 

“Kaeseko.” 

“Kesseko…” 

“Kay-sek-ko.” 

“Kay…sek…ko…” you slowly repeated. “Kaeseko. Alright. Alright…” Mumbling under your breath, you attempted to feel the word in your mouth. “Kae…sek…ko… Kae-sek-ko… Kaeseko.” Nodding, you felt yourself become almost-confident in your pronunciation. “Kaeseko. Got it. I’ll try to remember it. Kaeseko…” 

The pronunciation felt almost… something on your tongue. You felt your mind starting to wander. 

“I mean, with any luck, it’s not like you’ll have to remember it for long,” Sonic responded, pulling you out of the beginnings of your reverie. “I was planning on showing you around for just a bit during the day, and then getting new plane parts, fixing ’em up again, and getting us outta here again before the end of the day. Or maybe tomorrow, at the latest? …Unless, you wanted to stay a little longer…?” 

His voice trailed off questioningly, and you immediately felt the unspoken questions: Have you changed your mind yet? Do you want to explore? Do you want to see the sights and take your time? 

…At least for a little longer…

…Are you okay staying in this world?… 

Hesitantly, you considered for a moment. 

“…No,” you answered after you had cleared your head, as quickly as you could. “Yeah, I’d rather get out of here sooner. I mean, I’m happy to take a bit of time in the morning to look around or whatever, but—I’d rather keep moving after that. Tomorrow at the latest, yeah.” 

You heard a noise of acknowledgment from the hedgehog beside you. 

“Cool,” Sonic agreed, and you heard the rocks shuffling beneath his feet as he moved just slightly faster ahead of you for a moment. “Whatever you wanna do, (y/n). It’s up to you.” 

“Alright.” Subconsciously, you felt yourself sheepishly rub the back of your head. “…Thanks. Thank you.” 

“Hey, it’s no problem! I’m happy to help.” 

“Yeah…” 

You felt a weird combination of appreciation and nervousness. 

Awkward, again? Really? C’mon, (y/n), get it together. 

You forced a cough. 

“A–hmm. Alrighty. Well.” 

Quickly, you wracked your brain for a topic, then remembered the subject you’d gotten distracted from while trying to pronounce it.

“Sooo—Ka—” You cleared your throat, then forced your mouth to cooperate. “…Kaeseko Island. That’s where we are. Yeah?” 

“Yep!” 

“And we’re gonna go to town in the morning?” 

“Yep. I mean, I’m sure that a few things are open right now, but, honestly, the town here’s pretty small. We could go to the hotel maybe, but I’m not even sure if the front desk is still open anymore—and, again, it’s a small place, so they probably wouldn’t even think about getting visitors like this so late.” 

Thoughtfully, you made a noise of acknowledgment in return.  

“True…”

“Yeah. And even if they were open, I don’t really like showing up in the middle of the—Oh! Yeah. I prefer turning up to town in the daytime, anyway.” 

“Yeah?” Curiously, you looked in his direction. You couldn’t see him very well , but your eyes had adjusted well enough that you could see most of him. 

“Yeah.” 

Sonic made a noise that sounded… sheepish? 

“I mean, I don’t need to be the center of attention or anything, but…” 

He made another noise, this time sounding kind of… aggravated? No. Unhappy? …Humiliated…? 

“…I mean, the days of… skulking around town in the middle of the night like a creep are behind me. …Or, I’d like to keep them that way, anyway.” 

Well, now your curiosity was even more piqued. 

“Ohhh? ” 

The force of your tone of curiosity was apparently strong enough to make Sonic freeze in his tracks, then sigh audibly and turn to face you. 

“…Yeah.” 

Sonic looked towards you, then away for a second, then back towards you, visibly debating with himself. His mouth opened and shifted wordlessly a couple of times, and then quickly shut again. Finally, he seemed to decide what he was going to say. 

“It was the…” He coughed a little, then glanced away again. “The games. You played them, right? You probably already know it, right? It’s not news. It’s fine to talk about, right? …Yeah. It was when I…” Sonic coughed again. “I mean, you probably saw this one, right? It was big enough and all. Unless this detail got skipped over, I guess. I mean, most of the world didn’t know about this part. It was the time I was all…” 

He trailed off, and made a strange noise, and you felt yourself growing suddenly entertained and incredibly curious about whatever the hell was making him react that way. 

“I mean, it was when I was… When the planet was broken, and I was all… scary… and… fluffy…” 

Staring at him to process for a second, it suddenly clicked.

“THE WEREHOG!” you abruptly exclaimed gleefully, much louder than intended, and Sonic visibly jumped a bit. 

You couldn’t help it. 

You burst into violent laughter. 

Over the sound of your explosive laughter, you heard Sonic make a simultaneously confused and defensive noise, but primarily defensive. “The what?!” 

“The fucking—” You couldn’t finish your sentence as the force of the laughter peeling out of you fully stole the air from your lungs. Wheezing, you attempted to keep talking, feeling tears forming in your eyes in disbelief. “Th-the fuck-king… w—wereh—…ho —”

Again, you were unable to speak, partially feeling bad about laughing so hard, but genuinely unable to do anything to stop it, no matter how hard you were trying to suppress it. 

Desperately, you tried to get it under control as you heard Sonic speak again. 

“Did you just say ‘Werehog’?! ” Sonic asked incredulously. 

Sucking in a breath, you managed to stifle it just barely enough to respond. “Y–yeah… Sorry… The fucking…” You coughed and straightened, forcing the laughter out of your voice for a second. “Yeah. That’s right. ‘The Werehog’.” Your chest spasmed a bit, attempting to burst into laughter again, but you managed to force it back. “That’s what it’s called, yeah. Did—Did you guys not call it tha—” 

Abruptly, your involuntary laughter took over again, and you started wheezing again, desperately attempting to gain control of yourself once more. 

“We… I don’t know, I don’t think—” Sonic cut himself off, looking as though he was concentrating deeply on trying to remember, before quickly shaking his head. “I—We didn’t call it that. I don’t—I don’t remember what we called it, I think we did make a name eventually for it but—” Sonic cut off again when you let out another forceful laugh, and then continued again. “But we didn’t call it a ‘Werehog’! What the hell is that supposed to—”

“THAT’S INCREDIBLE! ” You covered your face, still chuckling. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh! Just—literally, like, I think—I think that all the promotional material and shit called it ‘The Werehog’, and you’re telling me you didn’t even—”

“We didn’t CALL IT THAT! ” Sonic insisted, and his interruption made you kind of let out one more burst, but finally, you were starting to get it together again. 

Letting out a long exhale, you finally managed to straighten, though the grin was still almost painfully tugging at your face. “I mean, I don’t remember for sure—god, how many years has it been…?” You trailed off for a second, considering. “Fuck, that was… I think… 2008…?” 

You heard Sonic almost-silently repeat, “2008…” under his breath, but quickly, you shook it out of your head and continued.

“Anyway, I don’t know, maybe it was just a fan name or something, but I think all the official promotions and stuff called it ‘The Werehog’.” 

“That’s not…” He sighed, and shook his head. “Yeah, we didn’t call it that. I think we called it, like, a ‘Dark Gaia form’ or something. Not…” Sonic grimaced. “The Werehog? Really?” 

You chuckled. “I mean, it was supposed to be like…” Tilting your head back and forth thoughtfully, you finally landed on an explanation. “I mean, back then, I think there was a huge werewolf craze, right? …You know what werewolves are, right?” 

“I mean, yeah, ” Sonic responded, face twitching a little, “Humans that turn into wolves in the moonlight or whatever, but—”

“But?” you questioned. “I mean, yeah, it was silly, but like, it kind of looked like a werewolf, right?” 

He seemed visibly disgruntled. “Yeah, but…” Sonic looked away for a second, then quickly shook his head, seeming to return to himself as he turned to look at you forcefully. “But werewolves are humans! It’s, like, stories—folklore about humans who turned into super-monstrous versions of animilians!” 

Pausing for a second, you absorbed this information. Whoa, wait, that’s interesting—

“But they’re called ‘werewolves’ because they are humans! ” Sonic insisted, and you blinked a bit at your thoughts being interrupted. “Were-wolf! HUMAN-wolf! ‘Were’ means human!” 

Suddenly your thoughts were scattering a bit, grappling with his response. “Wait—”

“It doesn’t just mean ‘anything that turns into something’! It’s a human, specifically!” After looking away for a second, Sonic turned to look at you again. “Or does it mean something else in your world?” 

“…Uhhhhh…”

Now your brain was reeling, suddenly frantically considering the information it held.

You felt a dawning comprehension.

Thoughts of language and meanings started bouncing around in your head.

It felt like your brain was verging on a crisis of some sort.

Some sort of revelation.

“…Wait… Wait, yeah, I think I did know that—”

“See?!” Sonic threw his hands in the air, shaking his head and turning around. “If it was going to be called anything, it would be a ‘Hedgewolf,’ not a ‘Werehog!’ —Or a ‘Wolfhog’… Anyway, I wasn’t turning into a fucked-up version of a human at night!” 

“I…”

Speechlessly, you stood there, brain fully short-circuiting from whatever train of thought it was about to have. You just… stared off into the night. 

But… a ‘Hedgewolf’ sounds fucking stupid… you numbly thought. You held a hand to your head. Not ‘Mobians’, but ‘animilians’—not ‘Werehog’, but a ‘Hedgewolf’… Or a ‘Wolfhog’— Slowly, your hand ran down your face and cupped your mouth. Time and time again, the names in this world are just… 

Feeling defeated, you eventually let out a sigh. 

“Oh…” 

Silently, you looked away, feeling incredibly awkward. Something was still nagging at you, but for the life of you, you couldn’t place it. Instead, you just stayed silent. 

After a bit, you heard Sonic cough, and you suddenly returned to reality, glancing towards him as he began to speak. 

“…How long has it been called ‘the Werehog’ in your world…?” 

Blinking, you squinted in the night and thought for a second. “Ummm…” Slowly, you mulled it over in your head, still feeling kind of off. “2008… um…” You considered the passage of time. “Oh, jeez, it’s been a fuckin’ while—God. Uhhh… Years now. Okay, that was… Mmm. Oh god. Over a decade ago…? —Shit, how long exactly …? Ummmm…”

“A decade…? ” Sonic repeated, quietly incredulous, and you looked back towards him properly, and took in his surprised and perplexed expression. “…I mean, It’s been a few years, but it hasn’t been that long here…” 

“I see…” Emotions and expressions more muted now, you attempted to disregard the negativity attempting to pull at your heart as you considered. “Yeah, it’s been a good while. I mean…” Tilting your head back and forth, you thought more. “I mean, games take years to develop… But, yeah… I mean, it was a good long time ago, yeah. Definitely over a decade. Um. Don’t remember exactly, but…” 

“Oh, boy…” Sonic sighed, and you returned to reality yet again, watching as he seemed to pace a little very slightly in thought, and then stopped entirely, deep in contemplation. You wondered what the hell he was thinking so hard about in this context. 

Then, finally, he let out a long sigh. 

“You know what?” Sonic straightened, and started waving you off, turning away from you. “You can keep calling it ‘the Werehog’.” 

“…What?” You straightened as well, confused and feeling a rush of conflicting emotions suddenly running through you. Your heart rate was rising a bit. “Wh—why?” you questioned incredulously, unsure if you felt relieved or patronized. 

“Look, if you’ve been calling it that for that long, then you can go ahead and keep using it.” From behind him, you watched him shrug, his quills shifting against his back as he did so. “I mean, it’s not like it’s gonna ever come back anyway, probably. So it doesn’t even matter.” You saw him shift a little more, and while you couldn’t see all of his face, due to mostly facing away from you still, you could tell he was rubbing his nose again. “But, yeah. It was only a few years ago for me, but you’ve known it as that for way longer. You can call it what you want. It’s fine.” 

“I…” Feeling entirely unsure what the hell to do, you began attempting to argue for some reason. “I mean, you’re right though,” you argued feebly. “It’s not ‘correct’, so I shouldn’t use the word…” 

“Well, it doesn’t really matter if it’s ‘correct’ or not, does it?” Sonic shifted his weight onto a foot, half-turning back to face you as he looked over his shoulder. “I don’t really remember what we called it at the time, but it wasn’t really anything interesting, or nearly as easy to say. And, again, it prooooobably won’t come back ever. So, yeah. Just call it ‘the Werehog’ if you want. It doesn’t matter. It’s fine.” 

“…Oh…” Suddenly, you were feeling bashful. You weren’t sure if you were more embarrassed at being placated in such a silly way, or relieved that you wouldn’t have to mentally rewrite what you’d been calling it for years. “…Thank you…” you finally responded sheepishly, deciding to just be grateful. 

Even if it’s fucking ridiculous, Werehog DOES roll off the tongue easier. 

Sonic audibly snorted, and shook his head, turning away and gesturing to follow him again. “Don’t worry about it. Anyway, come on—we’re almost there.” 

“Where are we going?” you asked, quickly picking up speed and following behind him again as you both started to walk again.

He hummed a bit. “Another cave.” 

“ Another one?” Huffing out a little bit of a laugh, you shook your head. “How many fucking caves are there in this world, exactly?” 

Sonic chuckled as you caught up next to him. “Well, there’s quite a few in this particular part of the world, I guess. But, I mean, I also have a knack for finding them.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.” He made a faintly-amused noise. “You only fall out of so many trees before you decide that you’d rather go out of your way to find a cave or two than risk it again.” 

“I see…” In turn, you began chuckling at the mental image of Sonic getting spooked by a robot or something in the middle of the night, and falling into the classic “Sonic faceplanting” gag again, or even just straight-up hitting his head on something on his way down.

“Still sleep in trees sometimes, though. Not all the time. But yeah, sometimes.” 

“Fair enough.” You started chuckling a bit again. “Why do you sleep in trees, then?” 

“So, you knew about that already too, huh?” 

“Kinda. I mean, I saw it in…” Suddenly, you realized you hadn’t really explained any other Sonic media than the games, specifically to avoid the probable ego-boosting it’d cause. But, well, at this point, you didn’t really care anymore. “…this, uh, kind-of-older show. I mean, not THAT old. Just a couple decades ago. But yeah.” 

“Uh huh…” He made an intrigued noise. “What’s it called?” 

“Oh. Uh… Sonic X. ” 

“Uh huh! ” 

The pleased noise he made resulted in you rolling your eyes a bit, but other than that, he was surprisingly restrained in his response. The two of you continued walking, the pleased vibes practically emanating off of him despite his silence. 

“…What the hell were we talking about?” you questioned aloud, and Sonic turned towards you. “ Before the Werehog thing, I mean,” you clarified. 

“Uhhh…” Sonic leaned back and looked up in thought, lacing his fingers together behind his head. “Iiiiiii… dunno.” 

“Me either.” 

Silently, you both continued onward, deep in thought. You struggled in vain, feeling like there was something you’d been thinking about, or about to. But you were failing to regain the train of thought you’d been heading towards—whatever you’d been considering was gone, at least for now. 

You sighed. It probably wasn’t important, anyway. It wasn’t anything related to the black creatures or Eggman or anything like that in the first place, so… 

With that in mind, you reluctantly mentally set that aside… and then winced a little, staggering ever-so-slightly. At your sudden slowing, Sonic turned back around, and you could see his eyes widen a little in the darkness. 

“Are you okay?” 

“Uhhh…” 

You went to insist that you were fine, but felt yourself beginning to question that as you felt your body getting more and more tired and dragged down. 

“Iiiiiii… think so?” you said instead, attempting to continue onwards, almost tripping as you did. Sonic immediately caught you by the sides of your upper arms before you even had the chance to fall so much as another inch. “Ow. Ha. Um. S-sorry.” 

“It’s fine. Are you really okay?” Sonic asked seriously. 

“…I dunno…” Shakily, you stood again, and thankfully, you didn’t stumble again. “I think… I think my body’s just… worn out.” You let out a shaky laugh. “Yeah. Um. I think that sounds right. …It’s fine. I just need to sit down when we get there, that’s all.” 

You stared at Sonic for a few seconds, and he stared back at you. Waiting for him to move out of the way, you kept staring. 

Then, you were scooped right off your feet. 

“Hey!” You attempted to squirm out of his arms in defiance, but his grip remained firm. “Come on, I can walk on my fucking own!” 

“Can you, though?” Sonic retorted, unimpressed, beginning to walk onwards with you in his grasp. Defeated, you slumped in his arms. 

“Look, I don’t know,” you responded defensively, crossing your arms. “I was fine before. I don’t know why I’m suddenly so tired. But I can still walk!” 

“It could be the black goop you stuck your hand in,” Sonic pointed out, suddenly sounding much more stern and aggressive, and you flinched a little. He sped up a little. “Remember that, (y/n)? That little stunt of yours just a few minutes ago?” 

“I…” Suddenly acutely aware of yourself and reminded of the source of your stress, you fell silent for a second. Then, desperate to force back the thoughts that threatened to return and to argue with Sonic, you pressed on. “I felt fine. I don’t think it’s that! Hell, I still feel fine. Mostly. …I’m just tired, okay?!” 

“And if you’re tired, then you should let someone else do the hard stuff for you,” Sonic responded, speeding up slightly more again. “You know. Like your ‘hero’? Anyway, stop arguing and just let me carry you.” 

You groaned and slumped even further in defeat than you already had, and soon, Sonic was moving faster. He certainly didn’t go as fast as he had previously whilst carrying you, though, and not for very long; and in less than even a minute, despite not running all that fast, he was setting you down again. 

Feeling unbalanced, you stumbled a little once more, but he didn’t let you fall, and you were easily straightened again. 

“Ugh… sorry…” 

“Don’t mention it, (y/n).” Sonic held onto you for a second longer, and then let go. This time, you remained steady. 

Awkwardly, you took in the environment: it was just… another cave. It was much less interesting than the one you’d been in previously, lacking the cute little stream, and less spacious than any of the other ones you’d been in so far. 

You couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. 

“Well, anyway, y-you—” Sonic abruptly cut off, stretching and yawning clearly involuntarily. Hastily, he shook it off and dropped his arms again. “Ugh. Sorry. Anyway, you should get some rest.” 

In amused incredulity, you stared pointedly right at him. “Me? ” you asked. Quickly, the thoughts of things that had been previously bouncing around your head lately began returning to you—for instance, the fact that you had just been sleeping for hours in the plane, and he had only gotten, at most, a couple hours of sleep earlier, after God-knows-how-long. “I think I should be saying that to you. ” 

“I’m fine!” Sonic insisted back, seeming exasperated. “I was just stretching, damn it, don’t make a thing out of it.” 

“And yawning?” 

He let out an annoyed stutter. “That’s not th-the—” And again, Sonic started yawning against his will, and he hastily forced it down again. “Look, the point is, you were having a hard time walking, and you’re the one who’s being chased by the black things, and maybe being used as some sort of power source, so you need to get more rest.” 

You rolled your eyes, even though you knew he couldn’t see it. “And you’re the one who’s fucking saving my life, and you’re the one who only slept, like, two hours or something today. I literally just woke up after the plane ride here.” 

Sonic let out a sort of strangled noise. 

“I’m just kind of worn out, alright, Sonic? I’m fine. ” 

“But you can’t just keep pretending you’re fine when you’re not!” Sonic argued. 

“I could say the same to you.” 

Startled by your sudden change in tone, you heard his breath hitch for a second. Then, he made some sort of grumbling sound, and you could hear the rocks shuffling under his sneakers in the dark as he turned away from you. 

“Look, I’m not saying I won’t rest at all , alright?” you began to bargain, and while you could barely see him in the increased-darkness of the cave, you saw just enough of him illuminated by the moonlight to see him turn back towards you. “I’ll still rest. I need to sit down! I do! But you need to sleep. MUCH more than I do. If you’re tired, then I’m going to die, you know?” you pointed out. 

You heard him grumble softly again, and heard as he lightly kicked a rock that you couldn’t see. “I wouldn’t let you die, ” Sonic retorted, and you… distinctly… felt like he was… pouting. 

Oh my god. How are you so fucking stubborn?! you thought in disbelief, and then realized with some sheepishness that, maybe, you were kind of the same. 

But the biggest difference here was that you were right, and he wasn’t. 

“Look, I know you wouldn’t let me die!” You huffed a little and stormed up in front of him, and in the faint light of the moon, you could swear you could see his ears pinning back against his head as he leaned back a little. “But if you’re too tired, then either you could get hurt, or something else could happen, and I could get hurt on accident . I know you won’t let me die, but you’re a ‘hero’, sure. Not fucking immortal. You’re still a—” 

You realized you’d been about to say “human”, and quickly corrected yourself. 

“—a mortal, alright? You need to take care of your own needs, or you can’t be as effective as you would otherwise be. And I know how strong you can be,” you quickly added as you heard him start to speak. “I know. I’m just saying, it’s better to be at your best as much as possible, whenever you have the chance. Okay?” 

Sonic remained silent at your brief moment of waiting for a response, so you continued. 

“If you’re that stubborn, then how about I promise that I just sit here and wait while you’re sleeping, and wake you up if anything shows up. And after you get up in the morning, and we go into town, maybe we can go into a hotel or an inn or whatever, and then you can stand watch, while I sleep in a proper bed. Hell, you could sit on the roof or something, I don’t know!” 

You saw his outline twitch in recognition in response to your statement. Yeah, that’s right, bitch; if you sleep in trees, then I ALSO know you like to hang out on roofs! FUCK yeah. How about you listen to me NOW?!

“It would even help make sure that the town is safe, and that nobody else gets hurt in town, just because I’m there, and the black creatures could still show up,” you added, then leaned back and crossed your arms, feeling satisfied. “…Well?”

The air fell silent after your statement. You continued waiting, tapping a finger on your arm as you waited for a response. 

“…What’s wrong with me?!” Sonic abruptly moaned, and you saw him throw his hands over his face and drag them down in defeat, though mostly hidden by the darkness. “I…I know better than this, damn it, I’m not a kid anymore. I know I need to do everything I can to stay in good condition. Especially when I’m protecting somebody, and I’m not constantly in a fight. I’m an adult! I’ve been doing this for YEARS! What’s WRONG with me?!” 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” you interrupted, suddenly feeling very insane as you attempted to reassure Sonic the fucking Hedgehog. “You’re probably just tired, anyway. It’s fine. Everybody gets a bit weird when they’ve been awake too long.” 

“Yeah, but…” Sonic began protesting feebly. 

“Just go to sleep, Sonic!” you insisted, physically walking over to him and clumsily attempting to grab his shoulders, missing at first, but finding them in the dark after a moment. You forcefully gripped his shoulders. “Just go to sleep! It’s fine. I’ll rest here, and you can get a clear head again after a bit of rest, and when it’s morning again, either I can sleep, or you can sleep more in a real bed. Or you could sleep after me again, if you’re still tired. Okay?” 

It was silent for a moment. For a second, you thought he was going to keep arguing, but miraculously, that didn’t happen. Instead, eventually, Sonic let out a sigh. 

“Fine…” 

You heard the sound of rippling fabric, and then saw the faint shimmer of a blanket appear for a brief moment, before you heard the scfff of rocks under his shoes, and a gentle thud against the cave wall, echoing softly. 

“You know, you could still sleep at the same time as me,” Sonic’s voice emerged again from somewhere in the darkness. “I can sleep lightly enough for my ears to pick up on stuff, especially something as loud as the monsters…” 

Aggressively, you groaned, hearing your own voice echo just as forcefully back at you. Are you fucking kidding me? You JUST admitted you know better. 

“Just go to sleep, Sonic!” you practically begged. “I’ll be fine! I’ll sleep better in a real bed, anyway! Let it go!” 

A sigh rang out from the cave around you. “…Fine. I’m going to sleep, then. Night.” 

“Night, Sonic…” 

It didn’t take long for the air to fall into near-complete silence, and then for his soft, slow, gentle breathing to start ringing out in the cave. 

…Well. There he went. 

Stupid fucker really was exhausted. Damn it, Sonic, why would you argue about it?! 

Now that Sonic was successfully sleeping, your body decided now was a good time to make its suffering known again. All at once, the suffering that you’d been keeping at bay began hitting your body—involuntarily, you let out a tiny grunt, but managed to stifle it quickly. Thankfully, it seemed the sleeping hedgehog did not hear it, for he didn’t stir even a little. 

Weakly, you fumbled around in the dark until you found the opposing wall, and finally slumped against it, sliding carelessly (and somewhat painfully) onto your ass. 

Ow… 

You gently held your side. 

Everything in your body felt heavy. Like… excruciatingly so. Every inch of you felt like it was in pain—injury or no injury, if a square inch of your body existed, then it was in pain. 

God fucking damn it. 

It took a bit of time, but eventually, the pain started dying down enough for you to… mostly recover. You heard your own labored breathing for the first time, and then heard it start to slow, and become more gentle, albeit still strained. 

Finally, now that your body was at least not actively suffering anymore, even though it still felt quite heavy, you could relax a little. You slumped again, and slowly became aware of the sound of Sonic’s gentle breathing again, now audible alongside your own. 

Your mind drifted back to the hedgehog. 

Again, your thoughts tugged on the question: 

Why did he resist so much? 

You considered the question silently. Even if he was so tired, he was an experienced adventurer and all. It seemed weird that he’d let himself get so stubborn over something like that in a life-or-death scenario. 

Sure, maybe he might be like that with a friend. But… you hadn’t known him for long at all, right? Maybe you were getting kind of close to him—trauma-bonding is a hell of a drug—but he dealt with crazy stuff happening all the time, and rescued innocents left and right. Surely, he wasn’t so reckless that he’d throw his life away for a near-stranger, despite so many people needing and loving him. 

…

…

Suddenly, you remembered how he’d dove into the lake after you, not-too-long-ago, when he’d known you even less. 

While being unable to swim. 

Sonic… 

You felt a quiet, horrified emotion start creeping up in your chest. Disbelief swam through you, along with a mute, unspeakable sadness, as you shook your head silently in the dark.

Sonic… you can’t do that. You can’t do that, alright? You can’t throw your life away so easily. Oh my god. You can’t possibly be living like this all the time, can you? You can’t POSSIBLY be going about your hero schtick, all the time, failing to rest enough or jumping into water or… 

The horror was resting thick on your chest. You felt like you couldn’t breathe. 

You can’t possibly be so… 

So… 

… 

A million thoughts ran through your mind as you sat in silence, your body’s complaints becoming dulled in comparison to your racing heart and mind. 

But, finally, common sense hit you. 

He doesn’t just do that for everybody. Statistically, he couldn’t have. If he did, then, statistically, no matter how strong or skilled he is, he would eventually have died already. There’s just no way he’d be that lucky, otherwise. No matter how strong or skilled he is, he would’ve died already, since he’s still a living creature who needs food and rest and everything else. 

You felt your body heave a sigh of… mostly relief. 

But, you were still tinted with unease. 

If he doesn’t do that for just anybody, then why was he…? 

Your thoughts trailed off again, and a dawning realization of horror started creeping up once more, this time for entirely different reasons. 

Oh my god. There’s no way he—

Quickly, you shook your head. 

NO! 

No. 

Oh my god, don’t read into it THAT much, you moron. 

He tried to save you when you were about to drown because, presumably, he couldn’t watch somebody literally die right in front of him, even a stranger; but, now, he’s arguing mostly because he’s sleep-deprived. And, if there was anything beyond it, it’d be just a feeling of slight friendship—a genuine kinship of sorts through the constant hardship, but nothing nearly as close as with the friends he already has. 

You turned away, feeling… both slightly relieved, and… almost… regretful. 

And… even if he did form a bond with you that strong so quickly, would you even want a friend like that? 

A tinge of pain, this time not from the rest of your body, but deep within your chest, began to take hold. It grew stronger, and you felt yourself gripping your chest like a lifeline. 

If someone’s like that, then they’ll stop liking you just as quickly, you know? 

…You know better. 

You know better. 

You know better. 

You know. 

You know. 

You know.

…Why would you let yourself be so stupid? 

You felt yourself quivering a little, and you curled in on yourself a little more, your hand not clutching your chest feebly dragging after you. The sensation of dirt, rocks, and gravel under your fingertips suddenly gave you a bolt of clarity—quickly, you grazed your fingers against the ground until you felt a larger rock with slightly-sharper edges, and you snatched it off the ground. 

Quickly, you jammed it forcefully into your thigh, biting back the noise of pain that attempted to escape your throat. Shutting your eyes forcefully, you held your breath, continuing to let the pain run through you for a second. 

Then, finally, your tumultuous emotions had died down, and you breathed a sigh of relief, tossing the rock to the side. 

Right. It’s fine. 

Coolly, now, you looked away, towards the mouth of the cave. 

It’s okay.

The moon had shifted in the sky, now; at this point, you could see it ever-so-slightly shining through the cave. As you sat and watched for a while in silence, it gradually shifted enough that the light actually properly gleamed across part of the cave—the half you were sitting opposite to. 

Sonic’s sleeping form, curled up with a blanket, was gently illuminated by the moonlight. He seemed utterly peaceful under the blanket—utterly unphased by the world around him, and all the troubles the two of you had been experiencing lately. 

…Like an experienced hero would be, of course. 

…

…He was not like you.

For all the similarities your attitude seemed to have on the surface, you were still so very unlike him in other ways. 

Contemplatively, you looked towards the moonlight, and then back to him. 

You remembered the conversation you’d been having about the… “Werehog”, or whatever you wanted to call it. 

The reason given for why Sonic did not become influenced by Dark Gaia when he transformed was because he was “too strong to lose himself”. 

Even in the dark, and even if he was alone, he would never lose himself. 

He was unshakeable. Kind. Friendly. Brave. And self-assured, and capable, and ever-unfaltering, never succumbing to self-doubt. 

…

Or, at least, that was what you wanted to believe, wasn’t it? 

It’s the version of “Sonic” that you’d grown attached to over the years, watching him on-screen. 

But, it’d be naive to believe that, just because that was what you’d seen, that it was entirely true. 

Everyone had their secrets. 

Everyone has their weaknesses.

And it’s one thing to enjoy watching a character on-screen—no matter what, they remain in the realm of fiction. Any disappointment they may cause is just writing. 

But if you become attached to a real person—well, that’s just a recipe for failure, isn’t it? 

Inevitably, no matter what, they will disappoint you. 

No matter how “heroic” Sonic seemed, he was just as fallible as anyone else. 

You were certain he genuinely meant well. He surely had the heart of gold that many depictions of him implied. 

But, how long would it last? 

Sonic was always on the move. His heroism was for the short-term; even his friends didn’t necessarily have him around for long, right? Probably. 

If you were in pain, and he wasn’t around you 24/7 like he was now, would he even be able to help? 

…

…And, even if his heart of gold did last… 

…Even if, hypothetically, he did stick around enough, or come back enough… 

…How long would it be until you disappointed him? 

… 

He might be unshakable, even in the darkest nights. 

But you…? 

… 

…

Right. 

Sonic would help you, and you’d share stories about the games and what you knew of his adventures; and you’d both laugh, and joke, and spend some time together for a while. 

And then, soon enough, Sonic and the others would find a way to send you back home.

And you’d both part, with smiles on your faces—never anything more than a pleasant memory in each other’s minds. 

…Yeah. 

That’s the plan. 

You’re sticking with it. 

…So what if you were alone forever? 

So what if you never had anything resembling an “adventure” again? 

…It wasn’t worth the pain. 

…

Again, I’m nothing like him. 

This world, or any other, isn’t made for me. But at least if I go back, I have a chance to be happy. 

This world will let me be happy even less. 

But I can still fight. 

Back home, where I’m not completely useless, and I can do more than rely on someone else, I have a chance. 

I’ll find happiness on my own. 

That’s how I’ve lived for this long. 

Silently, you let out a sigh. 

See? I’m nothing like him.

I’m cynical.

I’m cold.

I’m calculating and controlled.

I’ll choose safety over freedom. I’ll retreat rather than fight.

I would rather plan and prepare than seek adventure or friendship.

I just want to survive, that's all.

I don’t want to fight anymore.

I just want to be left alone, to forge my own happiness, without anyone else fucking with my head.

I can get a surface-level bond, with anyone or anything.

I can joke and laugh and play.

I can even let someone hear just a little bit of truth.

Give the illusion of closeness, for just a moment.

For the short-term, before things fall apart.

But no more.

…

…Sonic, what would you think if you heard me now? 

What would you say?

Would you be disappointed in me…? 

You stared out towards the moon again, considering the black creatures, the injuries, the pain in your body, and the pain in your heart. 

You curled in on yourself a little, preparing for the long night. 

This really is just a fucking nightmare. 

Chapter Text

Sonic didn’t really tend to dream too much when there was an ongoing crisis going on. (Or, well… non-magical, non-outside-entity-induced dreams, anyway.) And, well, given who Sonic was, and how he lived, that meant he didn’t typically dream much, period.

The few exceptions were usually when he’d just immediately resolved a crisis, or when he was having some down time, typically at one of Tails’ workshops. Or, of course, the times when he was on an adventure, but it was just for fun—no Eggman or world-ending threats to deal with.

Those were probably the times he loved most; especially when he was able to get most of his friends involved in whatever it was. Though, of course, Sonic certainly enjoyed his solo adventures almost as much—that’s why he’d been flying solo prior to everything, after all.

This was… none of those times. 

And yet, Sonic dreamt. 

He felt the faint impressions of the wind rushing around him, and the rush of everything absolutely soaring. Sonic also felt the surge of energy running through him. 

Ah… yes. He was Super Sonic. 

Effortlessly, he was tearing through hordes and hordes of robots—the air felt light, and though the world seemed floatier than usual… he felt alive. 

Sonic heard a scream, and one of his ears twitched; and faster than the speed of sound, he was there. 

Her… (y/n). Running from the black monsters again. 

There were dozens… no, hundreds. Maybe thousands of them, all converging on her. 

Still… 

…Sonic felt himself smirk. 

As Super Sonic, there was never any question about whether he would make it in time. 

Instantly, he tore off into the horde, flying past her and shredding through the creatures of ink and oil like they were less than paper. Really, he couldn’t even feel them—even less than usual when he was Super. It was like they weren’t even there in front of him. 

Just goes to show how weak those things were in the first place.

Sonic didn’t fear many things, but he wasn’t entirely immovable. But, these things? These things weren’t even worth breaking a sweat. Not even in his normal state—he tore through ’em with hardly any effort—but while he was Super? Easiest thing in the world. 

Sonic—nor the girl he’d been protecting—didn’t have a thing to fear from them. 

In mere moments, there was nothing left of them. They were gone—every last one of them. Nothing but splatters on the ground, rapidly evaporating away, leaving the grass beautiful and untouched as they vanished. 

Sonic grinned, and took off back to where the girl had been. 

He saw her look up, startled, but clearly happy. Awed, even. 

Slowly, he floated down in front of her, seeing his own golden light reflected in her eyes and illuminating her awestruck face. 

Silently, he shut his eyes, relaxing, and concentrated on letting go, releasing the Chaos Emeralds from his control. 

He felt a rush of energy and a breeze around him, and felt the air sway; and then Sonic was just himself again, feeling his quills gently lower to their normal position. 

And, as always when Sonic returned to his normal self from being Super, he felt as good as new. 

…The few times when he wasn’t falling from orbit when coming out of Super Sonic were great.

…

After a few moments, Sonic felt a smile playing on his lips, and he cracked open his eyes, peeking at the girl in front of him.

“Even better in person, huh?” Sonic heard himself ask. 

To his slight surprise, she pretty much squealed in response, and suddenly arms were being thrown around him, almost taking him off his feet as she tackled him. 

“That was INCREDIBLE!” (y/n) gasped, and Sonic could almost feel her vibrating in excitement. “That was just—that was—”

Sonic heard himself chuckling—wait, no. It was almost a giggle. 

…A giggle? Really? 

Still, she didn’t seem to mind, only making a pleased sound against him. He grinned. 

“Like what you see, huh?” Sonic teased. 

To his even more surprise, he heard her openly giggle back. 

“Of course!” she responded cheerfully, pulling back and meeting his eyes with a greatly pleased expression. “How could I NOT like seeing my ‘hero’ ?” she cooed earnestly, and her finger gently bopped his nose. 

Sonic froze. 

All the thoughts in Sonic’s head scattered to the wind. 

“…Uhhhh…” 

Mutely, he slowly raised his hand and covered his nose. 

…What the hell? Sonic thought, feeling the tips of his ears starting to grow flushed. 

In disbelief, he stared over his fingers cupping his face at the human in front of him, who began giggling even more, swaying a little. 

Did… did (y/n) ALWAYS act like that? Sonic wondered incredulously. He wasn’t sure. Granted, he hadn’t really known her for all that long yet, but it still felt kind of… off. 

She hadn’t been like this so far, right? 

Normally, this kind of… hero worship… made him… uneasy. He could handle it, and he was pretty good at brushing it off and acting unaffected, but…

Sonic contemplated the nagging sensation in the back of his head, feeling slightly torn between hanging around, and just saying “fuck it” and taking off after a quick goodbye. 

But, then his eyes fell on her pleased, friendly, and carefree expression, and he felt something inside him shift, almost against his better judgment. 

Sonic sighed and stuck around. 

“…(y/n)...” Sonic muttered, attempting to cool the warmth in his face. “Don’t do that. That’s humiliating.” 

The human giggled back. “Awww. Is it really that bad?” 

“YES!” he insisted, though was momentarily unsure if he really meant it or not. The nagging feeling in the back of his head grew a little stronger. 

(y/n) visibly fake-pouted. “Awwwww…” 

Her joke-pout momentarily seemed to twitch down a little further. (y/n)’s face drooped ever-so-slightly, and she looked away. 

…Shit… 

Conflicted feelings fighting each other for a moment, Sonic felt one half win out, and sighed a little, looking away. “…Fine…” he muttered. “It doesn’t matter. Do what you want. Just don’t get TOO crazy with it, alright?” 

In moments, the girl’s face shifted from its mild, but genuine, sadness, into a full-blown, heartfelt, overjoyed, starry-eyed expression. 

“SONIC!” she cheered, and abruptly threw herself at him. 

“Ghhh—”

Sonic managed to catch her, but the suddenness of it did make him stumble backwards a little. Still, the human felt a little lighter than normal, and almost… intangible. He could kind of feel her nuzzling her head against the side of his, but it felt… kind of… 

…Unreal.

Sonic’s clouded head started to stir a little, and through the haze, he found himself really trying to think, even as the girl acted wayyyyy too overly-affectionate in his arms. 

Suddenly, the girl in his arms pulled back, looking directly into his eyes. 

“Sonic!” 

Her finger was suddenly shoved directly in front of his face, and Sonic flinched back a little. 

A wide, gleeful, almost smug grin spread across her face. 

“MARRY me!” 

Sonic blanched in shock.

“Wh—”

And all at once, it hit him, and he groaned.  

Ohhhhhhhh, Chaos. 

This is a dream. I’m DREAMING. 

Dreaming about her acting like Amy? Really, Sonic?

Feeling deeply unamused and exasperated with himself, he glared off to the side, kind of wishing he could punch himself. 

…Incredible. 

Even though he’d now realized that it was in fact a dream, he still didn’t feel fully… lucid. In fact, the second he stopped thinking about the fact it was a dream, he’d probably mostly forget again.

Still, at least now that he knew, he could relax a little. 

Sonic looked back up at the girl in front of him, now newly aware of how floaty and dreamlike and unreal everything felt.  

The girl in front of him, in turn, gave him a soft, but bright and genuine, smile. 

Sonic felt himself twitch and looked away. 

…Still… 

The hazy, not-quite-lucid, conflicted feelings swarmed in Sonic’s chest. 

…I’m at least glad to see her so happy, for once. 

The air felt floaty… unreal… and calm. 

And, now knowing it wasn’t real, and there were no real consequences, Sonic felt that he could truly let go. 

He held out his hand to the human in front of him. 

“(y/n).” 

She stilled at suddenly being addressed in such a way, and looked up at him, her soft eyes wide. 

Sonic felt himself grin back at her. 

“Wanna run with me?” 

Surprised, she stared back at him, and then glanced up and down his body. 

“…I can’t run that fast,” she responded, and her voice suddenly drifted closer to tones he’d come to expect from the human in front of him. Her face looked faintly amused and exasperated. “And if you slowed down for me, then that’d be humiliating.” 

Sonic felt his grin tug a little wider. 

A warmth spread across his chest, and a mixture of emotions rose in him… but now, they were no longer conflicted and fighting each other. 

“…Then why don’t I carry you?” he responded softly, feeling equal parts playful and genuine. He tilted his head to the side. “…No running required.” 

She blinked back at him. And for a moment, the world felt… still. 

And then, her face spread back into a soft, but bright, smile. 

“…Yeah,” she agreed, and her hand gently slid into his. “Why not?” 

Despite himself, Sonic felt himself switch more from a grin into just… a pleased, teasing-free, genuine smile. He held her hand for a moment longer, and the two of them simply stared at each other, the air still around them.

Then, Sonic scooped her up into his arms in one smooth movement. 

“Alrighty, then!” Sonic called, grinning smugly, and sauntering forward a few steps. “Hold on tigh—”

And then abruptly, a loud BOOM rang out through the air, and Sonic, with the human in his arms, froze in place, staring up at the sky. 

Not-too-far above him, a… blue and white… portal…(?) had opened up in the air, shimmering and swirling and wavering, emanating pure, unadulterated power. 

Chaos Control. 

Stunned, Sonic stared at the portal hovering above them. Then, startling him out of his reverie, he felt the human suddenly start wriggling out of his arms, and, half-snapping out of his daze, he let her go, and she stood upright to her full human height, staring at the portal with wide eyes. 

“That’s…” Her eyes widened even further, eyes growing, somehow, even brighter than he’d seen so far. “That’s MY WORLD!” she gasped out, and darted a few feet closer, visibly marveling at the spatial anomaly in front of them. 

Snapping out of his reverie, he hastily darted his gaze between the portal and the girl beside him, back and forth. Despite how he tried, he couldn’t see anything through it… but she clearly could. 

“…I…” Baffled, Sonic cocked his head and stared for a minute. “That’s… good?” he half-asked, only to be startled again when she whirled to face him, eyes sparkling with sincerity. 

“…Sonic…” 

Her eyes seemed to almost well up with tears, and Sonic didn’t even have time to go to try to comfort her before she had thrown herself into his arms again. 

“You did it!” she cried, and though the world felt entirely unreal still, and he felt utterly off-kilter, he could almost truly feel her trembling in his arms. Hastily, he attempted to hold her in return, resting one very confused, and somewhat concerned hand on her back. Her face nuzzled against his cheek, and he wasn’t sure if he felt tears or not. “You did it, Sonic,” she choked out, and he awkwardly placed a hand on the back of her head, attempting to soothe her. “Thank you. I can go home now. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you…” 

Sonic was torn between… comforting…(?) congratulating…(?) …the girl in his arms, and just being very, very confused. 

…Just like that? Sonic wondered, baffled. If he wasn’t already holding the girl in his arms, he’d probably start scratching the back of his head. …How? I didn’t… What? No Eggman, or fighting some world-ending monster, or anything? Just… It’s over? Just like that? 

Still perplexed, he stared up at the portal silently, a rush of emotions running through him. 

…Well. Sonic coughed a little, straightening. I mean… if it’s that easy, who am I to complain? 

“…I… guess I did do it,” he agreed unsurely, though then nodded to himself, attempting to dispel the remaining doubts. “Right. Yeah. I guess I did. …Huh.” 

A noise from the almost-but-not-quite-weeping girl in his arms snapped his attention away again, and hastily, he focused on… comforting/congratulating her. 

“Yeah! See? It’s fine. I TOLD you not to worry, see? You can go home now.” He puffed out his chest a little, and the girl in his arms pulled away, looking up at him. “Don’t you feel silly for worrying so much?” Sonic teased. 

She hiccuped a little, and looked back up at him. “…Yeah,” she agreed, and sniffled a little, wiping her face even though there weren’t any tears yet. “Yeah, I guess I do, huh?” 

Sonic laughed a little under his breath, and pet her hair a little more. “What’d I tell ya?” Sonic shrugged, and grinned as he pulled away, raising his hands to the side casually. “I’m ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’, after all. There’s almost nothing I can’t do, y’know?” 

While she did seem to be listening and believing his words, it didn’t have all of the effect he’d been hoping for, only seeming to quiet her down a little more. So, Sonic pressed on, switching tactics again. 

He gently knelt in front of her, looking into her eyes. 

“So, you don’t need to be so scared,” Sonic said softly, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. She blinked, watery eyes holding steady and meeting his own. He placed his other hand on his chest. “Don’t worry. Everything is okay after all, see? Just trust me, okay?” He smiled a little more. “I’m here.” 

Sniffling, she nodded. “…Yeah,” she agreed, and stood again, Sonic’s hand falling away as she did so. “I guess so.” 

At last, they both turned their gaze back to the portal. 

“…I guess… I should… go home, then?” The girl beside him glanced towards him, then back towards the portal. “…I’ll…” She took a step forward. “…Guess I’ll get… going… then…?” 

All at once—inexplicably—a spike of something lurched within his chest, and Sonic lunged forward, grabbing her by the wrist. Startled, the human in front of him snapped her head back to him, looking both shocked and puzzled by his interference. 

And for a second, Sonic was too. 

But, quickly, he found his words again; after all, while he often moved quicker than he thought, his head was also often only a few steps behind. 

“Hey.” Sonic tilted his head and winked at her. “What’s the rush? You know, I’ve got lots of things to show you here. And, besides. If you go NOW, then how can I introduce you to everybody?” 

The girl’s eyebrows rose, and she paused for a moment, before scoffing. “Sonic, I might like to meet your friends, but not THAT bad. I’ve got a life of my own in my own world, remember? I can’t leave it all behind for TOO long.” 

“Then…” 

Sonic thought quickly. 

“Then, what about coming back and visiting later?” Sonic shrugged. “I could introduce you to everybody then.” 

She looked intrigued for a split second, and then quickly fell back into looking unimpressed. “How?” she asked pointedly, gesturing to the portal. “Do you really think that I could just go back and forth on my own? I’m just a human, y’know. I couldn’t do that by myself.” 

“That’s…” 

…She had a point. 

Hesitating for just a moment, he thought a little longer. 

Then, it clicked. 

“What if I came with you?” 

The human stilled. 

“…What?” 

“What if I came with you?—Not forever!” Sonic quickly added. “But… I mean, my friends from other worlds and I kinda visit each other all the time!—I mean, not ALL the time, but, y’know.” 

He scratched the side of his head. 

“You know, I still see my friends from books and stuff I’ve been in once in a while. Usually, they call me up and ask if it’s a good time to summon me back, but sometimes, I also go visit THEM. ’Specially the worlds that didn’t really summon me on their own easily or whatever. Who’s to say I can’t do the same with you?” Sonic shrugged and grinned. “I mean, I was fictional to you, too, right? It’s just more of the same, really. I don’t see why I couldn’t visit you, too? Or bring you back here once in a while?” 

“I…” 

She visibly stopped and thought. 

A slow, soft, but bright smile steadily spread across her face. 

“Besides,” Sonic added, now feeling somewhat smug with a renewed surge of confidence. “I’d LOVE to see what YOUR world is like, y’know? You know all ABOUT mine. Fair’s fair. And you should KNOW I love a new adventure!” 

Her smile looked even wider. Though the world seemed floaty and unreal, and everything in the world felt hazy, the light shining in her eyes looked real. 

“…Alright…” 

The human held out her hand in front of him. 

“Let’s go on an adventure, then.” 

Sonic grinned and took her hand. “So, what schedule should we plan on, then?” he asked teasingly, tilting his head again and gesturing with his free hand as they began walking towards the portal. “Every two days? Every week? Every other week? Every other weekend at each other’s place? …Split custody situation? Heh. What’s it gonna be, huh?” 

She rolled her eyes, keeping pace with him. “I dunno if I could POSSIBLY stand to see your face quite THAT often.” 

“What about every two weeks, then?” 

“Two months.”

“One month?”

“Month and a half.” 

“Month and a half, but we stay in each other’s world for two weeks?” 

“Month and a half, but we stay in each other’s world for two DAYS.” 

“Awwww, c’mon!” 

“Don’t be greedy, Sonic.” 

“Stay in each other’s world for one whole week…?” 

“…Ugh. Fine.” 

They stopped in front of it, looking into the swirling portal and feeling a rush of energy.

Sonic grinned. 

And in one swift movement, he’d scooped her off her feet and jumped into the portal, clutching her tightly in his arms. 

And then they were falling. 

Together.

…

…

… 

… 

…Ugh. 

It took a good bit for Sonic to realize he was waking up, but the physical discomfort that started running through his body was unmistakably real. 

Great. Fantastic. LOVE to feel that. …Ugh. 

Subconsciously, he let out the quietest, most almost-inaudible groan possible that an almost-conscious hedgehog could make. 

He felt unbearably off-kilter. And his brain was getting going WAY too slowly for his liking. 

Bit by bit, his brain was starting to come into awareness; and with that awareness came comprehension, and with that comprehension came memories. 

Memories of reality. Memories of the last few days, traveling with the very (justifiably) moody human girl. Memories of trying to make her laugh and keep her smiling. Memories of her looking… so, so scared, despite his best efforts. 

And, finally, memories of the dream he’d just had. 

Oooohhhhhhhhh… Gaia and Chaos Almighty. 

Awareness still unnervingly fragmented and scattered (CHAOS he did not like dreaming while there was some sort of crisis going on), Sonic very distantly felt his ears kind of flick back against his head in shame—too bleary and out-of-it to truly fully move, but still enough to slightly break through his extreme, freshly-awoken daze. 

I can’t… 

…Fucking believe it. Really, Sonic? Really? 

He felt his ears quiver a little bit more, and his almost-numb, disjointed-feeling body tingled a little. 

Making her act like Amy…? Really…? …Chaos… 

Sonic attempted to pull himself out of his stupor, but, frankly, the embarrassment he was currently feeling was distracting enough that he was having an even harder time than the post-dream norm with waking up completely. 

His hazy mind slowly combed through his thoughts and memories. 

His thoughts gradually began picking out specific memories… many, many memories of his adventures. All the many, many people he’d known. 

…It wasn’t like this was the FIRST time he’d ever adventured with somebody. Far from it. Hell, in the case of when he was dragged into books, it was almost practically the norm to, either willingly or unwillingly, be stuck with somebody. It could get annoying, or… well… overwhelming sometimes, but… it wasn’t… completely… new. 

…And, hell, it also wasn’t even the first time he’d traveled with a human, or… uh… or a human- like person. He’d been down this road before. This wasn’t a new adventure. …Or, at least not entirely. This was, at least in some ways, the same old, same old. 

Just another adventure with a new pal he’d picked up somewhere, and was saving from whatever nonsense the universe was throwing at them. 

Chill out, man. Think about everybody else you’ve ever traveled with. 

…

Merlina. She was nice, but she was… well… uh. 

…You remember what happened there…

And, Prince Zerith. Remember him? He was nice and all. He was fun. So was Resha! And Percy! And Verna!

Everything was friendly. JUST friendly. 

Oh! Titania was fun! She’s… something, that’s for sure. Heh. 

Who else…? 

…

…Oh… and, y’know… El—

Despite himself, he felt himself grimace… just slightly. 

…Moving on. 

And… 

He felt himself kind of… sag a little. 

And, for the first time in a long time, he felt a twinge of… somber softness. 

…Verti. 

And… 

…

Pain. 

In his chest. 

His eyes fluttered open, and his hazy eyes drifted off to the side. 

Subconsciously, he clutched a fist to his chest. 

…And… 

…

…Shahra… 

…

Good memories. Neutral memories. 

…Bad memories. 

…Well… not all COMPLETELY bad, but… 

…

…He knew better. 

He did. 

Finally awake enough to kind-of “move”, Sonic clumsily dragged his arm from his side and started rubbing at his face with his hand, attempting to rub the exhaustion from his face. 

Regardless, though, it was time to put that stuff out of his head. 

Right. Clear your head. Think clearly. Eyes mostly-alert, now, Sonic kind-of half-glared to the side, though without any real force behind it. 

Another thought rose in his head—a memory. A more recent one, this time. 

“Don’t go making this weird, now. I’m stuck with you, remember?”

Her voice echoed in his head. 

Right… right. She’s stuck with you. She doesn’t have a choice. 

Her freedom’s been almost completely taken away from her. 

…Don’t start making things uncomfortable, ‘k? 

For either of you. 

…She’s already dealing with enough. 

Right. 

His head was clear now. 

Shaking his head somewhat, Sonic’s thoughts returned to the human in question. 

Right. He was awake now. 

…Time to get going. 

Sonic looked up, glancing around the cave and the partially-lit surroundings, and noted the bright morning light shining brightly through the cave, largely uninhibited, and clearly without any sort of lingering remnants of night hanging over it. 

Before he could even truly start to wonder where the human in question was, he spotted her. 

She was partly illuminated by the daylight; but, despite that, her face was somewhat obscured by lingering shadows, light cut partially off the walls of the cave. 

…But, as Sonic stared at her, he happened to notice she wasn’t… seemingly… moving. 

Sonic felt his blood run cold. 

“…(y/n)…?” his voice softly rang out through the cave, and for a moment, he wasn’t truly breathing. 

“…Mmm?” 

To his instant relief, the shadow-cloaked figure slumped against the opposing cave wall shifted, and though he still couldn’t really see her expression very well, he could at least tell she was, well, alive. 

Relief (and exhaustion from the very rapid flipping between emotions) ran through him, and with a long sigh, Sonic stood, stretching. Quickly, he shoved the blanket he’d been curled up in back into his pocket space, then turned back towards the girl across from him, beginning to approach. 

“Oh, good! Glad to see you didn’t die overnight after all,” Sonic teased, though admittedly it was mostly out of sheer desperation to get his brief moment of terror out of his head. 

“…Mmm…” 

The figure in front of him didn’t… really… move. 

Nor did she respond with any snark of her own. 

…Sonic froze. 

“…(y/n)?” Sonic repeated, slightly more urgently this time, quickly finishing closing the gap. “(y/n), are you okay?” 

“ …MmmNNNNNN… ” She drew out the noise a lot longer this time, voice sounding deliberately, purposely, pointedly strained. 

For a second, Sonic thought she was just going to keep responding with those weird little non-words, and was going to be very annoyed, but thankfully, she did in fact continue. 

“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” she asked finally. 

Her voice sounded somewhat hoarse. 

Sonic stared. 

“…Good…?” he responded slowly, though he was already kind of feeling like neither of the choices were actually going to be “good”. 

“Ha. Alright. …Good news.” She gave a sort-of grin, though it looked very, very strained. She coughed a little, then cleared her throat. “I figured out why I feel so shittyyyy!”

…Uh oh. 

“…Alright, then, shoot.” He crossed his arms. “What is it?” 

“Well, then, that’s the bad news.” She partially straightened, though remained mostly slumped. “Want the bad news, or the bad bad news?” 

Sonic narrowed his eyes into slits. 

He was not enjoying this game.

“…Bad…” he finally answered, already regretting his choice. 

“Well!” Her grin looked very slightly brighter, but also somewhat sheepish. She visibly struggled a little to shrug. “The regular-bad news part of it is just that, like, um. It’s…” 

She looked even more sheepish. 

“Well… I wasn’t exactly in shape? So, um. I’ve been doing… a lot of running. And… I think it’s finally caught up to me. …Uh.” 

Sonic stared back flatly. 

“My muscles are fucking sore as shit,” she clarified bluntly. 

“… Really?!” Sonic exploded incredulously, and proceeded to pinch his forehead. 

“Welllllllll, okay okay, in my defense, that’s not the only thing,” she quickly added, and Sonic, proceeding to drag both hands down over his face in complete exasperation, slooooowly looked back up at her. 

“ …Aaaaannnnnnd…?”

“Annnnnnd… the other bad-bad news is that my wounds are infected.” 

Sonic froze. 

Stunned, he stared at her, unmoving, hands still resting over his mouth. 

“…What?” Sonic finally managed to ask.

“Yep. Theyyyyy’reeeee infected.” The human, seemingly oblivious to the extent that Sonic was completely and utterly frozen in place, simply shrugged. 

Now that Sonic was properly paying attention, her “shrug” was very… saggy and disjointed-looking. Like she was moving only with a great deal of effort… and pain. 

Sonic’s brain was abruptly jumping into hyperdrive. Silently, he stared at her, the gravity and implications of what she’d just told him starting to rush through his head.

Honestly, with him having barely just woken up, he was not nearly ready to comprehend this conversation. 

And this new information was sending him wildly off-kilter. 

“I mean, honestly, I feel a little stupid for not thinking of it sooner,” she added, continuing on to rambling, idly vaguely half-gesturing without actually raising her arms and hardly more than glancing at him. “Like, we didn’t even technically properly treat them or anything. We just kinda… bandaged ’em.” 

He stared. Whilst she continued her rambling, he silently crouched down next to her, getting a better look at her. 

There was a clear layer of sweat over her forehead. 

The faint heat coming off her was apparent, even without actually touching her yet. 

And, as Sonic silently evaluated the wounds that he had previously bandaged on her arm, but she had clearly discarded at some point… 

…He saw the nasty discolorations running through even those tiny, very (relatively) minor injuries. 

“…So, like, it’s really no surprise. Really. I mean, they’re still not deep wounds, so it doesn’t really matter that much anyway, but yeah. …Like, they’re mostly just sorta scratches and gashes and whatever and stuff, right? The one on my side is probably the deepest, but, I mean… if my wounds were actually serious, I would be in MUCH worse condition. Soooo, yeah. On the bright side, I could actually be doing much worse, probably; but, uh, on the bad side, I probably woulda been doing much better if I’d actually gotten treatment or somethin’. Uh. …Sonic, have you considered carrying some sorta wipes or rubbing alcoho—”

“…(y/n).” 

“Huh?” Startled at the tone of his voice, the girl in front of him almost-quickly whipped her head to look at him, eyes wide, though it was visibly slightly more sluggish than usual. 

Sonic set his jaw. 

“…Why the fuck didn’t you tell me how long you’d been injured?!” 

She flinched back, looking utterly baffled. 

“…Wh…Wha—”

Sonic glowered at her, and she froze, going completely still, eyes going even wider. 

He knew his glare could be scary. Terrifying, even. 

So, he normally kept his anger out of his face if at all possible— especially if it was with someone who hadn’t really known him all that long. 

…But just this once … 

Well. 

It felt incredibly justified. 

“If I’d known you’d been injured for so long,” Sonic began, eyes staring her down coldly and feverishly all at once, “I wouldn’t have done any of the shit I did.” 

He gestured fervently to the side, and her wide eyes followed his movement for a split second before quickly returning her eyes to meet Sonic’s emerald ones.

“I wouldn’t have waited around so long to go to the plane, I wouldn’t have waited around to ask you how you knew me or knew I couldn’t swim, and I wouldn’t have wasted time going to fight Eggman!” 

Mouth agape, she stared back without making a sound. She looked more or less like a deer-in-headlights. 

“If I’d known, ” Sonic ranted on, getting up and starting to pace, thinking back through everything that had already happened, “I wouldn’t have done any of that stuff. I would’ve focused on getting off the island right away, and getting you medical attention. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?!” 

She remained silent. Her lips seemed to twitch open and flick between various shapes, but not a single sound escaped her throat. She seemed… utterly at a loss for words. 

Sonic’s thoughts flicked back towards their initial encounter. How lost and confused and hurt she’d seemed. 

He’d assumed that it’d just been because she was in shock from Eggman’s stuff, and—later—maybe from her coming from another world. 

Had she really been hurt for that long? 

“I mean, really, (y/n)?” he continued, grasping his head and pacing back and forth. “I can’t believe you didn’t say anything. Really? Two weeks?! Or, has it already been three?!” 

Her face visibly blanched in the corner of his eye, but he ignored her. 

“I thought you just got injured when I saw you, but, what—you came to this world injured ALREADY?! Damn it, (y/n), don’t you think that would’ve been good information to have just a little bit SOONER?!” 

“What the FUCK are you TALKING ABOUT?!” 

Briefly startled, Sonic flinched and turned to her now-glaring face, but he quickly returned to a glare of his own. “Uhhh, the fact that you’re wildly irresponsible?” he responded sarcastically, gesturing broadly. “You acted sooo tough last night, going all, ‘Oooh, Sonic, you need to take CAAARE of yourself, you need to SLEEP.’ Ha! Well, I didn’t realize that I didn’t need to just play the part of ‘hero’, ‘savior of the day’, but also YOUR fucking parent.” 

A look of incredulity crossed her still-fuming face, and Sonic continued on. 

“I thought you were a grown-ass adult, but clearly, I was wrong.” 

She needed to understand what a fucking idiot she was. 

“Have you slept enough? Have you gotten your nappies in?” Sonic sneered, leaning closer to the girl’s face. He put on a “gentle”, but still clearly mocking, tone. “Have you taken your medication, sweetheart? I know it tastes bad, but it’s good for you. Do you need another bandage, baby? You haven’t let your boo-boos go ‘ouchie’ for too long, have you?” 

Her simultaneously blank but clearly-building-rage expression was entertaining to see, but he still wasn’t done. 

He lowered his voice and put on a fake soft-scolding voice. 

“You haven’t been hiding your veggies under your tongue, have you?” 

“WOULD YOU JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU STUPID BLUE BITCH!!!!” 

The sheer volume of her sudden explosion, amplified by the cave around them, was almost enough to knock Sonic off his feet, startling him out of his rant. 

Immediately, he felt the regret setting in. 

“Uhhhhh, ho-hold on, wait—”

But it was too late. 

“YOU DUMB-ASS, STUPID-ASS BLUE CREATURE,” she essentially roared, and instinctively, Sonic felt his ears pinning almost back against his head.

Whether it was from the volume or the regret (justifiably) rearing its ugly head, he was unsure. 

“What the fuck are you TALKING ABOUT?! TWO WEEKS?!”

Sonic took a step back, but despite how clearly-shitty condition she appeared to be in, it apparently was not nearly enough to keep her from bolting upright and getting right into his face. 

…He idly noticed that he could literally feel the warm air coming off of her, no doubt from her infection-induced fever. 

…He wondered why he noticed that at all at this moment. 

Now’s not the fucking time, hedgehog. 

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT STUPID FUCKING SHIT YOU’VE BEEN READING OR WHATEVER,” she ranted, “But it definitely does not take TWO FUCKING WEEKS to get an infection.” 

Sonic’s brain was screeching to a halt. 

“Wh-wha…” 

She jammed a very-warm finger right in front of his face. 

“I don’t know about you fucking insane, impossible, ‘Ohhhh look at me I can survive a fall from FUCKING SPACE ’... uh… ani… anim… animlili…” 

As she trailed off, clearly struggling… Despite himself, almost without thinking, Sonic helpfully corrected: “…Animilian…” 

The human promptly grabbed his shoulders with both hands and began shaking him. 

“I DON’T GIVE A FUCK WHAT YOU’RE CAAAAAAAAAAALLLED!!!!” 

She released him, and barely managing to catch himself, he quickly did his best to regain his footing, though he did very much stumble back a bit. 

“ANYWAY, the point is, I don’t know about you FUCKING VIDEO GAME CREATURES, but us HUMANS?!” She once again jammed a finger in his face, and he stilled, in shock. “We get infected VERY FUCKING QUICKLY!!!!” 

Sonic’s brain—and, he would never normally admit this—almost could not keep up with whatever the fuck was currently happening. 

“What are you talki…” 

“WHAT am I TALKING ABOUT?!” She towered over him, glaring down ferociously, and Sonic very much felt his ears fully pin back, now entirely chagrined. “I’m TALKING about how, apparently, despite living in the same WORLD as humans ALREADY, you CLEARLY don’t know fuck-all about humans!” 

“But that’s no—”

“So, LISTEN UP, FUCKER, I’LL ONLY TELL YOU THIS ONCE!” 

Sonic quickly fell silent, almost unable to even attempt to argue. 

The animosity in her eyes was overpowering. 

Sweet Gaia, if I say anything she might actually just try to kill me this time. 

…I mean, she couldn’t WIN, but… 

He felt like there was a challenge implicit in her eyes—a sense of “fight me, if you DARE”—but for once, he very much simply shut the hell up and didn’t go against his own best interests. 

After a few moments of silence, the human woman seemed to study him, and seemed to acknowledge that he had, in fact, acquiesced to her request. 

“THANK you.” 

With a sigh, she turned away, volume returning (mostly) to normal levels. 

“On average, it takes only, like, two or three days for a human without proper treatment to get infected. …Maybe a week. Tops.” 

Alarm bells went off in Sonic’s head, and he gasped in spite of himself. 

Over her shoulder, she shot a half-glare back at him, seemingly as a warning, but there wasn’t nearly as much ferocity behind it anymore. She probably wouldn’t actually get so mad a second time. 

Still, he bit his tongue.

“And, I mean. Like I said. It’s actually impressive that I didn’t get an infection for so long, honestly. I mean, hell. I haven’t even been sleeping properly or eating enough or anything. Oh, and, I’ve been constantly running, and stressed, and I also got dunked underwater that probably definitely fucked me up worse, and probably also let some sorta bacteria or somethin’ swim into my goddamn veins.” 

Sonic’s mind was… startlingly quiet now. 

A disturbing revelation was creeping up on him. 

“Soooo, yeah. I’m actually doing pretty damn well, relatively speaking.” She shrugged… and then sagged a little. “…Ugh. Okay, well, not after all that screaming and getting up I’m not.” The human promptly adjusted, and then dropped back onto the floor, leaning back up against the cave wall with a groan. “But anyway, in the future, you should, like, bring alcohol wipes or more cotton and a jug of rubbing alcohol or something. I dunno. …Not that I’m telling you how to do your hero shit or anything, though. Do whatever the fuck you want. I don’t care.” 

After the end of her speech, the air fell silent. The girl continued looking away, and Sonic continued staring at her, neither one saying a word. 

Finally, Sonic slowly, carefully, broke the silence. 

“But…” 

At the sound of his voice, the girl turned to him. Her face looked visibly unwell, and even more tired than she’d looked before her ranting and raving and getting in his face.

He… did not feel great about that. 

But he continued. 

“But, I do know a lot about humans though,” Sonic responded, and the girl squinted at him, looking like she was attempting to appear annoyed, though lacking the energy to actually make her glare appear believable. “I mean… I’m no expert or anything, but I’ve traveled with lots.” 

Her face shifted slightly. 

“And, I mean, it’s not like they’ve never gotten injured at all. I mean, yeah, I’m pretty good at my ‘job’ or whatever, but I’m not perfect. But I’ve seen how long it takes a human to start suffering if they don’t get treated.” 

Her brow furrowed in confusion. 

Sonic’s furrowed much the same. 

“And, y’know, even if I hadn’t…” 

He kind of half-paced to the side a bit, now simultaneously thinking while he spoke those thoughts aloud. 

“I mean… I’ve done my research, you know? I know what I’m talking about. There’s whole medical textbooks and anatomy textbooks and…” 

Abruptly, he realized what he was revealing about himself and his very weird hobbies, and quickly changed gears. 

“Anyway, the point is, I know what I’m talking about. It’s normally two to three weeks for an untreated injury on a human to get infected. I’ve seen it everywhere. I know what I’m talking about.” 

She stared blankly back at him. 

“It’s… a few… days…” she said lowly, voice almost toneless.

Sonic stared blankly back. 

“No, a… few… weeks…” 

They both froze. 

A horrible epiphany came over both at the same time. 

“Oooooohhhh, no.” Sonic clasped a hand over his mouth, the sinking sense of dread filling his comprehension. “Ooooh, boy.” 

She covered her face in her hands. “‘Ohhh, no’ is right,” she groaned. “Fuck me. Fuck this. Fuck the universe. Fuck—”

“But how is that possible?! ” Sonic asked incredulously, holding a hand to his head in disbelief as he all but threw his other arm into the air. “I’ve been around other things that are almost-human, but not. But you’re not those! You’re human! You’re definitely, absolutely, 100% human! I can tell! Not an elf or a plant or something, but a human! No matter what world I’m in, ‘normal humans’ are always the same! They’re NEVER any different!” 

“Well, maybe my world is,” she snarked back dryly, holding her own head. 

“But, that doesn’t make any sense,” Sonic insisted, taking a step forward. “I mean, yeah, you’re not as, like, ‘spongey’ or able to use it as animilians, sure. But, humans still have it! Plenty of it! Hell, EVERY living thing does! Unless for some reason you guys just didn’t have enough Chaos energy—” 

Sonic froze mid-sentence. 

And so did she.

They stared at each other once again. 

“…Oh,” he said finally, voice quiet. 

“Oh,” she agreed flatly, face falling grim. 

The air felt incredibly thick. Surely, the tension felt thick to her as well, but… there was a good chance it wasn’t quite as suffocating for her as it felt for Sonic. 

They don’t have so much passive Chaos energy everywhere in their world. 

She’s so much more fragile than any human I’ve ever met. 

The uneasy sensation in his chest felt worse all of the sudden. Much worse. 

His mind was racing, now. 

If that’s true, then… 

With increasing horror, he reflected on the so-called “close calls” she’d had so far. 

Sure, she’d almost drowned. But, well, that was a pretty normal time frame for humans, air-wise; and, even if she’d fainted, he probably would’ve been able to resuscitate her just fine. 

…Probably.

But, there was more than that. 

There were the times Sonic hadn’t been there yet, and that she’d almost been snatched or slashed just slightly by those… whatever those black goop creatures were. 

They were minor injuries. 

Minor. 

…Right? 

…Or maybe they weren’t as minor as he’d thought. 

Maybe, to humans from that world, such injuries could be deadly. 

Maybe, if he’d acted a split second slower, then those injuries wouldn’t have just hurt her worse —they could’ve just killed her. 

And, even if she had survived… then… 

…She could’ve gotten badly infected, before he’d ever even realized anything was wrong. And by that point, would it have been too late? 

And would they have even known how to treat her at all?

If she was from another world entirely—and, hell, if she didn’t even have the normal ‘default level’ of Chaos energy, all bets were off—then, maybe even if he got her to a hospital in time, she might not have made it. 

She might’ve just… died. 

Just like that. 

And all the effort he’d put into fending off those creatures and saving her life would’ve been for nothing. 

She’d just be… gone. 

…

…

…Oh, boy. 

Sonic had fucked up. 

Sonic had really, really, really fucked up. 

And it could’ve been much worse. 

Ooohhh, Sonic… he chastised himself in his head, looking away. He felt his ears once again pin down against his head, but more… almost… pitifully this time. 

He gently kicked away a rock. 

You should’ve thought about that. 

You should’ve been more careful. 

…This is why people think you’re the stupid and careless and impulsive one… 

It took a moment for him to shake off his thoughts. 

Now’s not the time. 

Focus on the important stuff. 

Sonic returned his attention to the visibly-unwell human girl once again. 

She, too, was looking… morose. She was still staring off to the side, not bothering to pay Sonic himself any mind anymore, clearly lost in thought. 

…Shit… 

And after all that effort you put into trying to distract her from the bad stuff. 

Damn it, Sonic, you just keep fucking up nowadays, don’t you? 

Incredible. Give it all up for the ‘savior of the universe’ or whatever, everybody. 

Can’t even keep one human girl safe and happy. 

…A human girl from a world where, apparently, they can die any damn second. 

Even so, despite the thoughts that were really being very obtrusive, he pushed forward with what he needed to do. 

“…Hey.” 

(y/n) looked up as Sonic took a step forward, and then her eyes followed him as he knelt down in front of her. 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” 

He closed his eyes. 

Despite his tumultuous thoughts, he breathed deeply enough to find the clarity he needed. 

“It’s probably right that humans in your world just don’t heal as fast as humans in mine, or fight infections as well. And… unless it came up in your games or something, there’s… probably no way you would’ve known that.” 

He let out a long, heavy sigh, unwilling to look at her. 

“And, it’s… probably also right that… your infection… isn’t… major. …Yet.”

Sonic felt some energy drain from him when he admitted this.

The idea that humans in her world could just… get hurt, or sick, so easily? Like, most of them, not just a few? A worrying thought. 

But, she really had seemed mostly unbothered, albeit quite grumpy and displeased with her situation. 

(But, well, that seemed to be the norm for her, at least since she’d ended up here.) 

Still… he didn’t feel good about this fact.

And, well, he didn’t feel good about making her feel worse when she was already clearly, clearly suffering… in almost every way imaginable. 

Loss of her home, life, world, any friends or family, and also getting attacked by Eggman, and some incomprehensible creatures out of her control, all targeting her, for reasons she couldn’t possibly know… 

And… maybe being some sort of “power source” for them or something… maybe… 

Bad. All of it was bad for her. 

And now she was sick, too.

And still handling it as best as she could, until Sonic had yelled at her.

Gaia damn me. 

…Whatever. 

Didn’t change what he should do about it. 

“…So!” 

Sonic abruptly clapped his hands, making the human in front of him jump a little in surprise. Half-jokingly, he held up his hands and made a sort of “magic hands” gesture. 

“Why don’t I make it up to you a bit? …Or, well, try to, anyway.” 

…Honestly, Sonic didn’t really like doing this. He might almost even go so far as to say he hated it, but, well, it wasn’t quite that intense. 

Just… it was very, very difficult.

Way, way more difficult than just normal Chaos Control. 

Especially without an Emerald. 

But… 

…Well, he was “Sonic”. 

He could do “anything”. 

(y/n) tilted her head a little, hair shifting and falling alongside her head as she did so, caressing her face gently.

“…Sure…” she responded warily, although she shifted slightly in unease. 

Sonic hesitated, studying her for a minute. 

Finally, he just decided to go for it. 

He took a few steps forward, about to grab her again like he had last night, only to freeze and remember that he’d already probably scared her once today. 

“Hey… uh…” Sonic gave kind of a sheepish smile, though it was hopefully mostly just gentle. “Mind if I… do the same thing I did earlier? When I grabbed you and all that. Just… different this time. …Basically, is it cool if I touch you?” 

She squinted at him. 

“Uh… on the arms? Shoulders? Or…” 

“Well, maybe also the stomach, too, but yeah.” 

“…Uhhh… o…kay… sure…?” 

Sonic half-grinned at her, and then trailed a hand over her arm, and gently held on. Then, shutting his eyes, he held his other hand to his chest and concentrated.

…If I’m going to do this, I’m going to have to do this right. 

He focused on summoning the rings from his chest. 

Unlike regular items, rings were essentially Chaos energy given form. Everyone knew this. …Well, aside from her, probably. 

But, regardless, that meant that unlike regular items, they didn’t go to pocket space—they went, literally, inside you; they dissolved and became a part of your being. And, when needed, you could summon them back from the energy inside you again. 

And, of course, being pretty much pure Chaos energy, they helped with vibrancy and life and vitality. 

People would absorb rings to heal minor injuries, or to keep from bleeding out, though probably not to entirely save their life if it was that serious—it couldn’t really entirely close a wound or anything on its own. That would need real medical attention. 

But it was certainly a start. 

…

Did the girl in front of him know that he was about to, essentially, spend an unknown amount of pure money on her? 

…More or less just to make her feel better? 

…Probably not.

But, well, he was at least partially responsible for this, anyway. 

And what’s a bit of money compared to making somebody smile? 

Sonic concentrated on summoning the rings from inside himself. Not in physical form, however—making sure they remained pure energy. 

This wasn’t the hard part, though. 

How many should I start with? Sonic felt a bead of sweat kind of form under his fur, though he hoped she couldn’t see it. Let’s see… I don’t know how her body’s gonna react to being injected with raw Chaos energy, so… let’s start with… five? 

Sonic attempted to channel the energy into her, only to immediately hit a wall. He tried to force it through, but it didn’t so much as twitch—it was just rebuffed right back into him. 

…Alright. So, that little’s not gonna do it. 

She’s never been exposed to Chaos energy really, so I wanted to be careful, but… 

…Let’s try… 20? 

Despite the giant leap, nothing happened. 

…25… 

…Nope. 

Sonic gritted his teeth, and felt the girl twitch uncomfortably underneath his hand. 

He shifted his hand from her arm to gently rest on her stomach, instead—not directly on her wound, but close to it.

Try this again… 

He clenched his eyes shut. 

…50. Enough to comfortably go Super Sonic, at least most of the time. 

That should be enough, right? 

He attempted to channel all 50 rings at once—sure, they would have a slightly reduced impact due to already being inside himself and not having any time outside to recharge, but it should still be plenty. 

…But…

…Nothing. 

Sonic felt sweat start rising under his quills a bit. This wasn’t even supposed to be the hard part yet. What? 

Are humans from her world that different? 

He clenched his teeth harder. He briefly considered just giving up, but… 

Well, when did Sonic the Hedgehog ever do that? 

He set his jaw. 

…75. 

Finally, there was… almost a response. He felt (y/n) twitch in surprise, and heard a faint shift in her breathing. 

He was… almost there… 

He nodded to himself. 

He gave a grin. 

100.

He channeled a full 100 rings’ worth of energy directly into her core. 

And finally, finally, he broke through. 

100 rings. He grinned, though he felt the nerves in his own body tingle in response. So, what… like, 20 times more than a normal person should need, and twice as much as I should normally need to go Super? 

That’s… no good. 

He heard (y/n) make a startled gasp, and he cracked open one eye to get a look at her confused face. 

“Feel alright?” Sonic asked casually, though he was mostly sure of the answer already. 

And to his relief, the girl did indeed just nod, after a long pause. “I… think so. It feels… uh… tingly…” 

Sonic chuckled and closed his eyes. “Well, let me know if it ends up hurting, alright? It shouldn’t, but if I screwed up, lemme know, ‘k?” 

He felt her shift a little, and he refocused on his task. 

…Well, that wasn’t even supposed to be the hard part. He grinned again, hopefully looking confident and not revealing the strain behind it. Welp. Here we go… 

Nowwwwwwww for the part he’d been dreading. 

Sonic focused again, and now that he’d made it through, attempted to force it forward. It… was normally challenging, but Chaos was this even harder than usual. By orders of magnitude, even. 

Still, not impossible. And that was good enough for him. 

Sonic pushed forward. 

It felt like… attempting to run through an almost-impenetrable sludge. The initial attempts to get in had been hard, sure, but this was… not much better. The energy could move now, yeah, but it was… well… 

Sonic couldn’t swim, right? And, well, when he tried, it felt like being weighed down. Like no matter what he did, he couldn’t get through. He’d eventually learned some tricks to circumvent that and keep from sinking so easily, but… 

This… there were no tricks here. Everything about this was weighed down. Way, way down. It wasn’t even really a “current” pushing against him, per se—it was just a thick layer of… well, for lack of better words, sludge. 

He pressed on. 

Channeling almost everything he had, he made sure to direct the Chaos energy through her body in the correct way. If he fucked it up—which, of course, Sonic NEVER would, but hypothetically speaking—then she could just, well, die. 

But of course, that’s why Sonic was doing it, and not somebody else. 

Feeling the tingling and pulsating and feeling like electricity running through him, he pushed the energy’s current through the stagnant pressure, fighting him at every juncture. 

It took a lot… lot more concentration than he’d even been anticipating. But, finally, it was done—he’d moved it through her veins without letting it slip out at any point, ensuring that the Chaos was perfectly Controlled as it went through her. 

Perfectly executed as always, of course. 

Just… expensive… and tiring. He briefly glanced up, debating if he should try to feel the Chaos in her body now that he’d done that, but… 

…I don’t know what that weird resistance was, but… I think I should keep from scaring you for now. 

…I could try to dig a little deeper… but…

…Maybe it’s better not to ask questions we’re not ready to hear the answers to yet.

“Phew!” Relieved, Sonic hopped back, and dramatically rubbed the sweat from his forehead. “Well, how do ya feel?” 

“…I…” 

She seemed confused. After a second, she quickly turned her attention to her bandaged wounds. 

“I… I feel much better, what the hell?” 

“Fever broke, too?” Sonic all but bragged, shifting onto his back foot. 

“I…” Quickly, she started patting her skin, and lightly touching her own forehead, and looking very, very perplexed. “I… mostly? I think so? …What the fuck, you can just DO that?!” 

“Something like that,” Sonic responded cheekily, and she groaned aggressively in response. 

“What the FUCK?! You have super speed, and can heal people?! What kind of fucking OP build do you have?!” 

“OP?” 

“Overpowered!” 

Sonic blinked, then laughed. “Don’t worry about it. Here—you just got up, right? Your bandages should get changed.” In one swift movement, he yanked out the change of bandages and the gauze from his pocket space and handed it to the very shocked girl in front of him.

He turned around and headed out of the cave. 

“Let me know when you’re done,” he called back over his shoulder, voice echoing around them both. “I’ll be out here while you’re doin’ that, okay?” 

The human made some sort of noise in response, but Sonic pretty much ignored it and stepped out of the cave, hopping to the side, and leaning up against the rock wall. 

…And now… he could be alone with his thoughts. For just a minute. 

His half-forced grin faded into a grim expression. 

…(y/n)… 

Sonic’s view of the girl was now blocked by the wall, but he still glanced back towards her general direction. 

You… really are very lucky I was the one you woke up next to here, and not anybody else. 

He shut his eyes. 

If you can’t heal as quickly… and if you’re more susceptible to disease, maybe… Well. 

Sonic’s gaze drifted down towards his own hands, and he idly glanced over them for a second before lowering them again. 

…There’s… not many people in this world who could’ve helped you, I think.

…Not many at all. 

…

Let’s see… 

Thoughtfully, he began to tap his foot. 

Other than me, there’s… Shadow. 

Sonic grimaced. 

But, man, thank Chaos that guy’s not here. Even if I was ALSO here, he’s not… Phew. Useful or not, he’d definitely make this whole situation way worse, especially on her. I’m VERY glad he’s not here. 

Still, if I WASN’T here, then he could ALSO do that. Y’know… if it was actually necessary. If she got badly injured, not just partially infected. 

Hmm… Who else…? 

Sonic tapped his foot a little faster. 

…Ah… Knuckles. Right, of course! Knuckles has perfect mastery of Chaos, too, pretty much. He’s the Guardian for a reason, after all, right? 

I’m sure he could do it. …Well, if he had an emerald, at least. Or a Master Emerald shard, maybe? I dunno. I’ll have to ask. 

…But he’s on Angel Island still… I think. Probably? …So he probably wouldn’t be here anyway. 

Hmmm… is there anybody else…? 

Sonic tapped his foot very rapidly for a bit, and then stopped. 

He shut his eyes in deep concentration. 

Anybody… else… 

Sonic’s eyes shot open. 

SILVER! Oh, Silver probably could. …Probably? 

Sonic rubbed his nose absent-mindedly. 

I mean… He can go Super pretty much effortlessly too, right? Just like me n’ Shads. So, at least in theory , he should also be able to do it? 

…Plus, he can time travel. …Without much difficulty, I think. That’s a pretty wild use for Chaos Control on its own… 

… 

But yeah, I think that’s about it. 

Those are the only people I can think of, really. 

There might be others, but… uh… I dunno. 

…Not that I know if Silver even knows he can do that, but… 

Lazily, he shifted, looking up to the sky. 

…Actually, Silver would probably be pretty good to have on hand right now. He’d be perfect for this situation, wouldn’t he? 

He squinted at the clouds, and the sunlight peeking through them. 

I mean, even WITH me here, it’d be great if he was here, too. But, I mean, his powers are more or less the perfect counter for playing keep-away with some weird goopy monsters, right? And unlike me, he wouldn’t even need to get close to them, really. 

“Hey, Silver, would ya mind just, like, carrying her around with your powers for a sec while I just go and run up and crush those things? Oh, and would you mind keeping an eye on the horde and take care of any that break too far away from the crowd? ‘K, great, thanks.” 

…Yeah… I mean, even without me here, he’d probably do great. 

Shadow would be terrible here, but Silver? He’s more inexperienced, yeah, but he’s a hell of a powerhouse all on his own. He’s really somethin’. And he’s not… Shadow. So he wouldn’t make her cry. 

… 

…I mean, anybody would be better than Shadow for making sure somebody doesn’t have a mental breakdown… 

…Knuckles would be… Knuckles. Heh. 

…Though, Silver might get overwhelmed on his own, eventually. He IS still more inexperienced. Sure, he’s grown up a good deal, but he’s still kind of a kid in some ways… Though, if he was in this time at the same time as Blaze, they tend to kind of travel as a pack, don’t they? So, if they were BOTH here, they’d probably be perfectly fine… 

…

But, yeah. If Silver was here, this situation would probably be a whole lot easier. 

…Heh. But the fact that he’s not is probably a good thing, right? 

Means that the situation hasn’t gotten bad enough in the future to warrant him coming back to throw a car or something at me yet. 

So, I mean… as much as it’d make things easier, it’s probably a good sign that he’s not here yet. 

Means I probably am already set to win, right? 

…Heh. 

… 

…

Wait. 

Did I ever teach Silver how to do anything with Chaos energy? 

Sonic opened his eyes and stared out at nothingness. 

I mean, sure, Silver SHOULD be able to do stuff like that, I think. But, does Silver even KNOW he can do that? 

…And, doing it blindly would probably go poorly. I did it successfully my first time, yeah, but that was mostly luck. And, well, Silver’s track record with luck isn’t the greatest, so… 

…I mean, he can go Super, and he knows how to use ring energy for HIMSELF of course, and he knows how to time travel. 

…Does he know how to do anything else? 

…Did I ever bother to teach him anything else? 

Sonic stared blankly, feeling a sudden spike of guilt. 

…Surely I taught him SOMETHING about Chaos, right? I don’t… remember. I taught him SOMETHING? 

Sonic was really and truly drawing a blank. 

…I mean… I showed off some ‘hero’ stuff for him… I taught him a few things… 

…But… Chaos energy is something only a few people can use very well… much less as effectively as we can… 

… 

Oh, Gaia damn it. 

I have no idea if I’ve taught him anything about using Chaos energy that he didn’t already know.

There’s lots of stuff I haven’t seen him use. 

He asked me to teach him stuff.

…I’m a shitty mentor, aren’t I—

“I’m done!” a feminine voice abruptly called out, interrupting Sonic’s mental descent into “wondering if I’ve entirely failed the next generation (or maybe like 5 generations from now or something technically)”. Quickly he snapped out of his daze and hopped out in front of the opening, making eye contact with the girl in question. 

“Well, then!” He quickly glanced her up and down. “Ready to get going to civilization?” 

She hesitated, but slowly nodded, stepping closer towards him. “I… guess…”

With as charismatic of a grin he could give, he scooped her up into his arms, and, after taking a moment to adjust her, took off towards their destination.

…More carefully than usual, this time. 

But, it was only a minute until, of course—

“REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—”

…Perfect timing, as usual. Right before I was gonna enter the town, so now I have to stop if I don’t want them to chase us into it… Greeeeeeeaaaat. 

Sonic skidded to a halt. 

Rather than carefully but quickly dropping the girl in his arms, he slowly, gently set her down, then whirled around to face the sky. 

Of course, it didn’t take long for them to show up. 

With practiced efficiency, Sonic began tearing through them, the wind rushing through him and the monsters coming apart around him. 

Tearing through them felt almost like… popping a bubble. Their goop-made bodies seemed “solid”, but really, it seemed like they were almost hollow on the inside.

And, as usual, they came apart with almost no effort—truly, they weren’t very strong. Not very strong at all. Once Sonic had breached their exterior, they seemed to crumble to pieces almost immediately. 

It took just a minute or two to clear out the black creatures once again, and as he slid to a stop, he lifted his head up, and looked across the field towards the human woman. 

(y/n). 

She was looking away, no longer seeming overly interested—or even all that concerned—about the black monsters that had been pursuing her for so long. 

She was lost in thought… and… somewhat downcast?

Really, human faces were incredibly interesting. Unlike animilian ones, they could hide so much, so much more easily. 

They fascinated him, really. 

…But, she wasn’t just a normal human; she was one from another world entirely. One where humans were so much weaker than the ones he was used to. 

I need to make sure she stays safe. 

This world probably isn’t safe for her, even if I’m here. 

…I need to get her home. 

Still… 

I hope I can cheer her up a little more. 

Somehow. 

He began walking towards her… but, unbidden, a random thought cropped up in the back of his mind: 

…I wonder if she likes flowers?