Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Its late in the evening of a decently quiet Thursday.

The buzzing of night and the chirping of crickets passed by Sonic's ear as he ventures further though the forest. He wasn't quite sure where he was, aside from that he knew he was going north and, apparently and hopefully, to the town he called Mobius. He'd taken a path that wasn't the norm for him. Instead of cutting through the trees in a straight line, he'd taken a "shortcut", or so the creepy old man told him in passing. Really, it serves him right for trusting an old stranger like that, but it was too late now and what's done is done. That's all that he had to say about it, at least.

It took nearly a full disgusting hour before he finally reached the entrance to the town he's been walking to this whole time, letting out a sigh and rubbing his face vigorously as he stepped through, sticking to the dark of the sidewalk outside the light radius of the street lamps. He passed by a few dark houses until he reached the more business end of it, stopping himself in front of a bakery, the lights dimly shining out.

This was routine for him; each night he'd go out to this end of the town after completing his other errands and get the fresh warm leftovers that get thrown out to bring back home for dinner. That's all.

He cautiously slunk into the alleyway beside the bakery, hiding behind the trash bin and waiting. It was about 10:47 in the night before he heard the door open, but he kept his body pressed up against the wall with his mouth shut. He didn't move until he heard the familiar drop of the bag, following it was the side-door closing and locking for the night. Sonic let out a deep sigh, standing up and finding the bag through the dark, grabbing the black faintly shiny material and sliding it over his shoulder, creeping up to the end of the alley, moving quickly once he realized there was nobody nearby. Thank God for that, too. Sonic wasn't sure how patient he'd be if he had to wait any longer.

He could feel the weight be a little heavier than usual. It caught him a little bit off guard while he started moving, but it was a fairly welcome surprise. More weight means more food, and more food means that he and Tails definitely won't be going hungry tonight.

He grinned to himself, thoroughly excited, as he quickly departed from that end of town, making his way to the slummish downtown.

Scrap valley; where all the looneys and poor people go. Hardly a liveable place- just barely managed by law (emphasis on barely, honestly) and poverty galore. Did he want to live here? No. Could he go somewhere else to live? Also no.

He pulled the bag away from his shoulder and clutched it up against his chest cautiously as he hurried past the dirty streets, avoiding any dark or suspicious spots, and DEFINITELY avoiding anywhere that sounded like it had a drunken brawl inside. He sped up his pace every now and then to avoid the starved stares from reaching the plumper-than-usual bag he held against his chest, swallowing as he finally managed to get to his destination. A broken up apartment complex, owned by a man that he'd rather avoid for tonight, not wanting to open himself up to another "conversation" on why his rent is two weeks late.

Maybe he could get at least a few dimes and coins or cash off of doing some errands out of the downtown to get some cash for it, but he was afraid that that'd be a little too risky for his comfort.

A frown overtook his lips as he forced his tired legs up the slightly rusted metal steps to the higher floors. The bag that'd been on his shoulder all that night started feeling overwhelmingly heavy, as was the bag in his arms, so you really couldn't imagine just how great his relief was when he finally reached his window, tapping on it with his knuckles and setting down the bag on his shoulder and the black plastic one in his arms, sitting down and taking a moment to breathe. Moments later, he heard the familiar sound of the windows clasp unlocking, then it being slid open by his little brother, the yellow two-tailed fox reaching out his hands from inside. Sonic smiled, standing back up and dragging both himself and the bags inside.

The apartment inside was fairly cozy, especially for something that he and Tails had only been able to snag about eight months ago for a fair enough deal. The only lighting came from the fairy lights strung up across the walls and the ceiling, and the only couch they had was an old beaten up one that had a few holes with springs sticking out, but it was home all the same. At least they had a working microwave and a TV that Tails had, somehow, managed to get work. He could never understand how, but at least it did so that Tails had something to distract himself with while he was away aside from tinkering with the metal scraps he could find outside.

He yawned, stretching out his back, then looking back at the fox. Sonic knelt down and rummaged through the black bag, humming lightly while he pulled things out. An old packaged meatloaf, a couple donuts (hell yeah! What a deal! Those only usually came on Fridays), half of a bread loaf, a few nibbled-at bagels, but what really topped it off- in an incredibly weird way- was that there were two nicely wrapped breakfast sandwiches. This wasn't a "Neat, jackpot!" moment. This was more of a "Oh no, does somebody know about me taking their stale leftovers?" moment. He unwrapped one, the smell hitting his nose before he had to lean in and making his stomach growl. It didn't smell fishy, it might not be poisoned. He squished it lightly. The English muffin was toasted neatly, probably with butter from how it smelled, and had a particularly tasty smelling sausage patty, and a very decently cooked egg. Upon inspecting the other one, he anxiously concluded that they were probably- well, hopefully- safe to eat. Hopefully, he thought, as he took a bite, chewing thoughtfully then swallowing. When it only seemed to satisfy his stomach a little instead of making him feel sick from poison after waiting a full minute, he handed the untouched one to Tails, who raised an eyebrow.

Tails, while Sonic had been rummaging in the food, had been looking through the fabric bag for the medicine and med supplies that he had gotten from the before-food errand. "What's that? Please don't tell me you're eating poison, dude," Tails asked. Sonic swallowed another bite of his sandwich before he replied.

"Nuh. Just try it, it tastes good."

Tails rolled his eyes, either in amusement or exasperation, before he took the one out of his hand and unwrapped it enough to take a bite. He felt almost overwhelmed from all the sudden fresh flavor, chewing quickly and swallowing before he could exclaim, "Where the heck did these come from?! Are you sure you didn't just buy these? Way too freshly made to be dumped out like that!" Sonic shook his head quickly.

"I'm just as confused as you are, swear. I don't know how crazy those guys must be to throw out stuff like this."

"Seriously!"

Tails let out a small giggle, taking as many little and thoughtful bites as he could to savor the taste. It was impossible to believe they'd been able to get something as freakishly good as this in their haul. It was better than even the stale Boston Creme donuts from Fridays, and that said plenty as is.

Sonic finished his faster than Tails. He let out a small sigh and kicked his fingers to get another taste, then slid the bread loaf over to Tails, since he had a bigger appetite. "Help yourself to that, I'm gonna put away he stuff."

When Tails nodded in acceptance, Sonic stood up and rubbed his bare and cold hands together, lightly blowing on them to warm up before he gathered back up the items and pulled both bags over to the dimly lit and, honestly, trash kitchen. He put away the food in the containers he'd cleaned recently using someone elses more functioning kitchen and soap while they were away, which was the best decision he'd ever made, it seems, after thankfully not having been caught.

Once he was done with that, he pulled out a small kit and a couple bottles from the leather bag, pushing the plastic one aside. Fever medicine, painkillers, then the medkit he'd been able to find on a heavy sale. He put those in a cabinet over the counter, before he returned to the living room. Tails was already gone, probably to his room to tinker despite knowing that he should be sleeping instead. Sonic yawned, shutting off the fairy lights that lit everything up, locking the door (if locking meant shoving a door under the handle to prevent it from being opened), and checking to make sure the window was locked as well– which it was– before he went off to his room. It was simple and very considerably small. A basic beaten down bed was positioned against the wall, with a small chest drawer for his clothing against the end of it. He rubbed his head slightly, pulling off his jacket and a tab necklace around his neck, changing his pants out to more comfortable ones- as if that said very much- before he laid down, pulling the thin patchy blanket over his body and closing his eyes as he turned to his side, allowing himself to fall asleep while at the same time trying his best to not worry on how those sandwiches got in there in such perfect condition.

Chapter Text

It was mid-Monday morning. The last few days since Friday had, unfortunately, been rather uneventful.Unventful enough that Sonic nearly wanted to rip his quills out.

He, after Tails practically forced him to say what was bothering him- which was the lack of money he had for rent and other things that they needed to get done- was now ever so cautiously passing through town on the sidewalk. The good part of town, mind you, but also the part of town that ever so clearly looked down on him in passing.

He held the hood of his jacket close over his head, carrying his bag over his shoulder as he scouted out for a job, of all things. Seriously, couldn't he have just stayed home today? He hated coming out here. He hated being looked at as if he was a germ, insignificant to even those who wanted to care. It pissed him off.

Taking a small deep breath, he rummaged in his pocket. Tails had given him a note of some jobs that might be best for him to try and get, which left him staring at the sliver of paper, trying and completely failing to decipher the annoyingly good cursive on first try. He let out a sigh, putting it back away in his pocket. He's okay at picking things up. Maybe he could get a job doing that for the streets. But then again, there was hardly anything to clean, so he doubted the job would even be needed by this end of town.

All throughout the day, he tried (..and failed) to do some of the more smaller jobs. Picking up the street, running errands for people, things like that. But it didn't seem to ever work out, which was was honestly to be expected, he just didn't expect that it would frustrate him this much.

He let out a groan, slumping down on a nearby bench. What really aggravated him was all the disgusted muttering as people passed him by. He fidgeted with the paper strip in hand, biting at the skin beside his fingernail. He stopped once he noticed he dug a little too deep, though, frowning in discomfort at the small trickle of blood.

He pressed his finger against the side of his pants and glanced over at the bakery he usually got the food from, an idea sparking. It might work- at least he knew how to bake things or take orders or whatever. Growing up, he used to help his uncle out in his bakery, and he still knew some of what he'd been taught, fortunately. Maybe he could try his luck there.

Standing back up, he stretched a little before he left the bench, finding himself stopped at the side of the sidewalk, waiting for the light to turn red so that he could cross the crosswalk. He tapped his foot, awkwardly stuffing his hands in his pockets as he waited. A while after he grew bored, he felt a small tug on his arm.

Glancing down, he found himself face to face with a little rabbit girl. She wore a brown ruffly dress. "Excuse me, mister?"

Sonic, caught off-guard, quickly cleared his throat. "Yeah? What's up?

"...I lost my mom."

"...oh man."

Sonic rubbed the back of his head, glancing around with a small frown. Who the heck would leave their kid like this?. "D'yknow where you last saw her? Maybe we could start there."

For the next 10 minutes, Sonic held the girls hand as she led him around. They started at the corner of the street, then looked at the shops nearby. They had eventually managed to find her mother.

She stood anxiously beside a croc. Nearly the moment she saw the girl beside Sonic approaching, she smiled, holding out her arms. "There you are! I was worried sick, dear." The girl let go of his hand and grinned, running over into her arms. "Mama!"

The woman hugged her tightly for a moment, then looked past and took notice of Sonic, giving him a small smile. "Thank you very much for finding my daughter." Sonic nodded, clearing his throat.

"No issue at all. Just glad she's safe."

"Please, take this." The woman found her wallet and looked through it momentarily before offering a wad of cash to Sonic, who paused for a moment.

oh my god. I'm being offered cash. Whole dollar bills. Oh my goodness.

Not being one to turn down any promise of money, he cleared his throat and took it. "Thank you very much, ma'am."

After a farewell, Sonic quickly walked away again, returning promptly to the end of the crosswalk.
He still couldn't cross. Eugh.

Chapter Text

By the time he was able to get to the bakery, he was more hungry than wanting a job. He hadn't had the chance to eat yet today, since he's been walking around since this morning to find something to do for money.

He fidgeted  with the wad of cash in his pocket as he entered the bakery, the smells hitting his nose all at once. Freshly baked bread, dough, sweets being made, hot drinks, it was about as overwhelming as it was gorgeous, and only served to feed into his hunger like a bastard.

He shuffled to the counter, clearing his throat. A white bat looked over her shoulder, smirking. "Just a second, handsome." (The name of which caught Sonic off guard)
After a moment, the bat turned around, leaning against the counter. "What can I do for ya, hun?" She asked smoothly.

Sonic awkwardly gave her a wave of the hand. "Sorry to intrude." Not sorry, but he knew it'd be better to be polite. "Do you have any job recommendations?" Now, he wasn't sure if that was polite or not. Usually in his end of town, it was either best to be blunt or just straight lie about everything. He wasn't quite sure how it worked in this end, he spent most of his time trying to keep food on the table and a place to sleep out of the rain.

The bat hummed as she thought for a moment. "Not much, I'm afraid. Could set yourself up to cleaning houses, I just know that some people up here would appreciate having someone clean up their mess."

Sonic sighed. It wasn't the best thing he'd heard, but he couldn't turn down the prospect of money, even if it was to pick up somebody elses mess. Besides, his head was beginning to hurt a little and feel uncomfortably light a bit too much to think of anything else himself. "...K, I'll check that out."

The bat tipped the uniform hat she wore. Though, before he could leave, she reached over and touched his shoulder, her face more concerned than it was last. "Not exactly in my place to judge, hun, but are you feeling alright?"

Caught off-guard, Sonic froze up and didn't say anything for a moment, before he pushed the hand off his shoulder. "I'm fine."

"Say's the hedgehog two seconds away from collapsing."

He couldn't deny it, not truthfully. His legs had begun to feel shaky the longer he stood, despite how determined he was to brush it off.

"Go sit down and order something, blue, you need some food in you."

Reluctantly, Sonic complied to the wish. It was the least he could do for someone that wasn't kicking him out on the spot, he supposed. A bit of a poor excuse to him, but he didn't have a fighting attitude right now. He slunk off to an open two-seat table, slumping in the chair and glancing over at the menu. Maybe if he got something cheap, like a couple bread rolls, he could just eat one then get out of there with the other to bring to Tails. He didn't want to waste his new money too much yet, he had to at least save some for the savings jar.

He took the wad out of his pocket, counting the thin colored paper. 25 dollars. His heart nearly did some sort of sick thump, his hand keeping his jaw from dropping. He'd never gotten 25 whole freaking dollars before. But before he could keep being in a shocked state, the bat from earlier came walking up, leaning on the table. "So? What'll it be, blue?"

Sonic realized he hadn't looked at the menu yet. He sat up a bit and glanced over at it, not answering for a hot moment until he decided on what he earlier thought of getting, not wanting to be too bold in spending off the money. "..Uh, just a couple butter buns."

"...riiight." The bat sighed, crossing her arms. "You sure that's all you want, hun?"

Despite his body begging him to get something better and more sufficient over the long-run, he nodded. Hearing enough, the bat nodded and left his table.

It took nearly 10 minutes before he was given something. Not that he was complaining, of course, since usually it could take up to hours just to snag one sliver of food back home. A few buns on a plate were set down next to him, but what really caught him off-guard for the twelve billionth time today was that there were a couple cookies next to his buns, and a cup of tea was set down.

But before he could question it, the bat sat down on the opposite chair and crossed her legs. "Thought you could use a bit more than just that. Don't worry about the extra cost."

As if that'd make him feel better. Now he just worried that it was poisoned. But, then again, he read somewhere that intentionally poisoning a food for someone is illegal over here, so it's rather likely that it's not. He hoped, anyway. Huge emphasis on hope. He picked up one of the buns and took a bite. It'd been buttered and warmed, and it was soft and squishy but in the good way and not the "did someone forget to cook this?" Kind of soft and squishy.
He chewed and swallowed a few more bites, before he set down the last half of it and picking up the cup of tea, sniffing it before he brought it to his lips and took a drink.

The bat, all the while, leaned back in her seat and tapped on her phone, looking back up momentarily to watch him before speaking up again, but her voice dropped to a whisper for the end question. "Say, you look awful familiar. Aren't you the one who's been taking all the leftovers each night?"

Sonic froze up mid-bite into one of the cookies.

....

"...I'm not mad, blue," she added on. "Just a little worried. You have anything proper to eat aside from that junk?"

...

"...no." He wasn't quite sure why he was being truthful. He hated that he was. He hated that he wasn't sure how to deny it in this situation even though he could easily deny anything else if it was suitable for him.

"Thought so," she sighed, leaning forward. "My sweet little co-worker noticed it first back on Thursday. He felt bad and left half of his lunch in it after warming it up."

The sandwiches. That's why those were there. Sonic stayed quiet, both because he wasn't sure how to answer and because he just didn't want to. He could feel the impending loom of dread. He could just taste that he was going to get ratted out somehow to someone who'd actually give more of a fuck. The thought of being unable to get food anymore made him feel horrible.

The bat, seemingly telling that he was dreading all the possibilities that could happen, set her hand down on the table. "Calm down. We won't say anything. You came here looking for a job, so now I've gotta assume that you're too short on money for anything. Listen, I'm a bit of a pitier, so now you're stuck with coming with me to get you some groceries so you have more food on your head."

He wanted to refuse ever so dearly, but something in him made him not. He didn't know how truthful this woman was, he hardly even knew her name- which in hindsight, he could just look at the literal nametag that said Rouge, which he only noticed now- and now she was offering him groceries. But really, could he refuse truthfully? That's the issue here. He really can't. He had to force himself to accept it. But his throat felt tight, and he couldn't reply.

Rouge almost reached out her hand to snap him back from whatever deep state of thought he was in, but he stood up abruptly, leaving before she could get a word out.

He was nearly out of breath by the time he managed to get back home, entering in through the window once Tails let him in, but he didn't wait around for Tails to ask if something was wrong, instead just going to his room as quickly as he could.
He spent the next few hours lying in bed. More like several, really. He only really got up occasionally when Tails needed him to get something from a place he couldn't get to. However, that hadn't happened in the last few hours. It was nearly 2 in the morning by now. He couldn't sleep. This was a normally recurring thing, but it didn't mean he liked it. Whatever. He thought, just for a second, that he could hear some knocking on the door (which was actually just really obvious, but he was too exhausted to register it as more than just some sort of sleep-deprived hallucination).

It was only when Tails called his name about a woman standing at the door that he sat up. He only wore a pair of pants at the moment, having been too done with things earlier to put on more for sleep- that and tonight was kind of hot, since they were starting to go into the summer.

He left his room, walking over to the door and glancing out the peephole, Tails nervously standing nearby. It was the bat lady. Right, wasn't her name Rouge?
All the same, his heart thumped with a bit of something akin to dread. Was it that damn easy to find where he lived? He had to cover his tracks more. That's why he never goes out to that place in the middle of the day with people around to see him, damnit.

Reluctantly, he removed the chair from the door handle and opened it a couple inches wide. "What do you want."

Rouge, outside the door, shifted her weight from one foot to another, one hand on her hip while the other hand held a couple plastic bags. "You ran off before I could help you with your little situation, obviously. Let me in, it's creepy out here."

He couldn't deny that. It was pretty damn creepy out in the actual building aside from his apartment. He opened the door further, letting her walk in before he shut the door and put the chair back under it. He turned around, crossing his arms and keeping a bit of an eye on her.

She'd paused in the middle of the room, looking around. She frowned a little bit at how dirty everything was, before setting the bags down on the couch and turning back to him. "I got you what I could, if that say's anything. Eggs, milk, and actual healthy food that isn't just the stale leftovers that we throw out every night." Sonic nodded along, but he wasn't listening too awful much, which she seemed to notice. But, instead of commenting on it, she looked over at Tails, her eyes widening ever so slightly.

"My, my, you have a whole child with you, then. Taking the bags as a whole instead of just some makes sense, then."

Tails, deciding to not act offended at being called a child, stepped up and walked past her, opening the plastic bags to see what was gotten. Thank goodness he'd been able to make the fridge able to keep things cold, that'd make the milk business easier to manage. "I'm twelve, not necessarily a child. Whatever. How'd you know to come here? ..and how do you know Sonic?" He felt rightfully suspicious, his twin-tails flicking in the air as he looked up at Rouge.

Rouge just smiled a bit down at him. "He came in to the bakery and I recognized him as the little stale-thief. He ran off before I could help him get some groceries, so I did that myself and figured out he was here after chatting with a few of the locals. This place is.. certainly not the nicest, that's for sure."

"...honestly, agreed."

While the two talked, Sonic's head began to feel light again, their words blurring together a bit. He shook his head, then walked past and back to his room, not appearing to see the worried glance Tails sent him before he disappeared behind the door. This is just.. way too eventful. Especially for him. Enough to make him tired enough to just lay down and sleep, which he did so, even though he didn't actually fall asleep until a full hour of laying in silence with his eyes closed.

Chapter Text

Sonic found himself standing in an old ashy building.

The smell stung his nose, and his eyes watered from the heat rising from the floor. Sirens rung out from the outside, but nothing came. 

Nothing happened when he tried to move his body, his throat tightening. He could feel sweat forming and dripping from his body, cold despite how hot he felt. He could taste the salt from his tears as they reached his lips. And he could feel that burning sensation rising up his legs. That kind of sensation that made him want to cry and throw up at the same time.

And when he tried to yell out for help, nothing came out. He couldn't move and he couldn't yell. The burning sensation grew throughout his body, until he couldn't take it anymore, until he-

3:27 am.

He woke up with a bit of a start.

He quickly scrambled to sit up in his bed, breathing heavily with tears running down his cheeks. The sensation of burning lingered, but no longer was it as painful, merely just a dull ache in his limbs as he sat up on the edge of his bed, holding onto the edge of the bed firmly and trying to take a deep breath. Tying to calm down. Trying to ground himself. He hated when this happened. He hated having little control over his body, all because of something that happened ten damned years ago. All because of some pointless damn memory. Damnit. 

As he could expect, as much as he didnt particularly enjoy it, he heard a quiet knock on his rooms flimsy door. He forced himself to muster out an invitation to come in, even knowing how horribly half-hearted that it sounded.

Tails opened the door, peering inside before stepping in, carrying a glass of water. "Hey." Wordlessly, he handed the glass to him, sitting on the bed next to him once he accepted it. "You feeling okay?" Sonic could only make himself nod, as if that'd make it better, before taking a sip of the water, the luke-warm liquid sliding down his throat. Would be better if it were cold, but he can't complain about it. Especially not right now.

Tails frowned a bit, but he didnt press on with the matter, switching the topic. "The woman that came by, Rouge, she really did seem to have good intentions, even if showing up like that out of the blue was kinda creepy."

"..creepy doesn't exactly cut it," Sonic muttered, setting down the cup of water. "What time is it?.."

"3 in the morning. Uh, Rouge is still here, though, she had brought a friend, too. You just walked out before you could see him."

"...a friend? Hmph. Just get them out of here, I want to sleep knowing there aren't strangers in my house."

"Yeah yeah, okay. Goodnight, Sonic. Just... Come get me if you dont feel well anymore, okay?"

"...okay. Goodnight, I love you, buddy."

"Love you too."

Tails then left his room, leaving him to lay back down and stare up at the ceiling, no longer capable of sleep as the events of the all-too-familiar nightmare played out in his head, the ache in his limbs fading slower than what he was comfortable with.

He hated this.

Chapter Text

It all started in 4th grade.

Shadow had been entering church with his parents. He was dressed in the best outfit his parents could make him wear- which really didn't mean much. He'd learned already it was best to comply with others wishes than to fight against something. His wrist still stung from the previous night.

He sat, walked, and stood so idly for the events planned for this Sunday. He hated all of this, really, but he knew he must abide.

It was suffocating.

But for the first time in weeks, he found himself looking off to the side, his eye thoroughly caught by that vibrant display of blue quills off to the corner of the church room they were in. A boy his age, he'd have to assume. Out of pure curiosity, he kept watching. The boy had snuck up on those who were his parents, just to spook them a little. But he felt a needle stab at his chest when he saw that the results were less than spectacular, considering the way the boy was smacked and told off, which lead to him running off outside in tears for what would have been a noticeably harmless moment.

His expression softened, just for the moment, before he turned his head back and tried to tune himself back into what was happening. But even so, he couldn't bring himself to genuinely focus in on what was being spoken across from where he sat.

About a mere minute more passed before it was unbearable, forcing him to have to excuse himself to the bathroom to look for the boy.

He spent the next few minutes wandering outside until he found the boy curled up on the grass, crying.

He didnt know how to help. So all he did that day was sit with him. And he isn't sure what happened after that.

201x (present year)

Shadow stood idly outside the door of the strange building, looking down at his phone with a bag in one of his hands. He wore a beige trenchcoat and a leather bag over his unconcerning black clothing. His half-lidded eyes were designed with sharp red eyeliner along the sides and faint red eyeshadow stuck to his top lid, sticking out clearly past the black fur, like the red stripes on his neatly groomed quills and the white ear fluff  sticking from the insides of his torn ears.

Rouge had dragged him out here in the dead of night for... What? He didnt even remember at this point. He tapped his foot against the creaking wood floor, glancing down the hallway. He didnt particularly like this place, he concluded.

It was nearly three AM at this point. Hed preferred to stay outside the apartment instead of going inside. Something about this place made him uncomfortable. And not because of the filth and the poverty, simply because something about this place made him feel uneasy. As if the street fights weren't enough to throw him on edge already.

He waited until Rouge finally came out, being wished goodbye by a yellow twin-tailed fox, before he finally started moving to leave, Rouge taking step beside him.

"Why are we even here?" Shadow questioned, glancing over at her as he placed his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do with them now.

"We're here because I said so, hun," was all that Rouge replied with, wringing her arm around his shoulders. "Calm down. This place won't bite you in the butt, probably."

Probably. Shadow grunted, pushing her off. "Would you mind actually giving me a reason for once?"

Rouge scoffed, but let up, patting his shoulder. "I ran into your old friend. Seemed like he was struggling, so I thought I'd come here, and I needed you for finding the place."

Shadow wasn't entirely prepared for that part, one of his dot brows poking up. "My old friend? I'm quite sure that you know I don't have friends, considering all the jokes you and your boyfriend throw at me."

Rouge smiled a little bit. "Oh, you know. The blue one."

...

"...Oh."

And that's all his reaction. That's all that he could give, as he tried almost desperately to block back out any of the memories trying to pry their way in. "...Whatever. Let's just get home."

Rouge raised an eyebrow, but didn't press on. She could tell there was more to this, but she could also tell that just mentioning it was pushing a bit more than what Shadow was okay with, so she let it drop, rubbing his shoulder a bit. She didn't know what happened between them, aside from the little bits and pieces she'd caught on to, but she did her best to simply just shrug it off.
"Suit yourself, hun."

And that was that.

That's all that was going to be.

Even as Shadow entered their home, dark but warm and inviting, he couldn't let go of that pit in his chest. That terrible, suffocating, overwhelming pit in his chest that begged for him to go back. That begged him to find him. He hated that he couldn't let himself go.
And even as Shadow lay in bed in the consuming darkness, he knew there was nothing more to be done. He couldn't seek him out. He had to stay away from him.
He had to.
He has to.
He must.

Chapter Text

Sonic spent nearly the whole next week working. Odd jobs around the city, all the while doing his best to avoid being seen whenever he snatched something up. Just a little something to sell in the cornershop back home in exchange for food, he told himself each time he took some expensive looking but most likely unimportant trinket from somebodies home. Either a cup, a silver spoon, a fancy hairbrush from a pile of other several fancy hairbrushes, just one thing from each.

His limbs ached as he left his last house of the week. His head hurt, and he couldn't deny that the urge to just lay down and go to sleep for the next twelve years was surely overwhelming at this rate. As he did everyday, he passed by the city bulletin. A big thingy thing where people hung up things, like city notices, job offers, favors... Things like that.

The one thing that caught his eye was the overabundance of missing posters. He stopped moving, his brows furrowing.

12 missing posters. At the start of this week, it'd only been 3.

His frown deepend. All children, all from this side of the city.

It reminded him of the missing board back in his end. 10 missing there as well, all from that end.

Something was clearly wrong, at least that's what he had to think. That's all that he could conclude. It sickend him that the police were hardly even doing anything about it, as far as he was aware.

He turned away from the posters in discomfort, pushing his hands in his pockets as he continued on his way.

He checked his new wallet, looking through it just to make sure there was enough. He'd been trying to save up his money to get a phone and a number, deciding that if he was going to try trusting a couple people, he should at least have a way of contacting them aside from seeing them in person.

12... 16.. 90 dollars. (Totally didn't skip a couple numbers.)

That should be enough. He remembered seeing a good phone on sale a couple days ago- just 50. He could give the extra 40 as rent.

It took at least half an hour to get that phone. He got to the store, bought it, and uh. Did whatever people usually do with a new phone. Guys idk how to write that part use your imagination.

It was nearly the end of the day by the time he got home.

He forced himself inside the front door. It smelled like tobacco and alcohol, making his nose scrunch up slightly. He approached the counter, dropped the money in front of the sleeping mobian leaning back in the chair behind it, scrawled his name onto a piece of weird yellow paper next to it, then turned and walked away, making his way back up to his home.

Chapter Text

The next few days were a bit of a whirl-wind.

Sonic managed to find a more stable job that actually payed well. Rouge, who'd somehow gotten his number and has been sending him texts regularly, managed to help him get a fine job at the bakery. Which was ever so simple- clean up the store after and before hours. He was just thankful that Rouge stuck around and came in early to give him something to be bothered by.

Each day, he walked by the missing board. Each day, there was another raised number. Julie, Wally, Heki, whatever else names there are at this point. He passed by fliers each day, practically begging people to look for their children. He asked people about it, but nobody actually did anything. It pissed him off.

Today was piss-off worthy material as is, unfortunately. He woke up with a killer headache that only began to die down when he got to work.

He unlocked the front door of the bakery and stepped inside, switching on the lights. And to his absolute joy- and absolute sarcasm- he found Rouge inside, sitting on the counter with a smirk already on her red lips. She most definitely was not wearing a work-suited outfit- and by that, he meant that she wore a sweater with a hole over the chest that fell just a bit too big and pants that fell just a bit too low on her hips, blue eyeshadow on her eyelids and blue jewelery on her ears, which already made him assume that she was ditching work. Again.

"Hey, handsome."

Sonic let out a small groan, stepping past her without sparing another glance. "Not right now, Rouge."

Offended at the brush-off, Rouge scoffed and lifted her wings in disdain, but he knew it was light-hearted, upon seeing the small twitch at the corners of her lips as she tried to keep a mildly offended expression.

"You haven't even heard what I have to say!"

"I don't need to to know that I don't want to listen to it right now."

"Lame!"

"Get over it."

Rouge crossed her arms, but her wings lowered and she pushed herself off the counter, approaching him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"The little guy told me you haven't been doing so hot lately. And guess who's put it in her sweet innocent hands to fix that?"

"Innocent is a strong word for you." He couldn't bring himself to comment on the rest. He was already aware that Tails was trying to personally keep in contact with Rouge, since he considered having someone there and on their side was best right now. Especially with how... Disliked, they were in this world. Sonic knew he couldn't argue with that fact. "Just tell me what you want from me."

Rouge sighed. Her face fell a bit, taking a small step back to give him some space. "Alright, hon. Listen, I'm making a little get-together. Some of my people are gonna be there, and I want you and your little guy to come with tonight too. You could use a break, Miles told me all about how stressed you've been lately. Just consider it, alright? It could do you some good."

Sonic didn't acknowledge it verbally for a second, but his expression said otherwise. He thought it over. Not once, not twice, not even only thrice. It sounded... Risky. Who knows what could happen there? Tails could be hurt. Something could go wrong. His hands clenched into fists and unclenched repeatedly for a few seconds, before he glanced back at Rouge.

"...I'll think about it."

Rouge's face lit up, and her smirk returned, leaning against the counter. "Sounds good, hon. It's at 8 tonight, there'll be some funny drinks, but I'll keep a cooler with non-alcoholic ones for the kiddos. Just.. don't pressure yourself, alright?"

"Fine. Go away, would you? I want to actually get my job done on time this time."

"Okay, okay! See you later, blue."

"...bye."

With that, Rouge left, and Sonic started with what he was there for. He cleaned the spaces, dusted the walls, uhm. I don't know how this works, imagination may be in order again, sorry.

It was 8:28 AM before he could finally leave, stretching out with those satisfying pops from his back as he walked away from the bakery. He ignored the muttering around him. It'd become normal to hear, considering how often he had to leave home now. But, in a way, he did feel... Safer. Nobody was physically hurting him here. Being called a dirty freak is better compared to getting beat to death.
It almost made him feel scared for how often he left Tails alone there.

He shook his head to dismiss those thoughts. Tails will be fine, he's always been. He went on with his day like normal.

He completed his job, he went to pick up whatever was on the list Tails gave to him earlier, then he went back towards home.

It's quieter than he feels it should be. He walked through the empty and cold streets in Scrap Valley, the clutter and glass crunching underneath his boots. His ears were perked upright and he glanced over his shoulder every now and then.

It was too quiet. Quiet enough that he couldn't focus a single bit, quiet enough that he couldn't keep himself on task with getting home safely. He could hear himself breathe, even. It was uncanny. Normally he could--

He wasn't able to think much else before something hard hit into his head.
Caught by surprise, he fell to the ground, dropping the bag he'd been carrying. He felt another sharp hit, and he found he wasn't able to move his arms as something heavy trapped him.

It happened a bit too fast. And the fact that he'd been taken off guard with it from how distracted he'd, unfortunately, allowed himself to become only made it worse. He could feel blood dripping from cuts. The glass underfoot certainly hadn't made being thrown to the ground any better, he figured.

Disoriented, he slowly pushed himself up, glancing back just in time to see two shadowy shapes disappearing into the shadowy alleys.

His head and heart pounding, he struggled to get himself to stand back up. He gingerly tried putting weight on both feet, but he was very unpleasantly not surprised to feel the pain that shot up quickly after he tried. He winced. He didn't have the bag anymore, and it wasn't shocking to assume that it was taken. Taking a small deep breath in, he hobbled back on his way, finding it best to get out of here than to dwell around and wait for worse to ensue if any... Weird residents, got any ideas from seeing a weakened person with enough flesh on his bones to make for a good meal.

He made it back with his body feeling as if it were on fire, blood falling to the ground with each step until he was able to get up to his apartment. He shoved the door open with as much strength as he could muster, staggering inside and just barely managing to get it closed again before he found his way to the couch and collapsed, holding back the tears in his eyes.

"Sonic!"

The voice sounded a little blurry, but he knew it was Tails. The twin-tailed fox had heard the commotion and came out of his room, just to see him like that.
He wasn't sure what happened next, all that he knew was that he fell asleep for a few hours.

By the time he woke up, his body hurt at least just a little bit less.
He groggily sat up, but once he felt the pain shoot up again, he laid back down with a quiet whimper.

"Take it easy now, boy."

He didn't recognize that voice. He just barely managed to open his eyes again, tilting his head to the side to be able to see who was talking.

A man with dark circular glasses and a brown mustache. He wore a white coat and sat on a chair next to his bed. He's not sure when he was in a bed, but it seems he was.

"..w-who..?"

"Dr. Ivo," the man replied quickly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Your little brother gave me a call. I had to move you to my clinic, but I do hope that's not too much of an inconvenience."

Sonic didn't answer for a moment, but he did gradually manage to sit up, taking a small deep breath. It only hit him now that he was pretty much mostly naked, but it really didn't bother him that much. Mobian's weren't exactly made for clothing, anyway, most just liked wearing clothing because it made them "decent" or whatever in high society's standards.
He glanced back to the side, getting a better look at the so-called doctor, then closed his eyes briefly to formulate a better question.

"...Where's Tails?"

"Your brother, yes. He's just outside waiting for you, once you're feeling well enough to leave. You should be fine to go if you're not too dizzy. Your leg was only a little twisted, it shouldn't hurt very badly anymore and should be perfectly fine soon enough. As for everything else.. I'd recommend taking it easy for a bit, but it all should heal fine enough."

Sonic stayed silent as he listened, then nodded slightly, standing up. He took his bag and the discarded clothes as given.

"And, apologies for having to remove your clothes. They were awfully dirty and scrapped up. I fixed them and washed them  while you were out."

Sonic hummed in acknowledgement, then turned away. "...right. What do I owe you?.."

"Nothing. Just take it easy."

Sonic frowned. Something about that felt... Off. Like it was some sort of catch. But before he could say anything about it, the door opened and Tails poked his head inside, his expression lighting up once he saw Sonic awake and standing.

"Sonic! I was so so worried, oh my gosh."

Sonic managed to crack a small smile, stepping forward and leaving the room with him. "..Sorry. I was a bit distracted on my way back, I uh.. didn't realize that was going to happen."

Tails huffed in annoyance, lightly pushing him, but didn't want to dwell on the topic.

He and Tails managed to get home relatively fine. Tails told Sonic all about how he met Dr. Ivo, which Sonic was a little concerned by.

"So, I got a little hurt, but then Ivo came around and saw me. He helped me out, introduced himself, and gave me his number in case I ever got hurt again."

"Hold it, dude. You got your freaking hand cut that badly today? Jeez. What the heck did you do to it?"

"...Uh, some kinda sharp metal slipped out of my hand. No big deal, though, it's alright!"

"...You sure?"

"Yeah!"

They didn't discuss any more about it.

Chapter Text

hey!!! Wasn't sure how else to let y'all know, but I've added like maybe 20 new tags (through feels of how the plots going) and 2 new archive warnings. PLEASE READ THESE BEFORE GOING FURTHER!! chpt 8 is taking a bit because I'm trying to add plenty of content (and making chapter nine before I post chpt 8 so that I have something to post the day after for y'all!)

There's going to be a lot of things that I'm planning. The tags WILL contain spoilers, but I'd really recommend reading them anyway so that you can prepare yourself. I can just smell that this fanfic is gonna be WAY longer than I expected, like oh my god.

I have no regrets but at the same time I have every single regret someone could ever think of.

metal virus will not be totally canon compliant, more of a zombie outbreak type of situation if you get it

im having a lot of fun writing this, though, and I'm really glad that there are people taking time out of their day to read, to leave kudos, or to even just comment- I really appreciate it! AND I DO HEAVILY ENCOURAGE SHARING ANY THEORIES OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS!!! I'm also considering maybe making a discord server if this gets out there enough so that there's a place for any sort of community I might be able to make at some point- idk, I just think it'd be fun :) and with a discord server I'd be able to share any art I make for these / official looks for them / etc!! It's just really fun for me to write this and i appreciate everybody who's reading this rn!!!! Pls lmk of thoughts on any of this down in the comments!! I WILL see them, I actually really love reading any of the comments I get on this and replying to them!!!

I'm also gonna start doing lots of research on plenty of things to make everything as accurate as I can get them to be >0< (funny me, I hate doing research for school but I'm just dandy with doing research for a fanfiction of all things...)

fvnke out!

Edited- just realizing that putting this as 7.5 won't work so now I guess there's 8 chapter pages including this one because it put this one as the 7th and shoved the other one down to 6??? kind of annoys me but whatever I suppose 💔  I moved it into place of chpt 8 just so it's not too confusing

Chapter Text

 It took Sonic and Tails a bit of a minute to get there. It was nearly 8:18 by the time they arrived.

Sonic walked behind Tails in relative silence, his gaze focused down at his phone. He heard the leaves crunch under his boots. His body ached ever so slightly still, but he's managed to be able to ignore it well enough at this point, hiding the bandaged cuts and bruises under the red sweater he'd pulled on, despite the lack of coverage it provided from the rips in it, and the beige cargo pants he'd patched a few nights ago with some fabric scraps he found.

Rouge had texted him the place- some weird camping spot in the middle of the forest. He hadn't really wanted to go, but Tails looked so excited about it- especially since Rouge had mentioned something about there being other children for Tails to play with there- that he had to give in. He wanted Tails to have more friends, after all, and he wanted to make up for the guilt of not really paying him as much attention as he'd like to lately.

He let out a little sigh of relief when they finally arrived and saw that it was not, in fact, some weird trap. But then again, with how much Tails seemed to trust Rouge despite the relative short time of actually knowing her, he doubted it would've been a trick. Tails wasn't the sort of kid to trust for no reason, after all. He's too smart for that.

There were a few cars around, clearly meant for driving outdoors off of a path, considering how this was a pretty remote spot.

There was a fire in the middle, six people- not including the children in thar cout- gathered around it. Rouge was there, clearly, wearing that same outfit as earlier except with a (idk what its called its like um its like a sweater but it only has the arms and shoulders and doesn't go past the collarbones??? Guys idk ik it has a name but idk what that name is), a black tank top with frilly ends, and pants and sandals, despite the cold night.

She had her arm around some red echidna wearing a black beanie and pants, cracking open a cold beer can. Tails quickly detached from Sonics side upon seeing the group of kids nearby, his twin-tails wagging excitedly when they greeted him.

Sonic smiled dimly at the sight, but was quickly knocked back into where he presently stood when he heard a loud whistle from Rouge, and he turned back to be face-to-face with a pink hedgehog. She wore a light pink cardigan and a graphic t-shirt, with red boots covered in stickers and patchy pants, and her quills pulled up into a ponytail. He couldn't tell if she was from the fancy end or poverty end, honestly.

As he was pushed on over to the fire, the girl quickly started speaking, hardly giving him a moment to play catch-up. "Hi! You've gotta be Rouges new friend! Oh, shes been mentioning you for daaays! Im Amy, thats Knuckles, thats Vanilla and Vector, and thats Shadow! Oh my goodness, I've been waiting so so long to finally freaking meet you! I pretty much BEGGED her to invite you and your friend!"

Sonic was finally pushed into a seat near the fire with his head spinning, glancing around. Right.. The pink girls Amy, Rouge is... You know. Rouge. The red guy is Knuckles, those... Those are the two he saw the first day into finally getting more into the fany end, the rabbit and croc. Then his eyes fell upon red ones, staring out directly at him. A black hedgehog, just leaning against a tree with an expression as icy as...well, ice. He frowned a bit. He isn't exactly sure how to feel about this, but he tried to dismiss his concerns, turning his attention to the fire pit, then looking over at Rouge, clearing his throat.

"...You're uh.. Certainly sure this place is safe?"

Rouge looked over ans hummed, her eyes brushing over any of the exposed bandages on his body with a trace of worry, but her smirk still prevailed as she opened her black-lipped mouth and spoke.

"'Course, hun. Just relax. Get a drink- red box is alcoholic, the blue is safe. We dont spike things that are supposed to be safe around here, so you should be just alright with those."

Sonic mumbled something in acknowledgement, standing up. He needed something to calm down, he decided as he stepped past the fire, finding his way over to the coolers. He opened the blue one, looking through it- having to use the flashlight of his phone to see better- before deciding on a juice box. Just a safe apple juice, nothing crazy.

Taking the cool box, he closed the cooler and stepped back over to the fire and sitting back down, pulling the straw off the back and stabbing it into the top, sipping on the juice while listening to them speak. He wasn't the best fan of being part of revealing conversations himself, especially not in a setting like this with so many people he didnt know.

"Oh! There's a new playground opening tomorrow," Vanilla announced with a smile.

Amy gasped, shaking her hands slightly. "Seriously?! We've only had one for like, years now! We should all totally meet up there sometime! It'd probably be more fun for the little guys to hang out there, too, hehe. Cant imagine sitting in a forest at a fire surrounded by a bunch of adults is the most fun thing in the world for a little kid."

Vector, the crocodile, let out a laugh that nearly made Sonic wince from the volume. "Hah! At least they're getting their outside time! Creams been begging us to bring her with."

Vanilla giggled in agreement. "Made me call off the babysitter for tonight and everything. She was excited qt the idea of meeting other children. Rouge, hadn't you mentioned that our new addition here had one of his own?"

Rouge, finally entering the conversation, nodded with a smirk. "Just his little brother. Could probably use for some more interaction with kids his ahe, though," she added with a glance at Sonic.

He frowned a bit, but didnt try to make any sort of argument. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Im just glad that it seems like hes getting along with the others here."

"And you'd be right at that! Cream looks like shes having thr most fun talking with him, dear."

"...seriously?? Usually he rambles off about weird facts and plans for tools hes gonna make enough to scare even the spiders out of the room." That comment caught a few boisterous laughs. 

 Even though all the talking of the night and the crickets taking the fore-noise, he felt a set of eyes burn into his flesh, filtering through his fur and ripping open his skin until he was naked from all protection. His eyes glanced up and by chance caught those same red ones from the start of the evening.

Those eyes looked so lonely. But the intensity of those crimson shapes could nearly kill a man with just shared eye contact.

Bur yet, merely seconds into looking, those eyes moved away, the black hedgehog they belonged to turning his head. There was something familiar about the way he carried himself, the way he stood so secluded and silent, his arms crossed with his clawed fingers diffing through the leather of his jacket as if begging to dig into his flesh until he reached the glistening vibrant cherry-red blood hiding beneath, the way he stood with one foot against the tree he leaned against as if to keep himself ready to run at a moments notice.

His brows fell slightly. He took another sip of his drink, but he decided to pry his eyes away, albeit the hedgehog still dwelled in his mind like the remnants of a bad dream. He shook his head slightly, glancing over at Rouge. He cleared his throat slightly, leaning in to deliver a question with a voice so hushed that even Knuckles frowned qt them, disturbed by the inability to hear even a peep despite being so close.

"Who's that? The hedgehog over there."

Somehow, Rouges smirk widened, a fang showing just above her black bottom lip. "Well, well. Thats Shadow. Shadow Robotnik, hon."

Sonics frown deepend. He knew that from somewhere, he just didnt know where. Maybe all those hits to the head he took as a kid is finally catching up and making his memory all wobbly. "...And am I supposed to know him? You worded that weirdly."

"Oh, i believe Shadow would be delighted if you tried to remember. But, woe is me, i have to get a drink before answering anything."

"But-" Rouge quickly stood up and left before he could say anything more. His brows creased, he looked back at the tree, only to find the hedgehog that used to be there now gone. The eyes that tore wholeheartedly into his being, the vey culmination of his soul, were gone. It was almost disturbing to not have thar feeling dig into his bones.

He sighed, standing up and stepping away. Maybe its time to leave, he's had about enough for tonight. "Hey, Rouge! Im gonna head out. See you later."

Almost a second after he callee that out, Rouge returned, drink in hand. "Wait a moment, hon." And there it was. That twinge of worry that hid in the depths of her tone, the twinge of worry that threatened to make him sigh in frustration at the repeated delay. He wanted to go home and go to sleep, thats all he wanted to do. But before a complaint could slip its way out of his lips, Rouge raised her index finger.

"A new law was put in place, somethin' you might not like. If you got any weird looks from any police lately, that'd be why. Come on, ill walk you and Tails. Just in case, y'know? Dont want my pals to not be safe." Sonics heart thudded just ever so slightly.

"A law?"

Rouge hummed in confirmation, putting her hand on her hip. "Come on, hon, ill explain on the way. Just get your brother first."

Once Sonic retrieved Tails, he followed behind Rouge quietly. They left the camp spot behind in relative silence, the two adults waiting until Tails was too busy with his own activity- because hes the kind of kid who brings jis tools and small projects with him like a little goober- before Rouge cleared her throat. "Right. The law. Not even a law, mind you, its just straight power abuse, in my opinion." Sonic nodded along, but he didnt interrupt.

"You see, there's been a lot of growing tensions lately. For instance," she paused her speech momentarily to point a lazy finger at him, "people like you, sorry for the offense, aren't exactly the most favorable guys in town right now, sorry to say. So, therefore speaking, its safest if you and your brother stick with me tonight. They've been wary because of all the recent missing people, and they think you scrapsters are taking them."

"And they're only going off of a guess?" Sonic inquired, his brows thoroughly furrowed and his brain decently scrambled like a half-cooked egg.

"That's right," Rouge sighed. "Honestly, the police system around here makes no sense to me. It's all "oh no! We should blame this on the people who did nothing wrong!" Rather than actually working on the problem."

"Ugh, glad we see the same. And, if i can ask, what would happen if you didn't come with us for this?"

Rouge frowned, looking away momentarily before letting out a heavy sigh and looking back. "Well, its not pretty, thats for sure. Someone I know showed me a video of what they saw happen the last time somebody 'didnt comply'."

"Can i take a look?" Sonic knew that this probably wasn't going to be something happy, but he felt he had to know. He had to so that he could know how to keep Tails safe, thats all that mattered to him at the moment.

Rouge let out a small "Yeah," taking her phone out of her pocket and looking through her messages until she found it and handed it to Sonic.

He took it in his hands awkwardly, looking down at the screen and pressing play without much thought, turning up the sound a little bit.

But it only made him feel sick. In the video, it showed a sick woman trying to get past to get to the hospital, crying about needing help and that it felt like her bones were on fire, but a couple policemen were taking that as "aggression", he assumed upon seeing the policemen raise their guns, decently scaring the woman enough to send her running. 

He winced slightly, then shoved the phone back to Rouge, having seen enough, which she could already tell and understand. She took it back and put it in her pocket with a sigh, patting his shoulder. "I'm not sure what's going on. I just hope it passes by soon enough and they actually figure things out, y'know?"

....

"...right," Sonic muttered, clenching his fists at his sides. "..Thank you. For sticking with us. That's just... Ugh."

Rouge nodded in agreement. "I know, hon. Its disturbing, is what it is."

Sonic didnt say anything in reply that time. She was right. It was pretty damn disturbing. First he couldn't rack up enough for food or basic necessities to give both him and Tails a full meal, then the missing people, then the increase in fights around where they lived, and now this? This is insane. He shook his head, trying to dismiss those thoughts.

"But," Rouge continued. "I have a bit of an idea. Maybe you could consider putting Tails in school. They're giving safe passes to students and guardians of students."

He didn't want to consider it. But..

He clasped together his hands, letting out a heavy sigh. "I'll think about it. Its... Disturbing to think about leaving Tails alone in a new place for eight freaking hours a day, but if itd keep him safe, I guess I'll have to give it some heavy consideration."

Rouge gave him a small smile, patting his back. "He'll be just fine if he goes, you know. I think Cream's around his age, same grade as he should be, and goes to the school I'm thinking about. I think they were talking a bunch tonight, too. He'd have a friend there."

That at least made him feel a bit better. "...Okay. Thank you."

Second "thank you" of the night. It made him feel sick to actually have the need to say thank you to someone, as if taking things like this was a sin that he shouldn't be commiting. But then again, if he's already been a sinner for the past ten years- or so his old church would scream at him-, maybe it cant be too bad.

And the rest of that night went by fast. They made it back to town. He had to force himself to ignore all the stares he received from the policemen nearby. The way they clasped the guns in their hands.

Guns. They didnt have their guns out before tonight. He could feel the sweat roll down his cheek when they passed by any of them. He was only made consciously aware of where they were actually going when Rouge pulled him to a stop in front of a house.

A bit dazed from so abruptly being pulled from his thoughts, he looked from the house to Rouge. "Where are we?..."

Rouge hummed, taking a key out of her pocket. "My place. You're looking too sick, and that dirtbag of a place you have has never looked comfortable to me. At all."

He couldn't deny that. He wanted to argue, but his head was pounding and he still felt sick from what he heard and saw earlier.

He couldn't bring himself to argue against it when he was pushed inside, put in a room with two beds that actually felt comfortable with an AC- an AC that Tails promptly turned on to make the temperature something comfortable-, and he certainly couldn't bring himself to argue when he collapsed on the bed straight after the lights were turned on and passed out, his eyelids closing with a heavy feeling, the apple juice he drank no longer tasting swell.

And. Well. He literally just fell asleep, thats cue for this chapter to end. Lol!!!! (Im finishing this chapter at 4am after 3 hours straight of writing lets all clap and cheer my name with absolute joyousness)

Chapter Text

His vision was hazy, as if looking through a dreams veil. He could feel his head throb, though it was at a distance, as if he was somewhere far from his body.

He doesn't know where he is. His vision blurred every few seconds until it could finally focus on the shape in front of him. A person with a white lab coat, but that's all he could process aside from the sterile white surroundings and the table he was stuck to.

His head tilted to the side drowsily, his body not capable of recovering as quickly as he'd have begged it to, were he in a better state of mind. The chuckling and the sound of the voice, gravelly and unwelcome with its invasion to his ears, came muffled as if they spoke through glass. He could feel the hands touching him, dragging, the sharp pokes of needles breaking through his skin.

He couldn't move. He couldn't think, and he could hardly breathe. He felt the cold salty tears drip from the corners of his eyes, making their way down onto the cold leather elevating his body.

He felt those hands touching him. Touching him in ways he hated. Touching him in places he hated. Touching him. He hated.

A few days after the previous chapter. 05:28 in the morning.

And the moment he opened his eyes, sobbing and curled up into a ball, Shadow still didn't quite know what was going on.

It was early as hell, from what he could tell. His alarm hasn't gone off, the suns only just barely trying to feebly push its way through the curtains, and it was dark and cold. But his body felt hot

.

His arms shook as he sat up, bringing his knees up and wrapping his legs around them as tight as he could as if to try and hide himself. He still felt the remaining touches and the needles and the people surrounding him. It disgusted him. It scared him, more than he'd like to admit.

That pool of shame nauseated him from where it sat at the bottom of his belly, his throat tight and burning and his eyes felt like they were on fire. He could hardly hear the door opening, the quiet worried voice, but he could definitely feel the bed dip next to him.

It took him a hot minute before he could try and calm down. Well, calm down was a strong description, with how upset he was, but at least he's stopped sobbing and finally looked up.

Rouge sat there, still in her night gown, waiting. As soon as she noticed he was calmer- and, from what she's learned, now okay with being touched a little bit-, her brows creased and she reached out her hand, pausing for a moment to allow him to process her intentions, before placing it on his shoulder.

"Hey, hon." Her voice broke through the silence. Not in a sudden unwelcome way, like how those men touched him in his sleep. It just drifted into it. Not unwelcome.

He sniffled, inching close enough for her to wrap her arm around him and rub his back, letting him lean his head forward onto her shoulder and get all that disgusting snot on her night gown. At this point, she can't bring herself to care about that.

She hummed lightly, giving his back a small pat before she spoke again. "You wanna talk about it?"

She didn't press when she felt his head shake no. "Okay. Just come to me when you want to, you know I won't judge."

He knew. But he was scared she would.

Rouge let out a small sigh, already assuming what he was thinking, but she didn't comment on it. She had to be patient. Shadow's never talked about anything concerning his past before, aside from one blue hedgehog from some church he used to go to, but even mentions of that was horribly scarce. She hummed lightly, squeezing him a little bit before letting go.

"Give me a second, I'll find you something to wear. Me and the girls are going out today, and they're fine with me bringing you with."

Shadow could only nod a bit. He really didn't mind. He knew he looked like the sort of "raaahh i hate people and i hate going out and i hate being around people!" person, but he seriously wasnt. After nights like that....

...

...it comforted him, in a way. That was the least he could say about it. It was nice to know that at least somebody wanted him around, even if it was just a group of girls that had him try out dresses or makeup or do girly things with him. He really didn't mind. Even if it reminded him of how he grew up being told it was a sin to be girly as a boy. At this point, he's pretty sure he's been a sinner from day one, so he doesn't exactly have enough brain power to give a damn.

He shook his head to dismiss that. All the while, Rouge had already stood up with a small smile on her face, opening up his dresser and looking through everything. At last, she picked out a deep maroon sweater, pants, and a pair of socks that looked decently thick.

Shadow could only really get himself to stand up, letting Rouge take over and help him get dressed. His thoughts were still racing, and his hearts thumps quickened in the sort of sickening way when he felt Rouge's hands slide a bit too close to the spot between his legs or his behind, but he calmed down when she quickly moved them, giving him a comforting pat on the arm.

He knew she would never do something like that. He knew that sounded like a lie, but it was as true as he could ever be. But he coudn't help how scared he got when someone accidentally got too close. Once the sweater and pants were on him, he sat down and watched Rouge put the socks on his paws.

He forced himself to take a small deep breath as Rouge lead him out of his room and downstairs.

"It's cold today, so you'll have to wear your coat, okay?"

Shadow only nodded slightly, taking his coat from the rack and putting it on. A beige trenchcoat. It was the only article of outerwear that he really liked to wear. It was his favorite, he supposed. He liked the way the inside felt, and he liked how this coat didn't have any annoying lines that touched him a bit too much. He felt better when he wore it. He liked that.

He was then left alone, sitting on the little wooden bench by the door as Rouge went off to get dressed herself.

He absent-mindedly fidgeted with his fingers and ran his thumb along the back of his hand. He hummed to himself quietly, even though his voice sounded rough and clearly unused. He hasn't actually talked much in a while, or used his voice a lot just in general in the past few days.

Rouge finally came back a little later. She wore a black top with low-rise jeans, letting her wings out in the obvious and relaxed from the gap it made on her back. She pulled on a hot pink coat and hat, applying a pink lipstick to her lips, before she pulled Shadow out and pulled him out of the house into the bright light of day 

Chapter Text

The brisk cold air brushed past Shadow as Rouge pulled him down the street. Shadow shivered, rubbing his hands along his ams and folding his ears, pulling the hood of his coat over his head. God, just a while ago it was warm in the middle of the night, now it's gowing uncomfortably chilly in the day. August is a weird month, and it probably doesn't help now that it's almost september and the temperatures were beginning to drop. He's pretty sure that he saw at least half an inch of snow predicted for the end of the next week.

The remnants of his nightmare still picked at him. It wasn't until he was abruptly forced to stop before he walked straight into the street that he was knocked out of it. Rouge stood at his side, her hand firmly planted on his shoulder.

"Hey. I know your heads all up in a jumble, but please don't walk right out into ongoing traffic, hon." Shadow only let out a small grunt in reply, a little embarrassed that he'd let himself forget he was even existing enough to need Rouge to stop him before he walked right in front of a car going 35 miles per hour.

He stuck his hands in the pockets of his coat and leaned against Rouge while waiting, his head hurting and his legs not feeling entirely stable enough to hold his body up on their own. Rouge, understanding the unspoken request for assistance, put her arm around him.

Once they wee able to cross, Rouge carefully pulled him along, patting his shoulder once they crossed, then setting back down further down the street before they came to a shop. Amy stood outside, wearing a light pink coat with her quills up in pigtails, smiling and waving once she caught sight of them. "Rouge, Shadow!"

A purple cat with a white muzzle and yellow eyes looked their way from beside her. Blaze, Amy's girlfriend. She wore a purple coat, holding Amy's hand. Metal, the third in their relationship, wasn't anywhere to be seen today. Probably busy.

Or he just didn't want to bother their girls day out- he's respectful enough to understand that a girls day out usually involved, well, minimal men. Plus, probably busy.

Rouge smirked, stopping once she was close enough. "Hey, girls. We ready?"

Once the other two nodded, Shadow was pulled inside. Rouge had let go of him by now, and he stuck to the back of the three until Rouge let him go off on his own. He pulled the hood down from his head and took a small deep breath, thankful that it was warmer inside than it was outside. His footsteps were audible against the floor as he went off on his own, exploring around the building for a bit until he stopped at the clothing section.

His gaze drifted near the dresses until he finally sucked it up and approached the section, stopping in front of it and looking through the material, taking a moment to look at a sparkly green one before a voice piped up behind him. "Hey! If you're looking for something that matches you, you might look cute in some dark blue or red."

His ear twitched. He turned his head slightly to look behind himself. A lemur stood behind him, smiling and pointing out a dark red dress that.. looked comfortable enough, in his opinion. He hummed slightly, reaching out and taking it off the rack to look at it.

"If you wanna try it on, I know a good dressing room. I can keep watch at the entrance, just so nobody tries to peek. People always seem to think peeking inside a dressing room is fun. It's just plain stupid."

Shadow couldn't help but smile a little bit. It was amusing, admittedly. He nodded a little bit. Once the lemur took him to a dressing room, he stepped inside. The lemur stood outside the curtain, making sure to keep it as closed as she could. He could hear her voice talking to somebody outside, someone with a hushed voice, but he didn't concern himself with what they were saying.

He awkwardly pushed off his outerwear, folding his clothing as quickly as he could as he then picked up the dress he found. He kept his back turned to the mirror. He hated looking at his bare body. He zipped open the dress and slipped in it, zipping up the back and making a few push and pull adjustments to it before he pushed open the curtain a little bit to peek out.

The lemur, who'd been talking to a wolf, quickly looked over and gave him a big smile. "C'mon, man, don't leave me hanging! What's it look like?"

Shadow let out a small sigh. He pushed open the curtain fully and stepped out, his arms crossed to avoid his forearms being looked at. If either of them saw anything wrong with his arms, it wasn't mentioned. Instead, the lemur just squealed. "Oh my god, you do fit that dress! It looks so good on you, man!"

Shadow nodded slightly, rubbing his thumb against his side.

 As he then changed back and paid for the dress in front, he explored the store a little more with the lemur and wolf- he's been able to catch their names so far as being Tangle and Whisper. A happy couple, from what he's deducted. Very happy, in fact. But they were just fine with letting Shadow tag along until they ran into the people he was with originally. He kind of felt like some child that's just following a random couple around in a store because he got lost from his parents, but it wasn't all that bad to stick with them. He certainly didn't want to be wandering around by himself anymore, that's for sure.

Eventually they found Rouge and Amy and Blaze. The couple passed him off to them, but Tangle gave him her number before he walked back over to them. Shadow had rather high views of them at this point. He decided he'd do his best to keep in touch with the two.

And moments later, he found himself following Rouge, Amy, and Blaze down the street again, carrying the bag that held his dress with both arms to his chest. He didn't tell Rouge what he'd bought, even though he knew she wouldn't really mind. She's the one who introduced him to wearing dresses and skirts and things like that, after all.

They did soon bring him to some fast food joint. He sat outside at a round table across from Blaze and Amy, since Rouge had gone in to order something for them to eat. While the two talked, Shadow sat with a bit of a slump, absent-mindedly scratching his arm under his sleeve while looking off to the street to watch cars pass by. Unfortunately, he did momentarily forget that his body didn't exactly send him pain signals very often for things like this until a bit after the injury is made, so he only stopped scratching at his arm when it felt wet and tingly and it just generally began to hurt, even if it was already a few minutes after it was done.

He winced, pulling his hand out of his sleeve. There was blood dug under his nails and on his fingers.

He heard the couple's talking come to a short end, but he didn't really lift up his head until he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Blaze had stood up and come around, noticing something was off. Her mouth deepend into a frown. "Hey. You feeling okay? Rouge told us you haven't been feeling right today."

He didn't say anything.

After another moment of silence, Blaze sighed. She gently moved her hand down to his sleeve and pulled it up, looking at the bleeding marks he made in his arm.

He wasn't too entirely sure what she was digging for when she turned to look in her bag, but he stayed still when she pulled out a couple bandaids and antiseptic cream in a little square packet. It wasn't very big or too serious, so just band-aids and some antiseptic should do the trick.

He managed to force himself to keep his arm still while Blaze ripped open the packet and put some of the antiseptic cream into the scratches and then put bandaids over the spots. Once it was done and she put the things back into her bag, Shadow rubbed the spot gently, resisting the urge to squeeze it to make the throbbing in the scratches stop.

After he pulled his sleeve back down, Blaze pulled him up. "Come on, we should get the blood cleaned off your hand. Babe, can you tell Rouge where Shadow and I went when she comes back?"

"Yeah!" Amy replied quickly. Clearly, she's equally as worried. Shadow hated that.

He was lead inside and into the restroom by Blaze. He stood in front of the sink, watching Blaze turn on the faucet and wash the blood off his hand. He wasn't sure why he felt like this today. He wasn't sure why he was feeling so bad and incapable today. He hated being looked at like he was some mental case by people passing by. He hated that look of worry in the eyes of people who say they care about him. He hated it. He hated not feeling like he was actually in his body. He hated all of it.

His thoughts were momentarily silenced when Blaze started speaking.

"Hey. Seriously though. Are you feeling okay today?"

...

"...no."

Blaze sighed. "You wanna talk about it?"

"...no."

"That's okay." Blaze stopped the water, grabbing a paper towel and rubbing his hand to dry it off now that the blood was off. "Just, keep in mind that you can always call me or text me if you need help, okay?"

...

"...okay." He wanted to say that he didn't want to. He didnt need help, is what he kept repeating in his head.

But something told him that he really did need help. Whether he liked it or not, he knew he does. And he hated that. He hated feeling like this.

He didn't argue against it when Blaze wrapped her arms around him and gave him a squeezing hug, patting his back, before letting go and leading him back out.

Rouge had returned to the table, her brows furrowed as she saw Blaze and Shadow return.

"Hey, hon. Amy told me you scratched yourself pretty badly. You okay?"

"It's fine."

"Are you sure?"

He didn't answer for a second time, too exhausted to do so. And Rouge understood, letting the subject drop.

He sat down and ate the burger and fries Rouge got him.

He had to admit- he did feel at least a little bit better now that he was eating something. And tired. Most definitely tired.

By the time he finished his burger and fries, he was just left to sip absent-mindedly at the soda he'd been given. Sprite. He liked sprite, at least. Even if it was just some off-brand version of it instead of the actual stuff.

It took at least one more half-hour before the day of adventure was finally over. Rouge had to carry him on her back for most of the way back home, honestly. His body was too exhausted, even if he couldn't really pass out or go to sleep from the exhaustion. And it didn't help that the pain from the earlier scratches made him feel too light-headed to keep his balance properly. Aside from all that, he had to admit that this wasn't a bad day. It was far better than it would have been if he spent the whole day in bed and avoiding seeing the light of day, at least.

Even so, he crawled straight back up to his room and into bed the moment he got home. No goodnights, just a sleepy grumble and a small chuckle from Rouge at his eagerness to get back to bed so that he could finally actually get some decent sleep- this time with the tv in his room playing some show about magical ponies and whatnot to give his mind something to do while he closed his eyes, snuggled up into a ball in his blankets in bed, and fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Never in his life did he ever expect to be awake at eight in the morning just to go to a freaking school.

Sonic grumbled under his breath as he practically dragged himself down the street. He'd tried his best to look presentable: he brushed his quills, took a shower- at Rouge's house, unfortunately, way too many products there to know what to actually use- and even tried to make his outfit presentable by wearing just jeans that he'd fixed recently, his best white shirt, and his patchy jacket and bag, his phone pocketed and his comfort thoroughly smashed. He freaking HATED going near schools. Schools suck.

He'd called out of work last night upon reaching his decision. He'd voiced the idea to Tails a few days ago, Tails had liked the idea- of course he would. Tails loves to learn crap. Of course he'd really want to go to school. Even just saying he "liked" the idea was completely undermining his very very excited reaction.

Sonic ran a hand through his quills while he walked, letting out a small sigh.

Okay. Get to the school at 8:15 (it's already 8:10 and the school is ten minutes away because he was a bit delayed, so that step was a little... Ehh), complete the meeting with the principal, pay to get Tails in by at least next month- which is really just two weeks away, but who cares to think about that-, then start to pick up more hours or another job if he can. He needs a lot more money at this point- Tails' birthday is coming up, prices have been raising an obnoxious amount, and he needs to be able to get some new things, like a new stove, an actual shower.. Things like that.

His train of thought was momentarily disrupted when he finally stopped in front of the school. 8:20. Five whole minutes late, as predicted. He stifled a groan of annoyance. Sucking it up as much as he could, he reached up to push his quills back as he opened the gate and stepped through, speed-walking along the path, until he had to slow down and look at the security at the entrance with a bit of wariness. Again with the damn security. This is just unnecessary at this point.

He approached the entrance to the school, only to be stopped by the outstretched hand of one of the guards. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't offended as hell that these guys were making him later than he already was.

"Is there a problem?" Sonic asked, forcing his voice to lay flat.

He could just feel the guards eyes give him the most obnoxiously annoyed look ever. He is DEFINITELY hating on this guy to Tails the second he gets back home.

"Identity and purpose, please."

Sonic frowned. Fine, whatever. That's not too bad, he supposed. Fishing his ID out of his bag, he handed it to the guard and rubbed the back of his neck. "This looks a bit unnecessary, but whatever. Sonic Maurice, I'm just here to talk to the principal about enrolling my kid. Can I get past, please?"

He could just feel the doubt rolling off the guard as they took it and examined the card. It took at least a solid minute before he got it back and was allowed through.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped past and pushed open the doors, walking inside. "Talk about weird," he muttered as the chattering of students hit his ears once he was inside.

It looked.. decent, at least. A fairly big stairway, nice lockers- decorated? Oh man, Tails is DEFINITELY gonna like it here if they're allowed to decorate their lockers. Carefully stepping through the crowd of children, he made his way to the office- you know, after a couple more minutes wasted by struggling with direction.

The moment he stepped through the door, he could already visibly see that he wasn't actually expected to show up at all, with how late he is.

The principal, a coyote named Mr. Peelz, looked up at him in surprise. But he then cleared his throat and gestured to the seat on the other side of his desk. "You're a little late, I was expecting you wouldn't show up at all."

Sonic sat down promptly and dropped his bag, leaning back. "Traffic was crazy." He isn't exactly lying. People traffic is a thing, right??? It's like cars but like instead of cars its annoying people calling you degaratory terms under their breath while getting all up in your way. Yeah, that's definitely a thing.

Mr. Peelz gave him a small chuckle.

The meeting went fairly simple. He had to sign some forms, give some information on himself and Tails, write down his number- he put Rouge's number as an emergency contact in case he wasn't available. Rouge had said that that'd be okay last night, since apparently she and Tails were "fantastic pals". Whatever that meant. He at least could feel like she wouldn't just randomly kidnap him or anything for no reason.

It was nearly an hour before he could finally leave, though. Took a damn long time to get through all those forms and questions.

Tails was happy when he heard the news when he got back home.

and then sonic went straight to bed to take advantage of his now free day, completely disgarding any other thoughts of continuing his plans for now.

Because who the hell in their right mind would want to do all that work while completely exhausted.

Way too much socialing for one day.

Chapter Text

It's 3am on a Friday, the town coated with snow, with the white particles still falling even now.

Sonic was exhausted. And, unfortunately, way too undressed for this weather. Literally just a T-shirt and jeans. What was he even thinking???

He was seated on a bench just outside Vanilla's house, waiting for her to see the messages he'd left- he felt too uncomfortable calling on a phone out in the open in public- especially when it's late- so he didn't want to call to wake her up until too much time passed.

He was just so damn exhausted. His head felt fuzzy, and his actions weren't as controlled or sharp as he wanted them to be. He'd been on such a high earlier, so giddy and okay with everything, but now that it's worn off..

His eyes felt wet, but he dared to not blink or look down, not wanting the salty water to fall.

He wasn't entirely sure why he was here, either. But both Rouge's home and his place were too far away, and Vanilla was the only person he knew that was in the area. He's been speaking with Vanilla over the phone lately- alongside chatting during those little night hangouts that Rouge keeps inviting him to. "Come to my house anytime you're in trouble," is what she said the last time they spoke. And since anyone he spoke to said that she was reliable, he supposed he'd have to trust that.

Sonic sighed. He's had his eyes on the stars for so long now that his eyes felt like they were seconds away from closing and going to sleep just right there, on the bench. In the cold. Those stars were so bright, so full of hope.. it's hard to believe that such magnificent and pretty things have to stay far away. Why couldn't he just touch one? It doesn't look that far, and yet those gorgeous shining dots are like little beady ants when compared to his outstretched fingers, just barely out of reach and unwilling to come any closer.

Just before he could start considering huddling up underneath the bench to sleep for the night, he could hear the door from the porch behind the bench open.

"Sonic? Oh, dear, you look so cold. Quickly, come inside." He stood and turned to face the adult rabbit, dressed in her night gown, holding the door open with a blanket wrapped around herself to combat the cold weather. He could see the warm inside, and the shadow of a flickering fireplace just beyond the door.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything in reply, which clearly worried her, but he did manage to get his legs to move. He stepped inside with shiver, rubbing his arms while Vanilla shut the door behind him and ushered him to the living room, sitting him down in front of the fire, which made his head spin looking into it as much as it warmed him up.

The fuzz of the blanket being wrapped around him wasn't unwelcome.

"What were you doing out there in the snow?" Vanilla asked softly, rubbing his back in an attempt to help warm him up, his fur chilly- and who knows how cold his skin is under that? His fur isn't fit for the cold at all, and with how messy it is all the time, there's no doubt that it could properly trap in any summer warmth. It doesn't help how skinny his body is from lack of nutrition and his lack of food intake in general. God, he wished that he could hibernate through all the cold crap instead of having to sit through all of it.

"I..." He opened his mouth, then promptly closed it. Because, seriously, how could he say he was off doing something to forget things for a while? Even his wrists still hurt and felt like they were burning underneath the bandages Vanilla hasn't focused on yet. "I don't know. Something stupid." It was the truth- a little, at least.

He couldn't see her expression, but he already knew she was worried, so it's easy to guess.

He spent the rest of the night there, sleeping off the fuzz and the ache in his head. is it even logically possible to be feeling both?? I have no idea. I hardly research these sorts of things for this.

He woke up at around 1 in the morning- no, afternoon???

He rose up with a large yawn, blinking his eyes open. He felt hot and sweaty. That felt weird. He was never hot and sweaty after sleeping unless it was a hot summer night. He looked around. 

Hes never actually been inside Vanillas house before. But it felt nice. A sage-green carpet, wooden floors and walls, paintings hung around the walls, pretty red curtains over the windows where the cold afternoons sun shone through the glass.

The couch felt nice. Red fabric- fabric?? Hes never seen a fabric couch before. At least, never one in usable shape. A dark oak coffee table with freshly watered roses in the center and the TV remote to the side of it. There was a fireplace in front of the couch, too. No clue how to describe ot but its pretty.

"Mister Sonic!" His eyes dwindled over to the rabbit girl that excitedly ran over to where he laid, smiling big. "Mama told me you visited last night!"

Sonic couldn't respond before Vanilla came over, lightly shushing Cream. "Now, now, dear, Sonic needs some rest. He was jurt when he came over, remember? He mihr need a minute."

Quickly, Cream nodded. "Okay!" Then she ran off waving goodbye to him, running off to the other room. Vanilla smiled, sitting down on the other end of the couch and watching as Sonic slowly pulled himself up, doing his best to not put pressure back on his wrists.

"How're you feeling?" Vanilla asked, reaching forward and placing a hand on his shoulder to help keep him steady. Once he was able to lean back against the armrest of the couch, she pulled her hand back.

"...Fine, I guess," he mumbled. He knew Vanilla isn't taking that answer, but he was at least thankful when she didn't press on about it.

Vanilla let out a sigh, shaking her head, but then gently reaching out to grab his wrists, wanting to make sure it wasn't anything bad. Sonic tensed up as soon as her hands got close, and he knew that she noticed.

"Stay calm. I just want to make sure it's nothing bad."

But when he still wouldn't let her look or touch anything, she frowned a little bit and put her hand on his shoulder. "Sonic. I know you don't want to, but you'll need to show me eventually. I just want to help you, and your wrists seem to really be bothering you. You're not in trouble, I'm just really worried for you right now."

...

She got the idea that he wasn't going to reply when he looked away, avoiding eye contact as much as possible.

Sonic wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he knew it wasn't the shoulder pat that she gave him.

"I won't force you. But please let me take a look in a little bit, at least. I called Tails to tell him about this this morning- I'll be letting you rest here for as long as you need, Tails said he should be okay on his own, since he's going to be with Rouge."

Sonic frowned a little bit, but he nodded hesitantly. In a little bit. Maybe by then he'd be okay with it. He just knew that he wasn't right now.

Sonic stayed on the couch while Vanilla stood up and left the room. He slowly laid back down, shrugging the blanket back over his shoulders as he rolled over onto his side, curling up. Around ten minutes later, he heard footsteps coming back, but he didn't get up or try to see who it was, becoming too tired again to look. Vanilla, he'd have to assume, came back.

He heard the small hum once, he assumed, she'd realized he was a little too tired to get back up right now, then came the sound of two dishes being set own on the coffee table, then the footsteps began again and disappeared off to where they came.

Hot chocolate and a brownie.

He groaned. He forced himself to sit up, ignoring the sharp ache in his wrists from putting just too much pressure on them, and wrapping the blanket back around his shoulders once he was up.

He was then able to confirm with his eyes that it was indeed a hot chocolate and a brownie.

And, of course, he scarfed it all right down, then promptly laid back down on his back with his eyes closed, sleep starting to take back over.

Tails is okay for the day and safe with Rouge, he had his monthly rent paid off yesterday so nobody'll bug him at home, the crime rate has gone down a bit lately near home..

Tails should be okay.

He did feel guilty, though. And that pang of guilt is what kept him up.

He'd just disappeared in the middle of the night last night with just a note on his bed to let Tails know he went out for a bit. It was starting to finally hit him that what he did wasn't really the best. It made him feel sick from how heavy the guilt was. It pooled in his belly as if it was rotten food.

He'd have to apologize tomorrow, he decided firmly. He needed to. He needed to be better than them. He had to be.

Those were his last thoughts before sleep finally took back his brain.