Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Are you sure you’ll get there on time?”

Tails was met with an unimpressed look from the blue hedgehog he’d directed the question towards.

“Tails, do you even know who you’re talking to right now?” Sonic replied, to which Tails rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re super fast, but the city’s like a maze, and its super crowded at this time of night.” Tails said. “Plus, the cinema’s on the other side of the city.”

“It’s fine, I can just take the alleyways. And even if I am late, I’ll be fashionably late.” Sonic said with a triumphant smirk, as if his rebuttal was the best in the world.

“How did Shadow ever fall in love with you...” Tails muttered, before clearing his throat and replying. “Sonic, the alleyways in this city aren’t safe. There’s probably around 47 drug dealings that happen in just one alleyway throughout 24 hours.”

“Hey, you know I can handle myself just fine.” His older brother said, putting one of his hands on his hip. Tails simply stared at him in silence. Sonic sighed.

“Alright, what’s this really about?”

Tails blinked. “What? Nothing, I-”

“Tails, you’ve been wringing your tails together this whole conversation and I only know you do that when you’re worried or nervous.”

Tails looked down - and lo and behold, he was doing just that. He instantly let go of his tails, letting them swish nervously behind him as he rubbed his arm and averted his gaze. Sonic frowned, then bent down to place a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey. I’ll be fine, okay? I’ll be back home in a few hours and you’ll hear me gush about how great my date went.”

Tails wrinkled his nose. “Please no details.”

At that, Sonic barked out a laugh, moving next to Tails to wring his arm over his shoulder and ruffles his bangs with his other hands. “Please, as if Shadow and I are going to start making out five minutes into the movie.”

“Watch that be what actually happens.” Tails said, knowing full well that would probably never happen, but said anyway just to be contrary. Sonic snorted, flicking Tails, who instantly retaliated with his own flick.

Tails then sighed. “...Alright. But if you don’t come out in a few hours, I have every right to activate the tracker on your communicator and come find you.”

“Sure, sure.” Sonic said, but then processed what Tails said. “Wait, there’s a tracker in-”

“Bye have a great time on your date with Shadow I gotta go see ya!” Tails said in one breath, running off with a wave before taking off into the sky with his tails to pick up speed. Sonic let out a chuckle, shaking his head before speeding off.

Boy oh boy he should’ve listened to Tails.

This city really was a maze. The streets were crowded as usual, both on the road and the sidewalk. Cars were honking as the drivers became impatient, pedestrians both human and mobian alike were pushing past each other to force their way to their destinations. Some drivers even abandoned their vehicles in favor of walking the rest of the way to their destination.

And so Sonic found himself slinking off into the labyrinth of alleyways. That was five minutes ago. And he was already hopelessly lost.

He checked the time through his communicator - 9:46. The movie was going to start in less than 15 minutes, and he was nowhere near the cinema. He couldn’t even speed off because he could unexpectedly veer off into one of the more populated streets and bump into people - not to mention there would could be property damage from the winds his speed could create.

So, he was forced to slow down to a measly jog (a crawl in his opinion) as he navigated the alleyways.

And to make matters worse, he wasn’t alone in these alleyways.

Sure, there were a few people who were also using the alleyways to get to their destinations due to the mob of people out on the main streets, but there were those who simply lurked there, watching him as he passed.

To any ordinary person, nothing would be amiss - they probably wouldn’t even notice they were being watched. But Sonic had plenty of experience along his adventures, and he was observant enough to notice the eyes watching him, as if debating whether he was vulnerable enough to take on or not.

Now, Sonic wasn’t a nervous person. In fact, he often welcomed danger. But he was kind of on a time crunch and he didn’t want to arrive to his first date all scuffed up from a fight - especially since he was wearing his best shirt! (It was the only vaguely formal piece of clothing he owned, and that was only because it had a collar. He still refused to wear pants though)

So, naturally, he’d want to avoid conflict so he could get there on time.

Unfortunately, the long path he’d went down turned out to be a dead end. So, holding back a groan, he turned around to come back the way he’d came and try to find a different path.

However, this shady group of mobians - that he’d noticed had been following him for a bit - blocked his path. Oh, he was really not in the mood for this.

They probably didn’t even recognize him, since most of the time the media only managed to snag blurry pictures of him due to his instability to stand still. So he couldn’t even blame this on being a world renowned hero. They apparently just looked at him and thought he was the money loaded out of all of their options. He tried not to let it bother him.

“Excuse me pals, but I’ve got somewhere to be. Care to step aside for a sec?” Sonic said, slipping on his signature cocky grin. Normally he’d be more respectful if these people were just regular citizens, but he already knew these guys weren’t trustworthy in the slightest.

“’Fraid we can’t do that. We got a job to do.” One of them said, and they seemed to be the leader out of the group of four if their flashy jewelry were anything to go by.

“Oh? And what kind of job is that?” He asked, although he was pretty sure they were here to mug him or something.

“Oh, you’ll see soon enough, Sonic the Hedgehog.” They said with a confident grin, as if what they said was absolutely mind-blowing and earth-shattering. Sonic just sent them a blank stare.

“...Wow, A+, you figured it out.” Sonic deadpanned, then snorted. “I wasn’t even trying to hide who I was anyway.”

“S-Shut up! I was intimidating! Come on guys, back me up!” They stammered, faltering as they turned to their teammates for help. Even they looked amused.

“Sorry to break it to you boss, but I don’t think anything intimidates that guy.”

“Damn right.” Sonic said, swiping his nose. “So anyway, I got places to be, so-”

A gunshot. Then blooming pain in his leg. He bit his tongue to keep from crying out. Instantly, he swiveled around, and noticed that someone was up on the roof of the building behind him. Actually - multiple someones. On different buildings. Surrounding him.

Oh. So it wasn’t just those four. This was planned. They specifically targeted his leg to keep him from running.

Fuck. They knew what they were doing.

The leader turned back to him, and this time they actually looked menacing. “Ah... I love watching my targets’ faces once they realize the incompetence was just an act. It’s especially delicious coming from someone such as yourself.”

“...Heh, got some really weird taste if you find that delicious. Chili dogs are more preferable in my opinion.” Sonic said, struggling to hide a wince as he felt the blood trickle down from the gun wound in his leg.

“And there goes the quips in the face of adversity. It’s going to be so satisfying watching the light leave your eyes.”

“If you can catch me, that is. A measly gunshot isn’t gonna stop me, y’know.” Sonic said, shooting them a grin, although it was slightly pained.

“We’re well aware. But that wasn’t some measly gunshot.” They said with a wicked grin, and Sonic’s blood went cold. What did they mean by that?

“Gang, get ‘im.” They said, and then chaos ensued.

The three mobians next to the leader charged forward just as the one stationed on the buildings fired bullets. Sonic obviously dodged all of them, but he noticed something was very, very wrong.

There was no super speed.

Sure, he was still agile and fast, but none of his usual “blink-and-you’ll-miss-him” speed. Somehow that gunshot must’ve had something inside it that took away his speed - it would probably be temporary because of his high metabolism, but he was still in hot water if he couldn’t get out of there.

He curled into a ball and spindashed through two of them, uncurling and then sending a roundhouse kick (courtesy of Shadow) to the other’s head. He couldn’t run up the buildings to get the snipers out of the way without his speed, so he’d just have to find a way to get out of there without it.

Unfortunately, the leader had other plans, and they grabbed his wrist and tried to put him in a headlock. Sonic smirked - they’d seemed to have forgotten what hedgehogs were known for.

His flared his quills, and they cried out in pain and let go of him as they were scratched up and bleeding.

Unfortunately, one of the snipers decided that was the perfect moment to shoot Sonic’s arm, and this time he couldn’t bite back his yell. He instantly grabbed his arm with his uninjured hand, gritting his teeth to try and bear the pain.

The leader took that as their chance to charge at him, slamming into him and pinning him against the wall. Sonic struggled against him, trying to throw a punch, but they had his good arm against the wall.

“Heheh! If I’d realized it was going to be this easy to go after your bounty I would’ve done it ages ago!” They said with a smirk as Sonic continued to struggle. “Hm... maybe after this one I could go after your little fox friend, he’s got a pretty big bounty on his head too.”

Sonic saw red.

Immediately, he pushed them back, but didn’t give them time to recover because he was instantly charging towards him and dishing out punches and kicks with such speed it would make you wonder whether Sonic had regained his speed.

“Gah! Struck a nerve, didn’t I?!” They yelled in between grunts of pain. Then they addressed the snipers on the buildings: “What are you waiting for? Take the shot! Kill him!”

“I can’t get a good view! You’re too close together and he’s too fast! I might accidentally hit you!” One of the snipers called out - a female voice, Sonic distantly noted. He honestly didn’t care though; he just needed this guy gone.

Eventually Sonic threw them into the wall of the building, leaving a small dent in it, before curling up into a spindash and completely obliterating them. They let out a scream, which quickly became garbled, before abruptly falling silent.

Sonic stood over their mangled corpse, quills covered in blood and panting heavily. They were brutalized beyond recognition, he realized. There was no way they weren’t dead.

Instantly, everything came crashing down as the weight of what he had just done sunk in.

“Oh my- guys, retreat! There’s no way we continue with this, we can’t risk it! RETREAT!” One of the snipers yelled, fear evident in their voice - and judging by the lack of protest as they all scrambled away, they shared the same sentiment.

Sonic looked back down at the corpse, and then his own bloodied hands and shirt. One step back, then two, then three five seven ten.

No. No no no no no no. No no no nononononononono-

Sonic the Hedgehog is a hero. He saves people. He brings villains to justice.

He never kills.

And yet he just did.

He started breathing rapidly, hands grasping at his quills as he wildly shook his head, eyes wide as he started at their corpse. His victim.

He checked the time - 10:07. He was definitely late, and he definitely couldn’t go meet up with Shadow. He felt a sharp stab at the thought that Shadow would be stood up, but maybe it was better this way. He couldn’t date a murderer.

Oh, and Tails.

He couldn’t head back home like this. First of all, it was way too early, second, Tails would be at home and would immediately see him... like this. Bloody. Disheveled.

A murderer.

“Okay okay okay... I can’t go to Shadow, I can’t go back home, I- I can’t-” Okay, no speaking right now, he was starting to run out of breath and spiral. He needed to go. To leave. Like, right now.

Shit. Tails said he’d use the tracker in his communicator to come find him if he didn’t arrive at the cinema with Shadow. By now Shadow probably would’ve called Tails. Tails would check here.

He had to run.

He ran. He was nowhere near the speed he would normally be at - he wouldn’t be able to get very far before Tails found the corpse and then put two and two together.

He didn’t care. He just need to get away.

He couldn’t feel the gunshots in his arm and leg. He was probably running on adrenaline or something.

Sonic stayed within the alleyways. He couldn’t go out into the streets covered in blood - and those who were in the alleyways stayed far away from him. If they recognized him before they definitely didn’t now.

After all, Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t kill.

...And yet he just did.

Eventually,he reached another dead end, cursing under his breath before he heard the familiar swish of two tails flying.

Shit.

He immediately hid behind a dumpster.

No no no, he can’t see me like this, Sonic thought, covering his mouth with his dirty bloody tainted hand.

“Sonic?” Tails called, the sound of his feet touching down on the ground almost echoing in Sonic’s ears. Sonic didn’t give a response, hoping that Tails wouldn’t find him.

Then he remembered he still had his communicator on - of course he’d find him.

“Sonic... are you behind that dumpster?” Tails called, and Sonic curled into himself, involuntarily letting out a pitiful noise. Shoot - he hadn’t meant to do that.

He heard Tails drawing closer and suddenly they stopped, a shadow hanging over him. Tails could see him.

He could see him.

Sonic lifted his head to meet Tails’ gaze, and was met with surprise and concern.

“You’re crying...” Tails stated, surprised. What? Sonic wasn’t crying, he didn’t- oh. Bringing a hand up to his cheek, he noticed it was wet. Huh.

Tails crouched down in from of him to meet him at eye level. “What happened?”

Sonic shook his head, averting his gaze.

“You know what happened.”

“I want to hear it from you.” Tails said. “No misunderstandings.”

“What’s not to understand? I murdered someone in cold blood.” Sonic said, and his voice nearly cracked.

“There’s more to the story than that.”

“No, Tails, there really isn’t. I wanted to kill them.” Sonic’s breath hitched. “I... I was fully prepared to do it right then and there... and I did.”

There was a moment of silence, before Tails spoke.

“What did they say?”

“What?” Sonic asked, looking up at him in confusion.

“What was it that they said?” Tails repeated. “To rile you up, I mean.”

“How do you know they riled me up? I could’ve just done that without any pro-”

“No. My brother would never do that - you’d never do that.” Tails, said taking his bloodied hand in both of his. Sonic didn’t have the heart to pull away.

“Am I really still your brother after this?” Sonic asked, uncharacteristically insecure. Tail enveloped him in a hug without hesitation.

“You’ll always be my brother.”

It took a few moments, but Sonic’s eyes began watering again and he reciprocated the hug, pulling his little brother closer.

“Everything will be okay. We’ll figure this out.” Tails reassured.

After a minute or so, Sonic pulled back, and Tails took that as his cue to let go.

“Now, let’s go get you cleaned up, okay?” Tails said, standing up to his full height and holding out a hand. Sonic took it, and Tails helped him up.

“Yeah... okay.”