#The fast food place not the hedgehog

[bone-stealing-horse]

"Hey [my name] do you watch Dragon Ball Z?"

"No??? Why?"

"Because I got this toy from Sonic and I think it's a Dragon Ball Z toy and I dont want it"

"... that's a beyblade."

An actual conversation I had with my sister today

[s-sextape]

can someone PLEASE explain why immediately after cutting myself instead of fucking like. finding bandages or something i went to my whiteboard and wrote “life is hard but you can be harder” and drew blitzo giving a thumbs up next to it. guys

[merriclo]

begging the universe to stop giving me dreams. was it rlly necessary to make me mourn my mother’s death at a Sonic?

[tornado1992]

No one knows where Sonic lives.

Even in his so called world renowed hero status, there’s way too little that the general public knows about Sonic The Hedgehog, sure, they know what his favorite food is, they know the names of his friends, and they know when his birthday is, but they don’t know where is he from, how is he so fast, or what is his reason to fight.

They know about most of the times he has saved the world, but they don’t know why his shoes don’t get burned by his speed, they know he can turn into a god-like glowy golden being, but they don’t know how exactly the magical jewels that do that work, they know he’s unstoppable, but they don’t know why.

Most people don’t care that much about that kind of information, even if he’s a hero, that’s his own business, even heroes need privacy; but then there’s the curiosity, the enigma, the mystery, most of those questions will be left without a solid answer, but there’s a few that should have definitive one.

Where does someone who can run around the whole globe in a matter of hours live? There’s a lot of theories.

Sonic has enough fame to have several fan clubs all around the world, and between all those fan clubs there’s been a lingering interest in the enigma of where does sonic live, between all the other questions this one is the one that gets the most possible answers, considering factors like his speed, his well known crave for adventure, his love for nature, all of it could make the difference between the right answer and the wrong answer.

At certain point, the curiosity reaches to more general public apart from the fanatism prone, and when in opportunity to talk to him, a lot of people start asking him the same question: “where do you live?” the answers all equal and all different at the same time “right here in the same world as you” “it varies from time to time” “I don’t think you could visit me”

The vagueness, the confusing contradictions, the evasion of the subject; he’s doing this on purpose. They might not know a lot about the blue speedster, but now this sole data needs to be known.

They start asking Sonic’s acquaintances instead of the hedgehog himself, they know they’re not getting an answer out of him at this point, and if anyone could have one, his friends should know it. Turns out that they don’t know.

Most of his friends being more annoyed with the fact that not even they know where he lives than about the people sticking their noses to his friend’s business was a surprise to the masses, and underwhelming, backtracking, frustrating surprise.

There’s an anonymous user online who affirms that not even the hedgehog’s arch nemesis knows where Sonic lives. Reliable sources support the statement.

The waters of nonsense gossip calm down after some time, but the question still remains, left to be more of general curiosity than lingering mystery.

A random day in a random town, a news program happens to be live outside when the speedster passes by and stops to smell the flowers around the area, the reporters ask him for a small interview, he says they have till he finishes picking up enough flowers for a crown.

They ask the same question everyone has asked for quite some time, just a different word, “Sonic, where is your home?”

Apparently the accidental rephrasing change is what finally gets it, as the speedster just says “right now? should be at mystic ruins”

He runs off immediately, the reporters left speechless, the program still on air on TV’s and the web, and the world going wild.

They finally got a straight, solid, specific answer. “That can’t be true” “but it can” “it’s logical” “it’s not” “he must’ve been joking” “he sounded serious” and more and more discussions take place around that single interview, the fan clubs are theorizing again, the general public is now more curious, and the official news from all over the globe need to confirm this by themselves.

So they ask again.

A full week later, a different city in a different country, different news reporters don’t even bother to ask him for an interview, they just run to him the moment they see the blue blur pass by and ask him again “Sonic, where is your home?!” He yells his answer without stopping:

“Last time I checked was in Central City”.

“It’s a contradiction” “then he was joking before” “he might change where he lives weekly” “we need more proof” “that was way too specific again”.

A different continent, two days later, a group of kids manage to record him when he greets them from the other side of a mountain, they ask “Where is your home?!” He yells back “I’m not sure at the moment!”

The confusion only grows, now no one knows if he’s genuinely giving true answers or full ass lying, it would be logical for him to do either. The curiosity becomes a mystery again, and people are legitimately trying to track all the locations he has mentioned to find out what is this all about. Some people even try to track him down. They try.

A whole month later, there’s a celebration near sunset city, a commemoration of some sorts, there’s been a lot of battles in way too little time so people just try to think about the party rather than the motive for it. Sonic attends the celebration along some of his friends.

A local news channel manages to reach him at the chili dog stand where he is waiting for his food while talking to the two tailed fox everyone knows is his best friend. They don’t mean to interrupt, but these opportunities are limited.

They ask the same question, the same word change that they know works: “Sonic, where is your home?”

The blue blur hangs an arm around the kit’s shoulder in a half hug as he grins widely, he says loudly: “right now, it’s right here!”

This time his home was with him.

[katskitoshi]

May I please have this? https://www.tumblr.com/katskitoshi/696416151501209600/sheepy-twisted-wonderland?source=share

But instead of sheep a Bunny and with the other dorms?

Thx Love your work!!!<3

"MY CUTE LITTLE BUNNY!" with TWISTED WONDERLAND.

synopsis: you thought you would be prepared to never let another sheepy incident happen again. however, you clearly underestimate your friend's ability to ruin your life. but this time, you turn into a fluffy little bunny rather than a fluffy little sheep.

characters: riddle, trey, cater, ace, deuce, leona, ruggie, jack, azul, jade, floyd, kalim, jamil, vil, rook, epel, idia, ortho, malleus, lilia, silver, & sebek x fem! reader

you took extra precautions to try to prevent yourself in an alchemy incident. you watched each ingredient go in, stopped horse playing and petty fights, and double-triple made sure the order of each ingredient was correct. somehow, after a miscalculation or addition of some unknown substance (grim added something without telling you), your body turns into [color] smoke and you shrink down a bunch of feet.

you're no taller than grim now, with cute floppy ears, a fluffy tail, and a cute twitching nose thats flicking especially fast from stress. and just like before, you're left in the hands of the dorms as crewel looks for a way to turn you back. let's see how they do, yeah?

HEARTSLABYUL is a pretty safe place for a bunny like yourself! nice roses, cute animal friends, and nice tea parties you get to be apart of. it's easy to get lost in the twisty-turvy halls, but it's still a pretty dorm for a pretty bunny!

riddle is a pretty suitable caretaker. you're fed each meal, which is surprisingly more than carrots thanks to trey. he'll brush your fluffy coat and keep you looking as proper as possible! a nice, long bath is due after a tiring day of hanging out with the hedgehogs and flamingos, and he's pretty good at restoring your fluffy coat to it's former glory. once bed time rolls around, he'll let you take one half of his bed and he'll take the other. if you hop into his arms while he sleeps, he won't push you away. however, if you nudge at him with cute pleading bunny eyes for a bite of his tart he will. he loves you dearly, but he will not share his tart with you while you're in bunny form. that's a treat reserved only for when you're human.

trey is your sole reason for sanity. you thought you'd be fed carrots and lettuce all day, but he's able to whip your vegetables into anything you wish. carrot cake, sugar free fruit tarts, hay biscuits. any food you could think of, trey will try and most likely succeed in making it perfect for your bunny tummy. besides his amazing cooking, trey's good at grooming and reading you. he absolutely loves your little ear or nose twitches! if you're good, he'll let you help him bake or collect some ingredients. but only if you're good, okay?

pretty predictably, cater is thrilled about your transformation! it's super cute and magicammable. don't worry, he has his phone, a brush, and a cute diamond hair clip on standby as soon as you enter his care. it's time for a makeover! he'll manage your fluffy fur into a nice style with the hair clip and take a bunch of pictures. once that's done, he'll take you out to the rose garden and just talk for hours with you. he takes notice of your every reaction and pets your cute ears in response. if you couldn't tell, he loves them. but it might be obvious due to how often his hands will gravitate towards them and just fondle them. gah, you're so cute! all these pictures might overtake his sheepy one!

ace was supposed to be beheaded for his crimes, but he seems to like punishment. somehow, he got his hands on you and you're terrified. but this time, it's all for nothing. surprisingly, ace was a much better caretaker than before. he fed you and kept you out of harms way enough the survive your time with him. but ace made his time with you special. a little dream of his was to pull a rabbit out of a hat, so he used a small teleportation spell to transport you from his bed, to be slowly pulled out of his top hat. with a "ta-da~!" leaving his lips, you begged to go again! it was fun, and ace was finally not putting you in harms way so its a win win.

sweet deuce always wanted a bunny growing up. he never got one, but perhaps this mishap was a blessing in disguise. he hugged you close to his chest gently when he first got to hold you and smiled brightly. deuce is a great caretaker. he'll bring you whatever you want, even if you shouldn't eat/have it, and he'll let you play outside for a nice long time! all he asks for in return are some cute snuggles and to let him pet your ears. his dreams will come true!

perhaps letting you stay in SAVANACLAW for a bit was a mistake. it was hot and scary. the blazing sun and dry conditions were nice, but the sand blowing in your face and wool was not. oh, and not to mention you were at the bottom of the food chain here. i mean, who's brilliant idea was it to keep a prey and a dorm full of predators?

be lucky leona values human you a bit. if he hadn't, who knows what would've happened to you? maybe a big, scary beastman would snatch you up, tun you into bunny stew, and eat you for dinner with no remorse. leona'll tell you all those things to try and scare you, but sevens forbid once of the losers in his dorm lay a hand on you. then, they'll turn into beastman stew and leona will slurp them up and go right back to bed while using you as a pillow.

how adorable could you get? ruggie will chuckle at your new form, his familiar laugh and smile making you feel a bit less stressed about the situation. as usual, leona will throw ruggie some money to take care of you, only use a bit for you and pocket the rest. he still cares, so he'll even watch you frolic and play around the botanical gardens or fields of savanaclaw.

jack is such a good boy, as always. he always takes care of you and does it pretty well. nice meals and groomings obviously. he'll also let you play around outside if you get bored, or do anything your little bunny brain wants. as long as it's in reason, he'll give it at least a thought. so, to put it short: no, [name], jack will not let you go inside the microwave to see what it feels like.

when approaching OCTAVINELLE, your best decision is to hop as far as you can and as fast as you can. but unfortunately, that cannot help your poor, unfortunate bunny soul for there are eels and octopuses that stop you from going before the fun begins.

dollar signs ring in azul's head as he hears about your form. hooray! marketing! you can either sit pretty in the eating area of the lounge or in his office for private pet sessions. for the cheap price of 1000 madol, a student can pet your cute little bunny ears. besides being a marketing tool for him, he cares for you pretty well.

jade drugs you. nothing more to say than that he wanted to give you some mushrooms and well, bunnies don't fair well with them. next thing you know, you're hallucinating carrots and [favorite food] and begin chomping away at him. jade only laughs. he's an okay caretaker. but he much enjoys seeing you woozy from just a common mushroom. he really wants to see what happens to you with psychedelics.

look, when you said you wanted to go in the microwave, you were joking! floyd attempts part 2 of attempting to cook his crush. it was crazy, honestly. floyd seemed to learn no lesson! but at least your so squeezable in this form! ah, his cuteness aggression is kicking in! he's still harsh, but at least the number of injuries has decreased. so perhaps something has changed. but let's not forget of his crimes. attempted microwave cooking, attempted drowning, yanking your ears, flicking your nose, and quite a few more that will most likely not end up on his record but should.

similar to savanaclaw, SCARABIA is a dorm with great living conditions for bunnies! most of the time, the dorm members are nice and the dry ground is fun to dig in.

kalim had changed a lot since last time. he's a lot better at taking care of you. if it's too warm, he'll make a little oasis. for you to swim in or drink out of. he'll let you hop around the desert planes of scarabia but he'll most likely lose you. and when he pets you, he's a bit rough from cuteness aggression, but he loves you and treats you like royalty nonetheless.

jamil is again your main caretaker, and again one of the best people you can end up with. nice food, well taken care of, lovely head-rubs and all sorts of affections. i'd like to believe that once upon a time kalim or one of his siblings had a rabbit and it turned into jamil's responsibility to take care of it. who would've know that their negligence would help him?

hopping into POMEFIORE was lovely. the scenery was breathtaking and it smelled of fresh fruits and apples. this is one of the only dorms you can hop around and just find food lying there. nice fields to get lost in, nice waters to swim in. this dorm is like bunny heaven!

vil is a great caretaker, and he'll carry you wherever you need to go. you know this little poodle pouch bag things, vil owns one just for you. after treating your wool, whiskers, and paws and such, he'll plop you right into his little bag and stroll around pomefiore to invoke the jealous stares of his dorm mates. now, you're the prettiest bunny with the prettiest man to carry you around!

you know those fields you like to get lost in? yeah, you're never really lost because rook always has his eye on you. he loves you as a bunny dearly. taking photos at every moment or chasing you just to see your ears and nose twitch in fear. it's hilarious to him! and insane for you to think he wouldn't just love to sneak up behind you, grab you, and hold you to his chest while giving you kisses all over your little bunny head and ears. as soon as you're back in human form, he'll give you some real kisses while he forces you to look at all the cute bunny pictures he has!

sweet epel shares his apples with you. back home, he was familiar with bunnies as they'd come into the orchard and try to steal apples. he'll cut them up into cute shapes for you so you don't have to hit the trees to try to get them to fall for you. again, he'll carve you a little apple figurine of you in bunny form. epel'll share some sweet moments of just talking as he rambles into his southern accent, like he used to do back home, but instead he's just rambling onto his crush.

IGNIHYDE is freezing! but luckily you have nice thick, fluffy wool to cover you and keep you warm. it's a refreshing change from the warm weather of other dorms, but one things the other dorms were definitely better at was their natural aspects. there was barely any outdoorsy space for you to frolic in!

idia has never considered having a garden in ignihyde, but your pleading bunny eyes and downturned ears somehow convince him. next thing you know, idia's had a small garden built for you to jump around in. he even leaves his room to watch you. when you aren't in his garden, he's sit you on his desk or lap and pet your ears as he games or something. perhaps he'll even give you some pomegranates to snack on. oops! looks like you have to stay in ignihyde just a bit longer~!

ortho is darling, really. he searches the web for how to perfectly care for you and caters to your every need. he even helps convince idia to make you that garden. he'll even take you to the gardens of night raven for you to be able to play around properly, and buy you some bunny feed. overall, good job ortho! he's a good caretaker.

DIASOMNIA is a scary place for a little bunny like yourself. oh, you thought you were being towered over in other dorms? that's funny! people are like giants here, and you haven't been this scared since octavinelle.

of course, malleus was left out of the meeting that explained that you would be passing through the dorm's care. he went to ramshackle expecting you, only to find you were at his dorm! he teleports there immediately, and smiles once he get's to hold you. he didn't think you could get any smaller! malleus was more interested in stone animals than anything, but a cute breathing bunny is fun too. especially when it's his child of man.

lillia should not be left in charge to care for you. well, at first he shouldn't. he'll play the ropes a bit and is quite rough at first. pulling your ears a bit and flicking your nose a bit too hard, but he'll suddenly flip a switch and is super gentle and sweet. nice pets, kind words, the whole kindness bundle. but then, he tries to feed you. and you're certain it was all a act to get you to trust him and for him to feed you his awful food! once you're human again, he'll wonder why you have a little grudge with him, not understanding that he's nearly killed you with his food.

silver is missing in action. not a bad caretaker or a good one. but he naturally has animals gravitate to him so he barely noticed having you hop in. once he familiarizes himself with you and realizes you're not just some woodland creature, you're his friend and his crush, he'll straighten up his act a bit and make sure you're taken care of especially. although it makes the other animals jealous, silver can't help but hold you specifically while he's sleeping. it's so sweet!

sebek is okay. he's not all that familiar with animals, but can hold his own in taking care of you. you're fed pretty nice meals but not given that much affection. his cuteness aggression might kick in, so he refrains from it. he'll also try to watch his voice, because he knows it'll hurt your ears if he's too loud.

[pitchsidestories]

Autumn leaves II Lia Wälti x Reader

"Do you ever wonder if the stars shine out for you? Float down Like autumn leaves Hush now Close your eyes before the sleep" ~ Ed Sheeran, Autumn Leaves

arsenal women masterlist I word count: 2509

With a smile on your lips, you watched Lia sweep the back porch of your house outside of London. The weather had slowly started to turn. Summer was saying goodbye with the last warm days of the year, while simultaneously, autumn was slowly arriving. The leaves had lost their green and started to fall, landing all over your backyard and your porch. For a second you just stood there and enjoyed your favourite season. But the smile suddenly disappeared from your face when your girlfriend started putting all the leaves into a bin.

“Lia, what are you doing? Don’t put all the leaves in there!“, you exclaimed. The Swiss football player flinched; “What? Why not?“ “Where are the hedgehogs supposed to get cozy when it’s time for them to hibernate?“ Lias eyes went soft as you explained your reasoning to her but she still rolled her eyes at you; “Oh my god.“ Fully aware that it was lovingly gesture, you asked; “Could we please use those leaves to make a spot for the wildlife in the corner of our garden?“ “Yeah, sure.“, Lia nodded, smiling and handed you the bin with the leaves. “Thanks, love.“ You put them into a pile in the farthest corner while Lia continued to clean your porch.

On your way back to her, you picked up some of the pumpkins growing in a small pumpkin patch. Proudly, you held them out to Lia; “Look, the pumpkins were ready. Do you use them as decoration or as dinner tonight?“ Your girlfriend carefully took one of the pumpkins and contemplated; “I’d like to use them as decoration. What do you think? Let’s put one on the table and a few on the porch?“ You nodded with excitement; “Yes, that sounds like a great idea.“ You placed a pumpkin on the table that you two moved outside earlier and set down the rest on the floor. Lia watched you happily, then turned around to look at the sky; “It’s still nice enough to eat outside, right?“ “Yes, with some more blankets, pillows and candles, it should be very cozy and comfy.“, you agreed, hugging yourself at the thought of how cute your garden will look.

“Do you want to take care of that, in the meantime I can start cooking?” With an innocent look you asked: ”Sure. Can I get a kiss before that?” The question melted the swiss woman’s heart, but she pretended to stay cool and just replied in a casual tone:” Okay fine.” It felt like the time was taking a break just like the nature did, as you two kissed each other.

Sadly, you both had still a lot to do before your guests would arrive, so you had to stop the kiss. A wide smirk was on your face as you remarked:” Now we can go back to work.” “Good.”, the brunette clapped encouraging into her heads.

It took you some time to make the setup outside as cozy and aesthetically pleasing for your friends as you liked. Eventually you told your girlfriend:” Everything is ready.” “The food is almost too.”, Lia answered fast, satisfied about how smooth the preparations were going.

You could not help but to enter the kitchen and taste the sauce with a little spoon:” It already smells delicious. Oh my god, this tastes great.” The midfielder was laughing while she playfully pushed you away from her territory: “Hey! That’s for the girls.” “Sorry, I’ll just hop into the shower real quick and change my outfit before our guests are slowly coming in.”, you apologized with a childish grin on your lips.

Sternly the swiss woman was looking at the clock:” Go ahead. But we don’t have much time left.” “I’ll be fast, promised.”, you sad to her, placing a soft kiss on her head. A slight blush was creeping up on your girlfriend’s cheeks, with a sigh she stated: “Alright. Just be dressed when the girls show up.”

Most of the girls arrived punctual on your terrace. Curiously Beth Mead turned to her dark haired teammate: ”Lia, where’s your flower girl?” “Flower girl?”, she glanced confused at her. Vivianne Miedema rolled her eyes because of her girlfriend’s goofy behaviour and explained: “Sorry, Beth is very proud of the nickname she came up with for your girlfriend.” Now it made sense to the older woman as your profession laid in gardening.

Slightly out of breath you turned up behind your girlfriend:” I’m here. Hi, girls.” “Hi, great to see you.”, Leah Williamson greeted you back, happy to see your face. Warmly you hugged the English defender:” Good to see you all too. Hi, Leah. Oh, and there are our two scots.”

Cheekily Jen Beattie smiled at you, Kim Little at her side observing everything with a quiet smile on her face:” Something is missing if we’re not here yet, right?”

Before you could comment on the older Scottish woman Steph Catley came up the porch with her dog Calvin who was very excited to see everyone again: “Sorry guys for being late. Calvin made some new dog friends along the way to your place.”

“That we have too many happy couples everywhere.”, the team captain joked. Instinctively you were reaching for Lia’s hand while turning your attention to the older player: “Kim, do you want a little more of that wine?”   “No, I have to drive the others home.”, the Scottish midfielder shook her head. Amused Jen commented: “Always the captain even in civil.”

Earnest Kim looked at you and Lia:” But you should know, I was just joking. I’m happy for you two.” “We know, Kimmy, don’t worry.”, you reassured her.

Solemnly the tall Scottish defender lifted her glass:” We need to drink to you two.” “Oh yes, but afterwards we need to hear all about your engagement.”, Steph squealed excited, since she herself got engaged, she could not get enough of those stories.

Quickly Lia told her: “There’s not much to tell anyway.” “What do you mean by that?”, Beth noisily asked.

A soft sigh escaped your fiancées lip as she started to tell her friends about your engagement: “It was rather plain. I asked her on our holiday after World Cup.

Behind your closed eyes you were seeing that moment she was referring to you like a beloved film, the lovely swiss landscape in the background, you two enjoying a picnic, the brunette going down on her knee to ask you the question to which you only knew one answer to, yes.  

Kim’s voice was bringing you back to the present:” I like that simple, classic, straight to the point.” “Kim!”, Jen scoffed annoyed at her old friend.

“Of course you do, with a smile Leah continued, Can we see the ring?” “Sure, that’s the one.”, you nodded while the blonde defender took her time to admire it. Her grin deepened as she turned to look at the Swiss woman: “But the ring is not as simple and plain. Nice choice, Wally.”

The compliment from her stylish friend made Lia beam even more:” Thanks, Lee. Ana helped me picking the right ring.”  “Can’t believe you asked Ana instead of me. You know how much free time I have at the moment.”, Lia pouted.

The last thing the brunette wanted was to offend one of her closest friends in London: “I’m so sorry.”  “I forgive you this time.” “Thanks.”, the midfielder let out a  relieved breath she did not knew she was holding.  

“But only because you two look so happy.“, Leah added with her arms crossed in front of her chest. You gave her a shy smile; “We’re very happy.“ “That is so cute.“, Beth grinned. She obviously didn’t miss Lias hand grabbing yours under the table. This time, even Vivianne nodded along; “Yes, you two have been dating for so long.“ “Yes, it felt like it was the right time.“, Lia agreed, looking at you. “True.“, you smiled back at her.

Finally, Lia tore her eyes away from yours and slowly stood up; “It’s getting dark. Let me light some candles.“ She lit the candles on the table and a few bigger outdoor candles. Calvin lazily lifted his head, watching her like his owner did too. “It’s so perfect.“, Steph gushed.

The sun had finally set and the faces of the football players were now illuminated by the flames. Leah leaned back in her chair and pulled a blanket onto her lap; “I could stay here forever.“ “You guys can sleep here if you want to.“, you offered with a shrug. Jen raised her eyebrows; “All of us?“ Unimpressed, you tilted your head; “Nothing we didn’t do before.“ A smile spread on Leahs face as she remembered the nights spend on the floor of Lias and your living room; “That’s true.“ “Girls.“, Kim interrupted. Jen looked down to her; “What?“ “I think the fiancées would prefer to have their home to themselves tonight.“, their captain continued. “Yeah, but they offered it, so… their fault.“, Jen shrugged. Leah nodded in support; “Exactly!“ “It’s fine, Kim. Really.“, Lia assured her but still looked grateful for the effort. Unconvinced, Kim gave in; “Okay, if you say so.“ “Just trust us. So, who wants dessert?“ Lia was already back up on her feet before the question was even out.

“Me!“, yelled Beth delighted while the rest answered with murmurs of agreement. “I think we all do.“, Leah summarized. “Yes, we all love dessert.“, agreed Vivianne. “Coming.“ With that Lia disappeared back into the kitchen. As she came back out and served them all the dessert she had prepared all morning. “This makes the opening game loss feel a little lighter.“, Steph said as she took the plate from Lia. Jen cringed; “No talk about that tonight.“ Admonishing, Lia waved her spoon in the Australians directions; “Exactly. We don’t talk about football here.“

The Swiss woman was thankful for Vivianne as she proposed a question to her fiancée: “Did you grew the pumpkins on your own?” “Yes, I did, if you guys want to you can take some of them to your home.”, you offered your guests with a proud smile. Delighted by that offer Beth turned to her girlfriend:” Viv, we should take one with us.” “Oh yes. Next time, we’ll all meet at our place and carve some Halloween pumpkins.”, the Dutch replied delighted.  Excited the Blonde nodded along:” And I’ll make some pumpkin soup.” “We’ll be there.”, you winked at them. Happily, Beth said:” Good. Next girl night is planned.” “Yeah, I’m sure the kids will join us too.”, her girlfriend added with a grin on her face.

Laughing Kim interjected:” Does that mean the grandmas have to stay at home?” “No, you two are always welcome.”, Beth clarified. At the same time Jen gasped dramatically:” What do you mean us two? I’m not a grandma.” “You’re over thirty that makes you a grandma in football age!”, the smaller Scot scoffed.  The taller Scottish defender gave her an amused look: “We’ve two very different views on our ages, Kim.” “I know that.”, Kim grinned back.

After all your friends had eaten Lia was cleaning the dishes in the kitchen while you watched her doing eat:” Wait, let me help you with that, love.” Oh, it’s fine. I can do it.”, the brunette reassured you. “No really, it’s too much for one alone.”, you grabbed a towel to dry the wet plates. “Okay then. I won’t stop you.” “You didn’t listen to the grandma talk, right?”, you asked cautiously. Smiling the midfielder shook her head: “No, I know they don’t mean me yet.” She paused for a moment before adding: “But I like having the girls around.” “Same, I love them so much.”, you agreed.

Thoughtfully Lia glanced at you :“Me too. But I also don’t mind being alone with you.” “Like right now?”, you replied. “Yes.” “Me too.”, you whispered, you two feeling the warmth and homely feeling between you. That made Lia giggle out loud: “Oh, I know.” More serious she continued: “I’m really tired. Should we leave the rest to clean up tomorrow.” “Yeah.”

The tiredness slowly crept into your bones aswell but it was a good one. From the way your eyes were going down the brunette decided:” Okay, let’s go to bed.”

On the way to your bedroom, you two paused to look lovingly into the living room as you whispered into her ear:” The rest is already asleep in there.” “They are the cutest.”, Lia admitted. “I agree.”

Only a few minutes later you were finally cozied up in your bed. The midfielder putted an arm around you, your eyes where already closed while you mumbled your voice already sleepy:” Good night, Lia.” “Sleep well, my love.”, she responded giving you a good night kiss before you both felt into a deep peaceful slumber.

[0vergrowngraveyard]

Tails is missing.

Those three words echoed in Amy's mind as she paced around the Restoration’s control room and to say she was stressed out was a huge understatement.

Not only was Tails one of her closest friends, his big brother didn’t know about it…

And said big brother would be here any second.

They had sent the fox on a simple solo mission. It was easy. Just check out a spot that had a signal where a signal shouldn’t be. He’d done it plenty of times with Sonic so there couldn’t have been any harm in sending him off alone, right?

Wrong. Somehow his comm went offline and his location just vanished. Vanished! Tails never took off his communicator and would make a huge fuss about whenever someone did! He almost glued the watch onto Knuckles’ wrist for crying out loud! Why would he suddenly take his off?

It didn’t make any sense. Tails was way too cautious of this situation to be happening at all.

It was entirely possible that he accidentally turned off his communicator, but the fact that it hadn’t responded for almost 30 minutes shed some doubt on that optimistic train of thought.

Luckily, they had his last known location, which was a few feet away from the point, and that’s why Sonic was on his way over. If anyone could get to that point fast enough, it was him.

Only problem is that Sonic didn’t even know about the kit’s solo mission. Amy didn’t think they had to tell him because Tails was growing into his own hero and, again, it was a simple mission that shouldn’t have even taken him an hour! But, of course, the one time Sonic isn’t involved in any missions that Tails has, it all goes horribly wrong and now she has to explain that to the blue hedgehog who was rapidly approaching her location.

The familiar sound of a dash and volunteers getting angry came from outside the room and her breath hitched.

Chaos, he was here way too soon.

“Hey Ames! Sorry I’m late! Saw a chilidog stand on the way and you know me! Just couldn’t resist.” Sure enough, there was a chilidog in his hand. He took a bite before continuing, “So, what d’you need? What's up?”

If Amy wasn’t sweating before, she sure was now. The way Sonic was staring at her was enough to make her start crying right there. His usual grin and friendly emerald eyes unknowingly stabbing daggers right through her.

It felt like she had betrayed him. His little brother was missing and it was partially her fault. She should’ve just gone with her gut and told him about everything.

She just knew that Tails was working really hard to grow out of Sonic’s shadow (or at least that’s how he phrased it) and she just thought that maybe he’d appreciate getting a solo mission! Show him that the Restoration didn’t just see him as Sonic’s sidekick, but as his own person!

How she wished she could turn back time and stop herself.

“Ames?”

She had been staring.

“Ah! I-I’m sorry, must’ve just spaced out for a second haha!” She laughed nervously leading him over to the computers.

“Ooooookay. So what’s this all about? You said something about checking up on someone?” He asked.

Her heart sank. She had to tell him, there was no dancing around it.

“Yeah… about that,” She anxiously tapped her thumbs together.

Sonic cocked a brow at her, a teasing grin appearing on his muzzle. “Yeah, about that.” The hand not holding the chilidog went to his hip as he leaned into it.

She inhaled sharply.

Just get it over with, he needs to know.

“The person you need to check on is Tails.”

Sonic just stared at her for a few seconds before chuckling a bit. It felt so out of place but he didn’t know that.

“I saw him yesterday. He’s at his workshop.” He took a bite of his food, “Y’know, you should really visit sometime! It’s been awhile!”

When he noticed that Amy wasn’t smiling or looking at all relieved, his grin faltered, “Ames, he’s fine, I’m serious! If you need proof, just check his location!” He brought up his wrist, “Look, I’ll even check it no—“

“Sonic, he’s not at his workshop.” She blurted out before he could check.

The blue hedgehog stared at her as he slowly lowered his wrist. His grin was completely gone, a confused stare taking its place.

“What are you talking about?” He asked.

Amy took a shaky breath, “Please…please don’t get mad…”

Now he looked worried. “What? Amy? I won’t, just tell me what’s going on? Where’s Tails?”

You could always tell when Sonic’s patented “Big Brother Mode” was activating. He just had a certain stare he gave you when you even hinted that his little brother may be in trouble. It was a look of worry, fear, and worst of all, anger.

An angry Sonic was a Sonic you didn’t want to mess with. Not much really made him mad, his chill personality was definitely not just a public opinion, but there were a few things in life that really set him off…

and something happening to his little brother was at the very top of that list.

“Sonic, I..” Her voice shook, “I don’t know.”

—————

Sonic had been having a great day. A fantastic day, even.

He had spent it checking out old spots he and Tails used to make camp at, making mental notes that they should spend the night at a few of these locations for old times sake. It could be a week-long camping trip for them! It had been some time since the two of them slept under the stars together!

Visiting these places made him nostalgic in ways he never knew he could feel. He missed the days when all he and his brother had were a backpack and a few heroic deeds to their name. When their biggest worries were Scratch and Grounder, not gods and wars.

Back when his little brother was the sweetest, most adorable little four year old to ever exist (that was a fact, not an opinion).

They were simpler times.

He was so excited to get back home and tell his brother all about his idea so imagine his surprise when he gets a call from the Restoration saying something about needing to check up on someone who wasn’t responding to any calls only to find out that person is supposedly Tails.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” He didn’t want to get mad right after he told Amy he wouldn’t, but the hedgehog had no idea how long he’d be able to keep his cool. “Just…just tell me what’s going on.”

Amy turned her gaze to the floor for a few beats, tears pricked her eyes. He started tapping his foot impatiently.

He really didn’t want to be mad at Amy. She was twelve years old and, while she wasn’t in charge of the Restoration anymore, she played a huge part in making sure it stayed afloat. She was already under a lot of stress and raising his voice would not help that.

She inhaled before speaking. “We sent him on a solo mission and his comm suddenly went offline.”

She must’ve seen the look on his face because words came flooding out of her mouth to attempt to explain.

“Sonic, I swear it was nothing dangerous. We just had him go check something out! A weird signal! That’s all!” She cried out. “He’d done it plenty of times before! I-I just thought this wouldn’t be any different! I-“

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He cut her off. His tone was harsh and he almost cringed at the way it made her wince. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that his worry for his little brother’s safety was strongly overpowering his worry about hurting his friend’s feelings.

It sucked, but he was a big brother first and foremost.

“Because I didn’t think it was a big deal! He's gone to check Chaos Emerald reading on his own, this wasn’t any different! He probably would’ve even been back by now!” The pink hedgehog reasoned, a few tears had slipped down her muzzle.

“Yea, ‘not very different’. Except it’s very different because it was an unknown signal! Not a Chaos Emerald reading! That signal could’ve been anything!” He didn’t mean to raise his voice but damn it, he was stressing out. “And even when he goes to look for Emerald readings on his own, I still know where he is in case of situations like these! I always know where he is because he’s eight years old, Amy! He shouldn’t even be looking for readings alone but he does anyway!”

He didn’t even realize he had thrown his free hand up, still holding onto the chilidog in the other, and walked a few steps away from her. His free hand was on his forehead as his mind flooded with all the scenarios his baby brother could be in right now. Images of Tails being scared and/or hurt and his screams of pain played over and over again.

Finally, he turned to look at Amy. For a lack of better words, she looked awful. Her quills were a mess and she looked seconds away from breaking down.

“How long?” He asked

“W-what?”

“How long has his communicator been offline?”

It took a few beats for her to finally respond. “Around 30 minutes ago…”

All Sonic could do was stare. The chilidog in his hand fell to the floor with a disgusting splat.

30 minutes. 30 whole minutes. Chaos knows what happened to his little brother and it took them 30 minutes to call him?! Why was he even told to come to the Restoration HQ? He should’ve been at his last known location by now figuring out what happened!

Oh Chaos what if it was too late. It had to be, right? Sure, 48 hours was usually the crucial time when it came to missing children, but in this line of work, even just 5 minutes alone could spell disaster, let alone 30!

“30 minutes…why didn’t you just send me the coordinates?! Why did you ask me to come here?!”

“I don’t know! I- I just panicked! This has never happened before and I didn’t know what to do!” She collapsed to her knees, tears streaming down her muzzle as she held her face in her hands.

He felt bad for yelling at her, he hated yelling at his younger friends, but self control was something that was in limited supply at the moment. He looked at the floor, his quills raised as if the knowledge of Tails possibly being in danger meant that the hedgehog was in danger as well.

His legs were itching to just get out of this damn room.

“I’m so sorry, Sonic…Tails could be hurt and it’s all my fault…I should’ve told you…I shouldn’t have even sent him alone…I’m so sorry…” She cried into her hands.

Sonic didn’t respond to her.

Instead, he looked around the room at all the Mobians who were staring at him in fear. None of them had ever seen the hero this upset before.

“Someone send me his last known coordinates.” He demanded. “Now.”

One of the volunteers at the computer quickly typed something into the device and clicked the mouse a few times. His own communicator in his wrist lit up with a notification.

A set of coordinates on the outskirts of White Park Zone.

With the location already memorized, he gave a nod to the Mobian at the computer who sent him a shaky thumbs up back.

He looked back down at Amy. He wanted to say something, wanted to say that it wasn’t her fault and that everything would be okay, but he couldn’t find his voice.

He ran out of the HQ, pushing himself to go faster and faster. He’d already wasted too much time talking.

‘Hang tight, keed. I’m on my way.’ He thought as the boom of a broken sound barrier shook the area around him.

—————

Somewhere far from White Park Zone, a little fox slowly opened his blue eyes. A headache pounding against his skull as he tried to make sense of the area around him through his concussion.

He didn’t remember much, only the feeling of something hard hitting the back of his head and blacking out. He remembered he was checking something out for Amy, it had been his first solo mission for the Restoration! Except that mission seemed to have gone wrong.

He just hoped his brother wasn’t mad at him.

[blackenedsnow]

Hi! I love your work and how you write for serious topics. I loved your sonic post! can you do one of him with an anorexic reader? and make the reader heal a little, slowly?

petals of wilt

WARNING: Anorexia, disordered eating habits, self destructive behaviour,

PAIRING: Sonic The Hedgehog x Anorexic! Reader

NOTE: I've been in your place.. and it’s so very scary. I'm rooting for you, and everybody reading.

SUMMARY: You struggle with an eating disorder that’s consuming you from within. Despite your efforts to hide the pain, Sonic notices your declining health and expresses his concern.

The scale sat silently in the corner of your bedroom. It had become a constant companion in your life, an unforgiving judge of your worth, dictating the value of your existence. You would stand on it, watching as the numbers climbed or dropped, heart racing in anticipation. Today, you were frozen. Unable to face its verdict, knowing it never spoke kindly.

It’s been days since you’ve eaten anything substantial. Just water, maybe some crackers when the nausea hit too hard. Even then, you regretted it, feeling weak—pathetic even—as if those few crumbs would ruin everything. The cold ache in your stomach was your punishment, but also your security. It’s all you had. It’s all you could control.

You sighed, running a hand down your face, staring out the window at the flowers Sonic had brought you. They were in full bloom now—bright reds, yellows, and pinks. Their petals wide open, basking in the sunlight. Alive, thriving. So unlike you.

You hated them.

You could never be like them. You were wilting. Slowly, quietly, just like the ones he brought you last time. They had shriveled up within days, their once-vibrant petals now curled and brown, the life drained out of them. You wondered if you looked like that too—fragile, brittle, on the verge of crumbling into nothing.

A knock on the door startled you out of your thoughts. You knew who it was before you even answered.

Sonic pushed the door open slightly, peeking in. His eyes met yours, concern clouding the usual carefree spark in his gaze. You hated that look. You didn't want him to see you like this.

“Hey,” he said softly, stepping inside and shutting the door behind him. "I brought you something."

In his hand, he held a small bouquet of wildflowers. More flowers. He placed them gently on the windowsill next to the others, glancing at the old ones that had withered. He didn’t say anything about them.

Instead, he turned back to you, his brow furrowing. “Have you... eaten today?”

You swallowed, throat dry, and looked away. The question stung, like he was pointing out every flaw you had. Every weakness. You shook your head, barely moving it. The silence that followed was suffocating.

“I know it’s hard,” he murmured, stepping closer. “But you’ve got to eat something. Even just a little.”

The scale caught your eye again. It called to you, taunting you, reminding you that every bite, every calorie would show up as numbers. Numbers that would label you, define you. You couldn’t let that happen. You couldn’t let yourself slip.

But Sonic was standing there, waiting. His eyes were pleading, his hand reaching out, gently grazing your arm. His touch was warm, grounding, a reminder that he was real. That you weren’t alone.

“I don’t... I can’t,” you whispered, voice cracking. You hated how weak you sounded. How helpless.

“You can,” Sonic said firmly, his grip tightening just a little. “I’m here. We’ll do it together, okay?”

His words lingered in the air between you. You wanted to believe him, wanted to trust him, but the weight of your own mind was suffocating. The envy bubbled up inside you. Why couldn’t you be like him? So strong, so fast, so... alive. He didn’t have to worry about things like food or weight or the scale in the corner. His body worked like a well-oiled machine, efficient, powerful. Perfect.

You, on the other hand, were a mess.

“I wish I was like you,” you muttered under your breath, not meaning for him to hear. But he did.

Sonic’s grip loosened, his face softening. “What do you mean?”

You bit your lip, tears welling up in your eyes before you could stop them. “You... you don’t have to worry about any of this. You’re... perfect.”

There was a long pause. The air in the room felt thick, heavy with everything you weren’t saying.

“I’m not perfect,” Sonic said finally, his voice quiet but steady. “I mess up all the time. I get scared. I worry. Just like you.”

You shook your head. “It’s not the same.”

“No,” he admitted. “It’s not. But that doesn’t mean I’m not here for you.”

His words were kind, but they didn’t change the gnawing ache in your chest. The envy. The hatred for your own body, your own mind. Sonic could say all the right things, bring you flowers, hold you when you cried, but none of it could fix what was broken inside of you.

Nothing could.

“Just... give it a try,” he said softly, pulling a small container from his bag. He opened it to reveal a piece of toast. Plain, simple. Nothing fancy. Nothing that would send the numbers on the scale skyrocketing. Just enough to give you a little strength.

You stared at it for what felt like an eternity. Your stomach turned at the thought of eating, but something inside you—some tiny, fragile part that wasn’t completely lost yet—wanted to try. For him.

For you.

Your hand trembled as you reached for it. Sonic didn’t say anything, just stood there, watching you with quiet encouragement. You took a small bite. It felt foreign, heavy, but not unbearable. You chewed slowly, forcing yourself to swallow, to let it sit inside you without panic.

The scale was still there, looming in the corner of your vision. But for the first time in a long time, you didn’t rush to it.

Sonic smiled softly, squeezing your hand. “That’s a start.”

It wasn’t much. It wasn’t enough to fix everything, to make you whole again. But it was something. A tiny step forward. And maybe, just maybe, that was enough for now.

The flowers beside you swayed gently in the breeze from the open window, their petals brushing against each other. They were still vibrant, still blooming. You weren’t like them yet. Not fully. But maybe, just maybe, there was a part of you that could learn to grow again.

As the days stretched on, you found yourself taking small steps. Some days, you could stomach a little more. Other days, you couldn’t manage more than a few bites. But Sonic never gave up on you. He was always there, with his wildflowers and his gentle smile, reminding you that you were still here. That you were still alive.

The envy never fully went away. You still looked at Sonic and wished you were like him—strong, fast, invincible. But there were moments, fleeting as they were, where you saw glimpses of strength in yourself. A different kind of strength. One that wasn’t about running or fighting or saving the world. One that was about surviving. About waking up each day and choosing to keep going, even when it felt impossible.

The scale still sat in the corner of your room. But it wasn’t the center of your life anymore. It was just... there.

And as the wildflowers continued to bloom on your windowsill, you found yourself watching them with less bitterness and more curiosity. Maybe, just maybe, you could bloom too.

Even if it took time.

[raustenacious]

I noticed I felt dizzy weird on sonic when I was tryna move the seat to look for my headphone and I felt like woozy so I was like hol up no more warm air and need faster music and I’d thought it had helped but then I went to get out of sonic but then I was holding onto the door and like my eyes closed and I felt woozy tired and almost fell thankfully didn’t cus I woulda hit the car next to me but it’s not good

I can hardly walk in a straight line am I dying

[koritoraa]

Hawt grl blowing a kiss at them in the mall ❦

A/n: in which they got caught up and distracted from whatever they doing due to your beauty & you noticed so you blew a kiss at them and they spaz tf out like mfs choking, tripping, slipping, bumping into thing, dropping things……

With my boysss: Gojo, Yuji, Megumi & Yuta

❦ Gojo

❧ He was shopping in the glasses aisle until you walk up next to him and started looking at some glasses too. He started checking you out, you noticed that from the side of your eyes. You thought he was fine as hell, so once you was done shopping you looked over at him and gave him a wink then blow him a kiss and on your way out.

❧ Before he could even do anything back he froze up, he wasn't expecting you to do that. He wanted to be funny and silly flirt with you back but that just didn't happen. All he knew is that he needed your number expeditiously.

❧ He ran out the store without paying for the glasses in his hand searching around for you. His ass wasn't even paying attention to anything until he bump into someone & trip over they shoe. PLZZZ he was not trying to let his dream girl get away...but you did 😞...

❦ Yuji

❧ Yuji was sitting in the food court munching down on some fries minding his lil ole business. He was talking and waving to whoever the hell was in sight. He was just very friendly, he’s like a bright light and you thought he was too adorable for this world.

❧ You were sitting a table over from his and saw him stuffing his face like the little cutie he was, until he looked over at you. He waved at you with a big smile on his face and you waved back then blew him little kiss.

❧ He seen that and that was the beginning of the worst for this poor bby. His fry nearly got stuck in his throat and on top of that when he was about to run and get something to drink he fell face flat into his fries. Ketchup was all over his face but at least the fry wasn’t stuck in his throat…

❧ You felt bad that any of that happen like he had the worst of luck all cuz of you being so hawt. You went over there to go check on him and help get all clean up, he was very appreciative and a little shy. You just wanted to put him in your purse and take him home. He’s too precious :(

❦ Megumi

❧ You was looking for a specific store and it was your first time coming to this mall in particular so you ask the first person you saw, some dude that had a hedgehog style hair.

❧ When he first turn around to face you he was already stumbling over his words, you snatched his soul with your beauty already. Regardless all that stuttering had you giggling at him being all shy around you.

❧ After he told you where to find the store he offered to walk you there and you agree. Once you were there you gave him your thanks then blew a kiss at him. All he heard was “Thank you, sweetie.” and went blank. Mf ain’t heard nun else. He quickly said you’re welcome then ran downstairs nearly busting his ass. Bless his heart.

❦ Yuta

❧ You was sitting at the food court in front of a fast food restaurant chatting away with your friends about what y’all had planned for the day.

❧ Yuta was standing at the cash register working at the same place you were sitting in front of. You and your friends were really noisy, the food court was filled with all of yall laughs. Yuta didn’t mind since he thought your laugh was very cute and silly, from time to time he would look up at you and you would look at him. This went on for a few minutes.

❧ One of your friends dared you to blow a kiss at him so they could see his reaction. You thought the idea was pretty silly but gave in anyway. When you two locked eyes with each other again you quickly blew him a kiss then waited for his reaction.

❧ He was in the middle of counting money from the cash register but that threw him off and he ended up dropping some change. You just saw him scrambling around trying his best to not to drop anything else, he was over there fighting for his life. You and your friends was laughing at how cute and clumsy he look all cause of the air kiss you sent him. He’s just a silly guy.

WHY THIS POST SO REALL ???LIKEEEE ????

[writingtraumaforever]

Uncontrolled Chaos: Chapter 9

Notes: Shadow is but a simple boy. He needs a nap and coffee, and he’s an angel. Which frankly? Relatable. Longest chapter so far! And finally a smidge of fluff. :3

Summary: Shadow helps Sonic with a small burn, and in return, he wants answers.

Chapter Select!

Link to my AO3!

Start:

Groggy eyes slowly open, heavy still from slumber but awake nonetheless.

Ruby orbs meet the ceiling, staring at it thoughtlessly a moment before a long yawn soon interrupts that. Black and red arms stretch high above his head, reaching to ease his aching muscles.

He feels much better than before. Well-rested and not so fatigued.

Moving to sit up, Shadow takes a moment to gather himself. Rubbing his eyes with his gloved fist, he sighs heavy and processes his current situation.

Right.

Different dimension.

Impending doom.

All good things, all good things.

He drops his hands on the couch with a sigh and looks around the room. No one is there, but he isn’t naive enough to believe he’s been left alone.

And as if on cue, his ear flickers at the sound of a quiet beep from the kitchen followed by some movement and soft clanking.

He debates on simply laying back down to be unbothered, but the smell that wafts into the living room and makes his nose twitch gets his attention.

Coffee.

His stomach growls.

He could use some food, too..

After a moment of hesitance, he gives in and pushes himself up off the couch and walks towards the doorway of the kitchen..

This world’s Sonic is there, sure as hell, pouring coffee into a mug and mixing some sugar with it along with some caramel sand milk and whipped cream— ruining it, in Shadow’s opinion.

Though, it would seem this world’s Shadow must feel differently seeing as his coffee bar is littered with all sorts of add-ins and sweeteners.

Sonic hasn’t noticed Shadow’s presence quite yet, moving about the kitchen as if it’s his own. As if he’s so comfortable invading Shadow’s home.

He supposes he can’t be mad at him for it. This isn’t technically his home, so he loses nothing from this anyway.

Stirring his “coffee”, Sonic lifts it to blow on the top and then sip at it. He shivers a bit and then hums pleased to himself before turning to grab another mug and—

“Shadow!”

Sonic flinches, not having expected Shadow to be standing there watching, and managing to spill a good little portion of piping hot coffee on his gloved hand.

Sonic immediately hisses, moving fast to set the mug down on the counter and turn around to face the sink.

Shadow’s eyes watch the blue hedgehog as he quickly works his glove off, blushing ever so slightly at the sight of seeing Sonic gloveless on one hand and averting his gaze appropriately to give him some privacy.

Turning the sink on, Sonic lets his burnt hand sit under the cold water with a small wince of pain followed by a slow sigh of relief..

Shadow frowns, keeping his gaze down at Sonic’s feet before he eventually speaks, “Are.. you alright?”

“Huh?? Oh- yeah, I’m fine. Just got boiled a bit,” Sonic chuckles a bit awkwardly, sparing Shadow a glance over his shoulder and taking notice in how Shadow is looking away.

Interesting.

Sonic purses his lips a bit, a slight smile on his muzzle as he speaks, “It’s alright, Shads, you ain’t gotta look away.”

“You aren’t wearing your glove,” Shadow responds simply, “It’s Mobian tradition to wear them as a form of privacy—“

“Yes, I know that,” Sonic chuckles with a quirk of his brow at Shadow, “I don’t know if you knew this, but I am Mobian.”

Shadow blushes a bit at the way Sonic makes him feel stupid, huffing at the hedgehog’s attitude and tightening his fists at his sides, “I am choosing to look away for your sake, Hedgehog.”

Sonic turns the cold water off, moving to the refrigerator and opening the freezer door to pull out a bag of-… is that pizza rolls?? What the hell sort of junk is this Shadow putting in his body??

Placing the frozen bag on his hand, Sonic bumps it shut with his hip and turns to Shadow with a smile,

“And I appreciate that, but it ain’t necessary. I’m fine showing my hand in front of you, Shadow.”

Shadow is a bit thrown off by that, but he doesn’t comment. He never understood the reasoning behind the gloves anyway. Being raised with humans on the ARK didn’t exactly provide him with a lot of knowledge on Mobian customs. And the people on the ARK certainly weren’t walking around with gloves on all hours of the day.

Still, he adapted to the Mobian custom rather easily once on earth, growing use to putting his gloves on every morning and taking them off before bed. Use to looking away if someone’s slipped off.

Never once has the Sonic in his world seemed even remotely comfortable showing his paws to anyone, least of all Shadow.

“I see..,” Shadow responds quietly, eyes watching Sonic move back to the coffee machine and pull out a second mug.

“I made you coffee,” Sonic says with a small hum, pouring a second cup with his free hand while balancing the pizza rolls on his burnt one.

“I don’t like anything in my coffee,” Shadow mutters, shaking his head to reject Sonic’s frufru coffee.

Sonic just snorts, “Yeah, I know.” He turns to hold out the mug for Shadow, “That’s why it’s just black.”

Shadow eyes the coffee. Then Sonic a moment. Then he slowly reaches out to take the coffee in hand, “Thank you..”

Sonic just winks, “Sure thing.”

Moving to grab his own mug again, Sonic walks around Shadow to the kitchen island, taking a seat on one of the stools there and leaning against the countertop.

Shadow ponders him a moment but eventually moves to sit next to the hero.

Or— he assumes Sonic is a hero in this world. It’s hard to imagine any world where Sonic doesn’t butt his heroic antics into every situation possible.

Sitting next to Sonic now, Shadow takes a slow sip of his coffee and immediately sighs in relief. He swears he feels whatever is left of his headache immediately dissipate. His ears twitch when he hears Sonic chuckle next to him, peeking his eyes open— he hadn’t even realized he shut them— to glance at him out of his peripheral and finding an amused blue hedgehog smiling into his mug at him.

“…What?” the black hedgehog the coffee from around his mouth.

“Nothin’,” Sonic shrugs with a tilt of his head, “Just.. nice to see some Shadow things are a constant.”

Shadow hums at this, not quite smiling but his eyes seem a bit amused at this as well.

“If another version of me yet again shows up on your doorstep one day and doesn’t like coffee, murder him for me.”

Sonic snorts at that, rolling his eyes with a chuckle as he sips his own coffee, “No promises.”

Shadow smirks slightly to himself. This isn’t intolerable. Which is odd. Usually any moment with this ridiculous idiot is insufferably obnoxious. Sonic rarely holds a decent conversation without pissing Shadow off or insulting him or just being plain stupid.

This Sonic seems… calm.

If only they could trade.

They sit in a long moment of silence sipping their drinks, comfortable with the quiet and enjoying the warm beverages in their palms..

Eventually the hero breaks the silence, though.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better,” Shadow nods.

“Less grouchy?” Sonic teases, but it’s gentle and harmless, so Shadow doesn’t take too much offense.

“Mm,” he nods a bit sheepishly, “…I apologize for the way I acted before. I could’ve chose my words better. And my tone..”

Sonic shrugs in response, rubbing his gloved finger around the rim of his mug in a fidgeting sort of way, “It’s cool. You’re kinda in a pretty stressful situation right now, so a dramatic and angry reaction here and there is sort of understandable.”

Shadow looks at the blue hedgehog a moment, a small quirk of his brow at how collected this Sonic seems in contrast to his own. How quick to forgive Shadow’s misjudgments rather than rub them in his face.

“..How’s your hand??”

Sonic rolls his eyes at that, chuckling quietly, “Hurting. But it’ll go away. I’ll put some aloe on it in a bit.”

“…May I see?”

Sonic blinks at that, looking at Shadow again with a curious little expression. Like he’s searching for something..

Whether he finds it or not is beyond the anti-hero, but Sonic eventually nods regardless and moves the thawing bag of pizza rolls off his hand.

It’s.. odd. Seeing Sonic’s bare paw in such plain sight. He doesn’t have as sharp of claws as Shadow does, he notices. They look filed and well kept. Shadow’s own are sharp and clean, ready to rip into anything that may defy him if need be. The flesh on his palm looks soft and fuzzy, while Shadow’s own are rough and scratchy like the pads of an animal.

He’s seen minimal Mobians’ bare hands before. It’s typically because they’re in need of medical attention after some sort of disaster. He’s seen Rouge’s hands a few times when her gloves were too dirty to wear any longer. Sometimes she’d stay with him on nights where he couldn’t be alone, and he’d see her bare hands holding a towel around her form after a shower or when she was sipping coffee early in the morning before getting ready.

He’s never touched one, though. He’s read books on Mobian customs, specifically ones on Hedgehogs. It’s thought to be special. Intimate..

Sonic’s hand is resting on the counter between them, Sonic’s eyes watching Shadow and Shadow’s gaze locked on Sonic’s hand.

Shadow moves his own hand now, fingertips grazing Sonic’s palm before pausing. Red orbs lock with green.

“Is that—?”

“It’s fine,” Sonic assures with an ever so patient smile, his eyes softening considerably at Shadow asking permission.

Shadow looks at him another moment to make sure he doesn’t change his mind before he nods and looks back to Sonic’s hand.

His own glove acts as a barrier between their skin, but Shadow can still feel the heat from Sonic’s flesh when he grazes fingertips along the burn. Sonic breathes through his teeth at the sting and Shadow pauses and lightens his touch some.

“Sorry.”

“S’okay. I’m tough.”

Shadow smirks a bit at that, glancing up to Sonic then back to his hand, “Can’t deny that..”

Sonic smiles wider at that, seeming proud of the non-insult from this grumpy Shadow.

Shadow examines the burn a few more moments before he moves his other hand and gently holds Sonic’s wrist in his. He isn’t exactly sure he should be doing this with a fake emerald in pocket considering his current situation, but he does regardless. Keeping Sonic’s hand still, he turns it to have a better look at the injury before letting his palm rest over the burn. His eyes shut, Sonic watching as a soft, golden glow emits between their hands before it dims again..

Shadow removes his hands from Sonic’s, no burn in sight.

“There,” Shadow mutters, eyes returning to Sonic’s, “better?”

“Much,” Sonic hums with a tilt of his head, lifting his hand to examine it as he turns it in the air between them. His eyes look to Shadow’s then, dropping his healed hand into his lap with a grateful gaze, “Thank you..”

Shadow simply hums in response, looking back to his coffee before lifting it to sip the last of it.

Sonic watches. Shadow can practically hear the gears in his head turning. He must have so many questions, so many concerns..

“..You keep thinking that hard, you might hurt yourself,” the agent mutters with a raised brow in Sonic’s direction.

“Har-har,” Sonic sarcastically remarks before resting his elbow on the counter and his cheek in his palm, leaning into it as he eyes Shadow, “I just-… there’s so much I want to know.. and I worry about my own Shadow—“

“Your Shadow,“ Shadow acknowledges as his head turns back to Sonic again.

“Well— my world’s Shadow—“

“That’s not what you said,” the agent pushes, not letting him talk his way out of it, “You’ve done that multiple times, actually. ’My Shadow’.”

Sonic’s hand his cheek is resting in slides around to rub the back of his neck a bit awkwardly, like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“What’s so bad about that??”

“It’s just odd. Paired with the way you’ve interacted with me. How you approached me when I initially woke up here. How you look at me. How you speak of your own Shadow. How you move around this home as though it’s yours..”

Sonic looks away with a slight knit in his brow, unsure what to say to any of this or how Shadow would even take it for that matter.

“…You and your Shadow.. there’s more to you than I know, isn’t there..”

The blue hedgehog takes a deep breath before sighing it out long and slow. He chuckles a bit. Shakes his head and shrugs in resignment.

“Yeah.. you could say that.”

[guardian-of-da-gay]

Bruises

Read on Ao3

For Whumptober 2024 Prompt 9: Bruises

tw for hidden injuries, lack of communication, injury recovery

The Wachowskis had been surprisingly glad to see him considering how they had parted.

But Knuckles was still grounded.

He would have been extra grounded for leaving during his first grounding, but the Pretzel Woman offered a deal: if he swore to never leave so long without contacting them again, then he would only have to carry out his initial sentence.  This was agreeable.  Knuckles returned to the floor of shame.  He would not admit it, but it was a welcome relief.

Knuckles didn’t bruise easily, but the buyer’s black armed machine had been powered by his own might.  He could feel everywhere the machine had touched.  Usually he would walk it off and trust his fur to hide any vulnerabilities, but he had a problem.

Electricity was one of Knuckles’ few weaknesses.  It hurt a lot when it happened and hindered his movements.  Sometimes he would lose consciousness.  The effects lingered even after the shock was administered.  His joints and muscles would ache.  His chest would feel strange and fluttery and sometimes he’d get dizzy.  Knuckles was a fast healer and usually the symptoms would pass in a few days.  But the part that took the longest to recover was all external–his hide was tough enough to withstand most burns, but his fur was another story.

Over the next few days Knuckles began shedding fur along his arms, back, and chest.  This only bothered him because it made his nicely concealed injury a little more obvious.  There was no mistaking the patches of brilliant red fur he left on the floor and couch for anything other than his own.  And his skin was dark beneath his fur, so the more fur he lost, the more obvious it was.

The first morning back, he caught Sonic eyeing the red fur littering his bedding.  The next day it happened again, when Knuckles’ bed had even more fur left behind.

Sonic said nothing, but later that day he approached him with Tails and the family wolf in tow, carrying a few small boxes.  “Okay guys,” he said.  “I know we haven’t done this yet but it’s kind of a rule for the fur-havers of the house.”

The hedgehog performed a ‘demo’, pressing a plastic vial to the back of his neck and releasing medicine onto his skin.  Next he put some on the wolf, who received a vial from a different box–the same medicine, but meant for a larger target.  Sonic helped the fox with his own vial–again, from another box, this one for smaller subjects.

There was no way Knuckles could maneuver such a pathetically small device with his big, strong fists, so he magnanimously allowed Sonic to assist him.  (He was pleased to see that he and the wolf received medicine vials from the same box.)  Sonic parted his quills and applied some of the medicine between his shoulder blades.

It itched and stank, but the deed was done and Sonic seemed pleased.  They would do it again in a month’s time, and this would protect them all from the vicious, blood-sucking insects native to this land.

On the third day, Knuckles lay quietly recovering on the floor of shame, watching while Sonic and the fox took turns with their strange ‘VR’ device.  They looked ridiculous fighting against nothing and it helped belay the boredom of the floor.  In fact, Knuckles often found himself entertained by his companions now.  The hedgehog had taken to spending more time around him since his return.  And where Sonic went, the fox followed.

On one of his non-turns, Knuckles caught Tails eyeing him and then the area around him.  Knuckles didn’t look to know that he’d been gathering quite a collection of fur on the floor.  He’d never stayed in a place long enough to require cleaning up after himself, but he might need to gather up some of his hair before the Wachowskis started to suspect there was something wrong with him.

Knuckles noticed after that, that the fox would offer to share food more often.  He wasn’t sure why.  Perhaps, like Sonic’s sudden closeness, it was because of Knuckles’ leaving and coming back.  Regardless, Knuckles felt that he could not refuse the fox’s offers.  Although most of what he was given were things he didn’t like or trust to eat, it was simple fact that the fox was puny and needed all the nutrition he could get.  If he thought he needed to be sharing with Knuckles, then perhaps he did.

So Knuckles was given eggs and orange juice with pulp at breakfast, more fish sticks and edamame beans for lunch, and extra portions of salmon, potatoes, and broccoli for dinner.

The Pretzel Woman caught them sharing and from the way the fox tensed, Knuckles thought they were both in trouble.  Instead she piled more food on both of their plates.  “You can always have more.  We have plenty!” she said.

Knuckles went to bed very full that night.  The next day Tails and Sonic returned from a ‘snack run’ and Tails gave him a bag of ‘trail mix’ with almonds, dark chocolate, and dried cranberries.  This was not food sharing, it was just for Knuckles.  Knuckles was confused enough to finally ask why.

“Um… well you need lots of protein you know!  It gives you energy and helps build strong muscles and thick fur!”  The fox cleared his throat nervously and looked away.

Well, Knuckles’ muscles were still recovering and his fur was drifting off of him wherever he went.  He accepted the fox’s offering and found that he actually liked trail mix.

On the sixth morning back, Knuckles rose from his bed with his muscles refreshed.  He took to the now familiar floor of shame and did some stretches, warming up his body.  He had been assured he could, in fact, leave the floor and move throughout the household and he thought he would do so today now that his joints didn’t creak when he moved.

He patrolled the perimeter of the house, checking every door and window for weaknesses.  The living room had been cleaned and the hole in the wall repaired while he’d been away.  It was warmer, he would admit, but he missed being able to see approaching threats in the side yard.  With his limited view from the windows, he could find no surprises outside.

He was surprised by the Donut Lord though, the human was following a line of red fur to find him.

“You alright, Knuckles?”  Donut Lord asked.

“I’m fine,” Knuckles stared out the window as a vehicle drove past the driveway.  It did not stop.

“Do you feel… I don’t know… itchy?”

“I’m fine,” Knuckles was thoroughly distracted by the large white vehicle slowing down in front of House Wachowski.  Ozzie sprinted across the house and joined him at the window to bark at his old enemy.  Knuckles was equally outraged.  The coward was leaving trash inside the Wachowski’s mailbox again !  He did it every day!  If only Knuckles could stop him!

“I’m gonna run some errands,” Tom said.  “Do not– look at me .  Do not mess with the mailman, okay?”

“I am forbidden from leaving the confines of this house,” Knuckles reminded him.  His gaze returned to the human outside.  “But if he trespasses within these walls, I cannot be held accountable for my actions.”

Tom frowned.  He opened his mouth to speak.  Paused.  Then said, “That probably won’t happen…  So… okay.  I’ll be back soon.”

The Donut Lord was correct.  The mailman did not invade the house, and the Donut Lord returned soon.  He had purchased groceries.

Knuckles was unimpressed.  It took far less skill to hunt at the grocery store.  That said, it was far more efficient and there were strange items that you could not find in the wild.  Like the shampoo Tom got just for him.

“Yes, I know of shampoo,” Knuckles said as Tom handed him the bottle.  He had learned of it during his Reno trip.  Staying at the hotel with Wade had inspired a lesson in Bathroom.  Namely how to operate a shower and the purpose of the toilet.  He had also learned about shampoo and that they were labeled with their scent.  The one Tom gave him was ‘hypoallergenic’ scented.  Knuckles didn’t know what that meant but it smelled unpleasant as most human things did.

“Uh, glad you know of it?”  Donut Lord said  “Now could you do me a favor?”

Knuckles perked up at the idea of being given a task.  “Yes!”

“Could you grab your bedsheets and collect all the towels?  I’m going to do some laundry.”

The Pretzel Woman entered the kitchen then and began helping the Donut Lord as they removed the groceries from their plastic bags.  She rotated a large tub and read the front.

“Don’t we still have some laundry detergent?”  She asked.

“I thought maybe we could just try out something new,” the Donut Lord replied.  He tapped the tub and Knuckles saw that this ‘laundry detergent’ was also ‘hypoallergenic’ scented.

The Pretzel Woman turned to look at him, consideringly.

She had been doing that a lot lately.  More and more he caught her eyeing him.  She had seemed relieved when he returned and had forgiven his not contacting them after he swore a solemn oath never to do so again, but perhaps she was still angry?

Knuckles assisted with the starting of the laundry machine.  No sooner had he done so, than the Pretzel Woman was there, carrying a black bag.

“Okay, I’m going to ask you to do something weird that you might not like, but if you let me do it, I will take a day off of your grounding.”  She opened her bag as she spoke, sure that he would agree to her deal.

Knuckles didn’t know if he wanted to do this weird, unlikeable task.  But now that his muscles felt better he was quickly growing tired of confinement.  “One less day is agreeable…” He said, “I can withstand any unpleasant task.”

“It’s not unpleasant,” she said.  She produced three thin, glass rectangles from her bag and held them up.  “I’m just going to press these slides on your skin.”

Knuckles stared at her.  The request was so utterly bizarre, he could think of no reason why not.  He held out an arm and she used one finger to push his fur backward.  His skin tingled unpleasantly, still sensitive from the burn and the bruises beneath that.

The Pretzel Woman frowned at what she saw, but carried out her side of the bargain and pressed the flat glass against his skin.  She did it a second time, this time scraping his skin with the thin side of the glass before pressing it to the spot she’d made.  His bruise didn’t like it, but he did not react.  She did it a third time, thanked him, and took the glass slides away.  Later he spotted her carrying them on a paper plate out to her car as she left for her work.

Humans were utterly bizarre.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

The Pretzel Woman returned late that night, having been ‘on-call’.  The next morning she approached Knuckles again.  Again, she had her little black bag, but this time, she was more hesitant and cautious.  Which made Knuckles feel more hesitant and cautious.

“If you say yes to this, I will end your grounding now,” she said.

That got Knuckles’ interest.  

“But I fully expect you to say no.  And that’s fine!  You can always say no if you aren’t comfortable and I won’t be upset at all.”

Now Knuckles was falling back into unease.

“I want to take more slides.”  Maddie touched her bag where her glass slides lived, but did not produce them.  “But I need to go deeper into your skin.  To do that I need to do a ‘scraping’.  It’s where I rough up the skin with… the edge of a blade… and it's so I can look and see if there’s any issues deep in your skin.”

“You want to cut me?”

“Not cut.  Scrape.  It might get raw… and even maybe bleed… but it’s not a cut.”  She did not seem convinced by even her own words.

Knuckles watched her skeptically.  She had said he could say no, and he was definitely inclined to do so.  He wasn’t scared of being cut or stabbed, he would just rather avoid it.  Her last request had taken him by such surprise he hadn’t been able to think over her offer.  This time he was less shocked and able to think more clearly.  And what his clear thoughts said was that he could say no, but he could also bargain for a better deal.

“I will do it, but in exchange I want for Wade to be let in from the yard.”

The Pretzel Woman’s brow furrowed.  “What?”

“Sonic said that for his part in my disappearance, Wade is not even in the doghouse.  He has been banished from the yard.  I would like him to come back into the yard.”

The Pretzel Woman did not seem pleased with this.  She crossed her arms.  “Wade’s in trouble because he should have told us where you were… Considering he’s an adult and actually owns a phone and presumably would understand that we’d panic if we didn’t know where you were… and he shouldn’t have taken you from Green Hills in the first place.”

“He is my apprentice,” Knuckles countered.  “I am teaching him the ways of the echidna warrior! … Also he’s going to teach me how to bowl… And we are friends.”  He looked up at her, not bothering to hide the hopefulness in his expression.  He would not say that he missed Wade, but he did.

Pretzel Woman’s shoulders dropped.  “I’m still pretty mad at him.”

Knuckles nodded.  “I understand the need for vengeance, but I would rather stay grounded until my grounding is over if it meant Wade can come into the yard again.”

She sighed.  “Okay,” she said.  “He can ‘come into the yard’... but he’s still in the dog house and I’m gonna tell him!”

Knuckles nodded.  That sounded fair.  He offered his arm up for cutting, proud that he had negotiated for his apprentice.

The knife she brandished was ridiculously small.  Smaller even than her finger.  Like before, she used one hand to gently brush back his fur while the other dragged the flat of the blade across his skin repeatedly.  The tingly sensation became more and more unpleasant the longer she worked, but Knuckles withstood it.  It wasn’t like it was painful.  Just irritating.  She scraped several areas on his arms and used her slides to get what she wanted.  Knuckles was surprised that she hadn’t cut him at all.  She reminded him that she said she wouldn’t.

Whatever she got from her slides must not have been satisfying.  She came to him a third time.  There were no slides this time.  She brushed his fur backwards with one finger, then forwards with her whole hand.  She gently squeezed his arms.  His muscles felt better so it did not bother him, but the half-faded bruises did protest a bit.

She walked away, seeming unfulfilled.  Knuckles couldn’t begin to guess what it was she wanted.  He decided not to worry about it.

The Pretzel Woman kept her word.  Knuckles’ grounding was lifted and Wade was allowed in the yard ‘on probation’.  This meant that Knuckles’ first bowling lesson was monitored.  All the Wachowskis came.  Tom said that Knuckles could get a lesson from Wade while the rest of them just played their own bowling game.  This was agreeable to Knuckles.  Maybe once he could play without shattering the pathetic bowling pins, they could all play a game together.

Wade met them just outside the bowling alley.  He greeted Tom with a smile, Sonic and Tails with a high five, and Maddie with a very nervous grin.  Maddie returned this greeting with a quirked eyebrow.

Then Wade’s eyes fell on him and went wide.

“Woah, what happened to your fur?”

The Wachowskis all paused.

“Wait, was that from where that robot with the tentacles grabbed you?”

“Robot?”  The fox’s ears pricked.

“... Tentacles?”  Sonic’s eyebrows rose.

Knuckles ignored them in favor of addressing his friend.  “Yes, the electrical shock has caused some fur loss.  But the bruises are fading and the fur will grow back soon enough.”

Suddenly all the Wachowskis had something to say.

“Electrical shock?”  The Pretzel Woman asked.

“Well, I’m glad you don’t have fleas,” Sonic said.  “But what the heck?”

“Oh, I thought he had a protein deficiency,” said the fox.

The Pretzel Woman turned on Wade.  “ Electrical shock? ”

“I am deficient in nothing!”

“The uh… the electrical shock that Knuckles hopefully already told you about?”  Wade said.  “Because of the whole robot and buyer situation and… bad guys… were there…?”

“Oh Wade,” the Donut Lord said wistfully.  “You might want to run, buddy.”

“Sorry Knux, Tails is right.  Cool Ranch Doritos and grapes are not exactly a balanced diet.”

“Nuh-uh.”  The Pretzel Woman clapped her hands and cut through the chatter.  “Someone start talking.”  She turned to Knuckles.  “Your fur’s been falling out because you got–” she gestured toward his body.  “--burned by an electrical shock?  How did that happen?!  Explain.”

Knuckles looked from Wade’s nervous face to the Pretzel Woman’s angry one, then back again.  “What happens in Reno, stays in Reno.”

[scribblestatic]

I've been on my Sonic the Hedgehog brainrot since I was a kid, and it's not stopping anytime soon, so how about I write an AU where Sonic is actually Maria reincarnated just because I think that's fun?

Because Shadow kinda forgot that she was a person. Don't get me wrong—he remembers her lovingly, but perhaps due to time or perhaps from Prof. Robotnik messing with his memories, he remembers Maria as a beautiful, healthy-looking girl who spoke with kindness and peace. A balm on his hurt and pain for not being able to heal her despite being the ultimate lifeform.

In reality, Maria was a person. Someone with flaws. Someone more than sad softness and peaceful smiles.

Maria was angry. She was in pain. Her skin was pale, not from some sort of natural beauty, but from illness. She had dark circles under her eyes. She had the Robotnik nose and wore glasses to help with her eyesight on days it went blurry (never quite as 'pretty' as the pictures of Prof. Robotnik's late wife). She didn't wear them all the time, but she wore them more than Shadow's memory would allow.

Her fury came out in her words, full of snark and bite, and she'd use her intelligence to dig in deep. And she'd just as deeply apologize when she went too far, knowing her pain wasn't an excuse to be cruel.

She liked pigs in a blanket when she had her cheat days. She liked fiddling with Shadow's air shoes and improving them, glasses on to protect her sensitive eyes. She wanted to enter the bio-zone of the ARK, but was staunchly prevented from doing so, unable to sit in the flowers and greenery she saw within.

She was jealous of Shadow. Of his speed, power, might. Of his health. But she cared for him more than she was jealous, because she truly did love him.

She wasn't always right with some of the things she said or did, but she did her best to do what she thought was right. She sometimes fussed despite alternative solutions being logically better. She hid her pain as much as possible, not wanting to be seen as weak anymore. She hated being around other people for very long because they'd always look at her with pity. She wanted to be sociable, to be strong.

She'd give up her intellect if it meant she could touch grass even once.

She wanted, desperately, to go to Earth. And she died, sacrificing herself to save Shadow, with no regrets. Though she never stood on Earth, the fact Shadow would make it there was more than good enough for her.

And she died.

Years later, Sonic was born.

He grew up on his own for the most part, his parents mere fuzzy silhouettes in his memory. Even so, Sonic was fine with that. He could adapt to anything. His high amounts of Chaos energy helped him immensely.

His favorite food for a long was anything to do with sausages, though that evolved further once he was introduced to chili dogs. In his free time, which is often, he loves rolling in flowers and laying out in the quiet, simply enjoying the Earth and the soft thrumming of the energy around him.

Since he didn't grow up with a formal education, he's not the most book smart. Even so, with some learning from the locals, he knew enough to build and fly a plane all on his own despite being a kid. Still, he found he enjoyed spending more time moving around. Being a bookworm was good and all, he just preferred the joy and rush of adrenaline that came with running.

Because he's fast. He's so fast.

He always knows which direction he's facing and knows, to the centimeter, how far he as to run to get from one place to another. He remembers each place he's been and learns extremely detailed information about every location. He finds hidden routes and has quick reflexes to navigate around anywhere. He adapts to just about anything with ease.

That's how he adapts to Tails following him around, to being his big brother and dad at the same time. That's how he adapts to fighting off Eggman and his robots, crushing them with ease and power, feeling the thrill of it. That's how he adapts to speaking with others once he finds his voice, being snarky and prideful but just as easygoing.

He's adapted to a lot over the years. To getting to know Amy and Knuckles and the others he's grown to care for and love. To growing further into his powers and becoming even stronger. To fighting and befriending people from every walk of life. To seeing robots as their own beings and teaming up with the ones that are able to excel beyond their programming. To his playful friendship with Rouge, joking around with dramatics; to his vague understanding with Omega, who he doesn't mind helping; to his rivalry with Shadow, who produces so many different feelings in him, some that he's never felt before, others that he's felt forever.

The one thing he hasn't quite adapted to, though, is the strange little visions he saw after looking at the scrawled writing in Prof. Robotnik's cell. Flashes of something deep within pulled, briefly, to the surface. Like he's watching through the glasses he used to wear when he was very young and his fur was still brown, eyes still black.

They become more frequent, though they don't startle him, really. Sometimes, they come in dreams he only half-remembers by the time he wakes up, the thoughts almost completely fading after an hour or two. He doesn't really bother exploring it, not right now, anyway.

I'll continue this at some point, I think.

[mama-qwerty]

There's Something About Scarlett - END

So here's the ending for my kaiju fic. I felt like we needed some closure for that, and this popped into my head the other day.

Part 1

Part 2

This takes place a few months after the last part ended.

~~~~~

Knuckles slowly dragged himself out of sleep. He grunted, rolling over to stretch, producing various cracks and pops as his bones slipped and slotted themselves properly.

Scarlett was usually up first—the first light of morning woke her naturally, and she rose with the sun to either find food, or start cleaning up whatever camp they’d managed to pitch the night before. Last night they’d found a dilapidated house that was intact enough to offer some cover, and had taken refuge there.

She usually let him sleep. “You expended so much energy in your time as a kaiju,” she theorized, “you need more rest than you think.”

If it meant he didn’t have to stumble around literally blindly to try and help pack their meager supplies away, he’d take her up on that offer.

This morning seemed especially hard to get moving. They’d run into more kaiju than they expected as they entered this territory. Exhaustion had claimed them both when they finally bedded down for the night, with Scarlett snuggled up tightly against his side.

He tended to sleep better with her near.

Letting out a yawn, Knuckles rubbed a hand down his face. He must have slept pretty deeply, his thoughts all wonky this morning.

Wait.

Something was wrong.

He lifted his head, an odd tingle in the back of his mind.

Off. Something was off. He couldn’t place it, couldn’t identify it, and cursed his blindness for the millionth time. He hated not being able to see around him, to survey the surroundings for anything amiss.

“What . . .”

Scarlett’s voice. Coming from outside the house.

“Amy? Tails? How can you be . . .”

Knuckles sat up so fast his spine gave a loud pop.

No. No no no no.

A light titter, the sound of broken glass. “Hiya, hon.”

A chill ran up Knuckles’ spine, and he was on his feet in a heartbeat, sprinting outside.

He knew that voice.

~X~X~X~

Scarlett had been clearing their fire from last night, enjoying the warm feeling of the sun on her face. The days were getting shorter, it’d be winter soon. Winters were always hard, so they’d have to do some work to prepare for it. Keeping herself alive during those frozen months had been hard enough, but now she had Knuckles. He was larger, and required more food. Not to mention she wasn’t sure how his new form could handle the cold. May need to find some more cloth and such for protection.

As she mulled over these thoughts, a tingle ran up her spine, the fur on the back of her neck standing on end. She turned, and found some sort of ring opening to her right. She could look through it, and saw the landscape of somewhere else.

Another world?

Before she could contemplate it too much, two figures came through the portal, and her jaw dropped, eyes wide.

“What . . .”

The portal closed after the two came through, and they now stood there, grinning like Cheshire cats at her. It was a little unnerving, but she couldn’t get past the initial shock of who they looked like.

“Amy? Tails? How can you be . . .”

Their grins widened and Amy gave a little laugh. One that honestly made Scarlett’s fur stand on end.

“Hiya, hon.”

The hedgehog’s voice was . . . wrong. Scarlett couldn’t place it, but they were both wrong somehow. Even if you discounted the fact that the ones she knew were, you know, dead.

“Get away from them! Scarlett!”

Knuckles came bursting from the house in a panic, and moved to place himself between Scarlett and the newcomers. What little fur he still had was raised, as was his blocky muzzle in a snarl.

When he appeared, the grins on the hedgehog’s and fox’s lips spread even wider.

“There he is!” Amy said, pointing to Knuckles with some kind of handheld device. “Your little doodad really worked!”

Tails gave a little huff as he took the device from her. “Of course it did, my dear. It was designed to track that little present you implanted in his head while you were whispering sweet nothings to him. And it worked perfectly.”

Knuckles snarled and growled at them, moving backward slightly to push Scarlett farther away. Amy’s expression changed to one of an exaggerated pout.

“Aw, he don’t look happy to see us,” she said, before her brow furrowed. “Or hear us. Smell us? Oh, I wonder how I smell!”

“Like a shit stain left in the sun,” Knuckles growled. “So quit stinking up my world and get your asses out of here.”

“Gee, that kinda hurt my feelings,” she pouted, before an almost feral grin spread across her face. “How about I hurt yours now?”

She summoned her hammer and took a step forward, when Tails threw an arm out to block her.

“Now, now, my dear,” he said, stepping forward. “There’s no need for violence, is there?” He pulled a little device from the bag slung across him and clicked the button. Knuckles cried out as the shock device still implanted in him delivered a strong charge through him. He went to his knees, breathing hard as the shock ended. “No need for violence at all.”

Scarlett watched this exchange with wide eyes, realization finally sinking in.

These were the twisted versions of their friends that had convinced Knuckles that using that original chaos shard was the only way to stop the kaiju Sonic had become. And once the shard had taken him over, these were the people who had taken him off world, to continue whatever destruction they wanted elsewhere.

Forced him to kill. To destroy. For years.

While Knuckles grunted from the attack, on his hands and knees and trembling, Scarlett moved around him to face off against the fox.

“You’re not taking him,” she said, and oh how she wished she had her gauntlet close by. It was in the bag near the house. “I won’t let you take him again.”

The fox seemed surprised, before he laughed, drawing another of those titters from the Amy behind him. She stood with her hammer resting on her shoulder, watching with interest.

“Oh dear, dear, dear,” Tails said, shaking his head. “We’re not here for him. He’s served his purpose, and is, frankly, used up.” His gaze sharpened as he pegged Scarlett with a glare. “No, we’re here for you, sweetheart.”

Knuckles’ head whipped up, his breath stilling.

Scarlett’s heart clenched. “. . . what?”

“You aren’t in every universe,” the fox continued, pulling some sort of weapon out from behind his back. “It’s fascinating. The worlds you do exist in place you in the same sibling-like role with the echidna. No matter what else is different, that’s always the same. As though you’re an anchor for him. And when you’re,” he gave a little laugh, “removed from the equation, he loses control completely, becoming nearly unstoppable in his quest for revenge.”

“Removed from . . .” This was a lot to take in, and the thought of some . . . other hers being essentially murdered made her feel like her brain might shut down. She shook her head, stepping back slightly to place a hand on Knuckles’ shoulder. “What do you want from me?”

“Why, that’s very simple, honey,” he snickered, shouldering the weapon. “It’s your turn to play.”

Knuckles bellowed a single word. “NO!”

The fox fired, and Scarlett flinched at the same time, taking the shot in the right shoulder instead of the head. It felt like a sting, burning, and she slapped a hand over her shoulder with a loud grunt.

Silence for a moment.

And then Scarlett screamed.

~X~X~X~

Knuckles sat on his hands and knees, breathing through the residual pain from the shock. He’d forgotten about whatever device that demented bitch had put into his head. The one that delivered strong shocks if he were to disobey the fox’s orders.

His ears rang from the pain, and he struggled to follow what that damn fox was saying. He could smell Scarlett nearby, as she took a protective stance in front of him. He wanted to push her away, but his muscles trembled from the shock.

“No, we’re here for you, sweetheart.”

That got his attention.

His head whipped up, and he ignored any leftover pain as he focused completely on the fox.

They’d been to many different planets, and Knuckles vaguely remembered bits and pieces of them. The other versions of them, the carnage this fake Tails liked to rain down on the otherwise peaceful places. He had been especially excited to sic the kaiju Knuckles on the local version. “The id versus the ego,” he’d laugh, as the kaiju tore the echidna apart.

Knuckles still had nightmares about that. Watching his own face stare back in horror as he . . .

Scarlett’s hand, soft and warm, on his shoulder. His chest tightened. He wanted her away from these two, far away and safe. He didn’t want her to—

“It’s your turn to play.”

Knuckles’ heart clenched.

“NO!”

Oh dear God, no.

A weapon fired, and he felt Scarlett flinch, before moving slightly away with a grunt. He turned to her and . . . and saw her.

That fox, that sonuvabitch had shot her, and implanted a chaos emerald shard in her. Knuckles could sense them, but the fox must have done something to this one because the power spread through her nervous system, lighting up every nerve ending, every vein, every muscle in her body like a beacon.

And for one brief, beautiful, agonizing moment, Knuckles saw Scarlett again. Her body lit with the power of the broken chaos emerald, the energy illuminating her in bright yellow light from the inside, defining her form to his mind’s eye. She trembled, a hand on her shoulder, and staggered a step or two away from him.

And then she screamed.

The form that had been Scarlett a moment before shuddered, and he watched, frozen, as the shard did its work. Twisting her, changing her. Her body grew, not as giant as Knuckles’ form had been, but towering over the three of them. Arms elongated, long deadly claws jutting from her fingertips. Legs bending, knees and ankles cracking as they shifted.

And still she screamed.

The psycho Amy laughed. “Wow! Lookit that!”

“Yes,” Tails said, and to Knuckles it sounded like he was smiling. “That’s a much more refined design.”

A jolt of energy traveled down her spine, forming a long, thin tail, ending in a sharp dagger tip. It flicked and whipped for a moment, before embedding itself in the compacted ground beneath her.

They watched for another moment as the transformation seemed to stabilize. And then the kaiju that had been Scarlett went to its hands and knees, panting and wheezing from the torture its body had gone through.

Knuckles turned toward the fox. “You bastard. What did you do?”

The two tailed freak laughed. “I took what was already the source for a perfect killing machine and made it better. In their natural form, the energy from the shards was too unstable, too unpredictable, and frankly, the results on organic subjects left much to be desired. Random mutations in inefficient designs.”

The kaiju let out a soft whine, its claws gouging long trenches in the hard dirt.

“Blind rage is a fine motivator, but hard to control, as you well remember. So I refined the shards. Made them slightly more stable, but a lot more potent. More focused. I’ve been experimenting with them for a while, and finally think I’ve got the right ratio of power and emotional trigger.”

Behind him, the kaiju growled, deep in its throat, before turning toward the three. Knuckles could still see her, the glow of the shard’s energy defining her every movement. The energy had changed color, the bright yellow now tinting a darker orange. The colors swirled within her, with the light around her head bleeding into bright red.

Amy giggled, the sound putting his teeth on edge.

“Oh, she looks kinda pissy!” she said, and Knuckles could picture her with that viper-like grin, gripping her hammer tightly. “Can I play with her, Tails? Pretty please?”

The fox hummed. “Of course, my sweet. But don’t damage her too badly. Not just yet.”

The hedgehog laughed, before moving forward.

Knuckles could only watch helplessly as the battle began. He could only see one side of it, whenever Scarlett attacked or received a blow from Amy’s hammer. Judging by the sounds, Scarlett wasn’t doing very well. Her growls and roars turned to pained grunts and whines. Her moves were awkward and sluggish. She hadn’t adjusted to her new form yet, and was already getting attacked and beaten.

And all the while, Amy laughed.

“Stop,” he said, and hated how weak his voice sounded. But he just couldn’t find any strength in him at the moment. “Stop. I’ll . . . I’ll go with you. You can do anything you want to me. Just let her go. Change her back. Please. Please.”

The fox laughed. “What makes you think I would want a clumsy sledgehammer, when I could have a well-honed sword?”

Anger flooded his veins, making him move before he realized he was doing so. He threw himself at the fox, ready to tear him apart, pull that horrible, maniacal head clear off his shoulders, when the shock came again, stronger this time. He cried out, falling to the ground to pull himself into the fetal position as his body trembled.

“You’re so predictable.” Tails moved to stand over him as he convulsed from the electricity. “Even without those shards you’re nothing but a fuse looking for a match.” The shock increased in intensity. “Big, dumb echidna. Always thinking with his fists. Ready to jump into a fist fight with someone he’s intellectually inferior to.”

Knuckles grit his teeth as the pain in his body increased. He couldn’t hear or understand the fox—every muscle was clenched tight in pain.

The voice came closer.

“Your services are no longer required, sledgehammer. I’ve got a new tool now.”

More pain. More than Knuckles had ever felt in his life.

~X~X~X~

Pain. Rage. Fear.

The pink thing attacked. Its weapon slammed against flesh, again and again, drawing even more pain.

Claws reached out to slash, but the pink thing was too fast.

Rage flared. Made movements clumsy.

The body felt strange. Lumbering. Awkward.

More attacks. Fear rose to mix with the anger.

What was happening? Why did everything hurt? Felt like being underwater. Drowning, but not.

More hits. The pink thing was making a noise. It hurt too, but differently.

Hard to think. Hard to focus.

Too much anger. Too much fear.

Another hit. Harder this time.

Can’t stop it. Can’t fight it. Hurts . . . everything hurts.

. . .

No more thinking.

The kaiju opened its eyes. Its clumsy movements faded. It moved smoothly now, every muscle taut and tense like a wound spring. Moving to keep the pink thing centered in its vision.

It let the pink thing attack twice more, watching and learning the pattern. The way it shifted its weight when it drew back the weapon. The way it jumped to bring it down harder. The kaiju didn’t waste time dodging. Its focus never left the enemy.

At the third attempt, as the pink thing jumped to deliver another strong blow, the kaiju flicked its tail around, skewering the tip straight through the smaller enemy’s torso.

The pink thing uttered a strained squawk, dropping the weapon as it twitched.

~X~X~X~

This was going better than he anticipated.

Miles smiled, his lips pulled back to show his crooked teeth. His thumb caressed the button on his device, occasionally moving to the intensity dial to the left. A little flick and the voltage increased, and he reveled in the pain he saw etched on the former echidna’s deformed face.

Everyone else was so damn weak. Restrained by their precious morals and affection for others. Where did that get you, in the end? Dead. Or fighting an endless battle with those who would kill you without hesitation if given the chance.

So he’d become stronger. There were more worlds out there, more universes. Why confine himself to the one where he watched his best friend, his brother, die just to save some other complete strangers?

That hedgehog obviously didn’t care about Tai—Miles the way he claimed. None of them did. Because they didn’t understand the lengths to which Miles had gone to bring his brother back. The things he had done.

They didn’t understand.

They’d turned on him.

So he turned on them.

He turned on them all.

He knew that somewhere, there existed the perfect version of his brother. His friends. The ones who would understand him, who would accept him. Who would embrace his vision.

He just had to weed through all the weaklings first.

And God, had there been a lot of weaklings. Overly sympathetic versions, ones who refused to kill even if it meant others would live, pathetic copies who yapped on about freedom and choice and all that, only to condemn Miles once his plan became clear.

He’d done the universe a favor by getting rid of them.

And maybe it’d been a little fun, too.

Miles increased the voltage once more, and could practically smell the echidna’s brain cooking. He had to admit, this one had been more fun than others. But his usefulness had run out. Time to tie up loose ends.

He hadn’t been paying attention to Amy’s fight. She was the closest thing he had to a friend, he supposed, even if she was as dumb as a rock. She had been his first successful alteration. Her obsession with Sonic made her easy to manipulate, and just as easy to push over the edge. It was funny how just a little nudge made her eager to submit to his will. A night of operations, some specialized brain molding, and she was just what he wanted.

Freed from her morals, from her sense of right and wrong. She enjoyed a good beating, and eagerly followed him as they sifted through the garbage of the other universes to try and find the treasure hidden there. The others like them.

A strained squawk caught his ear, and he whipped his head around to find Amy impaled on the end of the kaiju’s tail. She dropped her hammer, her body twitching as the life ran out of her.

His eyes went wide as a strange feeling hit him in the chest.

The kaiju turned to him, and flicked the body his way with a snarl. The hedgehog’s corpse landed at his feet, limp and twisted, eyes staring at nothing.

“Amy?”

His voice was soft, and hardly sounded like his. Throat tightening, he swallowed a few times to dislodge the lump that had formed there.

Movement to his right and he looked up in time to see the kaiju stalking his way, like a cat hunting a mouse.

Oh. Oh shit.

Before he had a chance to think, the kaiju’s tail came down, slicing through the device in his hands, and barely missing his face by a fraction of a millimeter. The mutated echidna at his feet cried out when the connection to the device was severed, panting as his body trembled from the residual pain.

Miles dropped the ruined controller, staggering backward a few steps.

This was not going according to plan.

The kaiju growled, its lip pulled up to reveal a row of large, sharp teeth. Its red eyes glared at him from the black sclera, drilling holes directly into his brain.

This was no rampaging kaiju, driven mad from the rage and pain inside it, like Knuckles had been. This was a thinking one. A predator.

His experiments with the chaos shards had worked too well.

The kaiju pounced, and he took to the air, trying to keep out of its range. He fumbled in his bag, pulling out the portal device, and punched the button to activate it. Normally he’d carefully calibrate the destination, but right now he just needed an escape.

A portal opened and he sped toward it, but yelped when the kaiju snapped at him, catching one of his tails in its mouth. It tore free, sending a sharp pain up his spine that sent him crashing to the ground, but he somehow managed to catch his footing and lunged for the portal, dropping the device in the process.

The ring closed, leaving a very angry kaiju in its wake.

~X~X~X~

The pain ended suddenly, and Knuckles felt a sharp snap in his head. He gave one last cry, before pulling in rough, ragged breaths in a heavy pant. God, he hurt like hell. Sore, aching, weak.

He was vaguely aware of the noise around him. Growling, snarling. But he couldn’t move. Every muscle felt simultaneously tight and loose, and he lay crumbled on the ground, his muscles twitching, trying to assure himself he was still alive.

A sudden silence settled over the area. He smelled blood, from something a few yards in front of him. He risked moving to uncurl slightly, grimacing as his body protested.

Movement to his right. Large movement. He focused in that direction and found Scarlett . . . or what she’d become. The red was still swirling in the light infused within her, but it was lessening. She paced back and forth, her back to him, before uttering an annoyed snort and turning his way.

She paused. Lowered herself into a crouch as she approached him.

A growl rumbled in her chest. The red didn’t fade, but didn’t grow. She was being cautious, and in this state, she could turn deadly in a blink.

Not that he was in any position to do anything to stop her. His strength was gone, and he breathed heavily as she drew nearer.

“S-Scarlett,” he whispered, his voice rough and weak. “Scar, please. It’s me.”

She pulled up short when he spoke, the red swirls widening and shifting. After a second of hesitation, she moved again, coming ever closer.

“Scar,” he said again, swallowing past the dry lump in his throat. “Scar. I know you’re in there. Listen to me. It’s me.”

She was an arm’s length away. He could reach out and touch her if he wanted. And he did. Wanted to grab her and pull her close, hold her until she remembered who he was. Who she was.

But he resisted.

“Scar. Come back to me.”

Another growl, but she moved closer. Sniffing.

He didn’t move.

Now she was so close he could feel her breath across his face. She was so much bigger in this form, he felt dwarfed. She sniffed him again, running her nose down along his body.

The red faded, her light shifting back to the bright yellow.

A whine from the back of her throat.

She nudged her nose against his shoulder, issuing another whimper. Tucking her nose into the crook of his neck, she lowered herself into a more relaxed position as she nuzzled against him.

“There you are,” he said, reaching up to caress her muzzle. “There you are. My Scarlett.”

The two stayed like that for a while, and Knuckles eventually regained enough strength to sit up. He pulled Scarlett’s head into his lap, and caressed her as the sun continued to rise.

Her light was bright, defining her perfectly to his mind’s eye, but a spot on her right shoulder glowed brighter than any other.

The shard.

He needed to get it out of her before she lost what was left of herself.

“Scar,” he said, and she twitched her head slightly to listen. “That shard needs to come out. It’s gonna hurt like hell, but I promise I’ll be as quick as I can.”

He wasn’t sure she even understood him, but a soft grunt replied.

Okay.

~X~X~X~

Scarlett sat crouched on the ground, on her hands and knees, panting from the pain. Her shoulder bled from where Knuckles had pulled that shard out. It had hurt like hell, but it was worth it to be herself again.

Well, mostly herself.

She wasn’t quite the right size, and the tail had hung around. Her claws were sharper than before, too.

But she was her again.

Knuckles moved back to her, after burying the shard as deep as he possibly could. He sat next to her, a shaky hand on her back.

“Take it easy,” he said, his voice soft, “we’ll rest here as long as you need.”

She wasn’t going to argue with him. Walking seemed a herculean effort right now.

“I can still see you,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against her temple. “Gods, I hope that never goes away.”

Without thinking, Scarlett turned and wrapped her arms around him, tucking her face into the crook of his neck and holding tight. She didn’t remember everything about what happened while she was a kaiju, but she remembered enough.

She tried not to look to their right. Where the body of the hedgehog still lay.

The hedgehog she’d killed.

He held her just as tightly, and they sat like that for a long time.

Eventually, they pulled apart, giving one big exhale as the events of the morning settled in their minds. Scarlett broke the silence, her voice soft.

“He’s still out there.”

Knuckles grunted.

“Might come looking for us again.”

He sighed. “Yeah.”

Silence for a moment, and Scarlett looked over to where the portal had been. Her eyes fell on the device he’d dropped as she snatched his extra tail.

And a little smile curled her lips.

“Maybe we should find him first.”

Knuckles sat still for a moment, before an almost identical smile curled his.

“Maybe we should.”

With renewed determination, the two staggered to their feet, and gathered their supplies. They worked in silence, thankful to have a purpose now.

Standing together, Scarlett held the dropped portal device. The tail she’d torn from him hung off her belt at her hip. A trophy. A reminder.

“Ready?” she asked, adjusting her gauntlet.

Knuckles pulled his shoulders back, and twisted his head to crack his neck. “Oh yeah. Let’s do this.”

She nodded, and activated the device. A portal opened, and she took Knuckles’ hand as they stepped through.

[hugsandchaos]

Arthadow concept/AU???

I made this last summer and realized I never shared it. So here you go! While I work on the oneshot! And the rest of my WIPs, which I think is… 3? I’m bouncing between fandoms like a dang ping pong ball machine, so please forgive me for my all-over-the-place-ness.

Anyways, after Little Shadow was launched in the escape pod, his emotions got really out of control and started affecting his chaos abilities. When it all burst out of him, Little Shadow was transported back to Arthur’s time. More specifically, when Arthur was a kid as well. He just sat and cried as the pod crash landed somewhere in a forest just outside of Camelot. After the crash was over, Little Shadow curled up into a ball and cried himself to sleep.

He remained there for days, ignoring the hunger biting at his stomach and relying on the chaos energy to sustain himself, until he finally went outside and started to explore. More days passed and Little Shadow had learned, much to his horror, that he wasn’t on Earth. At least, not that he knew of. Last time he learned, Camelot was a kingdom from centuries ago, and magic wasn’t real. There was chaos energy, but not magic. Little Shadow also took one look at the knights and instantly feared that they’d be just like the G.U.N. soldiers. He didn’t know why they were after him, but he’d heard Gerald saying that he was scared they’d experiment on him or use him as a weapon.

Little Shadow became something of a petty thief, but could you blame him? He was starving! Besides, they’d literally left the food behind, and it was only about 8 times! He always returned to the crash site. The pod may not be in its best shape, but that and the stars were the closest thing the young hybrid had to home now. Every night, he’d look up at the stars and cry. He was supposed to see them with Maria. They’d spent so much time excitedly waiting for the time they’d look up at the stars from Earth, and now, he’d give anything to return to them.

One day, Young Arthur finally managed to sneak out of the kingdom unnoticed and made a dash into the forest. He just had to investigate that fallen object from weeks ago! The knights hadn’t decided whether or not to go yet for whatever reason, and Young Arthur had grown tired of waiting for the news.

He approached the crash site with great curiosity and some caution, but mostly excitement. He looked at the wreckage in awe and confusion. Metal and glass? What kind of strange object had come down from the endless cosmos above? Was it made by unknown divine beings? Young Arthur soon noticed that the cylindrical structure was hollow near the ground. He got down on his hands and knees, something he’d most likely never do if he wasn’t alone, and looked inside.

He came face to face with Young Shadow.

•Shadow has a near irrational fear of thunder and other loud noises, especially sudden ones (Arthur started to cover his ears with his hands if things got loud or if he knew things were about to get loud. At some point, Shadow started going straight to Arthur during thunderstorms for comfort.)

•Arthur is terrified of being submerged in water, so when he has to attend swimming lessons, Shadow tries to be as close as he can be (Shadow is an amazing swimmer as it’s one of his favorite activities, and he once tried teaching Arthur how to float on his back, which worked. When he first saw Arthur fall into the pool and heard him scream, he bolted into the water and got him out as fast as he could. Arthur still hates and fears having to swim, but Shadow being in there with him helps.)

•Most look at Shadow’s obvious, not-so-hedgehog-like features with disgust or fear, but Arthur is fascinated by them (He has so many questions and is one of the few people allowed to touch Shadow’s tail. Shadow also stays still to let Arthur look at his second row of teeth and forked tongue.)

•Shadow is grieving the incident and tends to cry a lot, and Arthur has no idea why because he hardly ever speaks, also thanks to the incident (The last time anyone tried telling Shadow to shut up and that it’s not a big deal because they didn’t know why he suddenly started crying nearly got really hurt when Shadow screamed and lunged at them. They got away with a few cuts on their arm from where Shadow grabbed them and dug his claws in, but they wouldn’t have been able to get away at all if Shadow hadn’t been pulled off. Shadow disappeared for two weeks after that.)

•Arthur is absolutely in love with him and doesn’t realize it yet, but everyone else besides Shadow sees it (The knights made a bet on when he’ll realize it and when he’ll confess.)

That’s all I’ve got 😐

[critical-birb]

Random things I feel people outside of Scotland should know about Scotland.

-Kilts are formalwear. You only wear that kinda thing to like - weddings and funerals and stuff usually, maybe a fancy party. You wear a sporran with a kilt, it's like a little pouch that's usually fuzzy.

-If you live in Edinburgh/Glasgow/Aberdeen you probably hate bagpipes because everywhere you go there's buskers with bagpipes. They just....appear. you'll be trying to work your 9-5 and suddenly there's a bagpiper on the corner by the office and for the next six hours you have to listen to it. There is only one song that is played on the bagpipes and it gets real repetitive real fast.

-I am ruining the joke for everyone but as an autistic person who would be super confused by this unspoken rule in another country I need to share - literally everyone in Scotland will try to convince you as a foreigner that the wild Hagis is a real animal that lives in the Highlands. Every single museum has a Haggis exhibition with like a weird taxidermy animal that's usually a mash up between like a hedgehog and a bird or something. People will, with a straight face, talk to you about how they were hunted to near extinction. Zoos and safari parks will have empty exhibits with signs saying there is wild Hagis living in there hiding. This is the most widely known Scottish joke that literally every Scottish person is in on.

-Haggis is lamb, fat and oats boiled in a sheeps stomach with a bunch of spices. It's unironically good actually if you give it a chance. It's basically fatty spiced meat.

-Other popular foods in Scotland include Cullen Skink, which is a rich cream based soup with potatoes and fish. Black pudding, a sausage made with blood - great for iron deficiency. White pudding, a sausage made from oats, grains, herbs and spices. Stovies, which is basically potatoes/onions/meat boiled together and usually eaten with bread, Neeps and tatties which is mashed potato and sweed. We are also known for deep frying anything, any corner shop chippy will deep fry a chocolate bar for you. Somehow we are obsessed with sugar and fat but at the same time we also put salt on our porridge.

-A Ceilidh is a group dance - a similar concept to square dancing if you're in the US. Except a lot more violent. Someone will usually briefly teach everyone the steps and then you are thrown into chaos and the music gets faster and faster. Someone will inevitably be thrown into you at high speeds and you will break a bone. It's extremely fun. Often done to accordion music. Lots of larger pubs do ceilidh nights you should go to one if you can, it's good if you go alone because they only work with an even number of people and 99% of the time they're begging for a single person to join to make up the numbers. You'll make a lot of drink friends and possibly get vomited on as you're thrown around at high speeds and kicked in the shins laughing like a loon.

-The more North you go the less you will understand people. I'm from Edinburgh and live near Glasgow and for the fuck of me I can't understand a word anyone says here. I went to Aberdeen once and I swear they were talking gibberish. They felt the same about me. The dialects are too strong.

-We also have a rich history of language including Gaelic and Doric and a few others. Scots is what you probably think of when you think Scottish people - it is technically its own language but is very similar to English just with lots of different terminology. Our native languages like Gaelic were outlawed by England when they colonised us and it's only in recent decades we have started to try to reclaim them.

-We dislike England. Don't ever call a Scottish person 'British' rather than Scotish, it opens up a whole can of worms I am not about to go into right now.

-Iron Bru (the bright orange soda that tastes like a candy store) is more popular than Cola here. Scotland is the only place worldwide where Coke isn't the most popular carbonated beverage. Iron Bru is the lifeblood of Scotish people and it is literally everywhere.

Anyway there's your Scotland facts of the day