#and sonics like....................................*rubs the side of his arm* right.........

[ppeachx3]

boom sonic wouldnt like boom silver at first because everyone thinks silver is soooo cool with his weird floaty powers so sonic tries to tough talk him down a peg or two and silver’s just like oh wow this is so cool i’m learning vintage slang and sonic’s like????? im insulting you. you need to be insulted rn. but silver’s just so excited.

[rainychaoloveshack]

hiiii i stumbled across ur blog like a couple days ago and. ive been so obsessed with all ur posts theyre so yummy!!! (ESPECIALLY UR BOOM??? ik u mentioned u werent all that familar with him but,,, that one oneshot had me salivating oml)

anyways could i maybe ask for a sonic x reader where they give him a bath bc he's stinky 🤧 just modern/game is fine smile

ﾟ ⋆ ﾟ ☂︎ ⋆ ﾟ 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐠.

sonic had a nice adventure outside. unfortunately, remnants of said adventure were brought into your home. its bath time.

⋆°•☁︎ content . sonic x gn!reader, fluff, sort of shitpost-esque writing but i still did take it seriously i swear anon

☂︎ wc. 1.1k ☂︎ a/n. hueheh this request had me giggling. silly dirty ass mf 😭😭😭 i was messing around during it huehehe this is your reminder to not take me too seriously sometimes 😋still pretty short but i hope you like it ^^ def not my best work but i hope you like it regardless ^^'

likes, reblogs, and especially comments are extremely appreciated!!! (i like chatting to you guys!)

“You know I can take a simple bath by myself, right?” Sonic growls, watching you kneel down and check the water's temperature for him with your forefinger. Not too hot, not too cold. “Plus, I already took a shower. The dirt’s gone already. No need for a bath, right?” Now why is he acting like that bathtub is going to kill him? 

“Could’ve gotten it all out if you hadn’t pulled me out the shower.” He mutters. “If you had wanted me to take a bath at all, you should’ve said that bef-” You frown, interrupting his rambling by knocking on the side of the bathtub with your fingers in a way that’s telling him to hurry up and get in. You can still smell the mud on him.

And it’s not bad to take precautions. Plus, if the shower didn’t get every single spec of dirt out of his quills, the bath will. Having even one spec of dirt come back inside the house after Sonic’s grand entrance of mud-filled footsteps, and right after you had to clean said mess, might just make you go crazy.

“I already said I was sorry...” He trails off, peering into the tub before taking a step back. You mutter a short curse his way and tug him by his arm, refusing to take no for an answer.

Sonic winces slightly at the volume of the water in the tub but lets out a sigh once he sees your stern expression. “Oh, alright…” He grumbles, spitting out soft curses about his distaste for water as he slips off his gloves, following with his socks right after.

… Paw-beans.

“Hmm?” Sonic’s ear flicks at your small murmuring, turning your way just as he’s about to step into the bath. “You say something?”

You shake your head, trying to make him forget your small slip-up, and urge him into the tub with a small shove. The moment his foot enters the water, you can visibly see a shiver tremble through his body.

“Eugh.” Despite his little complaints, he takes another step in the bubbly water, slowly settling himself into it with unpleasant grumbling, the water reaching up to his chin. “Make it fast. Being submerged in water for too long makes me uneasy…”

Like him? Make it as fast as ‘Sonic speed’, some might say?

His head snaps in your direction, opening his mouth to say something back to your crude teasing, but it closes instantly as you cup water into your hands and pour it over his head, watching it run off his quills and back into the bath.

That shut him up quickly. 

And so it begins.

The water runs down and seeps into his fur, then drips off once it gets too soaked, mixing with the bubbly suds already present. You rub his ear in a slow motion, cupping water up from the bath and pouring it over to get any extra dirt out. So far so surprisingly good; the baths running fairly clear, besides the small bit of dirt or so. Maybe he did get all the dirt out after all? Or maybe it was just his shoes that were the problem? No, then you wouldn’t have seen all those specs of black and brown in his fur. What, did he roll down a hill or-

“Hey, be careful with my quills!” Sonic’s body flinches as you accidentally prod and pull too deeply during your thoughts. “Can’t you be a little more gentle? The bath’s been clear for the past half hour.” He clarifies. “At this point, I’m not sure if you’re still trying to get any dirt out, or if you just like pampering me.”

Oh. Well damn.

Your hand lowers from his head, and it dawns upon you that yes, for once Sonic is actually right about your behavior, and the embarrassment washes over your figure, staggering your motions as you go to unplug the drain, but he stops you with a small kick of his foot at your hand.

“I didn’t say you had to stop.” Sonic mutters, before putting on his best ‘I deserve the world’ act a spoiled child would have towards everyone else. “I’m actually enjoying the attention!” He puffs his chest out, trying to put on a smug face for you, but a splash of water in his face turns that smugness to irritation, shaking his head around like a dog would their body as water flings in every direction possible. You hold your hands up in front of your face, your soaking wet hands dripping onto your lap and the bathroom floor as you shield yourself from the blue blurs little water assault. Ugh. Looks like he’s getting a kick out of your annoyance.

“It’s not so bad.” Sonic says plainly, flexing his fingers in the water in front of him, before adjusting himself to rest his arms on the tub’s edge, resting his head down to let your preen and run your fingers through his quills, forgetting to scrub through them at all. “You know, I wouldn’t mind if you pampered me like this more often.” Sonic reaches over and drags a soggy, wet, finger across your arm, leaving small water droplets on your skin as he moves it up towards your hand, currently resting on your lap as the other one rubs against his shoulder briefly. “Think I deserve it a little, ya’ know?” He shimmies his shoulders a bit, yet his tail wags all the same under the water, eager for your answer, even if you give him a plain ‘no’.

Well, if he could be more aware of himself and clean up after his little escapades, you would. But for now, the punishment bath it is. Though, with the way he was acting at first, someone might’ve thought he was taking a small dunk in acid.

Sonic doesn’t utter a word at your own little joke, but he shakes his head disapprovingly, glaring at you for a few seconds as his eyes flick over you up and down, then he relaxes. “You’re gonna help me dry off after this too, right?” He chirps, and you shake your head, already firm in the belief that you deserve some rest after cleaning up the house. Not to mention the other house chores you’ve already done today.

“Aw man...” Sonic says softly, before growling under his breath in your direction, ears pinning down, obviously in a joking manner, and he flicks some water in your direction off his fingertips, splashing onto your shirt and lap. “You can’t just take me a bath and then chicken out once we’re almost at the finish line! Come on.” Another flick of water comes flying your way, this time hitting you in the face, and you scowl, cupping up some water in your palm to splash it back at him.

“Aw, hey, come on!” His tone of voice makes it sound like a complaint, but his expression is the complete opposite; a fat grin spreads across his muzzle and another small splash of water makes its way to you, soaking your shirt. Oh, so that's how it is?

“What? What’re you gonna do about it?”

Stupid hedgehog. Sometimes it’s a mystery how you haven’t gone crazy by now from all his antics.

… Oh well; time to fetch that towel.

[essycogany]

SonAmy Headcanons

Because why not.

This is how I personally see their relationship. I’ll try to keep it somewhat accurate to how they’d act canonically. I’d say where they are now is great, but I’d like to add a few things. Some of these may or may not be influenced by other amazing creators.

You are free to steal if you want.

Sonic and Amy mostly act like a couple in private areas or when they think no one is paying attention. They might tell a few of their friends, but often try to keep things discreet. Even if their overall relationship isn’t different in a third person’s perspective.

Tails: “You two sure you’re not still friends or are you actually together?”

Sonic And Amy: “Yes!”

Sonic’s the most chill and casual boyfriend and shows a good amount of affection. Amy is an overjoyed and loving girlfriend who shows a huge amount of affection.

Amy does her best to not tell most people about her and Sonic. Making an effort to call him her “best friend.” Sonic doesn’t mind it much, even saying it’s “not a big deal.” Leaving Amy confused.

Sonic tells whoever he feels like telling that Amy’s his girlfriend without thinking and thinks it’s funny when she’s shocked about it.

The hedgehogs are unsure of what normal couple standers are. They usually already know what works for them. Except who they should tell.

Sonic shows affection by kissing Amy on the hand and hugging her. When feeling extra, he carries her and takes her out on a run. Amy shows affection by constant cheek kissing, hugging, and ear rubbing. (which he pretends to not enjoy but does.)

Examples:

These and basically everything that happened between them recently are what I have in mind in terms of physical affection.

Instead of kissing they touch each other’s cheeks.

Sonic (being a casual boyfriend) puts his arm around Amy’s shoulder indistinctively in public.

Both hedgehogs forget how they got together. All they remember is it happening.

They enjoy having tea with Cream in order to hang out more. And to spend time with Cream of course.

Amy instantly starts cooking more food after Sonic finishes eating.

Sonic and Amy love gardening and cooking together after defeating Eggman.

Amy admires Sonic’s knowledge about plants, guitars, and books. Sonic admires Amy’s optimistic side whenever she geeks out about silly stuff.

Their brief arguments stems to worrying about one another or what cake tastes better.

Sonic’s favorite times with Amy are when he teases her and she chases after him.

Amy laughs at Sonic’s jokes. Even when they’re not funny.

They both find bungee-jumping romantic and relaxing.

Amy and Sonic plays with each other’s quills when they’re bored.

The best dates are when they’re on dangerous adventures. Sometimes dates aren’t fun when nothing crazy happens. On those days, they go find trouble to be satisfied. But normal dates can be cool if it means they get to travel together.

Amy mostly sends gifts on holidays and Sonic gives gifts when she doesn’t expect it.

Sonic only dresses up when Amy reminds him. Amy doesn’t mind if he forgets because she ends up buying him outfits. She even makes Sonic a red hoodie and he wears it a lot.

When apart for a long time, they write each other letters.

Sonic randomly comes over Amy’s place at any time of day without warning. She acts as if she doesn’t like it, but really enjoys the company of her boyfriend.

On movie nights, Amy and Sonic always forget how long Sonic stays and ends up sleeping on the couch together with one head on top of the other. The same thing happens when they go outside for a “short run,” and end up sleeping outside.

The blue blur’s way of saying “I love you” back to Amy is by using sign language or saying “right back at ya.” He’ll eventually start saying “I love you,” later on. Which surprises Amy to no end when he does it out of nowhere.

The romance Sonic and Amy have isn’t only romance, but an updated version of their friendship. The ability to still be their own people even when in different places. Sonic and Amy are a power couple whose love for adventure strengthens their love for each other. The hedgehogs are equally as happy as when they were close friends. That is what keeps them attached.

That’s a rap! This most likely will never happen, but I don’t mind. Them officially being friends with crushes on each other is stellar and I’m satisfied with it.

[writingtraumaforever]

Promises: A SonicXShadow Generations Ending/Sonadowtober Day 21: Reincarnation

Summary/Explanation: Okay. So I just binge played SonicXShadow Generations, and I had to write something. It absolutely shattered me. And watching poor Shadow stand off on his own and not wave when Classic left through the portal just hit me different, okay?? So here’s something that takes place at the party after the final battles and before Classic leaves.

Or.

Shadow always keeps his promises and Classic gives the best hugs.~

SonicXShadow Generations Spoilers!

Oneshot:

If there’s one thing that everyone knows about Shadow it’s that he keeps his promises.

Even when he’s been through an absolute hell of a day..

Deep down he had known from the beginning that saving Maria and the doctor wasn’t a realistic possibility.. given how messing with the time stream can be finicky.

Still, he had allowed himself to hope.

Hope.. an ongoing enemy of his.

He had rationalized his hopes with small factors: how Silver is a time traveler and he hasn’t ruined the time stream, how destiny had obviously given him a second chance at saving them, how even if he did change the time stream, the world would be better with Maria than without..

But in the end, reality gave him a hard kick to the gut—as always— and left him breathless, lacking the emotional capacity to quite process the loss a second time.

At least he got to say goodbye this time, he’d tell himself. At least she wasn’t brutally murdered for his sake this time. At least he got to hold her hands and smile for her and promise to keep her wish for this world..

Promises promises..

That’s why he’s here. Promises.

Standing at Sonic’s silly birthday party after everything because of a promise he made to Rouge. A deal. A ride to the ARK for his presence at the party.

He’s here. But he’s not..

Standing alone off to the side, Shadow watches as everyone celebrates Sonic’s victory.. none knowing what he himself has endured. Not that that isn’t typical.. he’s not exactly an open hedgehog.

Standing with his fists tight and arms crossed over his chest, he turns his eyes away from the group and begins walking to a nearby ledge overlooking the area.. needing some peace.

He approaches the ledge beneath a tree and stares out at the terrain.. thinking of how much she would’ve loved to see it all. That bland white space is the closest she had gotten to seeing the planet again since being treated on the ARK.. and it wasn’t near enough. She deserved to see it all in color, in the present… she deserved so much more..

His eyes shut, brows furrowing a bit as his jaw tightens and his fingers flicker bits of red and black.. power he hasn’t quite gained full control of yet despite using it in battle. He’ll have to work on that..

Right now though? He just.. misses her.

He lets a silent tear fall down his cheek in his moment of privacy, his mouth pursed tight as he swallows at the lump in his throat—

“Ngh—!”

He flinches and grunts a bit as he feels a rather hard and poky pressure smash into his legs, eyes flashing open to look down and find the younger Faker standing there with wide, dark eyes staring back at him.

He must’ve ran into Shadow practicing his spindash..

He looks like a deer in headlights.

Shadow looks like one as well, to be fair. Briefly. Before he quickly lets his scowl return and lifts a fist to rub his tear away a bit aggressively to glares down at the little bother.

“Watch where you’re going,” he sneers, meaning for it to come off as intimidating.. but his voice betrays him and cracks into a pitiful and pathetic sound near the end. It’s enough to have him quickly snapping his gaze away again as his eyes feel pressure and heat behind them rising. He doesn’t want to see the sympathetic look on the younger Sonic’s face. He doesn’t want his pity. 

Still. The younger Sonic’s expression turns from one of slight intimidation to one of surprise.. and then melts into one of sympathy. His gloved fists open, mouth parting a bit as he ponders Shadow’s words and behavior..

Shadow stands in silence, eyes locked on the horizon ahead waiting for the small blue hedgehog to leave.. what he doesn’t expect is another smaller impact on his legs again and chunky little arms wrapping around them.

A hug.. that’s what Shadow thinks this is.

He blinks and looks down to see the younger Sonic’s face pressed against his hip, arms tight around his legs with his wide eyes now shut as he holds onto him..

No one ever hugs Shadow.

No one has ever tried.

The only person who has is gone now.. her second goodbye leaving him less broken than the first but still aching.

Shadow’s arms hover uncomfortably for a long moment, watery ruby eyes wide and staring down at the kid. The younger hedgehog doesn’t let up, just keeps hugging him. It occurs to Shadow that this… is a very Sonic thing to do. This kid doesn’t know Shadow. Not yet anyway. But he saw Shadow upset, and despite Shadow’s aggression.. he chose to comfort him. 

This shamelessly obnoxious persistence and disgustingly good nature seems to be something Sonic has always had..

It reminds him of her..

Shadow stands frozen for some time before eventually.. his heart melts just a bit. 

‘I don’t want you to be driven by darkness. I want you to be happy.’

His hand moves down to rest on the young Sonic’s head between his ears, the kid’s ears twitching a bit in response but he just hugs Shadow tighter. 

Shadow’s brows knit just slightly as he felt the tears in his eyes swell more at the idea of letting himself be vulnerable right now. After everything.

His mouth quivers, pursed shut as big, dark eyes finally look back up to him again and for just a moment.. Maria flashes before him instead. He sees her staring up at him. Begging him to ‘Stand in the light with peace in your heart’.

His lips part with a quiet gasp as he looks at the child with some form of closure growing in him.

The epiphany is broken with the sound of a stick cracking beneath the tree behind them. Shadow’s gaze immediately shifts to see Sonic standing there— the one he is use to— with his own emerald eyes wide at the scene before him.

The blue hedgehog stares, gives a long, awkward “uhhhh” and then stutters something along the lines of “I was just—you were— I was looking for—he— uh-“

Shadow’s hand snaps off from the younger Sonic’s head as the older Sonic clears his throat to try again.

“Sorry to interrupt— I was just checking on little me. Little Tails seems to think that the time stream is gonna open up a portal any time now to send them back and straighten out the timeline, so..”

He trailed off and the younger Sonic just nods and lets go of Shadow’s legs to take a step back from him. Shadow looks to the kid again to see him back up and observe him a moment before smiling with a wink and thumbs up.

Shadow, for all that’s left of him, tries his best to offer a smile in return. Even if it’s sad, it is grateful. And he returns the thumbs up. The younger Sonic seems pleased enough by this, beaming before turning back to his older self and dashing over to him to fist bump him the run around him back to the others.

Shadow watches.. then looks to Sonic who is still standing there looking unsure about what just happened.

Shadow’s frown returns, looking down and then turning back around to cross his arms again and look back to the horizon.

He knew it was too much to hope Sonic would simply walk away and leave it be. His ears flick back when he hears footsteps approaching, sighing heavy and preparing himself for whatever it is Sonic is about to say.

Sonic doesn’t speak for a moment. Just moves to stand by Shadow. Shadow can feel his gaze on him. He can sense how Sonic is a bit tense, a bit awkward, a bit unsure..

And when Sonic’s mouth opens and then closes again, Shadow doesn’t speak. Just waits for Sonic to decide what it is he wants to say.

Sonic eventually figures it out.

“You uh… you wanna tell me what that was about, or..?”

“No.”

“Right.”

Silence again.

Shadow takes a deep breath and sighs it out, the building pressure of tears in his eyes having now subsided and left him feeling… numb. But not in a pained way so much as just.. tired. But there’s also a hint of peace there.

“Well you know..,” Sonic speaks again, Shadow taking note of the slight hesitation before Sonic hand rests on his shoulder and squeezes it, “I’m here if you need to talk..”

Shadow cocks a brow, looking at Sonic’s hand on his shoulder before lifting his gaze to meet Sonic’s. He merely huffs in acknowledgement.

Sonic quickly moves his hand off Shadow and rubs the back of his neck with a shrug and chuckled, “Or just need to race! Don’t expect me to go easy on ya though just because you’re havin’ a bad day.”

Shadow’s eyes narrow at Sonic and Sonic just grins that cocky, annoying smile at him..

Shadow closes his eyes and smirks, a huff from his nose in amusement.

“I’ll keep that in consideration, Hedgehog.”

Sonic’s grin softens at that, nodding before moving to turn and leave.

“Sonic.”

Sonic freezes.

“Yeah?”

“…Happy birthday.”

Sonic’s eyes widen a bit in surprise before a silly little smile grows on his muzzle, a light rose tint to his cheeks, “Oh! Uh— thanks, Shads.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sure.”

Shadow just smirks a bit and lifts a hand in acknowledgment before turning back away from Sonic again.

He listens as Sonic slowly takes a few steps backwards before turning completely and walking away back to the party. 

Alone again. But maybe not as alone as he previously thought.

Shadow stares at the horizon.

Promises. That’s why he’s here.

And it’s why he’ll stay.. 

[guardian-of-da-gay]

Breathless

Read on Ao3

For Whumptober 2024 Prompt 1: Panic Attack

tw for implied bullying, panic attacks, undiagnosed PTSD

“As far as I’m concerned, this is a good thing!”  Knuckles said petulantly from his place at the very back of the car.  “Now I won’t have to go back to that school!”

“You’re suspended, not expelled,” Tom said, his hands clenching and unclenching around the wheel.  “Means once your suspension is up, you’re going right back to school.”

Looking in the rearview mirror, Maddie could see Tails staring deeply at his shoes.  Sonic was wincing, eyes flicking between Knuckles and his parents in the front seat.  He was obviously debating joining in the fight, but keeping out was the better option here.  Maddie was in no mood for him to make light of the situation or try to cover for his brother.

Maddie felt overwhelmed.  Too much had happened that day and it all centered on her eldest.  She’d never regret adopting her kids, but out of all of them Knuckles made her feel like she was in over head.  She didn’t know what she was going to do with him!  She couldn’t believe he’d gotten himself suspended.

She was apocalyptically angry.  Even Tom was mad.  He was trying to stay calm though.  Trying to keep being the fun parent.  Maddie was usually all for that, but not today.

“When we get home, you are grounded!”  She said.  “That means no–” here’s where she would rattle off the fun things he was suspended from: TV?  He didn’t care about TV.  Video games?  He didn’t play any.  Going out with friends?  He didn’t have any except his brothers (and Wade).  Knuckles didn’t do fun things in his free time unless they made him.  They’d grounded him from grapes in the past, but he could totally get by without them.  Grounding him from training he’d just ignored .  But they couldn’t just not punish him.  He’d broken a kid's arm and blown up a bathroom for Christ’s sake.

“No going outside!”  She said.

“What?!”

“Yeah!”  She’d found a good one, she thought.  Judging by his angry gasp, she’d actually found a consequence he would actually feel.  “No training.  No runs.  No hiking.  Unless you’re with me or Tom–”

“Or the house is burning down!”  Tom cut in.

“--or there’s an emergency like the house is burning down!  You are housebound, young man!”

Several things happened very quickly after that.

Knuckles yanked on his seatbelt.  It locked.  He yanked again and broke it completely from its socket.

There was a chorus of ‘Hey!’ ‘What are you doing?’ ‘Dude, chill!’ ‘Knuckles, calm down–!’

Then the back of the car exploded.

The front end was blasted forward into the other lane.  Tom jerked the wheel, tires and passengers screaming.  The wild swerve had the car tipping violently to the side.  Just when Maddie was sure they would flip, it swung back the other way and the car landed, with a jerky bounce, right-side-up, stationary, and seemingly fine.  Except the back of the car was gone.  

And so was Knuckles.

There was a click as Sonic unbuckled and then he vanished as well.  Maddie could see a blue blur vanish off the side of the road, following a burst of red electricity.

She turned to the youngest first.  “Are you okay?”  She asked Tails in the back.

“I’m fine,” Tails was flinging off his own seatbelt and jumping out of the wreckage of the car, tails spinning.

Maddie turned to Tom just as Tom turned to her.  “Are you okay?”  They asked each other at once.

“I think so,” Maddie answered, rubbing her neck.  She definitely had some whiplash.  It hurt now, it would kill  tomorrow.

Sonic reappeared at her window. “Something’s wrong with Knuckles!”  He cried.

You don’t say?  Maddie thought, pressing at the tense muscles of her neck.

“I think he’s having a heart attack or something!”

“What?!”  Tom demanded.

Maddie forgot about her neck.  She unbuckled and jumped out of the car.  Sonic led the way and she ran after, her mind racing along with her feet.  Knuckles couldn’t really be having a heart attack, could he?  He was far too young and fit.  But he had also lived a rough life.  Could he have a hidden cardiovascular problem from some old illness or injury?  Her vet brain was taking over, mentally flipping through the possibilities.

Tails stood at the top of a short ridge, marking their way.  He turned, hands wringing as they approached.  “Something’s really wrong with him!”  He said.  “I don’t think he can hear me.”

Maddie crested the rise and saw Knuckles at the bottom, back pressed against a tree, crouched down with his fists up, blocking his head.  Even from where she stood she could tell he was shaking.  His quills were glowing slightly.  He didn’t look at them.

Maddie stumble-ran down the rise.  “Knuckles!”  She slowed as she approached.  He didn’t acknowledge her, but she could see his side heaving as he gasped for air.  “Knuckles?”  He still didn’t respond.  She wasted a second debating what to do.  But she couldn’t give him space.  Not when he was breathing like that.  “Knuckles, honey, it’s going to be okay–”  She touched his shoulder and his whole body jerked away, slamming into the tree.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!”  He roared.

For the second time that day, Maddie got whiplash.  Sonic yanked her away at speed just as an explosion of red lightning erupted from the echidna’s body.  She was lifted off her feet and crashed into Tom, who managed to keep his footing at the top of the rise.  At this rate, she was gonna be in traction tomorrow.  

“Sorry,” Sonic said hastily.  “Saw where that was going.”

“Knuckles!”  Tom yelled, tone caught between concerned and sharpness.  “What are you doing?!”

“What did you do–What–”  Knuckles wheezed and gasped for breath.  Maddie righted herself.  He was hyperventilating.  “ What did you do to me?! ”  He demanded.

“Woah, we didn’t do anything, Knuckles!”  Sonic said, zipping down closer to the echidna.  “You’ve got to calm down and let us help you.”

“Get away from m–me!”  Knuckles face scrunched, teeth grit as he continued to gasp for air like a drowning man.  Red electricity fizzled off of him warningly and Sonic took several steps back.  He looked up at Tom and Maddie, his helpless gaze matched by the one Tails was giving them.

“This doesn’t look like a heart attack,” Tom said so just Maddie could hear.

“I didn’t think so either,” she said.  “You guys just keep back a second, okay?”  She stepped out of Tom’s grip.  She didn’t see the look Tom shot to Sonic, but she saw Sonic nod, resolve in his eyes.  She had a feeling if Knuckles exploded again, she’d find herself yanked back at warp speed once more.

She approached the trembling echidna, cautious but not afraid.  She faced down bulls, pregnant beef cows, and feral cats on a near daily basis.  And this was her kid.

“Stay back!” Knuckles roared at her approach.  “I’ll hurt you!”   He said it like it was both threat and fear.  Electricity arced off his trembling body.

“Honey–”

“Don’t call me that!”  Knuckles yelled, his voice strangled and breathless.  “ You gave yourself away!  I know your game–” he wheezed “--you use sweet words so I don’t no-notice you locking the cage door–”

“We’re not locking you up,” Maddie said.  “We’d never do that, no matter how much trouble you’re in.”  She kept advancing forward, stooping at the waist so she wouldn’t loom over him.  “But that doesn’t matter now.  I need you to calm down–”

“No!  No! ”  He growled, sucking air rapidly through his grit teeth.  “I need–I need to get away…”  He fumbled with his hands, movements made clumsy by his shaking fingers.

“Do you want to go home?”  Maddie asked.  Maybe he would feel better if they were in a familiar environme–

“I need off this planet!”  He ripped at the cuff of one glove and a golden ring flew out and disappeared into the grass.  Knuckles let out a sound that was half growl, half sob.  He pushed himself into the tree, looking anywhere but at her.  “ What did you do to me ?”

Maddie shook her head.  “Nothing, honey, you’re just… I think you’re just having a panic attack.”

“I’m being attacked?!”

“No.  You’re safe,” she said firmly.  “But your mind is tricking you into thinking you’re in danger.  But you’re not.  You’re safe .”

“Yo- you’re tricking me!  I can trust my–my mind!”  His words fumbled around his rapid breathing.  “I can trust myself!  I–”  His eyes flitted around, seeking escape.

He squeezed his eyes shut tight again.  He was beginning to list to one side.  Maddie feared he might actually faint if he couldn’t get his breathing under control.

There was nothing she wanted nothing more than to reach out and right him.  Then maybe grab him up into a hug.  But she couldn’t.  Helpless and overwhelmed, she didn’t know what to do.  Hugs and kind words were her go-to methods for Sonic and Tails.  Knuckles had spat at her kind words.  He’d screamed at her hug.  Her big tough boy was falling apart and there was nothing she could do.

“I can’t–I can’t–” Knuckles gasped for breath, clutching at his chest and swaying slightly.  “I can’t breathe .”

“I know,” she said miserably.  “I know, honey, but you have to.  You’re so strong, Knuckles, I know you can.  You have to take a deep breath like–” For her it would be yoga, but for Knuckles? “--when you meditate?  Try to meditate.  Focus on your breathing and nothing else.”

“I want it to stop,” Knuckles said.

“It will,” Maddie promised.  “It’ll be over soon.”

Maddie had had panic attacks before, in vet school.  She didn’t think they’d been this bad though.  Or maybe this was just what it felt like to be on the other side.  She’d need to ask Tom.

She resisted the urge to try and get him counting his breaths.  When Tom had done that she couldn’t do it and then she’d just felt more stressed for failing to be helped.  She doubted Knuckles would feel the same way, but he was so independent–like ‘decides to break the arm of a kid that’s bullying him instead of telling literally anyone’ levels of independence��that he would probably be stressed most that he couldn’t control himself.

No, they just had to ride this out.  Maddie remembered it always felt like her panic attacks took forever to go away.  It was the same when watching one.  

Knuckles’ face scrunched as he breathed forcefully through the nose and out the mouth.  It was still too fast.  She worried, was he getting enough oxygen?  One of his hands fell away from his head and to the ground, propping him up.  Maddie squashed the urge to rub his back.  She wanted so badly to be able to soothe him, but all she could do was crouch beside him and whisper that it would be okay.  It would be over soon and then they could go home.

“I’m sorry,” she said.  “I’m sorry I started this.”  She was sure she was the cause.  It made her feel even more awful.  “It’ll be over soon.  I promise.  We’ll go home and you’ll feel better.”

“Will I…”  Knuckles’ breathing was a tiny bit slower.  “Will I still be g-grounded to the house?”

“No,” Maddie said quickly.  Her bright idea didn’t seem so bright now.  “I’ll– We, you, Tom, and I, will talk about what would be a fair consequence later.”

His voice pitched up and shook.  “Will you break my arm?”

“What?  No!”

“I broke that boy’s arm.”

“We will never punish you by hurting you,” Maddie said firmly.  “Don’t worry about that now, okay?  Just focus on breathing and feeling better.  That’s all you need to think about right now, okay?  Nothing else matters.”

Maddie didn’t know how much longer it was before Knuckles was breathing normally again.  Long enough that she saw a flash of red and blue on the other side of the rise.  Someone must have found their empty, destroyed car.  At the top of the rise, Tom had the other two boys in some kind of huddle.  He left to deal with whoever had just arrived.

Beside her, Knuckles straightened.  She glanced over at him.  He was sitting more normally, breathing more normally, and looking absolutely awful.  Maddie remembered that post-attack feeling.  Like a soggy, wrung out dishrag.  Even someone as strong as Knuckles wasn’t immune to tha.  But it was over.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Maddie said in her softest, ‘approaching a scared dog’ voice.  “We can go back up with the others.”

Knuckles didn’t look at her or answer.  He just stood up and started trudging up the little hill.  Maddie followed after, watching him.  His movements were a little unsteady, like his limbs had forgotten how they worked.  Knuckles always carried himself like he was eight feet tall.  Seeing him off balance and shaken felt wrong.

Knuckles didn’t acknowledge Sonic or Tails.  Sonic opened his mouth to say something as he stalked passed, but cut himself off.  Instead he and Tails fell in line, flanking their brother as they all headed back to what remained of their car.

Tom was talking to an officer.  Maddie couldn’t remember his name at the moment.  The man  was looking at their destroyed car and scratching the back of his head as Tom spoke to him.  He lifted his head so Maddie could see his confusion clearly.  His gaze swept over to them and when his eyes landed on Knuckles his expression cleared.  He nodded like Knuckles’ presence had just answered a question for him.  Maddie was almost offended before she remembered that this was Knuckles’ second act of destruction that day.  This was his m.o. Their insurance premiums showed the scars.

Tom turned away from the accident and came jogging over.  He watched Knuckles just a little too long as he approached.  Maddie could see the moment he realized he was staring.  Tom looked away and avoided looking at him again.

There was an awkward pause as the whole family seemed to be waiting to see if anyone would acknowledge what just happened.  Maddie was of the mind that they weren’t going to do anything that made Knuckles uncomfortable until he looked less visibly shaken.  And Knuckles looked like he wanted everyone to forget the whole thing.  So, for now, that’s what she was going to do.

“Uh…”  Tom broke the silence.  “Wade’s going to come pick us up.”

Oh, Maddie felt a genuine flash of relief.  “Oh, Wade?”  She looked at Knuckles.  “That’ll be nice, right?”

Knuckles wasn’t even looking at her.  He was staring at the car with a look of deep confusion.

“Knux?”  Sonic asked, his voice softer than usual.

When Knuckles finally spoke, his voice rasped:  “What happened to the car?”

All the Wachowskis looked at him with varying levels of confusion, concern, and dismay.  Maddie’s heart plummeted and for the first time in this whole incident she felt a flash of true fear.  She looked into Knuckles’ genuinely baffled face and knew she was truly, deeply , in over her head.

[monoclesnapple]

Intermediate Shenanigans

Bungo Stray Dogs Chuuya Nakahara & Gender Neutral Reader + Osamu Dazai & Reader + Odasaku X Reader Summary: Headcanons about taking care of middle schooler Dazai and Chuuya and dating Oda Beginning Note: Shoutout to all the class clowns/funny people, they're great inspiration for scenarios. @kiwibeanv helped with the stories of said funnies. Word Count: 2629 (Fluff/Crack)

First off, you're their parent figure and they live with you. All comfy with you and they trust you a lot. Now to move on to their stupidity.

Immaturity at its finest.

It’s constant arguing, pointing fingers, and the like.

They’re always fighting for your attention, pushing against each other so your hand can pet them.

You’re sitting on the couch, watching TV, when Dazai runs into the living room and jumps to the spot next to you. Since you’re leaning against the armrest, there’s only one seat next to you.

Dazai pushes himself under your arm and hugs your waist as he sighs contentedly. You idly rub his arm for a few minutes before Chuuya comes in with an annoyed expression.

“Oi, StinkZai, do your history homework before you go do whatever.”

Dazai whined and buried himself deeper into your side. “I’ll do it later! I’m tired right now.” He closed his eyes.

“Dazai, you need to do your assignments before you eventually forget and never get them done,” you told him. He let out a groan at that, “Why can’t Chuuya do it? Isn’t he supposed to listen to me since I’m smarter?”

“You’re not smarter than me! Even a shrimp can do better than you!” Chuuya sped to the two of you and pulled on Dazai until the latter fell to the floor.

“Ow!- That’s my spot!” The brunette rubbed his arm. Chuuya had stolen his spot in your arms now and smirked at the other.

“Maybe you should’ve done your homework first, you idiot!” He blew a raspberry and rested his head on your shoulder.

You sighed, “If you two continue to fight, I’m simply going to go to my room and relax without either of you.”

They both froze and looked at you then at each other. Despite their inability to cooperate without trouble, they agreed on the fact that your presence was probably the most important thing they want. They begrudgingly decided to keep quiet, moving so Chuuya can sit on one of your knees while Dazai reclaimed his initial place.

Eventually, they get their emo phases. One day, Dazai just randomly started wearing bandages over his eye, saying that he looks better.

“Why are you wasting bandages?” “Because I look so cool and a lot of girls come up to me and say I look nice! I know that so many people have a crush on me, especially when I’m like this!” “Just wait til they find out that this stupid mackerel is actually a bad person and a major turn off!” “Chuuya, don’t say that, please.”

And Chuuya had a Sonic phase. He thought the hedgehog was so cool, he wanted to be like him in as many ways he can.

He then found out about Conker’s Bad Fur Day and asked you if he could get it. You thought it’d be a wholesome game for kids, but when you looked at the plot and ratings, you didn’t buy it for him. He was sad, but got over it.

And then he came across Devil May Cry and decided to watch the gameplay and cutscenes because you might not buy it for him (you may consider, but it still has some scenes that you’re skeptical about.)

Nero from DMC4 is so cool despite the excessive “Kyrie!” throughout the game, Chuuya wants to dress like him. And dye his hair white.

Every time he loves a character, he wants to dye his hair their own hair color, but you never let him because why should he ruin his lovely hair? (He may or may not ask to dye his hair just so you can compliment him.)

Hot Topic is their favorite store because it has so many aesthetics and they love the style of the apparel.

They start simping for characters and reading fanfics. You know what they’re reading because they use the family/shared device and don’t delete the history. Why are there so many lemons? What do they mean? (Unless you’re a fanfic reader yourself)

They kinda know what sex is, they have a faint idea, but they’re probably wrong on a few things.

Hence, Dazai is excited for sex ed! Wooo! His head is smacked by Chuuya because the latter is embarrassed that he just yelled that out and now kids are looking at them.

When they’re learning about it, Dazai’s snickering at the pictures. But not the childbirth, what the actual fuck did they just watch? 

Oh boy, now they’re the cringe and immature kids who laugh at everything that can vaguely be related to sex.

Anyways, now to the scenario that was the whole reason for this

You were sitting on the couch, Dazai and Chuuya on the floor and you’re petting their heads. You check your phone, keeping a hand on Chuuya’s head and caressing it. He’s smiling with his eyes closed in bliss. Oh, how he loves this affection.

Until Dazai pushes and climbs on him to be the receiver of your pets. He smiles innocently when you glance over, but smirks at Chuuya, who shoves him as well and takes his spot back.

This continues to go on and you’re about to say something, but then the door is unlocked and opened. Dazai excitedly turns to see Oda coming in. He runs over and hugs the man while Chuuya sets himself in your lap.

After greeting Dazai, Oda is carrying him and walks to you and Chuuya, pressing a kiss to your head and ruffling Chuuya’s hair.    

You're in a relationship with Oda, and Dazai loves it.

His two favorite people together, who he might call his parents? How blessed he is!

He doesn’t know who he prefers, so the two of you are equal in his eyes. But when it comes to physical affection, he might go to Oda since Chuuya’s all over you and Dazai’s too tired to do anything. Also, he doesn’t see Oda as often as he does you.

Chuuya thinks Oda is great, but he’s not as close to him as Dazai is. If he had to choose between you or Oda, he’d honestly choose you.

Oda loves coming home to find you three waiting for him on the couch. It warms his heart that he is wanted and loved.

Either he comes home to you all cooking dinner, sleeping in a pile on the floor, playing games (board games or video) , or watching TV.

He still takes care of his adopted children at the curry shop, but he also enjoys the company of Dazai and Chuuya

Sometimes, he would bring those five kids to your house so they can play with Dazai and Chuuya. Everyone has fun, it’s like a party. (Sneaking kisses in the kitchen as everyone else plays video games on the TV)

Oda is a gentleman, whenever you two go out, he always opens the door for you, pulls out your seat, and kisses your hand when you both meet and bid goodbye to each other.

If Dazai ever sees you and Oda share a kiss, he’s cheering in his mind. Whereas Chuuya just brushes it off with an unnoticeable upwards twitch of his lips and an eye roll.

Once, you spotted Oda talking to Dazai outside under the moonlight. You knew the former was telling the teen about the right thing to do. Dazai had expressed his want of being involved in some well known group.

He hinted a little about maybe being a detective or even following Oda’s footsteps of going to the mafia. You really didn’t want him to go with the second option, but at least he’d have Oda to guide him if he’s even alive at that time

Thus, he’s told to prioritize other people’s happiness over his own. It’s tough, but it’s for the better of everyone.

He also says the same to Chuuya, but he goes into more detail with Dazai. You mainly handle Chuu with the lectures since he’s more likely to take your words to heart.

Chuuya has great friends in school, they seem like a lovely bunch, and you trust them. You’ve met them before and they were very nice.

Dazai doesn’t have as many, but you can tell he’s not really clicking with them like Chuuya is with his own. When his mood seems to lower, you go to him when he’s alone and you two cuddle. You can faintly pick up the sound of sniffles and feel your clothing moisten. After the session, you two don’t mention it because you know Dazai doesn’t want to remember that.

With any trauma, you take them to therapy. If it’s affecting either kid negatively, they need to talk about it. Initially, they talk to you, but they go see a professional of that doesn’t work.

Academically, the two of them are good. Dazai’s grades are always A’s even if he procrastinates or doesn’t seem to get his work done.

Chuuya usually gets B’s, but his PE is the best with an A+. He signs up for any sports the school offers if he’s interested.

Dazai’s lowest grade is PE, around a C because he’s not athletic like Chuuya.

Both Dazai and Chuuya have the same PE class and teacher, but their participation and effort are the opposite.

“Okay, everyone needs to do fifteen seconds of push-ups and fifteen sit-ups, let’s go! Get started!” The teacher instructed. They were walking around their class in the gym, ensuring everyone was doing what they were told.

They noticed a student lying face down next to the wall and when they walked by, they pointed at him and asked, “Who is that?”

Chuuya heard their inquiry and answered, “Dazai.”

The teacher was silent for a second before focusing back on the other students, “Let’s go! You should be on the next exercise now!”

Whenever there’s a fundraiser, they’re begging you to please donate so they can get a prize.

“Pleeeaaassseee? You can get a refrigerator stuffed with $200! Or even an iPad!” Dazai’s giving you the puppy eye(s) [depends if he’s bandaged his eye or not] and Chuuya is hugging you and kissing your cheek. “We love you so much, can you pretty please with a cherry on top donate? We’ll pay you back!” (They don’t make money, nor do they have an allowance.)

When it comes to projects, Dazai always waits until the last minute.

“Hey, can we go to the store and buy supplies? I have a project.” He whispered to you.

“Huh...?” You were woken up by him at whatever the time was, so you rubbed your eyes and sat up. Oda was still asleep beside you, a peaceful expression on his face. You kept your voice to not disturb him, “What?” When you checked the time, it was 2 am.

“I need some things for my science project,” Dazai was just standing by your bed, with big eyes, looking as though he had thrown up.

“When’s it due?”

“Tomorrow.” You frowned at that.

“Sorry bud, can’t help you. It’s too late, why aren’t you in bed?”

“I had to work on my project and other assignments,” he shifted in his spot and awkwardly averted his eyes. “I only need two things, glitter markers and a poster board.”

You stared at him tiredly, before sighing. “What happened to the ones I bought at the beginning of school?”

“I lost them.”

You blinked, unmoving. “And you can’t borrow Chuuya’s?”

He shook his head, saying they weren’t what he needed. At last, you moved the covers off your body and made your way to the closet. “Fine, go get ready. You should be thankful I’m even entertaining this idea.”

Dazai silently cheered and sped to his room. Why were you so lenient with these children? They’re gonna be spoiled.

His project was claiming that potatoes can power up devices. A stupid as it sounds, he somehow makes it convincing until it’s actually tested and obviously it doesn’t work. But he still gets a passing grade for the effort.

During one of their classes, Chuuya asked to go to the bathroom and ten minutes later when the teacher was about to ask about his location, he comes back with a lunch tray.

“Where’d you get that?” “I look like a sixth grader.”

He just munched away as everyone stared at him confused before they got back to the lesson.

Another time, the teacher left the room for a few minutes. Since Dazai wondered what their coffee tasted like, he waltzed over to the desk and took a sip and immediately spat it out.

“Ugh! It tastes like shit!” When the teacher came back, the whole class silently agreed to stay quiet and not tell on him.

When it was around Halloween and everyone could wear a costume, Dazai wore a squirrel suit. He brought an acorn prop and clipped it to the front of his pants. When walking up to the stage for the best costume contest, he hit the acorn with his legs, playing with it, until it accidently hit his balls and he crouched to the floor in pain. Of course, the guys winced at it, but it was pretty funny. Someone, Chuuya probably, yelled out, “He busted a nut!”

More nonsense, pantsing sometimes occurred. And Chuuya was the unfortunate target for Dazai. He had snuck up behind the former, and yanked down his pants. Regrettably, Dazai’s fingers also caught onto the waistband of the undergarments and when it came down, he got a face full of balls.

He was so traumatized despite being the one to commit the act.

Food fights can also happen. While Chuuya was peacefully eating his lunch, Dazai threw a tomato slice at him and the fruit made a satisfying splat! on Chuuya’s cheek.

He also tried to throw cheese, but he missed and it landed in the hair of someone who was just walking by. (And somehow did not get in trouble).

For presentations, Chuuya had to do an audio recording, and Dazai just sneezed at the beginning of it, He recorded another but when uploading the audio files, he accidently clicked the sneeze one. Presentation day was funny, but Chuuya didn’t necessarily like it.

If they had online school, Chuuya would be talking to the camera before a ball smack his face. He falls out of frame, and Dazai is just seen running in the background.

There are also interviews or random school news done by the student council. They hate having to work with Dazai and Chuuya together because they always argue. The one time the video went right was when Chuuya had a voice crack.

Rallies also happen, and students would have to cheer as loud as they can for their team. Chuuya and Dazai are the loudest, but they also suffer from voice cracks. After the rally, they lose their voice for about a day.

Rocketry is an elective, and there’s a weird Russian kid named Fyodor. Both the boys don’t really like him. Since he’s associated with rats (Kids call him Rat), they wanted to get a rat plushie. They asked you if you could get them a rat plushie. You decided to buy it for them, not knowing why they actually wanted it.

They taped the plush to the rocket, put more power into it, and they launched it into the air. When it blasted off, they looked at Fyodor with threatening stares.

Occasionally, you and Oda would volunteer to help with some school activities. The first time both of you arrived, so many students had a crush on either of you. They’d go to Chuuya/Dazai and whisper “That’s your parent?”

Oda’s a dilf and you’re also a milf/dilf.

What a happy family you lot are.

[true-blue-sonic]

I felt bad about having literally nothing ready for Silver week 2024, so I dragged this from the depths of my very being this evening, haha. Dreams of an Absolution mentions that every night Silver lays awake, and that is what gave me the inspiration for this fic. Hope you enjoyed!🍀

☆☆☆☆☆☆

Day 1: Dreams

A snippy “Sonic, wake up!” isn’t what Sonic likes to hear when getting roused from a comfortable nap.

It’s not the first time this has been said, he thinks. There’s been more of such demands around him, as have been some pushes. Maybe. The speedster has ignored them all, floating through his sweet dreams as he is-

Until his entire body is given a shake, somehow, and that doesn’t make much sense.

With a grumble the speedster opens one eye to glare at his disruptor. It’s a glare returned in kind: Silver’s crossed arms and bristling quills speak of plentiful irritation on the psychic’s side, as does the way Sonic gets dropped onto the ground again. But neither is anything new with Silver, Sonic’s still-half-asleep brain promptly decides, and thus he stretches with an elaborate yawn. This calm field of flowers between swaying grasses and white cotton clouds in the blue sky above do not lend themselves for hastiness and irritations.

“Something the matter?” he nods back at Silver after multiple seconds, in which Silver’s dry annoyance has grown tenfold.

“Yes," gets huffed back. "I’ve been trying to wake you for ages. Tails needs you, but he couldn’t reach you on your Miles Electric. And I went out to search for you because I thought something had happened, only to find you asleep in a field of flowers while refusing to get up?!”

Between that complaint Sonic has long jumped right to his feet, any thoughts about the calmness of flowers, grasses, clouds and skies forgotten.

“Oops,” he decrees, snatching the device in question and sheepishly studying the multiple missed calls on it. Yes, Tails had been talking extensively about a new invention he was going to test one of these days, and apparently the fated moment would have been hours ago. Not nice of him to let his pal hanging like that, Sonic admonishes himself. He’d best go there immediately to make up for it. “My bad. The flowers in this Zone are really nice to sleep in,” he offhandedly mentions to Silver, tucking the Miles Electric away again. “Still, thanks for waking me. Let’s go to Tails’.”

A shake of Silver’s head that Sonic would describe as rather judgemental is his response, the other turning on his heels and stalking away. “Tails already said you’d probably be in dreamland, since you didn’t respond,” gets called out over a grey-furred shoulder, Sonic laughing at that.

“He knows me too well. Yep, I was.”

“It’s the middle of the day.”

“So?”

“Dreaming is for late at night. If you're doing it during the day, you should at least be awake. Daydreaming isn't done while sleeping,” Silver states firmly, shaking out his bristling quills as a softer look forms on his face. He always looks more sunny like that, Sonic thinks every time he sees it. This time there’s even a little smile reserved for him. “But I’d been trying to wake you for a while already,” the psychic adds with a little snort. “It was impossible. You whined at me a couple of times, even.”

A full laugh slips past Sonic’s lips at the tease. “Did not.”

“Did so. Heard it myself.”

“That’s hardly proof,” Sonic winks back at him. “Besides, you can’t blame me for having nice dreams. I was flying through space and past galaxies, that’s far too neat to be woken up from so brusquely. Don’t you think?”

Pensively Silver rubs his chin. “That does sound nice. I guess dreaming of flying is quite special if you can’t fly normally?”

“I know what flying is like,” the speedster responds; he’s turned Super enough times for that to not be a mystery for him anymore. But it does leave him wondering… “You’re making it sound like you never dream the day away, heh. So what do you dream about?” he inquires, kicking into a brisk jog as Silver floats beside him into the air.

Silver’s brow furrows. “Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious. If flying in your dreams doesn’t faze you, then what does? What kinds of marvellous thoughts occupy your dreams?” Sonic smiles back; just something to fill the time between them on the journey back to Tails’ workshop, a few Zones over. And he doesn’t know the answer to his question anyway. He knows it from a lot of his friends: Amy dreams of him, she’s always been quite obvious about that, and Rouge dreams of gemstones, Knuckles of things around Angel Island, the Chaotix of money…

But what about Silver?

The almost staggeringly long silence that follows is rather suspicious, however.

“It’s nothing spectacular,” eventually breaks it, as does a deep sigh. “It’s just… things about the past, or the future.”

That doesn’t sound like sweet dreams, Sonic promptly decides. If they were, Silver would be more forward about it. “Nightmares?” he opens the opportunity for elaboration, though Silver slowly shakes his head at that.

“Not really… I just think a lot before I fall asleep, and then I’m so tired I don’t really dream that much anymore. It's not daydreaming because they're not nice thoughts, but...”

“You can't sleep because of it,” Sonic fills in. He’d add an inquiry if Silver is overthinking, and about what precisely, but he knows well enough that prodding doesn’t always go over well with his hot-headed friend. Yet, leaving the topic unmentioned otherwise doesn’t sit well with him either… “Silver, if you can’t sleep because you’re thinking too much, you can come to one of us,” he adds, giving the other a gentle nudge with his elbow. “We don’t mind, really. We’re here to help each other.”

Silver for his part only shrugs. “You will have to be with me every night, then. It's always the same thing."

“And that’s okay. We want to be, if it’ll make your dreams better.”

“I’ll think about it,” gets hummed back; the final thing said as Sonic’s brisk jog turns into a full run and Silver rushes beside him in silence.

Amidst Tails’ teasing about Sonic being a sleepyhead once the duo has returned to his workshop and extensive playing around with the new contraption Tails had wanted to try Sonic almost forgets what he and Silver have talked about, over the hours that the afternoon lasts still. But when the sun has sunk into the horizon and Sonic has crashed onto Tails’ couch after seeing his brother off to bed, a shuffle at the door makes his ears twitch.

He doesn’t need to open his eyes to know it’s Silver tiptoeing into the living room, with quiet breaths and softer footsteps.

Silver's eyes burn into him, the hairs on Sonic's spine prickling at the sensation. His friend stands frozen... but eventually the footsteps resume, until a weight sinks down at the very edge of the sofa's pillows. That golden stare is on Sonic still, but the speedster doesn't twitch a single quill in response, and eventually, slowly, Silver scoots closer. A lithe weight drops against Sonic's knees, small shuffles and minute movements following until Silver's tucked himself away into a little half-ball...

He’s close enough for Sonic to stretch out a hand and discreetly run his fingers over Silver’s.

The weight against his legs tenses immediately, but Sonic stays quiet. Silver doesn’t want him to talk or ask anything, he knows. But the quiet I’ll be with you is present between them: an assurance from Sonic’s side, and an acceptance from Silver’s.

And that’s how they lay, until Silver’s body has relaxed again and the other has finally, finally drifted off after the better part of an hour, Sonic refusing to let sleep claim him until his friend’s breaths have deepened and his usually-guarded face has softened like it had this afternoon.

“Have sweet dreams,” Sonic whispers into little grey ears, before turning around and sinking into them himself, with Silver’s breaths quiet but even as the speedster’s world becomes black too.

[catiecat1320]

Sonadowtober Prompt 19: Cat Cafe

Sonic brings a new cat to the cafe Amy runs… and finds Shadow there as well

Happy Sonadow Gens Release!!! (To the people without early access lol)

Read Below🔽

“Amy?”

“Yeah, Sonic?” The pink hedgehog doesn’t even bother looking up from the computer she’s furiously typing into. Sonic shifts the pet crate in his arms, trying to be as discreet as possible as he throws glances over his shoulder.

“Why is Shadow here?”

“What?” Amy looks up, confused. “Oh! Shadow’s here regularly, and helps out a lot with the little guys. He’s a cat whisperer, I’m telling you. All of them love him.”

“I… wouldn’t doubt that.” He peeks at the striped hedgehog again, who’s sitting on the floor to the far side of the wall, surrounded by half the cats in the cafe. 

“And… registered! You’ll just need to come up with a name, Sonic. Hey Shadow!” Sonic spun around to stare at Amy, wondering why she would call for Shadow’s attention. “We have a new addition to our crowd!”

Red eyes lock onto him intently, face wiped of emotion as he gestures to Sonic… or at the crate Sonic was holding.

Awkwardly, the hero shuffles over and sets it down. A hiss drifts out, but Shadow’s unfazed as he kneels and peeks in, gently cooing at it as he unlatches the door. “C’mon… c’mon…”

Miraculously, at least, miraculously to Sonic, Shadow manages to coax the little gray cat out without trouble. No hissing, no biting, no scratching, nothing. Not even as the hedgehog picked it up and sat back, placing it in his lap. It’s like this random stray Sonic saved on one of his runs had known Shadow for its entire life.

Cat whisperer indeed…

Amy guides him over to another table for a snack, but Sonic’s barely hearing her. He sits down in a dainty little chair, distracted, ending up nearly spilling his coffee once he gets it. His attention was entirely stolen by Shadow and the cafe cats. 

Their interactions were so gentle, so soft. There seemed to be no hitch between them despite their difference, as if they understood each other wholly and completely. To have such a connection…

“Hedgehog.”

He almost didn’t hear that. Almost. He pretended not to.

“Hedgehog. I know you can hear me.”

“Eh, worth a shot,” Sonic shrugged. “What’s up?”

“What’s up? Do you hear yourself?” Shadow deadpanned, petting a cat that nudged him for affection. “You’ve been staring at me for the past 10 minutes. What do you want?”

Sonic laughs sheepishly as he realizes he’d been caught, and quite a while ago at that. Embarrassing.

He attempts to nonchalantly sip his now cold coffee but chokes instead as pitched meow sounds right next to him, causing him to jump, much to the amusement of Shadow and his cat squad. The black and white culprit yawns at Sonic, baring its little teeth as if it were laughing.

“This isn’t fair,” he pouts. The cat just leaps onto his head, settling in blue quills without a care in the world. “Hey! Get out of there! Those are sharp y’know!”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “They won’t hurt her if you don’t raise them. You know that.”

“But still—”

“No but. Sit.”

An… order? Shadow points to the spot next to him, expression completely serious, gaze locked onto Sonic expectantly. The latter’s eye twitched with confusion as he complied. “So…”

“Oreo,” Shadow whistled, and the spotted cat immediately leaped from Sonic’s quills into striped ones. The hero’s awed at the display of obedience.

“How do you get them to listen to you?”

“I don’t. They do whatever they want.” A different cat, a tortoiseshell, rubs itself against Shadow’s leg, purring like an engine. He chirps at it and it jumps into his lap, settling belly-up as it plays with white tufts of fur from his chest. “It’s a matter of understanding them. Working with them. Then, you can align your wants with their wants.”

Sonic hums, watching the cafe workers scoot around tables and cats to get to their patrons. His cheeks puff out as he traces circles on the floor. “Hm. That’s deep, man.”

“...Why do you choose to act so stupid?” Ruby eyes bore into the other hedgehog, demanding an answer.

“What…?” Sonic laughed awkwardly. That was such a random question. “What do you mean?”

“If you were truly stupid, you wouldn’t be alive.” The tortoiseshell left Shadow’s lap to go seek another customer to bother, and Oreo jumped out of his quills to follow. “You understand the concept. You’ve applied it everyday: you adapt to your surroundings, you bend with the flow, you live and you learn, you grow and you conquer. Why must you choose to pretend you don’t?”

Sonic shrugged, cocking his head in half-attempted thought. “Maybe you’re wrong. I’m a simple guy, y’know? You’re overthinking it.” The kitten he brought in comes up to him, having well adjusted to its new home already. Gently, he reaches a hand out to pet it, grinning in triumph when it lets him.

Shadow watches the whole interaction with a distant expression on his face. “I’m not wrong,” he decides aloud, straightening. “You just don’t realize your own act.”

“Well, if you say so. That’s good enough for me!” Sonic’s cradling the kitten in his palms, petting it with his thumb. Cheekily, he holds it up, grinning as the little thing meows at him. The hero plants a kiss on its head and places it in Shadow’s open hands. “It wants you.”

“...How do you understand so well, yet not at the same time?”

“Dunno, man!” Sonic scoots closer, reaching over and petting the cat with two fingers. “Maybe you can find out for me!”

“I don’t think I ever will,” Shadow muttered under his breath. Sonic pretends not to hear. It’s not like he needs to listen.

“So what should we name this lil’ guy?”

It only takes a heartbeat for Shadow to respond. “Storm.”

“Strong name for such a tiny cat, don’t ya think?”

“He’ll grow into it. It’s the innocent ones that are the most trouble.”

[skaruresonic]

Being a Cream fan is suffering. The writers aren't hiding that they don't like her. Hello Advanced 2 anyone???

I can imagine.

She's milked for both humor and angst. In most cases, the fact that it's Cream specifically who is suffering/the butt of the joke is the intended takeaway behind the humor or angst.

People try to rationalize such moments as "she's just a child," forgetting that Cream is also her own person and has a personality beyond the expected behavior of children her age. Shunting her into the box of Child(tm) and leaving it at that is like reducing Amy to Girl(tm). Or Shadow to his Black Arms blood. You're not wrong to say those elements factor in, per se, but you are being overreductive by focusing only on those isolated elements of their characters when they're not overall terribly important.

Apologies for the self-indulgence here, but before we proceed to talk about IDW 66 and 67's B-side story, I'd like to bring up Cream's chapter in my visual novel as a counterexample:

In a nutshell: OaS is a slice-of-life where Sonic goes about a normal Sunday, visiting his friends and helping them through their problems, alongside some funny shenanigans. He spends about half the game spending time with Knuckles, Amy, and Cream, respectively.

Chapter three sees his relationship with Cream evolve from friends to Big Bro-Lil Sis(tm) as he endeavors to look out for her the best he can and listen to her little kid problems. Math is hard. :<

You'll notice in the conversation Sonic and Cream have after they sit down to eat their carnival food - about halfway through the video - that "lol Cream's just a dumb kid" is the exact attitude I was trying to avoid.

On the contrary: I wanted to respect her agency while also emphasizing that her status as a child is something worth respect on its own. Just because her problems may seem trivial from an adult perspective don't mean they aren't real to her, and I hope I've portrayed it so that Sonic gives her the respect she deserves.

The gist behind the chapter's more humorous moments isn't to point and laugh at Cream, but rather make light of the awkwardness of Sonic navigating being a big brother figure.

That's why stuff like Cream spouting waterfalls really rubs me the wrong way. Folks will argue "she's a child" while neglecting the important nuance that it's not typical of Cream to wail like a toddler in the games... As well as the other important nuance that if it had been Games!Cream in IDW!Cream's place, Rough and Tumble would be ground into paste before the roast finished.

The only punchline here is "Isn't it funny how Cream tried so hard to do right by her mother and some bully destroyed her work in an instant? LOL and then Vanilla went mama bear on them." When you drill down to the core of the underlying idea, you'll find it's just... meanspirited. The book is making fun of the fact that Cream is suffering what is, in her eyes, a humiliating failure.

It's not humor generated by Cream's personality, or the mood whiplash incurred by beating up bad guys one moment and tending to the roast the next, or inviting the bad guys to dinner after giving them a thorough ass-whooping, or anything like that.

How much better would it have been if, instead, following the food fight, we cut to Vanilla returning home to find an immaculate dinner table and two very twitchy skunk boys playing maid in fear of the goddess of destruction's wrath? Cream cheerily greets her mother while Rough and Tumble trip over themselves putting Vanilla's groceries away. Meanwhile Cheese and Chocola give them the evil eye. Vanilla is confused as G-merl pulls out her chair for her, but in no position to protest.

Imagine how amusing that could have been! Nope. The book has to point and laugh at Cream in a "ha ha bitch you thought" kind of way. Can't join in on the laugh track if we have any love for Cream ourselves.

To borrow the stans' logic, it's actually pretty fucked-up that you're meant to laugh at a child for crying in such a situation. At best, you're made to feel sorry for her, but given how the scene is framed to be absurd, it's probably a safer bet to say you're intended to laugh.

That's before we remember Cream doesn't sob buckets in the games. It took being kidnapped, taken to Eggman's creepy robot depot and watching Emerl gleefully tear Phi robots apart for her to sniffle quietly.

Sniffle. Not wail like a toddler. Because the games have this thing called "a sense of decorum," you see. xP

People contend that Cream's a pacifist based on her refusal to engage in Battle until Emerl gets hurt (and then they conveniently ignore how she stepped up and kicked some ass; rip), which overlooks the context that she was probably sick of fighting after having been forced to spar against Emerl and Amy to the point of exhaustion.

---

P.S. IDW!Vanilla wishes she was half as scary as OaS!Vanilla. Yeah, I said it xP

[thecrowcorner]

A Midnight Nightmare - The Doctor x Rose

Cg!Doctor x Little! Rose Tyler

Summary: Rose has a nightmare on the TARDIS and wakes up regressed when the Doctor comes to the rescue.

WC: 1.1k

A/N: Could be read as any Doctor! Click here if you'd prefer to read on AO3.

The Doctor had made sure to safely set the TARDIS into a drift through the vortex just as he always did when he and Rose were resting up before a new adventure. Well, really it was just when Rose needed to rest for a bit while he’d go off tinkering with his gizmos and gadgets, or even sometimes just doing research for whatever planets or solar systems they’d been planning to visit within the near future. 

They had just gotten back from an adventure in which the Doctor had discovered a stranded alien that had been causing the locals a bit of trouble in an attempt to make it back home. Thankfully however, it hadn’t done too much damage yet when they found it, and Rose had taken a particular liking to it, so the Doctor managed to earn its trust before helping it and eventually managing to get it a one way trip back to its proper home. When they made it back to the TARDIS, Rose had begun to feel a bit tired after the day’s events, so she trudged back to her bedroom, promising the Doctor through a yawn that she just needed a good shower and a few hours sleep before she’d be ready to go off soaring through galaxies and fighting crime again. The Doctor happily sent her on her way with a smile, promising he’d be in his lab working on one of his projects while she slept, content with her request.

It had only been about two hours since he and Rose had parted ways in the control room when the Doctor began to feel the TARDIS frantically buzzing and thrumming in his head, instantly knowing something was wrong. Only seconds later, is when he started hearing the shouting.

“Doctor!” he heard Rose yell out through the TARDIS. He dropped the piece of scrap metal he held in his hand, opting for his trusty sonic screwdriver instead before running out of the lab and straight to Rose’s bedroom. He could hear her repeated shouts of his name being choked out between what he could only assume were her sobs. 

Thankfully for him, the TARDIS drew Rose’s bedroom right next to the lab, only two doors down across the hall. “I’m coming Rose, hold on!” he shouted frantically in return. He flung himself against her bedroom door, turning the knob open with one hand and tightly gripping his sonic like a lifeline in the other. Rose was sitting up in her bed, still wrapped up in the sheets and blankets, face red and puffy as the tears continued to run down her cheeks. The Doctor quickly scanned her over before allowing his eyes to wander through the rest of the room searching for any signs of danger.

“Oh, Rose, what’s happened?” he asked tenderly, lowering his sonic down to his side and striding over to her bed. 

“I had a nightmare, you were gone, and Mum was gone, and I couldn’t feel the TARDIS, and I didn’t know what to do, or where to go, and it was so real,” she eventually got out, pausing every few words as the sobs continued to wrack her body. 

“Oh, Rose, it’s okay, I’m here, I’ve got you,” he cooed, lowering himself onto the bed, drawing her into his arms. “It was only a dream, sweetheart, we’re all still here,” he continued, rubbing circles onto her back.

“But daddy, it was so real,” she cried out, looking up at him with what the Doctor could have only described as puppy dog eyes, still red and watery and overflowing. Oh, so that’s what this is, the Doctor thought as the word fell from her lips, which he now noticed were also trembling. Rose was fierce, strong, and independent. A force to be reckoned with. And it was one of the things that he loved most about her, in fact, it had saved his own life more than a number of times, but sometimes, he learned after a few months of travelling with her, she wasn’t. Sometimes, Rose sort of drew into herself, letting a different Rose emerge instead. One that still loved to show a brave face, but wanted to watch cartoons, or colour, or play with a rubber ducky in a bubble bath. The first time it happened while she had been on board the TARDIS, she had been rather embarrassed by it, but the Doctor had been more than happy to jump into the role of caregiver. 

“It only felt real, Rosie, I promise,” he whispered, smoothing her wild hair down, offering the gentle affection which Rose always loved, regardless of her mental age and the nickname he had assigned to her regressed persona. “Come on my star, you’ve hardly rested, why don’t we get you back to sleep, hmm?” he offered, not making any effort to release her from the embrace just yet. 

“Please don’t leave me, Daddy, the nightmares are scary. I don't want to see them again,” she pleaded, strengthening her grip around his torso. “I won’t, you have my word, but you’re still sleepy darling,” he said, prying her arms away from him. “I’ll stay with you while you sleep, yeah?” Rose yawned and rubbed her eyes, conceding to the Doctor’s orders. 

“Do you want your dummy, it’ll help you sleep?” he asked, as he stood up, walking across the room to retrieve it off her dresser where he had last placed it. Evidently, she had never bothered to put it away. She hummed a confirmation, sniffling and wiping the stray tears as they continued to fall down her face. She had cried a wet stain onto the Doctor’s jacket, but he didn’t seem to care. 

He returned back to the bed, dummy in hand before toeing off his shoes, and crawling under the blankets next to her. He pulled her into him and popped the dummy into her mouth before settling her head down against his chest and drawing the blankets up and tighter around both of them. Rose, the Doctor had learned, often tended to grow smaller as she grew sleepier. She sucked on the dummy, wrapping herself tightly around the Doctor, clinging onto him with all her limbs. He held her, watching her as her sniffles drew quieter and further apart and her breathing began to even out.  Rose had been exhausted, and nobody would have been happy with a grumpy big or little Rose stomping about the TARDIS. In fact, happy that her occupant was finding solace, the TARDIS herself began to hum quietly, just enough for Rose and the Doctor to feel her presence, as the Doctor also began to hum, singing Rose to sleep to the tune of an old Gallifreyan lullaby long forgotten to time, with no one else to remember it but him, and now, his Rose. 

[projectnewmoon]

Sonic - Project: New Moon

Chapter 8 - Dance at the End of the World

Summary: The world's end rears its head. Sonic and friends race to stop it before it's too late.

Warnings: Mentions of blood, violence.

Word Count: 2,502 words

-

It was late into the night in Permafrost Plains. The group was back inside the base, hiding from the cold of the tundra outside. Sonic held his still bleeding arm as Tails gathered bandages out of the first aid kit he’d gotten from the Tornado. He was starting to feel lightheaded, having lost a substantial amount of blood in the time it took to get everyone back inside.

Good Gaia, he was exhausted. His eyelids were heavy. He could barely keep himself from drifting off.

Maybe… Just a few minutes…

“Sonic, no!” Tails snapped, “Stay with us here!”

“Huh…? Oh, right, sorry…” he mumbled as Tails wrapped the wound in bandages as best he could.

Sonic looked towards Rue and the twins who were all sitting a few ways away, hoping the distraction would be enough to keep him awake. Specter rubbed her back while Phantom hugged her arm and purred. Maybe that was his way of comforting her?

Rue’s face was almost completely hidden by the hood of their cloak. All he could really see was their red eyes glowing in the shadows, staring at nothing. It was that same look he saw after the ordeal back at Sand Ocean Zone.

He doesn’t feel like talking. Nobody feels like talking, he thinks. But someone has to. The silence is heavy, and the droning sound of electricity running through the walls is driving him insane. So, once Tails was done patching up his wound, he got up and staggered to Rue’s side. She doesn’t even spare a glance at him, too focused on… the floor, he guessed.

“Hey–”

“I’m sorry,” they blurt out, yet their voice was barely above a whisper.

“... About my arm? Eh, it’s fine. It doesn’t even hurt that much anymore.”

“I’m a monster…”

“No, no you aren’t. You’re just angry. And hurt. You need help.” He shot that down immediately. He wasn’t going to let her talk about herself like that and cement that thought in her head even more than it clearly already is. “And there’s people right here who’ve been willing to help you out for a while,” he says as he looks at Specter and Phantom.

“If you’d only let us.” Specter looks up at Rue, looking into her eyes with a slight, gentle smile.

“Why would I burden you all with my problems…?”

Phantom stopped purring, looking straight into Rue’s eyes with a serious expression. “Because you’re just hurting yourself trying to handle things on your own.”

“And besides, it’s not just your problem. I got dragged into this mess by Nox, too, and so did everyone else here,” Sonic said, “So let’s help each other deal with it. Us beasts should stick together, don’t’cha think?”

For the first time in a while, Rue looked at Sonic directly. Ruby red eyes gaze into emerald green, and Sonic realizes just how tired she looks. Under the shadows of her cloak were tired eyes surrounded by deep, dark circles. Was that from all the stress from these past few days? Or were they there before, from who knows how many sleepless nights plagued by visions of what they had to endure years ago?

“... You’re right,” she admitted with a sigh, “I should’ve listened. I shouldn’t have pushed you away. I’m sorry.”

“Aww, Rue…” Specter hugged her tight. “It’s okay! We’re here for ya, ya big furball!”

“F-furball…?”

Phantom hugged her too. “What’re friends for, right?”

“Friends?!”

Sonic couldn’t help but chuckle. Rue’s demeanor changed, just like that, from depressed and distant to all flustered. He couldn’t help but notice their tail wagging ever so slightly, betraying their incredulous face. Maybe they’d been waiting for the chance to call the twins friends for a while now.

Sonic smiled. “Well, now that we’ve got that covered… Do you, uh, wanna talk about your whole deal with Nox? Just… how long has this been going on for?”

Rue stares at him for a moment with a blank face. And there goes their happier demeanor. Way to go, Sonic.

“I mean, y-you don’t have to talk about that right now if you don’t–”

“No. It’s fine.” Rue took a sharp breath. “I’ve been hunting him down for… about nine or ten years now, I think. Since he turned me into… this.”

Ten years… They were just a kid when it happened. Sonic can’t imagine how that must feel, to lose it all, to be lost in the world, othered, irreversibly changed. And at such a young age, too.

“Um… We saw the record he kept of you,” Specter explained.

“We saw records of your parents, too,” Phantom continued.

Rue visibly bristled. “Of course he kept records…” they muttered under their breath.

“So… this is about revenge, isn’t it?” Sonic asked, “For what he did to you and your parents?”

Rue nods solemnly. “It’s… all I could think about. Making him pay. Hurting him… Killing him. I… hunger to feel his blood on my hands. To… tear him apart…” She growls almost in a trance, purple smoke slipping through her lips with each word.

That can’t be good.

“... But… that just makes me a monster, doesn’t it?” they continued, the smoke dissipating, “To… crave violence like this… It just proves he’s right about me.”

“Nah, I don’t think that’s true.” He placed a hand on their shoulder. “It just means you're angry and hurt, like I said. And he’s using that pain to get under your skin, make you really believe you’re a monster.”

Specter stared at Rue for a moment. Or perhaps she was staring at their soul. She could do that, right? “You don’t have the soul of a monster, Rue. Not like someone truly evil, like Nox.”

Phantom nodded. “His soul is rotten by his evil deeds. Yours is still bright. You’d never get to be even close to as bad as him, no matter what you did.”

Rue seems to relax upon hearing that. In fact, was that… a smile?

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Um…” Tails suddenly speaks up, having somehow walked up to Sonic from behind without being noticed by the others. He held his Miles Electric tightly. “I don’t mean to interrupt anything, but I’m getting some very strange energy readings all of a sudden. They seem to be coming from Eggmanland, and–”

Out of the blue, the earth begins to shake, and the whole building trembles, threatening collapse.

“Take cover!” Sonic yelled out, quickly pulling Tails down and shielding him with his own body. Rue does much the same, pulling the twins under her arms and holding them tight until the earthquake subsides.

Sonic feels a shift in the atmosphere. A sweet smell fills the air.

Once it’s safe, the group heads outside to see a still dark sky over a now cracked and broken landscape. From the new crevasses, purple smoke rises. In the far, far distance, beyond the horizon, was a large, floating landmass. The ruins of Eggmanland, lifted into the sky by some unknown force, thick clouds of purple smoke coming out from under it.

Tails bristled. “We need to go, now.”

Sonic nodded and led the rest of the group back to the plane, helping them board before taking off towards Eggmanland.

-

Tensions were high as the Tornado made a landing on the abandoned death trap of a theme park that was Eggmanland. The group made their way into the ruined, rusting park, past attractions that have gone unused since the world split apart and metal maze-like pathways and facilities leading down into the very planet’s core.

The halls of the ruins were overrun with Badniks, but they were just another obstacle in the way of them getting to Nox. Sonic beat them into scrap with his paws, Rue ripped them apart with sharp teeth and claws, the twins fought in sync and sliced them to pieces with their scythes, and Tails spin-dashed into them to take them down with ease. With all of them working together, the group made quick work of any enemies that came their way.

The real problem was the terrain. The ground still shook, and walkways and bridges crumbled under their step, rusted pieces of their path falling apart into the abyss below them.

Adrenaline rose as they narrowly avoided rollercoaster rails collapsing in their way and fought through the Badniks trying to stop them, but, eventually, they reached the lower floors of the facility.

The air is thick with Dark Gaia Energy, heat from the core of the planet rising from the depths. Sonic felt as if he’d be broiled alive, but he had to keep going, they all had too. They were so close to finding Nox, now.

He felt his lungs fill with smoke. His legs give out, and he falls onto the floor in a coughing fit, purple smoke pouring out of his mouth. He couldn’t breathe.

“Sonic?!” he heard the others cry before Tails, Specter, and Phantom hurried to his side.

He gasped, letting out another cough before he could speak. “I’m… I’m fine,” he said between labored breaths. His voice sounded off, rougher than it had been before, but he couldn’t tell if that had just been from the coughing fit he just had.

Tails watched him with a horrified expression. “Sonic, you’re changing!”

He looked down at his own arms. The long navy fur that covered his entire body was slowly turning darker, nearly pitch black. The blue fur on his hands was beginning to darken, too.

“There’s… too much Dark Gaia Energy,” Rue spoke breathlessly, purple smoke coming out of their mouth as well, “It’s not good for you all… You should turn back.”

“We already went over this, Rue!” Specter said, “We’re not letting you deal with this on your own!”

“But it’s not safe–” Rue began to cough, even more smoke pouring out of them.

The two hurried to her side, held her paws as she caught her breath.

“We’re not going,” Phantom said sternly.

Sonic took deep breaths, collected himself and stood back up. “We need to keep moving. We’re almost there, I know it.”

Sonic took the lead once more, and the group continued further. The Badniks thin out, until the path forward is empty. Quiet, save for the group's footsteps and the now near constant rumbling of the earth.

The hallway opens up into a giant pit, waves of magma glowing and swirling in the chasm. Within the giant pool, a towering being takes form, thick clouds of purple smoke creating the shape of the old god- Dark Gaia.

It is nothing more than a ghost at the moment, wispy, faltering, wrong. Its claws reach for the opening in the earth, supporting itself, trying to reach out in a desperate attempt to escape to the surface.

Right in front of the pit, there floated a giant mech, a serpent of metal, glimmering bronze. Sonic recognized the design almost immediately. It was that of the Egg Dragoon.

In its cockpit, sat Nox with a mad grin, looking down at the group from his spot high above. The last two Emeralds were slotted neatly on the mech’s chest, shining brightly.

“Ah, you’ve finally made it!” Nox greeted them cheerfully, “Welcome to the beginning of the end!”

“What have you done?!” Sonic growled.

“Bring about the end of Mobius, of course! The project I've worked towards for years, Project: New Moon, is finally coming to fruition in spite of all of its setbacks!” His voice boomed, amplified by the mech’s speakers. The tail and arms of the mech rise, aiming laser cannons at the group. “And now… I ask that you sit back and watch the show, because if you interfere, I will make sure to end you all right here and now. You wouldn’t want to miss the end of the world, would you?”

“Like we’d just sit back and let you destroy everything!” Sonic snarled before charging at the mech, Rue following after, teeth bared, quills spiked up, and hackles raised.

So a fierce battle begins. The mech shoots lasers at the group, keeping Tails and the twins at a distance as they dodge out of the way. Sonic grabs onto the machine’s tail and climbs, while Rue grabs onto its arm, inadvertently redirecting lasers away from the others. The two tear into its metal shell with their claws as it attempts to shake them off, but they hold on tight.

Sonic reaches for the Emeralds. He needs to get them out. He feels the energy on his paw, and it burns.

The mech snatches him away from the gems with an iron grip and pulls him off, lifting him close to the cockpit.

“Ah-ah-ah! What do you think you’re doing, beast?” Nox says as he pilots the Egg Dragoon to slam Rue down on the ground, getting them off.

“Rrgh…” Sonic struggled against the metal hand’s grip.

“Goodness, this form is hardly the appearance of a hero. You look horrendous.”

“And whose fault is that, huh?”

“Yours. None but yours,” Nox sneered, “This is what is within your heart, Sonic. A snarling monster with a thirst for violence. Just like that dog.”

“Liar!” Sonic hears Phantom scream as he and Specter run towards the mech. They leap towards it, scythes drawn, and with a swift slash cut through the arm’s joint. The arm comes off, dropping Sonic back onto the rocky ground. It falls next to him with a loud clang.

“You know nothing about people’s hearts, Nox,” Specter said, holding her scythe in front of her defensively, “And you have no right to speak on the hearts of others when your soul is as rotten as they get!”

“Tch- as if children like you would understand. Dark Gaia's judgment has already been cast, and this world is set to burn and crumble into nothing but ash.” Nox raises the mech’s remaining arm, charging another attack. “Or do you dare go against a god?”

Tails swoops in and knocks the arm downward with his namesakes, directing the shot away from the others and onto the edge of the cliff overlooking the magma-filled chasm. Rue takes the opportunity to grab the arm and swing the Egg Dragoon over themself with as much strength as they could muster, slamming it down. The ground shakes upon impact.

Now's his chance. Sonic rushes towards the fallen mech. He leaps, fist raised, before slamming down at its chest, leaving a large crater on the metal. He hears Nox curse as alarms start blaring inside the cockpit, the glass cracking and breaking.

He ignores the Chaos Energy burning his paws, grabs the gems, and forcefully rips them out.

As he hurries back towards the rest of the group, the earth begins to tremble once more, and the dark god in the distance lets out a deafening roar. The area begins to cave in.

Dark Gaia took shape. Though unstable, its form was now clear, and it was slowly coming closer.

The real final battle is upon them.

[alterchaos]

AFTER ALL THIS TIME

Years have passed on Earth, though none will ever forget the hero who bettered their lives...

PREVIOUS CHAPTER: GOODBYE, MY FRIENDS

NEXT CHAPTER: DARKEST TERROR: THE MESSAGE

click

The families of Station Square walked into the school, ready to celebrate the next step in the many student’s lives. None though, were as excited as the blonde teen whose hair blew wild and free in the warm spring wind. She smiled with joy, racing up to where her brother stood taking pictures with their friends.

“Eve! There you are!”

Her brother raced over, rubbing her head with his robed arm and causing her ponytail to fall loose.

“Ow! Easy, Chris! I spent a lot of time on this style!” 

“Aww come on, sis! Don’t be like that! You look great every day!”

Eve pouted in response, folding her arms, “Fine. It’s your graduation I’ll have to look bad for.”

“Ours too, don’t forget.” Helen wheeled up to the two of them, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow at the young man before her.

“Alright, alright…I guess I wouldn’t want to ruin my girlfriend’s graduation after all…”

“You guess?” Helen scoffed, “Well aren’t you generous.”

“Nah.” Chris leaned down, giving his girlfriend a small kiss on the cheek while his little sister stuck her tongue out in playful gagging.

Francis raced to her side, watching them with an incredulous stare, “It’s okay. It can be tough being a third wheel all the time.”

Danny appeared on her other side, folding his arms, “You can say that again.”

“Shut up, Danny!”

“Whaaaaat?”

Francis pointed at him comically, “You and your boyfriend are ten times worse than these two!!”

“NUH UH!!!”

“YUH HUH!!!”

Eve giggled at their antics. She couldn’t help but be reminded of Sonic and Knuckles and their petty yet playful arguments like the time at Silver Valley. 

Sonic…

Danny and Francis paused, noticing a few tears forming in the girl’s eyes.

“Hey…thinking about Sonic again?”

Eve nodded her head, wiping away her tears.

“It’s been a long time since he left…hasn’t it…”

“Yeah…five whole years…”

Helen wheeled over to her friend’s side, placing a hand on her shoulder, “He really meant a lot to you. It’s okay to feel sad sometimes.”

Chris placed a hand on her other shoulder, “We all do.”

“I know…but…I promised him I would remember him…” She took a deep breath, smiling with determination, “...with a smile on my face.”

“That’s the spirit!”

“Come on! We have plenty more pictures to take!”

Eve watched as her friends walked forward together. She looked up to the sky, continuing to smile as sorrow tugged on her heartstrings.

“Until the end, right?”

“Eve! Hey, we need you to help take pics!”

“Coming!!”

The girl with the golden hair ran forward to join her friends and family as a few loose petals from the cherry blossom trees blew past.

“Thank you, Sonic the Hedgehog. You will always be my best friend.”

SAGA END

[nagichi-boop]

A Star That’s Out of Reach (Chapter 9)

[Previous] - [Next]

[Masterlist]

It’s been a while since I updated this, huh? I saw the news about Keanu Reeves and it kickstarted another hyperfixation, so I decided now would be a good time to try and get at least a few chapters out. I can’t say my posting for this fic (or any fic) will ever be fully consistent though, sorry. ^^;;

Anyways, hope you enjoy~

— x —

Shadow quietly opened the door to the house, his ears drooped and his face pointed to the ground. Much to his dismay, Rouge was still awake and sat on the couch despite it being late. She immediately turned to look at Shadow, seemingly excited about his return, but her disposition shifted as she read Shadow’s body language.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked worriedly, quickly flying over to him. Shadow remained silent and simply shook his head, feeling too emotional to respond verbally. “I see that you may not be up to talk about it. For now, why don’t you join me on the couch?” Shadow nodded compliantly, still refusing to make eye contact. Shadow laid on his side, resting his head against the armrest. Rouge took her seat next to him, occasionally glancing over at him to make sure he was okay. To her discomfort, he simply stared at the screen, showing no intention of falling asleep or moving. After a couple hours had passed, Rouge paused the tv.

“Shadow honey, I am happy to keep the show on, but maybe you should consider resting your eyes while you watch? You’ll wear yourself out if you don’t.” Shadow let out a small grunt and then closed his eyes compliantly, which brought Rouge a bit of comfort. She resumed the program and after checking on Shadow a few times and finding his eyes still closed, she allowed herself to fall asleep too.

Amy opened her eyes as the sun crept into her room. She rubbed her eyes, still incredibly tired from a restless night's sleep. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t get her mind to calm down enough for her to sleep. Sighing defeatedly, she rose from her bed and drowsily wandered to her calendar. Her eyes widened and she read what she had scheduled for the day.

“Oh, that’s right,” Amy spoke to herself. “Silver and Blaze are coming to visit. Given everything that’s been happening, I sort of forgot.” She then stretched her arms out and exhaled again. “Right, I need to get myself ready.” She dressed herself and then headed outside, joining her friends outside Tails’ workshop where they had agreed to meet. They waved her over, then seemed to become uncomfortable as she approached.

“Woah Ames, are you okay?” Sonic asked worriedly.

“Of course I am! Why?” Amy panicked a little. “Is something wrong with my outfit?”

“No, it’s not that,” Tails interjected. “It’s just…uhm…”

“You look suuuper tired,” Knuckles added tactlessly, warranting an angry stare from both Sonic and Tails. “What? Am I wrong?”

Amy became flustered and shifted nervously in place, trying to decide what to do. “L-let me go back and change and-” Before Amy could even finish her thought, Silver and Blaze arrived in unison.

“Hey guys,” Silver called out, waving enthusiastically. Amy panicked and turned the other way, but then realised Blaze had come from that way.

“Hello everyone,” Blaze greeted politely. She almost immediately noticed that Amy was worried about something, then took note of her tired appearance. She decided, however, not to comment on it for the time being.

“It’s so good to see you both again,” Sonic beamed, high-fiving Silver as he approached. “How have you been?”

“Busy,” Blaze sighed. “I’ve been looking forward to this little vacation.”

“Pretty good on my end,” Silver added. “Though as much as I love the peace, I will admit I’ve been rather restless because of it. I’m happy for the distraction.”

“Is that your way of saying you want me to cause some future-altering disaster for you to help me fix?” Sonic teased, jabbing Silver gently with his elbow.

“I don’t feel like I can answer that without landing myself in hot water,” Silver replied anxiously, taking Sonic a little too seriously. The group laughed cheerily at this exchange, all energised by each others’ company.

“I’m starving,” Sonic then continued. “Let’s go get some breakfast.”

Blaze smirked as she sceptically placed her hands on her hips. “I hope by that you don’t mean chilli dogs.” Sonic looked away and whistled, to which Blaze softly chuckled in amusement.

“Don’t worry,” Tails chimed in. “When Vanilla heard you two were coming, she offered to host breakfast for us. I’m sure Cream will be excited to see you again, Blaze!”

“Well then,” Blaze spoke as she began to lead the group. “Let’s get going!”

The group of them made their way to Vanilla’s house, everyone chattering away except for Amy, who lagged behind the group a little. Blaze looked over her shoulder, observing the vacant expression on her face. Blaze slowed her pace to match Amy’s, now walking alongside her.

“Is everything okay, Amy?” she asked softly. Amy took a moment to respond, then appeared more attentive.

“Oh...y-yeah, I’m okay,” Amy stuttered in reply, her voice lacking conviction. Blaze raised a sceptical eyebrow at her. “I just didn’t sleep very well, that’s all,” she confessed due to nerves.

“Is there a particular reason for that?” Blaze enquired, causing Amy to tense up a little.

“No no, nothing!” Amy insisted, flailing her arms. She noticed Blaze staring at her doubtfully, then sighed defeatedly.

“If you insist,” Blaze conceded. “But I’m here to listen if and when you decide you would like to talk about it.”

Amy smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”

The group eventually made there way to Vanilla’s. Cream excitedly greeted Blaze with a hug, which was hesitantly but warmly reciprocated. They then all made their way into the house and enjoyed eating breakfast together, with Blaze, who was sat next to Amy, occasionally nudging Amy back to consciousness as she drifted in and out of deep thought. After some time, the group left the house, content from their fill of food.

“Man, I could really use a nap right about now,” Sonic spoke as he stretched out.

Blaze’s ear twitched as an idea formed in her mind. “Why don’t we take an hour to rest and then meet up later?” she suggested, which surprised the rest of the group. “No point in us doing anything heavy after such a large meal.” The group looked at one another then nodded in agreement with the plan. Blaze then looked over at Amy, which startled the pink hedgehog. “Amy, perhaps I can come over and help you set up for my stay tonight?” Blaze asked, hoping Amy would pick up on her ulterior motive. Amy stared blankly for a moment, then realised what Blaze meant.

“Oh sure, that’s a good idea!” Amy replied, mustering as much enthusiasm as she could.

“Can I come too?” Silver asked, waving his arm energetically. Blaze glared at him, causing him to flinch a little.

“I don’t mind,” Amy assured, giving Blaze a comforting look. “Did you want to spend your first night with Blaze and I?”

Silver beamed. “Yeah, that would be awesome!”

“Are you sure that’s okay?” Blaze reiterated, unsure of Amy’s thought process.

Amy placed a hand on Blaze’s shoulder. “It’s fine, I honestly don’t mind.”

“I actually have something I need to work on, so I’ll catch up with you all later,” Tails announced before turning and flying away, waving as he left.

“That settles that then,” Sonic sighed contently, then let out a yawn. “Smell ya later.” Sonic then dashed away in an instant.

“I’ll go check on the Master Emerald,” Knuckles stated before he excused himself.

“Well, I guess we should go too, then,” Amy thought aloud. “Did you guys bring any gear with you?” Blaze and Silver looked at one another, then shook their heads.

“I apologise, Amy, but this is actually my first slumber party,” Blaze confessed. “Being a princess doesn’t exactly accommodate this sort of tradition.”

“I’m usually on my own,” Silver followed up, scratching the back of his head nervously. “This is the first time I’ve ever been invited to one.”

“That’s okay,” Amy spoke. “I actually somewhat expected this, so I got some spares for you. Though I will admit, I was expecting Silver to sleep over with Sonic and the others.”

Silver tilted his head. “Is there a reason you don’t want me there?”

“Oh sorry, I didn’t mean it like that!” Amy panicked. “It’s just…unexpected. I wasn’t sure you’d want to sleep over with a couple of girls.”

Silver’s confused expression grew. “I still don’t get it.”

“Let’s just leave it at that,” Blaze suggested, keen to move along. “Amy, lead the way.”

The three of them made their way to Amy’s house, casually chattering along the way. They quickly arrived, then began to set up for later. Silver moved the furniture with ease using his telekinesis, following Amy’s instruction. Blaze rolled out the sleeping bags next to each other, placing a pillow at the head of each one. Once they’d finished, they all sat on the now moved couch.

“So,” Blaze spoke up. “Care to explain what kept you up last night?”

Amy’s cheek tinted red, then looked at Silver and Blaze, who were sat next to each other. “You promise not to tell anyone about this?”

“Of course not,” Silver immediately promised. “An important component to friendship is trust, right?” Silver’s expression shifted to one of sincerity and keen interest. “I know I may not seem like it, but I’m very good at keeping secrets.”

“You have my word that what is spoken of here shall not be uttered again,” Blaze assured. “Please speak your mind with confidence.”

Amy looked away, hesitating anxiously. “I think there’s someone that I like,” she confessed, twirling her fingers around one another.

“Do you mean Sonic?” Silver asked curiously, to which Amy shook her head.

“Well, I mean,” she stammered. “I do like Sonic, but I confessed to him a while ago.” Amy’s ears drooped a little. “He rejected me.” Blaze and Silver began to look concerned.

“I’m so sorry, Amy,” Blaze comforted.

Amy shook her head again and smiled. “It’s fine. I was anticipating it anyway.” She looked up sombrely. “This isn’t about him, anyway.” This peaked both Blaze and Silver’s curiosity.

“Who is it then?” Silver asked with blunt curiosity, though it was without a hint of malice.

“I’m…not comfortable saying,” Amy admitted as her face became redder. “It makes no sense.”

“Come on, we won’t judge!”

“Silver,” Blaze snapped sternly, causing Silver to recoil a little. She then sighed. “The ‘who’ isn’t what’s important.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Silver acknowledged, realising his misstep. “Sorry Amy. Please continue!”

“It’s just,” Amy continued. “He is such a nice guy despite what other people think. I have only ever seen him as a friend up until now.” Amy leaned forward in her seat, resting her chin in her hands. “But as soon as he confessed to me, I felt so overwhelmed. I was so sure I only viewed him platonically, but now…now I’m not so sure.”

“Is there something wrong with liking this person?” Silver asked genuinely.

“Not necessarily,” Amy answered. “I guess it’s just a bit…strange, from an outside perspective at least. I doubt he would be the first person you’d think of when you imagine someone compatible with me.” Blaze had a sudden look of realisation, but quickly stifled it.

“Just because something is unconventional, that doesn’t necessarily make it wrong,” Blaze commented.

“I know. I guess I’m just worried what would happen if people found out about us.”

“But they’re your feelings, right?” Silver noted. “It doesn’t really matter what other people think.”

“It matters to me!” Amy snapped accidentally, quickly covering her mouth in shock. She then looked at the ground, seemingly conflicted. “I get what you’re saying, I’m just worried what it would mean for everyone if we ever dated.” Silver seemed deep in thought, then suddenly lit up.

“Wait, is it-” Silver started, but was interrupted as Blaze made a cutting gesture at her throat. “Uhm, what I mean is, wouldn’t your friends want to support you regardless of who it is? Besides, knowing you, I’m sure there’s a very strong reason who liking this person.”

Amy remained silent for a moment, twirling her thumbs around each other. “I guess they’d be supportive, even if it takes some time. And this person is remarkably sweet, despite their cold exterior. I guess I’m just worried. It all feels so sudden.”

“You don’t have to rush into anything, right?” Blaze pointed out. “Should you both decide to date, there’s no reason that you have to rush the relationship. You can take it at your own pace. You don’t even have to label your relationship as romantic at first if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Amy acknowledged. “I guess I’m also worried that I might hurt him. I know he’s strong, but deep down I know he has a delicate heart.”

“I’m sure he feels the same way,” Blaze spoke softly. “But that’s something that you’ll only find out if you talk to him. The fact he even confessed to you shows how much he cares about you. I doubt he’d want to do anything to hurt you, just as much as you don’t want to hurt him.”

“Everyone hurts their friends at some point, right?” Silver noted. “No one’s perfect.”

Amy chuckled a little. “It’s funny. I remember saying something similar to him once before.” Amy took a deep breath. “I guess I really should talk to him. But not tonight – tonight is about you guys.”

“By all means, don’t hold back on seeing him on our accounts,” Blaze assured. “Equally though, please take your time. I want you to be comfortable in your decision.”

“I’m sure Shadow will understand and accept your choice either way,” Silver added. “I’m sure he just wants to be by your side in whatever capacity he can.”

Amy smiled. “Thank you both. Speaking to you both has been very helpful.” Amy’s eyes widened and she suddenly sprung up, her face burning red. “W-wait, how did you know it was Shadow?”

“Oops,” Silver croaked nervously.

“Apologies, Amy,” Blaze spoke up, raising her hand. “I also deduced who it was.” Amy stood stunned for a moment, then dived onto the couch face first, hiding her face and kicking her legs restlessly as she squealed from embarrassment.

“I-if its any consolation,” Silver nervously stuttered. “I think Shadow is an amazing person, so I don’t blame you for wanting to date him!” Instead of comforting Amy like he’d hope, he only furthered Amy’s embarrassment. Blaze glanced at the clock, hoping to find a way to bail both of her friends out of this uncomfortable situation, when she noticed the time.

“Oh, it appears our time is up,” she announced, causing the both of them to look at the clock as well. She then smiled warmly at the two of them. “Shall we meet up with the others?” Silver hopped out of the seat excitedly.

“I’m ready!”

Blaze stood up, then turned and offered her hand to Amy. The pink hedgehog sighed, then smiled and took her hand and was lifted onto her feet.

“Let’s go and have some fun, shall we?” Blaze suggested, hoping to ease Amy’s stress.

“Okay,” Amy responded. “Let’s do this!”

[littleaipom]

short 600 word fic for Maroon the Cat(X) I wrote that I enjoy. I kind of became an instantaneous fan of him in the span of 24 hours, thus all the posts about him, but maybe others will enjoy him as well.

-

Maroon stumbled into his room, rubbing his bruised arm as he did. He was utterly exhausted from his fight with Sonic and Blaze, but needed to tend to himself first. A few of his robotic parts seemed to be falling out of alignment. Nothing that his father, Eggman Nega, couldn’t fix. And yet, he didn’t want the old man to be privy to all the damage he had taken, to the degree of his shortcomings. He knew a bit of robotics himself, and would do what he could to repair things on his own.  

The cyborg cat shuffled over to a bench lined with tools, grabbing a few of the essentials, before retreating to his bed. Plopping down on the blankets, he set to working at the weapon that made up the end of his left arm, a laser gun. As he did, his thoughts wandered to the fight before. A few things about it weren’t sitting right with him.  

Eggman Nega had been the only father Maroon knew for most of his life. The scientist had done him the service of saving him after being abandoned by his birth-parents, Sonic and Blaze. This much he had known for several years now. At least it was what Nega had told him. And yet, the way Sonic and Blaze seemed shocked at seeing him felt odd. ‘If they left me for dead, it must be a shock to see I survived’ he thought to himself. And yet that didn’t explain everything. Something in their eyes looked so.. Pained. Were they simply loathe to see him? Were they disgusted with his mechanical upgrades, believing him to be a crime against nature?  

Maroon’s hand froze amidst turning a screwdriver. ‘What if.. They missed me?’ The thought hit him like a bucket of ice water pouring over him. ‘No. No that wouldn’t make sense, that--’ and yet he couldn’t shake the thought’s possibility now that it had materialized. Against his will, his mind raced in this line of thought as he sat stunned. ‘What if they didn’t abandon me? What if they actually wanted me but didn’t know I was alive? What if they still care about me all these years later?” He could feel his throat tighten as the thoughts threatened to overwhelm him. His eyes drifted up and he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He could see a tear now making it’s way down the right side of his face. The left side remained dry, his electronic eye unable to produce water.  

He took in the sight of his form. Whatever of him that resembled Blaze and Sonic was now broken up by metal casing, bits of hinges and wires, bolts and power drives. Pieces born of Doctor Eggman Nega’s hand. The image sent his thoughts crashing down. They’d never care for this. He wasn’t theirs. A sense of anger and shame washed over him for having all these thoughts. What was he doing? He was Eggman Nega’s prized son, his greatest soldier! He had been lucky the genius doctor took him in! Lucky to have these marvelous enhancements to make him stronger! His hand gripped the screwdriver tighter, and with a shout he flung it at his wall. The tool thudded on the plaster, leaving a dull scratch, before clattering to the floor. 

His spiked tail twitched and he fumed to himself, laying back on the bed. Fatigue from the battle hit him and dragged him down into the mattress. His mind swiftly and unwillingly slowed to a crawl as he began to drift into sleep. Perhaps his self-repairs could wait until later. And when he was back in fighting condition, he would be sure to take down Sonic and Blaze next time. He would wipe the looks right off their faces, he would. He’d show them.. 

[writingtraumaforever]

Uncontrolled Chaos: Chapter 5

Notes: Woohoo! New chapter!! Forgive my very poor explanation of parallel universes and all things science. I have a small brain but a big heart.

Summary: Sonic, Tails and Shadow discuss who Shadow is, how he got there, and what to do about it.

Chapter Select: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 6

Support me on my Ao3!

Start:

“So you’re seriously suggesting this Shadow isn’t our Shadow??“

Sonic doesn’t seem very happy about this. He’s now looking at Shadow skeptically as well as with an enormous amount of concern.

“Impossible,” Shadow says simply, “There’s only one Ultimate Lifeform.”

“Oh. Yeah. That’s definitely concrete proof right there,” Tails says sarcastically, his arms crossed as he looks at Shadow, “Plus, by my understanding, there’s two Ultimate Lifeforms. You and Sonic.

“Oh, we are soo not getting into that right now,” Sonic groans before Shadow can comment, rubbing his temples with his fingers as he shuts his eyes and tilts his head down, “I’m getting a headache..”

“Join the club,” Shadow mutters, his arms crossed now as he leans back on the couch.

“So let’s say this Shadow isn’t our Shadow..,” Sonic says, lifting his eyes once more to Tails, “How the heck does that even work?? Where did he come from??? And where did my Shadow go??”

My Shadow.

Not our.

My.

That stands out to the ebony hedgehog, but he doesn’t comment.

”I have some theories..,” Tails ponders, rubbing his chin with his fingers, “None are a sure thing, but they are possible.”

“Well, I’m all ears,” Sonic says with a frown, panic evident in his wide eyes and how he’s fidgeting with his his fingers.

Why’s he so distressed???

“For starters, we do know that scientifically speaking, if one existence occurs in an alternate timeline, it must be replaced with another of the same kind,” Tails says simply, looking at Shadow and Sonic who just blink at him silently.

Tails sighs and dumbs it down, “If new Shadow is here, old Shadow is there.”

“You don’t live in some dangerous, apocalyptic universe, do you???” Sonic asks worriedly to Shadow, Shadow rolling his eyes with a shake of his head.

“No.”

“Oh thank Gaia..,” Sonic breathes.

“That was a few years ago..”

“WHAT?!”

“Don’t get so jumpy, Hedgehog,” Shadow huffs, narrowing his eyes at the blue blur who looks like he could be ill, “Any version of myself is more than capable of facing any obstacle he may stumble upon.”

Sonic just pouts a bit at this, his ears folding back as he thinks on Shadow’s words and tries to believe in them.

Shadow can see that���s not going to stop his stress anytime soon, though.

“Okay. So we know my Shadow is okay somewhere then.”

“Most likely,” Shadow agrees with a nod.

“HE IS,” Sonic assists with a glare before breathing a sigh and, “..So how do we switch them back??”

“That’s gonna be the tricky part..,” Tails rubs the back of his neck, his face scrunched in thought, “If I had to make an estimated guess on how this all came to be, I’d say it was due to both Shadow’s forcing artificial Chaos Control at the same time in their separate worlds. The fact it wasn’t organic probably caused a disturbance in the balance of the multiverse— which this is all just phenomenal proof it exists, by the way—!”

“Tails. Focus. Nerd out later.”

“Right. Anyway. They likely created a rift in the place between universes. A massive amount of self-made energy that created a tear between time and space from both sides.. The theory of the multiverse is there’s infinite universes that exist alongside each other. Our universes must just be parallel to one another, touching but not interacting— well.. until now.”

“Okay..,” Sonic nods, trying to take this in and understand it as he looks at the ground in thought, “Okay, so-.. so if there’s a tear, then can’t we just—“

He motions to Shadow and then moves his arms as if to push him through something.

Tails snorts, “Well, it’s not quite that simple.”

“Never is..,” Shadow mutters to himself, staying quiet for the most part so he himself can process his current situation.

“Why not??” Sonic’s brows knit, looking to his brother now.

“Well that energy itself was Chaos Energy. Which means—“

“The laws of time and space don’t matter to it,” Shadow finishes, now understanding a bit better.

Tails nods, “Exactly. It happened in less than an instant— not even an instant! Chaos Control is when time stops completely, and the user is briefly able to manipulate it before it returns right back to normal.”

“So the tear is closed?” Sonic frowns, ears lowering as his body slouches.

“Tear is closed..,” Tails confirms with an apologetic nod. He then offers a little smile, “But! We know it’s possible, now. Which means it’s possible to make it happen again.”

“How do we do that if the energy has to come from both sides of the multiverse??” Shadow questions, now much more collected since he knows why everything and everyone is acting so weird. As long as he has a reason, he can be reasonable in response.

“Well.. that’s what’ll take time,” Tails says with a scratch behind his ear, “I’ll have to work on that. Do some research. But if I had to guess, I’d say our best bet is to try and connect with our parallel universe and find a way to contact our Shadow.”

Sonic nods a bit hopefully at that, seeming eager at the idea of contacting this universe’s Ultimate Lifeform.

“And are you the most suitable for such a feat as this??” Shadow questions, his brow quirking at the fox.

Tails furrows his brows at Shadow, tightening his fists at his sides with a determined expression on his face, “I can do it.”

Shadow hums, seeming satisfied with this.

“It’ll take time. But I’ll have to be on this twenty-four, seven. Who knows what this sort of anomaly could cause! Defects in gravity, collisions of realities— heck, our whole world could be swallowed up if the multiverse tries to fix itself before we can!”

Both Shadow and Sonic’s eyes widen, their arms and jaws dropping at this information.

“…Great! Swell. Well, you get on that then, buddy,” Sonic beams with that obnoxious go-getter attitude of his, approaching Tails with a pat on the back before squeezing his shoulder with a little shake, “Because the world collapsing could really put a damper on my plans to live the way past coolest life ever.”

“Right..,” Tails chuckles a bit nervously, the weight of this task seeming to settle itself on his shoulders.

‘Good,’ Shadow thinks, ‘This needs to be taken seriously by someone.’

“Hey,” Sonic says, crouching down to get Tails’ attention. The fox’s eyes raise to his older brother’s again, nervousness and fear now replacing the determination he had previously shown.

“You got this,” Sonic assures with a smile, “If anyone can do it, it’s you.”

Tails offers a small smile at that, the confidence of his guardian seeming to be enough to make that spark return, “Thanks, Sonic..”

“Besides,” Sonic adds with a grin, “I know that the Tails in the other universe will be working his butt off to fix this too.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure..,” Shadow says with a frown, now pondering a whole other problem with this entire situation.

Sonic frowns, looking to Shadow with a tilt of his head, “How come?”

“The Miles Prower in my universe isn’t exactly..,” he pauses, choosing his words on how to put this, “On the best of terms with me.”

[marinaiguess]

Don’t mind me, just trying to get the hang of writing again. I saw a video of a kitten getting scared by the sound of an electric guitar and thus, an idea was born.

----------------------

He visits her often. More often than a few months ago. More often than he’d like to admit. It’s not that he doesn’t like it, quite the opposite really. He likes it a lot. Besides, what would be the point in searching for the Chaos Emeralds every time he wanted to travel across dimensions if he didn’t want this? The problem lies elsewhere. Why? Why does it seem like he can’t get enough? An answer he has been striving to find for a while now, a question that keeps him up at nights. 

“What is this, Sonic?”

At the sound of his name, he pushes his thoughts aside as his attention is quickly reverted to the feline in front of him. 

“What’s what, your highness?” he smiles sheepishly, cradling his electric guitar in his embrace as he watches Blaze get up from her chair and kneel on the floor, next to the hedgehog, to inspect the amplifier he brought along. His grin only grows as Blaze glares from below, before turning around again, curiosity taking the best of her. 

“This machine,” she says, never backing back from the foreign object. “I’ve never witnessed anything similar to this.”

Her head tilts left and then right and then left again, in an attempt to gain more information about it. She brings her hand closer to it but quickly retracts it. With a frustrated huff, she sits on the floor, on the scarlet carpet that adorned her bedroom, allowing her face to rest on her palm. She seems very interested in it, way too interested, like she is trying to crack a code and her words finally make sense to him. 

“You don’t know what it is?” He raises a brow. 

She turns to him in response, her eyes flicking between his and the guitar he is holding on his lap. “No.” She shakes her head, but there’s not a hint of embarrassment in the notion. Only...curiosity, the need to learn about it. 

“Wow,” Sonic huffs amusedly. To say he was surprised would be an understatement. “You guys really are way too far behind on the technology department. You need to up your game if you ask me.” 

Blaze whips her head at the side and Sonic’s smile falls, replaced by a barely audible wince as he closes his eyes.

“Wrong topic.” he shifts on his seat. “Sorry.” 

Her gaze is now turned to him, to his emeralds eyes that are looking right back at her. She smiles softly, accepting his apology. 

He smiles back, unable to do anything else but that. “That’s an amplifier. You plug your guitar into it, so it can produce the signature electric sound.”

“You mean that’s a guitar?” she points at the instrument that is connected to the ‘amplifier’.

Sonic rubs his nose. “An electric guitar.” 

At that, both her arms fall to her sides as her jaw drops. Sonic cocks a brow at her. Playing the guitar is a great achievement (and it does make him look good) but it’s not that impressive. At least, not impressive enough to gain such a reaction from Blaze. However, he is reminded that he has mentioned that he is a guitarist from time to time when she’s been around, so, why was she so taken aback? Unless...

”Don’t tell me you haven’t seen one of these either?” he asks, taking his guitar in his hands to bring it closer to her. “You don’t have guitars here?”

Blaze pushes the guitar back to Sonic’s chest with a single finger. “We do have guitars.” She giggles at his relieved exhale. “Just- not electric ones.” She shruggs and Sonic fights down the urge to let his jaw drop to the floor. If he wants to be honest, it shouldn’t be as much of a surprise to begin with. But it doesn’t really matter.

He bends forward, closer to Blaze who stays perfectly still as she follows his every move with her golden eyes, shining as bright as a thousand suns, trying to understand what he is planning this time around.

“Then, Blaze,” he smirks confidently at her perplexed expression. “Allow me to demonstrate.” 

He reaches for the amplifier, turning it on without taking his eyes away from her, without moving back. And to her credit, Blaze didn’t flinch either, despite her eyebrows shooting upwards in apparent question which only added to Sonic’s satisfaction. It is always rewarding to see her expression turn into this wary one she has now, he can almost hear the gears turn in her head. 

“I’m all ears.” she says, smiling slightly as he sits back on her bed, right at the spot he was before. 

Sonic’s own grin never brushes off from his face. He places his fingers on the neck of the guitar and he strumms on the chords gently just once. The sound that plays through the amplifier is pleasant, not too loud but not too quiet; exactly as it should be and exactly as he was expecting it to be. 

What he wasn’t expecting was Blaze jumping backwards, her fur standing on edge, her ears and tail perfectly still and her eyes wide open, focused on the source of the sound.

Sonic doesn’t know what to make of that at first but he can’t help the snort that escapes him. Thankfully, she ignores him (or is too focused elsewhere to hear him), carefully crawling close to the object once more. 

But she shots back again, hands and feet quickly planted on the floor as Sonic plays the same chord again. This time, he cracks up, laughing at the scared cat who only now turned her attention to him. Sonic can’t seem to stop and Blaze joins him, as their laughter fills the room. 

When they eventually slow down and stop their laughing, they’re both laying on the ground, next to each other, catching their breaths. 

“You really are a scaredy cat.” Sonic wipes a tear away.

Blaze glares at him (at least, she tries to) and brings a palm lit in flames close to him. Sonic slowly pushes her arm away from him and that earns him a giggle. She extinguishes the fire from her hand and looks at her ceiling while he watches over her movements. 

“In any other case, I would be too embarrassed to speak. But that was unexpected, even for me.” she grins, giving him a side-glance. “It was funny if I’m being honest.”

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed.” He’s quick to interrject. “You, uh, you made me laugh, you made yourself laugh. That’s what counts.” 

“Well, what can I say? Your laugh is contagious.”

“Huh.” He’s lost in her eyes for a moment, the golden pools that always seemed to have the power to draw him in, like magnets, he couldn’t resist.

He shuts his eyes in a hurry, before he acts on a whim or does something stupid and clears his throat while getting up, gaze stumbling upon the discarded guitar on the bed. “Alright.” An idea pops in his mind and he smirks. “Don’t go anywhere.” he says in a sing-song voice.

“Where could I go anyway?” She rolls her eyes behind his back, whispering words she knows he is able to hear.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Sonic reaches for his guitar, adjusting the amplifier at the same time. “Maybe you’d want to test out other cat insticts and you’d jump from the window to see if you can land on your feet-”

“Sonic-!”

“Or maybe you’d want to find out if you really have 9 lives.” he finishes as he lays back down, next to her, guitar on his chest. 

She rolls her eyes again but this time he doesn’t miss it. “You’re unbearable sometimes.” she smiles.

“Oh, I know, trust me.” he winks in response. “I’ll play something. But can you not get scared? I don’t know how much laughing I can take after this.”

“Sure. No promises though.”

Mimicking his companion, he turns his gaze to the celiing, letting the fingers dance on the chords, letting them play a song he’s never heard before. He is happy Blaze seems to be enjoying it because he doesn’t know what the hell he is doing. 

And if he lets his heart take on, leading the fingers to play a song that says all the words he wants to say through some notes, all the words he’d never be able to speak otherwise, he doesn’t let her know, too afraid to reveal his emotions to her but also to himself.

And so, he keeps strumming, he opens his heart to create a song at the spot just for her.

Even if she doesn’t know.