Chapter Text
The bug had made it full circle around the room three times, pausing at times to do whatever it is that bugs do when they aren’t scurrying around, before resuming its relentless pacing. Sonic tracked it with tired eyes from his spot curled up in the corner of the cell. When he could manage the energy, he would wonder how a bug got on a space station, but more often than not, he couldn’t find it in him to care. He was just glad to have something to look at that wasn’t clinically white tiles and glass.
Above him, the fluorescents buzzed. It was a sound he had found agitating his first couple of weeks in the cell, but it had become white noise to him, now. Sometimes, the bug would crawl over one of the lights, and Sonic would contemplate whether it could feel the vibrations in its little body. The thought always made him yearn for the similar feeling of his chaos energy crackling through his veins.
The sound of glass sliding against itself snapped his attention away from the bug. Shadow’s gaze was impersonal and cold, much like the slop on the tray he held. The other hedgehog slid the tray through the small gap in his cell, closing it shut afterwards. Sonic pushed himself up carefully, wincing when exhausted muscles protested. Inch by inch, he crawled to the tray, feeling much like the bug on the ceiling.
“Compliments to the chef.” Sonic’s voice was rough with disuse, and he coughed weakly.
“Still hiding behind humor?” Shadow crossed his arms over his chest, watching Sonic
pick up the slop with his hands before shoveling it into his mouth.
“Still pretending you’re doing the right thing?” Sonic licked his lips, not wanting to miss a drop.
“I don’t think I’m doing the right thing. I’m doing what must be done,” Shadow said, voice hard with conviction. Sonic sighed, feeling the months of imprisonment weigh on him.
“Whatever. We’ve had this conversation before.” He missed Shadow’s frown, too focused on scraping out the little bit of hardened food on the bottom of the tray. He licked his fingers carefully, ignoring the cramping pain in his stomach, screaming, not enough, not enough. Shadow opened the slot, and Sonic slid the tray back through.
“I’ll be back later to take you to the lab,” Shadow said.
“Sure, man.” Sonic had already turned his back on the other, using his claw to scratch a shaky tally mark into the wall. Three months.
--
As much as Sonic hated the lab, he was always thankful for the walk there. Shadow led him through the halls silently, oddly patient when Sonic stumbled over the chaos-inhibiting shackles around his ankles. He didn’t mind when Sonic paused at one of the long windows, either. The Earth looked overwhelmingly huge from the ARK and almost painfully blue. Sonic’s eyes easily found the little spot he guessed Green Hills, Montana, to be. Maddy had said he was oddly gifted with geography, and Sonic always chalked it up to the fact that he had visited so many spots on the Earth. Every state had a memory, every country a story. He pressed a palm to the glass and tried to swallow down the tears he could feel pricking his eyes.
“Do you miss them?” Sonic startled at Shadow’s words, having forgotten he was even there.
“Of course I do, they’re my family,” Sonic said, sniffling and rubbing his face. Shadow didn’t say anything at first, eyes to the ground and an almost constipated look scrunching his muzzle.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“If you actually felt that way, you would stop this.” Sonic’s voice was cold with barely contained fury. He had learned early on that there was no point in lashing out, but he was tempted in this moment.
“You don’t understand,” Shadow hissed.
“What don’t I understand?” Sonic demanded, whirling on the other hedgehog. “That you’re lashing out at innocent people? That you’re punishing the whole world for something a small group did? What about that don’t I understand, Shadow?” Sonic was panting, his weakened body unable to withstand this sudden surge of emotion. His knees wobbled, and Sonic squeezed his eyes shut, waiting to feel the impact of the floor on bony knees, but warm hands stopped his fall. He looked up, ears flattening when he saw worry swimming in crimson eyes. “Don’t touch me,” Sonic hissed, yanking himself out of Shadow’s firm grasp.
The cobalt hedgehog shuffled in the direction he knew the lab to be in. He couldn’t bring himself to look back at the planet beyond the glass or the hedgehog with sorrowful eyes a second longer.
--
He couldn’t stop the sobs tearing through him anymore. He had been fighting off the urge for months, but the burning behind his eyes wouldn’t be ignored anymore. The first one was more of a hiccup than a sob. The second felt like it was clawing its way out through his throat. After that, the dam was broken. Tears dripped down his cheeks in fat globs, and he couldn’t bring himself to care that snot was matting the fur of his upper lip. He curled in on himself as tight as possible, ignoring the sharp pain of healing lacerations. He wanted Tom and Maddy. He wanted Knuckles and Tails. He wailed, wishing the hard floor was his racecar bed in the attic and that the hand carding through his quills was his mom’s, not his own.
“Sonic?” He couldn’t hear the voice through the agonizing thoughts racing through his mind. Over and over, like a bug circling a room, his mind replayed warm memories. Tom and Maddy showing him the decorated attic for the first time, his first time having chili dogs at dinner, his first day of homeschool, and curling up with his brothers on movie nights. His chest convulsed with each cry, painful and uncontrollable. “Sonic?” There was a hand on his back, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t his family, so he didn’t care. He was pulled into a firm chest, face pushed into something soft and plush. Immediately, his tears and nose dampened whatever he was lying on, but he just buried his face in deeper. “Why are you crying?” the voice asked.
“I want my brothers. And my mom and dad,” Sonic said, words broken with hiccups. Arms squeezed around him tight, almost too tight, but Sonic was just glad to be touched.
“Shadow, are you coming?” The new voice startled them both, Sonic’s head flying up and almost smacking straight into Shadow. The voice was coming from a rarely used intercom system built into the ceiling. Sonic knew the voice to be Professor Gerald’s. “We’re on a time constraint.”
“I know, professor,” Shadow responded. Sonic scrambled away from the other hedgehog, pressing himself flat against the far wall. He felt like such an idiot. What was he doing, crying on Shadow, the person who put him here? Sonic wrapped skinny arms around himself, trying to replicate the warmth he had just lost.
“What is he talking about?” Sonic demanded, hating how reedy his voice sounded.
“He means to activate the Cannon,” Shadow said. His voice sounded flat, but forced. He wouldn’t look Sonic in the eye. Sonic couldn’t help the sudden trembling racing through his limbs. Gerald was ready to activate the Eclipse Cannon, which meant Shadow was here to deliver Sonic to his death.
“You know what that means, right?” The end of the world. The end of Sonic’s family. The end of Sonic. Shadow didn’t respond. “You’re okay with that?”
“It’s the only way.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” Sonic was full-body trembling now. Shadow exhaled slowly through his nose and pushed himself to his feet. The long fur on his chest was flattened and wet.
“Let’s go.” The glass panel behind Shadow slowly ascended.
“I won’t,” Sonic refused, pressing himself more firmly against the wall. Shadow’s fists clenched, and he strode resolutely towards the quivering hedgehog on the floor. A gloved hand, once gentle and reassuring, was now bruising around Sonic’s frail wrist. The former hero was yanked to his feet and dragged into the freezing hallway. Sonic made himself dead weight, but Shadow adjusted easily. He tried to dig his heels in, but his legs collapsed under him. “Shadow, please.” His pride ached, but the feeling was drowned by mounting terror.
“I don’t have a choice.” Shadow’s voice was strained.
“Please, please, don’t,” Sonic continued, scratching at the hand clamped around his wrist. They were rapidly approaching the Chaos Chamber. “Shadow!” He was crying again.
“I’m sorry,” Shadow said it so quietly, Sonic was sure he imagined it. Before he could respond, he was shoved forward, falling through the threshold of the chamber and yelping as he hit the ground. The doors slid shut behind him, and he was alone.
The Chaos Chamber was just as he remembered it. High, vaulted ceilings with a circular track built into the walls. In the center of the room, a cylindrical energy cell was still cracking with the remains of stolen blue energy. Sonic thought he was hyperventilating, breaths coming quickly and burning his throat.
“On the tack, subject,” Gerald ordered, voice detached. Above him, the track clicked and whirred, intricate parts readying for Sonic.
“No,” Sonic snarled, ears pinned back and glaring at where the voice sounded from. He could hear a sigh, like static.
“Shadow.” The name was said like an order. The doors slid open again, and Shadow stepped through, every step heavy.
“Get on the track, Sonic.” Shadow squared his shoulders, but every inch of him screamed discomfort.
“You’ll have to make me,” Sonic responded.
“Get on the track. Please.” Sonic glared at him.
“Enough of this, Shadow, we’re losing time.” Shadow’s eyes squeezed closed.
“Forgive me.” It sounded like a plea. Shadow was across the room in a second, palm to Sonic’s windpipe and fingers squeezing. Sonic gasped as he was lifted into the air, legs kicking uselessly.
“Shadow,” he wheezed. Shadow’s eyes were pained, and his mouth was twisted in a grimace. Sonic swore he could see tears in the other hedgehog’s eyes.
“The track. Or we have to manually absorb your chaos energy,” Shadow said. Sonic scrabbled at the hand around his neck, blunted claws useless.
“Stop playing around, Shadow!” Gerald was agitated, voice harsh in the echoing chamber.
“Pick the track, Sonic,” Shadow begged. His voice was heavy and haunted.
“The track,” Sonic panted. He was coughing the second he hit the ground, chest rattling in violent heaves. Shadow was hoisting him upward and shoving him towards the track before he had a chance to fully recover. Sonic rubbed his throat, swallowing dryly, and looking up at the segmented metal.
“Begin,” Gerald ordered. Sonic glanced over his shoulder at Shadow, but the other hedgehog was staring resolutely at the white, tiled floor. Sonic was alone. The shackles on his ankles fell to the floor with a dull thud, and chaos energy crackled up his fingertips. The power was weak, distant, but he knew from experience that it would strengthen as he ran. Sonic used what little reserve there was to launch up to the path built into the walls of the chamber and began to jog.
Every step hurt, muscles tight from lack of use. There were surgical incisions across his stomach and chest that were still healing, and they pulled every time he moved. He could feel a small drip of blood trailing from the stitches across his ribs, splattering to the floor below.
Sonic ran, and ran, and ran. His chaos energy was coming to him more easily, the thin stream gradually becoming a river, before it felt like a tidal wave ripping through his core. He knew that the output of energy was abnormal and that whatever had been built into the track was draining him. It felt invasive, but not as invasive as the eyes that watched him. From this height, Sonic could make out Gerald watching his circuit from the observation room, eyes hidden behind the glare of his glasses. Sensors whirred and beeped behind him, tracking Sonic’s energy output as the glass tube in the middle of the room began to fill with lightning.
Sonic squinted at Shadow through the burn of sweat in his eyes. The dark hedgehog was watching Sonic, eyes glimmering with some indescribable emotion. Sonic felt his chest ache, longing for the brief moment they had, warm in his cell. The entire station hummed with power, the whole structure vibrating minutely. Sonic’s chaos energy was warming the Cannon, and soon it would be used to destroy everything he cared about.
“Shadow,” Sonic called, offering the other a thin smile. “I hope you can forgive me.” Shadow was too slow to react, or maybe hesitation is what made his movements sluggish. Sonic hurtled quills first into the containment tube, shattering it on impact, and sending his body hurtling into a steel wall. Shadow shouted as he, too, was flung backwards, crashing into various instruments and crates in the chamber. Sonic could vaguely hear Gerald’s cry of dismay from the observation room, drowned out by the crackling of pure energy as it forked through the air. The smell of singed fur was nauseating, but not nearly as much as the pain.
Sonic shuddered, willing his body up, but unable to get his limbs to respond. He heard Shadow groan across the room and was thankful the other had survived. The same couldn’t be said for the Chaos Chamber. Jagged scorch marks were scattered on the ground, and some of the machines were smoking. The track itself had panels blown off, and exposed wires sparked. There was an alarm sounding somewhere in the background, but Sonic paid it no mind. He could see Shadow climb to his feet on the other end of the chamber, staggering and pawing at his ears. Above them, the intercom screeched and crackled unintelligibly.
“Shadow,” Sonic called weakly, praying the hedgehog would hear him. Shadow’s ear flicked, and carmine eyes found Sonic’s battered body among the debris of equipment.
“What have you done?” Shadow demanded, wiping at his bleeding nose. Sonic thought he could hear metallic footsteps approaching, but his ears were ringing. Sonic looked up, eyes locked on the woven metal of the ceiling, and wondered why his eyes wouldn't focus. He felt something grab his shoulder and shake him, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from above. “What have you done?” Shadow demanded again, closer.
“‘M sorry,” Sonic muttered, blinking and trying to refocus. He was so tired. “Please make sure they’re safe.” Sonic knew he was making no sense. Shadow was the one who had put them in danger in the first place, after all. Yet, he needed the reassurance that someone would watch out for them. “Please.” Sonic wasn’t sure if the words actually came out this time. Shadow shook him again, but Sonic’s body felt weightless and fuzzy. Emerald eyes slipped closed, and Sonic exhaled in relief. As he slipped away, Sonic imagined a little bug circling a room over and over.