Sometimes, I love my muses. This is one of those times. Blue bodies, green eyes, an affinity for Chaos energy…
Anyway, a lot of talking and not a lot of action. Like, at all. You want action, hit the Back button up there in the top left corner and go looking for action.
Disclaimer's in profile, but I own this idea. Got it? Mine.
Sonic stepped closer to the ancient stone structure once he was confident Knuckles had left. The last live echidna was understandably suspicious of the hedgehog's sudden request to visit the Master Emerald shrine alone. There had been many threats and checks to make sure he wasn't one of Eggman's robots, and eventually they had compromised: Sonic got his wish, and Knuckles held onto the seven Chaos Emeralds until he left. The runner wasn't exactly sure why the guardian thought he was going to take the emeralds, but this was the longest amount of time they'd remained in one place, so Knuckles was probably getting very paranoid about them getting stolen again.
Sonic eyed the water surrounding the shrine before jumping up the steps, landing before the great shiny jewel itself. He whistled, feeling the amount of chaos inside it. "Well, at least now I know why Knux is so protective of you." He reached out and knocked on the gem. "Hey, Chaos! Come out for a sec', will ya?"
The Master Emerald seemed to ripple, and out stepped the watery being known as Chaos. The luminescent green eyes focused on the hedgehog, who waved. "Hey there, Chaos. Remember me?"
Its reply wasn't verbal, so it ducked its head as it spoke to show that it did remember.
Sonic, however, waved the reply away. "No, I don't mean when you went off your rocker and ate the Chaos Emeralds and flooded Station Square. I mean way back when, when you originally went off your rocker and attacked the echidnas."
Watery green eyes widened in shock, and it began a barrage of questions. "Whoa, chill!" Sonic interrupted, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "One question at a time! I'm fast, but I'm not that fast."
Chaos stilled in dumb shock, and emerald green eyes rolled heavenward. "Yes, I can understand you. I think it'd be obvious by now."
The watery being shook itself and obliged, asking questions at a reasonable pace. Sonic listened and nodded, forming his answer. "Well, I didn't remember until recently. I might have known immediately after back then, since I remember looking for the Emerald Shrine, but eventually I either forgot or gave up and just focused on surviving.
"I was a little confused at first as to why everyone got older and I stayed the same, but I'm pretty sure I just accepted it, like how you accept the grass is green, the sun rises every morning, and blue hedgehogs are freaks." He grinned somewhat, lost in his memories. "I used to cover myself in mud or dirt whenever I went into towns and such to look normal. Probably why no one's grandma talk about an oddly colored hedgehog nowadays." He refocused on Chaos. "You just had to be blue, didn't you?"
Chaos's body rippled with a chuckle, and once it composed itself it shrugged apologetically and fired off another question. Sonic brightened at the change in subject. "Actually, it was Tails. A couple days after the ARK fiasco, he asked me why I could use Chaos energy. He said that he could understand why Knuckles could, since his race had been guarding the emeralds for generations, and why Shadow could, because he was genetically engineered specifically to use Chaos energy, but he didn't know why I, some random blue hedgehog that happens to be able to break the sound barrier for the heck of it, can channel the energy of the emeralds. Of course, I didn't either, so the only answer I could give him was that I didn't know but it's a good thing I can. He accepted the answer and dropped the issue.
"Tails probably forgot all about it, but I didn't. It bugged me for some reason, and I'd find myself stopping in the middle of my runs to sit in some tree to dwell on it before I ran into something. I'm not used to dwelling on things, so it was really, really annoying.
"And then, it just clicked." Gloved fingers snapped in emphasis. "Whatever block I had on my memories crumbled, and I decided as soon as I wasn't saving the world, I'd come up here and have a chat with you. Catch up on old times and such."
Chaos paused, having had most of its questions answered, and tried to ask the one thing that was really on its mind. The blue hedgehog listened to the blue being's rambling for a minute or two before cutting him off. "No, I don't plan on remerging with you."
The watery being looked up, ready to argue, but Sonic held up a hand. "Just hear me out. I may not look like it, but I've done a lot of thinking about this."
He waited until he had the other's consent, and then the hedgehog took a deep breath. "First off, we don't know exactly what will happen. Our consciousnesses might be separate, but it's more likely they'll completely merge or one of us will end up dominant. I kinda like being my own person, thank you very much."
Chaos asked a question, and Sonic wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, I did read a couple psychology books. Yes, I have read other books. No, my attention span is not that horrible. Geez, cut me some slack, will ya?
"Anyway," Sonic started, looking at the scenery of Angel Island, "either way it goes, I'd hate to be stuck here. Don't get me wrong, it's pretty and I like guarding the little guys almost as much as you do, but I'm a free spirit. Sometimes I just have to run."
Chaos interjected. "Yes, I do know that urge is probably because I'm incomplete," the hedgehog admitted, "but it's not just the Chao I want to protect. I want to protect everyone and be there for my friends. Can you promise that'll still happen if we combine and I'm the one that gets absorbed?"
The watery being thought for a moment before answering. Sonic paid attention, but shook his head once it was done. "Back up a second. Ubiquitous?" Chaos defined the word. "Oh. Well, even if we were somehow everywhere at once, we wouldn't be completely present anywhere, right? I know for a fact my friends wouldn't see it that way. Well, some of them wouldn't. It would be like I died and became the wind or something.
"And anyway, would we still be able to step in and directly influence things? Like, let's say Eggman decided to try to take over the world again tomorrow. Would we be able to come out of the blue and smash his robots? And I don't mean the ones running on a Chaos Emerald, since I'm pretty sure we'd be able to overload those."
Chaos remained silent for a moment. Ultimately, it didn't know for certain the answers to the hedgehog's questions. Even the part about them becoming omnipresent was just a good guess. It ducked his head and admitted he had a point, but asked its last question.
Sonic listened, and when it was finished there was a smirk on his face. "What, is Tikal not a good emerald-mate? Does she snore or something?" He laughed when the water being started stuttering and tried to say it didn't mean it like that. "Listen, since we don't know what exactly is going to happen when we merge, I'm going to cherish my time with my friends. In fifty years or so when… I mean, if Tikal can balance you for centuries, another half one or so is nothing, right?"
Chaos paused but nodded, acknowledging Sonic's wishes and confirming Tikal would indeed balance him for much longer if needed. Sonic nodded. "Alright then. I just wanted you to know that I knew and that you don't have to track me down and force me to remember anything. Anyway, I'd better get going. I'm probably giving Knuckles an ulcer right now since I'm so close to his precious emerald unsupervised. And while I love doing that, there are places where even I draw the line. See ya!"
The Master Emerald rippled, making the blue blur pause, and out walked the ancient Tikal herself. She blinked at the sight of the two of them. "Chaos? Sonic, what are you doing here?"
Chaos explained that the two of them were talking. The blue hedgehog, however, smirked when her eyes darted over to him and widened. He should tell people he understood the blue being more often. "Hey, Tikal. By the way, you don't happen to snore, do you?"