Hey everyone, Paradigm of Writing here with a brand new one-shot idea called Darling, for Gamerfan64's Unknown Fighters contest. This idea came from Outlast: Whistleblower with Waylon Park and Eddie Gluskin otherwise known as The Groom. Yes, that horrific stuff will be transformed and warped around into a fanfic between Sonic and Dr. Mario. Horror isn't out of my comfort zone, but writing about Sonic is so this'll be interesting. Warning, this fanfiction will contain strong, persuasive language, some violence, and gore etc... If this offends you, please leave immediately and do NOT read this story. Unfortunately the judges of Gamerfan's contest have to read this story for judging so I'll keep it as tame as possible, but do know this isn't for the faint of heart. And sadistically, I say- please enjoy! *Oh, P.S- when I write the Duck Hunt Dog and the bird, I name them Fort and Quinn. The Dog is a male, while the bird is a female.*
"I'll find you eventually darling! You can't hide from me forever! I know this place like the back of my hand."
Sonic froze, and looked back down the hallway, face to face with a wall of shadow and complete darkness. Beads of sweat trickled down his head, slowly moistening his skin and at the same time blinding him as the droplets got into his eyes and stung like sulfuric acid.
He wiped at his eyes, all the while cursing to himself. "Dammit, dammit, dammit." Sonic whispered. For the past hour and a half, he had beeen running away from a psychopathic sadist who found animals to be his 'darlings.' As time lolled on, he could feel his strength waning, his super speed starting to slow. He hated the hospital and everything in it.
The trick was not to get caught.
"Yeah," Sonic thought to himself. "The longer this keeps up, I'll be dead within no time. I'll be running slower than King Dedede after he eats a stack of flapjacks."
He actually hadn't seen the psycopath chasing him, which haunted him most of all. In a few instances he did see his persuer's silhouette creep along the walls of the corridor he was trapped in, snapping shears with a ghastly, echoing through the hospital like dead bell chimes. His laugh was more frightening the worst cackle Bowser or Ganondorf could ever muster. It spooked him out of his wits.
He had been sent to the hospital by Master Hand to find some batteries. Batteries. That literally was his mission. The power went out at the mansion, and the terresterial hand had destroyed the backup generator a few days before when tinkering with his new battle set. Originally Sonic was going to be sent over to the next little small town and just buy some batteries from a general store... but that town was under lockdown in a severe hostage situation. The Smashers knew better than to get involved with the law by interfering, for the consequences the time before were rather... taxing. So, the closest viable option was a shut down hospital that was about two miles down the road. Snake had told the group there was a whole room filled with electrical supplies that they could take from. No one asked Snake how he knew that, mainly because no one wanted to. Sonic offered to go, and actually did get what he was looking for. Then as he was leaving, the doors swung shut leaving him trapped. He was trying to find his way out, when he heard the most chilling scream followed by a racous, manaical laughter. That was when he had heard of the doctor, only known as The Wedding Official. Sonic had no idea what that meant, and he didn't want to find out.
"Alright... I just have to find the exit, and find my damn batteries again." he growled quietly. While running, the hedgehog had dropped the pile of batteries he had collected in his hands, which caused a few of them to burst and spew colorful acid all over his legs. He screamed, which reveberated throughout the whole damn facility, signaling someone else to mutilate was in the doctor's domain.
"I know you're still out there darling!" the shrill voice rang out once more from the dark. Sonic whirled on his heels. He had to get out, immediately. He began running, one of the only surival skills he knew how to do.
Sonic could pick up the strong stain of copper, it was impossible with the pools of blood splattered here and there along the wall. He still had no idea what caused them. It seemed as if a murderer went free and killed all the patients. He made a mental note to tell all the other Smashers that if they ever came in contact with a large sum of blood, someone had to have been in a terrible accident, and that you'll never forget that bite of copper. Sonic snorted and coughed, the linger of rot again choking up his senses. He had a fear that he was going to open a door and there'd be a dead body, flies and maggots. Everything. Sonic didn't need to see that, but it'd probably be the concrete evidence he needed to get my ass out of here. If the doctor/wedding planner wasn't enough, he had no idea what would be the changing factor.
Sonic bounded a corner into an open room and then stopped, vomiting everywhere. "Holy-" he started, before spewing his dinner all over the already tainted tile floor. Entrails and pieces of human anatomy were strewn over shelves that had once held boxes full of files. Sonic pulled the collar of his glove over his nose as his shoes squeaked over the floor. There was another door beyond the industrial shelves, barricaded on his side, with two bodies strewn on that side of the room. They must have tried to lock themselves in the room, but it didn't seem to help much. It was another thing that was beginning to disturb him. But, the entire hospital was disturbing him too. "What the hell? Who could've done this?"
Sonic backed out, and went around another way, still trapped in a part of the ruined cafeteria. He checked the hall once more before climbing into a ruined window, to Sonic it felt like the solid walls around him vibrated from some force unknown to the hedgehog and echoed with an ancient power. Or was it his nerves picking up a looming threat? The broken catch was coming from further down the corridor, a purge unit that was malfunctioning. Beyond it a short hall that led to door with a plate beside that read Sowing Room. Beneath the door, the red stains had been brushed on the floor guiding him on the path he needed to follow.
Call him crazy.
Sonic, while running from the doctor, had come across a file that mentioned creepy steps of following blood, and not trusting anyone, and to never enter the Sowing Room. He didn't understand why, but had a feeling that whatever was in the Sowing Room had a secret of unbelievable proportions. He inched closer and closer to the grated door, his feet squeaking and sliding in the pool of blood on the floor. He wanted to vomit some more, he wanted to upheave everything. Whoever this psychopathic doctor was, this individual did a lot of damage control so to speak on the hospital.
Sonic closed his hand around the door handle and pushed it open. As he stepped in, a gust of wind blew him forward and slammed the door behind him. He turned around and yanked on the door handle. Locked. He slammed his gloved paws on the door. "Fuck! Let me out, please!"
"Well, well. I think he'll do, won't he?" a voice whispered.
Sonic turned around, slower than he had ever turned in his life. Before him stood two stranges that he hadn't met before. One was skinny and looked as if they hadn't eaten in fifty years, the other was fat and smelled of rotting flesh. The two stepped into the light and Sonic screamed. Standing before him, in a deformed, tattered mess was Wario and the Villager. He had wondered where they had gone. Two months prior, the two Smashers had disappeared off the face of the Earth, they couldn't be found. They had just vanished. Turns out Sonic had just found them.
"Guys... what happened to you?" he whispered.
Wario faced Sonic and smiled a deformed grin, half of his poignant purple nose ripped off, gushing blood which pooled under his feet. "Oh, nothing much. Just that we had been forgotten about."
Villager slowly creeped forward, causing Sonic to twirl to face him. "We were sent home, remember? We found this little hospital and grew attached to it. We made friends with the doctor, you should know who he is as well."
Sonic furrowed his eyebrows, all the same trying to keep his composure. Villager's right eye was gone, just a black hole filled with innards and, of course blood. "Doctor? And I- I know him?"
Wario cursed. "Shit, I don't think he does. Villager, should we fix that?"
Villager nodded. "I think we should."
Sonic's eyes widened. "Wait a minute you guys! Wait! I'm a friend-"
He never finished his statement, because Wario lunged at him. Sonic squealed, and dove to his left, dodging both the oaf and scrawny weakling who tried grabbing him. He bounded up to his feet and raced away.
He needed a way out! To where?
At the rooms side was a large cabinet filled with heavy tools, locked tight. But it was shoved against a door. He launched myself at the box and pushed, shoving with all that was worthwhile in him to get it out of the way so he could flee this room before his friends recovered.
The doors crunched, splintered and gave. Just as he moved the container its last inch, Sonic flung the door open and slammed it shut as he stumbled away.
"We'll flank that piece of shit!" Wario howled.
"Fuck! Fuck!" Villager screamed.
Damn it all, what is this? What have I gotten myself into?" Sonic thought to himself, cursing silently. He tore through the next room, hall, he wasn't sure. Shelves lined the walls, he tried the first door on his left – jammed tight. He didn't bother with it, so he kept going straight and found another door left ajar.
Sonic barreled into it with his arm, cracking the brittle wood that lied against the wall so it bounced back. He saw Villager nearly claw at him as he flung the door in his face. A hospital bed was stationed near center of the room, and hehurried behind it, flipping it over on its side. He coughed at the sharp pain in his chest, from when he had evaded Wario and Villager's grasp, but blocked it as he shoved the flat side up to the door. It thudded and opened an inch but that was the extent, the bed was pinned against it.
"Go round!" Villager commanded.
He flipped another bed onto it, and spun about to a medical cabinet that had fallen across the door. Sonic wriggled his fingers over the side and pulled it out enough that could fit his chest between the wall and the obstruction, then shoved the two apart so he could pry the door open just enough to squeeze out.
"There's another door! This way!" Wario's boisterous voice was filled with rage. Sonic paused for an instant to make sure that the bed held against the door was secure, if he needed it. He betted that he wouldn't have the chance to fumble with it as an escape route so he could backtrack.
"There he is!"
Fuck me! Fuck this! Fuck them!" Sonic thought angrily. He twisted around, spying them at a door already tearing at it. "Not that way!" he deduced. He sprinted in the opposite direction scanning the walls with his eyes, his heart racing. He needed no more incentive, the hosptial was fucking evil! He needed to nuke it from orbit! Something!
The light through the corridor was bad, but not terrible that needed to risk turning the opposite way. The metal bars of a trolley glinted in his path, easily sprinted over in his good effort to stay ahead of those psychos. "No, they're my friends, not psychos," Sonic corrected to himself silently. "If I found out who changed them to those twisted freaks, I'll send that person straight to hell." Two doors came into view, the one ahead was far over in back, the one at his immediate left looked more inviting.
He swatted the door open and paused, staring at the bloated and gray body torn open on the autopsy table. It was a fleeting moment, a reminder of his fate if he was caught. Sonic swung the door shut at his back and began pushing an equipment cabinet against the door, until he caught sight of the open vent on the far wall.
"Death and taxes! Death and taxes! We give Sonic death so I can pay my taxes!" Wario gleefully laughed to himself from somewhere in the hellish hallway.
Sonic didn't worry over the bloody footprints that led towards the vent, and threw himself up into it and made the hasty trip to the other side.
"Doctor! Doctor! We've got your perfect test subject!"
Sonic slipped out turning to head right, until the door erupted and Wario crashed out into the opposite wall. Sonic pivoted and stumbled, falling to his hands and knees before he had clawed up to his feet and renewed his steady pace. Wario and Villager were screaming for the doctor, for the wedding planner, and every manner of insane thing that seemed to generate their personal hell.
The hall ahead was blocked, crammed with metal shelves and broken beds. In the corner of his eye Sonic noted a cracked doorframe, and skid on the dusty black and white tile as he made the sharp right through what appeared to be an old office. Glass windows made up the walls, they'd hold off kittens Sonic was sure of it. Some of the windows were broken, but he doubt it'd slow down barefeet. At least, his barefeet couldn't be slowed if he was running without his shoes.
He sprang over a crushed desk, the wood gave out and he tumbled, tucking in his arms until he flipped over onto his feet and charged away. A broken bookcase was directly in his path and, to where… Sonic wasn't certain. He did this odd maneuver where he shoved his hands through, and pulled his body the rest of the way and kind of somersaulted, reaching his feet and resumed his sprint unbroken. He heard someone not far behind crash into the bookcase and what remained of its contents plop against the floor.
His path came to a dead end. A large gap between him and presumed safety, only a sheet of plywood bridged a fourth of it. The sudden commotion at his back caused Sonic to jerk around as Villager tumbled down from climbing the bookshelf, and hurried at him with what looked like a machete. Sonic bolted, racing to the end of that board and leapt over the black gap.
And fell.
He choked as he hit the edge and skid backwards, a horrible screech came from his throat, as his arm grounded over the floor. He dug his fingertips into the concrete and dragged himself up.
"You slippery little whore! I'll get you for that, you navy jumping whore!" Wario shrieked.
"Don't worry," Villager assured him. "Doctor will take good care of him."
Sonic kicked his feet against the rough side until he had his arm braced under him enough to haul his knees over, and scrambled away from the edge. He collapsed, panting. Not so much the exertion, but the stress and the fear. He had barely escaped with my life. "That was too close, there was too many of them too outrun and hide from all at once." Sonic thought to himself, heaving heavily.
He picked himself up and dusted off his shoes, which had a bit of mud still stuck to them from the dampness but it was beginning to dry out and crumble away. Probably didn't matter.
Sonic looked at a strange contraption, like there was a gate in it's place at one point, the metal frame remained - and a floor too. Where had that gone? Was the metal grate along the wall, the floor? The mechanism probably made sense to the staff of the hospital, like purge chambers. The gap looked deep, but Sonic wasn't interested in finding out how deep.
His body still quaked, for he had temporarily eluded his pursuers but the silence and sudden calm unnerved him. Where had they gone? Sonic was paranoid that he'd turn the next corner and run smack into their midst. He couldn't waste time in here. He needed to find a way out. Sonic wiped the sweat of his brow. "I wonder what the others back home are thinking right now, knowing I haven't come back. Oh Smash, I hope they haven't come here looking for me! They'll all be killed!"
He crept to the end of the corridor and heard a racket that chilled him. A door in his path had looked inviting at first, but the abrupt crash and the shriek of commands came through strong. He took one step back…
Dead end, move. "RUN!" Sonic's brain screamed. Hell on Earth was going to be unleashed a-freaking-gain.
He sprang forward skimming the corner as he took the hall. The barrier shattered away soon after.
"You can't hide!" Villager screamed.
Sonic passed under a section of pipes, through a dark hall and into another segregating hall of rooms or offices. He skid into the door blocking his path trying the handle, it turned but the door was a stubborn piece of shit. There was no visible reason why it wouldn't open! Sonic whirled about checking his pursues, nearly upon him. On his left was another door boarded up tight, but there was a space left open at the top.
Wario, with his bleeding nose swung at Sonic's face with his fist, the instant he ducked down and shot towards the door. Sonic clambered up the boards that would have prevented his access, and slid across the frame to the other side, throwing himself down into a wild dash. The room was some sort of class, or instructional area, he didn't get a good look as he breezed through. His old friends were using their weapons to dismantle the door, the screech of strained wood echoed in his skull as he turned the next corner. It was impossible to put enough distance between them and him.
A sharp right and he raced full down the dark hall, staggering when he stepped on some books and papers missed in his panic. Sonic vaulted over a stack of large desks and came upon a door left ajar. He rammed into it with his shoulder and found it to be another dead end. Some sort of transfer, receiver station. A store room for perishable goods and an inactive dumbwaiter. He bolted out back into the dim hall, to the gate at the very end of my path.
It was locked.
"He's got nowhere else to go!" Wario cackled.
Sonic examined the area carefully forcing his mind not to panic. The gated door and lock, above there was no place he could climb or squeeze through. This was what he had feared.
Sonic's eyes stung as he tooka a step back and gave the gate another look over, and wiped the moisture away but nothing had changed, there was no way around. This can't be it, this can't be the end. I won't accept this!" Sonic growled quietly in his mind.
He spun about and dashed back to the open door and slammed it, just as his 'friends' had caught up. He grabbed the handle and pressed his shoulder into the brittle wood, they were fighting to turn it from the other side and force their way in. He couldn't keep this up for long, though they had a difficult time organizing themselves between forcing the door and bashing it down. He needed to get away from it and search the room, but there was nothing in the immediate area he could use to jam the lock. He doubted it would hold them off for very long, but he needed that time. Just a second, a moment, a breath. He wasn't ready to let it end here!
Sonic was budged off the door as one of the madmen slammed into it, and Sonic quickly replaced himself and gripped the handle. His eyes frantically searched the shelves for something solid, even a can of cold gravy he could use to snap the handle off.
Sonic's eyes lit up when he saw a small crack through the wall. He turned around and felt the door slam in a rough manner against his back. "Fuck!" he choked out, a sharp splinter stabbing him in the back. He eyed the crack a little more. The wall seemed fake, as if it was plastered over. Giving it one go, Sonic chucked himself at the crack and fell through it. He was surprised when the wall gave in, his assumptions were correct! He tumbled through, and heard the door back in his prision open. Sonic kept on rolling and cursed silently to himself when he went bouncing down a set of stairs. He could hardly see anything, the pitch black darkness consumed his vision.
He peered up, to see Wario and Villager laughing with such temerity. Anger burned in Sonic's veins. "How dare they laugh at me! I got away from them, what more could they fucking ask?"
Villager wiped a tear away from his face. "Good one there Sonic, you've just delivered yourself into The Wedding Planner's hell!"
Wario chuckled deeply, holding a gloved hand to his ravaged belly. With every laugh, chunks of blood and guts spilled out from his legs. "We'll see when you're dead!"
With that, his two deranged friends disappeard from view. Sonic scratched at his head. "What was up with that?" he pondered. Standing up, he dusted himself up. His poor fur was shambled beyond belief, but that was the least of his problems. He needed to figure out where the hell he was. Sonic groped around in the dark, he could hardly see anything. He felt his hands brush against a small plastic lever. A light switch!
He flicked it up, and waited for the all consuming light to embrace in. The hedgehod smiled happily when the room was bathed in glowing pallid light, allowing him to see everything. When the spots in his eyes cleared, Sonic saw the room he was in. "What the?" he whispered aloud. Everywhere he looked were sowing machines atop surgical tables. The sterling silver gleam of the sowing machine matched rather nicely with the pale, ghostly illuminated surface of the operating table. However, one in particular scared him beyond his wits. A body, or at least Sonic thought it was a body, was splayed on the table, blood everywhere. Sonic inched closer and closer to the table, and for the second time in the matter of not even an hour, vomited.
It was the Duck Hunt Dog, and his bird companion. Fort, and Quinn- the two hunting animal partners. Fort's glossy oak fur was splattered with blood, flecks of crimson dotting his now dead opal eyes. Sonic couldn't bear to look at his head, where the sowing needle was embedded into his head, a small hole about the size of Sonic's pinkie finger drilled where Fort's nose would be. Quinn, the bird, was not much prettier. Tears threatened to spill down Sonic's face. Quinn's wings were gone, ripped straight off the bird's back. Her beak was twisted, looking jagged and broken in several places. Instead of her feet, were two test tubes coated in a slimy olive liquid that smelled like a mixture of beer and alcohol swabs.
Sonic backed away from the table. He had no idea that the two had been taken either. Had Wario and the Villager in their distressed state kidnapped the animals in the middle of the night and brought them to this doctor that they knew so they could become mutilated and killed? He wanted to throw up again, wanted to vomit so hard that his own insides would shatter. He eyed a door, seeing that it led to another hall which had light pouring through it. The light seemed stronger than what was around him. It had to be the outside! He was so close to getting out, and he could tell the others what he had seen. He inched closer to it. Suddenly he tripped and fell to the floor, his gloved hand barely grasping the handle before faceplanting against the foul floor. He had stepped on an untied shoelace. He tied his shoe and stood back up to face the door when he screamed the loudest scream he had ever made in his life.
"Darling!" the doctor yelled happily, running away from the door.
Sonic crawled back on all fours, scared beyond belief. He had just found the doctor, the wedding planner he had been hearing about all day. He was probably the twisted fucker who turned Wario and Villager into the freaks who had tried to kill themselves, he was probably the person who killed Fort and Quinn without remorse. He was the one responsible for the hell he had endured.
Sonic felt the atmosphere of the room change, someone was in the sowing area alongside him. He crawled away from the door and found a table farthest away from the change he felt. Dull, but present footsteps echoed throughout the room. He heard the swinging of something metal, the slow screech of metal grating against each other. Yep, the doctor had arrived. "Wait... why does he look so familiar?" Sonic thought to himself. His eyes widened as the realization hit him. His enemy was called the doctor, and he knew him.
The doctor was Dr. Mario, one of Mario's many counterparts in his daily life. About eight months ago, he had retired from Smashing and wanted to immerse himself in a world of medicine, practicing his lifelong dream to help real people in the real world. Turns out his fantasy became a little warped... so to speak.
Pressing his mouth against his knees, not caring about the stains and the smell, Sonic watched the area with wide eyes, not moving anything other than his head. He followed Dr. Mario with his eyes as he walked into view, his movements slow, almost relaxed as he continued to mutter the word darling over and over again. He knew this place, better than Sonic did, but he knew his routes on getting out of there. Any changes in scenery, Sonic would take note of and remember for next time, tailor his hiding spots accordingly. Sonic liked to hide so that he could see him, know where he was so that he couldn't sneak up on him, but he always seemed to do so.
His lungs ached, he was holding his breath as Dr. Mario paced past his desk, so close he could almost touch the fabric of his pants if he attempted. What scared him the most was when he paused, just beside his head, Sonic's eyes straining to keep an eye on him. He had stopped muttering, simply just standing. His lungs were screaming for air, he didn't even want to breathe, though Dr. Mario turned and continued to walk back towards the window. He exhaled as softly as he could, taking a deep breaths as he watched him paused once again, looking around himself.
"I've been very patient with you, darling," Dr. Mario said, his voice clear, almost smooth, though he had a noticeable lisp. "I can hear you, rummaging around in here. Your shyness is rather endearing, but I grow tired of it..."
Sonic's breath caught again as he walked back towards him, his arms shaking. "Please don't see me here... please..."
"And I know you don't want me to find you, but too bad!" Dr. Mario screamed, and then he crouched in front of the table Sonic was hiding under.
Sonic couldn't formulate even a simple thought as Dr. Mario lugged him out from under the table, throwing him atop it and strapping him to it. "Fuck... I'm so screwed!" he thought. Dr. Mario smiled evilly, before raising a jagged knife above Sonic's chest.
"Let's see what color hedgehogs bleed, shall we?" Dr. Mario howled crazily, a look of gleamed insanity glowing from his blood-stained eyes.
"NO! Don't! Please, stop-" Sonic screamed.
He was cut off as Dr. Mario swung the knife down and into Sonic's heart.
Sonic screamed, and flung himself forward. "Get off of me you sadistic bastard!"
A light flickered on, and Lucario was by Sonic's bedside, shaking him uncontrollably. "Sonic, wake up! WAKE UP!"
The hedgehog's eyes snapped open, and he looked around frantically. "It's got me, Lucario! He's got me!"
"Sonic, stop! It's just me," Lucario sushed him. "You're not in danger."
The door to their bedroom flew open, and Meta Knight flew in, weilding Galaxia. "What's wrong?"
"Sonic just had his nightmare again," Lucario explained. The pokemon looked at the hedgehog. "How far did it go this time?"
Sonic's breathing hitched. "Well... Dr. Mario got to kill me in this one."
Meta Knight sighed. "I'll go tell everyone he just had his nightmare. Good night you guys."
The door closed, leaving Lucario and Sonic to themselves. Lucario clutched Sonic's paw in his own. "Are you sure you want to go back to bed?"
Sonic nodded feebly. "Yes, I need to. I must. Sorry about that you guys, I apologize."
Lucario went back to his own bed, and the light flickered off, drowning the bedroom in darkness again. Sonic stared at the ceiling once more before shutting his eyes. Before sleep consumed in, Sonic would swear to you that he saw the crazed face of Dr. Mario staring at him from the wooden beams, muttering darling over and over again while stroking a bloodstained knife.
However, it was only a dream. They never came true, they weren't real.
Or... or were they?
I hope you all enjoyed the one-shot. I'm exhausted now, and I have to go review some stories for my own contest. I haven't written horror in awhile, so this was fun! Good luck to everyone else participating.
~ Paradigm