hey y'all i'm not dead! if you haven't read my bio yet, then know now that my motivation is very bipolar. i'm gonna try to start editing the third chapter of aioa though!

so a little background going into this: this is an au, in which sonic was actually tortured in forces. infinite never created a fake ruby-shadow thing, and zavoc and chaos aren't there either because they're kinda irrelevant both in this story and the actual game. also just to clear up confusion- sonic and shadow are in a pre-established relationship.

and before you say anything, the title is lowercase on purpose. it's a stylistic thing.

warning for swearing, violence, and blood. also the first bit is a little gory/creepy. but i promise there's fluff too!

There's a disturbing shudder that crawls down his spine when the silhouette of a particular jackal emerges from behind the iron bars. The canine's talons wrap around the bars in a horribly predatory manner, one that makes Sonic's breath hitch, and elicits a pathetic whimper from the back of his throat.

Sonic gave up fighting a few months ago. At first he'd laughed each time they would punch him, he'd tease and prod at them as they'd cut him up and make him see visions of things that traumatized him. Because he couldn't let them know they were winning.

But now. Now he's done fighting. Because he's still just a seventeen-year-old kid, dammit, and he's tired of putting on a brave face every time he wants to cry. He pleads with Eggman whenever he gets injected with some strange toxin every few days that makes him feel dizzy and nauseas. He cries when Metal beats him so hard his body is on fire, and he's seeing double. He screams when Infinite sends horrible nightmares into his head that chase away his sanity, little by little, every day.

"I love to see that look on your face," the jackal sneers, as he enters the cell and locks the door behind him. Infinite stalks up to the quivering hedgehog, who's curled into a sad little ball on the ground. "That look of utter terror."

He wears a mask, but Sonic knows he's smirking cruelly behind it. The hedgehog flinches when ebony claws reach up to caress his cheek.

"Are you ready?"

Sonic opens his mouth, but he can't find any noise.

"Of course you aren't."

The hand that gently grazes his cheek then yanks itself up to the top of his head. Instantaneously, a headache-inducing pulse erupts from the palm of Infinite's hand, and Sonic's vision turns red as his senses melt away completely and he's sent into another hallucination of the Phantom Ruby.

Everything is so, so red. And he should be used to it, by now, but he just hates that color so much at this point it sends him a wave of vertigo every time he sees it. Sonic's standing, alone—no, he's floating. Draped over a flimsy plank of wood that just barely keeps him above water. He's in the middle of the ocean, and all he can see in every direction is just miles of gargantuan waves that threaten to swallow him with each rise. The water is as red as blood, and it feels icy cold. He's been here, before, and yet every time it's still just as startling and unknown and scary.

Something curls around his ankle, and Sonic is pulled underwater. He scrambles hastily for the plank of wood, but he's already sinking too fast, he's too far under, he's drowning.

The teenager spins and whirls erratically, trying to find out which way is up, where he is, what's happening. Whatever pulled him under, he can't seem to find it. Until he does.

Sunken, empty cavities where there were once brilliant, beautiful sapphire eyes stare hauntingly at him, mere inches from his face. The mangled figure is cut up and disfigured, its fur nothing more than a bleached orange. Twin tails are thin and long, dancing lazily behind it.

They're underwater, and yet the corpse somehow whispers seamlessly, "You failed us, Sonic."

The dead body of Tails reaches desperately out to the hedgehog, who flails helplessly. His head is pounding. This can't be happening.

"We're all dead, because of you."

No. No, no, no. Stop lying.

Tails grabs his arm, digging claws into his skin. Blood pours from the fox's mouth as he speaks, swirling around vaguely before mingling with the water. The soulless cavities on his face bore heavily into Sonic.

"You killed us."

"Shut up!" Sonic screams, except he doesn't. His voice is muted, and all that comes out of his mouth is deathly silence. His mind is reeling, he needs to get away, get away, get away.

Somehow he wriggles out of the dead boy's grip, and manages to kick him away and spin around, only to be faced with—oh Chaos.

Scattered ahead for what must be miles, drifts hundreds upon hundreds of corpses. All of them are cut up and mangled, all of them wear those eerie black holes for eyes. They all slowly turn to face Sonic, mouths gaping. There is no emotion on their faces, yet their empty stares practically scream disappointment and betrayal.

The nearest carcass, just a few feet away, is what hits the hedgehog hardest. Its fur isn't a beautiful, luscious, midnight black. It's a dull gray matted with dirt and blood that somehow hasn't washed away from the water. The black pits on its face make Sonic sob helplessly.

Shadow's corpse points a trembling, thin finger at him and says, "It's all your fault."

It's a whisper, and yet somehow it's so loud it sends a stabbing pain into Sonic's head.

His lungs burn. There's no air to breathe. The water is pressing into him, trapping him, and the corpses are drifting closer and closer to him. He can't breathe. Everything's red.

You killed us.

We're all dead, because of you.

It's all your fault.

Red. All he can see is red.

Everything hurts.

Sonic gasps for air, eyes snapping wide open as he finds himself back in his cell, Infinite kneeling before him with a hand clasped over his forehead. There's a horrible migraine piercing his coherent thoughts.

Behind the mask, the jackal's eyes gaze at him in twisted amusement. Sonic vaguely feels tears streaming down his face.

"P-please," is all he can manage, because he's so out of breath. He's panting and shaking. As his senses start to reemerge from the tingly numbness encompassing his entire body, he registers that there's some strange red light flashing down on them, and some screeching alarm from down the hall.

"I normally let the visions carry on much longer, but," the tyrant casts a disdainful gaze over his shoulder, "It seems we have some unwelcome guests I need to take care of."

Sonic blinks slowly, taking a second to register the words. His tongue feels like cotton, and he can't swallow quite yet. Unwelcome guests?

"Be a good boy, and wait right here."

The vicious canine stands up and leaves, his gait surprisingly composed and easy. Before he knows it, Sonic is alone again, still reeling from the nauseating hallucination. His vision is spotted with red; the actual, blinking crimson lights aren't helping.

Sonic presses himself further into his corner of the cell, and the cool, steel wall alleviates a little pressure on his back. He hides his face in his knees, so he doesn't have to focus on the flashing red lights. His Chaos-Inhibitor cuffs chafe harshly against his wrists when he hugs his shins, but at this point he's sort of used to it.

The alarms show no signs of stopping.

They're practically screaming at him, and it's really grating on his nerves. The squeals are high pitched and incessant and loud. He's surprised his ears haven't started bleeding yet, honestly.

Well, maybe they are. He'd never know for sure, because he's practically coated in blood, dry and fresh, from all the torture he's received from a certain sadistic robot copy of his, a diabolical jackal, and a mad doctor.

He's kind of scared to move too much. His heart is thrumming rapidly in his chest, because there's some glimmer of hope in him of this is it, they're going to rescue me, that he's been trying and failing to smother since the alarms started. Because it's too good to be true; it's just a test. If he tries to break the cuffs now, or scream out an 'I'm over here!' Infinite will cut off the sirens, and go back to sending him into those horrible visions.

They're testing him. Seeing if he's truly docile, yet. And part of him hates this, wants to scream at the top of his lungs and run laps around his cage just to prove them wrong. But his legs feel like jelly, and his heart is pounding, and he's still too dizzy to even stand.

This continues for ten minutes. His head is wrapped in excruciating pain from the alarms that are belting into his ears. At least he's stopped shaking—sort of.

Any control he's gained over his nerves is then thrown out the window, when he spots a figure out of the corner of his eye reach the entrance of the cell, and stand there watching him. Suddenly, he's shaking harder than ever.

He can hear the door handle being fiddled with, and he's already imagining it. Infinite is going to storm in, furious, because he must have done something wrong in this stupid test that deserved punishment. He'd get another hallucination, where he was drowning and all his friends were dead and it was all his fault—

The figure rushes in the moment the door swings open, and is hovering over him. A gentle hand tries to rest on his knee; it's hesitant, like it's asking for permission.

"Sonic?" their voice whispers, and oh Chaos, he's going to cry. Because there's no fucking way he heard that right. He knows that voice so well, and there's no possible way that it's him. The figure doesn't seem to care about his inner musings, though.

"Sonic, can you hear me?"

For some obscure reason that he can't figure out, himself, the azure hedgehog peels his face from his knees to look up at the figure. He's fully aware that he probably looks horrible—bloodshot eyes, bruised skin, pale color, foggy gaze.

The look in Shadow's eyes is expected. Some hastily put together mix of guilt, fury, sorrow, and even a little glimmer of joy because at least they're together again.

Sonic's mind is spinning because he can't even tell if this is real or not, but Chaos, this has gotta be Infinite's most convincing hallucination yet, because he finds himself grinning of all things.

"H-Hey, babe."

Ah, jeez. That wasn't really supposed to sound so cracked and pathetic, and yet.

In an instant, Shadow is fumbling over him, tracing his face like he can't believe what's happening and getting a little teary eyed as he searches the few regions of the prisoner's body he's allowed to for serious injuries.

Sonic laughs, softly. "You've always been such a mother hen."

The ebony hedgehog smiles, and his eyes are so beautiful and wide and bright and not soulless pits. He buries his head against Sonic's, and whispers against his neck, "Shut up."

Down the hallway outside the cell, a loud crash is heard, and it makes Shadow jump a little. His features are taken by a subtle frown, and he pulls away from the embrace.

"Come on, we—" he searches frantically over his shoulder, starting to tug at the other hedgehog's wrist, "We need to get out of here, now."

Reality slaps Sonic in the face, hard. Any elation starting to swell in his features flees immediately. "We can't."

"What?"

The blue blur shakes his head, and retracts his hand from Shadow's. Spots of red are starting to dance in his vision. "W-we, we can't. This is just a—he's gonna come back. He's gonna take you away."

"Sonic—"

"No!" Sonic snaps, and his voice is raising, he's drawing his body in closer and pressing harder against the wall. His eyes sting with moisture. "You're never this happy, not in the visions. You need to go. I—I can't… I can't watch you die again!"

Shadow lowers back down to his knees again, reaching out but too scared to actual touch the teenager.

"Listen, I don't know what you think is happening, but this is real. I'm not going to die. We're going home. He's not going to hurt you anymore."

"Stop lying!" He doesn't care that he's screaming. He doesn't care that Infinite will be mad. "Go away!"

Suddenly Shadow's grabbing at him, dragging him to his feet. "I'm not losing you again," is all he says. Sonic's kicking and squirming in his grip, but it's impossible to break from the iron hold.

Is this the nightmare? This is new. It's not even vaguely familiar. Where's the part where everyone dies, and he's drowning, and it's all his fault? Everything's so red it hurts. He thinks he's hyperventilating.

Shadow's dragging them out of the cell, but they barely make it any further when the wall opposite to them bursts outwards and a jackal wrapped in a crimson aura leaps into the hallway with them. The explosion of debris knocks down both hedgehogs; Shadow gets back up, shakily, but Sonic can't.

There's something sharp is digging into the azure male's side, most likely a chunk of the wall. Something warm and wet is pooling around him; probably blood. He feels really woozy all of the sudden. The world's tilted, and he can't tell if it's because he's so disoriented or because he's laying down. Probably both.

He can hear Shadow shouting at Infinite. The jackal is taunting him. The hedgehog won't have any of it.

There's a small scuffle, but it's hard for the Ultimate Lifeform to land a solid hit. He's getting knocked around a lot; he has to hold the defensive. He gets slammed into walls or thrown into jagged debris several times. Infinite is cackling.

Sonic vaguely realizes that Shadow has been purposefully standing between him and Infinite. He's protecting him.

He can't even tell if this is another hallucination or not. Everything hurts, but maybe it's just the debris that's crushing him. Everything's red and blurry, but maybe that's just the blood dripping down his forehead, and the fact that he's losing too much of it too fast.

Eventually, he feels a swell of Chaos energy in the air. The inhibitors on his wrists must have at least been fractured, because they used to completely cut him off from Chaos energy before.

Suddenly, everything's really hot, too hot, and there's a golden-red aura surrounding Shadow. He's not Super, but he's summoning a lot of power. Every breath Sonic takes is on fire, and it burns his lungs. His whole body is numb from pain.

Before he realizes it, he's already blacked out.

He awakens to a dark, stagnant room, that's not the most cozy but is miles better than his old cell. His mind is still a little hazy, and he struggles to figure out where he is for a few moments, groggily looking around the empty room. It's pretty barren, aside from the door straight ahead, where a seam of light manages to sneak in through the crevice underneath.

And after a moment of trying to shift his body around, Sonic comes to the understanding that he's in an actual bed, and he's covered in bandages, and has a cast around his left foot, which is propped up by some makeshift contraption dangling from the ceiling. He can't move or twist around too much without eliciting a strong wave of pain.

This just brings him back to his original question, though: where is he?

He spent six months in captivity, and he was only shown the slightest hospitality one time, when Metal got a bit too out of hand and he was bleeding out. That was the only time they helped patch him up, and even then, it was only a couple of stitches.

Now, he's in a surprisingly comfy bed, and there's thick gauze wrapped around his waist, and his foot's in a cast. Why the sudden change?

With a little effort, Sonic manages to swivel his head left, only to be faced with an empty chair and a nightstand wielding a few items. The first thing he notices is a tall glass of water, which looks ever so tempting. He can't remember the last time he'd had actual water. Eggman had fed him some weird, disgusting sludge, that somehow kept him from dying of thirst or starvation. There was probably water in it, but it sure didn't taste like it.

Any apprehension or logic is pushed to the side, as the hedgehog hastily snatches the cup and brings it to his lips. He chugs the entire thing in seconds, and still longs for more even after. Once his ravenous desires subside, it hits him that the water could have been spiked.

Well, it's too late now, he muses.

He licks the remaining moisture from his lips and sets the cup back down, returning his attention to the table. It's then that he sees two small pills, which must be Tylenol or something. In the back of his mind, he figures that he was probably supposed to take them with the water, but once again, knows it's too late now.

He's lived with six months of constant pain. He can deal with a little more.

The final item on the table is a small note, just a corner of torn-off printer paper, like wherever it came from, resources needed to be conserved. Sonic picks up the note, and unfolds it to be greeted by familiar handwriting written from a dull pencil.

Sonic,

Don't panic. I'm on a supply run, but I'll be back soon. I left some painkillers and water for you. If you need anything, just holler—the Chaotix and Vanilla should be around.

—S

Sonic blinks. Once, twice, thrice. He swallows thickly. His can't tear his gaze from the writing.

Is this real?

He can't even begin to question anything, when he hears voices outside. Familiar voices.

The first is smooth and reserved; male, "Shadow said not to go in unless he needs help."

The next is high-pitched and frantic; female, "But what if he's having a panic attack and he just can't speak?! I need to see him. I haven't seen him in so long!"

"The last thing we want is to overwhelm him," replies the first, "Apparently, he refused to even believe Shadow was real when we rescued him."

"But—!"

"It's really quiet in there," says a third voice, deep and strong and also male, "Maybe he's still asleep."

"Knuckles," the other male sighs.

"She's his best friend. I'm his best friend. You can't just tell us you finally found him, and then not let us see him."

They continue to bicker, but Sonic fails to keep up. He's still stuck on what the other guy said: Knuckles. Knuckles is here. And his mind is still slow, but he's pretty sure the girl must be Amy.

Chaos, his friends are here, and—

No. No, they can't be, this must be a trick. Another illusion.

"… When Shadow gets back, then we'll decide," says the first male, who sounds a bit like Espio.

"And what kind of decision do you think that will be?" snaps Presumably-Amy.

A new voice that Sonic didn't realize was there before grits back, "I don't know! We just gotta wait and see!" It's gravelly and has a Jersey-twang to it; probably Vector.

"Shadow won't have any more of an answer! C'mon, guys. We want to see him," Knuckles says.

Most-likely Espio fires back, "We didn't see him either!"

"You aren't his best friend!" Amy shouts.

"Goodness gracious!" intrudes yet another voice, female and silky and old, "Would you kids all quiet down?"

Vector groans exasperatedly. "We're not kids—"

"Then stop acting like it!" says the female, who just has to be Vanilla. She lowers her tone and continues, "Sonic is resting on the other side of this door. He's probably wide awake right now, because of you all. None of you get to see him right now, alright? I will. I need to check his vitals, anyways."

There's some miscellaneous mumbles.

"Cream, dear?" Vanilla calls out, "Come over here, let's go check on Mr. Sonic!"

Some silence, and a few Mobians are heard shuffling away in resignation.

But then Knuckles, stubborn as ever, pipes up, "Ms. Cottontail, I—"

"Leave, Mr. Knuckles."

More silence, and then, "… Yes ma'am."

Light footsteps approach rapidly, a couple whispers and mutterings are exchanged, and finally, the door swings open. Sonic closes his eyes instantly, and he can't even tell if he's pretending to be asleep or just can't stand the brightness. Beneath his eyelids, he can vaguely see the room grow darker, and he blinks his eyes back open.

Before him stands Vanilla and Cream, both with warm and bright smiles, respectively, but also looking a bit worn. Their clothes are dirty and torn, and the mother fashions a large scar over her cheek that she definitely didn't have the last time Sonic saw her.

Vanilla approaches carefully, and takes one of the hedgehog's hands, rubbing nice circles into his palm. "How are you feeling, dear?"

Sonic grunts incomprehensibly. Everything about this feels wrong. Part of him wants to scream that they're fake, but at the same time, the Cottontails are so sweet and would never hurt a fly, so he can't bring himself to even subtly glare at them. Another part of him wants them to get away while they still can, because if this is a hallucination, then it's only a matter of time before Infinite does something to hurt or kill them, just to make Sonic watch and suffer.

The younger rabbit skips up to his side, just beaming at him and waving innocently. "Mr. Sonic!" she cries gleefully, "You're awake!"

It's hard to resist the small smile that pulls at his lips. He stares at the girl for a moment, before looking back up at the elder, who scans his face concernedly.

"I'm just… Really confused. And tired. And in pain." he says, trying to sound calm and casual. It comes out a little shaky, though.

Vanilla's smile grows a little more sincere and warm, as if it wasn't already the most genuine one he's ever seen. "That's perfectly fine. You've had… quite a rough couple of months."

Sonic nods, uneasily.

"I can catch you up, if you'd like," says the rabbit, "But it's… Overwhelming. We don't have to talk about it, if you don't want. Mr. Shadow can explain everything when he gets back."

He doesn't have a response. Overwhelming? What does that mean?

The female begins unwrapping the gauze around his waist, having him sit up a little bit for the process. When it's completely off, Sonic can't look at his own body for too long without getting grossed out. The entire section is pale and sweaty, and there's a horrible cut on his right side that was hastily stitched up. She begins to wrap fresh gauze back around him, when her gaze lands on the nightstand.

"Oh! Do you need some more water?"

He licks his lips. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

"I'll go get some more," she says, just as she finishes the wrapping. "Cream, wait here with him."

As her mother scurries out the door with the empty glass in hand, the young girl walks up to the hedgehog. "I missed you, Mr. Sonic."

And, wow, that hits hard. Because this has to be an illusion, and yet it sounds so sincere and kind. Cream's eyes are even a little watery beneath all that joy.

"I… I missed you too," Sonic replies, but the words feel fake and foreign against his tongue.

"What… Um, what happened while you were captured, Mr. Sonic? You were really badly hurt when everyone brought you home," the child wonders, her eyes wide and sparkling.

Oh, Chaos, now what? Hallucination or not, he can't just say he was tortured and beaten to a little six-year-old.

Sonic fumbles for words. "I. Uh… Bad things. Really bad things," he finds himself saying.

"What kinds of bad things?"

Ah, shit.

"Things that… Things you should never do to another living being. Ever."

Cream seems to stop pressing at that. She pouts, in that childish 'that's not fair' kind of way. "That's horrible! I'm really sorry, Mr. Sonic."

The teenager smiles. "Thanks, Cream. But… It wasn't your fault. You don't need to be sorry," he assures.

She shakes her head. "I'm not apologizing for what they did, Mr. Sonic. I'm just sorry you had to deal with all of that alone for so long. Nobody deserves that, especially you!"

He's too dumbstruck to produce a coherent response.

Vanilla hurries back in, then, carrying another cup that's filled to the brim with water. "I got your drink. But we should leave now, Cream. Mr. Shadow's back, and I'd assume you want to see him, dear?" She looks at Sonic expectantly, already grabbing her daughter's hand and leading her out.

"Um, uh… Yeah."

She smiles. "It was nice seeing you. If you need us, just holler."

They leave before he can even utter a 'thank you.' There's hushed voices outside, and then the door swings back open, almost hesitantly. Inside steps another teenage hedgehog, complete with thick black fur, ruby red stripes, and those gorgeous eyes Sonic falls in love with every time he looks at them.

For a moment, they just stare at each other, frozen. Shadow doesn't move from the entrance, like he's waiting for permission to come closer. He looks like a total mess, as per usual, except now his fur is a little more disheveled and he's got even more bruises and cuts than normal.

"You can," Sonic tries, swallowing a thick knot in his throat, "… There's a chair, y'know."

The agent nods, walks forward, and then takes a seat, keeping his body language conservative. There's more silence, and it's so thick it's suffocating.

After a moment, Shadow says, "I won't ask if you're okay, because that's bullshit and I already know the answer."

Well, if this is an illusion, Infinite sure got his bluntness on-point.

"Instead, I just need to know—do you think this is real?"

Oh. Wasn't expecting that. But he might as well be honest.

"I, uh—no," the azure hedgehog replies, quietly.

The Ultimate Lifeform's shoulders fall. "And how can I make you believe otherwise?"

"What?"

Shadow scoots the chair closer, so they're face to face. "How can I convince you that I'm real? Because I am, Sonic. I promise."

Oh Chaos, now he's about to cry. "… You never are, though."

And that just destroys Shadow. He stares brokenly, guiltily at Sonic for a few seconds, at a loss for words. Suddenly he snatches up the blue blur's hand, and presses his palm into his own, warm chest.

"Can you feel that? My heartbeat?"

Sonic closes his eyes momentarily, just feeling the sensation beneath his hands. The ka-thumps are so raw and real, grounding and rhythmic. He can feel Shadow's chest rise and fall with each breath. The ebony fur is warm and fuzzy and a little matted, and his white chest fur is especially plush and fluffy. His body heat spreads therapeutically into the hedgehog's fingertips.

"… Mhm," Sonic hums, finally. He opens his eyes again.

"That's me. This is me, the real me. It's not a dream, or a nightmare. I promise."

Sonic smiles, for once. The most genuine smile he's had in months. He can't help it when his old attitude kicks back in. "Prove it."

Shadow smirks back at him, and leans in close. Their lips meet and it's so perfect, fitting together like puzzle pieces and pressing in close like magnets, because they've both wanted this for so goddamn long. It stays innocent, and gentle, but it's all they need for now. Just something gentle, and loving. He sighs a little into Shadow's mouth when he feels a hand glide across his face and cup the side of his head, massaging into his quills soothingly. It feels so right.

They pull away soon enough, out of breath and rosy-cheeked. Sonic pants. "Yeah, that was… Good. Do that—do that more often."

For a little while, they sit in silence, Sonic propped up to rest his head on Shadow's shoulder, while they hold hands and stare up at the ceiling. It goes on until Sonic grows restless with the silence, and Vanilla's words from earlier make him uneasy again.

"What…?" he starts, tentatively, "What happened while I was gone?"

The joy and color leaves Shadow's face instantly.

"You said you were on a 'supply run.' What does that mean?"

"Eggman… When you disappeared, he… Won."

"Won?"

Shadow looks distraught. "He… There's factories everywhere. The streets are overrun by his robots. We… We're currently in a hidden bunker."

The words take a minute to set in. And suddenly, Sonic is furious.

"Hold on, what?! So when I disappear, you guys just don't stand a chance?! That is bullshit. You guys can handle yourselves."

Shadow sighs. "It wasn't just that."

"Then what was it?!" Sonic snaps back, sitting up and pulling away from their intimate position. He ignores the flare of pain from the sudden movement.

The ebony agent crosses his arms, eyes refusing to meet the blue blur's as he explains. "When Eggman created the Phantom Ruby, he had all seven Chaos Emeralds, and concentrated their negative energy to engineer it. That created a bad reaction, because they disappeared, and now we still can't find them. Knuckles and Amy have been searching for months to find them again, ever since they first disappeared, so they couldn't help directly fight from the get-go. They're only back home because they heard we found you.

"Plus, Espio got a fatal wound a couple months ago when Metal Sonic almost literally spilled his fucking guts, and he still isn't quite up to strength. And I… The first few months you were missing, I was a wreck. I would go on rampages and try to wipe out armies of robots, just to end up back here, bedridden for weeks while I recovered. I couldn't think straight. I was too upset and angry. I didn't get my shit together until about a month ago, when we first got the lead on you and your whereabouts."

Shadow pauses to catch his breath, calming himself slightly. Sonic is quiet, expecting him to continue.

"… The resistance has been a train wreck. The doctor used that to his advantage, and now here we are."

And that's it. But now there's an increasingly sick feeling churning in his stomach that he can't quite shake off.

"What about Tails?"

Shadow's eyes go blank, before welling up a little with moisture. Sonic can tell this is killing him, but he can't help the raw anger taking hold of his thoughts.

"Shadow. What about Tails?!"

"I'm sorry," the striped hedgehog says, distantly. "… He disappeared soon after you did. We never found a lead on him."

The world comes crashing down. Everything turns red.

This might not be of Infinite's or the Phantom Ruby's making, but this is a nightmare in its own respect.

His baby brother is gone.

He didn't save him.

It's all your fault, the ghost of the hallucinations whispers. You couldn't save him. You killed him. It's all your fault.

Everything's turning red. He can't see straight. It's all lurching and flickering. He's back in the cell. Infinite's laughing at him, strangling him. Metal is dragging his claws through his bare flesh. It burns. Eggman stabs another needle in. The chemicals surge through him like lightning. Everything burns. His blood is boiling. His skin is on fire. It's all red. Red. Red.

Spinning, spinning. The wall of his cell feels cool against his back. Infinite's talons trace his face. He's drowning. The corpses are floating around him, drifting closer. It's all his fault. It's all his fault.

Hands grab his shoulders, roughly, squeezing them. Something pulls him forwards, and he meets a soft, furry body, lined in various scars. The body is warm, and he feels arms wrap around him, thumbs drawing circles in his back.

"… Hey, breathe, hey. It's okay. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have said that… I'm so sorry…"

Shadow's breath is warm on the top of his head. His bare fingers are calloused and strong against his back. His heartbeat thumps loudly in his ears. Shadow is real. Shadow is here.

The red starts to fade. He's in the room, with Shadow. Shadow's sitting on the bed beside him, hugging him, whispering nice words into his ears.

"We…" Sonic murmurs, "We need to find him. He's still out there, he has to be."

Shadow's quiet for a moment, before, "I know."

For a long time, they sit there, in the dark, holding each other. It's all they can really do.

aaa so i hope y'all enjoyed. i wasn't really sure how to end this, so i apologize if it seemed a little abrupt, but hopefully it's okay.

if you're confused on the hallucination thing, sorry, i tried to make it as clear as possible without getting off topic. pretty much, at least in this au, infinite can use the phantom ruby to make people have visions/hallucinations of your worst fears. that's the major thing they used to torture sonic, and it's also why he can't tell if the rescue is real or not at first. soo yeah hopefully that explains it.

please r&r! i'm always looking to improve my writing :)