Sins of the Flesh
Chapter 11: Facade


Sonic awoke the next day, yet again, to knocking. He realized he had slept late, judging by how bright the sun was. He slowly got out of bed, but decided he didn't even want to do that. His door was open, so he shouted "Come in" to the visitor. The door creaked open and Bunnie came in with a downtrodden look on her face.

"Hey there, Bunnie. Why the long face?", Sonic asked as if he had no idea what had happened the previous night.

"Oh sugah, I have terrible news. Little Sasha is gone!"

This was where Sonic had to put on the best act of his life to sound convincing. "Gone? What do you mean he's gone?", he said in a voice that came rather close to sounding concerned.

"Ah mean Sally woke up this morning an' her baby was gone. No one knows where the l'il guy is, and Sally is hysterical."

"Are people looking for him?"

"They sure are - almost the whole kingdom is out lookin' for him."

Sonic looked away, pretending to be at a loss for words due to sadness, but in his mind he was smiling ear to ear. "You'll never find him, no matter how hard you look", he thought.

"Ah sure hope he's okay. Sally'll be jus' devastated if anything happen'd to her l'il boy."

"I know...I just…don't know what to say. Does anyone know what happened? Like was it kidnapping, or something else?"

"Ev'ryone thinks it's kidnapping...a lot of people think maybe it was Shadow. And...umm...don't get scared by this, sugah, but some people think you might have done it 'cause they knew you didn't like bein' a dad."

"What?! I may not have liked being a parent, but I would never take it out on the child. It wasn't his fault for being born!", Sonic said, trying to fake paranoia.

"Ah told people ah didn't think it was you, sugah. But the king might wanna ask you some things anyway."

As Sonic nodded at the rabbit girl, one of the king's messengers knocked on his open door. "Um...pardon me for interrupting, but the king wants to speak with you right now."

Sonic's eyes went wide and he looked at Bunnie. "Don't worry, sugah...you'll be fine."


Sonic nodded at the messenger and made his way toward the castle. He was escorted to a small room in one of the castle's basement levels. In the room, he was seated at a table and was told to await the king's arrival. Some time later, the king entered the room and closed the door behind him; Sonic tried his best to look worried, which wasn't entirely difficult considering he was genuinely worried about being found out. The king stood on the other side of the table with his arms folded. "Sonic, I'm sure you know about the disappearance of Sasha."

"Yes, sire...Bunnie told me a few minutes ago. Has anyone found out what happened?"

"Unfortunately, no...no one saw anything, and there was no evidence left anywhere in the area."

Sonic looked away and made a noise that was a cross between a sigh and a choke, pretending to be upset. "Pardon reality is still kind of sinking in right now." He looked up at the king and cleared his throat. "Forgive me, sire. But wasn't there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

The king looked at him, "Sonic, as I said, we have no idea who was responsible for Sasha's kidnapping, but we have narrowed our search down to two suspects...both of them being hedgehogs." Sonic's eyes got wide as the king continued. "Shadow is nowhere to be found, and we are most suspicious of him, but you run a close second on our list of suspects. Therefore, I wish to ask you some questions."

"...of course. Go ahead."

"First...where were you last night?"

"I was at home for most of the evening, but I ended up being unable to sleep, so I went out for a walk."

"I see...and where did you walk to?"

"Out into the forest, to one particular place I frequently visit. Sally knows where it is."

"What time did you return home?"

"...around four or five in the morning."

"And what did you do when you came back home?"

"I ran into Tails, who told me he was having trouble sleeping too. We chatted for a few minutes, and then I went into my house and went to sleep."

The king looked warily at the hedgehog, but Sonic was more convinced of his acting abilities now more than ever as he acted anxious. "Sonic, I would like to think you did not abduct Sally's child."

Sonic looked up at the king and pretended to hold back bogus tears. "Sire, I can see why you would suspect me, but I couldn't bring myself to do something like this."

The king raised an eyebrow at the hedgehog, whom he assumed was being sincere. "All right, Sonic. That will be all. You may go now."

Sonic left the room and headed back to his house. On his way out, he heard the king talking to one of his generals...

"Any luck with the hedgehog, your highness?"

"No – I don't think it was him. He seemed too genuinely upset over the situation. It had to be Shadow. General, I want that hedgehog found as soon as possible."

Sonic continued his tearful facade, but he was ecstatic inside. He did feel somewhat bad condemning Shadow to being a criminal, but he thought, "Sorry that you had to end up like this, Shadow...but it's what you get for sleeping with my woman."

Before Sonic left, he turned back to speak to the king once more. He managed to catch up to the king just as he was heading back to the throne room. "Your highness, wait!"

The king turned around to see the young blue hedgehog running toward him. "Yes, what is it, Sonic?"

"Sire...may I please see Sally?"

The king sighed. "You can see her, Sonic...but she hasn't let anyone go into her room at all today. She's grieving quite a bit because she fears the worst has happened to Sasha. You can try to visit her if you like, but I don't know if she'll open up to anyone."

"Oh...okay. I suppose you're right - would it be possible for a messenger to let me know when Sally is ready to speak to someone?"

"Of course. Oddly, you seem so concerned about Sally when only days ago you were screaming at her for upsetting you."

"You once had to raise an infant, and I'm sure it stressed you out. But I can't stand to know Sally is in pain...just because we had our arguments doesn't mean I don't care about her."

The king nodded at Sonic. "When Sally has calmed down, I'll send for you. I'm sure she'll be happy to see you."

"Thank you", Sonic said as he headed out the door for a second time. He walked back to his house and, upon entering, locked the door behind him. He closed the shade on his window and then threw himself on his bed. He had gotten rid of the child conceived out of infidelity, given himself and Sally another chance at life, and had convinced everyone that he had nothing to do with the child's disappearance. He sighed and smiled - he was no longer shackled by the weight of parenthood.


Author's Note: No remorse for murder...does this make Sonic a sociopath? o.o