Frost: Hey, I dug up another request from a while ago and decided to have a crack at it. This one is from Artlover-painter35 and I've got to say this one was a challenge to write. They requested that I write a one shot where Edmund came back as a spirit connected to the medallion Sonic wears. However, over time he begins to lose himself ad turns into a vengeful spirit that unleashed when Shadow 'threatens' Sonic.
This tales place after 'Nightmares' and happens as if 'Things better left unsaid' never happened. Hope this lives up to your expectations Artlover-painter35!
It had been a few days since the incident as Shadow had taken to calling it. It seemed that things had returned to normal with Sonic seeing how the blue pest was back to his annoying self but the ebony male couldn't shake the image of those scars from his head. He wanted to know where they came from and what had scared the faker so much in his past to still affect him in his dreams years later. Eventually, Shadow decided he would corner Sonic when he was alone and the others weren't around because he was going to get an answer one way or another.
Getting Sonic alone, however, was proving to be harder than first thought. The younger male was always in the company of one of his friends or off running around the city so Shadow was nearing his wit's end by the time he finally got an opportunity. The other's had gone out shopping, something the young blue teen wasn't interested in at all so Shadow waited till the others left before confronting Sonic who was sitting in the living room, flicking through the TV channels.
"Hey Shads, what's up?" Sonic asked casually, snickering at the eye twitch the nickname received. It took all of Shadow's willpower not to snap back at the other and be drawn into the banter. He had a mission to do and he wasn't going to be deterred.
"I saw you during the sleepover the other night." He stated bluntly, watching as Sonic went ridged while his eyes widened in shock. "Seemed like a pretty bad nightmare, and those scars you have look painful. How'd you get them?"
"Oh you know, fighting Eggman, saving the world." Sonic chuckled weakly, eyes flicking to the side while his ears pulled back to lie flat against his skull. Shadow narrowed his eyes at the nervous behavior and it didn't really take a genius to figure out Sonic wasn't telling the truth.
"Your lying, so what's the real story?" He pressed, starting to walk up into the other's personal space. Sonic stood up as fast as he could, slowly backing away while his eyes darted from side to side in worry.
"What? What makes you think that stripes?" Sonic laughed nervously while the elder male kept walking close, eventually backing in into a corner.
"you're not looking me in the eyes and honestly, you're a terrible liar," Shadow growled. "Why are you hiding this anyway? Scared of getting laughed at? Or maybe you did something terrible and you don't want us to find out."
"Shads, just leave it," Sonic muttered, shivering as he felt the temperature in the room drop. He knew what that meant and it would only lead to bad things.
"Why, what happened to give you those scars Faker? Why are you so afraid?" Shadow hissed, lips curling back while his fists clenched.
"You don't understand." Sonic began only to yelp when a fist slammed into the wall next to him as Shadow's famous temper finally boiled over.
"THEN TELL THE TRUTH!" Shadow yelled. He was breathing heavily, only calming when he heard a whimper come from his rival. He blinked in confusion when he noticed that Sonic wasn't looking at him but at the ceiling where the lights were flickering. Shadow looked up at them only to shout in shock when an unseen forced slammed into his side, sending him crashing into the couch. He heard Sonic scream and windows shatter and for a moment Shadow wondered if Eggman had decided to attack while the others were out.
However, when the creation looked up he didn't see the overweight human but what appeared to be another hedgehog. He was orange in colour with long quills and a few that acted as bangs the hung over his face. He wore light blue boots with a white stripe on them and he was also slightly see through. His eyes, however, had an ice fear creeping up Shadow's spine. The pupils were a deep blood red while the cornea was coal black.
"How dare you!" The voice had a slightly echo to it and was deep and gravely. "You hurt him, so I'll hurt you."
Shadow took a step back, not knowing how to fight such an opponent when suddenly a figure was standing between him and the spector.
"Stop Edmund, please! He didn't hurt me, I'm fine!" Sonic shouted above the growing wind. The spector didn't seem to hear, instead, it screamed before thrusting out its hand sending both hedgehogs flying. Shadow grunted as he landed, wincing when he felt the smaller male land on top of him. The both rolled out of the way when a lamp was flung at them, ears flattening when it shattered against the wall.
"Sonic, what the hell is that?!" Shadow screamed.
"A spirit, the spirit of my brother actually. He attached himself to his medallion." Sonic yelled back. Shadow felt like smacking the idiotic teen. Everyone knew that spirits that lingered on in the world had the potential to turn into vengeful spirits. However, seeing how this was supposedly the Faker's brother Shadow could somewhat understand. The need to keep even a small part of a loved one alive was a primal one that sometimes overruled common sense.
"Sonic, you have to do something before he hurts us," Shadow warned his companion who looked more distressed than he had after the nightmare.
"Ed, please listen to me! You've got to stop this, I'm your ARGH!" Sonic screamed when the small coffee table suddenly smacked into his chest. It felt like a hole had been punched right through his chest, and not just from the physical pain. Ever since Sonic had discovered his brother's spirit was attached to the medallion they had been as close as ever. Sonic felt like he still had his brother with him while Edmund continued to watch over him like he wanted. But now it seemed Edmund had finally lost himself to the point where he even saw Sonic as a threat.
"Faker, you can't reason with him anymore. Whatever he used to be, that is no longer your brother." Shadow snapped, pulling the younger hedgehog to his feet and away from the angered spirit.
"I know." Sonic sighed, wincing when he felt the already forming bruise on his chest. He looked down, grimacing at the splinters that were embedded in the skin. His eyes turned back to Shadow and the shell of his brother, both of whom he didn't want hurt but one would need to be hurt in order to save the other. His movements were slow as he reached into his quills, withdrawing the golden medallion he had carried for nine years, the last thing he had that tied him to his old life and his family.
The spirit turned blood red eyes to him and the medallion, a growl working its way past a mouth that didn't seem to fit right with the rest of its face. Those eyes trained on the medallion, a hand reaching out towards it in an almost desperate manner. Sonic watched, cradling the medallion against his chest where his heart lay, a tearful smile spreading over his face.
"I'm sorry Ed, but it's time for you to move on." Sonic sighed before throwing the medallion into the fireplace that was still burning. The spirit screamed for a moment, rushing forward and pushing Sonic aside who was caught in Shadow's arms.
It was like a shockwave rushed over them, originating from the fireplace. It washed over the spirit, stripping away the hate, pain, and emptiness and filling it with memories of a childhood filled with happiness. A white light seemed to slowly fall off of the spirit, leaving behind a young boy. His looked mostly the same except his eyes were a soft lavender that shined with kindness and love. He turned to look at Shadow and Sonic, eyes overflowing with tears as a blinding smile lit up his face.
"Thank you," Edmund whispered, his form slowly fading from sight.
"Say hi to Mum and Dad for me Ed." Sonic smiled right back. With a final wave, Edmund vanished from sight, finally having been able to move on to the next world.
It was silent for a moment before Sonic sighed and turned to face Shadow who still looked shocked and confused. "I'm guessing you want an explanation then?"
"That would be nice Faker." Shadow nodded, ruby red eyes narrowing.
Sonic took a deep breath before telling his tale, starting with a happy childhood with an older brother who absolutely adored him. They were as close as twins despite the massive age gap between them and would spend their days exploring the forest and just being children. It was perfect until one night a fire started which spread through the house faster than one could blink. The parents died saving their children, and in the end, Edmund also gave his life so his younger brother could live.
Shadow was silent through the tale, guilt welling up inside of him as he realized how much the event had scared Sonic. He also felt guilt at having caused Edmund's spirit to finally snap which in turn forced Sonic to destroy the last remaining connection he had with his family.
"Sorry Faker, for making you destroy that medallion," Shadow muttered while refusing to look his look alike. He expected Sonic to be angry. Instead, he was shocked to see the teen give him an understanding smile.
"It's alright, I know you didn't mean it. Besides, I think it was time for Ed to move on anyway." Sonic shrugged though one could still see the unshed tears glistening in his eyes. Shadow wasn't a cuddly person, nor was he good at comforting people so he wasn't even going to try and be all mushy.
"I think we should clean this place up before the others get home. Otherwise, you'll have a lot of explaining to do." He huffed.
"Me? What about you?" Sonic shot back with a small smile.
"I'm not the one who never told his friends he had a super overprotective ghost brother." Shadow snapped causing the blue teen to laugh loudly.
Yes, Shadow wasn't a mushy cuddly person, but he had other ways of comforting people, mainly distracting them from the pain and making them focus on things that made them smile. And the best part was he could do this without people noticing. So when Sonic turned his back to him, bending down to start cleaning up the living room the ebony male allowed a small smile to grace his features, happy to have helped his rival/somewhat, friend move on from his past pain.
Frost: This was a very challenging request to write as I actually had to do some research on ghost lore and such. Artlover-painter35 mentions Supernatural in their Request when explaining things so I had to go do some snooping as I've never seen an episode of that series. So I apologize if this isn't my best work. I still had fun writing this as I do love a challenge
Please review, send in requests and have a lovely day (Though its pissing down rain where I am)
