Author's Note: Nothing much to say, so do enjoy, and thank you for the reviews and favorites, everyone.
I own no rights to Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the related media.
Chapter 2: Depression.
Tails has been worried about Sonic ever since he left for home early this morning. So much so that while the blueberry pancakes were delicious as many of Vanilla's cooking always were, he couldn't find himself to enjoy it. From the looks of the three girls and the little Chao as they had breakfast to celebrate, neither could they. Despite that, afterwards he and Amy went home after saying goodbye to Cream and her mother and Cheese, the two-tailed fox felt it wasn't his place to intervene and thought that maybe Sonic was exhausted and needed to catch up on some sleep.
But as the day rolled by, the young kit's worries only increased. Even as he kept himself busy in fixing up a few patches on the X Tornado, Tails couldn't stop thinking about the look in his best friend's eyes.
The look of fear, confusion and panic. What had really gone on with Sonic's head? Was it some kind of side effect from the explosion caused by the Chaos Emeralds? If so, then what has the blue hedgehog being out of sorts?
'Maybe I should check up on him, and then maybe figure out what's wrong. He looked so scared, but why? I don't understand.' Tails thought to himself, tightening the last bolt underneath the plane before rolling himself out and stood up, dusting his hands off despite being slightly covered in oil grease.
Realizing how dirty he looked, Tails felt sheepish as he set a perfect plan in mind. First shower, then check on Sonic, who would normally check up on him whenever the young cub felt down.
Now it was his turn to check up on the hedgehog.
Sonic hadn't stopped crying ever since he had woken up from the dream that confirmed everything he has been thinking as a second guess ever since waking up in Eggman's base. His hard sobbing softened to a silent one with a sniffle or two, but it didn't change the fact that he was miserable. He laid in bed, slightly curled up on his side, his face and pillow dirty and wet with tears, his mind still reeling on his heart-breaking discovery.
No matter how many times the blue hedgehog tried to tell himself that there wasn't a thing he could do about it, that it was all just a dream and he should move on, it was more difficult than he thought. He had grown close to a friend who wasn't even real, and now Sonic was lost in a turmoil.
He was upset over something that had been a dream, and didn't feel like himself. But he couldn't stop thinking about Chris, all of their adventures together, the boy being not only his best friend and younger brother like Tails had always been, but his number one fan...and his savior. Sonic remembered, at least in the beginning part of the dream, how he saved his life from drowning in his backyard swimming pool.
Sonic was coughing and wheezing, on his hands and knees on the tile floor near the swimming pool he'd come dangerously close in drowning in, soaking wet. He almost couldn't believe that he was still alive, rescued by the unusual 'alien' of this strange planet that was similar to his own, only a bit more advanced. These people had hedgehogs, but obviously none like him, and had wanted to capture him. Probably because to them, he was an alien.
But the boy in the 'boy' jammies, about twelve years old from the looks of it, had seen him land into the pool and out of compassion, jumped in and saved his life. Clearly not old enough to be superstitious just yet, but old enough to be comforting and caring. It was strange, but the blue hedgehog felt at ease when the kid was rubbing his back to help him get air back into his lungs.
"That was close. Are you okay?" The boy asked, half concerned for Sonic's well being, and half relieved that he was still alive.
"Uh, yeah." Sonic replied, deciding that there was no point in keeping silent, not towards his young savior. With eyes closed for a moment, the teenager glanced up at him to gaze at the kid's face for the very first time, and smiled. "Thanks a lot."
The boy was surprised, answering at the knowledge that Sonic spoke. "I didn't know you could talk."
"I can do a lot of things." Sonic stated, as he was holding back the urge to comment how he was surprised that the kid and his people could talk too. Another thing both worlds have in common.
"Wow, that's awesome! That you can talk, I mean." The boy said in awe, before introducing himself as he had a good feeling about this amazing blue hedgehog. "My name's Christopher. Do you have a name?"
"Yeah, I got a name." Sonic answered back, feeling at ease and comfortable, and for the first time since he arrived on this planet, safe. He felt that he could trust this Christopher kid. "My name is Sonic the Hedgehog."
Sonic sighed, as he then remembered everything else he saw in his dream, even images that he didn't even know of until now, which to him made everything he went through in the dream world more sense. Finding and rescuing his friends, searching for the Chaos Emeralds, fighting Eggman like always, even in certain battles that were incredibly tough, seeing places that were fun, or scary, parts of his world being transported to Chris's world instead of being brought back home, people as well, Tikal, Chaos, Shadow, Emerl, and the porthole.
He then remembered the last time he ever saw Chris, who in his fear and selfishness before learning of his mistake, shut off the machine as he would not allow Sonic to leave as he had grown so close that he wanted to keep the blue hedgehog on Earth forever. That, Sonic had to admit, was shocking and it had scared him a little. But when the two were alone, he understood his friend's fear and despite what was happening to both worlds, Sonic had felt it would happen, so he luckily kept the Chaos Emeralds with him just in case and left the choice up to Chris.
Even though Sonic couldn't help but feel the kind of loneliness if he had been forced to remain in the human world, that he wouldn't see Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Cream and Cheese and Vanilla ever again. He had wanted to go home for so long. Chris had then realized his mistake and ultimately decided to force down his fears for the sake of the two worlds, and had let Sonic go. But not before that final run, which as he ran while Chris was holding onto him, Sonic had actually cried.
He even remembered how the dream ended; Sonic finally making it back home, saving Tails and the world from Eggman, before being reunited with Amy who had been completely worried about him. She hugged him, and he attempted to comfort her.
'Not even the Sea-Shell bracelet Amy made for me was real. Great. Some good luck that was.' The blue hedgehog thought miserably, feeling drained after such an emotional breakdown.
Sighing and feeling so lost, and while Sonic was very glad that the craziness over the Chaos Control transporting him, his friends and his worst enemy to another world never happened, and Cream was safely back home with Vanilla, glad that they were all still here on Mobius, the blue hedgehog was upset that humans don't exist.
With another depressed sigh, Sonic sat up before wiping away his tears and then just stared almost blankly low. He felt like an idiot being this way, but after dreaming about it for what felt like a long time, having learned so much, he didn't know what to think. He couldn't think.
"...Maybe a run would help. It always does calm me down." Sonic muttered to himself.
Deciding that it was his best option and hopefully he could calm down and perk up as things were relatively back to normal for him, the blue hedgehog climbed out of bed and slipped his shoes on, before racing out of his house and up the path, excusing himself and being careful on not to run over the local children of young chickens, dogs, bear cubs, and a young wolf.
Breathing in the fresh air as he ran, feeling the excitement of the winds whipping against his face and through his quills, Sonic began to feel a bit better already. It was a nice day, the sun was warm, the sight of his home land gave him such a pleasant feeling.
Before long, Sonic was out of his village and into the beautiful green hills of the Green Hill Zone, his hands behind him as he ran, leaving a trail of a blue blur, the sense of freedom within his veins and coursing through his blood made him all pumped up. Yet despite all of this, he couldn't get his mind off of the adventurous long dream, the heart aching knowledge that the new friends he made were not real. On top of that, dreams can fade back into the deepest parts of one's memory, and the blue hedgehog felt the dreaded feeling of forgetting his imaginary friend.
'Ugh, this is stupid! I can't live on being miserable over a dream, but...Nothing makes sense! What did Chris mean by the Chaos Emeralds messing with my head? I don't understand!' Sonic thought to himself, and while he was enjoying the peace all around him for the time being, he suddenly felt out of place.
"Maybe transforming into Super Sonic so many times both in reality and in dreams is making me go crazy. If I'm not already crazy." The blue hedgehog muttered, reaching a spot up on the green hills. Sighing while trying to get his head around on what was going on, he sat down and leaned against it's bark, hands behind his head and one leg over the other.
Sonic gazed up above him under the shade, as the wind gently blew against the leaves, the sun shining through some of them. To him, it made the nature of life itself more beautiful. But even with the wonderful scenery, his mind still wandered on everything he experienced within his dreams, all the good times, the bad times, the scary times, everything. The blue hedgehog felt the linger of sadness rise up in his chest and lowered his gaze. He felt horrible.
"Oh, Chris..." Sonic whispered, sitting up and hugged his knees, feeling very depressed.
Making his way home an hour later, Sonic decided to take a detour and stopped by a small lake. He had no idea what brought him here, but he felt lost right now. Stopping at the edge of the blue crystal clear water which normally would set him into a nervous breakdown considering how many times he almost drowned, the depressed teenager picked up a rock and mindlessly played skipping stones, flinging it across the water where it skipped several times before sinking.
He repeated this almost endlessly, trying to take his mind off of the dreams and be optimistic about his life. It was another successful rescue and saving the world mission, and things were back to normal for the time being. But Sonic felt the lingering fear of eventually forgetting Chris despite that the human boy was not real.
'I can't stop thinking about that dream I had. Why did it feel so real? How could the Chaos Emeralds do that to me?' Sonic thought, skipping another stone across the water.
On top of that, why was he the only one who had that dream? Knuckles thought the Emeralds would trigger an unstable Chaos Control, yet he had no idea about the unusual dreams.
Not only that, Sonic remembered what Tikal had said about the Chaos Emeralds, which even that was just a dream, meaning that the legend was also false.
"The servers are the 7 Chaos... Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart... the Controller is the one that unifies the Chaos."
Squeezing his eyes shut in depression, loss, confusion, sorrow and frustration, Sonic clenched his fists before growling and mindlessly picked up another rock to bent his anxiety.
"NOTHING MAKES SENSE ANYMORE!" Sonic screamed out, aimlessly throwing the rock so hard that it went across the lake and even missed in hitting the water.
Instead, it hit something, or rather, someone emerging from the bushes on the other side, a male Mobian brown squirrel in his late 30's who was carrying a camping trip back pack, before the rock hit him on the head.
"OW!" The squirrel yelped, which Sonic noticed and looked up in shock, before the squirrel yelled out when he saw who had thrown the rock. "Hey, watch it!"
"Oops." Sonic muttered sheepishly, realizing what he had done before calling out apologetically. "Sorry!"
The Squirrel though didn't seem to take the apology lightly as he grumbled while storming off. "Ugh. Teenagers. No respect for nature or their elders."
Annoyed as he heard this, plus the rude grumpy look the older Mobian displayed, Sonic crossed his arms and muttered sarcastically. "Well, there's a happy camper."
He then sighed miserably as annoyance faded away almost instantly.
"Still...It doesn't change the fact that I'm losing my mind and that Chris and everybody else I've met don't even exist, and neither does Earth. What'm I gonna do?" Sonic asked himself, helplessly.
Nothing really made sense anymore.
"WHAT!? Whaddya mean Sonic's missing!?" Amy shrieked, as Tails had come to visit her only to bear bad news.
"I went over to house to check on him since I was worried. But he didn't answer so I went inside, and couldn't find him anywhere. I went to Cream and Vanilla's house, but they haven't seen him since this morning either, so I thought he'd gone to be with you on a...date." The eight year old fox explained, worriedly, before sighing. "But I guess that's not the case, either."
"OH!" The twelve year old pink hedgehog pouted angrily. "Of course Sonic wouldn't go on a date even if I asked him to! He always bails himself out and set me up whenever he says yes! I bet he ran away because I was expecting another date tomorrow."
"I'm pretty sure that's not the case, Amy." Tails pointed out, even though he couldn't help but whisper to himself. "Though I wouldn't put it past him to avoid that."
"What was that?" Amy demanded.
"N-nothing!" The young kit quickly replied, holding his hands up in defense. He then sighed and said. "Still, something's up with Sonic, and we've gotta figure out why he looks so...upset."
Amy fell silent when her young friend said this. He was right. Something was strange going on with her 'boyfriend' and had considered on going to his house before Tails arrived to bear the bad news. She couldn't help but think back to early this morning after reuniting Cream with her mother.
Vanilla felt the same thing, asking in slight concern. "Are you alright, Sonic? You're not sick, are you?"
"No, no. It's nothing like that. I'm fine, really. Sorry, but I...I'll see you guys later." Sonic replied, becoming more and more nervous, his hands beginning to shake, emotions uncontrollably creeping up.
'Why was Sonic acting that way? Is he hiding something he doesn't want to tell us? If so, then why would he do that? Oh, Sonic. What's wrong with you? I hope you're okay.' The pink hedgehog thought worriedly to herself.
Something was up, especially since he disappeared. While the more reassuring of her suggested that Sonic just really felt tired, managed to get much needed sleep and went on his usual runs like he always did, she couldn't help but fear the worst. What if he was scared or the explosion from Eggman's Chaos Emerald machine traumatized him to...not wanting be a hero anymore?
"We've got to find him and cheer him up!" Amy finally declared, determined to get to the bottom of this. She marched forward and grabbed Tails by the wrist, pulling him along with her.
"W-whoa! Amy, slow down!" The young fox yelped.
"No time for slowing down, Tails! Sonic needs us!" The pink hedgehog said stubbornly.
While Amy and Tails prepared to begin their search for Sonic, the blue hero himself was on his way home after deciding to try and distract himself by buying a take-out of Chili Dogs, and eventually made it. The teenage hedgehog stepped through the front door for the second time today and closed it behind him, leaning against it with a sad, depressed sigh as he held the bag full of his favorite food in one hand.
Nothing seemed to working. Sure, he managed to put on a brave face and smiled as he had went into town to grab himself something to eat, and signed a few autographs for some of his young fans which put him into a good mood, he saw visions of being in Station Square with humans around, and as time went on, he and his friends were viewed as heroes, and soon like here on Mobius, he became a celebrity.
One time he became so famous that it had become too overwhelming as people began wanting to act and behave just like him. Sonic smiled softly as he remembered how he and his friends had tricked Eggman into a path of questions which lead him and Decoe and Bocoe to the police.
Sonic was standing in the middle of the path with a sign that had pictures of his face directing to the left, and Eggman's to the right, from the blue hedgehog's point of view as his nemesis and two robot lackies stopped after having correctly answered the questions from Chris, Tails, and Amy.
"Just one more to go." Sonic said with a smirk.
"Think carefully, doctor. If you answer this one correctly, you will be a big winner." Bocoe advised his creator with caution.
"Don't worry. With my exceptionally high IQ, I'm bound to get it right." Eggman reassured with a grin on his ugly face.
'Heh. Too bad it won't save ya', Egghead.' Sonic thought as he resisted the urge to laugh, before asking the last question which he knew the correct answer for and also knew that the evil tall, fat man would easily get it wrong due to their history. "Who is the coolest guy around, me or you?"
As Sonic predicted, Eggman scoffed overconfidently. "What a ridiculous question. It's me, of course!"
Unfortunately for Eggman, as he turned to his left, he fell right into the trap as a large sauce pan fell from out of nowhere and landed right on top of his head with a loud clang which made him fall onto the ground. Seconds later, he and his robots were surrounded by an army of police who tackled the evil scientist who yelped and cried out.
Sonic laughed as he watched the performance, throwing away the sign as he whispered to himself. "Nope. The correct answer is me."
Hand-cuffed and thrown into the police van along with his robots, Eggman growled over the trickery as he grasped the bars of the window of the locked doors, hissing. "I'll be back!"
"And to think this morning we were flying high." Bocoe lamented as they too were hand-cuffed.
"Now look at us; Jailbirds." Decoe said miserably.
"You fools! Let me out of here!" Eggman demanded, only for the second set of doors to slam shut and he was then carried off to jail.
Sonic smirked as once again the day was saved, again his name was cleared, and again Eggman has been defeated. The blue hedgehog muttered to himself as he walked up. "From a big hero to a big zero."
"Sonic! Sonic! Sonic! Sonic! Sonic!" The crowd of people, who have come to know the truth, chanted his name in cheering, which made the teenager turn and saw them, his eyes widening as he realized they were about to mob him due to his heroics and fame.
"Uh-oh!" Sonic yelped, before running away, and he could've sworn he heard his friends laugh at his own slightly embarrassing exit despite that everything was back to normal.
For one thing, though, Sonic was glad to have regained their trust, and the trust of Chris, who had known all along he had been doing the right thing.
"Too bad that didn't happen for real." Sonic lamented, standing up straight and heading over towards his kitchen, chuckling to himself at the look of his enemy's face. "Just wish I could have recorded it to show it off to Eggman. That'd make him totally embarrassed for the rest of his life."
As Sonic thought about that dream memory while preparing his early dinner since he was hungry, he thought about telling his friends of that idea in case a similar situation happened here in reality. Unfortunately, it made him think about how Chris helped at the time, and as he placed three delicious Chili Dogs on a plate, and grabbed a can of soda from the refrigerator before sitting in his chair, he sighed in sadness, his arms folded onto the table in front of the food.
He mindlessly grabbed a Chili Dog and gobbled it down in seconds, but not even his favorites could cheer him up. While Sonic finished all three, he kept on thinking about the dream and couldn't find it in his heart to just...move on with his life.
"Everything that I've seen and been through on Earth was all a lie. The Chaos Emeralds...they made me dream up everything." Sonic muttered to himself, beginning to tear up, and didn't even feel like in stopping them. "They lied to me."
How could such powerful gems that helped him in the past before Cream's kidnapping make him live a false adventure within his subconsciousness in a convincingly realistic dream? Maybe it had something to do with the machine that twisted the Chaos Emeralds to target him, as punishment for not stopping Eggman from gaining them and stopping the evil man from trying to harness their power. Sonic didn't know.
The blue hedgehog knew he should be grateful that he still had his real friends, and he was in his home world where he belonged, the place he loved so much. But there was an empty space inside him that became a void ever since waking up from that dream. Unable to take it, Sonic buried his face into his arms and sobbed.
Unable to find Sonic while unaware that he had just returned home, Tails and Amy had searched all over the land before going to Angel Island to see if the blue hedgehog went there despite that Knuckles liked to have some peace and quiet. To their disappointment, their heroic friend wasn't there either and so they told the red echidna what was going on.
"Sonic went missing?" Knuckles repeated, surprised. "Why is that?"
"We're not sure. Ever since this morning, Sonic acted strange. He even turned down Vanilla's offer to join her and Cream for blueberry pancakes and normally he doesn't do that." Amy replied, getting more and more worried.
"I tried visiting him, but he wasn't home. We've searched everywhere for him." Tails added.
Skeptical over Sonic's mysterious disappearance, the Guardian of the Master Emerald folded his arms and scoffed. "I don't think we should be too worried. For all we know, he really must've been tired and napped before deciding to go off on another run somewhere. You know how he likes to go off without telling anyone. It's in that blue guy's nature."
"True, but he looked really nervous and all panicky, like he was scared and the only thing that scares Sonic so much is water." Tails pointed out.
"All of this started after we rescued Cream and Cheese from Eggman." Amy agreed.
"Hmm...I think I see your point. If anything, Sonic might have been affected." The red echidna said after a moment, thinking deeply.
"Affected?" The pink hedgehog asked, confused.
The two-tailed fox blinked, asking. "By what?"
"By the Chaos Emeralds." Knuckles replied firmly. "That machine of Eggman's exploded when those stupid robots of his knocked into it, causing the Chaos Emeralds to react. Yet we were not transported or anything. My guess is that they didn't just simply vanish and the machine went haywire. They must've done something, and Sonic is sensitive to their energy, being one of the many few able to harness their power."
"So basically, the Chaos Energy from the Emeralds has done something to Sonic that's making him act this way. Would that include hallucinating or anything like that?" Tails asked, quickly getting the picture which made him even more worried, while Amy softly gasped in shock and fear for her 'boyfriend's' well-being.
"I'm not sure, but it is possible. The best thing to do is to talk to him, figure out what's going on and then find a way to help him. Too much Chaos Energy can be catastrophic for the bearer, especially if he or she use the Chaos Emeralds too often." Knuckles stated, making his two friends gasp.
"W-what would happen?" The eight year old cub asked, shakily.
"According to the Echidna lore before my people's almost full extinction, any mishap of the Chaos Emeralds with the one who used their power to perform the miracle may, in theory, cause their body's energy to drain, make them see things that are not real, and unless cured by one who can help them recover from something that frightens them...their souls will be destroyed." The guardian explained.
"WHAAAAAT!?" Tails and Amy screamed loudly in horror.
"Y-You mean's Sonic's...gonna die!?" Tails exclaimed, horrified at the very thought of his older brother possibly on the verge of death without even knowing.
That made him stop in mid-thought, realizing that this may be why Sonic was hesitant earlier.
'Did you know about this, Sonic? Is that why you're hiding from us? Did you run away...because you're about to die? You didn't want us to know because of it?' The young kit thought to himself, feeling his heart break at this theory that the blue hedgehog may have known and could feel his energy deteriorate.
"It's just a theory, and I've never heard if actually happen, at least not from what I remember. But it could be possible." Knuckles replied, feeling himself go all pale at the very thought. While he and Sonic don't always see eye to eye, and have been rivals since the day they met, the red echidna didn't dismiss the knowledge that the blue hedgehog always saw him as a friend.
"We have to find him and get him cured before it's too late! C'mon, Tails! We've gotta warn Vanilla and then search everywhere for Sonic!" Amy declared, not wanting to lose the heroic hedgehog she loved and wanted to marry.
"Okay, and when we do find him, we'll come back here to find a solution on how to cure him." Tails declared, sharing the same determination to save Sonic before it was too late.
"I'll search the island for any clues on how to find a cure if Sonic's strength is leaving him. If the theory's right, he doesn't have much time." Knuckles decided.
"Thanks, Knuckles. You're the best." The young fox replied sincerely, which made the red echidna's muzzle turn slightly red at the gratitude.
"Tails, come on!" The pink hedgehog urged, dragging him back to the plane. "Sonic needs us before it's too late!"
As he watched the two board the plane to resume their search for Sonic, which has now become much more desperate, Knuckles was left on his own as he gazed out over to the horizon, wondering where the slightly younger teenager was.
'Sonic...You'd better be okay. If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself.' The guardian thought to himself.
Back at his house, Sonic was washing his dishes an hour later after crying. It took a lot of effort to stop, but he managed. He was just finishing up and moaned in depression, feeling so empty inside when there was a knock on his door, snapping him slightly out of it.
"Huh?" Blinking in confusion, Sonic turned and dried his hands off, and while he didn't feel like any visitors right now, he wondered aloud. "Who could that be?"
Then he came to a thought and groaned, rolling his eyes as a possible answer came into mind. "Bet it's Amy wanting to go on a date with me again."
That, or maybe she and/or Tails, Cream and Cheese came up to check on him, and the blue hedgehog, suddenly realizing that his friends probably think he was sick or something made him feel guilty for bailing out on them. Knowing that he should apologize for his behavior even though he wasn't in the brightest moods like he normally was, Sonic swallowed much of his depression as he could, putting on his optimistic brave mask and approached the door, opening it slighlty. He was surprised to see the gentle and sweet face of Cream who was holding a basket in her hands, and Cheese floated by her side.
"Oh." Sonic muttered, opening the door fully wide.
"Hello, Sonic." Cream greeted, with Cheese chirping in greeting.
"Hiya, Cream, and Cheese. What's up?" The blue hedgehog replied with a wave and, feeling his smile feel more real and widening a little. If there was one thing he knew about the little six year old girl, was that her cheerfulness always made people feel warm inside and cheered people up, even himself.
"Mama made you some blueberry pie with whipped cream, and here's a piece of another cake." The young rabbit replied, handing the basket to Sonic who gratefully and gently took it.
"Aw, thanks, Cream." Sonic replied, opening the lid and found a container of the promised pie, and even another container with a yummy looking piece of cake with cream in the middle and on top, with strawberries and a couple of blue berries on top. "These look really good. What kind of cake is this?"
"I call it Cream Strawberry Cream Cake. I made it myself." Cream answered.
"That's pretty cool. You sure know how to bake just like your Mom. She'd be so proud of you." The teenage hero praised warmly, making his youngest friend giggle. "By the way, tell her I said thanks for the pie, okay?"
"I will." She replied, before asking as her smile faded into a concerned look. "Sonic? We made you the pie and cake because we were worried if you were sick or if something made you upset."
Sonic softly gasped, before mentally gulping as he realized that his theory of his friends checking up on him due to being worried was proved true. 'Uh-oh. Now how am I gonna get out of this one?'
To his own concern, Cream looked down with a growing guilt-ridden look. "I'm really sorry that you got upset after you rescued me, Sonic."
"Chao..." Cheese murmured in sadness.
It broke Sonic's heart to see and hear that his friend was blaming herself for him being so down, when it was his own fault that the dream made him feel so lost and confused. It made him feel guilty for having been reacting as such, he found himself in a turmoil even more. Still, he disliked his friends being so upset, so he carefully set the basket onto the lamp table near the door and hugged Cream to comfort her.
"Cream, you didn't upset me at all. Sorry that I made you worried. But I'm okay." Sonic replied, and he let his friend, who was like a little sister to him, hug him back.
"Tails was really worried, too." Cream muttered, explaining. "He came to my house because he found out that you weren't home earlier, and I haven't seen him or Amy all day. I think they thought you went missing and decided to look for you."
'Whoops. Guess I ended up making them go on a search party.' The blue hedgehog thought to himself, as he shrugged sheepishly. "Well, I took a nap before going off on my usual run and I've been home for maybe about an hour. You know, the usual."
"But you looked kinda scared this morning. Did you have a bad dream when the machine blew up?"
Sonic's eyes widened as he felt his chest tighten, now feeling even worse for having caused the grave concern among his friends. On top of that, Cream somehow figured out he had a dream after the machine exploded. How was he going to get out of this one? He couldn't lie to the little girl, but he didn't want her to worry either. And...he didn't want to forget about Chris. What was he going to do?
Unable to come up with a solution on how to avoid all of this, the blue hedgehog swallowed hard while trying not to break down as he had to be strong for his friends, who had been his family for a long time, before sighing as he hugged her again.
"I'm sorry, Cream. I...did have a dream. A really long one. It...kinda scared me 'cause I...I thought it was all real." Sonic admitted.
Cream looked up at her brother-figure in even more worry, before an idea formed into her young mind and suggested. "Maybe you should tell my Mom all about it and she could help you, Sonic. She always cheers me up whenever I get upset in having dreams that I thought were real."
"Huh?" The blue hedgehog muttered, sweat dropping. "You sure that's a good idea?"
"Uh-huh. She always likes to cheer everybody up. I think she calls herself "Mama to Everybody"." The young girl replied.
That made Sonic chuckle, scratching the top of his head. Maybe it would despite how he didn't want to sound all crazy. Then again, even the blue hedgehog needed some comfort once and a while. He didn't want to burden someone else's mother, but maybe it would be good for him, even if he wasn't certain if he was ready to let go of those precious memories of his dream.
"Well, if you put it that way. This time, I won't pass on the offer. I still owe you and your Mom an apology for this morning." Sonic finally replied, a little uneasy but he decided to go along with it. "Just let me put the sweets in the fridge and I'll take ya' home."
Cream smiled warmly and nodded, and waited patiently for Sonic to close the lid before zooming back inside to put the two containers inside his refrigerator for later, and then headed back outside before closing the door behind him. He then gently scooped up Cream and allowed Cheese to ride in her arms, before the blue hedgehog then sped off back towards Cream's house.
It only took a minute or two before the trio arrived back and Sonic gently set his friends down, and nodded before Cream, who nodded back, went inside by opening the door as the sun was almost fully set, the sky turning into a beautiful hue of orange, pink and fading into a navy blue with the moon beginning to rise.
"Mama, we're home." Cream called up, with Cheese echoing.
"Cream, and Cheese. I didn't expect you to be back so quickly." Vanilla greeted as she came around the corner, hugging her daughter who returned it.
"Sonic brought us here. I invited him over." The six year old replied.
"Oh?" The elder bunny looked up and saw Sonic stand in the doorway, a bit awkwardly but tried to hide his saddened expression. "Hello, Sonic. Are you feeling any better?"
"Hiya, Vanilla. Yeah, I feel fine. Thanks for the blueberry pie, by the way. You and Cream didn't have to." The blue hedgehog greeted back with a small wave.
"Well, come on in. I have some left over and you're welcome to join us for dinner." Vanilla gestured.
"Thanks." Sonic replied, closing the door behind him as he stepped inside and decided against in telling the kind family that he already ate. "Actually, um...I-I was wondering if uh...if I could talk to you about something, if that's okay."
"Of course you can, sweetie. I will do my best to help you if you need it." She replied kindly. "You can tell us at the dinner table."
He smiled softly in gratitude, and expressed it before joining the two girls for a hearty meal, hoping to calm down and try and feel better.
Despite this, Sonic wondered if he would be able to return to normal. At the same time, however, he still felt like he was ripped apart from the adventures that were only in his dreams.
The trio sat over at the table as had a nice meal of Spaghetti and Meatballs with tomato sauce. As per etiquette rules, Sonic ate politely and slowly, and drank his juice like he would when having tea.
"Now then, Sonic. If you don't mind my asking, what was it you wanted to tell me?" Vanilla spoke up, dipping a napkin over her mouth while Cream and Cheese paused in their eating and looked over the blue hedgehog, concerned.
Sonic paused, before sighing and folded his arms onto the table, shifting a little uncomfortably before telling himself to get it over with and began. "Well, you see, this is gonna sound all crazy, but I'm sure Cream told you about the machine Eggman tried to use with the Chaos Emeralds, right?"
Vanilla nodded to confirm his suspicions, and silently gestured the teenager to continue.
"Well, when I passed out, I had this realistic dream that was so real that...I thought it actually happened. I dreamed that I woke up on this strange planet that was similar to our world. But a bit more advanced and, it had these people called humans who could talk just like we can." Sonic began.
He then proceeded to tell Vanilla, and Cream about everything in as much detail as possible despite that it was a very long story. The blue hedgehog mentally fought with himself to keep going without breaking down, explaining how the humans thought he was a threat and he ran away, how he met Chris who saved his life from drowning in the human kid's swimming pool, how the Chaos Control had not only brought him there, but also Cream and Cheese, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, even Eggman and his three robots, attempting to find the Chaos Emeralds without getting caught while fighting the evil scientist, making friends with Chris, his family and housemaid and butler, all of the adventures, the good and bad times, the heroics and losses.
When it came to the final part of his dream, though, Sonic felt himself slowly break down, explaining how he and the others had to return home, yet Chris, not wanting to say goodbye, shut down the machine to force Sonic to stay with him forever until the fifteen year old pointed out to the twelve year old how everyone makes their own decisions and not force others to do what they want, making the young boy realize his mistakes and the two reconciled before having their final run, and then the blue hedgehog used the Chaos Emeralds he had with him to transform into Super Sonic to return home and made it in time to save Tails from Eggman and then arrived back at his house.
"...After I was about to enter my place, Amy came up having been worried about me and I managed to calm her own...then, after that, the sunlight blinded me a little and that's when I woke up." Sonic explained, sighing. "The thing is, I thought...I thought that everything going on now was a dream and I thought that if I went to bed, I'd wake up with Amy and you guys and Tails checking up on me."
He lowered his gaze, tears beginning to leak once more, his lips shaking as he tried not to cry in front of Cream and her mother. But his voice trembled as he concluded, unable to stop the tears burning in his throat. "But I was wrong. Soon as I went to sleep, I...I had a dream in reuniting with Chris and he...he told me that...that everything we went through together was a dream, caused by the Chaos Emeralds messing with my head, and the only way for me to wake up was to say goodbye to him...!"
Cream and Cheese and Vanilla looked at Sonic in slight shock, stunned, amazed, slightly frightened and confused by such an eventual dream that seemed completely real to the teenage hero that they realized that it devastated him to see that all of that never even happened.
"I...I thought running around and doing what I normally do that isn't fighting against Eggman would make me feel better, and I feel awful in ignoring the three of you, Tails and Amy. But...I know this is crazy and bad, I just...I'm really happy that none of that happened, but at the same time...I don't want to forget all of that...I don't want to forget about Chris...!" Sonic sniffled, wiping away his tears to try and stop himself from crying, but his tears were just as stubborn as he was.
"Aw, don't cry." Cream whispered, tearing up as she felt awful and helpless. It scared her to see Sonic the Hedgehog, her hero and friend, to cry like this, but she felt sorry for him. She wished there was something she could do to help. If she had that kind of dream, she would've been very upset knowing that the friends she would've made were only in her imagination.
"Oh, Sonic. I'm sorry." Vanilla said, her heart aching over the young cobalt hero's troubles. Knowing that he needed such comfort and could tell that he was struggling to bottle up his emotions which spilled repeatedly all day, she stood up and approached him, gently rubbing his shoulder. "It will be alright. Come here now."
Sonic, looking up hesitantly at his friend's mother, was surprised that she gently hugged him and rubbed the top of his head as though he was in his own mother's arms, feeling like a young child needing a mother's care.
"Sonic, you shouldn't keep your emotions to yourself. I know you want to be strong for my Cream and Tails and Amy. But sometimes you need to let others help you in your own time of need." She whispered comfortingly.
Even though he felt completely embarrassed and humiliated for breaking down and felt even worse for letting out in front of his friends, Sonic couldn't hold it in anymore. He stood up and threw his arms around the motherly woman and cried hard onto her shoulder. He needed the comfort. The cobalt hedgehog needed it so badly.
"Shhhh...There, there, Sonic. It will be alright." Vanilla said in her best mother voice, hugging the crying teenager closer to her. Cream and Cheese could only watch with tears in their eyes, wishing they could help in cheering Sonic up even more.
After about fifteen minutes or less of crying, Sonic began to calm down and while he still felt miserable, it wasn't as bad as it had been this morning. Maybe it was due to the fact that Vanilla had been so patient and kind and caring and treated him like he was her own son. Cream was right. Vanilla really is the mother to everybody.
"Feeling better, sweetheart?" She asked softly.
"Yeah. Thanks, Vanilla." Sonic sighed, slowly letting go as he and her moved apart. He wiped away his tears and said. "Sorry about that. It's really dumb of me to cry like this since I'm a big boy."
"Sometimes many do have to cry if they haven't done so in a long time. I know this must be hard on you, but I'm certain you will recover. If you need anything, you're more then welcome to come and visit." Vanilla reassured.
"I really appreciate it." The blue hedgehog replied.
"Cheese and I will help you too, Sonic." Cream added as she came to join her mother and friend, with Cheese in her arms.
"Chao, Chao." Cheese chirped.
"Thanks, Cream and Cheese. I feel really lucky to have you guys, Tails, Amy and even Knuckles." Sonic said, smiling warmly. While he still felt like he didn't want to let go of the dream and accept it that it was just a dream, at least he still have everyone who were always with him, both in reality and in his dreams.
The very kind family smiled warmly at him, only for the front door to be knocked rather hard and loud and quickly which confused the four of them. Sharing a glance, Vanilla walked over with Cream, Cheese and Sonic following her. When the kind mother answered, she was genuiely surprised to see a near hypervenilating Tails and a very panicked-stricken Amy standing there, both looking very pale as the X Tornado had been parked in front of the house for the second time today.
"Oh, hello there, Tails and Amy. Is there something wrong?" Vanilla asked, quickly growing worried.
"Well, it's...it's about..." Tails panted, as though he had gone on a very long run with Sonic.
"It's Sonic! He needs help!" Amy exclaimed hysterically.
"Huh?" The kindly mother blinked, which was shared by her daughter and guest who shared a confused glance.
"What's this about me needing help?" Sonic asked curiously, peering behind the adult rabbit. Seeing their extremely worried expressions made him feel concerned, until they saw him right there and Vanilla moved aside to allow them to get a better view of the blue hedgehog, while his little brother and self-insert girlfriend had their eyes wide like dinner plates, not having expected to find him here.
"SONIC!" Amy exclaimed, racing over and to Sonic's dismay, she hugged him very tightly and began to cry. "Where have you been!? I was so worried!"
"Ow! A-Amy, not too t-tight! You're crushing me here!" Sonic cried out, trying to get the pink hedgehog to loosen her grip on him. She did eventually, but she still held him in her arms as though she was afraid that he would simply disappear.
"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails asked, worriedly as he approached.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about this morning. I just...had a lot on my mind." The blue hedgehog apologuised, scratching the top of his head sheepishly. In truth, he felt horrible. He had already broken down in front of Cream and her mother and pet Chao when he told them his story about his dream, and didn't feel quite ready to explain it all over again to any more of his friends.
"Sonic, this is serious! You're in danger, and you need to be cured!" The young fox told him, quickly getting into what was going on, which only confused his best friend/big brother and their other friends(except Amy) even further.
"Say what? Cured?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, Bro? I'm not sick."
"Sonic, we've been looking all over for you since this morning and we even went to Knuckles for help. He told us something that's affecting you badly!" Amy cried out.
"...Huh? Okay, you're both seriously losing me here." The blue hedgehog responded. "What is it that has Knucklehead worried?"
"Remember when that machine blew up with the Chaos Emeralds?" Tails asked, and when Sonic(fighting off the hesitation) nodded, the younger Mobian then asked. "Have you been experiencing anything weird? Like hallucinations or something?"
Sonic felt the pit of his stomach churn, and glancing at Cream who was about to answer for him, but he quickly yet gently held up a hand to tell her that he should do it, despite that he would have to explain better later, he turned back to his two other friends.
"Well, uh...I-I did have this realistic dream that I thought it was actually happening. It's kinda been driving me crazy all day, but um...I've just told Cream and her mom about it, so I'm kinda not ready to explain it again straight away." The blue hedgehog admitted, quickly adding. "But I really was unconscious until I woke up."
Tails and Amy shared a horrified glance, which made Sonic, Vanilla, Cream and Cheese worry even more.
"...What's going on?" Sonic asked, sweating a little nervously.
"Sonic, it was a side effect of when the Chaos Emeralds affected you. You might have too much of the Chaos Energy inside of you and because of how the Chaos Emeralds went off due to the machine, it's...draining away your energy and if we don't find a cure straight away..." Tails trailed off, hesitating.
He paused uncomfortably, before looking up with tears in his blue eyes, saying shakily. "...Your soul will be...will be d-destroyed."
Sonic suddenly felt his entire world shatter all around him when he heard this, his eyes widening with his emerald slits shrink back in horror and he could faintly hear Vanilla and Cream gasp in shock and horror.
"WHAAAAAAT!?" Sonic screamed, his voice echoing through the whole neighborhood.
Just when Sonic's problems couldn't be any worse, he now felt it had just gotten worse.
A/N: Sorry for the cliff-hanger. But you can be assured that I have no plans of killing off any of the characters, and as Knuckles said, it's only a theory, so Sonic will be fine...in a way.
See you later!