Hey-hey!

I'm just going to upload this and hope someone wants it. I might just upload what I have already for this story and continue only if there is interest. I have two more chapters ready (well, one and a half, but I'm going to finish the third chapter if it kills me), then I'll see if anyone actually wants more. I meant to upload this on the weekend, but I caught Covid last week and wasn't in the mood frankly. I'm better now though.

Please leave a comment if you are enjoying Servitude, it lets me know people want to see more of it. Hope you enjoy and I'll see you next week (hopefully, fingers crossed. I've got some Uni assignments due in the next few weeks, but I'll try to keep to the once-a-week thing).

~Fortune

Chapter One

Strong arms were holding him down by his wrists. He struggled against their grip, kicking out in blind panic. He did not like being restrained.

"Let me go!"

The grip on one of his arms grew tighter and he hissed. His quills were raised, cutting into the bed he was forced to stay in, ripping up the blankets and sheets. Ears folded and eyes covered with a cloth, he felt so helpless and disoriented. Another set of hands pushed his head to the side, exposing his neck. As he felt a sharp sting in the right side of his neck he screamed, thrashing against the hands holding him down again. The feeling of whatever had been stabbed into his neck was gone, but the stinging persisted. As he kicked out once more he felt his foot finally connect with something. He was awarded with a slap to the face.

When the hands left his body, he immediately sat upright and pulled at his blindfold. The mobians were gone when he finally got it off. He was breathing hard, adrenaline shooting through his system and making him shaky. Gingerly, he pressed a hand to his neck feeling blood, but also a small lump under his skin that made him feel sick.

A tracker.

When Sonic opened his eyes, he was staring at a white ceiling. It took him a few moments to remember where he was. He was lying on a cream settee with a thick blanket over him. He could feel the weight of it against his small body, and it was comforting and warm. He was tempted to simply curl up again, but when he stretched lightly, he felt a stinging in his neck, and he shot bolt upright. Every muscle was sore and stiff. Frantically, he felt around the side of his neck and his hand came into contact with the fabric-feel of gauze. He sighed. Right, Rouge bandaged his neck last night; he was in his original dimension.

He let his body fall back against the settee, body no longer tensed but still sore as hell. As much as he'd love to stay wrapped up in the thick, heavy blanket, he felt he had to get up. Rolling off the settee, he landed on his hands and feet then pushed himself up to stand. He felt a little groggy, but he was more awake than before. Sonic perked up his ears, letting them swivel around to hear anything and everything around him out of habit as he walked into the kitchen. He could hear no movement, and when he looked at the clock on the oven the green numbers read 5:47.

His body had automatically woken him up just before 6:00. He folded his ears back and sighed. If he was lucky, Silver would be up soon himself, so at least he wouldn't be alone. Turning in a circle, he gazed around, lost. Despite how much he hated it, he needed to do something. He was so used to waking up early and doing menial tasks for hours on end that without them he felt useless. He shouldn't feel like this, hated feeling like this, but he did.

"Silver, please wake up and tell me I'm being a dumbass…" he whispered into his hands as he stood in the centre of the kitchen.

With a lack of anything else to do, he grabbed a glass off the draining board and filled it from the tap. He sat at the table for ten minutes, sipping on the water and tapping his finger on its surface, other hand preoccupied with keeping his head off the table. As he was glaring at the tabletop, he saw a mark by his finger, a small stain. He blinked. Maybe he could just…

The sun was peeking through the curtain when Silver opened his eyes, a beam of light annoyingly in his face. He groaned and sat up, shifting over to the side of the bed. He slipped his legs over the edge and let them drop so that he was standing. He shook himself out for a moment, ears perked towards the door. Then he stretched up, yawned, and walked out of the room when he heard no sounds outside.

He turned into the kitchen and paused.

Sonic was scrubbing at the top of the table with a sponge. He hadn't seemed to notice that he was there yet. Silver frowned.

"Sonic, what are you doing?"

The blue hedgehog jumped terribly. He spun around to meet Silver's gaze and he lowered his ears.

"I was… I just… I… couldn't…"

Calmly, Silver approached the panicking hedgehog and slowly removed the sponge from his hand. He set it down by the sink and grabbed the kitchen towel off its hook. After wiping the table dry, he put the towel back and turned back to Sonic.

"We don't have to do that shit anymore, Sonic."

"I… I know. I just…"

Silver sighed again. He brought the younger hedgehog into his arms and hugged him tightly. After a moment, he felt Sonic bury his face in his fur, hands in fists pressed against his chest. He rubbed a hand up and down his back.

"We don't have to do that anymore," Silver repeated softly.

Sonic's breath was tickling his chest, but he didn't let go. No doubt the other had been up for a while; he always got up before he did and was usually the one to wake him up in the morning. Sonic was like a fluffy blue alarm clock, sans the annoying ringing sound. Without fail, he would be up before 6:00, even if he'd been awake into the small hours of the morning. His internal clock was near flawless.

"If you were lonely, why didn't you just come and wake me?" Silver broke the hug but kept his hands on the other's forearms.

Sonic looked away, "I didn't want to."

"Why not? I wouldn't have minded; besides you always wake me up."

"I thought you deserved a lie in for once."

"Then why didn't you go back to sleep? Come on, how about you lie back down?" Silver began to guide his friend back to the living room.

"What?" Sonic pushed himself away from Silver, "No. What if Shadow and Rouge wake up and I'm asleep again?"

"Sonic, it doesn't matter. They're not going to care."

Silver somehow managed to get Sonic to sit and seeing as how the other was still reluctant to go back to sleep, he sat down beside him. Then he picked up the blanket and wrapped it around the two of them. Sonic sent him a confused look, but otherwise did not react. He was hoping the combined warmth of his own body and the blanket would lull the younger hedgehog to sleep. He wrapped his arms around Sonic's smaller body again and brought him closer. Sonic rested his head on Silver's chest, eyes half-lidded. The white hedgehog felt him curl up against him and he smiled, listening to his breathing start to slow as he made himself more comfortable.

It wasn't long until Sonic was dead to the world again. Silver knew he'd be up again in a few hours – his body never let him sleep longer than two hours if he drifted back off to sleep – but he would take this as a victory. The smallest things always felt like massive victories to Silver when it came to Sonic. He was stubborn, fractured, and irritable at the best of times these days. He couldn't blame him.

Sonic shifted in his sleep, frowning. His ears were twitching as though they were listening for something, but when Silver called his name they did not angle towards him. He was dreaming. Considering the things he knew plagued Sonic's consciousness 24/7, he assumed it was not pleasant. In an effort to calm his overtaxed mind, Silver ran a hand along his side where blue fur met peach. His ears stopped twitching and flattened themselves. Sonic grimaced and Silver immediately removed his hand.

Not the kind of nightmare that could be soothed then…

Shit. That wasn't a good sign. That meant he was having a nightmare about-

"Hey."

Silver jumped. He hadn't heard Rouge enter. How had he missed that?

"Oh, uh, hi."

He wasn't really mentally prepared to talk to Rouge when Sonic was still having a rough nightmare, he felt completely blindsided. Sonic needed to be woken up stat if he really was having the nightmare he assumed.

Rouge noticed the distracted response, "Is everything ok?"

She walked around the settee to stand in front of Silver, and that's when she saw Sonic. He was curled up with his back to her, so she couldn't see his face, but she obviously wasn't expecting to see him practically burying his face in Silver's chest fur.

"Uh, yeah, everything's… fine," Silver awkwardly chuckled.

And, of course, an unconscious Sonic picked the worst possible time to whine in terror.

"Well, Sonic doesn't seem fine," Rouge put her hands on her hips, but she looked more worried than angry.

Silver sighed, "He's asleep. Nightmare."

Rouge mouthed "oh" and looked over Sonic's curled form with a sympathetic frown. His hands were balled up into fists and he was breathing hard. To Silver, he looked moments away from screaming bloody murder and leaping off the settee, jumping out the window in a blind panic and killing himself. He tightened his grip on the other at the horrific thought.

"Can you wake him?" She asked.

"I don't know. He can be difficult to wake when he's like this."

"He has nightmares often?"

"Very often."

Rouge hummed in thought, "Could we splash his face with water or something?"

"Chaos no! If he wakes up, he'll just end up having a panic attack, and if he doesn't, we'll just make his nightmare worse!" Silver was panicking now.

Either way, he was sure Sonic was going to wake up in a terrible state. If they woke him up, he'd probably attack them. If he woke up by himself, he'd probably go straight into a meltdown and forget where he was.

As he was thinking that, Sonic opened his eyes with a gasp, quills raised in distress and ears pressed flat against his head. He flailed for a moment, pushing away from Silver who only hugged him closer, murmuring soothing words in his ear. Sonic was still shaking terribly, whimpering and trying to push away from Silver. He still didn't know where he was.

Silver looked up at the startled Rouge, "Do you have anything sweet? Honey? Syrup? Straight sugar?"

"We might have some honey…"

"Perfect, could you get it for me?"

Rouge glanced at the distressed hedgehog in Silver's arms, "Sure, but why?"

"Sometimes when Sonic's like this something sweet is the best way to calm him down."

Rouge nodded and disappeared. Sonic had his eyes shut tight and his breathing wasn't improving. Silver tried to hold him still and called his name, hoping to get the other to look at him. Unfocused emerald eyes met his for a moment, cloudy and panicked.

"Sonic, shhhh, it's just me. It's just Silver."

The blue hedgehog's eyes cleared slightly and his trembling was starting to slow, "S-Silv…?"

Silver smiled reassuringly, "Yeah, yeah it's me. You're ok."

He looked down, "I… I thought… but he…"

"I know," the white hedgehog pulled him into a hug, "I know," he spied Rouge coming back with the honey and sighed in relief, "You want something sweet?"

He nodded, though it still didn't seem like he remembered where he was. His breathing was still far too fast and one hand was wrapped around Silver's arm like he was afraid the other would disappear if he didn't.

Silver signalled to Rouge to stay quiet and hand him the honey and the spoon she carried. He didn't want Sonic to know that she'd seen him break down, so he gestured for her to wait in the kitchen for a few minutes. He poured some honey on to the spoon and handed it to Sonic, who licked at it slowly like they still had to ration and it was all he would get. Gradually, the blue hedgehog came to his senses and began to look ashamed.

"It happened again, didn't it?" he said softly.

Silver hummed, "It did. Don't worry about it, ok?"

Sonic sighed and gently pried Silver's hands from his sides, "You shouldn't have to deal with that all the time."

"I don't mind," Silver assured as Sonic slid away from him slightly, putting some distance between them.

His cue to leave for a few minutes.

"Here," he handed Sonic the honey, "Remember, we don't have to ration."

"Still probably shouldn't eat all of Rouge's honey," he mumbled, even as he poured himself another spoonful.

Silver left Sonic to his thoughts and entered the kitchen where a confused and worried Rouge was sitting at the table. There was a cup of coffee in front of her, but she hadn't yet seemed to take a sip of it. She perked up when he walked in.

"Is he ok?" she asked.

"He should be fine now, but it's probably best to leave him alone for a few minutes. And um…" he paused for a moment, "Could you pretend like you didn't see that?"

Rouge frowned, "What?"

"It's just… Sonic will probably freak if he knew you saw him all… you know. It would be better to just not mention it to him. Please."

She still looked confused, but nodded anyway, "You said he has nightmares like that often?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Well, not always like that. That was an example of some of the worse ones he has, it's not always quite that bad."

He looked back over his shoulder at the door that led to the living room. There was an uneasy feeling crawling across his skin. He hadn't had a nightmare that bad for a while. He pondered over that for a moment, trying to figure out what might have brought it on. Then it hit him.

"Do you think we could stay her for a few days?" he asked, looking to Rouge hopefully, "We won't get in the way or anything, promise."

The bat blinked, "Sure you can. I just thought Sonic might prefer to go back home."

He shook his head, "We should probably go 'round and see his brother, to put both their minds at ease, but… I think it might be better for us, for him, to stay here a little longer. This might have been his world, but you have to remember he's been gone for four years. He's used to a different routine, a different way of living, and I'm sure he's changed quite drastically from the hedgehog you used to know. I think… I think the sudden change stressed him out."

'As ironic as that sounds, that has to be it,' he thought, glancing at the door again, 'He's been stressed for years, but… a change this drastic must have fucked with him. A different kind of stress. The last big change seemed to mess him up pretty bad, I just hope his subconscious realises this change is good.'

"The change stressed him out? He's home, why would that stress him out?"

Silver sighed, "Again, Sonic's not like he used to be. You'd be surprised how many seemingly pointless things he worries over sometimes."

"You must be right. 'Sonic' and 'worry' don't fit together in my mind," Rouge was looking at the door now too, "Should we go see him?"

"Yeah, he should be fine now," as he turned to the door, he cast a glance over his shoulder, "Remember, don't mention his nightmare and try not to look concerned when you see him."

"Right."

Rouge made an effort to change her expression from worry to a more relaxed smile and followed Silver through the door. In the living room, Sonic was sitting cross-legged on the settee. His eyes were closed, he almost looked like he was meditating. The honey had been left with the spoon on the coffee table. When Sonic heard the kitchen door close, his ears perked up and he turned around, smiling.

"Good morning!"

Rouge tried not to look startled at the change in his demeanour. The hedgehog before her was the antithesis of the shivering ball of blue fur in Silver's arms before. He looked calm, happy. His quills were relaxed, his ears were perked upright and he looked totally fine.

She smiled, "Good morning, Sonic. Sleep well?"

Silver sent her a look, but Sonic didn't seem to see it, "Mhm. Hey, Silv, do you want to meet Tails?"

"Sure," Silver took a seat by Sonic, "But we should probably eat something first."

Sonic nodded and stretched his arms up above his head. He shook out his spines and hopped to his feet. Silver reached out a hand, like he wanted to pull Sonic back to the settee. He lowered it a few moments after, shaking his head.

"There are some fruit trees on the way, we can eat from those," he chirped, heading for the door.

"Are you sure?" Rouge asked, "I could cook you guys something before you leave."

Silver looked like he was about to take her up on that, but Sonic grabbed his arm and interrupted him, "Thanks for the offer, but we'll be ok."

The two hedgehogs were out the door before she could negotiate. Silver sent her an apologetic look as Sonic dragged him away. Rouge guessed Sonic was impatient to see his brother after being away for so long. It made sense, the two were close and both must have been distraught over Sonic being whisked away to another world. Sonic probably couldn't wait to wrap the fox kit in his arms and regain that bond.

She sighed and made a mental note to ask each hedgehog what they liked to eat so she could better accommodate them while they were staying here.