Firstly, I want to start by saying a big THANK YOU to the people who took the time out of their day to review the last chapter. Thanks to you guys it has encouraged me to keep writing and post a new one shot!
To the two reviewers who suggested a story of Tails without his tails, I love the idea and this one is definitely being planned!
So this next one shot isn't a cancer story as much, I have several one shots planned for the future of Sonic battling different cancers (as almost my entire family died of the disease by the time I was 24). So the actual cancer part of this particular one shot has been mostly skipped, as I want to get right to the point with the chemo/ quill-loss bit. But I promise you will see Sonic fighting various cancers in the future.
This particular one shot, is aimed at Sonic losing his quills from chemotherapy. It's such a sad concept for Sonic, being so vain about his appearance, bless him. The animals of Mobius don't lose their fur to chemo though, but in hedgehog's cases, they lose their quills.
Once again, I should point out I am no medical/ cancer expert, despite watching numerous family members die of the disease, so I have little knowledge of how chemotherapy works, but just look at it that things are a little different with Mobian animals!
…
Sonic's cancer diagnosis was a heavy blow. He had known, all along, and his suspicions had just been confirmed. It was a lot to comprehend, but it wasn't just the illness itself that scared Sonic, it was being dependent on others, becoming a burden, and as much as he loathed to admit it, he was scared stiff of the chemo treatment and losing his fur.
The hedgehog sat there in stunned silence, on Sunshine ward 324 at Green Hill hospital, in a small room on the third floor of the building, complete with a computer desk, an examination bed, medical posters adorned the room and there was a small window overlooking a pretty hospital garden down below.
Tails was sat right next to him, with his right hand tightly gripped to his brother's shoulder, he fought back the fears, he had to try and be strong for Sonic.
"The good news is that the cancer has been caught early. It is stage 1, the overall survival rate for this particular cancer at stage 1 is 90% and it should be easily treatable with several rounds of chemotherapy" Dr Walker explained, sat in a seat directly opposite. The hedgehog nodded in agreement, his hands were tightly gripped together and he nervously tapped his feet on the hospital floor.
"Got it. When do I start chemotherapy? I need to get well ASAP to continue kicking Eggman's butt!" Sonic explained, Tails was still gripping his shoulder and rolled his eyes at his brother's reaction.
"Sonic, Eggman isn't going to attack once he knows you're ill, trust me. You've just gotta concentrate on getting better!" Tails informed, looking at Sonic worriedly. He feared that Sonic would try and do things he was just not physically well enough to do in his current ill, weakened state.
"Tails is right. The main thing is you need to concentrate on getting better, starting chemotherapy and getting plenty of rest. Now as for when chemotherapy starts, we want to give you the best chance of a full recovery as quickly as possible, so chemotherapy will start as early as tomorrow. You will need to come into hospital every morning for the next three weeks, and then you will have two weeks off. And then, another three weeks of chemo will be needed after that to make sure the cancer is shrinking and we are getting on top of it all, as we want to get rid of all the cancer cells at such an early stage of the disease. It will be administered through an IV in your arm." Dr Walker informed, facing the anxious hedgehog directly.
"What are the side effects gonna be like? I can't afford to be out of action for too long, y'know!" Sonic instructed, arms now folded in annoyance, still immeasurably annoyed that he had acquired such a diagnosis, when he was a hero, with a busy schedule of saving the world!
"Well, as you may already know chemotherapy has a tendency to make you feel a little poorly, and it will leave you out of action for a while, I'm afraid. The most common side effects are chronic fatigue, you will find you will be needing to sleep a lot. Nausea will be another thing you will experience, but we have anti-nausea medications we can prescribe to help with that. Loss of appetite is another common side effect, but you explained you have already lost your appetite as part of your cancer symptoms. You may also find your hearing might deteriorate in rare cases."
Sonic nodded, he still continued anxiously tapping his feet, his hands now back to being gripped together, something he always did when he felt uneasy. Tails still had a hand on the hedgehog's shoulder, letting him know he was there for him.
"Am I… am I going to lose all my… fur?" Sonic uttered nervously, a question he dreaded asking. See as much as Sonic loathed to admit it, he was vain. His 'cool' appearance meant a lot to him. He was a hero after all, and he had standards to meet when it came to his appearance. The thought of losing his fur absolutely terrified him, perhaps, more so than the cancer itself. He didn't think he could face going out completely bald, let alone having his friends see him this way. He would hide away in his room, for sure, refusing to see anyone.
"The good news is that chemotherapy doesn't cause fur loss in Mobians. Human beings lose their hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, but Mobian animal chemotherapy does not cause fur loss. But, I do have some bad news…" Dr Walker started, with a hesitant tone in his voice.
"You will lose all your quills, Sonic. Quill loss is an unfortunate side effect of chemotherapy in hedgehogs, echidnas and porcupines. However the good news is that once treatment is over, your quills will eventually grow back." The Dr informed with a smile, hoping to lighten the situation of the seemingly devastating revelation that the hedgehog has just witnessed.
The hedgehog stood up from his seat, quills now bristling with anger "No… NO! There's got to be a way to keep my quills! I can't lose them… they're a part of who I am! I'm defenceless without them, I will look bald and ugly! There's gotta be something you can do so that I can keep them!" Sonic shouted, eyes widened with fear, he pointed to his head quills to further empathise what he was explaining.
"Sonic, calm down! You heard the doctor, they will grow back! And you're going to be out of action for a while anyway, so you're not going to need your quills to fight" Tails tried to explain, he was now stood up beside Sonic, looking at him face to face in the eye.
"I'm sorry Sonic, there's nothing we can do for you to keep your quills. But as soon as we get on with treatment, the sooner this will all be over and your quills will then grow back. It won't be too long" Dr Walker reassured.
…
Later that evening when the brothers arrived home…
Sonic was sat on the edge of the bed in his room, looking visibly upset and staring into thin air. He had been crying, his eyes were bloodshot. He heard the doorknob turn and Tails entered the room and proceeded to walk over to the hedgehog's bed and sat right next to him.
Tails noticed how thin and pale Sonic looked compared to his usual cobalt blue appearance. The thought of Sonic having cancer devastated the little fox, and seeing him emotional was too much for the fox to bare.
"Hey Sonic. How are you feeling now?" Tails smiled, with a caring tone to his voice.
"I can't face losing my quills, Tails. Can you imagine what a laughing stock I'm going to be, a bald hedgehog!" Sonic explained, his voice choked a little, full of emotion.
"Sonic, you have cancer. I promise, no one is going to judge you for not having your quills, they'll know you're having chemo treatment. And besides, I know you'll still look way past cool!" Tails informed, trying to sound as positive as possible for his brother's sake. He knew this was a touching subject, more so than the cancer itself.
"Can you imagine what Eggman or Knux are gonna think? They'll never be able to live it down seeing me bald!" Sonic said, sounding more and more upset as he spoke.
Tails rolled his eyes and waved his finger in front of Sonic's face. "Sonic, since when have you worried what Eggman or Knuckles think, huh? They joke about everything yes, but you know what? I don't even think they will be low enough to mock your quill-less 'do considering your diagnosis and if they do, I'll roll off a load of insults that are bad enough that they will have self esteem issues for the rest of their lives, trust me!" Tails winked at Sonic, giving him a thumbs up.
Sonic smiled sadly, and pulled Tails into an embrace. "Little bro, thank you… you're the best brother I could ever ask for, you know that? I don't know what I'd do without you." The hedgehog admitted, hugging his brother tightly.
Tails returned his brother's embrace, rubbing his back gently in reassurance. "You're strong, bro. You're gonna beat this cancer like a pro! quills or no quills, you're still going to look the coolest hedgehog on Mobius! Always." The fox reassured, with determination in his voice.
….
The next few weeks, Sonic had his chemotherapy each morning at the hospital. He would then return home and slept for over 10 hours a day. It made him very sleepy, for sure. He would throw up often, and ate very little. Tails was right by his side throughout it all, to help support his brother each day, sitting with Sonic at every chemotherapy appointment, assisting Sonic to walk by walking arm in arm on days Sonic's mobility was poor due to his illness and the weakness caused to his body from the chemo.
….
On the ninth day of chemo whilst returning home, Tails saw something that made his heart sink to his stomach. He had left Sonic to sleep after he came home from his treatment, his new daily routine, and the fox would spend the afternoon watching TV on his own, until Sonic would awake for his tea, on the days he could manage eating.
Tails headed up to the bathroom to go to the toilet, and upon entering the landing outside Sonic's room, he noticed a large mass of blue quills over the landing floor, he continued into the bathroom, the floor was covered in blue quills… Tails had to fight back the tears there and then. He felt so bad for his brother, having to go through such a devastating thing. This was a big thing for him to have to go through. Tails simply stared down at the quills.
He wondered just many quills Sonic had. It had to be a good twenty thousand or so, he imagined. The whole house was going to look like shredding pine tree needles for the next few weeks or months, and Tails did not know what to do. Should he hoover them up, so it doesn't upset Sonic by seeing his quills everywhere? The fox figured that would be the best thing to do, but Sonic was asleep, so he proceeded to sweep them up quietly with a dustpan and brush instead.
A few hours later Sonic didn't come down for his tea, this was a first. At first Tails assumed Sonic was still sleeping, bit then realisation dawned on him- was it because of his quill loss, was he already hiding away? Tails quickly headed upstairs and invited himself into Sonic's room.
The hedgehog's room was like a crime scene of pine trees being brutally stripped of their needles, there was quills literally everywhere… it shocked Tails at first, but the initial shock quickly faded when he noticed his brother sat on the edge of his bed with his face covered with both hands. He was crying…
"Hey Sonic, shh, it's ok, I'm here!" Tails said, enveloping Sonic in a crushing embrace.
Sonic said nothing and silently hugged his little brother back, burying his face into the fox's shoulder. "I'm going bald already, my quills are coming out and I look such a mess!" Sonic choked through tears, he was so upset.
"Aww Sonic, you look fine, honestly! I promise you, you still look great and I'm your bro, you can trust me to tell you the truth" Tails replied, determination in his voice clear, to try and have a positive impact on Sonic's mood.
"I think… I think tomorrow I'm going to shave them all off. I can't bare to feel them fall every time I touch them with my hands" and with that, Sonic pulled away from the hug and demonstrated what he meant, by running a hand through his quills and a large clump fell onto the red bedsheets below him.
"Are you sure, Sonic? Only do it if you're ready. You can just let them fall naturally" Tails informed, all the whilst looking behind Sonic at the quills that had just fallen out in a large handful.
"Yes I'm sure. I just want this over with sooner rather than later so they can start growing back quicker…" Sonic admitted.
Tails took both of Sonic's hands, gave them a light squeeze, looked at him and smiled. "I'll tell ya what, I'll shave them for you tomorrow, bro. It's going to be ok. You can even wear one of my hoodies if it distresses you looking at them bare" The fox suggested.
Sonic smiled sadly through tear filled eyes. "Tails… thank you. I don't know how I would cope through this without you"
….
It was 1:10pm in the afternoon, Sonic and Tails had just got back from Sonic's latest chemotherapy appointment. The hedgehog's quills were still falling out in large amounts, and he was struggling to cope, feeling full of emotional watching them fall. He felt like a living pine tree shredding their needles.
Sonic slowly walked to the kitchen, he limped a little, his body weak from the cancer itself and the chemo treatment. He drew out the razor out of the bottom cupboard underneath the sink, something that belonged to Tails, and was only used during the Summer months to thin out Tails' thick fur coat during the hotter weather. He held it with a shaky hand, his heart pounded loudly with nerves. He dreaded this moment.
Tails was sat in the living room on the sofa and watched on sadly, as his brother returned to the living room holding a razor. It was time. The fox was as nervous as Sonic himself for this moment, not for how Sonic would look, bit for how it would affect the hedgehog's self esteem. He was already suffering from self esteem issues from becoming painfully thin from the cancer eating away at him, and his overly pale fur colour now, which is slowly becoming a lighter shade of blue with every new day that comes, the poor guy.
"I'm… I'm ready Tails…." Sonic said nervously, he looked at his brother with dilated, sad eyes. The razor shook in his nervous hand.
Tails rose from his seat, and stood beside Sonic, once again squeezing the hedgehog's shoulder in comfort. "Where'd you like me to do it?" The fox inquired.
"I'll sit on the table in the kitchen, it'll be easier to clean up after with a hoover" Sonic admitted. And with that, he proceeded to walk to the kitchen and took a seat at the light oak pine table and chairs, which nested neatly to the left hand side of the kitchen. The table had a fruit bowl in the middle and was a dumping ground for all sorts- it currently had an iPad and various hospital appointment letters among other things sprawled across it.
"It'll be ok, Sonic, you wait and see. I reckon the new look will suit you!" Tails reassured, trying desperately to spread positivity to his ill brother.
Sonic shrugged, disagreeing with his brother's thoughts "I'm going to look like an ugly bald rat" he admitted, leaning his chin on one of his hands. His feet were tapping nervously again in a rhythm.
Tails plugged the razor in, setting it ready to shave the remainder of Sonic's quills. His heart pounded sorrowfully for his brother. He wished he could take his place right now… Sonic didn't deserve to go through such an awful thing not only with his cancer, but this drastic change in his appearance.
"Ok Sonic, you ready for me to start?" The fox questioned.
"Got for it!" Sonic replied nervously, with a thumbs up.
And with that, Tails gently ran the razor through his already thinning head of quills, it was something he'd never done before, something that genuinely wasn't done when it came to hedgehogs, but in Sonic's situation, it was inevitable. The quills fell in their thousands, and one by one, each of the six neatly formed quill shapes became shorter and shorter to which by forty minutes later, they had all gone, Sonic's head was bare. Tails then requested for Sonic to sit to the side so he could also shave his back quills. His tail however, just had fur and didn't need the shave.
"All done" Tails revealed, turning the razor off and pulling the plug out of the wall. He watched as Sonic ran both gloved hands over the back of his head. It felt so alien, so weird to him.
The now spineless hedgehog stood up from his seat, and silently walked to the full length mirror in the hallway at the left hand side of the stairs. He couldn't bare to look in the mirror at first. His head was turned, his eyes tight shut. It took him ten whole minutes of standing in front of the mirror to open his eyes for the big reveal.
His eyes widened in absolute horror at what he saw, he moved around, to the left, to the right and then he tried to attempt turning round and seeing the reflection of his back from behind. Tears instantly replaced the look of horror and he covered his face in his hands and sobbed.
"No… NOOO!" The hedgehog yelled.
Sonic's quills were all gone, he was left with six tufts of short fluffy fur stuck up on edge where the long quill shapes used to be, so his head wasn't completely flat, he still had fluffy sticking up pieces of fur in all six areas of his head, and could very easily be gelled into small quill shapes if Sonic really felt that self conscious about his new appearance.
Tails sped to Sonic's side in a second, while he himself, was trying desperately to hold back the tears for his friend who was visibly so upset. He hated seeing Sonic cry.
"Sonic, Sonic! Big bro, it's ok" The fox reassured. "Come here"
And with that, Sonic removed his hands from his eyes and looked at Tails through teary, bloodshot eyes. He walked over to Tails and was met with a crushing embrace, to which the hedgehog returned.
"Sonic, you still look amazing, I think it suits you so much honestly, I promise!" Tails reassured, continuing to give his brother the biggest of hugs.
"I don't look anything like a hedgehog anymore, everyone's going to stare. And my eyes look HUGE now on a small head!" The hedgehog admitted, still visibly so upset.
"It honestly looks way past cool, and you still have tufts of fur where you six quill shapes were! You could use some hair gel and gel the fur into shorter quill shapes if you really don't like how it looks but honestly, you still look like the same old cool and stylish Sonic that I've always known and loved! you're got natural good looks and can pull off any style and it just instantly looks trendy, in fact, you could possibly start a new trend for hedgehog's with this 'do!" Tails declared with a big grin, and lots of enthusiasm in his voice. He genuinely thought Sonic's new style suited him so much, but he knew the hedgehog wouldn't be so reassured.
Sonic smiled sadly "I guess, I just gotta think it's not forever… they'll grow back. And besides, it'll be nice to sit back comfortably in a chair or flat on my back in bed for once in my lifetime, without my quills getting in the way I guess" Sonic revealed, trying desperately to think of a good thing to come out of a bad situation.
"You got it! and here you go" Tails proceeded to hand Sonic a red hoodie with a flame and star design on the front. "This is for you to wear out. I could tell you're really nervous about this whole quill loss thing and people staring, so if you don't feel confident enough going out in public like it to your chemo sessions, you could wear this to make you feel better" Tails said, trying desperately to make Sonic feel better.
Rubbing his tears away with his gloved hand, Sonic gave Tails a big grin and a thumbs up "Tails… I love it, thank you so much for thinking of this for me, I truly appreciate it!" Sonic replied, and began lifting the hoodie over his overly thin, now quill-less body.
"I'm liking it, buddy! And I'm going to give that hair gel advice a try too, thanks lil' bro!" Sonic said, full of gratitude.
Later that day, with the encouragement of Tails, the brothers took lots of selfies together of Sonic's new look, with Tails reassuring Sonic about a thousand times that he looked way cool, and most definitely wasn't an ugly bald rat!"
Tails knew it would take Sonic some getting used to, but he knew with encouragement he would would be ok and accept his temporary new look.
…..
I really enjoyed writing this one shot! I've always wondered what Sonic would look like without his quills, or how he would cope in the given situation. They are such a huge part of his trademark appearance, that I can imagine him coping very badly if he were to lose them.
I can honestly see Sonic still looking adorable with small sticking up tufts of scruffy fur, in the six areas his quills used to be in!
I'd honestly love to find fan art of a quill-less Sonic someday, all I've ever found are ones of him with a completely round head, or completely bald with no fur!
