The trek to Knothole was considerably longer than Sonic had anticipated. Though, part of that was because he couldn't actually walk, much less run, on his healing ankle.
Shadow had been healing it in little spurts every day, and while the pain had gone down quite a bit, Amy still fussed about him walking on it. So Silver had volunteered to carry him with his magic while they, meaning a couple hundred mobians, walked through the forest towards Knothole.
It took them a little over a week to get there, and the entire time Shadow barely spoke to him, save for telling him to stay still when he was healing him. He and Amy were so busy trying to help keep things organized that he hardly even saw them. Sonic got the feeling there was more to it than that, but that particular subject was not one he wanted to broach.
He hadn't told anyone else about Shadow's offer, not even Sonia. He wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was a reluctance to mention his attraction to men around so many listening ears. Or maybe his thoughts were just so chaotic they all clogged his mouth when he tried to put anything into words.
One half of his brain wanted what Shadow had offered. More than almost anything aside from getting Manic back and getting Kintobor off the throne. He wanted to share moments with them both without feeling guilty.
But the other half of his brain echoed Sonia's warnings about trust. What was to say it hadn't been a trick of some kind? Or–coming back to his lack of desire for certain kinds of intimacy–maybe they expected something from him that he didn't want to give them, so they'd just leave him.
Before, he'd trusted the two of them completely. But now? Now doubt was beginning to squirm its way through his gut, and no matter how many times he told himself they could be trusted, it didn't leave.
Sonia had been strangely quiet on the way to Knothole as well. She was usually so much chattier, almost as if she was afraid of silence. But for the past week she'd said very little, and hadn't spoken to anyone except Sonic and Blaze.
It seemed she and Blaze had bonded somewhat during their time in the camp, but they both acted skittish around almost everyone else. This wasn't surprising with Blaze—she'd always been a little uptight and slow to trust. But Sonia was usually a lot friendlier, especially towards other women, whom she seemed to make fast friends with most of the time.
What had happened to her?
On the last night they spent in the forest, they sat near a smaller campfire, waiting for Silver to come back with food. Blaze was there too, absently poking at the flames with a stick and giving them a boost when it seemed they were dying down. But Sonic decided to ask Sonia about her weirdness anyway, like he'd been trying to all week.
"Seriously, Soni," Sonic said. "You are acting really weird. What's wrong?"
"Don't worry about it," Sonia retorted, her tone bordering on cold. "It's nothing."
At this, Blaze lifted her head to look at both hedgehogs, her amber eyes staring curiously at Sonia. "Why do you lie to your brother?" she asked, her thick Spagonian accent stretching the syllables as they left her mouth. It was even a little thicker than Silver's. "I think he should know the truth. Besides, if you talk about it, that could help you."
"I don't need help," Sonia growled. She started to stand up before Sonic caught her by the arm. "Let go," she said firmly, leveling a glare at him.
"No," Sonic said, mimicking her tone. "You're going to sit the hell down and talk."
"It's none of your business!"
"You're my sister and it's obviously bothering you! Of course it is!"
Sonia yanked her arm from Sonic's grasp and stomped off, heading in the direction Silver had gone. Sonic tried to stand up to go after her, but Blaze reached out and pressed his shoulders down gently. Stay, the gesture said.
"She will come back," Blaze assured him. "She just needs to throw her fit. I would tell you myself if she wasn't so angry."
Sonic sighed. "She's never kept something from me like this before," he said sadly. "I mean yeah, she has a right to her privacy, but she's been acting so weird, and I'm getting worried. Sonia is usually so talkative and friendly…"
Blaze nodded. "I know," she said sympathetically. "Just give her time. She will talk to you about it herself when she is ready."
"I hope so," Sonic replied.
Sonia came back later, though she wouldn't look Sonic in the eyes. She lay down on the blanket she'd been given, turning herself away from her brother. Sonic sighed and scooted over to her. He poked her shoulder, earning a glare over her shoulder. "Can you stop snapping at me?" Sonic asked, his voice quiet.
Sonia opened her mouth, then seemed to think better of it and shut it again. Her expression softened as she looked back down at the ground. "I'm sorry," she said.
"S'okay," Sonic replied. "I don't know what happened, but I just… I wanna help, Soni."
"I know," Sonia said. "But I don't think this is something you can help me with. I mean, you latched yourself onto those pirates—"
"Privateers," Sonic corrected.
"Same thing, Nic. They're still criminals, still dangerous, and I still don't trust them."
"Don't you trust me?" Sonic asked.
Sonia hesitated, and Sonic turned away, feeling as if she'd just stabbed a knife into his chest. "Wow…" he said.
"I don't… trust anyone anymore," Sonia said, and Sonic looked back at her with a worried frown. "I really wish I did, Nic. I trust that you wouldn't willingly hurt me. But I don't trust your judgment with regards to those people."
Sonic sighed and turned away. "Fair enough," he said.
"I'm sorry."
Sonic just shook his head. "You know, Shadow basically offered to share Amy and I with each other earlier," he said. "And if I didn't have your doubts echoing around in my head, I might have said yes… I don't know how to feel about that."
"I haven't heard of relationships like that working very well anyway, even in better circumstances," Sonia said. "So I think you probably dodged a bullet there."
"Maybe," Sonic said with a shrug. At the thought of his conversation with Shadow earlier, all he wanted to do was lie down and sleep and escape the guilt prickling in his chest. "I kinda wonder what would happen if I said yes."
Sonia sighed. "A big mess," she said.
Sonic shrugged and turned away, laying down on the ground. A big mess? Sonic thought. Probably… but what if…?
Later that night, Sonic woke up to someone gently shaking him awake. He opened his eyes to find Amy crouched in front of him, the dim firelight dancing along her quills and illuminating her face softly. His breath caught in his throat, and he smiled softly at her before he realized what he was doing and schooled his features.
"Sorry," she said. "But I need to talk to you."
Sonic yawned and nodded, quietly putting his boots on and standing up to follow her as she led him a little ways away from where Sonia, Silver, and Blaze still lay sleeping. They navigated through the trees until Amy stopped in a clearing bathed in moonlight. She sat down on the ground and patted the spot next to her.
Sonic obliged and sat, careful to keep his distance to avoid unnecessary contact, though the truth was he'd been missing her so much for the past week that he wanted to tackle her in a hug. He could see her fighting the same impulse, her arms reaching towards him for a split second before she pulled them away again. It made the hollow ache in his chest even worse.
"So," Sonic said. "What's up?"
Amy took a breath and let out a sigh. "Shadow… told me about what he asked you about," she said. "I guess… I'm wondering why you said no?"
"Amy, do you really think a relationship like that would work?" he asked, remembering his sister's words just hours before.
"It could!" Amy protested. "I've heard of things like that before. But you still haven't answered my question. Why did you say no if you're obviously interested in both of us?"
"I don't want you guys to change your relationship for my sake," Sonic said. "You guys are happy together, and I don't want to be the one responsible for mucking it all up. Besides, I don't think being with multiple people is really for me?"
"Why not?"
Amy watched him fumble for an answer for several moments before he realized that he didn't have one. He couldn't think of a reason it wouldn't be possible for him, aside from the whole thing being a mess like Sonia had said. Up until now he thought he'd forever be pining for Sally, but she'd been on his mind less and less for the past couple weeks. He'd never thought seriously about being in a relationship with even a single person until now—he didn't want to be held back from doing the things he wanted to do by a significant other, but...
He thought about that argument, but Shadow at least had proven that he could keep up with him. And Amy did tend to mother people maybe a little bit too much, but he knew that that was how she showed she cared. And if they really cared about him, they would understand and respect certain boundaries, right? But still…
"I don't know," Sonic finally admitted.
Amy hummed thoughtfully, then stood back up. "It looks like you've got some thinking to do," she said softly, holding out a hand to help him up, which he took gratefully. "I'm sorry I woke you. I haven't been able to talk to you until now and I wanted to clear things up as soon as I could. But…" She reached up on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, startling him. "Good luck. Let us know if you change your mind…"
"I will," Sonic said, his cheeks flushing. "Good night, Amy."
"Good night, Sonic."
Amy left the clearing, leaving Sonic behind to lay down and look up at the moon, alone with his thoughts. He didn't know how long had passed before he finally went back to the campfire with the others. But even after he came back, sleep didn't find him again for a long time.
They reached Knothole the next afternoon, finding Espio standing several feet in front of the secret entrance. Rouge approached him, waving flirtatiously, like always. Sonic had finally been able to walk today, Shadow having proclaimed he was fully healed this morning, and so he was at the front with her and Shadow and Amy, much to Sonia's chagrin.
His thoughts were still jumbled, and the little sleep he'd gotten the night before didn't help. But despite the heavy awkward tension in the air between the three of them, he felt a little lighter, a little happier just being near them.
"Hey there, long time no see," Rouge greeted the chameleon, snapping Sonic out of his contemplation. "We got a lot of injured folks with us, but you want to check everyone out?"
Espio nodded quietly, then approached Sonic. "Glad to see you back, Sonic," he said. "I came back to help Sally when you were captured."
"How'd you know?" Sonic asked. "It's good to see you too by the way."
Espio pointed at Rouge. "I see everything she sees," he explained. "But Sally needed help from the living. She'll be glad to see you again."
Sonic smiled, the buzzing excitement in his chest swelling. "Well then let's go," he said.
"Not so fast," Espio said. He closed his eyes for a moment, and suddenly a pack of non-mobian hound-dogs appeared at his sides. "Misemono wo mitsukete," he said, and the hounds were off, moving through the crowd with lightning grace.
Moments later, one of them started snarling and baying, and Sonic watched as Espio followed it, coming to find a monkey with red fur growling back at the hound, and soon a few of the other mobians were surrounded by snarling hounds, looking as if they wanted to fight back. Their efforts were useless, and the ghosts merely snapped their jaws toward them as Espio spoke. "Taose," he said, his voice booming above the thundering growls.
Rouge had followed the chameleon, flying a short distance behind, but now she sprang into action, aiming a kick to the first mobian's head. The monkey cried out as she flew several feet in the air, slamming into a thick tree trunk and… breaking apart. What had appeared to be flesh and blood was nothing more than wooden parts, scattered across the forest floor like a broken doll. Rouge sped through the air, catching up to the broken puppet and slamming down with a powerful kick to the head, splitting it in half.
A tiny red light escaped from the split, and suddenly the puppet stopped moving, the last vestiges of the illusion fading as the wood became ordinary once again.
Other mobian spirits joined Rouge in destroying the puppets, and soon they all lay in piles of splinters as the lights inside them left and faded away to nothing. Once their work was done, all the spirits, Rouge included, vanished quietly.
Sonic looked over at Shadow, whose eyes were wide with shock. Amy stood next to him with her hands over her mouth, her eyes just as wide. He saw Shadow say something, but he was too far away to make out what it was.
He turned his attention back to Espio. "Were those what I think they were?" Sonic asked.
Espio nodded. "Yes," he said. "Kintobor's puppets." His tone was flat, as if he were merely informing him that they existed rather than ignoring the implications they brought with them. What had Kintobor been able to see through their eyes? How much did he know about their movements now?
Before he could think about it anymore, Espio cleared his throat. "That seems to be all of them," he said. "It should be safe to enter now."
Sonic nodded, his heartbeat accelerating as he realized he was going to finally see Sally again. It had only been a little over two weeks, but it had felt a lot longer. So much had happened, and he didn't know how his little last minute confession had changed things. Would they still be able to be friends?
Only one way to find out.