yay a quick update! ur boy had a whole ass four day weekend, so i was able to get a lotta work done :) anyways enjoy, the story continues.
typical warnings. honestly this chapter is pretty mellow compared to the others, so enjoy the somewhat-peace while you can.
VI.
beleaguer (bəˈlēɡər)
[verb]
to beset with difficulties.
It took a while for Sonic to regain his consciousness. Cotton seemed to wrap around his head and plug his ears; no matter how many times he blinked and rubbed his eyes, his vision refused to focus; a constant stream of dull pain pulsated across his limp body.
When he finally gained his bearings—for the most part, anyway—the hedgehog found himself confused and lost. He was shrouded in darkness, stalks of trees looming around him like the prelude of a lion pride's feast. His chest felt strangely tight, and each breath elicited only another wince of pain. Fruitlessly, he attempted to sit up against the tree trunk to his back, but his muscles groaned in protest at the movement, and he yielded.
As hearing began to return to him, Sonic became aware of the snaps and flickers of a dwindling flame before him. Blinking a few more times and sniffling, a warm glow overtook his left vision. He glanced over to see a campfire, low and steady, crackling in the middle of the small clearing he lay in. He embraced the heat it radiated welcomingly, humming lowly in the back of his throat and trying to close his eyes again.
The headache pressing to his temples was utterly agonizing, and if he could just—just take a quick nap…
"You're up," a stranger said, their voice startlingly young. Sonic groaned tiredly, trying to crack open his eyes again to get a good look at them. His fuzzy vision began to fail him, before a figure suddenly came into view, inches away from him, and a teal light swarmed his eyesight.
A hand pressed itself to his forehead, and the blue blur immediately sighed in relief as the agony rippling across his body let up, and his senses tuned in more. Now everything wasn't so muffled, and he could see more clearly. The pain was numbed considerably.
Emerald eyes trailed upwards, before locking onto gold.
"Silver!" he rasped, startling. The speedster shifted back to eye his friend in a more comfortable position.
"I fed you some of my Chaos energy. Hopefully it'll help with the pain."
Definitely. A smile traced Sonic's face—although it began to fall when the psychic did not return the same genial look.
The ivory hedgehog then crouched down, resting his arms on his knees, watching Sonic keenly as though he were some science experiment. Skepticism and a grim steeliness pooled in his wide eyes.
Eventually, Silver murmured, "So, you're really Sonic?"
He blinked. "Uh, yeah. Last time I checked, anyways."
Amber orbs cascaded down to his prosthetic arm. A whiplash of painful memories slammed full-force into the cerulean hero, from his imprisonment to the surgery to Metal, and Sonic squirmed uncomfortably under the stare. This—this arm, it wasn't him. It wasn't his arm. It was wrong and it didn't belong and he wanted it off.
Seeming to note the unease marring the other's face, the time-traveler said, "Last time I saw you, it didn't seem to be the case, so."
That didn't help at all.
Sonic rose a brow. "Okay, Silv? Buddy? You've got some explaining to do."
Huffing in frustration, the younger hedgehog plopped down on the ground and sat adjacent to him, just a few feet away. He drew his knees to his chest, hugging his legs and letting his gaze fall to the ground.
"I don't even know where to begin."
"Okay…" Searching the area, the injured hero swallowed thickly. He was dying of thirst, and he'd kill for a nice bed right about now. "… How about we start with the basics. How'd we get here? Last thing I remember was fighting Metal back in the city, and then…"
"And then, he beat you," Silver filled in, finally meeting his gaze. "I think that's when I arrived. I was able to take down Metal Sonic, and from there I patched you up the best I could and led us here—there were too many robots back there."
Sonic let his head fall back on the ground, gazing up at the stars. Despite the smog drifting above, he could still catch speckles of starlight beaming down. "Alright, that's good. One killer robot, down. But how'd you get here in the first place?"
"Well," the psychic began, "It's a lot. I guess it started after your birthday party—"
"The one with younger me?"
"Yeah. And the future I went to was… Sorta like this, but worse."
Frowning, the speedster turned to send a cocked brow the other's way. "What could be worse than this?"
"Try everyone being enslaved and ten times as many robots."
Sonic hummed thoughtfully at that, and clammed up.
"Anyways," Silver continued, watching the fire ebb away absentmindedly. The glow of the embers lit up the golden flecks in his eyes, chasing away the shadows that normally cloaked his true thoughts and feelings. He was only a year or two younger than Sonic, but he always seemed so much more innocent; undeserving of the fate he'd been handed.
"I followed this weird, negative-energy source and it led me to this huge base. And then—and then I fought this crazy dog guy, and then you, but you were—" he licked his lips quickly, "—you had the robot arm you have now, except it was all old and rusty. And there was this freaky red gem stuck in the middle of your chest, too…"
A beat of silence passed, as both hedgehogs contemplated. Something seemed to slide into place in Sonic's head.
"Okay, two questions. First, who was the crazy dog guy?"
The alabaster hero pursed his lips. "I don't—I think he called himself Infinite?"
Sonic let out a long sigh. "Shit. Okay, second question—what was the 'freaky red gem'?"
"Um… I dunno, but both you and the Infinite guy had it on your chest. I think maybe it made you immortal? Because you were, like, decaying and half-dead. But I'm not sure."
"And I fought you?" the speedster inquired. "Willingly? Or…"
Silver crossed his arms. "I mean, it seemed like it, but you also didn't seem to be in your right mind. I wonder if maybe the red gem was controlling you…?"
Sonic grunted, trying to prop himself up to rest on his forearms and get a better look at Silver. Dull pain reverberated from the—the chillingly large piece of glass jutting from his chest. Oh, right, he'd almost forgotten about that thing. He cringed at the blood caked around it, directing his gaze to his friend.
Seeing the distress in the blue blur's face, the time-traveler held up a placating hand, looking tentative. "Hey—be careful, that stab wound…"
"I'm fine," Sonic brushed off through gritted teeth, because he was. He wasn't going to let Infinite and his lackeys reduce him to—to some worthless hedgehog incapable of sitting up on his own. He'd already been degraded enough for the past sixth months.
Silver frowned, before slumping against the tree; it was pointless to argue with the most stubborn guy on the planet. "So, what do you make of all this?"
Screwing up his face in concentration, the azure hero was quiet for a moment. He struggled to see past the fog lurking in his mind, trying to recall everything that happened when he escaped. Metal had been so adamant on capturing him alive, on—on doing something worse to him than they'd ever done before. He could vividly remember the raw fear coursing through his blood, the pure terror, the absolute need to get away, and it sent chills down his spine.
Emerald eyes widened. "… I think that you saved me just in time."
"As soon as the Phantom Ruby shard is embedded into you," Metal's words echoed through his head, "you will no longer be able to resist our power."
"Metal-Me was rambling on about how they were gonna put the ruby in me before I passed out," Sonic elaborated, wincing at the idea of that. "I think if you hadn't come in and rescued me, they would've done it, and—and I would've become that zombie-version of me that you saw in the future."
Silver narrowed his eyes, contemplating the theory. "I guess it makes sense. When I used Chaos Control to get there, I focused on getting to the moment where it all went wrong—so I could try and correct it. And it took me to the city, where Metal was dragging you away."
"Wait, you—" the blue blur's heart skipped a beat. "Chaos Control? Do you have an emerald?"
"No," he said. "After I fought evil-you and Infinite, they pushed me into this weird… vortex-thing? And I don't—I can't even begin to describe what it was like. I think it was the source of that negative energy I mentioned earlier, though."
Sonic furrowed his brows. "Vortex-thing?"
"When I went through I was trapped in this weird void. I was lucky there was Chaos energy at all in there, because I was able to tap into it to use Chaos Control. I don't think I'd still be here if I wouldn't have been able too, though—It felt like the negativity was eating me alive."
The cobalt hero tensed at that. "Fucking hell…" he murmured. "And you have no clue what that place was?"
Silver shrugged. "Not really. I think Infinite might've called it… the Null?"
Raising his brows and blowing out of his mouth, Sonic muttered, "Geez, that's not creepy at all."
"It's your turn now," the ivory hero suddenly said, drawing his attention again. "Who's Infinite? And what is the ruby supposed to be, because you clearly know what it is."
Sonic settled back onto the ground, caving to the aching pain in his abdomen. His need to get back on his feet and run would just have to wait a little longer. "Honestly, I don't know much. Infinite is one of Eggman's new henchmen, I guess. He's pretty damn tough, considering he's the one that captured me all those months ago."
"They were holding you captive?" Silver asked in slight astonishment.
He nodded slowly. "Yeah. I—I'm okay now, though. They just… hurt me a lot, and… ran a bunch of experiments and stuff." Sonic explained quickly; he didn't really want to get into the specifics.
As his eyes fell, a slight mist fell over them and they drifted to his prosthetic arm. The sight of it made him want to gag. "It's what landed me with this—this stupid…" Suddenly he was hovering his flesh hand over the piece of metal, fingers trembling and a fire raging beneath emerald orbs as the urge rose in his chest to tear it off. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was the painful memory of when it nearly was torn off in his battle with Metal. He flinched, swallowed thickly, and let his hand fall back to the ground.
"… They just gave it to me. They had to amputate my arm off after a bad injury, and I ended up waking earlier than I was supposed to. I was able to sneak out, but then Metal followed, and… you know the rest."
Sorrow filled the younger hedgehog's gaze. "And… What about the ruby?"
"It's called the Phantom Ruby," Sonic clarified, hastily wiping his eyes. "I don't really know much about it. Just that it's implanted in Infinite's chest, and it makes him crazy powerful. He can do all sorts of, uh, whaddya call em'? Apparitions? Something like that… He can make illusions a reality, and reality an illusion. It—It was strong enough to reduce Mobius to this." He gestured around them, to the thinned out woods and the crumbling city in the distance.
Silver grimaced, opening his mouth to say something else, when it abruptly snapped shut and he stiffened. Sonic frowned at him, about to ask what the problem was, but the other beat him to it by frantically pressing a finger to his lips.
There was a beat of silence, and the blue blur could feel his heartbeat reverberating across his body from anxiety. Was there somebody nearby? What was it that Silver heard? Were they in danger? Did Infinite find them?
Eventually, the ivory hedgehog started towards their dwindling campfire, and snuffed it out with a quick stomp of his boot. He crept over to Sonic, kneeling close to the ground beside him and holding up his hands defensively. Something was clearly very wrong.
"Put your hands in the air."
At the sound of those words, Silver sprung up, teal light wrapping around his palms as he snarled ferociously in the direction of the voice, which was—annoyingly—behind where Sonic lay. He could hear footsteps closing in around them, beneath the shadows of foliage, crunching against the dried up leaves along the forest floor. His quills prickled subconsciously.
"I said, put your hands up," the voice snapped again. It didn't sound familiar to the cerulean hedgehog, but he had no doubt that it was hostile regardless.
Silver wavered a moment, before his scowl deepened and he bit out, "Fine, have it your way."
The psychic thrust his hands forward, and with the action a pulse of turquoise light flung from his palms and slammed into the strangers behind Sonic. He nearly cracked a grin at the sound of them thudding against the ground.
Sonic glanced up to his friend, who was smiling giddily as psychokinetic energy danced around his fingertips, defiance and triumph brandished in his valiant gaze.
And then a dart struck the time-traveler's shoulder, and he faltered, wobbling in place before his limbs fell limp and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Horror took hold of Sonic, and his body went on autopilot as he yanked himself up from the ground. "Silver!"
That was clearly the wrong choice, because as soon as the speedster was standing upright a wave of vertigo slammed into him, his knee screaming in agony at him and burning pain rolling across his entire right side. The hedgehog cried out, vision overwhelmed with static gray as his muscles failed him from the pure pain. He swayed forwards, flailing helplessly for something to stabilize himself. He could vaguely hear more footsteps approaching, and he wanted to run, he wanted to fight, but the pain was so agonizing and his thoughts were lost in a haze of nausea.
Something sharp pricked his back, and sleep was quick to follow.
The final motobug quickly succumbed to a final swing of her hammer, reduced to nothing but scrap metal. Amy let out a long breath, wiping some sweat from her forehead, taking a few seconds to register the minor stinging sensation on her bicep. She glanced at her arm, sighing tiredly at the thin cut running along it and the trail of blood that streamed down to her fingertip and dripped lethargically on the ground; it was just another useless injury they'd have to waste more bandages on, lest she get an infection.
Amy scanned the battlefield absentmindedly, fatigue settling in her bones. Motobugs and buzz bombers were certainly no problem she couldn't handle, but in such big numbers? It definitely took a toll on the muscles after a while.
With that, she turned on her heel to go check on Knuckles. She hoped at this point that he had been able to run for cover and protect it from the fight.
But the sight she was greeted with across the pit made her stomach flip.
"Knuckles?" she called out, jogging towards her companion. He was unconscious, sprawled across the ground, one mitt clenched tightly to the surface of the Master Emerald. The strawberry hedgehog knelt beside him, trying to pull him closer to her. Strangely enough, his hold on the Master persisted.
A befuddled frown marring her face, Amy rose up again to approach the large jewel, studying the spot where glove met emerald. Careful not to touch the Master itself, in fear that she'd fall unconscious like Knuckles, she tried prying his palm away from its surface.
It wouldn't budge. It was like his hand was super-glued to the thing.
Forgetting about that issue for the time being, Amy knelt beside the guardian again, shaking his shoulders. "Knuckles? Can you hear me?"
She placed a finger beneath his nose, relief washing over her as she felt a small puff of air brush against it. Promptly, the hedgehog peeled open one of his eyes to see a glazed-over amethyst. He was definitely out cold.
But why?
Unease spreading across her, Amy stood up again and surveyed the area. It was completely deserted, save for the abundance of badnik carcasses, not a single sound permeating the atmosphere aside from a light breeze that bristled the treetops.
Her ideas warred for a while in her head, stuck in a confliction between staying with Knuckles and going to find help. The latter eventually won out, and Amy reluctantly scrambled towards the wall of the ditch, starting to crawl up the side to reach ground-level again.
She wasn't sure she had ever run as fast as she did before as she made her way back to the campsite. Not even back when she'd try and catch Sonic, when she'd been foolishly infatuated with him, back when they were kids without worries looming over their heads like heavy rainclouds.
As soon as the warrior reached the clearing, she snagged the walkie-talkie from the ground and did a complete one-eighty, veering around and dashing back towards the pit.
"Rouge? Are you there?" she managed to say into the communicator between gasps of air.
There was a moment's pause, before, "Oh my Chaos, Amy, are you okay?! You've been MIA for a long time, we thought—"
"We're okay," Amy assured as she approached the ditch, beginning to slide down its slope again. She jogged up to the unconscious echidna, her heart sinking. "I mean, I think we are. We got ambushed by a bunch of badniks."
"But you beat them, right?"
The bubblegum girl took a few seconds to catch her breath. "Yeah, yeah, I beat them."
"Where's Knuckles?" Rouge asked, sounding rather panicky.
"He—" Amy nudged his side lightly with the toe of her boot, fruitlessly wondering if maybe he'd stir awake yet. It didn't elicit any reaction. "He's right here, just—we found the Master Emerald."
"Holy—are you serious? That's amazing."
"It is, but…" She frowned, sitting down in the dirt and pulling the echidna close to lay his head in her lap. It was hard to ignore the dark circles under his eyes, how matted his crimson fur was. "We decided to split up for a while—I took on the badniks, and he was supposed to get the M.E. out of danger. But after the battle I found him… Unconscious. And—And something's wrong with the emerald, it's got all these—all this red stuff on it, and… Knuckles' hand, it's stuck to the surface, and I just don't know—"
"Hey, hey, Rose, honey, calm down. Is he breathing?"
Amy swallowed thickly. "Y-Yes."
"Okay," the bat said evenly. "That's what's important right now. He's alive. We'll figure out the Master Emerald later. Give me your coordinates, and we'll come pick you up."
The hedgehog tapped a button on the screen of the walkie-talkie, letting it load the GPS before reciting the string of numbers to Rouge. The agent said some things to somebody else on her end, before assuring Amy that they'd be there soon, and to just stay where she was.
She sighed, massaging Knuckles' temples as his head rested in her lap.
They'd figure this out.
They had to.
A strange heat spread rapidly to his neck and back, and Miles' eyes widened as he hastily thrust his hand into the side pocket of his knapsack. In a split second, the fox yanked out a small device no larger than his palm, painted black with a single cyan light blinking on the face of the object, and chucked in over in Gadget's direction.
Rockets rained down all around them, plumes of fire and smoke groping outwards with its hungry tendrils. The device the kit threw hit the ground only a millisecond after the missiles did, and a wall of turquoise light leapt out from it, forming a large bubble and him and Gadget. Both mobians were still knocked off their feet from the mere impacts of the rockets.
"Holy—what just…?!" the wolf stammered, flipping himself onto his back. He watched in some mix of awe and horror as the flames rolled over the strange force-field, fighting feverishly to break through and burn into him.
Miles was already clambering onto his feet, the whip-form of his electric Wispon curled on the ground like a golden snake. He tossed the older male the red weapon. "We need a plan. This shield won't last long, especially under the force of the missiles."
Gadget bit his lip, before rising up tentatively and glancing around them. It was hard to see anything past the inferno wall of smog. The asphalt under their feet trembled every few seconds with the impact of another rocket.
"So what do we do when it breaks?"
The fox flicked his wrist, snapping his whip against the ground. "We run." He paused to point a finger to somewhere behind Gadget. Just barely visible past the explosions, they could spot a large, dark figure only a hundred meters away. "That's our target."
With an incredulous scoff, the wolf threw Miles a slightly frightened look. "Wha—You, you wanna go towards the giant monster thing trying to blow us up?!"
Another explosion sounded against the top of the force-field, and it thinned considerably. Their shield was fading fast. "Believe me, that's no monster. It's a robot."
One last missile fell, the flames tumbling across the ground vigorously before slamming into the transparent wall and breaking past it. A blistering heat crept up the pair's sides, and without hesitation Miles grabbed Gadget's wrist and sprung forwards.
The scarlet mobian released a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding, his legs moving on autopilot as he struggled to keep up with the boy dragging him along. He noticed, oddly, that Miles was spinning his tails like some sort of propeller for supposedly extra speed. It made him start to wonder, deliriously, if any of this was even real.
Up above, more rockets fell through the air like golden raindrops. One dropped right in front of their path, and Gadget nearly screamed because oh Chaos they were going to die, when the two-tailed fox threw his free arm up, his whip gliding through the air before snagging around the missile. Miles twirled around, pulling the rocket through the air with him, before yanking it in the directing of the behemoth up ahead. It sailed through the air for a few seconds before colliding into the massive silhouette, knocking it backwards.
Gadget laughed breathily, clutching the side of his head to try and process everything, but the boy genius was already grabbing his hand and pulling him along again.
The duo finally escaped the haze of dark smoke to get a better look at their adversary, but it only made the wolf's blood run cold. Standing mere feet away from them was a towering, twenty-something foot tall mech. It's body was egg-shaped, wielding a titanium lance and shield. Rockets continuously protruded and shot out from its chest and pauldrons, twirling haphazardly through the air.
"What the hell is that?!" Gadget cried, starting to retreat backwards.
Miles smirked challengingly, not tearing his sapphire eyes from the giant robot for a second. "He used to call it the Egg Emperor."
"You—you know what this thing is?!" the wolf blubbered. "You've fought one before?!"
He thumbed his nose. "Years ago, under different circumstances, yeah. Just stay close, I can—"
As the kit spoke, he was caught off guard when the Egg Emperor swung its bronze lance forwards in one swift motion. The weapon itself didn't come close to grazing them, but with the motion a shockwave of golden light surged forwards at a startling pace and knocked right into Miles. He was thrown backwards into the wall of a building.
"Miles!"
Without hesitation, the mech proceeded to jab its sword into the road, the ground itself cresting upwards from the force. Gadget tried to leap over the wave of asphalt, but he was knocked off his feet. His Wispon skidded a couple feet away from him.
And this—this chilling, raw fear seized him up, crawled down his spin and brought tears to his eyes. His vision was coming in and out of focus, but he could still see Miles, collapsed in the crater he made in the wall, he could still see his Wispon out of reach, he could still see the Egg Emperor over his shoulder, preparing a finishing blow.
No, no, they were going to die. He had to get away, he had to save Miles, he had to run.
The wolf scrambled to his feet, sprinting forwards and swiping the crimson pistol off the ground. Not wasting another second, he ran up to the barely conscious fox, and pulled him up. Miles wavered for a moment, groaning and clutching his head, but Chaos, they didn't have time. Gadget squeezed the boy's wrist in a firm grip and dragged him away from the calamity in Westopolis, keeping his eyes trained on the desert in the outskirts. Warmth continued to claw at their backs, missiles surely following them, but Gadget didn't focus on it. He had to save them, he had to run.
They soon reached the edge of the city, the rubble beneath their feet turning to dust and sand and dead grass. The echoes of explosions grew more and more distant.
Eventually they found some foliage, and Gadget pulled Miles into it to duck behind a tree. They'd definitely lost the Egg Emperor by this point, but he was still anxious.
"Hey, hey, buddy. You with me?" he asked worriedly, shaking the fox's shoulders as he laid him against the tree trunk.
Miles blinked slowly, eyes watering. Blotches of soot ran across his body (and Gadget's), accompanied with scratches and bruises. There didn't appear to be any grave injuries—except maybe a concussion.
"Shit," the teenager bit out, pressing the heel of his palm to his forehead. He let out a low groan before looking up at Gadget in question, looking slightly disoriented. "What—Did you… Did you stop the robot?"
"Um," the wolf dawned a sheepish look, daring a glance back over towards the skyscrapers in the distance. A flurry of flames still danced high in the air, and he could vaguely see the golden outline of the Egg Emperor in the midst of the chaos, stalking around menacingly. "… Not exactly. But we're safe, that's what matters."
Miles frowned a bit at that, and Gadget almost probed him about it, when something else caught his eye and he gasped sharply.
"Oh, shoot!" the wolf breathed, searching the area around them like he was looking for something he dropped.
The fox narrowed his eyes, murmuring, "What?"
"I just—you're bleeding," Gadget said, finally deciding to pull off his boot and take off his sock.
Miles made a face. "Yeah, so are you, Sherlock."
The older mobian was already bringing the white sock up to the other's face. "No, but—you've got a bad cut right on the side of your head, below your ear."
Skeptically, Miles touched two fingers to the side of his head, as his brain didn't quite seem to be registering the pain of the injury yet. He grimaced as his fingertips became coated in a steady stream of blood, and begrudgingly allowed Gadget to tie the sock around his right ear, to apply some pressure.
"You must've gotten it from when you crashed into the building back there," the wolf muttered, sitting back once the cloth was in place. "You alright? Feel woozy?"
"I'm fine, mom," the fox replied, teasingly. The faintest smile traced his face, and surely enough it elicited a light chuckle from Gadget. It was funny—they'd only known each other for less than twenty-four hours, and yet they were already fussing over each other like—like brothers.
Miles' grin fell, as a sharp pang struck his chest. Brothers.
He swallowed thickly, reeling from that thought. Not now. Can't think about that now. Not after—not… No. He pulled himself up, only wobbling slightly. "Come on, we should go."
Gadget hesitated. "Don't you wanna rest up for just a few minutes? It's not like we're in a rush to be anywhere, and you've… sorta got blood still dripping down your face."
No. Sitting here, not doing anything—it left him to nothing but his thoughts, and he just—Chaos, he couldn't deal with that now.
(Six months. All his fault. Coward.)
(Murderer.)
"No!" he snapped, tensing up. Gadget recoiled a bit. Miles paused, sucked in a breath, and peeled open his eyes. In a low, dead tone, he amended his outburst with, "… Sorry, we just—we should get further away from Westopolis. The Egg Emperor could still be looking for us."
Swallowing a knot in his throat, the scarlet canine nodded and stood up. "… Right. Where to?"
"Well…" Miles trailed off, trying to think of their options. Going back to the convenience store was a no-go, at least for a long time. They couldn't risk getting caught again. They could try and make it over to the next big city, but that had to be hundreds of miles away, and for all they knew it was overrun with twice as many badniks. He briefly contemplated sending Gadget off to the Resistance to resume his solo act, but he didn't even know where their base was.
"Maybe we could find a car," Gadget suggested, seeing the fox struggle to find a solution. "With your brains—and technology—I'm sure we could hotwire one, or something."
But cars were a rarity, nowadays, and half the time their engines were smashed in or their wheels blown off. But maybe Gadget was right, maybe they needed some sort of transportation, some sort of—oh.
He mulled the thought over in his head, chewing the inside of his cheek and wringing his hands uneasily. Should he? It was a dangerous idea in itself—they'd have to go near one of Eggman's bases, and for all he knew they'd get spotted… But if they succeeded, if they found it, then they could travel virtually anywhere.
(And sure, there was also the prospect of that location bringing up certain, revolting memories, but he elected to suppress those thoughts for the time being.)
"Come on," Miles finally said, beginning his trek through the flatlands. "I know where to go."
Gadget eyed him curiously for a moment, before jogging up to the teenager to walk beside him. "May I ask where that is, exactly?"
The fox sighed, eyeing the silhouette of a large building off on the horizon, just barely visible. "It's a junkyard. I left something there a few months ago that might be able to help us."
He just hoped it wouldn't get them killed, too.
The days blurred together in an endless torrent of misery, and he wanted nothing more than for it to end. Shadow was tired. The constant cycle of getting visits from his captors, only to be taunted and sliced open, followed with hours of isolation where he was left to tend to his own, deteriorating thoughts, was so tedious, so sickening, that he could barely think anymore.
And in truth, the long periods of silence and seclusion were almost a comfort. At the very least, they were a relief from the torture that Infinite wrought when he was present.
He thought about Sonic a lot. Had dreams, hallucinations, bouts of reminiscing about him. Sometimes he'd be underneath a willow tree in the middle of the night, gazing into emerald eyes that seemed to light up the world, that seemed ten times brighter than any star twinkling above them. Sometimes he'd be stuck in this damn chair, the handcuffs chafing his wrists, as he watched Sonic receive the torture he already was, tenfold. Sometimes they'd be in bed together, simply resting in each other's arms on their honeymoon, celebrating their marriage.
But always, always, they were lies. He'd always blink open his eyes again to the same dark, empty cell.
The sedatives chugging through his system made Shadow feel sluggish and woozy, and time seemed to constantly flip between fleeting away, and hardly moving. It made him wonder if he was going to die soon, locked away in this pathetic cell where nobody would ever hear of him again. And he honestly wasn't sure what was worse: dying now, forgotten from the world, or later, having to endure possibly an eternity more of suffering.
But Shadow knew, regardless, that he couldn't live like this. Not without Sonic, without his friends, without his freedom. Just being stuck in this chair was a hell in itself, his hands bound and thoughts muddled. He could hardly think straight, he could hardly function.
He wondered, for a while, how long it was going to take for the drugs to kill him. He wondered if they'd kill him at all.
And if they did, he wondered if, maybe then, he'd get to see Sonic again.
ahaha i just had to include more angst at the end there, what'd you expect?
shadow's Sad, sonic and silver are in some deep water, miles and silver are headed somewhere, and amy & knux are on their way home!
sorry this chap was a little slow, but it was still v necessary for the plot. next one will be a little more,,, interesting.
