ayy im back. sorry this one's on the shorter side :/ i made sure to pack it full of angst just for u guys hehe


XIII.

phantoms (fan(t)əms)

[noun]

something elusive of continual dread or abhorrence.


When Tails woke up his head was pounding.

It took him a good while to find the strength to peel open his eyes. And when he did, he hissed at the light from above that overwhelmed all of his senses and burned into his corneas, sending a reverberating wave of fatigue and sickness over his limp form. Tingles and pinpricks crawled along his skin and weighed him down, making him feel so heavy that he could barely move at all. There was a voice in the back of his head that teased him with the idea of sleep and calm, and Chaos, he wanted it so bad. His eyes fluttered shut again and Tails breathed a calming sigh.

And then an image flashed before his eyes and something sharp gutted him open from the inside out, ruthless as it stole the air from his lungs. Memories flickered beneath his eyelids of flames and screams and malicious laughter and crying—

Tails sat up abruptly, his eyes burning with fresh tears as he struggled to think straight, his thoughts already a discombobulated disarray of terror and grief.

Vaguely, he picked up on the gentle creak of a door opening to his right. "Hey—Whoa, hey, Tails. Hon, I need ya' to calm down, alright?"

It was—it—Bunnie was here. She knelt down beside him, rubbing nice circles into his back and watching him with an intense mixture of emotions swirling in her gaze. She continued to murmur soothing words as he grappled for oxygen.

"Can you speak? You alright?"

His entire body felt like it was being devoured by the same blaze that had consumed Knothole. It was hard to quell the sobs that scratched at his throat. "What—I—"

Bunnie squeezed his wrist. "Shh. I need ya' to take a deep breath, darlin'."

Tails trembled and he just wanted to cry, but he—he breathed. It was hard to get his body to listen to him, almost like it was fighting against him as he sucked in the dead air. He felt stiff and wrong and horrible all over.

"Where is everyone?" he asked, finally, and his voice sounded so foreign to himself, so soft and brittle.

The rabbit searched his face for a moment before deciding to reply. "Most of 'em are outside right now, helping with repairs."

Salty dewdrops spilled down his cheeks. Liar.

"G-Gadget? Mighty?"

… Ray?

Bunnie swallowed thickly, continuing to rub circles into his back. "Gadget's doin' fine—he's actually outside, too, helpin' out." She grinned slightly, although to Tails it looked nearly fake. "He's been worried sick about you, ya' know… And, uh. Mighty's restin' in the room over."

His lip quivered and it was hard to get his words out. "… What—What about—"

There was a tight, trembling squeeze at his wrist. Bunnie's eyes suddenly seemed wet and foggy. A heavy, awful pause got caught between them before she settled on, "He's—in a better place. We, um… found the body this morning. Held a p-proper burial."

Tails' ears were ringing. His chest felt so constricted it was like he was crushed by a metal beam again, stuck in the junkyard, watching Sonic choke out his last few breaths of air—

"Sorry you didn't get to see it, darlin'. It—It didn't sit right, just leavin' his… body out, like that. Not at peace."

He nodded robotically but couldn't manage to speak. Instead he wavered for a moment, before swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Bunnie's eyes widened and she grabbed for him to try and pull him back.

"Whoa, hey, slow down there." She rounded the bed and stopped right in front of him, placing gentle hands on his shoulders. Tails looked at her but he wasn't even—seeing her. Her words bounced emptily around his brain. "Look, I understand it's—a lot, right now. But you still need rest—"

"I need to see Mighty."

Her entire demeanor shifted and her gaze fell. "He… he needs rest too, hon."

Tails gritted his teeth. "Please."

Bunnie stared at him for a while, resistant as she shook her head disapprovingly. But he didn't cave. Just stared at her, pleadingly, wretchedly. Please.

With a tired sigh she helped him out the door.


If he didn't know any better, Tails would've thought that Mighty was dead too. Fuck. No, no, he couldn't think like that. The very thought spurred a cresting wave of nausea that sent him into another spell of shudders and gasps for air.

Bunnie reluctantly left the room, leaving the two alone. The medical wing felt too claustrophobic, too sterile, as Tails pressed himself against the wall across from the bed. Mighty acted as though he hadn't even noticed them enter, but Tails knew he did.

He was conscious. His eyes were open, if a little weighed down with dark circles, and his breathing was steady. It was the look on his face—blank and destroyed and horrid—that had ever sparked the disgusting notion in Tails' head that he looked… dead.

Silence reigned over them before Tails finally crumbled first, raking fingers through his messy bangs. Mighty continued to stare emotionlessly at the ceiling.

"Hey."

That seemed to evoke a response. Albeit, an enraged stare muted by the overwhelming look of despair in his eyes. "Just leave, kid."

Tails' heart ached. "… Look, I—I'm just. I'm so sorry—"

"I said go."

Mighty looked absolutely venomous. He sat rigid in his bed as he glowered at Tails; breathed a trembling breath.

And then the tears came.

"He—" the armadillo hugged himself, his eyes wandering frantically around the room like he was still searching for him, still trying to find him and save him. It was hard for Tails to not start crying too. "He was my brother. I loved him. And I just—all I could do was fucking sit there and watch like the broken piece of shit I am as he was just…"

Mighty broke off as he tried to swallow down another sob.

"Can you just… Tell the others to stop—coming in here and telling me they're sorry for my fucking loss? 'Cause I'm tired of it. I don't want your pity. None of you get what I'm going through, alright? I watched that fucking—monster snap my baby brother's neck. I watched the life leave his eyes."

Tails' breath hitched. "Mighty—"

"No, stop," he snapped. He brought his hands to his temples and pressed against them, clawed at them. Like the voices in his head wouldn't shut up. "Just fucking go."

And that was when Tails just—got it. Those same exact voices haunted him, too. Told him how weak he was, how it was all his fault, how he was such a coward for never doing anything to save Sonic.

Tails wasn't talking to Mighty. He was looking right in the goddamn mirror.

"Screw you. Do not tell me I don't know what you're going through because I do, I know exactly what you're going through. He killed my brother six months ago and I couldn't do anything to stop it." It was hard to ignore the tears that fell freely down his face. They were hot and wet and angry. "So don't fucking tell me I could never understand. That none of us have ever dealt with losing a loved one. Because I have; we have. And I'm sorry about Ray, I really, truly am, but you are not just gonna sit here and wallow and cut everybody out. You don't get to do that."

What followed was a deafening silence that made Tails hyperaware of how raw and dry his throat felt. As the words had left his mouth, he was left with nothing but an empty cavity cleaved deep into his lungs that whined to be filled with blissful numb again. He hurt.

Mighty trembled from the bed. He tried to speak but he couldn't seem to find any words to say.

"We're in the middle of a goddamn war, Mighty," Tails said, his voice reduced from fury and despair to a broken, soft echo of himself. "There's no room for grieving. We aren't allowed to do that anymore."

Something aching crawled over him and for the first time in months he felt awake. He felt the burden of all his buried trauma resurfacing, and it felt fresh, now; painful. But at least he was facing it. At least he was choosing to stop hiding from it all. He wasn't dragging the dead weight of his guilt around anymore. He was taking it in stride.

And when this war was over? Whether he'd survive amongst the carnage or die with the rest? Hopefully by then he'd get the chance to actually atone for his sins.

With that, Tails turned to leave. "Get some rest. I'm gonna go check on the others."


His dreams were filled with screaming.

Every time he shut his eyes all he saw was green, dead, dried up, and sapped of all the life and vigor it was once filled with. And he saw it become swallowed in a burning hot red that destroyed everything it touched. He felt pain splinter through the green agonizingly, cutting deep into it and filling it with fresh blood.

The red was relentless. It writhed against his skin and bled into an endless darkness that seemed to persist for an eternity. It clawed at him desperately and tried to tear him open, send tendrils of pure malice into his bloodstream and corrupt him along with the green. It grew stronger every second and all that ran through his mind was unadulterated terror because there was nothing he could do about it.

The green fought valiantly. Even as it dwindled away it still resisted, still stood strong to the very end. Built up a wall that the red struggled to break, despite how monstrously overwhelming it had rapidly grown to be. He could feel himself standing right beside that wall, pushing against the red too, even when it chafed against his palms till they were raw and bloody.

Tikal's screams haunted him.

She was in so much pain. The red was ripping her apart, splitting her in half and tearing away any fight left in her system. She was trying to protect the Chaos. And she was going to continue to do so until she was nothing but a rotting corpse that the red would inevitably pry away from its goal.

He wanted so badly to just hold her in his arms, cradle her and whisper to her and make it all go away. She wasn't going to stop. She wasn't going to give up, not ever. Because they couldn't lose the Chaos, not like this. Not when everything hinged on this final stand.

The screams faded, nothing but a distant memory lost to the endless void of boiling hot red. He felt ice flood his veins despite the raging heat that charred his skin.

The wall crumbled and the red crashed down over him like a tidal wave. He was swept away in its current, a useless ragdoll that could never stand a chance against its power. The Chaos screeched as the red finally reached it, spread over it, consumed it ravenously.

And the Chaos didn't know. Of course it didn't, because it's Chaos. It wasn't right or wrong, good or bad, green or red. It was simply the core of everything, the churning essence of life just below the surface that kept all hearts beating and the soil beneath their feet shifting.

When the red corrupted Chaos, he felt something inside himself break. He screamed louder than Tikal ever had as the red pulled him further and further away so he'd never get to stop it. The red was determined in its goal. It would succeed in overtaking Chaos. It always would, no matter how much he or Tikal fought.

As his vision was filled with nothing but a bright, seething ruby, Knuckles felt everything slip away.

And Chaos finally broke free from its shackles.


Tails limped outside, weary and drained and so desperate for any sort of silver lining in all of this, and lingered in the doorway to take in the scene. Knothole looked worse for wear. Most of the buildings were collapsed, either entirely or only somewhat. The dirt roads were filled with debris and fallen trees that blocked the way. Various people scurried about, trying their best to fix what they could.

He couldn't help but feel like it was all for naught.

Infinite did exactly what he'd intended. Destroyed any chance of them rising up to stop him.

He nearly turned around and went back into the recovery center to rest because really, he probably needed it, but—but then something large and green caught his eye, shifting around in the piles of rubble off to the left. A hearty laugh erupted from the figure as a smaller, yellow one twirled above their head.

Tails did a double take.

Vector was here. Passing jokes between Charmy.

Rubbing his eyes, Tails glanced over to the right—to see teal light wrap around a massive tree trunk and lift it seamlessly into the air. Beneath it stood an albino hedgehog, his hands glowing with the same light as he maneuvered the tree to the side. Silver.

He nearly passed out on the spot. How were they—when did—?

"Hey, Tails!"

The fox turned to the source of the voice and met eye contact with Sally, who wore a thin smile as she waved to him.

Standing next to her was Shadow.

They stared at each other and something hard lodged in Tails' throat. Shadow looked like he was staring at a ghost—which, to be fair, he probably felt like he was.

Unable to really produce any words, Tails stumbled and tripped over the stray debris until he was on the other side of the road, facing the two adults as apprehension rose in his stomach. Sally looked tired but a little relieved. She didn't seem aware of the weight this moment carried.

"I'm glad to see you on your feet," she said, patting his shoulder. Tails shot her a glance before looking back at Shadow, who only continued to stare back in silence. The chipmunk seemed to catch onto the strange tension rising between them, and faltered. "Oh, um. This is Shadow, by the way. I didn't know—"

Tails felt his knees buckle and he fell into Shadow's arms.

"Holy shit, kid," the hedgehog muttered, as he hugged him harder. "It's been—fuck…"

Sally's smile grew just a bit less fragile and a bit more sincere. "I'm guessing you two already know each other. I'll give you a moment."

After she left, Tails pulled away from the embrace to look into heavy scarlet eyes. "How—what are you doing here?"

"Silver somehow convinced us that we should scout out this area after hearing rumors of an emerald tracker. Thank Chaos he did." Shadow's lips twitched. "We just arrived about an hour ago and decided to help the people here after they told us… about last night."

Something shimmered through Tails' eyes as he tried to process. This was—a lot. A lot that he was not expecting, especially not here, not now, all at once. Too many emotions were swelling up in his gut that he did not feel like managing right now. Chaos, he should've just gone back to bed.

"Tails!" someone exclaimed from behind, and when he looked he saw Silver bolting over, followed shortly by Vector and Charmy. The psychic beamed at him. "Holy crap, man, I can't believe you're here! We thought you'd—" He broke off, suddenly, looking a little melancholy. We thought you'd died. We thought you'd ran away forever.

Vector slapped him on the back with a chuckle and Charmy buzzed around the whole group, rambling on about anything and everything.

The teenager cleared his throat and smiled warmly at them. "I missed you guys." And he honestly, truly meant it. But—

Gadget showed his face, clearly exhausted and still awake probably solely by anxiety. He always seemed to operate like that. After exchanging a subtle look with Tails, he glanced awkwardly around at the others. "You're up. These, uh. Must be your friends."

Shadow looked him up and down. "Do you live here?"

The wolf's eyes flickered briefly to Tails, clearly uneasy. "… No, I'm new here like him. We both got here only a few days ago after agreeing to help them build the tracker."

Silver nodded and began absently twirling pebbles in the air. "Ah, so you two have known each other for a while? It's good to know you've had company."

"It's been a long six months," Shadow murmured. When Tails looked at him he seemed notably less tense; probably relieved that he hadn't been completely on his own this whole time.

Gadget suddenly seemed uncomfortable as he looked back to the fox. He didn't seem to sure on how to articulate what exactly their relationship was, anymore. It made something sink, just a little, in his chest.

Tails sucked in a breath and turned back to Shadow with a confident, steady look in his eyes. "We met not long ago, out by Westopolis. I'd been hiding out there for a long time before he found me." He nodded, and blue eyes so congested with emotion that they looked as though they'd well up with tears any moment locked back onto Gadget. "I trust him… More than anything."

Gadget shifted and his lips curled into a tiny, private smile.

Shadow seemed to consider this before nodding. There was something off about him. He looked on edge. Placing a hand on Tails' shoulder, he murmured, "I need to talk to you alone." Now Silver and the present Chaotix members seemed uneasy, too. "It's important."

Skeptical, he let the hedgehog lead him off to a secluded area of the ruined village.

"Look," he started, and this was just weird. Since when did Shadow get all nervous like this? "I know it's been a rough couple of months but—"

"Shadow." Tails swallowed thickly, realizing what this was probably about. "I've missed you a lot, really, but I… I don't know if I'm ready to go back, yet. And honestly, Knothole needs me now more than anything."

But then the agent just drew his brows together. "What? That's not what I—"

His wrist communicator abruptly hissed to life, startling both of them. Shadow scowled and fiddled with the thing for a few seconds.

"Hello?" he said, nearly looking frustrated with it.

The communicator continued to squeal and crackle at him, and he almost turned it off to continue the conversation when—

"Sh… ow, you—eed hel…"

Tails' heart leapt into his throat as Shadow's eyes widened and he frantically replied, "Amy? What's happening, are you safe?"

More silence as the communicator struggled to work. "Need t… hurry—"

The static cut out and they were left alone with a mortifying silence.

Shadow continued to try and get through, but it was in vain. "Shit. Rose? Can you hear me?" When there was nothing, he cursed to himself and turned swiftly on his heel to start heading back to the group. "I need to go."

"We need to go." Tails was already following suit.

The hedgehog blinked at him. "I thought you wanted to stay and help Knothole."

"That's—" he shook his head. "Not important right now. Our friends need help."

Shadow stared him down for a solid minute, his expression too withdrawn for Tails to decipher. He simply leveled him with an equally defiant glare. Eventually the elder relented. "Alright. But we're leaving now."

The others looked concerned as they rejoined them. Silver frowned and Sally and Guntiver jogged over, clearly seeing the distress on their faces. The chipmunk was the first to speak up. "Everything alright?"

"Our group is in danger," Shadow said, bluntly. "We need to get back."

Vector rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, shit. I'm sorry, miss, but—"

Sally shook her head. "Don't worry about it, you all have done more than enough to help. Take some of my people with you for back up."

Tails crossed his arms. "Sally—"

"It's no problem." Two more approached. Bunnie and Antoine. The former looked at Tails pointedly before nodding to the others. "We gotta look out for each other, right?"

Shadow seemed reluctant. "… Thank you. We appreciate the help."

"It's the least we can do," Sally said, as Shadow withdrew his Chaos Emerald and a glow of energy began to expand around them. "Good luck."

Tails braced himself as their surroundings faded and his senses were flooded with the sudden feeling of freefalling. There was a foreboding feeling rising in his stomach that didn't sit well with him—and it wasn't the Chaos Control that quite literally felt as though it was turning the world on its head as they warped across the continent.

We'll need all the luck we can get.


Despite all the pain he had faced throughout his life, Sonic never really hated many things.

Badniks were less that and more of a nuisance. Even a game, in some cases. Something that kept his adrenaline going as he sliced through them like a butter knife. He never really hated Eggman, either—that was too strong of a word. They were more of just… rivals. Always trying to best the other.

Admittedly, Infinite and the following war certainly pegged the mad doctor higher up on Sonic's list of most disliked things. The idea of his friends and family getting hurt was also pretty up there. Although that was something that made him more sad than angry.

But, without any doubt, the one thing Sonic knew that he hated with a passion was water.

Such a trivial thing, in retrospect. But he did. Hate it. Quite a lot.

So the fact that he was trapped in this dream of darkness, of drifting through what felt like an endless ocean was… less than favorable. Except—except it couldn't be a dream, could it? Because how else would he feel so conscious? How would he be aware that he was dreaming? Maybe it was that thing he'd heard about a while ago. Lucid dreaming, maybe?

But then he opened his eyes, and realized with a sinking feeling in his stomach that this was absolutely not a dream. The water lapping against his prone body was, in fact, very real.

Sonic jolted upright instantly. He gasped, trembling, trying to get it off because it was everywhere, steadily rising, so close to drowning him entirely and sealing away the precious air. His surroundings were a little fuzzy as his blood flow struggled to keep up with his sudden movement, and his head throbbed. It felt like thick, molten lava was bubbling inside his skull and frying his brain.

Fuck. What happened? What was happening?!

Water pooled in his lap. The bed he sat on was completely submerged, and the dark liquid was already up to his naval.

Chills raced down his spine.

He glanced down at his prosthetic arm and tried flexing his fingers, some lingering worry in the back of his mind that the thing would electrocute him for being in contact with water—but it just hung there, hardly reacting to his mental command to move. The thing looked utterly mangled and disfigured. A burning sensation right at where it fused with his flesh quickly grew apparent to him.

And then it came back to him. Of him nearly hurting Shadow, and then telling him to break it so he couldn't anymore. Shit. Capital City.

"Sonic!"

Emerald eyes snapped up and he saw Espio across the room—the hospital wing of HQ, he quickly realized—standing up on his own bed as he struggled to support an unconscious Rouge. There were bandages wrapped around his torso that were red with dried blood.

"Sonic," he called. "I know you're freaking out right now but we need to get out of here. I need you to help me keep Rouge above the surface. She won't wake up."

The hedgehog blinked rapidly, looking around, before he shakily brought himself to stand up on his own mattress. Water could be seen pouring in through the cracks of the only door into the room, off to the right. "What's happening?!"

"I don't know," Espio said. "But I know you don't mix well with water. I need you to take Rouge so you can hold her up, while I try and find a way out."

Sonic swallowed the knot in his throat and nodded. Tentatively, the chameleon eased her down on the bed and stepped into the rising rapids. Sonic pushed off the mattress and propelled himself forwards with a homing attack, landing on the bed Rouge laid on. He lifted her up and slung her arm over his shoulders.

Espio waded through the water, which was currently at his armpits and well up Sonic's calves. It sent another spike of anxiety through his chest just thinking about it. The ninja reached a large window and started banging his fists against it, but it didn't give.

"Shit!" he yelled over the rushing water. "It's too strong."

"What about the door?" Sonic was rapidly becoming desperate.

"Won't work," Espio said. "That's where the water is coming from. If we open it it'll only make the water rise faster."

The hedgehog peered up at the ceiling. "The vents?"

"Too risky. We'll be trapped if we can't find an escape in time."

Sonic shuddered and leaned back against the wall, squeezing Rouge tensely at her side. They were completely trapped and now they were gonna drown, they could do anything about it, and the water was nearly up to his knees already and he hated it, hated it so much, fuck—

He really hated water.


tails has had an epiphany ab how fucked up he is but also! reunion with shadow! also the resistance is in Danger :))

not sure when the next chapter will be out since final exam season is rapidly approaching, but i'll try to get it out soon. remember to drop a review!