Chapter Six
The rest of the day, the group spent it by unpacking their belongings, planning the events of the week, and figuring out their sleeping arrangements.
Since because there were nine of them and only three bedrooms as well as the sofa bed, each of them had a roommate. Vanilla, Cream and Cheese shared the master bedroom. Amy and Rouge took the other bedroom, and Tails and Knuckles shared the sofa bed. That left Sonic and Shadow as roommates in the last available room.
This made Sonic nervous. He couldn't sleep in his contacts, and Shadow was already suspicious of him. If he saw Sonic's true eyes it would only raise his suspicion. He would have to do his best to make sure his eyes were never seen by the ebony hedgehog.
"Alright Faker, here's the deal." Shadow said harshly as they started getting ready for bed. "You stay on your side of the room. Don't talk to me. Don't touch me. Don't even look at me. Basically, you leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. Got it."
"Got it." Sonic nodded with a sigh. Seems like this was gonna be worse than he thought.
"And another thing, don't do anything annoying or you'll find yourself sleeping outside."
"... Guess I better head out there now then." Sonic sighed. "I get nightmares… a lot." It was true, but maybe this could actually work. He could sleep in the moonpool and his secret would be safe. He started to gather his stuff, wanting to leave as soon as possible so that he could get to his moonpool without anyone seeing him.
"... How often?"
Sonic paused and looked back at Shadow. "What?"
"How often do you get these nightmares?"
Sonic's ears lowered and he looked away. "Almost every other night… sometimes a full week."
"What are they about?"
"... My… parents… they died and… it was all my fault." A tear ran down his cheek and he quickly looked away. Sonic couldn't say anymore. Not unless he wanted to reveal his true identity. He jumped when he felt a hand on his chin, making him turn his head back around.
Shadow held onto his chin, making the blue hedgehog look at him. His face was hard, but his gaze held a hidden sadness.
"I'm sorry about your parents." He said. "But I'm sure it was not your fault."
"You don't understand, Shadow. It was. It was my fault."
"How so?"
More tears fell down his cheeks. "I… I left home… they tried to follow me… and they died in the process… an accident that I caused."
"How did you cause the accident?"
"Well, I didn't physically cause it, but it was because of me it happened. If I haven't left… they wouldn't have tried to follow me. And they would still be alive."
Sonic shut his eyes and turned away, tears falling down his cheeks as he started getting sad and angry again. He had to calm down before he started shouting again like he did at the burial ground.
"Sonic…" The blue hedgehog gasped and turned to look at Shadow again, surprised to hear him say his name. "I'm sorry to hear about your parents. I don't know what happened to them, but I can assure you it was not your fault."
"But…"
"They tried to follow you because they love you. And I'm sure they would not be happy to hear you thinking this way."
Sonic was silent. He knew Shadow was probably right, but it still hurt.
"Look, I'm not good at these things." Shadow shook his head. "But what I'm saying is true. It was not your fault, and you shouldn't be thinking that it is."
Sonic rubbed his arm, thinking about it. Was Shadow right? Was it really not his fault?
Shadow sighed and went back over to his side of the room. "Listen, if you have any nightmares I won't hold it against you. Just think about what I said and try to get some sleep."
With that, he climbed under his covers and turned his lamp off. As soon as Sonic was sure that he was asleep, he pulled his contacts case out of his sock and put his contact lenses in the holder. He hid the case under his pillow and climbed under his covers before closing his eyes and trying to go to sleep.
…
Sonic opened his eyes to find himself in the dark waters of the ocean. He looked at himself and discovered that he was in his Siren form. That was weird. He didn't remember waking up. He didn't remember going to the ocean. And he would most definitely remember the agonizing pain of transforming. What was going on?
He heard a mermaid squeak behind him and he turned towards it. There in front of him was Ryn.
'Ryn?' Sonic signed.
Ryn said nothing and just smiled at him. Her smile was so alluring. Her purple quills shined beautifully through the water. He couldn't take his eyes away from her. He wanted her… he needed her.
Before he knew it, Sonic's neck and chest began to glow a bright beautiful golden color, trying to tempt the female into mating. Ryn smirked and swam around him, circling him, looking him over. Sonic hissed at her, causing her to hiss back. Suddenly, she charged at him, but before she could get to him, a net suddenly appeared and trapped her.
Sonic's glow went down as he watched his friend in horror. He swam up to the net and started pulling on it, trying to get Ryn out. They sang, cried. Screamed and squealed to each other, fear filling their merhog voices as the net started to pull the female up.
Sonic lost his grip on the net, and he watched in heartbreak as Ryn's body was pulled out of the water.
"RYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYN!" He screamed, not even thinking about how his land voice could be heard in the water.
Suddenly, another merhog swam by him. Startled, Sonic turned around to see what the rush was about, and he gasped in horror as he saw his colony fighting with other Sirens. Not only were there other Sirens, but there were also a lot of underwater GUN drones, attacking every Siren in sight.
"No! Stop! Leave them alone!" Sonic cried. "Leave them alone!"
He was about to swim to his colony, to help defend them against the invading drones and Sirens, until suddenly…
SHKT!
Sonic gasped in pain as he felt something sharp go through his back. He looked down to his chest, gasping in horror to see a barbed stinger pierced through him. It suddenly pulled out, causing him to double over in pain as he placed a hand over his bleeding chest. He looked back to see what had stabbed him, and his eyes widened as he stared at another Siren, a human mermaid. One that he was very familiar with. He couldn't help but feel betrayed.
"How… could you?" He whispered weakly as his eyes started getting heavy.
The mermaid said nothing. She only stared at the merhog as he started floating to the bottom of the ocean, his eyes closing in death as he could hear a faint voice calling his name.
