"What were you thinking?"

"I don't know," Sonic answered, his mind confused, "I wasn't paying attention," he confessed.

"I'd noticed," Dawn answered, "You've been doing that a lot lately," she said, the concern in her voice obvious to those around her, but lost on the bewildered blue hedgehog. "What I meant was what was going on in your head this time?"

"Truthfully?" Sonic answered, "It's a long story. Lets get somewhere a bit less public and I'll tell you."

The pair headed into a sheltered park on the outskirts of the city centre. The hedgehog and the cat sat underneath the shade of a very tall, and slightly withered palm tree. Dawn sat looking at Sonic, her legs crossed, while Sonic laid back, his legs straight, and his body learning directly against the tree.

"So spill," Dawn persuaded, "Just what were you thinking?"

"Okay," Sonic answered, "But you should know I'm not entirely sure how much of it will make sense. I've lost track of it myself after everything," he said, his tone a bit more alarmed than Dawn had initially considered.

"What is it Sonic?" Dawn asked, now sitting more seriously, worried about what her friend was about to tell her.

"It started a few weeks ago," Sonic said, "It was one night, and I had an awful nightmare about an obsessive pink stalker..."

For the next three hours, Sonic told her everything he could remember, covering all the details about his double, everything concerning how he had died because of Eggman's attacks, all the stuff about him being declared insane, and everything that simply seemed far too out there to make sense. Though he did neglect a few of the more emotional details, he could see just by saying it, he was upsetting Dawn, he told her everything.

"But what does that have to do with you stopping in the middle of the road?"

"That's the moment I returned Dawn," Sonic replied.

"Huh?"

"I don't know when I left, one evening while asleep I think, but the last thing I remember is destroying the world, then I found myself in the middle of the road."

"Oh Sonic," Dawn sympathetically said as she hugged the confused blue hedgehog, "You sound like you've been through a lot."

"Yeah," Sonic mumbled sheepishly, "And to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure I'm back," he sighed.

Dawn paused for a moment, stroking her chin with her hand, "How do I prove this is reality?"

Sonic shrugged "I've no idea."

"Maybe you just need to accept that things are how they should be?"

Sonic looked at Dawn surprised. That was all anyone had said to him throughout all of this. He had been told so may times to accept things simply as they were, regardless of what he thought, and still the only counter he had was a simple 'why'.

The hedgehog said nothing. Dawn asked the hedgehog what he was thinking, but Sonic just ignored the question, saying he was fine. In his mind he was going over things, trying to decide for certain if he'd got it right. Everything looked the same. The trees were normal, the people seemed normal, Dawn was certainly how he remembered her, and not a cyborg-winged-cat as he had briefly known her. She still seemed to love him, as he loved her, but even with ninety nine percent right, there was still one percent wrong, and Sonic didn't want to risk that last lousy percent.

"Sonic, you alright?" Dawn asked, "You've been quiet for a long time now."

"Huh?" Sonic replied, "Sorry; was miles away."

"Did you go back?"

"No, I meant I was lost in thought, I hadn't gone to another reality."

"You sure you're okay?" Dawn enquired.

"I don't know," Sonic answered, "How can I ever know? I went through countless different versions of reality, and had things changed around me constantly. How can I possibly ever know when everything is back as it should be?"

"You won't," Dawn relented, "I don't think if anyone went through something like that they would be able to make sense of it, let alone understand why, or tell if they ever came back where they left."

"Here's what I know Sonic," Dawn answered, "This world needs a Sonic the Hedgehog, and you're here now. This might not be the world you left behind, but it's the world you're at now, and you could do a lot worse than living a life here."

Sonic looked at the cat, "I think you're right," he relented, "I've been running for too long. If I make it home, great, if I am home, fantastic, but for now maybe I should just be content with what I have?"

"Right," Dawn said, "and if the monsters come back, just let them take the world." the cat chuckled.

Sonic glared at the cat. He knew that he'd just gone through something very important, even if she didn't think it. But he wasn't going to make a big deal of it, he was much too tired, and would simply let the joke slide. After all, Sonic had destroyed all the Sol Emeralds, and unless something else came along to start changing reality, there wasn't much else he could do but enjoy his life here in this world, regardless if it was his or not. After all, it still had chilli dogs, Tails was still one of his closest friends, and he could still play through all his favourite video-games.

"Did it work?"

"Yes Doctor Robotnik," the robot answered, "It worked perfectly. The implant in the hedgehog's brain is running at peak efficiency."

"Good," the Doctor smirked confidently, "Now phase three of our plan can begin, he smiled, as he sat looking gleeful at seven multi-coloured gems, more commonly referred to as the Chaos Emeralds.

The End

I hope you enjoyed this short drabble. It was the leftover remnants of my last story Unreality written up as a story, so I apologise if the narrative doesn't make much sense. If you've read this without reading Unreality, I hope it wasn't too confusing (in a bad way) for you.

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