Many thanks to Taranea and Skyblaze for helping me write this and much more thanks to Jin-Tonix for the boost I needed to finish this chapter off.

Chapter 5 - Minds over matter

The journey from the lake was long. With Shadow instinctively trying to skate while Sonic was trying to run, it made the blue speedster with two minds in his head tumble more often than they'd have cared to count. After trying to get Shadow to cooperate and run properly and his stubbornness not budging, they were finally resigned to walking across the wide open fields, going off with little to no idea as to where they were.

Somewhere rattling around Sonic's head, he could feel Shadow's presence smiling.

"Ok. Once we get to a road or a town, where are we gonna go, Shads?" Sonic inquired.

"We are going to Station Square to try and track down who did this to us," Shadow replied, half echoing in Sonic's green-furred head and half speaking with his lips.

"How exactly?" Sonic asked.

"Using GUN Resources I should be able to pull up a list detailing power usage and cross-referencing the areas with any unusual deliveries."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "GUN Can do that?"

"Unofficially, yes." The face of the hero of Mobius smirked, in a fashion unfamiliar to it.

"Well, I'm officially taking them off my Christmas list." Sonic's grin this time was more his than Shadow's. The dark hedgehog's presence in Sonic's mind gave the mental equivalent of a shrug.

"I wouldn't have bothered to add them to it in the first place."

By this point the sun had long set and the night sky was but a sheet of black covered in tiny stars and a large glowing moon; the wind was slow and cool, the scent of flowers following in its wake. The verdant hedgehog was beginning to slow, even slower than the pace they were currently keeping.

"Hey, Stripes, I'm beat." Sonic yawned loudly "Can we stop for a nap or something?"

"I'd mock you for being weak, but I can admit that I'm also feeling tired," Shadow muttered. Sonic's body was a strange thing, feeling somehow...bouncier at times but apparently also exhausting itself more easily.

"Well, thanks," Sonic replied sleepily, "I think."

So saying, the fur-dyed hedgehog finally slumped up against a convenient tree and slid down with a light 'thud'; Sonic's eyes looked up towards the stars and he sighed.

Sonic thought for a moment then chuckled slightly, "You know, after all we've been through I had thought we'd grown closer, this is a lot closer than I had imagined we'd get,"

"You and me both, Faker." Shadow agreed dryly.

"Heh, you call me Faker, you were the one who was pretending to be me around Amy," Sonic grinned, "I'm surprised she didn't figure it out, actually."

Shadow snorted, "With the amount of times she's mistaken me for you, you would think she'd go and see an optician. She must have very poor eyesight."

There was a dual quality to the laughter of the green hedgehog after that statement, a strange, but not unpleasant sound to Sonic's ears. Soon afterwards though, mis-matched eyes finally began to slowly close, as though invisible lead weights were holding them down as the consciousness of both hedgehogs drifted into a deep sleep.

Deep within G.U.N. Headquarters, a dark blue hedgehog was being restrained; its legs and arms strapped down to a metal table. Scientists were hovering around the body; drawing blood samples and shaving small patches of fur all over the unconscious form, then attaching little pads which connected to various machines surrounding it.

The room in which the hedgehog was contained was quite large, three of its four walls were covered in a wide variety of medical equipment, most of which were reflecting the bright sterile white light being emitted from the ceiling. On the remaining wall was a large one-way mirror and the only exit out of this room; a vacuum-sealed door.

On the other side of this entrance, standing rigidly to attention in a long corridor peering through the other side of the mirror was a certain high-ranking officer, observing the poor hedgehog with cold green and brown eyes.

"How long till the blood tests come through?" he enquired as one of the scientists emerged through the sealed door.

"At least 24 hours, Sir," the scientist standing next to him spoke softly. He was taller than the Commander by only a few inches, but felt dwarfed by him nonetheless.

"That long! What is the reason for that delay?" His voice rose enough to make the mirror shake.

"As we no longer have any actual blood samples from the other...'experiment' we will have to go through what remaining records we have concerning the works of Professor Robotnik and compare any similarities to our 'subject'," the scientist nodded in the direction of the hedgehog.

The Commander frowned and strode away down the corridor; he stopped just before a corner and turned back to the scientist.

"You will have those results on my desk as soon as you have them. Do I make my self clear, Dr. Turner?" The tone was hard, his words less of a question and more a stated fact.

With a slight croak in his voice, the doctor replied, "Yes, Sir." It was as thought the Commander had him by the throat.

"Good." And with that the Commander disappeared around the corner; Dr. Turner's shoulders finally relaxed.

"I need to get a different job..."

Back in the sterile room, the midnight blue hedgehog's hand clenched into a fist.

And at the same time outside and far away in the field, the green hedgehog whose fur was proving to be suitable camouflage amongst the grass was tossing and turning...

Sonic was running through Green Hill Zone. The sky was clear, the sun was brilliant and the wind was blowing through his quills while he was approaching Mach two. He flew through the air as he jumped over a rippling pool, dark shapes mirrored in the crystal waters. As he looked towards his landing spot, something in the pool caught his eyes; just enough to fumble the landing and Sonic fell face first into...

A metal corridor, red lights and sirens filling it with a sense of threat and danger. Sonic was still running but felt something pull at his arm – and when he looked back he saw concerned blue eyes staring into his bewildered green ones. He was leading a small human girl; her thin form wrapped in a sky-blue dress and her hair looked like spun gold as it was billowing behind. And the fear in her eyes explained it all - they were running from a horror bigger than she could have ever imagined.

In an instinctive reaction, Sonic gripped her wrist tightly and ran straight on, some complusion he couldn't name driving him on.

But still, with no idea where he was going the blue hero could only lead them through a maze of metal corridors; it seemed almost unreal to him, everything looking alike while the walls rushed by, his head curiously empty of all thoughts but one, the only thing that mattered was him saving that girl...

...and then a door in front of them opened and suddenly they were in the middle of the universe on a viewing platform.

The view was amazing. Even Sonic, who was actually trying to focus on finding another exit, couldn't help but be awestruck by the sheer space which his home planet Mobius filled when seen from above. Soft blue light was reflected from its atmosphere, washing over the girl and the hedgehog in a soothing change from the harsh red warning lights that flooded the rest of this place.

Sonic turned his head and looked back at the windows as he caught a glimpse of something, the same something he had seen in the pool. He stopped and looked closer this time.

It was Shadow.

Shadow was reflecting in the observation windows and he was holding this girl's hand, not Sonic. The hero of Mobius was slowly realising where he was; the first spherical Bernoulli space colony ARK.

And this was the night Maria would die.

Sonic panicked. At this moment he didn't care anymore that this was the past, didn't care that these were events that had long since happened and that he wasn't even in his own body. He only knew that he wouldn't be able to bear to see a child shot dead before his eyes.

Turning with lightning speed, he pulled at the girl's arm and began running again through the passageways. He didn't know where he was going. It didn't matter. Carelessly turning this way and that, Sonic had a feeling as if he was swallowed up by a maze far darker and far more deep than any space station could ever have been constructed. Maria was oddly silent as he towed her along, but kept up with him at his hand – until they were suddenly at a dead end.

Sonic's heart beat faster, the hedgehog having no idea what to do now, but feeling how something was closing in on them. He almost didn't realize as the blonde girl suddenly disentangled himself from Sonic's hand and stepped towards a doorway he hadn't seen. With a feeling of dread and a part of his mind suddenly again feeling strangely foggy, he followed her as she walked inside. The room's edges lay in darkness, but what was visible seemed just like the rest of what Sonic had seen; metal walls, metal floor and a metal ceiling. There were consoles with flashing lights all in front of large glass cylinders; they shone dully as the girl approached one of consoles and seemed to press a button with trance-like security that let one the cylinders raise into the ceiling.

Without thinking, Sonic stepped inside. By now he almost felt as if he had little to no control anymore about what was happening - and then the cylinder crashed down around him and sealed him in; and in a wave, all his feelings returned. Sonic whipped around and started all at once to bang his fists against the glass, pressing his face against the cold surface as he tried to scream, to reach her with his voice. Why had he gone in there? What was this strange world where the dead were alive and the living only re-enacted memories?

Sonic felt almost like he was suffocating in this tube now, knowing that this was so wrong... and then blonde girl that had once meant the world to someone, turned to face him and spoke her final words as tears ran down her face.

"Sayonara, Sonic the Hedgehog..."

And the ground beneath Sonic gave away and then he was falling into the void of space. The last thing he saw was only a man whose face was shrouded in darkness burst into the room and shoot the girl, her wide eyes remaining open as she fell face first to the floor.

Sonic's scream was soundless.

Then the capsule began to spin wildly as it neared Mobius and began to heat up as it hit the atmosphere. Sonic, even in his catatonic state now heard laughing as he descended and it was Robotnik's laughter; and then as though on some sort of cue the glass surrounding Sonic began to crack. The lines etched their way across the pod akin a see-through spider-web and with an almighty smashing sound, Sonic was all at once subject to intense heat and light. He felt his body burn, his flesh blacken and peel as he plummeted.

Sonic tried desperately to scream, but all he could draw into his lungs was searing heat.

Yes I have returned with another chapter. Dreadfully sorry about the long wait, but hopefully this was worth it. *crosses fingers*

Also I found I have fan art. The link can be found on my profile.

Please feel free to leave me a reviewand let me know what you think of the latest chapter.