Aha! Here I am, materializing before you in a shower of golden light, gracing your existence with this new chapter. I posted this story on a Thursday; why not update on Thursdays? Consider Thursday the Holy Day Of Sonic's Creepy Mirror.

...in all seriousness, I'm ecstatic over the positive response I've been getting for Water God. Thank you all so much! :D I plan to keep this machine churning. Be warned: I'm graduating soon, which means that the mother of all finals' weeks is upon us. My free time is about to reduce dramatically. Will this affect the update schedule? I'm gonna do all I can for it not to.

Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the second installment of this kills the man's "Sonic Suffers: The Anime"

Reviews = Happiness, joy, motivation, clear skin, watered crops.


"I was hoping you'd find me."

It occurred to Sonic for the first time that maybe, just maybe, taking the mirror was the worst decision he'd ever made in his life.

This situation didn't just spell trouble. No, it was a thirty-page thesis outlining the defining characteristics of trouble as it related to the hedgehog. If he didn't distract the apparition—which, if it really was some weird manifestation of Chaos, he'd eat his own shoe—then... well, he'd be neck deep in that hypothetical, boring thesis.

There was the whole 'oh-chaos-I-can't-look-away' issue, of course. At first he thought he'd just gotten a little caught up in the reflection's weird mind games, but, no, turns out that the hero literally could not move. How the apparition managed to physically restrain him alluded the hero. He hoped the motive for doing so wasn't as sinister as he suspected.

An idea struck the hedgehog, just as his little companion opened his (their? Do reflections have genders?) mouth to speak. "So," the hero whispered, "you've been lonely, too?"

That stopped the awful thing in their tracks. "What?"

"'You were hoping I'd find you'," reiterated the hedgehog. "Knux said this mirror hasn't been used in a while. No one to talk to, right? I'm happy to chat, y'know."

Sonic didn't think it was possible for the reflection to glare at him like that. When that glare turned into a full-out glower, he shot back a cheeky grin.

"...insolent. An absolute dunce," the apparition finally grumbled under their breath, looking away. "And you're supposed to be—"

"Sounds like a personal problem, dude," Sonic cut off.

The hedgehog finally achieved his main goal: Get the apparition to break eye contact with him.

With that, he plunged the mirror "face" first into the sand, hopping to his feet and kicking a few extra clumps over the artifact. He whistled at how the mirror practically vibrated with rage.

"Well, full offense, but I've got better things to do," said the hedgehog. He strolled away from the impromptu burial site, savoring those first few seconds of freedom. Still, even as he whistled on his merry way, it occurred him how screwed he could have been; what if his words failed back there? Whatever that freak was about to say would've kept him under lock and key for good, he was sure of it. Call it a gut feeling.

Seconds before he could actually break into a sprint, a finger tapped on his shoulder.

"What—?" Sonic whipped around immediately, only to come face-to-face with, well, no one. Only the sea salt permeating the air shared his companionship.

Okay, sure, he fumed, start going crazy when a magical mirror isn't trying to... do whatever it was doing.

Their actions still puzzled him. Still, the confusion failed to negate his growing frustration at the whole ordeal. He pivoted back the way he came and started walking a little faster, pace brisk enough to kick up the sand behind him.

"Sonic?"

Ignore it, the hedgehog thought. He contemplated just booking it out of there as he almost did moments earlier.

That voice—his voice, he swore—called out once more, right in his ear. "Please turn around."

"No," was Sonic's curt reply.

"...I'm sorry."

"Well maybe stop the whole mirror thing then!" The hedgehog cried. "Some people don't like talking to themselves all of the time."

A pause filtered through before the voice returned, this time in a tone too patronizing for the hero to stand. "Oh, you poor thing. You still don't get it."

Sonic almost lost it right there. He clenched his hands into fists, stifling the snarl bubbling in his chest. Instead, he managed a clipped, "Shut it."

The voice continued, heedless of the venom in the hedgehog's words. "Your logic is flawed. Why would a god assume the form of a mortal for prayer?"

Sonic scoffed. "Gee, this sure doesn't sound like my praying to your waterlogged butt!"

Okay, he was pretty sure that was going a bit too far but, after the absurdity of the two's interaction, he couldn't believe the mirror actually contacted Chaos; there's no way that the ethereal being sounded like this—none, zilch, zero, nada.

If he had pockets, he'd shove his hands into them at this point. Instead, they fidgeted by his sides, itching to smack something, anything.

Sonic stopped. He, he—he couldn't breathe.

His chest refused to expand, and whatever wrenched his airway shut had a vice grip. As the hedgehog clawed at his throat, hissing in a meager attempt to get air in as opposed to out, the strange, lilting version of his tenor boomed from both everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Do not disrespect me."

The hedgehog dropped to his knees, fingers setting his windpipe ablaze at even the barest touch.

Then the voice quieted, the following murmur a strange juxtaposition to the previous sea of rage. "You don't think you deserve this, do you?"

Sonic shuddered.

"Let me propose a little trade, then."

The iron grip around his neck loosened, leaving him so lightheaded from the relief that his surroundings blurred into one giant jumble of colors. The hedgehog could barely form coherent thoughts. For him, it was an experience just to be alive for the moment. Sinking down onto his elbows, he stared at the granules of sand shifting around his forearms.

"What..." the hero started, but paused, breathless after only a word. He hadn't been strangled for that long, had he? "What trade?"

"Grab that mirror for me, please? I'll stop hurting you."

There lied possibly the least compelling bribe Sonic ever heard. Take an unnecessary risk just to avoid getting pushed around a little? "Yeah..." huff, puff. "Right..."

"I knew you'd say that."

Goodbye, relief. Hello, lack of air.

Sonic's elbows slipped from beneath him, his forehead pressed against the sand as he shook. It hurt, it hurt so bad, it was like a metal rod slammed into his windpipe, only for the pain to trickle down into his chest like magma into a roiling ocean. The hero couldn't even hear himself think.

"I'm in control, and you know it," crooned the voice. It came from behind him now, a whisper into his left ear.

Sonic tried to cut through the haze in his mind and figure out how in the world this even happened. Then the truth slammed into his gut. Of course. It really was the worst decision he'd ever made in his life.

He spoke to the mirror. He gave it a voice. He looked straight into the eyes of that apparition and asked for a response.

What better response than to leave the mirror and leap straight into his head?

Silence smothered the trio, all at a loss for words after the ultimate lifeform's outburst.

Finally, the pilot spoke up. "Let's say you're right." Tails glanced back at the new arrival's perch for a moment, eyeing the hedgehog with suspicion. "Answer this, then."

Shadow only rubbed at his temples, still trying to calm himself. "Sure. Whatever."

"Why do you know about the artifact?"

To the fox's surprise, his unwanted companion answered immediately. "Professor Gerald Robotnik's research covered immortality. The legends passed down in the late echidna tribe intrigued him, as they extensively detailed the legend of an all-powerful creature." The hedgehog leaned over the wing a bit towards the other occupants. "He dubbed the subject of the legend 'the ultimate lifeform,' a being able to wield the power of all seven chaos emeralds in order to enter an invincible, god-like form. The following projects aimed to replicate the attributes of such a state."

Knuckles narrowed his eyes at the passenger behind—above?—him. "Are you saying that the mirror is connected to the legend?"

Shadow's brows furrowed. "I assumed you would know about this."

"Well, excuse me if no one bothered to tell their last guardian before disappearing!"

"Knuckles, calm down," Tails interjected. Even though the pilot faced away from the group, he waved his hand toward the hedgehog. "Continue."

The ultimate lifeform rolled his shoulders a bit before plowing on, loosening up muscular tension in an attempt to ease the social. "Much of echidnian folklore overlaps. When compared side-by-side, it's inferred that a being such as the one of the legend contains some of Chaos itself within their soul, and, as such, they might lose their sense of self when in direct spiritual contact with the god."

Knuckles sighed. "You're implying Sonic's the legendary being." It wasn't a question.

"Going by what Shadow described, he does fit the main criteria of the subject," said Tails. A form with a 'super-' prefix came to mind. "He's not an actual god, though, right? I'd have a little trouble believing that." The legendary thing sounds fake, too, but okay.

"No, he's not," confirmed Shadow. "He's about as much of a god as—"

"Yeah, yeah, so basically," and Knuckles stared straight into the back of the fox's head with these words, "we have our second opinion and don't need to raid a heavily fortified base."

Tails felt the accusation in the echidna's eyes. "Guess not."

"Not as though you'd gain anything from the venture," Shadowed muttered. "The professor's research is up on the ARK. You'd find nothing."

The pilot considered flipping the plane over.

Another thought occurred to Sonic, this time an encouraging force instead of deterring.

His mental captor, seeming to sense the hedgehog's question, released their hold on his throat, just a little. He used the opportunity to prop himself up on his elbows and shoot a look over his shoulder. That was the last position of the voice, after all.

"Why do you need the mirror if you're already out of it?" Sonic rasped out.

In the ensuing pause, the grip around the hedgehog's throat eased further, almost entirely gone by the time the voice responded. "Excellent question."

"...And?"

Did the voice just laugh? "Why would I answer that? I don't really care about your insight, rodent."

"Excuse me?!" exclaimed the hedgehog, quills bristling at the all-too-familiar insult. "I'm not a rodent!" In his annoyance he failed to notice that that the apparition, too, was a hedgehog Why were they even using the 'rodent' card?

His mental captor said nothing. In fact, they did nothing for quite a while.

A minute of silence passed before the lack of action registered in the hedgehog's brain. This was his chance!

Sonic climbed to his feet, chest and neck free of the constrictive force that haunted him only moments prior. Well, no time like the present. He knelt into a runner's stance, only to shoot at least thirty meters from his spot in an instant.

"Well, if you must know..."

When the hedgehog blinked, he found himself back on the oceanfront, stock-still (what?) and a few feet away from the buried artifact (what?!).

"I need to remove the both of us from the mirror's realm."

Sonic gasped when a hand—an actual hand—landed on his shoulder, fingers digging into the seam where blue and peach fur met.

"I'm not in your head," they continued. "You're in mine."

Sonic looked down to where the digits clamped down, only see his own glove. A shiver wracked his body.

"Now, wouldn't you like to get back to reality?" they said, voice uncomfortably close and, for the first time, from somewhere—someone—corporeal. "I won't interfere, I promise. I just want to get out, too."

Soon the hand on the shoulder became a desperate cling to the hero's side, his strange double-but-not actually shaking. "I really am lonely." They sounded so fragile; Sonic, if he weren't the epitome of suspicious towards the apparition, would have felt a pang in his heart. "Please forgive me."

The hedgehog wanted to shake his head. This is just more manipulation. You're talking to a supposed god for Chaos' sake! They're not actually in here! Not to mention the fact that they attacked him maybe a minute ago. His neck was still sore from that.

Still, it was also a possibility that he operated under the wrong assumptions. The hero objected to the idea of this reflection being the god at all, and Knuckles admitted himself his lack of knowledge about the artifact. For all he knew the mirror actually imprisoned this... god or sentient reflection or Chaos knows what.

(It sure felt like a prison if he had anything to say about it.)

Wanting to ask while the apparition still appeared somewhat sedate, perhaps even vulnerable, he opened his mouth to speak, only for the words to crumble into a simple "I, um."

Well, Sonic might have been a little distracted by the hug from himself at the moment.

"You won't even notice I'm there, you know," the aforementioned lookalike mumbled. "If we leave, you'll even forget about me. About this place. All of it. It's a fair trade."

Coercion or no, Sonic was feeling a little antsy standing on such an eerily quiet Emerald Coast. He wanted to leave just as much as the reflection did.

After a second of painful deliberation, the hero nodded. "Okay, I'll grab the mirror." When the embrace tightened, he added, in a rush, "Would you let go so that I can do that, please?

Later, Sonic would admit that his lookalike let go maybe a bit too quickly.

Still, in the moment the action transpired, he felt nothing but relief from his newfound freedom, ready to walk over and end what quickly became a living hell. He knelt in front of the lump and quickly pushed globs of sand aside, revealing the mirror in pristine condition. He picked it up without thinking on that last detail too much.

"Okay, what next?' Sonic asked. He didn't turn around if only because the thought of talking to himself in the flesh, face to face, made his skin crawl. Shadow was plenty in terms of doubles.

To his unending relief, the apparition stayed both far away from his person and within a reasonable volume range. "Just hold that for me, will you? I'll come over and handle the rest."

Scratch the 'stay far away from his person' part, actually.

"Um, can you do whatever you're gonna do from there?" And never touch me again?

"Unfortunately, no—"

Oh, brother. "Then deal's off. If I can do what you were gonna do instead, then I'm still up for this, but—" I need to keep control of the situation and I don't trust you both came to mind and ultimately stayed there— "I can't leave without knowing how to release other people trapped in evil ancient mirrors, yeah?" Lame excuse, but whatever.

At first, he thought the lack of response indicated contemplation. The second pair of hands that grasped the artifact's handle a few seconds later shut down that theory.

"You make this too hard on yourself," the voice chastised. "Close your eyes."

"What the h—"

"I'll close them for you if you don't."

His eyes never snapped shut so fast in his entire life.

You're getting out of here it doesn't matter if you're being tricked you can do something about it as soon as you're out just calm down Sonic—

The ground beneath them crumbled, and Sonic found himself in a freefall towards a black abyss.

"Where first?" asked the echidna when Station Square's skyline came into view.

A piercing shriek answered that question.

"Emerald Coast!" cried Tails. "It came from there!" Indeed, just on the other side of the incoming city was the aforementioned oceanfront, and the scream definitely barrelled from that direction, the fox was sure. When he glanced back at the others, he saw agreement flash through their eyes.

A problem occurred to the pilot then. "Wait, we won't be able to land close enough!" Their best bet was maybe a mile away from the city, meaning a rather arduous walk towards their destination. They'd be too late.

"The distance is non-consequential."

When the fox shot the speaker, Shadow, a confused look, he simply pulled an emerald out of his quills in reply.

"...Oh." Of course. Well, Shadow's method of getting to the plane mid-flight sat right there in the hedgehog's palm.

"Precisely. Land as soon as you can."

Hng...

When Sonic opened his eyes, he was more than convinced that he was the lucky winner of steamroller, only to get crushed by his own prize and left sans-rolling device. Of course, he had no idea why; he'd arrived on the beach just a moment ago, ready to try and start up a little chat with his new 'friend.'

The hero wasn't sure when he fell asleep but, given the proximity of the sun to the horizon, it appeared as though he conked out for quite a while.

After spending a good minute or two splayed out across the sand, Sonic raised his head; or, he tried to. The hedgehog plopped face-first back into the soft earth as soon as he managed to get up a few inches. He resigned himself to another second of recuperation. Not unwanted, given the whole steam-rolled situation he woke up to.

The hero still didn't understand why he fell asleep in the first place.

Stupid sunshine and its stupid relaxing qualities on this stupidly beautiful ocean shore. Stupid.

A few seconds later found Sonic deciding to brave another attempt at getting up. This proved marginally successful, as pulling his hands under his shoulders and subsequently pushing into the sand seemed to do the trick in righting his upper body.

Sitting would do for now.

He took the opportunity to scan his surroundings. The last of the evening crowd already dissipated, it seemed, which didn't surprise Sonic. The time of year meant that, beautiful sunset or no, sane individuals didn't dare face the chill winds that blew in from the ocean. The hedgehog shivered a little himself as such an aforementioned breeze barrelled across the sand. Well, that was his cue to go, he supposed.

Enough of the steamroll-variety feeling eased up for the hedgehog to stumble to his feet. Not enough to avoid the dizziness that followed the action, though. Sonic leaned back on his heels and waited for the feeling to pass, eyes glued to the maroons and violets painting the sky.

Am I forgetting something? the hedgehog wondered. He opened and closed his hands a few times before his eyes widened in realization. He dropped the mirror. Then the question arose as to where.

Looking down, he spotted the artifact by his feet. Huh.

Sonic scooped it up without a second thought. Couldn't lose it if he wanted to return it to Tails, after all. Oh, and the whole 'Knuckles would murder me' tidbit stuck a chord with him as well.

What to do, what to do... The hedgehog still had a half an hour of daylight, and to go home right then sounded like a waste to him. Plus, if he was lucky, he might fit in some stargazing before returning to the workshop. Possibly get info out of the mirror in his grip. Tails could wait a little while longer, right?

On the other hand, Sonic lost the desire to be around the artifact at all. It was so... obnoxious, fragile. He should just get rid of—wait.

That didn't sound right. When the hero glanced down at the artifact once more, the urge hit him, harder this time. To get rid of the mirror. What that meant alluded the hedgehog.

Return it? Leave it here? Break it?

Yes, break it, some voice in the back of his mind cheered. Shaking his head to clear the intrusive thought, Sonic tore his eyes from the artifact and back towards the horizon. The sun sank lower with each passing second. He was wasting time.

But, where to go remained a mystery. This uncertainty garnered more space for that same urge to cross his mind, a persistent break it, break it now that the hedgehog couldn't identify.

Sonic noticed that the mirror rose to his eyes only when it blocked the sun from view.

Call it spite, or maybe some other form of attitude, but the hedgehog wanted to keep the mirror intact just to defy the irrational, sourceless nagging. Why he felt weary all of the sudden, he didn't know. He got the impression that he dealt with a similar presence already that afternoon.

Break it, break it, shatter it—

"Shut up!" he cried, eyes squeezed shut and fists clenched so hard they shook. One such hand almost crumpled the handle with the force of its grip. Oh, gee, wouldn't that satisfy those demands.

That voice wasn't his. The revelation hit Sonic like a wall of bricks.

If he gave in, then what? Would it stop?

...

He really wanted it to stop.

"—control!"

One could learn a lot about the individuals hurtling from the portal by their landings alone. The hedgehog of the group, for starters, didn't hurtle; he landed square on his feet below the rip in spacetime. His companions weren't so lucky. Their fox component came within inches of slamming face first into a wall, were it not for the rescue of his namesakes. Then, of course, the echidna rammed his face into the very same wall the kid avoided.

All three slumped when they saw their location.

"Shadow, really?" Tails huffed. "We were supposed to go to the beach, not, um, where ever this is...?"

The ultimate lifeform looked no less disgruntled by their surroundings. "There must have been interference right before we reached the coast. That's the only explanation I can think of."

"Interference from what?" grumbled a sore and possibly furious Knuckles. "Another emerald? One of Eggman's mechs? A starfish?"

"Listen here you—"

Tails rushed between the two before a brawl could start, which proved imminent when they started marching towards each other, Shadow's finger poised in the direction of the echidna.

"Shut it!" the fox commanded. "We don't have time for this. Shadow, do you have any idea where we are right now?"

The hedgehog closed his eyes for a moment. "Maybe fifty meters from our destination?" He finally answered. "Not far. We were released from the portal fairly late to be any significant distance away."

"Good," said Tails. He looked around their space for a moment, only then noticing the distinct lack of light. The fact that he could see his companions at all amazed him. Spying several crates and a few barrels, as well as the concrete beneath them, the fox deduced that they were in a storage area of some sort.

Decision made, Tails looked towards the others and motioned to their surroundings. "Let's split and look for an exit. Give a shout when you do."

Thus, the search began.

...and promptly ended a few seconds later, as the room was maybe a hundred square meters at best and the door turned out to be right next to where Knuckles landed post-jettison.

In Tails' defense, the room looked a lot larger in the dark.

"Judging by the size of the door," stated Tails, "this should take us directly outside, rather than into the one of the halls of the facility."

"Well, let's go then!" shouted an overeager Knuckles (he just wanted to get out of there, dammit. They've wasted so much time. Sonic's in danger!) He was over to the door in seconds, winding up his arm for a punch in a few more, and Shadow's eyes widened in alarm.

"Wait, don't—" the hedgehog cried, but it was too late.

When the echidna's fist hit the metal, it ricocheted right off, the force of the blowback sending him flying into the stack of crates behind the three with a loud crash! All of the room's inhabitants noticed the flash of light upon knuckle-to-door impact.

"...touch that."

There's the interference.

The 'voice' only grew more persistent. Pleading, even. Bargaining?

Just break the mirror. It's dangerous and nobody even uses it anymore. Break it. Break it.

Sonic drifted over to the ocean shore, numb to the spray at his feet as the water grew restless. It pulled in the direction of the artifact. This, of course, only added to the strangeness of the situation, and thus to the hedgehog's unease.

Just—

"Break it, yeah, I get it you broken record," Sonic grumbled under his breath. His shoulders tensed at the words. Something in his gut told him he shouldn't have said that.

Nothing happened, though. He shrugged it off as stress.

His eyes scanned along the oceanfront, crawling across the strip for any sort of object to, well, bash things with. He'd just throw the artifact on the ground if he didn't suspect the sand would soften the fall. The thing's so fragile, why not just crush it, or...

Look on the back.

The back? Sonic flipped the mirror hesitantly and, sure enough, he saw just what he needed.

The small stone on the back of the mirror held the thing together via a 'web' of pillars connecting to the outer frame. If he could remove that somehow, the whole thing would fall apart. That should do the trick.

"Okay, voice in the back of my head, should I just pry the baby out or what?"

A small hum indicated the voice's contentment.

"Well, let's do it then!"