Day Fourteen, Prompt: Flares/Water Inhalation
There was a point in the midst of his struggle that Sonic forgot how to breathe.
"Twenty-Eight"
"Twenty-Nine"
"Thirty"
Someone was blowing air into his water-capped lungs
"One"
"Two
"Three"
His chest really hurt like someone had repeatedly punched him there over and over. Ears felt as if they were stuffed with cotton. Voices could be heard in the background but they were immensely muffled.
"Four"
"Five"
"Six"
Sonic felt himself floating. He felt incredibly light like he had separated himself from his body and the weight of it had been left behind. It was… overstimulating if he could find a word for it. Everything felt like it was happening all at once.
He hears familiar voices and also what he thinks are waves of water nearby crashing against small rocks that were near the shore.
He felt cold and could feel himself trembling. Someone is holding his hand and pushing down against his chest harshly. It hurt there, something might be dislocated or broken.
He sees a light surrounded by darkness like the sun. It was so close yet so far. He wanted to reach out but his limbs weren't listening to him.
"Seven"
"Eight"
"Nine"
He stared at that for what felt like a very long time. They say you should never look at the sun for you may hurt your eyes and cause blindness but he looked at it anyway. It didn't hurt or anything. It brought him a sense of peace? Freedom? Sonic wasn't sure but it made him feel warm inside. Like the burdens of the world no longer weighed him down. Like everything he has ever worried about washed away. Nothing troubled him and nothing worried him. He did feel at peace, he supposed.
"Ten"
"Eleven"
"Twelve"
Sonic thinks he's dying. Is this what dying felt like? He wasn't expecting it to be so peaceful. So…freeing. Sure he's heard the phrase may they rest in peace but he didn't think much of it. He just thought people died, loved ones died and that was it. No suffering and that was that. But now it felt as if his life was being played like a movie. Everything he ever thought he knew, everything he did know, everyone he loved and cherished, everything felt settled.
"Thirteen"
"Fourteen"
"Fifteen"
Some of his favorite memories played. When he first met Tails at South Island, it felt like he finally found the family he was always searching for, his little brother. Tails has opened his eyes to a whole new world. How to be a good brother. How to raise a good hearted child. How to be patient. How to love.
Another memory played, it was Knuckles, Tails, and him banding together to defeat Eggman when the doctor had taken the Master Emerald hostage and he was forced to become Super Sonic and go out into interstellar space to retrieve it. There were a handful of times when his fights took place in space and those he thought to be the most fun.
Meeting Shadow was another good one, he's never seen a hedgehog like him come close if not the exact qualities he had. Sure it was intimidating at first but seeing another hedgehog like him being able to go Super with the Chaos Emeralds too was an amazing sight he never thought he would ever come to see. It filled him with excitement and it made him not feel so alone. Despite their differences, Sonic and Shadow have to come to be good friends and their rivalry proves that much.
"Sixteen"
"Seventeen"
"Eighteen"
It seemed impossible but Sonic could almost remember everyone he had ever saved, from Tails himself to Chip, his friendly God, to even just a young girl from the streets of Station Square. He remembered the many lives he helped save and the lives he impacted. Being a hero to the world and the fame that came along with it wasn't easy and an imperfect hero was bound to make mistakes. He felt the weight of the world on his shoulders, their expectations, their needs. It felt so relieveing to momentarily let that go. At least he thought it was temporary.
His ears have cleared up some and he thinks he can hear someone counting but he's still having a hard time figuring out who the voice belongs to. It's deep and very focused on what they're doing. Are they the one who is pounding down at his chest? He couldn't tell but what he thinks he knows is that the individual is very strong.
"Nineteen"
"Twenty"
"Twenty-One"
The memories cease and the light has gotten farther away. He's upset. He wanted to get closer to it, not further away from it. Maybe it was a good sign, maybe he didn't want to get toward the light. Who knows what was in store for him yet he questioned what it could be regardless.
That peace he had felt started fading off and replaced with an immense sense of pain. His lungs felt like they were on fire. Burning from the inside out. He couldn't breathe. He just realized he couldn't breathe.
Trying to take deep breaths wasn't possible. He felt stuck. It almost felt like he was stuck in limbo. In between something. Nowhere to go. Just waiting.
"Twenty-Two"
"Twenty-Three"
"Twenty-Four"
The cold is there but he feels much colder than he remembers. He's shaking fiercely now, teeth chattering. He wants to wrap himself with his arms but his limbs are still not listening to him. They were numb and useless. Sonic wanted to panic.
Was this a dream? A nightmare? A sleep paralysis type of thing he's always heard about? That has never happened to him, perhaps that's what's happening now? Shouldn't sleep paralysis be scary though? All he has been put through was relieving his life, his memories, the good times. None of that was scary or bad. He had many questions and Sonic was uncertain if they were ever going to be answered.
"Twenty-Five"
"Twenty-Six"
"Twenty-Seven"
They keep counting. How far they will go he doesn't know. Sonic concentrates, he's focusing so hard because it's frustrating him that he can't put a face to the voice. A name to the face. He can't think about anything else but what the individual is counting. Why are they counting? Are they counting at him or for him? Ugh, these questions just keep swirling around in his head like a funnel.
Sonic's thinking. He thinks so hard because he knows that voice and it takes him a second but eventually, finally, he can be sure that it's Knuckles that he hears counting in the background.
"Twenty-Eight"
"Twenty-Nine"
"Thirty"
They stop. The counting stops and the pressure on his chest suppresses only leaving behind a major ache. He feels a mouth on his own. Gross. A fresh hint of air blew into his lungs once again. The air of life. It's done again and everything stops.
Sonic's ears are unstuffed immediately after the second blow. He could hear everything so clearly now. Sonic realized he was cold because he was damp and wet all over. The ocean water splashed near him. The sand underneath his frame. The sudden urge to throw up all of a sudden from the rise of a certain liquid quickly rised in his throat.
And he wakes up. Water overflows out his mouth and Knuckles turns him to his side, trying to rid of all that water that is still in his lungs. After he thinks he's finally rid of all that water in his system, he just coughs. Wet flares spewed out and it hurt to cough. He thinks a rib or two might be broken and it's contributing to his pain.
When he finally is in control of his breathing he lays back down, eyes half lidded.
"Sonic! Can you hear us?!" yelled the young fox who Sonic had not realized had been nearby this whole time.
His vision is blurry and it stings. He turns to his right, eyeing the ocean. It hits him all at once.
He almost drowned. He almost died. Chaos, he almost touched the light. He wasn't dead.
He wasn't dead.
Sonic looks back up at his friends. Their faces filled with worry yet relief at the same time. "Sorry about your ribs, I might've broken some to give you CPR." Knuckles informed.
Sonic doesn't respond, he just nods. Knuckles and Tails help him sit and Sonic feels himself swaying and the young fox lets his older brother lean against him. The two are so, so relieved. They knew how much Sonic hated water; they both knew how much more Sonic was going to hate it now after his near-drowning incident.
But Tails had to thank Gaia for letting Sonic be so stubborn in everything, especially when it came to near death experiences. The three sit there on the sand, side by side watching the sunset and the ombre of reds and oranges color the sky.
Sonic may never feel that amount of peace that he felt while on the brink of death again, but his friends were enough. They were more than enough to give him a taste of it.
He breathes.
Officially two weeks into Tropetober! Now let's hope we can make it to the end of this month, also here's update number two for today. I'll try to not get behind again.