Sonic
Kintobor laughed overhead as a tidal wave crashed over Sonic, the water sending him rolling and tumbling beneath it. This time he managed to surface, clutching a pile of driftwood, gasping for breath as he saw his siblings being washed away, powerless to help them. Thousands of people, mostly strangers but not all, rushed by him in the crashing current. Sonic cried out as his grip loosened on the driftwood, his heart pounding. He screamed as he finally lost his grip, tumbling once again in the current.
"Hey," said a voice, soft and familiar. "Love, wake up."
Sonic gasped as his eyes bolted open, looking wildly about the room before they settled on Shadow, who stood next to the bed, leaning over him, his hands on his shoulders, and he sighed as relief warded off the chill of fear in his veins. He swallowed. "Still the same," he said, answering Shadow's unspoken question. "But I don't think it was her this time."
Indeed, the echidna girl they'd rescued from Kintobor's dungeons hadn't appeared in his dreams for days, and if she did, she was little more than a shining red light. But that didn't stop him from dreaming of the disaster she had shown him again and again.
Shadow nodded as he gently ran his fingers through Sonic's tangled quills, which were still partly crossed in fear, making them even spikier than usual. He always did this after he woke from a nightmare. He did it for Amy too, who was still asleep next to Sonic, though she seemed to be sleeping much better than he was. In a moment, Sonic was purring softly, leaning into Shadow's touch with a soft smile spreading on his face. Shadow smiled and pressed a soft kiss to his lips before standing up properly. "I'm going to go get the crew up," he said.
"'Kay," Sonic said with a yawn, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and getting out of it as Shadow put on his coat and boots, grabbing his hat as he walked out the door of their cabin. He shivered, the early morning air cold. The sun hadn't even risen yet, the sky just barely beginning to lighten as he looked out the window. But that didn't surprise him. Shadow had always been an early riser. Normally Sonic would have slept longer, but the nightmares had other ideas.
He pulled on his shirt and vest and a pair of socks, trying to stay quiet to avoid waking Amy. However, he forgot about a squeaky floorboard, and Sonic cursed under his breath as Amy stirred, her eyes fluttering open. "Sorry, Ames," Sonic said quietly.
Amy didn't respond, but she didn't look particularly angry either. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, and he could see her shiver a little as the blanket dropped, exposing her shoulders. Sonic walked over and sat next to her, reaching an arm out in an invitation for her to lean on him, which she took gladly, burrowing into him with a soft smile. "Good morning," she sang softly.
Sonic smiled. "Good morning," he replied. "How'd you sleep?"
"Fine, except for you waking me up," Amy said teasingly. "What about you?"
Sonic shrugged. "Same as usual," he said, and Amy's smile faded. He'd been having near-constant nightmares since they'd found Tikal. At first it had merely been Tikal speaking to him and warning him within his dreams, but now it didn't seem to matter if she was there or not. He knew Amy didn't like hearing about them though, mostly because she could only do so much to soothe him. Neither her nor Shadow could make the nightmares stop.
He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "But hey, I'll be fine once we find the island," Sonic said with a smile.
Amy nodded. "I just hope we find it soon," she said. She pulled away, coming back to kiss him on the lips, then crawled out of bed and started getting dressed.
Sonic pulled on his boots and left the cabin, shutting the door behind him. At the helm, which was positioned above the room he shared with his partners, stood his brother, Manic. He ascended the stairs and came up next to him. "Anything new?" he asked.
Manic looked at him. "Nah, just another whale surfacing earlier," he said. "No cool monsters or anything."
Sonic smiled. "Is Sonia still mad about you taking the last grapefruit in the stores last night?" he asked.
"Hell if I know, man," Manic replied. "She still isn't up so she hasn't had the opportunity to chuck anything at my head yet. And don't forget you were the one who said I could have it before she could call dibs so it's you who she should be mad at."
"Whyever would she be mad at her big brother?" Sonic said, and Manic rolled his eyes and elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow, hey!"
"Eight minutes," Manic said. "If I'd just been born ten minutes earlier–"
"Well ya weren't," Sonic said, ruffling the quills sticking out on top of Manic's head. "And hey, I'm an awesome big brother, right?"
"Pfft, whatever," Manic said. Then he looked back towards the front of the ship, squinting a little bit. "Looks like the kid's up," he said as he straightened, looking back up to the sea in front of them. "Good. If I'm here much longer I'm gonna pass out on the wheel."
Sonic looked down onto the deck and sure enough, Tails was walking about, stretching his legs. He yawned, and Sonic saw his eyes dart over to where he and Manic stood, then dart away quickly. He was sort of used to this by now, but Sonic's heart still sank. The kid had been ignoring him since shortly after they'd rescued several mages from the palace–including Manic–and often refused to look at him.
He hadn't even meant to say what he did. He hadn't meant to say that it was better now that Tails's brother was dead. Well, it was, but it wasn't better that Tails was going through the pain of grief. Sonic had meant that he was safer now with Martin gone. They all were. But that didn't seem to be how Tails had interpreted it.
Manic noticed his mood shift and reached over, squeezing Sonic's shoulder comfortingly. "He'll come around eventually," he said, though he didn't sound convinced. Manic patted Sonic on the back. "He's been through a lot. We all have. Maybe he just needs some time to process some of it?"
Sonic shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "I just… feel kinda bad, ya know?"
"Yeah, I know," Manic said. Then he yawned again, his eyes bleary as he looked out onto the deck again. "Oh, there's Tangle," he said. "Looks like it's time to unfurl the sails."
Sonic nodded, then waved at Manic as he turned towards the steps leading down to the deck. "Hope you sleep well," he said.
"I will," Manic said. "Tonight was so boring I kept almost passing out anyway."
Sonic chuckled, then made his way down the stairs, jogging up to Tangle, who had her tail wrapped around herself as she shivered, rubbing her hands together. "Ugh, why is it always so cold?" she complained. "It's the middle of summer!"
Sonic made an "I don't know" sound in his throat, then grinned. "Wanna race up to the top of the mast?" he asked.
"Pffft, no way," Tangle replied. "Not without a head start anyway!" She took off running towards the mast with a triumphant laugh, wrapping her tail around the highest beam she could and pulling herself up. Sonic laughed and followed, jumping from beam to beam and catching up with Tangle within moments, then surpassing her. She reached the crows nest mere moments after he did, glaring playfully at him. "Dang it," she said. "I was close though! I almost had it!"
"Better luck next time," Sonic said, extending a hand for her to shake, which she did, wrapping his hand with her big, fluffy tail and shaking it once firmly. Then he stopped, realizing both their hands were empty. "So… we have to get the ropes now."
"Oh…" Tangle said sheepishly.
A little while later, Sonic went down to the hold, greeting Whisper, who was down there taking stock of their inventory; their stores seemed to be running low, the hold actually open enough that he could walk around fairly easily. In the corner lay an echidna girl with pale orange fur everywhere save her muzzle, which was a dark warm brown, though it looked more dull than Sonic suspected it was supposed to. Her chest shuddered with each breath, as if the mere act of breathing took all the strength she had. Her cheeks jutted out beneath her skin, having eaten what little they could safely get her to swallow.
Tikal hadn't woken even once since they'd found her in Kintobor's dungeons. And she looked worse every day the longer they spent looking for the place she'd shown him in his dreams. A place that Sonic wasn't even sure existed. All he had to go off of was a passage from a book Shadow had found in the royal library shortly before they'd set sail.
" Winding through the caverns, hiding with the crystals, lay a treasure beyond measure.
Creatures long-gone, water beasts sealed away, sleeping tight.
Take the bridge to the sky, and there lies
The Island in the Sky."
What was any of that supposed to mean?
"We'll be stopping later," said a voice, and Sonic looked up at Whisper, a little surprised that she had spoken. She spoke more often now than when he'd first ended up on Shadow's ship, a total stranger trapped on a ship at the mercy of a band of privateers.
"To get supplies?" Sonic asked, and Whisper nodded. He grinned. "Nice," he said. "I can walk on solid ground for a bit." As much as he loved his partners, he had always hated the sea, and he still hadn't learned to swim. It always put him a little more at ease to set foot on land.
Whisper chuckled softly, then went back to taking inventory as Tangle entered the hold, her eyes lighting up as she caught sight of her girlfriend. "Awoo," she said, which seemed to be more of a "hello" than anything. Whisper responded with a tiny howl of her own as Tangle approached her, wrapping her arms around her before kissing her gently.
Sonic politely looked away and back down at Tikal's unconscious form. How was it that she was still communicating with him? It seemed the connection was severed when he was awake, but when he was asleep, she would appear whenever she could. The connection had been weakening as she wasted further and further away, but it was still there. Why?
Sonic shook his head, then went over to the crates of food, taking out an apple and holding it in his mouth as he pulled a few other things out, sort of juggling them in his hands until Whisper finally rolled her eyes and put a food tray in front of him. He thanked her, though it was muffled, a rather large chunk of apple still in his mouth, and left the hold and headed back into the captain's quarters.
When he opened the door, Shadow sat behind his desk, sort of staring into the space ahead of him absently. He did this rather frequently, Sonic had come to find. Especially on the mornings when he woke him with his nightmares. He waited until he finished the bite of apple in his mouth before he spoke. "So, I hear we're gonna make another stop already?" he asked as he set the food tray down in front of the captain, not even bothering to hide the excitement in his voice.
Shadow's eyes focused, and he nodded, smiling softly. "Just for supplies," he said. "Any luck on figuring out the book passage?"
The excitement in Sonic's chest deflated, and his shoulders slumped as he shook his head. "No…" he sighed. "I don't have enough background knowledge of geography or anything to be able to interpret it. Even Sonia can't figure it out and she's always been the smartest out of the three of us." Before Kintobor had taken the throne, Sonia had spent almost all her time at the Capital City library, and had read a large chunk if not most of the geography books in the building.
"Hmmm," Shadow hummed, his eyes glazing over a little as he thought. "How is Tikal faring?" he asked.
Sonic sighed. "She's getting weaker," he said, and he told him about how little she'd really been appearing in his dreams of late. "I… I don't know if she's gonna make it, Shads," he finished hesitantly, dread weighing in his chest. What if she died and they never got to Angel Island? Would all of Sonic's worst nightmares come to pass?
Shadow said nothing, and after a moment, he stood and passed Sonic as he left the room, leaving him to follow him as he emerged onto the deck, then went down into the hold. By this time, Amy was in the corner with Tikal, a soft glow in her hands and a sweet, warming melody in the air as she worked a spell on her. They waited until she was done, the last note of the song fading into soft echoes, before Shadow finally spoke.
"How is she?" he asked Amy.
Amy sighed, and Sonic couldn't help but notice the dark circles beginning to gather beneath her eyes. "If we can't get her to wake up soon, I don't think she'll last much longer," she said. "She hasn't eaten in forever, we've only been able to get her to swallow small things, mostly liquids. And my spells can only do so much."
Sonic looked down at the floor, his chest feeling even heavier. "I gotta figure out how to get there," he murmured to himself.
Silence stretched between the trio, save for Tikal's labored breaths, until Amy finally smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm sure you'll figure it out soon!" she said, and Sonic wished he could believe the cheer in her voice was real, but there was a flatness to it that gave her away. He knew Shadow could hear it too, but he watched as he just kissed her gently on the forehead, then walked back out of the hold, already onto the next thing out of many tasks that needed to be done.
Sonic ran his fingers through Amy's bangs, then massaged his fingers on top of her head, earning a quiet purr from her before she smiled–a little more genuinely–and waved him off, turning back to Tikal. He turned and followed Shadow out of the hold, stopping when they were both topside.
"Let me see the book again," Shadow said, and Sonic nodded, darting back to the captain's quarters and bringing the heavy leather-bound volume back in less than a second. An old hair ribbon Amy hadn't worn in years stuck out between two pages, acting as a makeshift bookmark, and when he handed the book to Shadow, the captain turned to that point, his eyes flitting over the words as he read the same passage over and over again.
Shadow had told Sonic what little he knew of Angel Island. He'd told him it was supposedly an island that floated in the sky, high above the world they knew. No one had been able to reach it in hundreds of years, assuming it existed at all, which was highly unlikely. The book was a collection of children's stories. But Tikal continued to insist they had to find their way there, and Sonic had a nasty feeling that his visions of Kintobor stirring trouble there were correct, so they were trying their best.
After several minutes, Shadow swore and shut the book with a heavy thump, handing it back to Sonic.
"Well, maybe we can ask some of the locals when we stop," Sonic suggested, trying to lighten the mood a little. "They might know something we don't."
Shadow shrugged, then nodded. "I suppose it would be worth a try," he said. "We don't seem to have much time left."
Sonic nodded, then zipped back into the captain's quarters, tucking the book back in its place. Hopefully they could get some answers before it was too late.