A/N: I was originally going to do something completely different with this prompt, but I decided to save it for Chaos on Earth Oneshots, so there's that to look forward to. Also... it's Nightmares plural, which hints at more than one nightmare...!

Gonna issue a WARNING for a short but potentially distressing moment near the beginning of the chapter.

Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the prompt!

4 reviews

Guest

Wait, what?! I haven't seen Sonic X Abridged in so long, I didn't even realize I made a reference! Which one was it?!

thor94

It wasn't really about surgery, but I went with one of the available prompts for this theme which was "Being monitored". Fortunately, the theme doesn't always have to be the prompt, but I will say that today's theme is the prompt.

Jenaku

It took a bit for me to think about what they would monitor Chris for, but having Chris go through Chaos Emerald withdrawal symptoms was actually a spur-of-the-moment decision!

CreativeKitty975

Now that I think about it, I could actually try and explore this concept in greater detail sometime.

Day Twenty-Six: Nightmares
Prompt: Nightmares

That pale face, those shrunken pupils, her face full of fear and terror were the only things Chris could see as Helen was taken farther and farther away from him. There was nothing he could do to stop the robots from flying her up to the Egg Carrier. After all, he was just a human; he didn't have Sonic's powers.

"Chris!" Helen cried out as she clung tight to the armrests of her wheelchair. "Help me! They're gonna turn me into a robot!"

But when Chris looked around him, he saw that there was no one else around him. He was all alone. He was the only one who could save Helen, and he was completely powerless.

The scenery gradually changed around him, and he found himself in one of the dark hallways of the Egg Carrier. There were robots everywhere, which was a sign of increased activity. Something was happening.

There was a red light on above the sealed doorway near him, which indicated that an operation was in progress. Chris' face went pale.

No! They're gonna do surgery on Helen!

He tried to pound on the door in a desperate attempt to get into the room and save Helen, but he couldn't move his arms. In fact, he couldn't move his legs either. He could only watch Helen through the tempered glass separating him in the hallway from Helen in the operating room.

He watched the robot surgeons carry what looked like metal plates over to Helen, as well as what appeared to be a welding torch.

Is… is this what Eggman calls 'robotomy'...?!

As the welding torch came to life, Chris' blood went cold when he heard a scream from the other room, and he was hammered with intense guilt when he heard what forced its way out of Helen's throat.

"Why didn't you rescue me?!"

"HELEN!"

Chris shot up in bed in a cold sweat, and there were tears in his eyes. It took him a minute to regain his bearings. He was not on the Egg Carrier. He was not watching his friend go through a forced surgery at the hands of Eggman's robots. He was safe in his own bed at home.

It was just a nightmare.

But something about it felt like it was more than that. It almost felt like–

"Chris!" Sonic called as he raced into Chris' bedroom and skidded to a stop next to his bed. "It happened again, didn't it?"

Chris clutched his bedsheets, before slowly nodding. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as the nightmare played itself over and over in his head.

"It was different this time…" Chris whispered. Sonic leaned against the wall near his bed.

"How so?" he asked.

"Helen…" Chris' voice was shaking as he tried to explain what he saw. "It was the same as the other three times… but this time, I saw Eggman's robots… and they were doing s-surgery on her to turn her into… a r-robot…"

Chris could barely get the words out without sobbing. Sonic, on the other hand, was both surprised and concerned that Chris had such a vivid dream about Helen.

"And… sh-she said…" Chris' voice was shaking, and he forced himself to take a deep breath to control himself. "Sh-She was screaming, and she asked why I didn't rescue her…"

Chris couldn't bring himself to look up at Sonic or stop himself from crying.

"So this is the fourth night in a row that you've been having these dreams about Helen, huh?" Sonic mused.

Chris slowly nodded, sniffling as he wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"I just want them to stop…" Chris whimpered. "I thought they were finally going to stop because I saw Helen at school yesterday and she was fine." He paused to reflect on everything. "But I'm still having them…"

"You know what, Chris? Sometimes when it comes to seeing Helen and she is having the best time of her life, you end up worrying about her a lot, which is probably why you're having all these nightmares like this. We get worried about our friends, thinking that something bad could happen to them." Sonic explained, gently rubbing Chris's shoulder.

"But if something ever does happen to her, we will be here every step of the way. I promise we'll stop any threats that come to her," Sonic said, gentle but firm, showing determination and pride about protecting anybody that is his and Chris' friends.

"If you get another nightmare, let us know," Sonic told Chris as he slipped out of bed. "It could be a sign of something that could happen in the future, or it could just be a couple of bad dreams."

"Okay," Chris quietly said, before thinking for a moment. He looked back at Sonic.

"Hey Sonic?"

"Yes, Chris?"

"Do you…" Chris hesitated for a moment. "Do you get nightmares too?"

Chris noticed that Sonic was averting his gaze. He knew that the hedgehog wasn't one to be open about his emotions the way the rest of his friends were. But Chris was curious; he wanted to know.

"Every now and then," Sonic casually said with a shrug. "Everyone gets them, it's no big deal." He turned to face Chris again. "But you're having them four nights in a row. I'm starting to get a little worried about you, Chris."

They both heard a noise from the doorway, and they looked over to see Tails. It looked like he was trying to listen in on the conversation while trying to be as subtle and quiet as possible.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"Sure, c'mon in," Sonic invited, and Tails stepped into the room before looking up at him.

"Did it happen again…?" Tails cautiously asked, and both Sonic and Chris nodded.

"It was worse this time though…" Chris admitted. "Um… Sonic, can you tell him?"

Over the next minute, Sonic told Tails about Chris' nightmare, and the small fox was pondering everything he had heard.

"Um… I'm not really superstitious or anything…" he said, "but what if it's a warning?"

Chris gulped as he felt a sinking feeling in his chest. "You mean like something bad could actually happen to Helen?" he asked.

Tails shrugged. "I don't know for sure, but I think it would be a good idea to check on her. I don't see any other reason why you would be having these nightmares for so long."

"Yeah, good idea, Tails," Sonic said, before turning to Chris. "After breakfast, I think we should go pay Helen a visit. I'm sure she'll appreciate it!" he added with his signature wink and thumbs-up.

Chris nodded. He didn't feel the usual flutter in his heart that he felt whenever he thought about seeing Helen. In a way, it felt more serious. He needed to make sure Helen was okay, that Eggman didn't paint a target on her back or anything.

But if it meant his nightmares would finally end and he could sleep without worrying if he would have a nightmare, then he was willing to take this challenge head-on and talk to Helen.

A/N: That concludes day 26! Shoutout to elprovchico for helping out with this prompt and the next two prompts, which were all finished on the same day! He gave me the idea to add Tails in the chapter. Also, I was originally gonna use the "Breakfast table" prompt since it could go hand in hand with Nightmares but I eventually scrapped it.

I was going to have Helen actually get roboticizied, but then before I realized it, it turned into a surgery that coated Helen in metal plates to effectively turn her into a robot. Sorry it got a bit dark there.

Tomorrow's theme is "Voiceless!"