Ch 2.
Sonic's life was often a blue blur, as the sky and trees and mountains would meld into flashes of colors juxtaposed across milliseconds. But here, in the blackened crater, while the moon and clouds battled for control of whether to conceal or reveal; his vision was too focused to let anything slip away. Even as the moon light waned, his eyes dilated to let in every detail of Shadow's body.
Black fur and quills were cradled in the earth, his quilled head bent, nose tucked towards the normally spotless white fur on chest, and his arms and legs splayed freely at his sides. His face was peaceful and demure, laying on his back as though he were asleep after watching the stars.
Sonic was at his side immediately. It didn't take a second before he was trying to assess the damage, to make a plan. But he was a do-er, not a thinker. His brain was logged with thoughts, like the family computer after he'd opened two hundred tabs on youtube: he was frozen, unable to process anything at all and then there was a surge of motion, where everything went at double speed to catch back with every click and movement that had been missed.
Tom's voice was even, but rushed, "Sonic– Sonic – please buddy, you gotta talk to me, where –?"
"Baby? Let us help you– where are you?" The voice was like a bell of clarity. It rang through his mind and he could feel the seized gears of his mind release their tension and begin to turn again. Maddie.
"Mom… I … I don't know what to do."
"It's okay, tell me what you see, we're gonna get him home safe, okay?"
"We're in… in the forest north of the mountain…he's…he fell from… I – "
"Tom, go wake the boys." The aside barely registered on the communicator, but Maddie continued quickly, "Sonic, how does he look? Is he bleeding?"
"It's too dark.. I can't- I dont see any.. " His hands reached out to touch the unconscious form, but his knowledge of movies was too strong– Moving him could be fatal. So with feather light touches, he brought his white glove against lip, nose and ears, and gently through quills to see if anything showed, but apart from blackened soil nothing stained the white glove. He could feel himself narrating more than he heard it, "No.." his voice quavered, "No blood, he.."
"It's okay" Her voice was a mantra against the tsunami of emotion. Calm and even, she continued, "We're all here. Now I need you to check his breathing before we move him–"
Other voices flickered across the call, his family, and Sonic acted as their eyes and ears, trying to check vitals, to check for broken bones, and listen for his breath. He didn't fully understand why he opened Shadow's eyelids, but the blank, unseeing stare caused his own eyes to sting. The black fur and spines were caked with ash and dirt, and the red streaks were barely visible. Otherwise, it looked like he was just sleeping, in the bottom of a once burning pit. Even though there were no signs of external damage, his gloves were torn, and his shoes were marred with gashes and gouges, but somehow his body seemed to have ignored the fiery explosion that flung him to this crevasse in the woods. It could only have been a few minutes before her voice was replaced again with Tom's, "Buddy, it's your call– Tails says his scanners can be primed in a few minutes or we can go to Maddie's office…"
Sonic's voice was shaken, but didn't fail again, "No. I can get him back home in 10… 15 minutes, if I take it slow."
Maddie's voice, reason, stepped in again, "we can't see what's going on inside yet… Sonic, I need you to be calm. We can't let anything happen to make it… harder on him. Be careful, alright?"
His nod didn't carry across the open line, but he didn't need to imagine it was anyone else. He had found his friend, and he was going to help him. And he wouldn't let himself become the one to make it worse, he was the hero, after all– right? "I'm going to pick him up–"
"Try to keep his back and neck as straight as possible. The less we have to move him, the better." Tails voice chimed in quickly, ever the visionary, "Do you see any bark or even ropes and twigs there, even if it's a little burnt, it should be strong enough to carry him with–"
It took a minute, but the charred wood of the trees came off in thick sheaves under Tail's instruction, and stacking a few together almost formed a canoe, enough to even protect Shadow's prone form from the wind when they traveled. But his mind almost menacingly flashed to medieval funeral ceremonies on TV, where caskets would float down a river to be ignited by an arrow; an honorable send off. But no– he shook his head, as if to throw the train of thought away, "You're gonna be alright, Shadow" he said more to bolster himself, as though to speak it into existence would help with the burden of cradling him in the curled wood. Careful to focus his attention on his head, he lifted Shadow out of the epicenter, and quickly laid the prone form into the curled bark. It didn't crumble under the weight, and Sonic quickly adjusted Shadow's limp limbs across the makeshift stretcher. He urged the sparks in his blood to life, to grant him a little extra strength and hoisted the bundle as his eyes shone bright blue.
He couldn't allow his body to go fast, no matter how much he wanted to, because he held something too fragile to withstand the force safely. No, right now he might not be able to move fast with the care he needed, so instead he was going to see fast- react fast- and think even faster. He could hear the voices of his family slow down like DJ had put pressure on a record to drop the pitch, and he took the first step with the burden of another hedgehog in his arms.
His legs lurched and spasmed awkwardly like a toddler taking its first steps, too used to expending the raw power instantly, of letting his feet just find purchase wherever they fell– holding onto the surge like this felt like he was a sponge flung into water, slowly taking more and more on until he would sink. His legs moved, a reasonably brisk pace, without allowing a single jostle through his arms. While his steps were measured, his brain was in hyperdrive, he could see the roots and rocks, each blade of grass, and where his footfalls should be to eliminate any bounce in his step. He could feel the weight in his arms and the flex of his hands to counteract the force of his footfalls, But more than that, he could see around the trees, to the stretch of empty plains a mile away that would take him back to the nearest highway, and even beyond that, he could see flashing blue and red lights, a police car zooming towards that junction where their paths could meet. The cry for his dad didn't make it past his throat, it could be Tom- he prayed it would be Tom, but his eyes focused harder, and he could feel the sting of disappointment in his eyes. Before his voice had even a chance to form a rasp, he could see the woman behind the wheel, he could see the neighboring township written across her car- it wasn't Tom, it wasn't Green Hills.
But in that desperation for help, his eyes found something, or rather created something; a golden rail across the ground; an illusory vision of the quickest, safest path home. It was then that his muscles finally caught up to the machinations of his brain, forcing them not to take the usual haphazard scurry of footfalls by letting each one fall where it may, hurling him to his destination. But rather his legs were refined into precision instruments, dropping his hips to act as shock absorbers, rolling each step completely from heel to ankle, he was distributing the force across the step to make his upper body seem to glide through the darkness. And then, the thoughts of how to get there carefully finally aligned with the possibility of speed- His legs stretched further, extending the gait of each step, and then the pace, and the entire time his upper body remained level across the ground.
It felt like it was a single second, but in the time dilation he could feel his thoughts stretch for hours. Each tree came into focus in too much detail, overloading his eyes as they registered each leaf and branch. Each call from an owl or wolf, too long in his ears and the smell of charred fur wafting from Shadow's cradled form in his arm was too acrid against his nostrils. And worse yet, the errant brushes of wind made it seem like Shadow's ears would twitch in response to some stimuli, or that the changes in pitch of Sonic's stance would have Shadow form move ever so slightly away or towards him, not even a fraction of a centimeter. And yet each time, Sonic was sure Shadow was about to open his eyes and call him an idiot, but the dark hedgehog's face never changed from the serene blankness of sleep.
Almost as soon as he began, he could see it, the front door already open, his family on the front porch, all the lights on, a beacon. 'Come home' echoed in his head, in his heart, and he could feel the sting in his eyes grow stronger.
Tails' eyes were alert, but his namesake appendages were limp with exhaustion. Maddie held him against her, as they sat on the topmost step. Tom was in a rocking chair, one hand clasped on his cellphone while the other hung in a sling, but his eyes were locked on the road ahead of them. Knuckles stood resolute, arms crossed as he looked up in the sky – And it only took Sonic a single step to understand: GUN could be watching and Knuckles was on the defensive. In this slow motion world, he could meet all their eyes individually as they turned to looked at him and the body in his arms, in turn. There were different levels of shock and concern, but he felt his energy evaporate as he took the first step onto the porch, he made it.
Knuckles took the weight from his arms in a soft motion, following Tails and Maddie to the garage where the fox's inventions and creations resided. And his legs gave out from underneath him, and Tom was there to catch him. "Come on, let's get you into bed" his voice was soft and low, a lullaby, and Sonic shook his head, pressing palms into his eyes to lessen the strain they felt.
They burned with unfallen tears, "I– I just need to hear mom and Tails say he's okay– I promise I'll go straight to bed–" And Tom lifted him up of the ground, carrying him to the backyard where Maddie was examining Shadow while Tails clicked away at a keyboard wired to the metal structures beside the bed. The shed was filled with modified gear and tech, and he remembered the trip to the junkyard when Maddie had mentioned the veterinarian's office was throwing out older equipment. And he recognized pieces of the x-ray machine that now hung from the rafters above a simple futon bed. Maddie wafted something across Shadows face, and seemed to wait for a reaction, but after a moment, she moved on, positioning cameras and taking pictures.
Knuckles sat in one of the lawn chairs, his back to the shed, eyes still trained on the sky.
"It will be dangerous with him here." It was not a reprimand, but a warning to prepare them for another eventuality. "But he is a true warrior; I told you he would survive, did I not? Perhaps he has also fought towards becoming one million percent muscle." Sonic smiled at the reassurance, it was not often that Knuckles would pay a compliment to someone, and even less frequent that he would think to soften a blow with tact.
"So... we'll keep him.. here… right?" Sonic's voice was tinged with worry as he looked towards Tom.
"Me and Maddie thought we had already picked up our fill of strays," Tom's mouth flashed into a cheeky grin, before morphing gently to a serious tone "but this is different –"
Sonic flared back to his exuberant self, ready to defend the request, seemingly recharged in the face of adversity, "Uhm, nuh-uh, this is literally exactly the same! And he even apologized! And I mean, no one said there was a limit! How can you suddenly change the rules! We picked up TWO last time.. And Knux is just as dangerous! And Tails is a walking science fiction hazard in that lab! Sooo … You gotta post signs or–"
His theatrics were interrupted by Tom's calm and understanding smile, "We've got to consider what he needs though– We… might not be prepared to take care of him…. So… why don't we give it a week, and I'll watch to see how he's fitting in."
Sonic deflated, but Knuckles nodded in agreement, "He is very much as the lone wolf, one who takes all challengers by himself. That too, we must consider, as we do not know his enemies."
"Exactly," Tom continued, as Sonic began to open his mouth in rebuttal. "So let's drop it for now. First, we get him healed up, then we make decisions."
Maddie's gasp cut between them, and all three sets of eyes immediately broke from their father-son conversation to rush to the matriarch's side. Sonic was surprised to find himself there last, his brain struggling to really comprehend what his mom was saying.
"- to his spine… It's.. not... He needs a .." in her hands, a black and white x-ray showed the internal view of his skeleton, where healthy bones usually showed as a strong opaque white, Shadow instead had a fine cloud of grey from his skull to his shoulder blades; his spine had been pulverized on impact and the pieces dispersed from the force.
"Mom, here!" Tails cut her explanation short, and tried to drag her arm over to the screen, where numbers and figures danced like it was an edm visual. He pointed to a figure that was increasing steadily on the screen, and then would leap higher, and Maddie seemed to try to try to parse the numbers, but the silence stretched for a beat too long. And the screen warped and glitched– the almost random arrangement of figures turned into a hospital-esque spreadsheet, and when they turned to the fox behind the computer, Tails' sheepish voice was dripping with worry, "I… I didn't do that."
"No, of course you didn't. I did." A man's voice called from the still open shed door, a mere ten paces away and none had heard his approach.
Knuckles was usually the first on his guard, but it was Tom who stepped forward to intervene.
"What are you doing? Uninvited in our shed? …..You know I have to deal with people everyday in town that have been shot for less?"
Manicured eyebrows quickly formed an arch, and brown eyes quickly moved from human to hedgehog. "I've been monitoring channels… for updates" he said elusively. "I heard you found him… I came to offer my assistance and then I'll go."
Maddie turned from the screen, "This can't be right though. You're saying that–"
"No- It's all Tails' data. I only made it easier to look at," Stone interrupted, his fingers dancing against his palms as he coded further into Tails' system to bring up the section on DNA.
"Then… He's been… mutated? Altered? How do we even know what normal is then?…" Tails eyes cut from Maddie's to Agent Stone's.
"There were restricted files that…" Stone's voice skipped, "the Doctor acquired during the GUN infiltration. He always sets his sights higher than others– why simply hijack a system when you can copy it?" His passion carried him through the next sentence, "I was decrypting them on the Crab before… before.. I have the files. While they're useless with all of the redactions hard-coded in, I saw enough to know: they were doing something to him. And they made every effort make keep it from getting out." He opened a satchel at his side, before placing three paper bags onto an empty lawn chair. "Shadow preferred these… if you want more, you know where to find me." He turned to leave, when Tails stopped him.
"If you want to help. If you want to be a part of something bigger again– You know everyone can use a friend" It was soft, and Stone seemed to reflect on it, before shaking his head.
"No– there's only one man I could ever follow, so this is where my assistance ends."
There was a finality in the statement. His steps carried him away, Tails' voice called out, "The light's still there!" but Stone didn't even pause his gait to reflect on his meaning.
*–*–*–*–*–*–*–*–*–*–*–*–*
Sonic looked at the dark hedgehog. And he knew that they were wrong. He was just like Sonic. He had been lost like Sonic, he had hurt like Sonic, and had been found by Sonic. Even if their biology was different; he and Shadow were the same where it mattered.
But with the safety of not only a certified vet and a boy genius, but also a mad henchman who seemed to be teetering towards his side, his eyes fluttered shut where he sat in the lawn as exhaustion caught up with him. He could tell faintly that it was Tom carrying him by the length of steps below him, and he opened his eyes enough to see that he was already in his bed, and Tom's back was already approaching the ladder downstairs.
"Dad," He called, and instantly Tom stopped, "did they say-"
"We're all home, buddy. You know there isn't better care for him than what we have right here. Get some rest, Sonic. We've all got pet sitting duty tomorrow." Sonic soft chuckle was the only response he made before he fell asleep.