Hello!

After some umming and ahing, I finally decided to rewrite Help Me Please (now with a better laid out title!). Got a few chapters ready in the back, but we'll see when they actually get uploaded, since a lot of my stories are on AO3 now. But this story started here so, like These Inhibitor's' Flaws, on here it shall also be. The old story was only two chapters long, but from just the first chapter here, it's almost as long as that one was. It wasn't super old, but old enough that I wanted to redo it. Blegh, my writing from even a year ago is bad compared to now. Some of the early chapters of the rewrite for These Inhibitors' Flaws I am no longer happy with even, but for now I'm gonna leave them as is.

I hope to have another update for These Inhibitors' Flaws at some point soon, but for now I hope you enjoy this! I'm definitely prouder of this story now. And I've got some new ideas for it, not that the old one got that far anyway...

Consider following me on Tumblr for update posts and sneak peeks of stories: fortuneshyspirit?source=share

And do consider finding me on AO3 too; I've got a lot of content on there now and I try to upload at least once a week. I'm really proud of the stuff on there: /users/FortuneSpirit/pseuds/FortuneSpirit

Help Me… Please! (Reworked) – Chapter One

He stood frozen, staring down at the broken body at his feet.

It was a hedgehog. They looked to be blue in colour, though it was hard to tell. There was so much blood. Everywhere. He almost gagged at the sight of their face. Deep, jagged scratches carved up their cheeks and forehead. A pair of crimson lines cut across their left eyelid, but he couldn't be sure what damaged had been done to the actual eye. Honestly, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. There was a split in their ear. A chunk had been taken out of their side, akin to how one might bight into an apple and leave a crater in its delicate hide. One arm was lying at an impossible angle, making him cringe; the other was fairly unscathed aside from a few deep scratches.

His stomach churned when he took in the legs in particular. One was definitely broken. But the sight of the it hit him much deeper than the arm had. He wasn't quite sure why at first. And the opposite leg sported a sizeable gash, revealing a sliver of milky white in the centre. Bone.

Chaos, he might just throw up.

What was worse, was that this hedgehog seemed somehow… familiar. Though he couldn't figure out who they were. The answer was there, dangling in front of him, but he couldn't reach it. He didn't even know who he was. His mind was mired in thick fog. Even turning his head proved difficult at the moment. But he was standing.

Who was he? Perhaps that was an easier question to tackle first. He swam through the fog in his head, struggling to find any information about himself.

He was… he was eighteen. That was what he found first.

His birthday was in June. June… 23rd. But that wasn't exactly helpful right now, was it?

What else, what else?

Aha. His name. His name was…

Sonic. Yes, Sonic sounded right. It fit. Sonic the Hedgehog.

Hedgehog…

Then it clicked. Sonic's eyes widened. His mouth felt dry all of a sudden, cottony almost. And his throat was scratchy like he'd swallowed a ball of twine.

The hedgehog at his feet… it was him.

But how? How was that possible? If he was standing here, how was he also lying there? There was some sort of disconnect occurring in his brain, preventing him from wrapping his mind around the current situation. It just didn't make sense. He couldn't be in two places at once. Perhaps he was mistaken, and this hedgehog wasn't him. But Chaos, they sure looked like him. Blue fur. He'd never met another mobian with blue fur, let alone a hedgehog with blue fur. And that shade. That royal blue shade was unmistakable. It had to be him. Looking at the body was like looking into a really fucked up funhouse mirror. But it wasn't fun, not at all. It was horrific.

He turned his attention back to the body – his body. The blood was fairly fresh; the sections where the blood was coagulating left his fur in sticky clumps. In some areas, the wounds were drenched in so much that it almost looked black. Others were simply dried and brown, early stages of scabbing already appearing on some of the more minor scrapes. Blood was soaking into the ground, feeding the earth. It suddenly dawned on him that he might be dead.

A weird fluttering sensation flitted between his ribs, in his stomach.

And then he realised he was breathing. If he looked close enough, he could see the weak rise and fall of his own chest. The relief was short-lived though. So if he was alive, how was he seeing his body from the outside of it then? That couldn't be normal.

Sonic couldn't resist taking a look at his current form. And involuntary shiver climbed up his spine. Upon first glance, he looked normal. Totally normal. Not a drop of red marred his fur; he was completely immaculate. He could only assume his quills were the same. It was a complete departure from the bloodied body on the grass. It was only upon closer inspection that he realised something was very, very wrong. He could see through himself. Particularly, his hands and feet were near-translucent. While he could make out the outline of his gloved fingers when he wiggled them in front of his face, the ends were almost completely clear.

Taking all this in, Sonic was numb. He understood that he should be feeling a sense of urgency, of panic, but nothing could fully cut through the haze of confusion. Not yet.

Suddenly, his vision became skewed. The world seemed to tip sideways and he almost fell over. Sonic wobbled in place until the abrupt vertigo cleared up. He closed his eyes and grabbed his head, forcing the nausea away. A groan forced its way between his lips. As quickly as the feeling had come on it was gone again.

Weird.

In his dazed state, Sonic turned to scan his surroundings. Focus, he needed to focus. Desperately, he tried to pick out something, anything that would prove familiar in the environment. But nothing stood out. He didn't recognise the place at all. Which something in his mind registered as alarming.

Because Sonic was rather worldly. But perhaps it was just the strange amnesia that had gripped him. He couldn't even remember who he was at first, after all. Maybe it would come to him eventually…

He was in a clearing, bordered by trees. Some sort of birch, perhaps? Their trunks were white and some of the bark had been torn from a few, scattered around like discarded paper. The birch trees seemed to only be growing in a thick circle around the clearing; past them Sonic could see some thicker trees that he couldn't place. It struck him as odd. It was like they were planted that way on purpose. It made his quills bristle.

His mind was clearing enough to know that, to his knowledge, it was spring in the northern hemisphere. So, for a moment, he thought he might be in the southern hemisphere somewhere. But then he noticed that, under the spatters of what he could only assume was his own blood, the leaves on the ground were green. That meant that either he was attacked from the trees or thrown through them. Judging by the gouges in the earth, his body must have slid across it with a pretty hefty impact. And there were streaks of drying blood caked into the earth. Definitely thrown then. But his body wasn't at the end of those tracks.

There were crumbling stone walls all over the clearing. Ruins of some kind, all desecrated with moss. Something told him that not all of the chunks of wall on the ground had fallen naturally; there was red spotted on some of those discarded stones. He could only guess that his poor body had been hurled through the wall that looked to be the most damaged too. But even still, whatever structure that had been standing here in the past was completely unrecognisable.

Despite these observations, the clearing could have been almost… serene. The flowers – black dahlias? – had barely been disturbed at all. They swayed in the light breeze, uncaring of the near-lifeless form slumped beside them. It was worrying how still his body was.

Sonic needed some serious help. That much was obvious. But how exactly did he get help if he didn't even know where he was? Perhaps he should pick a direction and just start walking? It was an option. Not a great option, but the only one he had.

As he started to drag his body – or, not-body – away from the gruesome clearing, he thought helplessly of his brother. Tails. How long had he been gone? Was the fox worried? A whine built in the back of his throat. He hoped not. Sonic couldn't stand to see his brother upset. But at the same time, Sonic's situation really was distressing. It was starting to catch up to him now that his body was lying back there. Did that make him a ghost?

Oh, what he'd give to see his brother right now…

As he thought this, Sonic found himself standing in a very familiar garage. The clearing was gone. The forest was gone. The trees had been replaced by four white-painted brick walls and messy tables. Pieces of metal, wires and tools littered every surface. Gadgets of all kinds lined the shelves; wrist communicators and ear-pieces, tiny remote-control robots, walkie-talkies, remote detonators, and Chaos knew what else. An unfinished project lay on the main worktable. And, of course, off to the side by the garage door, the red biplane, his brother's pride and joy. The Tornado.

This was Tails' workshop. Sonic did a double take. How had he gotten here? He may have been the Fastest Thing alive, but Chaos, he wasn't that fast. He'd barely even moved his feet. Besides, he had no idea where he was; how could he have known which direction would take him here anyway? Did he black out or something? What was going on?

The door behind him, the one that lead into the kitchen, creaked open. Sonic spun around. The yellow-furred fox strolled into the workshop, eyes glued to his Miles Electric. Classic Tails. The fox probably didn't even know he was here yet. Sonic allowed himself to smile slightly.

"Tails, buddy!" he called, waving to get the inventor's attention.

To his dismay Tails made no sign of even hearing him. The fox's large ears didn't even twitch at the sound of his voice. Sonic frowned. Had he upset his brother in some way? Why else would Tails ignore him? The fox never ignored him. He stepped into Tails' path, attempting to intercept him. whatever he'd done, he'd apologise later. This was important.

Adopting a hands-on-hips stance, Sonic tapped into his big brother authority. If he used his stern voice, Tails was sure to listen to him.

"Hey, are you listening?"

He felt his body convulse. It wasn't painful exactly, but the suddenness of the strange sensation tickling his hide caught him off guard. He wasn't sure how to describe it. Only that it felt wrong and he didn't really want to experience it again. Then he realised that Tails was behind him, stride seemingly unbroken.

Had the fox… walked through him?

"Wh-what?" Sonic breathed. "No. No, no, no, no… Tails?"

He rushed to grab Tails' arm. Sonic had to choke back a sob when his hand passed right through the fox like he was made of nothing but air. Maybe he was the one made of air. Taking a shaky step back, Sonic shook his head. This couldn't be happening. Was he a ghost? But didn't you have to be dead to become a ghost? Had his body stopped breathing back in the clearing in his absence? Was he actually dead now? He sank to his knees.

"Bro, please!" he cried. "I'm right here! Help me!"

Tails sat down like nothing happened, setting down his Miles Electric. Taking up a slotted screwdriver in his hand, the fox began fiddling with his project. He began humming some tune to himself that sounded vaguely familiar.

"I need help, please…"

Tails couldn't see him. He couldn't hear him, feel him. That was clear. Sonic needed to find someone who could see him. Surely someone could? Frantically, he scoured his mind, trying to figure out what he had done to appear here in the first place. It felt like he'd just visualised his brother in his mind. He hadn't done anything special. So, maybe it would work again?

Could he try Knuckles? He was the guardian of the Master Emerald. Maybe he'd have a better chance of seeing him? He'd been able to talk to Tikal. Then again, the soft-spoken echidna had been sealed inside the Master Emerald. And he wasn't entirely clear on if the girl had been dead or not. She had been a spirit… so he guessed she was. And his situation was different. But he might as well try. What else could he do?

Closing his eyes, Sonic thought intently of the hot-headed echidna. He opened them shortly after to the familiar sight of Angel Island. The lush green grass around the base of the alter rippled in waves. It was bizarre. Sonic could feel the wind, could feel how it should have been moving his fur, but it wasn't. Now that he thought about it, he had technically felt Tails' arm back at the workshop too. But that had been different; he hadn't actually been able to touch his brother. But the wind almost felt like it could touch him. He shook out his fur. The feeling was odd, but he didn't have time to dwell on that. He had to get to Knuckles.

Sonic started to ascend the steps of the shrine, taking them three at a time in leaping bounds. The silvery-white stone, alive with greenery, had a totally different feel to the ruins where his body was. Ignoring the fact that the alter wasn't crumbling away, Sonic just felt at ease on these steps. Maybe it was the Master Emerald. Maybe it was the fact that he knew this place was safe. But the steps had a sort of calming effect.

The ruins, even without all the blood, felt somehow eerie. Sonic didn't know why he felt that, but he did. There was something… off with those old ruins. And he'd be glad to have his body away from them as soon as possible.

At the top of the steps, Sonic found the guardian leaning against the majestic Emerald. He was snoring away. Typical. Sonic snorted, but the steadily tightening feeling in his chest snatched away any mirth it might have had.

"Rise and shine, Knuckle-head," Sonic said, forcing his tone steady.

No response.

Now the anxiety was starting to build again. He pushed it away. Try again. He had to try again. There might be a totally silly explanation for the echidna's silence. Maybe he hadn't spoken loud enough to wake him. Or the echidna just wasn't in the mood to deal with him.

That was fair. Sonic could be annoying, he acknowledged that.

"I know you like to ignore me, Knux. But not right now. Please."

Still, the guardian did not rouse from his slumber. Knuckles was a fairly light sleeper like him, from what he could gather. Protecting something as important as the Master Emerald required vigilance and quick reflexes; Knuckles had both. So that destroyed his deep sleep theory. He took a deep breath. It was more like a gasp.

With a sinking feeling in his gut, Sonic understood that probably meant Knuckles' couldn't hear him either. Which likely meant no one could hear him. The echidna had been his best bet.

Still, he found himself trying one last time. Just in case Knuckles was merely pretending to be asleep.

"Knuckles, please," he tried. "I-if you can hear me and are just ignoring me on purpose, please don't. this is serious. I'm in trouble."

Still nothing. That was the final nail in the proverbial coffin. Sonic sighed. Now what? Knuckles made the most sense to try. If he couldn't get the echidna to notice him, what was the point trying anyone else?

Feeling discouraged, Sonic envisioned himself in the forest just beside the Mystic Ruins, where Tails lived. The familiar forest appeared promptly. He didn't live too far himself, but he had stopped living with Tails five months ago when the fox proved he could look after himself. As he began to aimlessly walk around, not taking in anything at all, he remembered how hurt he had felt back then. Like he was no longer needed. But at the same time, he enjoyed the freedom that living by himself again allowed. And it wasn't like he couldn't stay over at Tails' place on occasion. It was just that the fox wanted his own space, and for Sonic to stop fussing over him. Sonic was silently hoping he was just going through a phase. Still, he'd agreed to move out to keep his brother happy. He still slept in the house on occasion.

If he couldn't find anyone that could help him soon, would he eventually die? How long did he have? Would he ever get to speak to Tails again? Would he ever get to see all this again? The trees, the flowers, the sky? Would he ever get to actually feel the wind flowing through his quills once more? The summer sun on his skin or the bitter autumn rain?

Was he sure that he wasn't already dead?

No. He'd been breathing before. He had to believe that he still was. He just had to.

He felt queasy all of a sudden. Then his vison flipped again, like back at the clearing, and he tried to catch himself on a tree. Only to remember half-way through the natural reaction that he couldn't actually touch anything. He felt that pervasive ticking, prickling sensation again and then he was on the floor. He lay there for a moment on his back, taking in the bright blue sky above him and the wispy little clouds. It took his disoriented mind a while to actually notice that he was on the ground. But by that point, he didn't really care. What was the point? Why bother even moving? It didn't seem worth the effort anymore.

Maybe he could just close his eyes and it would all be some awful dream. Just close his eyes…

"What are you doing, Faker?"

The voice jolted him out of his thoughts. Gruff and deep, Sonic would recognise it anywhere, with or without the nickname.

"Shadow…?" he asked uncertainly.

Sonic pushed himself up into a sitting position, hands outstretched behind him to provide support. He still felt a little sick and unsteady. But he had to know if he'd heard what he thought.

The Ultimate Lifeform stood in front of him, arms folded over his chest. Ruby eyes were narrowed into slits of annoyance. But Sonic didn't care. The dark hedgehog was looking at him. Actually at him. When Sonic met his gaze, Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Yes, hedgehog," he drawled. "Didn't think you were completely brain dead."

Sonic ignored the jab. He was too stunned to really acknowledge it. Shadow was talking to him. He could hear him, he could see him. That's what he clung to. Hope surged through his chest. Someone could see him. It wasn't ideal that it was Shadow, but Sonic would take anything right now. Help was help.

Still, he was in disbelief. He had to check.

"You… can see me?" he asked.

Shadow stared at him pointedly. He seemed unimpressed. But Sonic was already stumbling to his feet. That was enough of an answer to prove it. This was great.

"Unfortunately so," Shadow huffed. "Every day I wish I couldn't."

"Then you can help me!" Sonic said.

For a moment, the dark hedgehog just stared at him. Then Shadow turned to leave. Sonic's mood took a nose dive. Would Shadow really deny him help because they didn't see eye to eye? Was he not concerned that he could see right through him?

Then he paused. Could he see through him? Maybe Sonic really just looked normal to him… or he hadn't noticed yet.

"Absolutely not," Shadow growled. "I'm not getting wrapped up in whatever dumb thing you've done now. Why don't you ask someone who actually cares, because I don't."

"B-but… I can't!" he cried.

Shadow ignored him. He seriously didn't realise there was something wrong with Sonic, did he? He didn't realise that Sonic was all ghostly right now.

Sonic dashed in front of Shadow, just like he'd done with Tails. He held his hands out in front of him in a halting motion. But, honestly, he was banking on Shadow not stopping. At least that might make him pause long enough to listen to him. Though he wasn't exactly looking forward to the feeling of Shadow passing through him…

Oh well. Drastic times called for drastic measures. He could handle it.

"Shadow! W-wait!"

As predicted, Shadow made to shove him aside. Those narrowed eyes widened considerably when he went right through him instead. That tingling feeling shot down his spine and Sonic couldn't supress the shiver. He may have felt the sensation before but Sonic still hated it. He couldn't see himself ever actually getting used to it. Who could? It was so… so… unsettling.

Shadow actually turned to face him. He was wearing an unreadable expression. Sonic didn't know how to differentiate Shadow's expressions honestly. He knew anger and annoyance all too well. The slight widening of his eyes was clearly surprise. But anything past that, Sonic had no clue. So he had no idea what was going through the darker hedgehog's head. Was he trying to process what just happened? Figuring out what to say?

"Now will you help me?" Sonic asked.

Shadow made no move to leave yet. But he also didn't agree to help, he just continued to stare him down. Chaos, what was going on behind those eyes? Sonic put on the most serious face he could muster, meeting Shadow's hard stare.

"No one else can see me, Shadow," Sonic said. "I need help."

He'd been saying that a lot in the past few minutes. At least this time someone could hear him.

"No."

Sonic took a step back, feeling his ears flatten. A coldness seeped through his bones. That familiar anxiety gripped him once more.

"Wh-what do you mean n-n-no?"

This couldn't be real. He knew Shadow hated him but to outright refuse to help him? When he so clearly needed help? Could Shadow really be that cruel? He knew he had a heart in there, he'd seen it. But the other was walking away again. And this time, he clearly meant to go. Not even his incorporeal form would make Shadow put aside his hatred for him. Sonic was screwed.

"It's not my problem," Shadow shot over his shoulder. "Whatever you did, I'm sure you can figure out how to fix it yourself."

"But…"

Sonic stared at the retreating form of Shadow, feeling genuinely sick. Absently, he felt himself falling to his knees but he didn't care. That steadily growing panic from before was eating up any sort of hope he'd had. Was this how he died? When his time was up, would it just be more of this or would everything just go dark? Was there even anything waiting for him beyond this world? Sonic had never been a religious guy. Now he was seriously hoping he wouldn't regret that decision.

Dear Chaos, would it hurt?

Another wave of nausea rose up in his throat. He felt tears prick his eyes.

"I'll never bother you again after this!" he called out in desperation. "I swear to Chaos, Shadow, you'll never even see me again! Please!"

Shadow was still moving further away from him. His vision was getting blurry from the tears now. Sonic didn't even bother wiping them away. He dropped his head into his hands. This was it. He was really going to die. How cruel of the universe to give him a glimmer of hope, just to snatch it away from him. What did he do to deserve this?

What had even caused this to begin with? Now he'd never get the chance to find out.

"Please…"

When he heard footsteps crunching over twigs and foliage again, he looked up through his hands. He was acutely aware of his breathing becoming uneven. The sick feeling wouldn't dissipate. But Shadow was standing there. He'd come back. Sonic dumbly found himself hoping that his hands were hiding his tears; they'd definitely started to fall by now.

"What the fuck did you do?" Shadow growled.

Screw the tears. Sonic was past protecting his dignity. He lowered his hands but made no move to stand. His legs felt all liquid-like. Wet noodles, all limp and numb. He wasn't sure he could stand even if he tried.

"I don't know," he forced out. "I-I don't know. Something happened but… I…"

Sonic looked down at his hands. A jolt went through his spine, causing him to shiver. Why did he suddenly feel the urge to vomit? It felt like the world was tilting. Everything around him was becoming fuzzy and indistinct. Sonic lifted his gaze back to Shadow. The other looked like he was saying something but the sound reached his ears distorted. He couldn't make out any of the words. A sharp feeling went through his chest and when he opened his eyes, unaware of when he'd even closed them in the first place, he was lying on the floor. The sky above was just as bright as before. Not much had changed but his location. Maybe it was a tad later in the day.

Frowning, he found that his body felt incredibly heavy. He manged to turn his head to the side and saw his body – his real body – lying beside him. Breathing heavily, he tried to figure out what was happening. Where did Shadow go? How did he get back here? He hadn't tried to, he knew that. He still felt terribly ill. And looking at his body was certainly not helping. Sonic forced himself onto his side, back to his bloodied body. There was an ache in his abdomen, a dull throb, and he just wanted to close his eyes for a moment. Close his eyes, curl up and forget it all.

Just close his eyes…