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Disclaimer & author's notes
Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters belong to SEGA.
I'm not making any financial profit out of this.

I'm not a native English speaker, so please bear with me if it gets a little bumpy in places.
This is partly an AU (alternate universe), therefore some things will deviate a bit from the original canon.

New chapters will take a while, but I won't rest until the story is finished.

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Twinkleworms
A Sonelise Fanfiction
Copyright © 2020 Corvin Dwent
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Prologue

"We give thanks for the blessed flames.
May we always continue to have peace.
Sun of Soleanna, guide and watch over us with your eternal light!"

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The nightmare was always the same. Always so vivid, so realistic. Always evoking those weird, disturbing feelings of fear, of fail, in him. Unfamiliar feelings, which lasted for some time, even after he woke up again.

In his dream, he stood on a violently shaking part of an airplane, or spaceship, or whatever that thing was supposed to be. The vessel was heavily damaged and completely breaking apart while rapidly losing altitude. Wings and other fragments that had already broken off rotated in the air before crashing noisily into the foaming waves of a troubled ocean deep beneath his feet. Half of the section on which he was more or less successfully trying to stabilize his footing, apparently a former connecting corridor, had also already departed towards the water. The end part and most of the ceiling were missing, giving him an open view of an azure sky and the rugged rock face of a mountain coast.

Right then, one of the larger pieces thunderously plunged into the churning sea, instantly exploding into a huge fire blossom. The detonation boomed painfully in his ears, and a second later hot air from the shock wave lashed over his body, tousling his fur. The sky was full of smoke. The sea was on fire. He was surrounded by chaos and destruction.

He wanted to run, wanted to escape the devastation around him. But at this point in his bizarre dream, he always suddenly realized that there was something in his arms. No, not something. Someone. A Human! Lowering his gaze, he noticed in confusion that he was carrying a young woman, clothed in a white dress with two golden straps crossing over her chest. Her chin-length, cherry-red hair shone in the blaze of the explosions below them, her steel-blue eyes matched the cloudless sky, and her alabaster-light skin almost reflected the dazzling sun. Keeping her legs with one hand and supporting her back with the other, he held her bridal style.

It became clear to him that he was with her to protect her. He was here because of her, had come to her rescue. She pointed to one of the demolished airplane segments passing in the sky above them, and he immediately figured what she was getting at. She had discovered a route he could take to airlift them both to safety. But the maneuver they were in for was a breakneck one, even if he would have been alone, and he hesitated. She looked at him smiling and said something to him, and although he couldn't understand her statement in his dream, it immediately managed to cheer him up. She seemed to have a lot of confidence in him, and that drove away his doubts and gave him back his courage and determination. It was the only moment in his nightmare when a smirk settled on his lips, and equipped with it, he returned her smile.

He strengthened his grip around her fragile body, took a step back, and jumped. Balancing the girl on his hands, he bounced from one falling piece of debris to the next. Each of his leaps brought them closer to the coast, closer towards safe and solid ground. He raced across one of the vessel's broken wings, which spun in the air as it fell, and finally reached the base of the steep slope. With all power he was capable of summoning, he catapulted their both bodies upward, trying to catch the edge of the cliff.

But in his terrible dream, he failed. Every time. He reached out his hand, stretched his whole body as far as he could, but was not able to reach the required height. Only inches away from the ledge of the peak, their ascent came to halt. He felt the expression on his face changing from confident to horrified when he realized what would inevitably happen next. And that there was nothing he could do about it anymore. Together with the poor girl on his lap, he hovered in midair for a moment that seemed to last forever. Then gravity took over and dropped them both back down towards the surging waves and the sharp rocks of the cliff.

Without any hesitation, she suddenly wrapped her arms around his body, hugged him tightly, and pressed her head against his cheek. Strangely, she did not appear to panic or to be disappointed in him in any way. She just seemed to accept that she was going to die now, together with him in her arms. The seconds stretched into an eternity as he realized this in his dream, and at the last moment before they both got shattered on the rocky shore, he returned her embrace, squeezed her gently against him, and prepared for the impact.

Exactly then the nightmare always ended and he woke up, usually screaming and drenched in sweat. Breathless, exhausted and tired. And with the unpleasant feeling that something important to him was missing.

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-===XXX===-

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The nightmare was always the same. Always so lucid, so authentic. Always evoking those strange, unsettling feelings of vulnerability, of helplessness, in her. Unknown feelings, which lasted for some time, even after she woke up again.

In her dream, she stood on some sort of flying platform, an aerial vehicle whose origin and functioning were completely foreign to her. The vessel was just wide enough to walk a few steps from side to side on, and hovered about sixty feet above the ground, emitting a low but piercing hum.

An abnormally obese man with almost ridiculously skinny arms and legs, dressed in a black uniform and a red coat, was standing in front of her on that weird flying saucer. What he lacked in hair on his head he made up for with a giant, shaggy mustache, and his eyes remained hidden behind round glasses with blue mirrored lenses. His lips were twisted into a malicious grin. She had seen him before, knew him from the news on television. There was no mistaking him. It was that mad and evil scientist everyone called 'Eggman', probably because of his physical appearance. He had first shown up eleven years ago, from a space-time rift that led to another world, and had attacked Earth, her home realm, several times since then.

She did not understand, had not the slightest idea why she was dreaming about that person. And yet, for some reason, she was aware that in her dream he was trying to abduct her. That he needed her for something, wanted to abuse her for another one of his sinister schemes of taking over the world. He was by now notorious for his megalomania, his ruthlessness, and last but not least, his barbaric cruelty. She could figure that she would not survive whatever nasty procedure he had in mind for her. But she knew instinctively that if he succeeded, the world was going to change. For the worse. Or would even be destroyed.

Fear came over her. She knew that she had to escape, that she must try to flee, at all costs. Not only for her own sake, but above all, for the welfare of the world. For the safety of Earth realm, the continuation of her empire, and the well-being of her people. But she had no strategy, no clue what to do, what she could do at all. Slowly, she approached the side of the vessel and stepped onto its edge. The wind pressed her dress against her body and whirled her hair into her face. Her knees shook violently. The madman's face contorted into a spiteful grimace. Grinning, he pointed downward as if to challenge her. "Do you plan to jump?"

That was the climax of her nightmare. The moment when she realized in despair that this was indeed her only way out. The one and only option she had. If she jumped, she would die, but the villain's game would also be over. He would not be able to put his diabolic plan into action. And he would not be able to force her to serve as a part of it.

Conscious of her responsibility as a member of her royal family, as the heir to the throne of her kingdom, and as a citizen of Earth realm, her homeworld, she made her decision. She closed her eyes and took a final breath. Then she leaned back and dropped herself down. "Farewell!"

The world turned upside down. She fell, head first, towards the grassy landscape below her, knowing that her end was coming. Cold fear exploded in her heart, yet she remained surprisingly calm. No cry passed her lips.

Exactly then the nightmare always ended and she woke up, usually screaming and drenched in sweat. Breathless, exhausted and tired. And with the unpleasant feeling that something important to her was missing.

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