Fairy Tales in Trance

          “Y’see, that’s what I was thinking! I love pink but it’s so hard to wear it when your fur is the same color.” She sighs dramatically, following up with a purse of her lips. “I was probably just gonna wear it with the old faithful.” Amy quickly gestured to her dress, fingers smoothing down the front of it. “Maybe neither of them will really go…”

"It's not exactly the same shade though, so it could wor--" His ears perked up as an idea struck him, and within seconds he was picking up the pink scarf again and wrapping it around her shoulders. 

【@hammeringheart】

And an emergency it really was. They were both equally cute scarves!

Oh, it wasn’t out of a lack of trying. Shadow certainly attempted to fight back – once he noticed he was being tossed around like a ragdoll, he’d twisted in order to aim a punch or kick or two at the bots, and some he even managed to inflict damage upon. But they still outnumbered him and with him encumbered by whatever the hell happened to him before, he was virtually no match. Shadow was practically counting the minutes before he lost consciousness and the ability to fight at all completely.

He was, at least, until he noticed the bots exploding around him, not of his own volition. He’d noticed this, but he was barely able to act upon it other than a soft croak of, “What?” And just as he’d asked that, a flash of blue appeared near him and slammed into the robot holding onto him, bringing Shadow to fall flat on the ground and roll on it with dust being kicked up into the air. And Shadow couldn’t even get back up in time before fingers grabbed him and a hand tossed him, and Sonic smashed into more of them.

There could’ve been a large variety of feelings and reactions that Shadow could’ve had to this. Something about embarrassment, something about pride, something else entirely; emphasis on could’ve. In reality, Shadow felt much of nothing at all besides a bone-deep exhaustion and the wetness along his arms and legs he dimly registered as meaning that he was bleeding. He was limp within Sonic’s hold, observing only the ground beneath them, which faded from tile to grass as Sonic went further and further away from the area.

His breath wheezed from his ribcage, rattling his chest as his eyes began to slip closed, his body desperate to conserve any bit of energy that it could, and even blanking the entirety of his brain from any kind of thought he might’ve had and replacing it entirely with numbness so it could focus on repairing his body. With it being so Chaos Energy drained such a process only took out more of his energy, enough that Shadow weakened by the minute as his body, ordinarily functioning perfectly on its own as a funnel of Chaos, remained at a low-operative state without what drove it to be so quick in the first place. A distinct buzzing at the back of his head told him an instinct that he didn’t quite understand, to latch onto something called the hive, whatever that meant. Shadow didn’t try to parse it.

He’d been shot in the stomach, that much he could tell once he breathed deep to feel around for any injuries, the only thing he could do in this position. Along his sides, too, and he was pretty sure his limbs had been shot once or twice. Had he been shot in the head? It was hard to tell. Thank god he was the ultimate life form; such shots would’ve been fatal on anyone else.

All he could do was rely on Sonic to bring him somewhere safe. Honestly, he was just as likely to just toss him over the cliffside into the ocean and be done with it, but there wasn’t much Shadow could do.

Ugh. 

He was bleeding, rapidly, a pinkish coloured blood dribbling down Sonic's shoulder and chest, clumping his fur together. Shadow wouldn't die though, he was immortal, the ultimate life form, so Sonic didn't need to worry himself with loss of blood. Instead he worried himself with the energy he had lost, inhibitors gone and yet he seemed to be completely without any Chaos energy flowing through him.

Had GUN sapped it out of him? Sonic knew that pain, it hurt like hell. He'd been caught in it himself, thousands of miles above the planet as he emeralds were ripped from his body and drained him of the golden form he'd taken on. The transformation afterwards hurt even more so, but Sonic wasn't about to compare pain, no matter how much of a grudge against the black hog over his shoulder.

"Aw, man... You're bleeding all over me," he huffed, just tiny talk for Shadow to latch onto and keep his eyes open. "You coulda warned me." His fast pace slowed to a slow jog once he reached the steps back up to the workshop, careful not to jostle the hog too much as he climbed the steps. "Hope you don't mind looking like a mummy for a few weeks, 'cause i'm gonna hafta bandage you up like that.

God, but everything burned. And it felt as though everything burned for an eternity.

Thankfully, ‘eternity’ seemed to eventually have a definite end, as Shadow was eventually released from the grasp of… Whatever blast that happened to be. He collapsed against the ground, breath heaving as every muscle screamed in its soreness. The world didn’t even appear to take shape around him until he squinted harder against it and finally everything manifested into something his brain could process. Not fast processing, mind, as his vision started blurry initially, but as it actually coalesced into something that he could actually register, he managed to glance outside of the glass dome to see the robots from before… Standing there… Unmoving.

He grunted, beginning to shift back onto his palms, wondering for a fanciful moment if there was such thing as a Robot Heaven (and if he belonged to it; after all, he had begun to believe, sometimes, that he really was a robot), only for him to notice that the rings that weighed him across his wrists had cracked and fallen onto the ground, broken and battered. Come to think of it, he felt drained, and not just in the sense of normal exhaustion, like as if he was drained of all the blood in his body. Every movement took a herculean amount of effort, enough to bring Shadow to sweat even at the act of lifting to his knees.

So much attention was he placing in just being able to get up to his feet that he didn’t notice the fact that those glass walls were evaporating, and with their disappearance approached the robots, ready to spring upon the hapless hedgehog. He coughed and moved as if weighed down by restraints, and just a blink brought him to notice that a robot he’d snapshotted in his mind earlier as being safely behind a barrier was suddenly nearly at his hands.

“Guh–!” he’d breathed, startled, but his soft and wispy voice was completely cut off by the robot he’d been facing.

“Ready… F i r e,” it preened, and it held up its barrel-gun of a hand to shoot straight at him. Shadow didn’t even have the proper amount of time to brace as he received an assailing of various shot-fire from the robots that surrounded him, which caused him to cry out as they exploded right near his already battered body.

Ordinarily, Chaos Energy helped to sponge up some of the damage; but he found himself unable to recall his natural shield, and was instead left helpless at the bot fire, which threw him back and forth around the room.

There was no second explosion, no third or fourth, so if Sonic needed anymore confirmation that the building he was headed towards hadn't belonged to Eggman then there it was. Eggman enjoyed being flashy, he liked to make a scene. One shot was not enough attention, there would be at least ten to assure he had Sonic's attention, then another ten just because he could.

So it was either who Sonic originally suspected, or someone new. Either was fine with him, although if it was the former, Sonic was almost tempted to try and put a ban on GUN activity in this country and leave them to blow themselves up else where. Death did seem to be their goal.

As he approached, a familiar scent brushed over him, and he was briefly unsure whether it was the scent of Chaos energy or someone he had met once before, but time to linger on that thought wasn't available as he slowed to a halt near the entrance.

Pricked up ears picked up on the sound of gun fire whilst his eyes took in the sight of already broken through steel doors and walls and bits of smashed up robotics littering the floor. Whatever GUN had set loose had obviously turned on them, and part of Sonic was almost tempted to turn back there, leave them to it.

That firing wasn't stopping though.

Bang bang bang! Followed by the metallic clink of empty shells dropping to the ground, and the faint cry of-- Wait. A faint cry?

Sonic was in there in a flash, barrelling through any other robots until he reached the source of rapid gunfire. Shadow, that black hog Sonic had huffed that never wished to see again, being tossed around room by fire after fire from his own allied robots. Golden inhibitors chipped and broken on the floor amongst the empty shells, along with chipped off bits of paint from Shadow's skates and clumps of black and red fur.

He said that he didn't care what happened to the hog, he brought this all upon himself. He was utterly stupid, believing his own lies, and Sonic never wished to see him again. Yet his body seemed to act on its own, smacking his quills into the robot at an intense speed to smash it into hundreds of tiny pieces and remaining bullets, before he landed back on his toes before the black hog that was left on the ground.

Shadow couldn't move, Sonic could see that. So he didn't waste time with words, instead throwing an arm around the black hog to toss him over his shoulder, whilst his other hand scooped up the remains of those golden rings.

It’d been the perfect trap.

Shadow was nothing if not completely and utterly dedicated to his job. Lately, it’d been to track down Eggman – and there was nothing suspicious about that, given that he was G.U.N’s public enemy number one. He’d caught whispers, a few times, at the malleability of a certain agent, but he’d never paid it any attention; it wasn’t his job to question, only to do what he was told. As a result, he was single-minded in his work, and for that he often received praise, even though it wasn’t praise that he attempted to earn. Once dismissed, he’d simply prepare for the next job, and the next, and the next. He’d been taking on more of them as of late, too, ever since Shadow experienced discomfort at the idea of returning home.

To Shadow, this was just another job that he was supposed to take on. Eggman had another base, stationed not too far away from Station Square, and since Shadow happened to be in the area anyway it made it easier to capitalize on that opportunity. The instant he received the coordinates, he did not hesitate in making his way over there, ready to destroy every piece of the building, and, if he saw no one in there, glean any information he could from it on Eggman’s next move. With the space that it’d taken up, it seemed like a very Eggman-like thing for the man to do, especially since as of late he hadn’t been spotted anywhere else, perhaps in hiding.

When he’d arrived at the building, Shadow noticed immediately that it appeared to be devoid of the guards the usual kind contained. It had steel walls, but Shadow effortlessly punched a hole into one of them, and then robots happened upon him. He should’ve found it strange that none of them carried the Eggman insignia, but he’d been designed not to question his directive and this time served as no exception. He’d forced his way through them through brunt force, with nary a scratch on his body; a matter of pride, of course, would be that he’d done so effortlessly, and despite having no audience being able to witness it he brought the “flash” in flashy. He fought through them, and it seemed like he’d be able to get out of this without a problem.

That was, of course, until walls came around him like a dome, and robots surrounded the outside, waiting for something to happen.

“What’s…?”

Going on, he certainly might’ve asked, but before he could consider any kind of answer, pain that felt akin to thousands of needles stabbing him all at once flowed throughout his veins, paralyzing him. Words caught within his throat, the world whitened around him, and suddenly all of his senses disappeared on him, walls and robots forgotten as his ears squeezed against his skull in an attempt to prevent the head-splitting headache that assaulted him along with his energy streaming right out of every pour of his body as if sweat and tears being loosened. A part of him distantly registered that Chaos Energy was what was flowing out of him, but that knowledge was hardly of any consolation when the explosion surrounded him and none of his senses aided him.

Am I dying…? He honestly didn’t know. But either way, he didn’t know of any way he could get out of this.

Everyday was generally the same, and Sonic liked it that way. Living back in Mystic Ruin was peaceful, blue skies daily, warm Adabat air, and only a train ride away from the tourist central of Station Square.

Days began as they always did, lots of yawning and a mug of coffee on the balcony of Tails' workshop, taking in that Adabat air Sonic loved so much. There was no busy bustle of Central City, the only action that came about was from whenever Eggman acted up, but other than that, Sonic could spend his days strumming at his guitar and relaxing in the warmth.

However, something was obstructing his view from the balcony and had been for quite a few months now. A steel building, closer to Station Square than it was to Mystic Ruin, but Sonic could still see the eye sore that it was. It wasn't Eggman's though, oh no, Sonic could tell just by design. It lacked the bold colours, the insignia and the big lights that acted as 'please hit me here, Sonic' signs. Perhaps Sonic knew his enemy a little too well. So whatever it was, he couldn't touch. It didn't seem to be doing any harm, not to people or the environment, it was just... There. Being an annoying blockage to Sonic's view.

Of course, the thought had crossed his mind that it belonged to a certain other group, what with it being designed in such a way. Sonic had spent far too long in the presence of GUN to know their design. But he'd rather not make an enemy out of the government again by ripping it to shreds.

"Hmm..." He grumbled, throwing back the last dregs of his coffee down his throat, then turned to make his way back inside. Even if it was a tropical climate, it was beginning to get quite chilly for a later month. "We're gonna need more fire wood, Tails! It’s gettin’ col--"

And that was when it happened, just as Sonic had opened the door to walk back inside, calling in to his surrogate little brother when he was interrupted by a flash, followed closely by a bang.

Ears pointedly pricked in the direction of the noise, eyes followed, and sure enough, that eye sore was sparking with familiar energy. Very familiar energy. Sonic hadn't had all the emeralds on him a long time, he had the Chaos emerald from the Adabat Gaian temple, but none other nor had he checked on any of the others since he moved back to Mystic Ruins. Had GUN taken one...? His ears flattened in pure disgust, to think that GUN had trailed their dirty paws into one of the Gaia temples.

Oh, they'll pay.

Doing a little thinking on the transition between my last blog and this blog, I think I'm gonna make some distinctions about what games are canon and what aren't.

A loooong drawn out whistle was this wolf(or was he a fox?)'s introduction to the blue hog, who had been perched on top of the clock in the Station Square train station, waiting for his train to pull in. "What's the get up about?" He cocked a smile down at him then pushed himself off the clock to land on his feet on the platform.

It was strange for Sonic to see another of his own kind in these parts, not that 'mobians' were particularly rare, of course, just that Sonic was sure he knew of all the ones that resided in Station Square. So he circled the wolf, glanced him up and down once or twice, before holding his hand out for the wolf to shake.

"Ding ding! Ingredient delivery hog's here!" Was what Sonic called as he entered Amy's flat, plastic bag from the local super market tossed over his shoulder and slipping out of his beloved sneakers at the door before he slipped into the nearby kitchen.

Bags deposited on the kitchen table, and Sonic had already decided his job for the day was done, and instantly dropped himself into a relaxed position on the chairs surrounding the table, one hand reaching for an apple from the fruit bowl.

"This is not a date." He slipped that in the moment he entered the coffee shop, one finger up to point at the pink hog.

Perhaps Sonic should have been a little more conscientious of the others who were already sat down, and even Amy, so not to embarrass her in the middle of the coffee shop, but gods, he'd rather suffer the slight discomfort of those words than the complete embarrassment of rejecting her for the hundredth time in public.

The brief second of discomfort passed though, and soon the hog had navigated around humans and animals alike to slot himself down at the table across from his friend, offering her a smile the moment he arrived. "So yeah... What's kickin'? Didja already order?"

Sonic certainly liked to tell his own versions of events, didn’t he? “I grabbed you because I wanted that part of our conversation to be more private,” he told him simply. “I didn’t even hold you that tightly, you could’ve gotten away. You should be well aware of this. Unless you’re telling me you’re helpless or something?”

Oh, yes, obviously it was to prevent him from leaving and not because he didn’t want literally everyone on the road to hear him wax sentiment about his memories. Shadow didn’t even make it a hard grab; Sonic could’ve pulled out of it when he wanted to. God, if he was going to make Shadow look bad, at least do it with actual things that he’d done with ill intention.

“Stop trying to have the last word and go already. You’ve made your case very clear to me.”

It was also nice that Sonic was sympathetic at all about Shadow’s memory gaps. But Shadow didn’t expect him to be; that was why he didn’t bother rise to either statement about it. If Sonic wanted to scoff at him for something he had no control over, then that was his business. He expected him to put him down for his connection to the Black Arms, next. That would be the icing on it all.

Ooh, he wanted to hold him tightly.

By the neck.

Growl at him and bare his fangs, threaten him to make him go, leave, never come back because Sonic didn't want to see his face around him or anyone he cared about ever again. 

Why should he be sympathetic about his memory blocks? Shadow should know better than to trust his own memories, and yet, he picked them over him. Even in their conversation, as spiteful and bitter as Sonic was during, he still picked his own mind over the words of someone he used to spend his life with.

Shadow got not sympathy. He only caused pain and suffering no matter where he went, perhaps it was better that he was generally locked up with GUN.

"Whatever, man!" And that was it, Sonic left. Not with a speedy take off, but with firm footsteps out the alley way and back into the busy streets of Station Square. At least this time, he didn't leave with tearful eyes, at least he could hold his head high and walk with pride, not regretting a single word that left his lips. They were bitter, they were angry and hurt, but gone where the days of Sonic regretting things. He was back home, back in tune with himself. No regrets, just live life and do what he believed was right.

There was no doubt in Shadow’s mind that Sonic was trying to get a rise out of him. And certainly, it caused him to be frustrated – not because Sonic was insulting him (although that certainly was irritating), but because the blue hedgehog wasn’t even bothering to heed his warning. And a warning it was, truthfully. But he couldn’t force him to listen to him. If Shadow learned anything from their relationship it was that Sonic was stubborn.

“Stop trying to reel me back into being relevant to the conversation,” he snapped. “Anger at me, although I do not believe it to be entirely justified given what I remember of the events, is all on you, but you shouldn’t let it cloud your judgment on everything else. That attitude is going to get you into trouble.”

But that was going to be his last statement on this matter. He backed up a step, crossing his arms, and turned his back on Sonic. “You have plenty of opportunity to leave. I’m not stopping you.”

"Why, thank you for the advice, mister wise ol' sage who can never seem to remember anything. Ever. I will definitely heed your advice." 

Why did Shadow even trust his own memory at this point? It had lied to him so many times before, but of course, he always deluded himself into being the right one. He may not believe what he had done, but Sonic remembered it clear as day. Of course he was going to be bitter and angry about it.

Shadow tilted his head. Sonic seemed awfully offended, what with the way he bit back in response. Which was strange, because he seemed more offended at what was simply an observation rather than Shadow outright accusing him of walking out. Or maybe he was just offended at everything Shadow said? Either way, if Sonic was going to be sensitive about it, well, that was his business.

“I just said I wouldn’t be telling GUN you’re here,” he said pointedly. “I know they wouldn’t keep silent about it.” There was definitely an implication still in Sonic’s voice there that he would tell, regardless. God, was Sonic that skeptical? “That does make sense, though. But do you really trust all of the humans here that much?”

What Shadow knew of humans was that they carried an arrangement of colors to them. Even if they’d been saved, they often responded with a lack of gratitude. After all, that was exactly what happened to Shadow – he’d done his best to fight for the planet, the planet, and they still looked at him like he’d strike them down sooner than protect them. It almost seemed naive, on Sonic’s part, to believe them just because he lived here.

“Humans have no problems turning against the young of their own kind if they believe it would benefit them.”

"Kinda like how you had no problem turning on me?" He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, a sardonic smirk present on his lips. "Looks like we're all not so different after all, huh?"

Although Sonic certainly trusted the humans of Station Square more than he trusted Shadow. Sure, not all of them were good people, there were some Sonic didn't get along with, but most of them...? Yeah, they were fine. They wouldn't expose Sonic or anything along those lines.

Why would they? Sonic walking around was there everyday, it was more strange that he had disappeared for a few years.

Shadow was not oblivious to the negative opinion that Sonic held for GUN. Even within their relationship, taking none of that into account, Sonic had been pretty outright about it. He’d never been happy about Shadow working for GUN – but he allowed it, because Sonic championed personal choice above anything else. Not that it really was a choice for Shadow, more of an obligation, but at any rate Sonic never told him off for it. And even now, he didn’t; he made his opinion quite clear and doubled down on it, but he’d never asked that question, and Shadow doubted he ever would: ‘Why are you still working for them?’ Maybe it should be alarming that Sonic never seemed to care about that, but… To be fair, it was only Shadow’s business. Perhaps Sonic sought to respect that.

When their relationship was built with respect, that was. Now he probably just didn’t care at all.

He expected, then, for Sonic to not want to be known about, which is why it surprised him when Sonic actively accused him of going to go tell them. He wasn’t here to scout out Sonic. He was here to scout out Eggman, what purpose would he have for selling the blue hedgehog out?

“I have no reason to tell them that you’re here,” he responded calmly. “So I won’t. Although, if your intention is to prevent world knowledge of your location,” he glanced out beyond the little corner they’d hid in, to the people wandering the streets, “it seems rather against the point to openly walk where the humans are. Humans like to talk, and they especially like to talk about us.”

So he wanted to act like the big man, the better hog out of the two of them, huh?

He wouldn't tell GUN where Sonic was, he wasn't that petty, although Sonic knew darn well if those words hadn't left his lips 'Sonic is here' would have the first words reported back to his commander. Ugh, Shadow made him sick.

Then he went so far as to try and insult Sonic's own intelligence afterwards? Yeah, he was really building the case that he was sorry for what he did. Good thing Sonic had decided long ago he'd never fall for his lying words again. Shadow didn't know his left from his right, and Sonic was better away from that and not trapped with only him in his life.

He was better here, he had a life here. He had his home, his friends, everyone he could ever need in his whole life. He was happy. Shadow wouldn't be ruining that.