Slipping Away

by PhantomEmeralds

Summary:

Sonic returns from the Starfall Islands, everything seems to be back to normal. But things are starting to slip through the cracks.

Notes:

Inspired by this post by galaxy-pop https://at.tumblr.com/galaxy-pop/702890253439139840/eqnqq4s9j2n8

Chapter 1

Clinging to his past as it slipped through the cracks, the burning red of the infection crackling against his skin and shooting through his skull.

He faltered with every step, buckling at the knees. Peering with glazed eyes at the drop. If he slipped, if he fell from the tower piercing the clouded skies, it would be over.

His friends would be gone forever.

His thoughts turned to them as he scrambled up the tower, limbs numb yet on fire. Blurry faces and names he couldn't speak. Voices blending and twisting beyond any sense of familiarity. Features and colours warping as he tried to place a face, his mind screaming and grasping for recognition.

He was doing this for them. He spoke it aloud, a plead for himself to fight through the pain.
His voice scratchy and hoarse and twinged with static. Ringing out a million miles away and rattling in his own head.

The final tower loomed above, the hammering rain drowning his gasps and drenching him to the bone. Coughing and weezing as though his lungs were filled with smoke, he began to scale the ruins.

He clings to his memories, but not tight enough. They slip through his fingers like sand in an hourglass. His time running out.

The top is in sight and there's a name he can't place, he screws his eyes shut but it's not coming back.

It's on the tip of his tongue but his mouth cannot form it. It's cheered by the masses in the ruins of a city, spat at him in fury, spoken in a lovestruck cry and nuzzled into his chest after six long months apart.

"My name…my name is?"

"Sonic!"

An oh so familiar voice rips him from his thoughts.

"Sonic, did you hear what I said?"

The tones of a younger boy, a voice he couldn't believe he'd almost forgot.

"Sonic! The onions are burning!"

"Oh!"

The flustered blue hedgehog ripped the pan from the flame, the smell of smoke filling the small kitchen as the young fox quirked a brow at his older brother.

"Crap." Sonic sighed (of course, his name was Sonic.) "Guess we're not having onions on the chilli dogs."

Tails gave him a look, concern flashing in his eyes.

"Sonic, is everything alright? You've been doing that a lot lately."

"...Doing what?"

"Spacing out." Tails explained. "You've been doing it ever since we got back from the Starfall Isles."

"Oh." He said plainly, turning his back to scrape the charred onions into the bin. "Just got a lot on my mind is all."

"...Anything you need to talk about?"

The hedgehog chuckled, spinning on his heels to face him. Face plastered with his signature grin.
"Nah, nothing to worry about."

Tails sighed, his gaze dropping to the floor.
"You don't need to lie to me."

Sonic stopped, the smirk dropping from his muzzle.
Without a word he took a step forward, lowering himself down to the fox as he struggled to meet his eyes.
"Seriously. I'm fine. The last few days have just worn me out. Things will go back to normal soon, ok?"

The fox tilted his head to meet him.
"...Would you tell me if you weren't fine?"

Sonic chucked.
"Course I would-"

"Promise?" He said, raising his hand to him.

Sonic watched as the boy extended his pinky finger, in a gesture they hadn't used since they were just little kids. Taking on the whole world together.

The hedgehog smiled, taking his pinky in his own and locking it tight.
An unbreakable bond.

"I promise."

Flashing a grin, the hedgehog stood to his full height. Ruffling the fox's bangs, before returning to their meal prep. Chuckling softly to himself as his brother tried to fix them.

"C'mon, let's get these chilli dogs eaten." He said, voice slipping back to his usual upbeat tone. "Don't want to be eating them cold, eh…Tails?"

The fox noted his quick glance to the ceiling in the pause between his name. But with an assured grin from his brother, and a quick nudge of his arm it was quickly forgotten.

Notes:

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Chapter 2

He's drowning.

Freezing and burning and fighting to keep upright, swirling against the depths and the darkness.

He pierces the surface, gasping for air which never comes. His lungs are heavy and the air is too thick, but the evening sunlight warms his fur. And the orange shimmers over an ocean without end.

The sky bleeds into crackling scarlet, it melts into the sea.

Seconds stretch into years, and he hasn't breathed in centuries. He's forced under the waves again.

And something is pulling him down.

It's tangible and bodiless, a billion years old and born seconds ago. The screaming at daybreak and the death of midnight.

It's dragging him into the dark.

It speaks, a whisper in his head.

"My broken key." It says, not in one voice. But two. Tones soft and angry and spoken without a mouth.

He flails against its grip, but he's falling further and further into the abyss.

He strains for the light, needs to feel it burn his skin. Crimson and static, and racing across his arm.

He wakes up in darkness.

"I always loved the way you played."

There's a voice he has to reach for, has to push past the fog to truly know.

"Hm?"

She laughs. It's sugary and sweet and it aches in his bones. A sound he knew he'd heard a thousand times, but this felt like the first.

"Reminds me of when we were kids y'know? Back when Tails couldn't sleep without a lullaby."

Sonic looks down, to the guitar he strummed without mind. It was scratched, and battered and rough around the edges. But it wore its age well. Each notch in the wood, a reminder of all those late nights under the stars.

Late nights which seemed so far away from him now.

The air is soft and warm and he can breathe, the late summer breeze drifting through his quills. It rustled the leaves of the tree he sat beneath, light peeking through the foliage and spotting his shade. He watches the grass swirl at his feet.

Amy smiles softly, and two sets of green eyes meet.

"Could you play it for me?

"Play what?"

"The lullaby." She says, as if it were obvious. "You know how much I love that song."

But he didn't.

The hedgehog passes her a glance, and shifts the guitar in his hands.

His fingers ghost over chords, reaching for a melody he couldn't seem to place.

He knew it in his brother's sleepy face, as he played the boy to sleep in the nights following their adventures. Knew it in quiet moments spent on Angel Island, with Knuckles perched atop the emerald; drumming his hand to the beat. He knew it in the challenged quiet, of nights spent alone after six months of hell.

But as his hand tightened around the neck, and his fingers sat unmoving against the strings.

He found he didn't know it at all.

Chapter 3

He opens his eyes, and darkness floods his senses.

Each breath stutters out cold. Ice slivers down his spine.

He goes to move, to reach his arm forward. But something snaps him back.

Crimson fire shoots across his body.

He tries to walk forward, but ice bites into his ankles. Digs into his wrists.

He's been here before. He knows he has.
His heart aches in a way that screams familiar, cutting deep. Isolation twists the knife.

The voice bleeds poison into his ear, soft feminine tones drowning out the baritone.

"You thought this was over, didn't you?"

Static latches to his tongue and he shouts without a voice. Pleads across four cell walls, as the light begins to blind him. As they crash down on top of him.

In that moment he is nothing but a child. Screaming to the stars in the death of space, as if they would ever answer.
A boy parading as an adult, wise beyond his years in the chasm of 15. And the years, never really lived, melt away in the face of those six months he can barely remember. Days and weeks bleeding into a second.

And in that second only one name comes to mind. A name he has to fight to remember.

When infinity twists into a moment. And when the stars fail to answer.
He just wants his brother.

He arrives at their little house just after midnight, ready for his head to hit the pillow.

He swung the door open, taking in the space. The lights were down but he could still make out that the room looked different to when he left.

The walls were decorated with banners and streamers, the floor covered in wrapping paper. On the corner of the table was a half eaten cake, with one piece kept aside on a separate plate.

Sonic flicked on the lights, freezing in place as his brother murmured in his sleep. The young fox lounged across the sofa, and rolled over back into his deep rest.

With the artificial white light casted across the room, Sonic had a better look at these decorations.

And as one banner in particular caught his eye, the hedgehog felt his heart sink in his chest.

'Happy Birthday Tails.'

How easy everything seemed to slip away.

The hedgehog stood over his little brother, leaning down to bundle him in his arms. Being careful not to jostle him. And turned to carry him upstairs.

Had they done this before, when the fox was much smaller? Sonic couldn't be sure. That younger fox seemed so far away now.

Everything seemed so far away now.

The hedgehog put the boy to bed, a fond smile gracing his muzzle as the fox's namesakes curled around his body.

Had he always done that?
He felt something shift in the corners of his mind.

It was laughing at him.

He brought the covers over him, making sure to tuck him in as Tails made himself comfortable. Snuggling into his pillow.

Sonic sighed, running a hand through his bangs as he nestled into his gentle touch.

"Happy birthday, little bro."

Chapter 4

They're running out of time.

A last stand, two brand new stars blinking against the black of space. Burning like the heart of the sun.

His form hums with energy.

Gold, gold, it should be gold.

But it's not.

His limbs burn scarlet and his blood trickles ice. Its invading every cell, bubbling and screaming. Electricity pricks at his skin and his body feels numb.
The static is choking as it tangles in his throat, weaving through and sticking to words he needs to shout at the speckled abyss.

He wasn't alone.

Two of us. There were two.

A figure looks to him, and it's seeping gold, hanging in the dead of space like a corpse.

It shouts to him.

The words come through, without sound or voice. Like writing on a page, no melody or rhythm to dance with spoken word.
Just words in the bleak, and they twist his stomach as they had done the first time.

"I think I know who the Ultimate Lifeform is."

The knife punctures.

"It might be you!"

The knife twists.

And he is bleeding out.

The figure is falling, hurtling through the black and tumbling towards blue.

He tries to catch their eye, see the exhaustion in their face he swears should be there.

But their features are warped. Smudged and twisted.

He reaches out, they're within his grasp and a million miles away.
Their face is melting and they mutter old promises, without mouth or voice.

They slip from his grasp and they are falling. Over and over. Plunging and dancing and dying. Again and again.

The moon burns cold against his skin, bathing his form in its purple hue.

It should be crumbling. Bright white and crumbling.

It dwarfs his size, threatening to swallow the world below. Standing stark against the brilliant dark. His pupils shrink and his breath catches in his throat, fighting against the need to run and hide.

"Why are you doing this?" His voice hums with static.

"My little, broken key." He feels it smile behind his back. "So useless without a lock. Consider this, my parting gift."

He chokes on his own heart as it lodges in his throat.

"There's something wrong with me, isn't there?"

It was harder to breathe here. Only a little. But it made him lightheaded all the same. It was colder too, a chill hung in the air despite the warmth of late summer.
It must be the altitude.

He didn't know how the Echidna could stand it up here.

He didn't recall the journey up here.

Knuckles eyed Sonic from his position sat atop the stairs, their interactions whenever the hedgehog came to visit had always been quiet. But this wasn't comfortable silence.

Sonic had perched himself on a low pillar, legs hanging over the side as he absentmindedly kicked the stone with his heel. Drumming one hand over the other with an unfocused stare.

His gaze was empty, head hanging low.

It reminded him of how they found Sonic on the Island.

He spoke out against the silence, might as well have been speaking to the night sky.
"Hey, are you ok?"

His stare didn't shift towards him, the drumming gets faster.

"Sonic." The Echidna says, more firmly this time.

Bleary eyes snapped in his direction. As if he'd just woken from a dream.

"Hm?" Came the subdued response.

"I asked if you were ok."

The hedgehog quirks a brow and grins, as if it were a stupid question.
"Uh, yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

Knuckles shrugs his shoulders.
"You just seem a bit…distant."

Sonic huffs, his eyes rolling up to the night sky.
"Great. First Tails, now you."

"Tails thinks you're being weird too?"

"I'm not being weird!"

He rolls his eyes.
"Could have fooled me." He mutters under his breath. "I mean, you missed the kid's birthday party this afternoon. What was that about?"

And Sonic snaps to stand.
"Can you just get off my back?" He spat. "I'm telling you, there's nothing wrong with me."

It's laughing at him. Grinning in the darker recesses. Wrapping its hands around his neck and digging its claws in.

The Echidna sighs and resigns.
"Whatever."

The cool breeze swirls between them and any sense of comfort is long since dead. But Sonic's glare softened, and he relaxes into himself. Satisfied the questions are done.

The grass shifts, the insects chirp. And he breathes in the night. He leans on his hands, and his gaze turns skywards.

And that's when he sees it. Cold and shining and hanging in the black. Full against the twinkling starlight.

And it's so wrong. Panic rises in his chest.

It's crumbling. Thousands of miles above and dying in the night. Half just rocks and dust, sprinkling across the murky black.

Knuckles meets his eyeline. Something shifts in Sonic's chest in the lack of concern in the face of his friend.

His words are pitchy, spoken against heavy breaths.

"What happened to the moon?"

Notes:

Tysm for the support and the lovely comments. I rlly wasn't expecting this and it's SO appreciated.

Chapter 5

It hurt.

He knew it shouldn't. Knew he was being selfish. But he couldn't help it.

It just hurt.

When their faces melted from joy into pity. When the dancing slowed and tears dampened his muzzle.
He just wanted his brother.

The day dragged on and his eyes remained glued to the door, waiting for it to swing open and for him to step through. Laughing and smiling and pulling him into a quick hug.

Had he done something wrong?

Was he angry?

Maybe he was a burden after all.

Night fell and the numbers grew thin, shrinking down to just Amy as the fox curled up on the sofa.

She stayed with him for a while, until his soft sniffles into her dress stopped. And his stuttered breathing smoothed out in his sleep.

With a heavy heart she gently lifted her friend's head from her lap, making a mental note to give his brother a piece of her mind.

She shifted towards the door, being careful not to wake him. Switching off the lights and plunging the decorated room into darkness.

Tails woke up in bed the next morning. Swivelling his legs to sit on the edge of his bed.

He felt messy. His eyes were puffy and the fur of his muzzle was matted.

For a moment he just sat there, head buried into his hands. Until he heard something shift downstairs. And then…music?

He rose to his feet, stretching his limbs before heading towards the bathroom. He met with his own tired eyes in the mirror, splashing water on his face to make him look at least somewhat presentable.

But mainly to hide the damage.

The fox trailed down the stairs, twin namesakes draping behind him. Rock music pounding against his ears as the smell of cooking filled the air.

He stepped out into the space, almost immediately overwhelmed by the squeezing hug he was suddenly thrown into.

"Hey kiddo!" Sonic grinned upon pulling away, having to raise his voice above the music. "Happy belated birthday!"

Tails raised a brow.

"Pancakes are cooking, we can watch movies or go out for lunch, or do whatever you want!" He flashed him a coy look. "I even got you a little something."

"Oh!" The fox replied, giving him a small yet unsure smile. "That's great, but uh-"

He was quickly cut off by his older brother gripping onto his arms, swinging him along to the beat of the music. Attempting to pull him into the middle of the room, encouraging him to dance. Unaware of the fox's resistance.

Sonic smiled and laughed. But it quickly faded. As soon as he noticed his brother's ears drooping, and his eyes glueing to the floor.

He immediately let go.

"Uh, are you ok buddy?"

He rubbed his arm, unable to meet his eyes.

"Could you turn off the music? It's…loud."

"Oh." Sonic said, his ears tilting slightly.

He watched as he shifted towards the stereo, an old thing Sonic had refused to get rid of and replace.

"Not in the mood for dancing, huh? That's ok. No problem! We can do something else."

"Sonic-"

"How about a movie?" He asked, in a voice that seemed strained in its lilted tones.

The hedgehog dropped onto the sofa, before picking up the remote control and holding it out to him.

"I'm…I'm not sure what you like. So you can pick."

The fox stilled, blanking the gesture.
"What do you mean…you're not sure what I like?"

Sonic's grin dropped for a moment. A split second. Before he forced out a laugh.
"Well, you're a big kid now! Your interests change once you hit your teens."

He peered at him intently, confusion crossing his features.
"Sonic, I'm not a teenager."

He laughed through his nose.
"Course you are, you just turned thirteen."

"I didn't."

"You did. I'm sure you did."

"I'm ten, Sonic." He said, ears flattening against his head. "I just turned ten."

A silence hung between them, Sonic immediately moving to fill it. Tails didn't miss the way his fingers dug into his palm.
"Double digits." He said. "I was close enough."

"Sonic…"

"Nevermind that!" He grinned, vaulting over the sofa and taking his brother by the arm. "I need to show you your gift!"

He raised a brow, allowing his brother to drag him through the house and into the workshop. Watching as his brother shifted over to the fox's plane.

"Ta-dah!" He said, extending his arms to gesture towards the biplane.

He gave him a blank look, to which Sonic just laughed at.

"Since you use it way more than I do, I thought it was finally time to give you official ownership of the…"

He trailed off, face scrunching as he tilted his head back. Clicking his fingers as if it would help him recall.

"The Tornado?" Tails finished for him.

His face stretched back into his false grin.
"Yeah, the Tornado! I'm giving you the Tornado."

"Sonic." He began, concern flashing across his face. "You gave me the Tornado for my birthday last year. For my ninth."

Something fell in his features. The hedgehog running both hands across his face and back through his quills. But the emotion faded as quickly as it appeared.

"Ah. My bad. I'm sorry buddy." He said with an apologetic smile, before running a hand through the fox's bangs. Who just gave him an incredulous stare in return.

Two sets of ears suddenly perked to the sound of beeping, Sonic raising a brow.

"Sonic. That's the smoke alarm."

The hedgehog was the first to move, heading for the kitchen. Tails lagged behind, ears flattening to his head as he heard shouting from across the house.

He shifted through the door and into the space, peeking around the door of the kitchen as he watched his brother fumble with the smoking pan.

His teeth were gritted, a hand balling at his side as he slammed the pan into the sink. His ears were flat against his head, quills bristled. His body was stiff, like a twig about to snap.

He didn't understand. They were just pancakes?

Tails stared with wide eyes as his brother kicked the cabinet, his hands tugging on his quills as he spat and swore. His breathing was ragged, his chest stuttering.

He caught his eye, mouth hanging slightly.

And his broken smile returned.

"Sorry!" He grinned, voice wavering. "I fucked up the pancakes. I'm fucking up a lot at the moment."

"What do you-"

"But I wanted to make it up to you. Wanted to give you a nice day. But I fucked that up too."

"You didn't." He said, shifting slowly towards his brother. "It's ok."

Sonic laughed, but it was bitter.
"It's not. It's really not ok."

Tails gaze fell to the floor. He shifted in place, fiddling with his gloves as his namesakes slowly fluttered behind him.
His eyes then met with his brothers.

"This isn't just about the birthday. Is it?"

The hedgehog froze and said nothing. Averting his brother's gaze, avoiding the concern painted across his features.

His brother stepped forward.

"There's something wrong. Isn't there?"

"No."

"Stop lying to me."

"Hey." He said, lowering himself down to his level. He rested a hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong. I'm just…tired, ok."

"Sonic. You promised me."

"Promised you what?"

The fox stiffened.
"That you would tell me if you weren't fine."

His breathing hitched. And Tails felt his grip on his shoulder grow harder.
"I don't…I don't remember that."

Chapter 6

The stars twinkle as they pierce the sheet of black, the silvery moon hanging low above the forest clearing. In the midst of nature, sat beneath the towering trees, are four children. Together in silence.

The laughter and the singing have long since faded into the night, dying like the smouldering flame they sat around. The day was won, and the partying done. Fanged grins melting into soft, content smiles as sleep finally pulled at them.

Knuckles had been the first to be lulled into slumber, the echinda collapsing against a stump. Mouth hanging open as his snores filled the air.

He was quickly followed by Amy, who rested against the soft grass. Snuggling into her blanket.

But as the night trickled into the early hours, two children remained awake.

A hedgehog and his fox brother.

The younger of the two curled into the other, desperately trying to nod off. His exhaustion from the day failing to finally lull him.

Sonic chuckled as the boy tossed and turned against him, trying to settle.

He moved to gently lift him away, Tails raising a brow as he watched his brother get up and walk away.

The hedgehog reached for his guitar, long discarded as the nights festivities had softened. Brand new, lacking the damage to come from years of use.

He returned to sit beside him, allowing him to press back into his side. Adjusting his hold of the guitar to accommodate him.

Tails smiled, he’d done this for him many times before. When lightning crashed and fear kept him awake, when nightmares had ripped him from his sleep.

A song he’d written for him.

The easy silence was filled by gentle, swirling tones. The hedgehog humming along softly as he plucked at the strings.

It was magic. The soft song dancing with the breeze, singing alongside the crickets chirping. Filling the cool, early morning air with beautiful sound.

The fox nuzzled into his fur, softening against him as a yawn stretched his little features.

And Sonic smiled.

A small voice, laced with sleep, spoke out against the tune.

“Sonic?” He asked.

“Yeah?”

“We’re going to be together forever, right?”

The song faded, Sonic removing a hand to run it through his brother’s bangs.

“Of course, kiddo.”

Blue eyes looked up to meet him.

“Promise?”

His hand shifted, bringing it to Tails as he extended his pinky finger. They boy quickly taking it and locking it with his own.

An unbreakable bond.

“I Promise.”

In the silence of their living room, those nights were so far away.

Sonic had fought against it, this little intervention of theirs. Attempting to bolt as soon as he saw the expressions on their faces. But Knuckles had forced himself against the door, blocking his escape. And the hedgehog relinquished, perching himself atop a table in the corner of the room. As far away from everyone as he could get.

Amy had been the first to speak, gentle tones shattering the crushing silence.

“There's something wrong, isn’t there?”

The hedgehog couldn’t meet her face, the only tell of him even hearing her question being his ears flattening against his head.

“Can you please, just talk to us?”

He stiffened.

“Sonic, we can help! You don’t have to go through this alone.”

“I don’t need your help.” He finally spoke, through gritted teeth. “I’m fine.”

Knuckles huffed.
“You’re clearly not.”

Sonic peered at him from under his brow, gripping onto the sides of the table. His sights turned to the fox, who had been silent for a while.

"Tell them I'm ok."

Tails averted his gaze, eyes dropping to the floor as a sigh passed his lips. His ears flattening.

"I'm not going to lie to them." He said, still refusing to look at his brother. "Not like you've been lying to us."

Sonic laughs, but it's bitter.
"I'm not lying-"

"You're forgetting things, aren't you?" He says, eyes snapping to Sonic's.

Amy and Knuckles turn to look at him.

"Things you should remember. Things you never should be able to forget."

"The moon." Knuckles says, hands gripping onto his folded arms. "You forgot what happened to the moon."

"I…"

"The lullaby." Amy concurs, her eyes squeezing shut. "You couldn't remember how to play it."

Something drops in Tails' stomach. And his brother drags a hand across his face.

"So I forgot a couple of things." He finally shrugs, a harshness behind his words. "Big deal."

"It is a big deal, Sonic!" Tails blurts. "What if it gets worse?"

"They might come back." Knuckles intejects. "Shadow lost his memories and he eventually remembered."

Sonic raises a brow. A blurry figure in the dead of space.
"Shadow?"

"That's true!" Amy said hopefully. "Maybe we just need something to trigger-"

"Who's Shadow?"

Gravity seemed to drop around them. The air was crushing, a heavy silence ringing between them.

All eyes turned to look at Sonic.

Amy's breath hitched.
"Sonic that isn't funny."

“You’re joking right?” Knuckles forced out a nervous laugh, taking a step away from the door. “You’re just messing with us.”

“...I’m not.”

It's laughing again. Always laughing. Burning in the depths of his mind as it pierces its claws into him, unthreading his past with each passing second and ripping at the seams.
He needs it to be gone, needs to weave his tearing thoughts into something real. Something he knows in his heart to be true.

But the thread is going to snap.

He searches their widened eyes for something he knows. Something he recognises. As if he could pull years of fraying string from them, even if the new stitches he pierces are messy and wrong.

He finds nothing but pity and fear.
And it hurts.

"Stop looking at me like that." He says, and his chords are ripping in his throat.

"Sonic…" The pink hedgehog begins, with her voice so sweet and loving and it's piercing his body and he is bleeding out onto the floor.

Her eyes are burning through him. And it hurts and he hates it.

"Just stop."

His claws are digging into skin now. He fights the urge to rip at his quills.

The youngest voice speaks. It is pleading and dripping with love and fear and he's going to drown.

"We're worried about you."

He's swimming in the blue of his eyes. And he's being pulled under, fighting against the tides. His lungs are filling with water. And he's choking.

Something unfurls in his chest. It's bleeding, and scorching and coarsing its way through his body. Ripping at his throat as it settles on his tongue and begs to spill from his mouth.

He glares from beneath his brow and moves to stand. It finally pours from his mouth, venom lacing every syllable as he spits.

"I said stop! Stop fucking looking at me!"

Something shrivels and dies in the air. And Sonic's chest is pounding, his heart threatening to explode. His breathing is ragged and he fights to control it but he can't.

But then he sees their faces. Sees the pity and fear in their eyes twist into shock. Sees the way the hedgehog clasps a hand over her mouth, the way the echidna readies for a fight.

Sees the way the boy's ears pin to his head as he takes a step back.

And embarrassment floods through his body.

His breathing slows, and his seething glare softens.

"I'm sorry." He says, and the venom has gone from his voice.

"I'm not like this…am I?"

Chapter 7

He is cut so deep and its dripping from the wounds, the knife is gone and crimson is pooling.

It isn't blood. It wasn't blood.

He'd bled before and it hadn't hurt like this. Isn't hurting like this. Wasn't hurting like this.

Blood didn't cast a sickening red glow across his form, didn't crackle and glitch against his skin. Didn't stab like a livewire.

He's crossing those islands again. Again? Again. When had he-

The rain beats down and he is climbing that tower. His body is breaking under a weight he cannot place. Each step is weak and faltering beneath him. He grits his teeth and drops his head to the skies.

The tower's spire pierces the heavens, miles and miles above and resting in the stars.

Its staring at him without eyes, a broken laugh tearing through chords that weren't there. The purple moon waits atop the spire, wallowing in black as it casts its shadow across the landscape.

He presses on. He doesn't know why. Time is stretching with each step. Minutes, to years, to hours, to centuries. Eternity is dying in a second. And he is crawling into the maw of God.

He reaches the spire, battered and bruised and glitching scarlet.

It smiles at him. Peering down and staring from behind him.

Voice breaking. He shouts to the skies. Shouts to death itself.

"Was one beatdown not enough?" He laughs but it is strained. "Had to come back for more, didn't you?"

It's laughing. Like bell chimes on the wind.

"My little key." It speaks, each syllable dripping silver. Each voice melding into harmony.

It's cradling his face. Soft and gentle and he needs to run.

"You are nothing. A little spark, yet to be extinguished."

"So you talk a big game, whatever." He needs to run, he needs to run. "If you're so powerful why haven't you killed me?"

The bells grow louder, the wind grows stronger. The hold on his face rips into his skin.

"I will take every second of your life. Every victory, every joy, every love. All dust."

Its laugh drowns out the silence of midnight.

"Is that not death enough?"

The scenery melts around him, the ground disappearing from beneath him. The stars blink and fade from existence, and the black of night comes crashing down. And a city erupts and raises from the dark.

He stands stark in the ruins of the town square. The sky burns amber, flames twist and billow smoke. People run screaming, and mechs tower above the buildings.

He turns to run. But something pulls at his legs, leather gloves grasping at him as it pulls itself from the black pooling at his feet.

A broken body and a warping mask lugs itself from the ground. Climbing up his body and he needs to run, he needs to run.

An inky hand latches itself to his shoulder, power beating at its heart. The mask is melting, dripping down its twisted body, as a maul seems to snap open in the metal.

It envelopes him in its cold embrace, screaming and growling as the power grows brighter, and he is dragged under the pooling black and tumbles into white.

The world around him is strange and empty. Washed white and dotted with landmasses.

He scans his surroundings for a sign of life, and only one stands stark blue against the endless white void.

Shorter in stature, yet still a mirror of himself. Yet his features blur together. Not a speck of life in the melting white of his eyes.

The figure tilts its head. A grin stretches his face, breaking his twisted features as he inches closer.

He holds out a hand, he hesitates yet takes it. And the figure pulls him along through the abyss.

He cannot tell how long they walk. Time stretches thin, and they balance upon the thread.

The white above them darkens into black, specks of white piercing the night sky. Buildings drag themselves from the void and he is stepping on cobble, the sea is roaring and shattering against the cliffs beside him.

His body is breaking, twisting and hunching into something towering and new. Claws tear through the fabric of his gloves, fangs rip their way through his gums.

He is eating something. And there's a small figure floating above his head. It seems to be speaking but the pitchy words come out wrong.

The purple moon glares down at them.

Something melts onto his tongue, flavourless and lacking texture. Tastes like nothing at all as he swallows.

Dawn is breaking and the white of the city blends into green, the trees of the forest looming down as the girl next to him screams.

Her tones ring against his ears, as hands cup over her blurred face.

Liquid is filling his lungs and spills from his mouth in a choke, red dripping down his chin as he is suspended in midair.

He chances a glance down, sees the light ripping through his stomach. Its tendrils of energy licking across his skin.

Someone laughs behind him. Deep and broken, melody stretching and collapsing under itself.

The light recoils, tearing its way back through his body. Darkness floods his senses as he buckles to the ground.

Melting faces stare at his body in the dead of the universe, time itself unravelling as the figures argue above him.

He's on his feet and the city walls loom over him, with widening eyes he stares into the night. Sees the space colony's destructive light rip into the skin of the purple moon.

He needs to run but something pools at his ankles. Slowly rising as the crackle of red tingeing his flesh reflects in the mirror of the rushing water.

It's filling up the streets and something screams in the night, watery tendrils forcing their way through buildings.

It's rising and he is fighting the wave. Dancing and drowning and choking as he tries to force his head above, glowing green eyes narrowing into slits and glaring as they melt into water. Its features beginning to blur.

A gloved hand grasps at his leg, he kicks and struggles but the hold is firm and he is pulled below. Swallowed by the depths.

The water clings to him as he is thrown on his back, dazed eyes taking in his new surroundings. Crystalline towers sprouted from the ground, reaching for the ceiling of the cave. Ancient murals decorated the glittering walls, a sparkling gemstone sitting at an alter.

His captor breaths heavily over him, chest rising and falling in a panic. His features painted with fear.

Features he could still place.

"You're forgetting." The Echidna says, and his words are breaking. "You can't forget."

He pulls himself up, bringing himself eye level with him.

"I don't understand. Why is this happening?"

"Please." He says, and pulls him into an embrace. "I can't do this."

He pulls back. Sees his features begin to contort and melt.
"Fight this!" He begs, his voice fading into words without tone. "Please! You're my best friend, I don't know what to do."

Hands dig into his shoulders, he stiffens beneath his hold as eyes and mouth begin to drip. Pleas are garbled, contorted and wrong. Words shouted without voice, without meaning. And he wants to run as this stranger holds him down and refuses to let go.

Metal clasps around his throat, cold and biting into his skin as it rips him away from the figure. Pulling him into the evening light as the glittering caves begin to collapse, revealing orange sky and towering palm trees. The figure drowning in the crystalline rubble, screaming with an outstretched hand.

He's forced into a wall of mud, meets the glowing red eyes of his metallic doppelganger. Sees the metal of his face bubble and boil and drip as the light of his eyes fizzles and fades. He fights to recall this monsters name as it melts and pools into the grass.

She throws herself into him, a pink hedgehog with a tear-soaked muzzle and trembling body.

"You should have let us help!" She cries, and her hands are digging into his sides. "Why didn't you let us help?"

The sparkling green of her eyes are fading into white.
"I love you! You're my friend I can't let you forget!"

Features blend into pink, soft words can't escape her mouth in sensical strains. He pulls against her iron grip, struggles against the figure as pink melts onto blue fur. She's screaming nonsense and the wet of her tears soak his chest as she presses into him. He's drowning in this strangers sorrows and he needs to run, he needs to run.

He rips her grip away from his body, chest heaving as he turns to run. The grass grows lighter and the mountains recede into the rising seas.

That's when he sees him on the horizon, trembling in fear from the bullies who taunted him all those years ago. The boy he'd raised, who he loved as a brother.

The boy he promised he would look after forever. Who's bond he would never break.

His breath stutters in his chest, his eyes turning upwards to the purple moon stark against the blue sky.

It breathes against his skin, and laughs.

"Please, not him."

Chapter 8

Notes:

Tysm for your support on this fic, will hopefully be working on a short sequel soon 💕

Honey gathers in the depths of its throat, dripping from a sharp tongue like blood from a wound. Sweet tones meld into one as beautiful words pour, and he is writhing under its hold.

"Mortal." it speaks and his mind is melting and fuck, he can't think, he can't breathe and his life is unravelling and the sand is draining to the bottom of the hourglass. "My broken key. You dared to fight God, dared to believe you overcame me. Your flickering light, your love for your friends and this tiny, insignificant world. It may have stopped me then, but with every memory that fades into the stars you grow weaker. Soon you will forget your power, your loves. Every moment of your life belongs to me."

It smiles sweetly and presses into his throat, honey drowns in the pouring blood. It drips red against its soft grin.

"Death was hardly a fitting punishment for you, a boy who danced the tight string of life and balanced the precipice without fear."

Ice trickles in his heart and it smiles against his skin.

"Know I will return for your world. Cities will crumble into dust. Green will suffocate and choke. Oceans will bleed dry. Everyone you love will perish in my hands. All will be consumed by my majesty."

"And this time." His gaze turns skywards, and the world is fading into black. "You will be powerless to stop me."

And finally, as the warmth of evening bleeds into night. As silence dies at midnight. As the sand hits the bottom of the glass and the thread finally snaps. He feels everything slip away.

"Farewell, Sonic The Hedgehog."

Tired eyes flicker open to the warmth of morning, the early summer glow pouring through the window and bathing the walls in its orange hue. He squints against it, head pounding as he forces himself up amongst the soft bedding. He grits his teeth, pressing a hand to his head. It burns at the touch and he lets out a hiss.

Blurry eyes scan his surroundings, as he lifts his head. Feels as if his brain has been filled with lead.

It was a bedroom, he could tell that much. The space was filled with peculiar clutter.

A collection of books were stacked near a well worn bean bag, from mediaeval legends to books on gemstones and map anthologies.

Whoever lived here had strange tastes.

The walls were dotted with postcards, each seemingly depicting vastly different locations. Sunny beaches, sandy deserts, towering cities and icy tundras.
A couple of children's drawings were also pinned up, with crude blue and yellow scribble figures.

A battered guitar leaned up against the end of the bed, its wood chipped and battered.

He dragged himself to stand, almost tripping over a pair of red and white trainers as he did.

He brought himself over to a small desk, littered with empty energy drink cans, more books and photos. One in particular catching his eye.

Gently, he reached for the framed photograph. Brushing past a metal bracelet with a sparkling green gem as he did so.

It depicted a small group of people, three to be precise. Arms slung around one another in an embrace.

The girl wore a bright smile on her face, features squeezing in delight as she clung onto the two boys. One seemed disgruntled at the contact, while another smiled shyly at the camera.

Something drops in his stomach, feels something in his soul snap. He places the photo back face down.

The door pushes open, a young boy holding a tray of food stepping through. He is caught like a deer in headlights, freezing in the presence.

"Sorry." He says, taking a step away from the desk. "I was just…looking."

The boy raises a brow, but flashes him a nervous smile.
"Um? That's…ok?"

He watches as the boy clears some space on the desk, keeping a respectable distance as he places the tray down.

"I…made you some breakfast. Figured you needed it after all that sleep."

"Oh." He swallows, wringing his hands. "Thank you."

He took a seat at the desk, scanning over the meal as the fox watched on expectantly.

"This is a nice room you have." He says, in an attempt to break the peculiar tension.

The boy freezes, and looks at him as if he'd just been shot. But he smiles and laughs, and it is forced and broken.
"That's a good one, this is your room."

His arms hug around his middle, two tails drooping around his legs.

Wait.

"You have two tails." He says, and the boy's eyes grow wide. "That's kind of weird."

Something akin to panic flashes across the kid's face.

"I'm sorry, that was rude wasn't it? Shit, I didn't mean anything by it." He stands up, and the fox takes a step back. "Sorry, I just…don't really know what's going on."

He searches for an excuse, a distraction. A way to avoid the kid's eyes from burning him.

He scrambles for the photo, holding it up to him with a frantic grin.
"This is you right?" He says, pointing to the fox in the picture. "Are these your friends? You all look so happy together."

He grips the frame in his hands, and they're staring at him. They're staring at him and his heart is breaking and it hurts so much.

His hands are trembling. Tears well, threatening to spill onto the frame. His stomach flips and he fights the urge to be sick.

"This isn't funny." The boy snaps, and the tone clutches at his heart. "You can't joke like this, not now."

"I'm not joking." He says, and his throat is closing. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

"You have to be. This is one of your stupid pranks, it has to be!"

"I promise you I'm telling the truth, kiddo. Why would I be joking?

"No." The boy says, a whisper in an echo chamber. "Please this can't be real."

He watches as the boy brings himself to the floor, his strange twin tails wrapping around him like a blanket as he buries his face into his knees.

"Hey, please don't be upset." He says, crouching down next to him. "Whatever it is I'm sure we can fix it."

The kid looks up with glassy eyes, he places a hesitant hold on the boy's shoulder.

"Please tell me you know who I am. Tell me you remember me."

The stars are drowning in black. The thread is unravelled on the floor. The hourglass is cracking.

And the bond is finally broken.

"I'm sorry." He says, and his heart is caught in his throat. "But I don't know who you are."

Notes:

my tumblr

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 6 of Unbreakable Bond
• Part 2 of Losing Myself