Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Fear ❯ Memories ( Chapter 2 )

Sonic was running toward Angel Island. Tikal's voice begged him to run faster.

"Knuckles isn't here right now! He's coming, but he's not going to be here fast enough! We know you can go faster, Sonic! So please, go faster!"

Sonic gathered his energy then there was a huge BOOM as he went supersonic. He hadn't gone that fast in a long time, and he whooped in joy, ducking and dodging people and buildings until he saw the floating island. He stopped, panting lightly. He stared up, never having prayed to the emerald before. Looking around, he saw nobody then shyly knelt down, folding his hands.

'Um, I'm not sure what to say. Here it goes…Master Emerald, would you please teleport me up to Angel Island? I'm needed, supposedly.'

There was a green flash and he found himself kneeling in front of the Master Emerald. He stood and nodded gratefully. Then he saw Shadow, curled up right beneath the green gem. Sonic stripped his shoes and gloves off, tossing them aside before he walked over to settle against the shaking hedgehog between his quills, stroking them lightly to soothe. Shadow shook harder as he pulled away, turned over, and pressed close against him. Sonic was bewildered as he cradled his once-enemy to himself. He had no idea what was wrong, but he knew Shadow was in no state to talk.

That was how Knuckles found them an hour later. The echidna stripped his attire off then knelt down beside them.

"Shadow? You okay?"

Shadow shook his head.

"Can you talk about it?"

Shadow's stomach rumbled, and he looked up, his red eyes full of tears.

"You've been having memory dreams again, haven't you? You never eat when you do."

Shadow nodded. "I can't stop seeing her," he whispered, tears slipping down his cheeks. "She asks me why, in the dreams. Why didn't I save her? Why didn't I take the bullet? I'm bulletproof. I could've done it and we both could've escaped. But no. She died. I didn't get to hold her as she died either. I was sent spiraling toward Earth, the place she always dreamed about going to. She never did. She never got to see the flowers and the trees, breathe the fresh air. She never got to run and skip and jump and play like a normal child. She died on a cold metal ship orbiting the planet. I was her one hope of living a long, full life, and Robotnik never got to cure NIDS. He went insane, and that's my fault, too. I'm a pathetic failure."

"Hey," Knuckles said softly. "You're not a failure. You're not pathetic. You're keeping your promise to Maria. You're keeping the world safe. You're giving people the chance to be happy."

Sonic hesitated before stroking the dark quills again. "You're one of the most amazing people I know, Shadow. You're strong and brave and as fast as me, as much as it bruises my pride to admit it. But what amazes me the most is how sensitive you are."

"Sensitive?" Shadow asked, looking up again as more tears fell.

"Yeah. I don't know much about this Maria, but from the way you talk about her, she was fun and a joy to be around. You're darker than that, sure, but you're still a joy. You might seem like an insensitive monster, but you're not. You still bring happiness to your friends when they need it most, whether it be me and Knux or Rouge and Omega. And I think Maria would love that about you. You can't stop what happened, it's in the past. I wish I could have stopped what happened to my parents, but I couldn't. Don't linger on it too much, Shadow. It'll eat at you until you go crazy. Trust me."

Shadow and Knuckles stared at him then slowly smiled. "Thank you," Shadow said gratefully as he sat up. Sonic sat up, as well, placing a hand on Shadow's shoulder.

"That's the Shadow I know," he said with a smile. "Now, how about some food?"

"Sounds good."

"Anything in particular?" Knuckles asked.

"Cheeseburgers," Shadow said, eyes gleaming. "That was Maria's favorite food."

"Chilidogs!" Sonic exclaimed.

Knuckles nodded as he knelt down to pray, and the two requested dishes appeared along with a basket of fruit. The echidna ate grapes while the two hedgehogs chowed down on the meat. When they were full, they lounged there, looking around. They weren't uncomfortable; they just had nothing to say. At least they didn't until Knuckles cleared his throat.

"Hey Sonic? You get onto me for not sharing my past, but you never share yours either. Yet you mentioned your parents. So you remember what happened to them?"

"I…I don't like talking about it," Sonic muttered.

"I'll tell you more about Maria if you tell us," Shadow said.

Sonic frowned at him and they went silent, staring at each other. The blue hedgehog finally sighed.

"I loved my parents a lot, even if I was really young. They went out for a run and left me sleeping in the crib with our dog watching me. They never came back. Their corpses washed up on the shore two days later. I dream of them falling to their deaths. I've seen pictures of their bodies. That's how I see them now. Eyes eaten out, looking waterlogged. I have dreams of them, like you dream of Maria, Shadow. They ask me why I didn't help them. Why I didn't stop them. It's terrifying, seeing corpses walk up to me and hearing them talk with my parents' voices."

"So the fishing at the river thing was a lie?" Shadow asked.

"Not entirely. I…I hallucinated…I hope. I slipped and fell off the pier. I was holding on to a board when I heard a noise and looked down at the water. I saw their eyeless faces staring at me as they came up and grabbed my ankles. 'Come join us, son!' they called then jerked me down. I couldn't get free and struggled until I was nearly unconscious. My cousin pulled me out, and it turns out I was tangled in some kind of underwater grass. The only thing not explained is how I was pulled under. I didn't feel weak at all. I was actually pulling myself up when I heard them come up from the water."

Shadow and Knuckles stared at him with wide eyes.

"You…I only see those sorts of things when I dream," Knuckles said numbly.

"Yeah. Never during the daytime," Shadow muttered.

"I…Sorry," Sonic muttered. "This is why I don't like talking about it. I only told my cousin about it. He had me see a doctor, but I wouldn't talk about it to him. The way Snarky looked at me was terrible. Like I had lost my mind."

"Don't be sorry, Sonic," the red echidna said as he pat his shoulder. "We asked for it."

"Hey, Knux?" Sonic asked after a moment's silence. "You said you only see those sorts of things when you dream."

"Yeah. So?"

"What sorts of things?"

Knuckles shifted. "Well…when Pachacamac stormed the shrine of the emeralds, he woke Perfect Chaos, who decimated most of the Knuckles clan, which is the clan I belong to. Tikal says it is a curse to see the dead ones in dreams. It is the punishment of our kind to bear witness to the death of our innocence in the eyes of the Master Emerald. Though…what really happened is only shown once. Then our minds…twist things. I see rather gory things. It's worse now than it's ever been."

"I'm sorry," Sonic said then shyly turned to Shadow. "I would ask what you see, but I know she is all you see…I think yours is worse than mine. You actually knew her quite well. I barely knew them. My parents were rarely home."

"Don't start comparing something like that, Sonic," Shadow said firmly. "What we see is different, tailored specifically by our experiences. Just because I knew Maria better, that doesn't mean it hurts me more than you seeing your parents like that any more than it means it hurts Knuckles less to see most of his kind decimated. You must understand that. We're not comparing to each other, we're talking, as friends, to help each other. Understand?"

Sonic felt a burst of relief at those words, though he hadn't known he was worried. "Yeah. Thanks."

Shadow sighed and stood. "Well, just to be safe, we should stay here a few days, yes?"

"Yep. What now?"

Knuckles and Shadow glanced at each other then grinned. "Another swimming lesson."

"I just had to ask," Sonic muttered.

They laughed joyously, the pain, for the moment, forgotten.