Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Fear ❯ Mirroring ( Chapter 4 )

Sonic gasped as he sat up. He could still see the corpses, Maria mortally wounded, and Tikal torn to shreds. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. He was lying in a soft bed. Knuckles was in the bed to his left, and Shadow to his right. They were sitting up, staring at him. They looked away from each other, feeling extremely vulnerable. There were voices outside the door and they quickly lay down again and closed their eyes, wanting to know what was going on before they showed themselves conscious.

There was the sound of the door opening, and Tails was talking.

"Their vitals have stabilized. Help me check their temperatures."

"You got it, Tails," Rouge's voice said.

Shadow felt a cool circle touch his forehead just as Sonic did. Knuckles followed a second later.

"Still too high," Tails said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they're still delusional."

"What do you think that thing was?" Rouge asked softly.

"An experiment gone wrong, I guess. Eggman wasn't in the base, remember, and the video logs depicted him being scared out of his mind by whatever that thing was."

"Why did it turn into those horrible…things?"

"I don't know. Playing on fears, maybe?"

"But Shadow has never mentioned this Maria before."

"And Sonic never mentioned those hedgehogs before. I don't know what to make of them. They might be his…"

"Parents?"

"Yeah. He never talks about them. He snaps at anyone and everyone who asks about them, including me."

"They were horrible. Those…eyeholes were terrifying."

"I can't help but wonder what it was. But I don't think he'll tell us. I don't think any of them will tell us," Tails muttered.

"What was with Knuckles, too? I thought he was the last of his clan or something. I mean, I've been on Angel Island lots of times, and I've never seen a single other echidna. Let alone a female."

"I worry about him. He leads such a lonely life. He needs a friend, but he's adamant that Sonic and me aren't his friends. I…I want to help him, but I don't know how."

"I don't know. All three of them appear to be hiding stuff."

"Yeah…Well, we can't do much more here. Let's let them rest."

There was the sound of retreating footsteps and the door shut. The three beings waited a minute or two before sitting up.

"Apparently," Shadow murmured softly. "We were delusional."

"And Eggman somehow created that thing," Sonic sighed.

"And now everybody has seen our darkest fears and insecurities," Knuckles growled.

They looked at each other and nodded once. They stood simultaneously and slipped on their shoes and gloves then snuck out of the building. When they were out, Shadow and Sonic grabbed Knuckles and took off toward the sweet call of the Master Emerald.

The next morning, Tails screamed in shock, causing Amy, Cream, and Rouge to come running.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Amy gasped then froze when she saw the empty beds. "Where'd they go?"

"I…I don't know! They were here last night!" Tails said frantically. "Where could they have possibly gone?!"

"I'll go check Sonic's house!" Amy said immediately then sped off.

"I'll go check Shadow's cave!" Rouge exclaimed then launched herself into the air.

Tails stood there with Cream, who quickly excused herself. Tails thoughtfully looked down at his clipboard. They were so eager to go to see where Sonic and Shadow went, but Tails had the feeling that they had gone somewhere private to be left alone, and if he knew anything, he knew that Knuckles liked his privacy, so he left a note then went to get the Tornado.

Two hours later, he got to Angel Island to find the three creatures asleep around the Master Emerald. There were lines of green flowing from the jewel to each of them. Tails flicked his finger through the one connected to Sonic and the hedgehog shifted before opening his eyes.

"Tails?" he asked tiredly then coughed. "What are you doing here?"

"Everybody thought, 'Where would the hedgehogs go?' But I thought, 'Where would the echidna go?' so…"

"Oh." Sonic yawned. "I'm hungry. You hungry?"

"I could eat."

"You two want food?"

There were grunts from Shadow and Knuckles, who sat up blearily. Knuckles prayed and food appeared. Tails was shocked.

"How did you do that?"

"Just eat, Tails," Sonic muttered.

They finished, and the echidna and two hedgehogs lay down again, yawning. Tails pulled a thermometer out of his bag and swiped their foreheads.

"Your fevers broke! Great!" he said happily. "You've had a meal of chicken soup, and you've had this…juice stuff, so you won't be dehydrated. As your doctor, I approve."

Sonic smiled. "That's nice."

Tails let them fall asleep again, and by mid-afternoon Rouge, Amy, and Cream were there. They stared at the exhausted trio.

"Their fevers broke," Tails informed them.

"That's good," Rouge said, going over to kneel by Shadow. "Did they talk about it?"

"No. I didn't even mention it. I didn't think it was a good idea. They were tired and weak."

With no warning whatsoever, all three of them shot up, eyes springing open as one word left their mouths.

"Maria!"

They surged to their feet, looking around desperately. When they saw where they were, they sank back down, trembling. Rouge lightly brushed Shadow's cheek.

"You okay?"

Shadow didn't give a verbal answer, but as he squeezed his eyes shut and hugged himself, they could tell that neither he, nor Sonic and Knuckles, who did the same thing, were 'okay'.

Amy walked over to the dark hedgehog. "Shadow?"

"What?" Shadow growled, opening his eyes to reveal that they were watery.

"Is that blonde girl we saw in Eggman's hideout…Is that Maria?"

Sonic and Knuckles were one hundred percent sure that Shadow was going to rip her still-beating heart out of her chest and gouge her eyes out. But the way she had said it stuck with them, and with Shadow. Her voice had wavered, unsure, yet so full of such compassion that it seemed like the strongest voice they had ever heard. Shadow stared at her as tears slipped out of his eyes.

"If you were any other person, Amy," Shadow said hoarsely. "And if you had said that in any other way, you would no longer be living."

Amy blinked at him. "Oh…" She paused. "So was it?"

Shadow nodded mutely.

"Where does she live?"

"…In the sky with the angels."

Rouge, Amy, and Tails stiffened. "You mean she was actually…sh-shot?" Amy whispered.

"...You're really starting to push it, Amy," Shadow growled in a low voice.

"Sorry," Amy said quickly, looking away.

"I don't like talking about it," Shadow said slowly, deliberately. "If I feel like telling you, I'll tell you. You can ask Sonic and Knuckles if that's true if you want. Until then, do not ask again. I mean it. All of you."

"Don't ask us, either," Sonic muttered, drawing his knees up to his chest.

"Yeah," Knuckles said. "It ain't our place to tell you about her."

"Okay, then who was that echidna?" Rouge demanded.

Knuckles glared at her. "She was an ancestor of mine. She is no longer in the physical realm. That beast was Perfect Chaos. He once tried to destroy the world, and he is the main reason I am the last of my kind."

"Does this mysterious female have a name?" Cream asked softly.

"…Tikal. Her name is Tikal. And that is all I am telling you about her, so stop asking."

They nodded and Amy turned to Sonic and opened her mouth.

"Don't."

She paused. "Sonic, please, we just want to help."

"Talking about it won't help me."

"How do you know?"

"It'll just remind me."

"Remind you of what?"

Silence.

"…Sonic," Tails said hesitantly.

"What?"

"Well…Last year sometime you asked me to go through your desk to find some paper or something…"

"Yeah. And?"

"I…I found this," Tails said quietly, riffling through his bag and pulling out a newspaper clipping. Sonic took the paper and froze. His parents' eyeless faces were staring at him. He threw it away. Amy picked it up as he growled at his best friend.

"So you stole it from me?"

"No. I stopped by your house to get it this morning. I…I figured it would help us talk about it."

"These are the hedgehogs we saw in Eggman's hideout," Amy said, looking sickened. Cream moved to look, but Amy covered her eyes.

"No, Cream, you've already had nightmares about what we saw. You're not looking at this."

Knuckles took the clipping and looked at the two creatures. He snorted.

"I'm starting to not be freaked out by this sight."

"I know what you mean," Shadow said with a shake of his head as he stood to look again. "It's just different than Tikal and Maria."

"At least until they're pulling us underwater," Knuckles replied.

"Their voices kind of echo, don't they?" Sonic asked softly.

They paused and looked at him. "Yeah. I guess they do," Shadow said slowly. "Like they're trapped in a cave."

Sonic nodded then got up and grabbed the clipping again. "I still don't know how this picture got on the front page of the paper. I've never seen anything as bad as this in the paper since. Somebody was drunk off their ass when they approved this."

Tails, Amy, Cream, and even Rouge blinked at the language. Sonic was notorious for his dislike of cursing. To hear him so blatantly say something like that was shocking.

"Sonic, what's your last name?" Tails asked hesitantly.

Sonic answered without thinking. "Quilliam. Why?"

"Because the article called them by that last name. Those are your parents."

Sonic looked up to see the four people staring at him. Knuckles and Shadow touched him lightly. The blue hedgehog frowned, and when he spoke, his voice quavered.

"Yes, okay? Those two hedgehogs were my parents. So what?"

"You told me once that your parents were back on Christmas Island," Tails said, tilting his head.

"They are."

"But if this is them…there's no way they're alive."

"I wasn't lying, if that's what your accusing me of," Sonic said. "That's where their graves are. I just never visit them."

"Did they drown?" Amy asked gently.

"I don't know. I just don't know. Their bodies washed up on the shore, but they could have died on impact. They liked running near the Jagged Peaks, which drop off suddenly into the ocean. It was a long, long way down."

There was silence, during which tears dripped down Sonic's cheeks. He whimpered and sank down. Amy and Tails dashed over to embrace him, causing Knuckles and Shadow to back up. They watched silently as Sonic broke to pieces in front of them. They could feel his pain through some sort of link that was there, but they knew the best thing for him was to have Amy and Tails comfort him. They couldn't be there as often as the pink hedgehog and the yellow fox. Cream even walked over and nuzzled into Sonic's chest.

"It's okay, Mr. Sonic," Cream said softly.

"How is it okay? My parents are dead."

"You can share my parents if you want," Amy suggested.

"Or mine," Tails said. "You know they love you."

Sonic paused and looked at them. "It isn't the same."

"Nothing will ever be the same, Sonic," Shadow said darkly. "Once they're dead, they're dead. My creator is practically braindead, and the alien that I could call father is physically dead. I miss the first much more than the second."

"Not helping, Shadow," Amy growled.

"What's your point, Shadow?" Sonic asked, looking up; the black hedgehog didn't say or do anything mean without purpose, and most of the time it was just Shadow being Shadow, not Shadow being mean.

"Be grateful for the memories, Sonic. You can never bring them back, but you can remember them for the rest of your life. Remember the kindness and the joy they brought to you, not the bitter loneliness their deaths brought. Remember their comfort, not the reason you were sad. Remember them the right way, and that is the greatest honor you have. Remember how they loved you."

There was dead silence. Knuckles wasn't surprised by the kindness that Shadow had just shown. The black hedgehog was smart and perceptive, and had quite a bit more emotional depth than anybody gave him credit for. Sonic smiled at his darker counterpart.

"You're just a surprising individual, you know that, right?"

Shadow's lips twitched. "Sorry to disappoint you, Blue Boy."

Sonic snickered and wiped his eyes then stood. "Well, that's enough of that. You four, go away. We need to sort through whatever that thing did to us."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked.

Sonic opened his mouth to tell them about the link, but Knuckles' and Shadow's minds screamed loudly at him to not answer. Sonic blinked and shut his mouth.

"Nothing," he replied. "We just need to talk."

"Oh. Okay. I gotta go. The Tornado is acting a little funny anyways. See ya, Sonic. Knuckles." He paused before adding. "Shadow."

Sonic waved. "See ya!"

Knuckles smiled and shook his head, indicating his amusement. Shadow nodded once. Tails turned and led Amy, Cream, and Rouge away.

"Why didn't you two want to tell them?" Sonic asked.

"We don't know what it is or how it works, Sonic," Shadow said, crossing his arms. "Caution and secrecy is the best way to approach this."

"There might be some side effects that haven't kicked in yet," Knuckles said. "And they could be embarrassing."

Sonic thought about this. He hated being embarrassed, though it rarely happened. He didn't have many secrets. He had been humiliated when he found out that the others knew about his parents. He would never wish that on anybody. Including himself. So he nodded.

"Then our secret it will be. At least until we figure it out."

Meanwhile, Rouge stopped at the Tornado, which was parked just outside of the ruins.

"Did you three notice it?"

"What?" Cream asked, using her ears to fly up so she was face to face with the bat.

"The way they moved."

"What?" Amy asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Tails? Did you notice?"

"No. I didn't. Was something wrong?"

"Be quiet and come here."

They hurried back to the clearing to see the two hedgehogs and the echidna eating dinner.

"Where did they get the food?" Amy whispered.

Rouge slashed her hand through the air as Shadow's ear twitched toward them and he turned to look for the source of the noise. They hid until Rouge thought it was safe then came back up and the bat pointed at her eyes then at the three creatures. They got the message and watched them carefully.

Tails sucked in a breath as he noticed it first. They seemed to be mirroring each other, but, he thought as he studied them, they didn't appear to be aware of it. Knuckles would take a bite of apple at the same moment that Sonic bit into his chilidog and Shadow his cheeseburger. They would talk for a minute, though those watching couldn't hear what was being said, then take another bite or lift their cups to their lips. It was the most bizarre thing that Tails had ever seen.

Once Amy and Cream had reached the same conclusion they all hurried away to the Tornado again to discuss their findings.

"That's weird, isn't it Amy?" Cream asked, clearly unsure.

"Yes. That is definitely weird," Amy replied with a nod.

"I've never seen anything like it," Rouge murmured. "They're so different from each other. I mean, Sonic is nothing like Shadow or Knuckles, and they're different, too. What's making them do that?"

"Maybe the thing that showed us that stuff did something else to them. I have a sample of its flesh. I'm going to go study it. Need a ride?"

"Nah, I'm going with Cream," Amy said, grabbing the rabbit's ankles. She was easily lifted into the air.

"I'm going to go find a Chaos Emerald," Rouge replied simply. "So stay outta my way!"

Tails was left by himself, so he slowly got into the Tornado and took off. Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles watched him go then looked at each other.

"This isn't going to be too hard, right?" Sonic asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a challenge, but rumors have been circulating about Eggman again, and I need to be ready."

"Don't worry, Sonic," Knuckles said. "Nothing should interfere with that. We're just going to explore this link. What could happen?"