Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Fear ❯ A New Normal ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The blue hedgehog walked into Tails' lab, strolling up to the busy fox and standing there silently. Tails turned around and jumped violently, dropping his tools.

"Shadow! Don't do that! How many times do I have to tell you?" the yellow fox grumbled, kneeling down to pick up his tools.

"Well, Tails old buddy, you haven't told me that one single time, now have you?" the hedgehog asked with a grin.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, jerking his head up and gawking. He leaped to his feet, dropping everything he'd picked up, and stared hard at the blue hedgehog. "Is-is it really you?"

"Of course it is!" Sonic laughed. "Now, I'll explain everything over at Tubby's. There's two things I want real bad. One, to break the sound barrier, and two, a plateful of my favorite chilidogs! Shadow went to get Rouge and Omega. Amy took Knuckles over there earlier this morning so they could get a private room for us."

"You're serious!" Tails suddenly shouted loudly as he burst into tears and embraced Sonic. Sonic held him, shushing him gently.

"Yeah, Tails. I'm serious," he said softly. "I'm me again. I am. And we're going to tell you everything we can."

Tails didn't calm down for a good ten minutes. Sonic looked around in that short time, grimacing at how little there was on the shelves. Tails pulled back and caught the expression before Sonic could hide it. The fox frowned and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, Sonic. You're alive and well, and you're you again. That's all I care about. Honest."

Sonic smiled. "You're the best Tails. Now let's go."

Tails held out his arm and Sonic took it, walking outside. He paused by the door, looking at his best friend.

"I'm definitely going supersonic. I haven't gone fast on my own in months, so this is going to be fun for me. Tell me if you need me to slow down. Okay?"

"Why didn't you run here?"

"I wanted to do it with you, of course," Sonic replied with a smile. "That's all. Is that weird?"

"No! Not at all! I'm glad you waited. I'd love to do this with you."

"Ready?"

"You know it, Sonic! Hit it!"

Sonic bounced a few times then grinned and zoomed forward. He set a new record on how fast he got to the edge of the sound barrier, and he knew it. He didn't even ask Tails if he was ready; he was too excited. He just tore through it and relished the boom he got from the action. Then he pushed himself faster. They got to the restaurant quicker than ever before, and Sonic slowed gradually to help Tails acclimate. The yellow fox sank to his knees, breathing hard.

"Wow, Sonic!" he exclaimed breathlessly. "That was incredible! I don't know if you've ever let me go that fast with you before!"

"Sorry," Sonic said guiltily. "I didn't mean to—"

"Aw, can it, Sonic," Knuckles said from the doorway, smirking and crossing his arms. "He clearly enjoyed it. Relax."

"Knuckles! Is it really you?" Tails asked excitedly, standing up and staggering over to embrace the red echidna.

"Yeah, Tails. It's me," Knuckles chuckled, picking him up and walking inside. Sonic followed. They went to a back room where Amy was setting menus at every place on the table except for Omega's. Sonic plopped down and laughed as Knuckles gently set Tails across from him before he took the seat beside him.

"Well, Ames, how ya doin'?" the blue hedgehog asked, leaning back in his chair to put his feet on the table.

Amy smiled at him. "I'm good. Mind if I sit beside you?"

"Well, I would expect my girlfriend to sit beside me, now wouldn't I?" Sonic asked casually.

There was dead silence. Tails finally shifted. "Girlfriend?" he asked incredulously. "Sonic, you shouldn't tease Amy like that."

"Who said I was teasing? She knows how I feel about her. She knows how to run. It's time she let me chase her down. If she doesn't want to be my girlfriend, so be it."

Amy's cheeks flushed and tears appeared in her eyes. "You mean it, Sonic?"

"Of course. Oh! I almost forgot!"

Sonic waved his hand and a bouquet of flowers appeared. There were pink flowers and white flowers and purple flowers and yellow flowers. But in the very center, there were three roses, black, red, and blue. Sonic held it out to her.

"We've made reservations at the Silver Candle for next Saturday night at six. Private booth. We're all going to eat together and talk for a while, then the two of us are going to see a movie."

"And by we you mean?" Amy asked, glowing with happiness.

"Me, Knuckles, and Shadow. Remember what Tikal told you. You're not just getting me. You're getting them, too. So the dinner's for all of us and the movie is just for you and me. Got it?"

Amy nodded, flushing with pleasure. "Thank you, Sonic. I mean it."

"Anything for my girl," Sonic said affectionately. "Come here, Amy."

She approached and he stood, setting the bouquet aside. He pulled her close, smiling at her.

"How about that first kiss, hm?"

She blushed hard and nodded shyly. He leaned forward and captured her lips, lingering for a few moments.

"Get a room, Blue Boy," said an amused voice.

Sonic pulled back and winked at Amy before turning to Shadow.

"Hey ya, Shad," he said with a grin.

"I swear that if you and Knuckles don't stop calling me that, I'm going to tell them why you don't like eggs, and what he really thinks about Rouge," Shadow said darkly.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Knuckles scolded. "M.E. wouldn't like that."

"Yeah," Sonic said as he helped Amy into her seat then seating himself. "That would fall in the category of 'revealing things that are personal' so we'd have to fight each other."

"I hate your logic sometimes," Shadow said, moving to pull Rouge's chair out for her then taking a seat beside Knuckles.

"Ha!" Knuckles barked. "Blue Boy having logic? No way!"

"I wasn't talking about Blue Boy," Shadow replied. "His answer was stating the obvious. Yours was logic."

"Ha, ha," Sonic snickered. "Now, everybody's here, so let's order."

"Gee, what's Blue Boy going to get?" Shadow said sarcastically.

"I was wondering the same thing about you," Sonic laughed.

"Have you three eaten yet?"

"No," they answered at the same time. "We wanted to wait to eat with our friends. Is that weird?"

There was silence for a moment. "No," Tails said slowly. "But the simultaneous talking is a bit disconcerting."

"Sorry," they said. "It's the mind link. It's a lot deeper now that our magic has recognized that it belongs together."

"Shadow, stop it!" Rouge exclaimed.

There was an audible pop and the three beings shuddered hard before settling back.

"We, er, haven't quite learned to control that yet," Shadow muttered, blushing as bad as the other two.

"What was it?" Rouge asked.

"We'll explain after we order," Knuckles said. "Right now, the three of us are starving. We haven't eaten since yesterday at lunch."

The waiter came by and took drink orders. When he came back he took their food orders then left for the kitchen. There was an immediate barrage of questions from Amy, Tails, and Rouge. Omega patiently waited for things to calm down.

"Query: Are you three alright?" he asked when the clamor had died down.

Shadow nodded. "We're as alright as can be expected, Omega."

"Why were you three talking like that?" Tails asked before somebody else could ask something.

"Ah. That." Sonic was blushing again, and so were Shadow and Knuckles.

"Why are you so embarrassed?" Amy asked.

"Well…we've been having trouble with that particular side effect of the magic," Sonic admitted.

"What do you mean by side effect?" Rouge demanded.

"Well, let's start with what you know," Shadow said sensibly. He pointed at Rouge. "Go."

She floundered for words, and Amy and Tails looked lost as well. Omega buzzed.

"Fear's magic was equally divided into three parts, one for each of you. The Master Emerald informed us that the magic was settling still, and the violent outbursts that you had before you woke completely were from Fear's magic trying to retain its dark properties. It stated that once the magic settled, the true properties would appear. I assume that this is what you have been learning to control on Angel Island."

"Correct," Sonic said with a nod. "Boy, he's useful."

"He has his moments," Shadow replied with a smile. Omega buzzed again, indicating that he was pleased.

"What all have you been learning to control?" Tails asked.

As if they had one mind, Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow raised their hands and flexed them. A bright flame appeared above their palms, flickering brightly.

"This is the first thing M.E. taught us," they said together.

"Fire?" Any asked. "Why fire?"

"No, Amy dear," they said, shaking their heads. "Light. To illuminate the paths of the mortals."

Rouge's head perked up. "Wait! What do you mean by 'mortals'?"

They flinched violently. "We didn't mean to say that."

"What are you talking about?" Amy demanded.

They looked reluctant to share, but conceded when Amy pulled out her hammer and looked threatening.

"Peace, pink one. We shall tell you." They gathered their thoughts for a moment then sighed heavily. "We are all immortal. The Shadow component was already, but the other two components were not. We shall not age a day ever again. The Sonic and Knuckles components are frozen as teenagers, both at seventeen. That is what we meant by 'mortals'. We mean you and Rouge and Tails. Omega is exempt, as he can be maintained for years upon years upon years with the right parts. Eggman certainly knows how to build a robot."

"But Sonic," Tails said slowly. "How did this happen?"

"The deep magic, of course," they replied. "Magic this deep has many side effects if even a small amount is poured into beings such as us. To have such a great amount inserted is unheard of. That is, survival of it is unheard of."

"Query: how did you survive?" Omega asked.

"Ah! That is an excellent question," they said, smiling and nodding. "We are not one hundred percent sure. However, we have an educated guess, and that is all we will ever have. You see, the Shadow component had the blood of Black Doom running through his veins already. Black Doom was an alien to this planet, yet he possessed some of the rawest, most powerful deep magic that has ever existed. So that means that the Shadow component had magic inside of him already. With us so far?"

"Yes," they all chorused.

"Good. Now, the Shadow component did not have access to the magic for use. The magic simply gave him abnormal strength, speed, durability, and healing rate, plus immortality. He was also linked intimately to the Chaos Emeralds because of the chaotic properties of the magic. Still following?"

"Yes," the mortals repeated.

"Perfect. Here is where Fear made his mistake. When he took us into himself to feed upon us, he linked our minds first to make the memories flow easier and faster. That linked the Knuckles and Sonic components to the deep magic as well. When he tried to digest our bodies, the Shadow component's magic leaped forward to protect his immortality. It found two other minds connected and reacted as if they were a part of its owner. To defend what it protected in the Shadow component, it drew away the part of magic that was helping Fear feed upon us, which produced the foul taste that Fear mentioned in the containment room.

"Now, Fear did not realize that his magic was gone until he had withdrawn from us. He came back to reclaim it, but you had already carried us away, and he could not locate us. When he encountered us again, he tried to take the magic back, but, as Eggman said, the magic had changed in us and resisted Fear's magic. It was no longer compatible and would not change because of our deep set heroic beliefs, though the Shadow component's heroic beliefs are darker than the other two component's beliefs. So the only option left was to make Fear's magic change to fit the newfound properties. It did not change all at once, however, which was the behavior that came out. It has settled now and should give us no more trouble. Now, anymore questions? The food will be here in three minutes."

"How do you three have conversations when your minds do that?" Tails asked curiously.

"We do it mentally. It has become the norm for us. Separating is just so…you know. Annoying. We communicate much better like this, as we rarely have to search for the right word, what with three vocabularies to draw upon. Honestly, if we did not have separate lives and friends and such, we would always be connected like this. It is just easier…Ah! Food! We're starved."

The waiter asked who had the chilidogs and there was another audible pop as their minds disconnected again. Sonic smiled. "I did, my good man."

"Cheeseburgers?"

Shadow raised his hand, and Knuckles gladly took the fruit bowl and salad. The others claimed their meals then they began to eat. They watched the three of them. Again, there was a mirroring effect that was quite obvious, but this time there was an explanation. Tails noticed Amy and Rouge looking disturbed so he swallowed.

"We'll get used to it. From the sound of it, they're not going to stop."

"Stop what? We're not talking together anymore," Sonic asked with a mouthful of chilidog.

"Watch yourselves eat."

They did so and looked highly amused. "Yes," Knuckles said with a smile once he'd swallowed a bite of pineapple. "M.E. said we've been doing that since the first wave of magic. It is amused, to say in the least. But what else can we do? It happens unless we purposely concentrate on being separate. Once again, it is easier to be together than not. Just so you know, that is going to be the story of our lives from here on out, and there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. So we're sorry in advance."

"So…you know everything about each other?" Rouge asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Rouge," Shadow said, taking another bite separate from the others, whose hands twitched toward their food.

"So…are conversations included in that? Because I've told you some personal things that I don't want repeated."

"This is how that works," Shadow said once he'd swallowed. "We know everything that we've ever said, from ourselves and each other, and every response. They know as much about you as I do, and, again, there's nothing we can do about it. However, privacy is important to us. We should know, as we remember what it is like to want it. So we respect it. We are going to try our damndest to make sure that we don't reveal secrets to those who shouldn't know them. But to be safe, ending a personal conversation with 'And this is between us' or the like wouldn't hurt. By us, you're going to mean the three of us and whoever else is there. That's all there is to it."

Sonic smiled kindly. "But don't think you can't talk to us about personal things. If you are one component's friend, you are friends with the other components as well. And we will keep your secrets as long as the world isn't in jeopardy. Or lives. Okay?"

They nodded. Omega shifted. "Query: are you done training?"

"No," Knuckles said firmly. "It will take many years of training before we are ready to be trusted on our own to discover our powers. For M.E. is still discovering its powers, and it is well over four thousand years old."

They finished their meal in silence after that as the mortals and the robot digested the huge influx of information. When they were done, Sonic paid then they went to the beach. Omega sat on a rock as Shadow sunbathed with Knuckles. The robot could tell that, though they were outwardly silent, they were having a mental conversation. Amy was in a new blue bathing suit, and actually trying to get along with Rouge who refused to stoop down to the level of enjoying herself in front of these strangers. Knuckles whistled.

"Rouge! Come here a second. I have something for you."

Rouge approached and crossed her arms. "What, stupid one?"

Knuckles smiled. "I made you a promise that I intend to keep. Keeping it was a pain. I got struck by lightning trying to do it. But a promise is a promise."

"What promise is that?"

Knuckles pulled something from subspace and held it out. It was a box. It looked rather plain. Shadow shared a smile with Knuckles as she unwrapped it. In it was the purple Chaos Emerald.

"I know now that purple is your favorite color, so I figured you wouldn't mind trading the yellow for it."

She looked shocked, looking up with tears of joy gleaming in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away.

"Well, I was wondering when you'd get to it," she said, though she couldn't hide her pleased smile.

"You're welcome."

She smiled. "Thanks, Knucklehead."

He nodded once then she went to go admire the Chaos Emerald.

"She's happier than she's letting on," Knuckles said with a chuckle.

"Yeah. I can feel it. I don't think she's going to try to steal M.E. any time soon," Shadow replied.

"Sonic, no!" Amy shrieked.

They were there in an instant. "What happened to our Sonic component?" they demanded.

"Tails wasn't coming up so he dove in after him!"

"Oh. Don't scare us like that," they said reproachfully.

"What are you waiting for?! Dive in and save them!"

"Why? They're right there."

Sonic popped up and dragged Tails to the shore then did CPR. The water wasn't coming out, so Sonic opened his mouth, and Knuckles and Shadow held out their hands. Water rushed out, hitting Tails gag reflex and forcing him to vomit up the rest. He moaned and shivered.

"W-what happened?" he asked hoarsely.

"Aw, you got one of your tails caught in seaweed. You've got to be more careful, Tails," Sonic scolded.

"I didn't realize what it was. I…Wait. Sonic, you're all wet."

"I saved you," Sonic said, arching an eyebrow. "How was I supposed to stay dry?"

"But-but-but…" Tails looked too shocked to continued, so Amy did. "You can't swim!"

"Yes I can. Knux and Shadow taught me, which was a task in and of itself. I'm quite the strong swimmer now."

"Why didn't you want to learn before when I tried to teach you?" Tails asked.

Sonic went quiet as Rouge and Omega approached. "It has to do with my parents. I'll tell you and Amy about it when we get back to your lab."

"You will?" Tails looked hopeful.

"Yes. But I can't promise that you won't have nightmares. Okay?"

They nodded, and Shadow looked to Rouge and Omega.

"And it's time that you know about Maria. But it is a difficult topic for me to discuss, so I ask that you be patient with me."

"Of course, Shadow," Rouge said kindly.

"Affirmative."

"How about an hour more of beach time, then we go our separate ways?" Knuckles said.

"Where are you going?" Rouge asked.

"Angel Island. I am beyond ready for some alone time. Six months beyond ready."

"Say 'hi' to that beauty of a gem."

"Sure."

Sonic, Tails, and Amy walked into the water while Shadow went to sunbathe beside Rouge and listen to her talk about the Chaos Emerald. Knuckles was left alone, so he pulled out the Master Emerald, which had insisted on coming with them in case there was an accident, and began talking to Tikal and M.E. With all three components content, the magic relaxed and left them be for a time. But it would be there. It would always be there, hovering on the edge of their consciousness. As they had said multiple times, there was nothing they could do about it. But, if they were honest with themselves, there was nothing that they would want to do with it. It was a part of them now. They would be incomplete without it, and without each other. Sure they had a long way to go in learning about it, but that didn't matter. They had one well-versed in deep magic to teach them. They could do it. They knew they could. Because they had each other.