Chapter Text
Boscage Maze
(Above the Trees)
Prim sighed as the scavengers failed yet another attempt at gathering food. There were moments, many of them, by the way, where Prim regretted sending the little blue hedgehog away. The kid had smarts not a lot of scavengers ever considered. Practical stuff. If she was still around, Prim wondered what the little one would suggest they do for food. None of her own plans worked, and it just made their situation worse.
Prim sighed, massaging her temples as she watched Hangry and Gnarly bicker over a small sprout they had ripped out of the ground. Hangry had revealed he had stolen Gnarly’s last berry and they began quarreling, shouting insults and threats as they screamed at each other between punches and kicks. Their endless fighting shook the platforms of their treetop home precariously, causing Prim to shriek for them both to settle down before they caused everyone to fall into the jungle with the monster.
‘Where's Mangey when ya need him?’
The little fox was a bit dim, but his appearance was cute and tended to settle most arguments until he joined the brawl. He was clever, in a few occasions that typically had something to do with Blue. He could get the two hotheads to have a ceasefire with his presence, a lot like little Blue’s role before Prim had the bright idea of exiling her.
It wasn’t exactly Prim’s fault that Blue had gotten on her nerves with her repetitive concerns, since Prim had also been battling a rather fierce headache for a long while before that. Blue had just been the final strand that caused Prim to snap from the pounding pressure, but Prim couldn’t undo an order, since it would undermine her authority as a leader to the scavengers. They all valued her opinion, even if there was only around a handful of them left.
As Prim continued reminiscing of calmer times in a small little hedgehog’s presence, a gut-wrenching screech filled the air, originating from the forest and shaking everything in the path of the sound waves. All was quiet following the booming noise, an unsettling contrast that stretched as all remained still.
“What was that?”
Prim spoke in barely a whisper after an incoherent amount of time in silence, immediately being followed by Gnarly’s predictable paranoia.
“It’s the trees! They’re screaming at us!!! They’re going to kill us all and eat us while we sleep!!!!!!!!”
The sound had unsettled all of them, but Gnarly’s paranoid claims caused Hangry to panic and shake the red echidna like there was no tomorrow. Probably because the cat believed there wasn’t. Then they both began screaming with snot and tears running down their faces as Prim just gagged with disbelief bleeding through her expression.
‘Ai… these guys… can't they be calm for once?’
Boscage Maze
(Bramble’s Dwelling)
“How the heck are you in my house?!”
Her earlier screech had been carried throughout the entire forest, much to her surprise, but it also muffled the epicenter of the noise. Bramble rocketed to her feet, not giving the intruder a chance to recover from her instinctive alarm, she leaped toward Shroud and pinned the dark hedgehog to the floor of her cozy home. He shouldn’t have been able to follow her, at the speed she had been going, and her brain was whirring at speeds rivaling her own runs with thousands of questions she wanted to ask Shroud.
She wanted to shut off every question before she could speak any of them, distantly noting the dust their fuss was kicking up.
‘Ugh. Now my house is going to be all messy with the intrusion. I'll have to clean it all before bed…’
Bramble scowled before she turned a venomously glare at Shroud, who had yet to defend himself. He seemed startled by her sudden attack, given he had yet to move. She slowly pressed harder as he lay pinned to the ground, digging her knee against his side and squeezing his shoulders with her covered claws to a dangerous degree. All of a sudden, her glare melted into an eerily calm confusion as she kept Shroud pinned.
“How did you follow me? I’m the fastest being in this forest.”
Bramble’s gaze was piercing with the icy calmness she spoke with. Amusement hid deep within her eyes for a moment before it was snuffed out by the apathy of her boredom. Emotions warred within her as she stared at this deviation that distorted her boring and routine lifestyle. She had just started getting used to the normalcy, and then this abnormality decided to just show up and upend her steadfast belief that she was the fastest.
She was dying from curiosity, wanting to know how Shroud had even managed to reach her hideaway, but apathy consumed her once again, filling Bramble with a bored exhaustion. She hated being bored, but she didn’t want to deal with people outside, so she clamped down on every sweet little curiosity that piqued her interest.
Bramble sighed, slowly easing her grip as her hostility and surprise faded to a more manageable degree.
“Haaah… no use getting angry now…”
Her gaze jumped to the small window she had near her door, having caught something in the peripheral of her vision. She squeezed Shroud in her panic before she recognized it.
‘Something moved outside.’
She had noticed the motion of the leaves, an indistinguishable alarm of yet another intruder somewhere just outside her territory.
‘Shroud doesn't know how to hide his scent. Of course he doesn't. Now Mangey is going to find my domain and accidentally inform all the scavengers on his way.’
Bramble was still on top of Shroud as she hissed, getting off him quickly, but not before shoving him harder into the ground. She leveled him with a cold look (one that meant she would be back and they would definitely talk later) as he watched her with that unreadable gaze of his, but she didn’t really care as she gave him a stern order.
“You will not leave this area, but you will clean the mess you caused here. I will find you, so stay put.”
Bramble left her small and cozy home and traced the path Shroud had come through quite easily, since the plants were helping her mark it out. Oddly enough, his scent carried a strong hint of lavender. She hated strong scents. They hurt her nose, which gave her a headache.
Bramble covered Shroud’s tracks, masking the trail his scent left with mint leaves and other flowers.
‘That idiot. He needs to learn basic skills… but I don't wanna teach him. He can suffer for causing all this.’
Bramble tucked the vegetation that had been visibly roughed up underneath the better-kept leaves, letting her magical touch revitalize the shrubs as she went back. That should keep Mangey from coming further. The alarm had been one of the furthest outpost signals.
Reentering her house, Bramble firmly fixed her glare back on Shroud, even more furious for all the damage he caused to the surrounding wildlife. She wanted to rant to him about being careful, and the proper way to avoid the plants without damaging them, but she didn’t want to be this guy’s teacher.
She had all the time in the world, really, but she had a garden of her own to tend to. She had to get food from somewhere the scavengers wouldn’t raid.
Scanning the interior of her house, she was moderately satisfied with the job Shroud had done, since he had actually listened.
“Will you listen to me now?”
Shroud spoke, and Bramble stared him in the eyes unflinchingly as he approached closer to her where she stood in front of the door. Bramble folded her arms over her front, wrinkling the fabric of her top, which was wrapped with vines and loose tree bark for extra protection. On the subject, there were some old metal spaces with abandoned stuff inside, probably from before the jungle came to be, but Bramble would never know. There weren’t a lot of scavengers left after Boscage Maze came to be, so there were plenty of leftover supplies in those big metal boxes that reminded her of her house.
Shroud was still watching her with that unreadable gaze, and it took Savage a moment to remember why.
‘Right. Shroud asked a question. What was it?’
Shroud helpfully repeated himself, letting Bramble know that she had yet again spoken aloud and needed to get used to inner thoughts and stop with her outer thoughts.
“Will you listen to me now?”
He sounded exasperated this time, which was probably because of the constant repetition. Bramble’s fault, clearly.
His attitude was undoubtedly rubbing Bramble the wrong way.
“Why should I listen to an intruder, Shrew?”
The nickname came easily to her as she shortened Shroud’s name. Shrews were actually incredibly cute, and Bramble would know since she had seen one, once. A long time ago. However, the name also sounded far too affectionate, coming from Bramble, and Shroud’s face turned an unnerving shade of green.
Bramble blinked at the odd shift, startled by the strangeness of it all. A green face? Had she seen it wrong? That didn’t sound normal.
Her curiosity overrode her disregard for others, and she unwittingly reached out to press her hand against his forehead, which didn’t help with anything since she wore gloves.
Shroud froze, his gaze locked on Bramble’s face as she frowned before letting her arm drop back to her side.
‘Yeah. That really didn't work the way I thought it would. Go figure. Why did I even do that?’
Shroud didn’t speak up, and Bramble confirmed that this time she had managed to keep her thoughts to herself… right? She couldn’t actually tell.
Bramble sighed and moved around Shroud’s unmoving form. She headed to the garden she took care of in a separate area, ignoring the hedgehog that was still stuck inside his own thoughts.
That was why Bramble talks to herself a lot. So she could still move around without staying trapped in her own head.
She left the part of the house she resided in, checking on every individual plant as she went through her garden.
If she was going to have a stubborn guest, she might as well be hospitable. She hasn’t actually ever even had a guest, before, so this was new. Before he arrived unannounced, she had been planning to just sleep without eating dinner, so she hadn’t had anything prepared.
‘He's a hedgehog like me, so whatever I usually eat should be fine.’
The perimeter of Bramble’s garden was growing peppermint and spearmint leaves, and normal mint too. A lot of bugs didn’t actually like the smell of peppermint, so they wouldn’t come into her garden. She hated when pests tried to eat her food before she did. So annoying. She had a row of tomatoes and another for various types of beans. There was a section in one corner for other vegetables and such, like broccoli and pumpkins, which had tons of good vitamins, and a separate area for fruits. She even had an apple tree and a small corner for plants that were more for flavor and nutrients than actual food, like rosemary and thyme and cloves.
Now that she was studying her garden in detail, it was far larger than she had thought. She just hadn’t noticed before since walking around didn’t take forever.
There was a corner in the back of the garden where Bramble grew plants that weren’t completely just for food. Flowers. Sunflowers, roses, lavenders, borages, hibiscuses, and other similar flowers that were both lovely and edible (although the lavenders were for the scent). So, so lovely. Bramble loved all the brilliant colors and the beauty of this part of her garden. Easily the prettiest area of the entire jungle.
‘Right. Food.’
Bramble picked a sunflower, a few lavenders, tomatoes, and other ingredients for whatever she should make for supper.
‘Soup? I don't know… that's up for debate I suppose.’
Bramble noted the light of the sun was quickly fading, so the meal would have to be done swiftly.
‘Not soup… oh! Beans and rice! I have a rice plantation near that river…’
Yeah… Bramble had a large garden, which was more of a farm than a garden for leisure.
“I’m back, Shroud!”
Bramble swung the door open with a dramatic flourish as she held a large basket with all that she had collected.
Shroud jumped from where he stood, startled by the sudden entrance. Bramble frowned, comparing the place he was standing at with where she had left him.
“Were you standing there the entire time?”
Bramble shook her head, dispelling her question instantly.
“Nevermind that. Follow me.”
She passed Shroud, holding her basket with one arm as she pulled the brooding hedgehog into step behind her with her other arm.
“What do you want with me?”
Shroud finally spoke, the question having an answer that Bramble didn’t know. She genuinely had no idea what he was even asking about.
“What are you talking about? Help with the food preparation. If you’re going to be here, work.”
Bramble shook her head as she dragged him to her small kitchen, which was mostly filled with a load of machinery she had found from the metal rooms.
She had found him in a buried metal room, so he probably knew how to use them. She didn’t want to start a fire on one of them and struggle to put it out.
Luckily for her, Shroud did indeed know how to use them.
“Huh. I had a hunch, but you really don’t know what these are?”
“Not a clue. All I know is that this one can catch on fire much easier than the others.”
Bramble pointed to what Shroud had later named the stovetop, which was charred and dark compared to everything else which was a pristine white.
…
Shroud nearly facepalmed before he reminded himself that this blue hedgehog didn’t know what machines were.
It was a good thing that the kitchen machinery Bramble had weren’t the usual ones, and that these ones were solar-powered.
He felt weird referring to this Sonic-lookalike by a different name, but then again, he also looked very different.
If Sonic had the memories of Bramble, Shadow—Shroud would be able to tease the faker about… well, Sonic would probably tease him first. About bossing him around, about making him embarrassed, and about Shadow following Sonic home.
Shroud didn’t want to deal with that, so he probably shouldn’t try teasing in case Bramble got her memory back.
She looked a lot different from the Sonic he knew, with her blue quills turning a bright green at the ends, her green eyes being a much brighter shade, and her outfit that looked normal but like she wrapped herself with the jungle’s protection.
“Hm…”
Shroud’s attention was instantly captivated by Bramble as she thought aloud.
“Is Shroud capable of consuming poison? There’s a plant that’s really tasty…”
Bramble’s eyes were closed as she thought. Her face was scrunched up with her slight frown, and Shroud wanted to poke her cheek to see her reaction. It felt weirdly… normal to him. Standing beside Bramble in the kitchen, and listening to her rambling on without realizing it. Wanting to feel a normalcy around her that he could never get with the one he knew.
‘Huh? Does she usually ingest poison?’
Shroud was startled from his unconventional thoughts by the reminder of what Bramble had said.
“You eat poison?!”
He was automatically by her side as he scanned her for any signs of poisoning, but she just brushed his hands away with a curious expression.
“Why so worried, Shrew?”
Shroud ignored how his face flamed up at that stupid nickname. He didn’t let whatever feeling this was stop him from responding.
“Poison can hurt anyone other than me. I am the ultimate life form.”
Bramble’s face scrunched up before she burst into a fit of giggles and sunny laughter. Shroud would have been annoyed by someone laughing at him, but her laugh was just so endearing and lighthearted. Shroud ignored his inflamed cheeks as he listened to her wonderful irritating laugh, over something that was perfectly normal for Shroud, for Shadow. It was fine. It was just Bramble.
“Ultimate life form? What does that even mean?”
She asked as she finally calmed down from her laughing fit. Shroud didn’t mind her lack of knowledge, coming to terms with the fact that she didn’t know what Sonic did.
“I am what I am. It means whatever it means. Do you have a hobby of poisoning yourself?”
Shroud crossed his arms as he leaned against her kitchen counter, causing him to remember that he was supposed to help her with something.
“What exactly am I doing here? What are you making?”
Shroud studied the basket Bramble had brought, curious of the contents he had yet to see.
“Hey. Just turn that thing on so I can cook. Fire works fine too if you can’t, Shroud.”
He rolled his eyes as Bramble not-so-subtly prodded for ‘how to use a stove’ from him.
It took a while, but eventually the dinner was prepared without any poison. It was already dark outside when Bramble insisted he sit down first.
“You didn’t run away, so you get to be my guest for dinner. Eat.”
Shroud didn’t quite get the logic behind Bramble’s words, but he couldn’t exactly argue since he also didn’t exactly know why he stayed.
She served the meal with an ease that came from practice, and looked almost awkward as she served Shroud his portion.
“Is this enough? I’ve never actually hosted someone before…”
Bramble had definitely meant to say the second part in her head. It made Shroud a bit curious about why she was alone. She had Mangey, but he didn’t live nearby according to Bramble’s panic about being found.
The two of them ate in relative silence, if one ignored the rustling leaves and the nocturnal wildlife. Did the Mobian inhabitants of the jungle count as wildlife too?
Bramble finished the food before Shroud did, having something to say.
“I found you in a pit, but do you have anywhere to stay, Shroud? I’m not offering anything. Just curious.”
The last part was spat out with venom and ice, but Bramble also wasn’t specifically directing her ire toward Shroud.
“I don’t.”
Shroud didn’t want to ask what he really wanted to ask. He knew that Savage would instantly shrink away and eject him from her home.
Bramble leaned back in her seat as she stared at the ceiling with her arms crossed. Shroud noted with a slight discomfort that she had two chairs in her house, for someone who never had guests…
“Well, I don’t know what to do about that. You can build your own house, I suppose? Preferably far away, but you already know where I live, so a neighbor could be fine… although, what am I supposed to do with you in the meantime?”
Bramble really needed to fix her habit of talking out loud. Shroud was sitting right across from her, and she still forgot.
It grew quiet for a moment, and Shroud was about to break the silence after finishing his own meal when Bramble shot up from her seat and slammed her palms against the table, surprising them both.
“I had an idea! You pick. You sleep in my garden, or I sleep in my garden!”
Her cheerful expression showed she truly believed that she had had a good idea, but Shroud didn’t know what to say. Sleeping outside didn’t sound pleasant, and needless to say he definitely wasn’t used to that like Sonic or Bramble were.
“What if it rains?”
Shroud wanted to retract his question with how it caused Bramble to visibly wilt. He was just concerned!
“I mean, if you’re fine with water, then good for you.”
Sonic hated water, or at least swimming and not rain. Did Bramble hate swimming too?
Bramble laughed softly at Shroud’s pathetic attempt at a joke, taking pity on his awful humor and deciding to check outside… only to pause while staring out the doorway.
“Huh. Can you predict the weather?”
“No way. It’s actually raining?”
Shroud stood from the table, moving to the garden door beside Bramble as she mutely nodded.
It was drizzling lightly, but the air was much darker than just sprinkling. It was about to start pouring.
“Ack! Not all my flowers can stand too much rain!”
Bramble dashed outside before Shroud could stop her, the rain slowly growing heavier.
“Bramble!”
Shroud quickly followed the blue hedgehog into the rain, only to be awestruck by Bramble’s surprising ingenuity.
Bramble pulled on a vine, which dragged an overhanging canopy to cover the less water-reliant plants and redirecting water to the plants that typically took more.
Bramble sighed as she scanned the garden and her handiwork, relieved she had made it on time before some of them got too wet.
“How…?”
Shroud was undeniably startled by this rare stroke of brilliance. Sonic usually never made systems like this, though it was relatively simple and straightforward, but this was to a degree that he would never see from the hedgehog unless in dire circumstances. For plants? That was something he never expected.
“Huh?”
Bramble turned and spotted Shroud for the first time since she dashed off, laughing awkwardly as the rain soaked her clothes and quills.
“How did you come up with that?”
Shroud gestured to the makeshift canopy, which Bramble promptly glanced towards before approaching Shroud and dragging him inside her house.
“It was pretty simple. I didn’t want my flowers to get too wet when it wasn’t good for them, and big leaves would usually have the rain slide right over them. I couldn’t have them on all the time, since my darlings need sunlight, so I attached the vine to the end so I could pull it back for sunshine and pull it out for rain.”
Bramble fished out a towel from one of her cabinets after bringing them both back to her living room. She began drying her quills, pulling out an extra towel that she handed to Shroud as she explained her innovation.
“Did you just refer to your flowers as your… darlings?”
Shroud could barely even say it without turning green in embarrassment. He would never call anyone that. Ever.
“Ah. Did I?”
Shroud noticed Bramble turn a shade of pink he found delightfully cute. How it was a bright contrast to her face and her quills…
‘What the heck am I even thinking?!’
Shroud turned a darker shade of green, which he promptly buried with his towel as he hid his face from her. He decided to quickly change the subject.
“So, I guess sleeping in the garden is out of the question.”
He couldn’t see Bramble’s face with his own covered by the towel that smelled a lot like the flowers he had noticed in her garden.
“Looks like it. Hm. I just didn’t want to give you a bed in my house. I’ll sleep in my room while you sleep in the bed in the living room.”
He knew it. She obviously had her own room, but why was there a bed in the living room, anyway?
“Why didn’t you want to give me that bed from the beginning?”
Shroud didn’t know what sort of answer he was expecting when he had intruded into her house and seen her nearly pass out on there.
“Because I normally sleep there.”
Normally wasn’t an answer he was expecting. Why would someone normally not sleep in their own room?
“Why?”
“Exhaustion. Duh. Too tired after caring for the garden and checking on the outskirts of the territory and making sure the food sources outside my territory are intact and keeping track of the animals nearby and hunting on the days I have more energy and catching up with Mangey and—”
Shroud continued listening as Bramble rattled off every little thing she had on her checklist of tasks, intent on just listening to her voice. She had a lot of reasons, it seemed. He didn’t want to think about how often ‘often’ was.
Bramble suddenly stopped talking and Shroud moved his towel from his face once he felt like he was no longer feeling overly warm.
“Hm… I think I have spare clothes about your size somewhere… I brought a lot in case of emergencies and guests and stuff. The oversized stuff is comfy during nighttime.”
Bramble left the living room and entered a room Shroud hadn’t noticed before, coming back with a set of clothes for him and another for herself. They were matching, actually.
A dark brown long-sleeved cotton shirt, and somewhat baggy light green linen slacks. Bramble had her outfit somewhat in reverse with a light brown shirt and dark green slacks. Both outfits were of similar sizes, looking like they would fit Shroud nicely, but also looking like they would overwhelm Bramble with her smaller stature.
“You change in the kitchen, I’ll change in my room. I don’t have any way to keep the doors from opening.”
She was already heading to a different room from before, another door that Shroud hadn’t noticed since the doors were identical to the walls.
“Locks?”
“Not even whatever those are.”
Shroud shouldn’t have even bothered to ask.
‘Right. A jungle. Not a lot of metalworking around here.’
He nodded and Bramble ducked out of the room as he headed to the kitchen as instructed. He really didn’t know why he had been listening to obediently to her, but she was the most familiar thing in the entire jungle. Especially with Mangey Tails being not the brightest tool in the shed. That was just weird, though he seemed sweet enough to Bramble.
She had been right when she said it was about his size, as the shirt was just slightly loose and the pants were just slightly too snug. It fit more or less perfectly, which made him wonder how it was for Bramble.
Shroud left the kitchen and waited in the living room for a few minutes before knocking on her bedroom door. Hearing a low ‘come in’ he entered the room without thinking.
The room was dark, with minimal furniture which made sense since it was a jungle and survival was top priority, but she still had a bit of furniture in her room. A desk littered with papers covered in doodles he could barely make out in the dim lighting from the living room room, a bookshelf filled to the brim with books that seemed almost brand new and unread, a bedside counter that was definitely made of a type of wood that wasn’t in the jungle, and Bramble’s bed, which she was sleeping soundly on.
Apparently she was so tired she had just passed out after changing.
“Seriously. Still the same, Sonic.”
Shroud left before he did something impulsive at the sight of her sleeping so peacefully in front of him. How in the world had she answered when she was asleep?
He sighed as he closed the door to her bedroom softly and sat on the bed of the living room. He didn’t sleep yet, since he had to snuff out the firelight since there weren’t any light switches.
Finished with the lights, he let himself bask in the reprieve of the darkness before lying on the bed.
It smelled the same as when she had tackled him to the ground. That same floral and woody scent that just…
Shroud turned his face to the pillow letting himself relax in the comforting scent. He wasn’t being a weirdo like Rouge… right?
Without knowing it, he had fallen to slumber breathing in Bramble’s unique scent.
Time Left Until ___: 17 Days