Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a dark, stormy night out on the sea of the Emerald Coast. Out in the dark, salty waters, a lone fisherman was on his boat, working late to meet his quota of the day. He watched his nets carefully, looking for any sign of a resistance through the pouring rain of the storm.

Suddenly, one of his nets started to drag behind, a clear sign that he had caught something. He pulled the lever to that net, watching with pride as it started to rise out of the water, bringing thousands upon thousands of blue fish with it.

He pulled the net onboard and dropped it onto the deck, the pile of fish scattering around as they wiggled and squirmed, trying to get back in the water. The fisherman whooped in joy, marking down his catch in his journal when suddenly, he saw something move in the pile.

It wasn't a blue fish like the others. In fact, it wasn't like a fish he had caught before. He could only see parts of the creature, mainly the sharp looking dorsal fins. It wiggled underneath the pile, trying to free itself. And then, all of a sudden, it stopped.

Curious, the fisherman looked closer, trying to make sense of what it actually could be, and wondering if it was dead or not. He gasped as suddenly, a pair of piercing blue eyes looked up at him from underneath the pile of fish. He knew right away what this creature was. He was going to back away, to get as far away from it as he could, when suddenly, he heard the most beautiful song in his entire life.

The song was enchanting, and seemed to echo around him. It was coming from the creature he had just caught.

Unable to control himself, the fisherman went closer to the creature, completely entranced by the beautiful music it was making. When he was close enough, the creature hissed and attacked, pouncing on him, grabbing him with its clawed hands and hissing through a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

The fisherman screamed in fear and agony as the creature ripped into him, blood spraying across the deck. As the creature finished it's meal, the fisherman's screams faltered, and then, the creature crawled back over the side of the boat, and disappeared back in the water.

Chapter Text

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

Sonic reached over and turned his alarm off, silencing the annoying beeping before it could wake up Tails from the next room over. He sat up in his bed and yawned, stretching his arms up over his head. It was a Saturday, but while most people would sleep in, Sonic would rather get up early at 7 am to do some running. He needed to keep his legs fresh and exercised, afterall.

He threw his legs over his bed and stood up, walking over to his private bathroom with another yawn. When he was in his bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror. His quills were a mess, as per usual in the mornings. He grabbed his quill brush and ran it through his head, smoothing them out. As he brushed his quills, he couldn't stop staring at his own eyes.

To the people of Mobius, Sonic was a super fast blue hedgehog with green eyes, but this was not who he was at all. He was fast, and he was a hedgehog, but he did not have green eyes. Those were just colored contacts to hide his true eyes. The piercing blue eyes, with the pinpoint pupils that all of his kind were born with.

He sighed and put his brush down once his quills were back under control. He then opened the drawer to his sink and pulled out his contact lens holder, opening the caps and carefully placing each green colored contact into his eyes. He looked at himself, and nodded when he deemed himself properly disguised. He was turning away to finish getting himself ready, when he noticed something on his left arm.

"Oh no." He whispered quietly as he gently inspected the dry, scaling skin. He'll have to go back to the water soon. Until then, he reached under his sink and pulled out a small makeup kit. He took out some foundation and gently covered the scaling, blending it in to look natural. "A quick run to the ocean will do me good."

Suddenly, there was a knock on his bedroom door. He jumped at the sound, nearly dropping everything. He quickly pushed everything back to where they were and went up to his door, opening it to see Tails standing on the other side. "Tails? What are you doing up so early?"

"We're supposed to be meeting up with everybody to head to the beach house at Emerald Coast." Tails explained calmly. He crossed his arms and gave Sonic a pointed look. "Don't tell me you forgot."

Sonic felt like slapping himself. He did forget about that. And, despite the risk of being discovered, he had promised Tails that he would come along. He even remembered packing his bag last night and putting it in his closet.

He sighed and looked at his little buddy. "When are we leaving?"

"Rouge and Shadow are coming to pick us up in a few minutes." Tails answered. "We all planned on picking up breakfast on the way."

At the mention of breakfast, Sonic felt his stomach twist a small bit. He was hungry, but he didn't want anything that his friends were planning to get. He wanted something fresh. He was craving it.

"Hey, I got an idea." He said suddenly. "I still need to go on my morning run. You know, get my legs working a bit. Why don't I run to the beach house and I'll meet you guys there? I'll even carry my own bag."

Tails frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "Nice try, Sonic, but you're not getting out of this."

"But-" Sonic started, but the fox interrupted him.

"I don't wanna hear another word about it. Now come on. They'll be here any minute."

With that, Tails left to get ready. Sonic sighed and went to his closet, pulling out his suitcase. The ocean will have to wait. His scaling wasn't that bad yet. It'll take a few more days before it becomes unbearable and undoubtedly noticeable.

Just in case, Sonic went into his bathroom and packed up his makeup kit. He was certain nobody would be going through his bag, so he should be safe from any prying questions. He also took his contact lens holder, sticking it in his shoe. His contacts weren't ones he could sleep in, and he can't wear them in the salty water of the ocean anyway. Luckily he won't be swimming with his friends, they still thought he was scared of water.

“I hope they don’t try to get me in the water like they did at the lake.” Sonic sighed.

They all once did a camping trip at a nearby lake, and when he least expected it, his friends had tried to throw him in the lake. Even though the freshwater lake wasn’t his water, he still had to keep up the facade of being afraid, for situations like this where they’d be going to the saltwater ocean. He still had to keep up the facade of being extremely pissed at them for their stunt. He didn’t talk to them for at least three days after that.

Sonic sighed and looked at his calendar hanging on the wall. They were supposed to be staying at the beach house for a whole week, all up until next Saturday, and it wasn’t just gonna be him, Tails, Rouge, and Shadow. Amy, Knuckles, Cream and Cheese, and even Vanilla was gonna be there.

Anything could go wrong, especially if Eggman was to show up.

“Oh no, you gotta be kidding me.” He groaned as he took a closer look at the date. “Out of all weeks why this one?!”

...It was mating season.

Suddenly, Sonic heard the horn of a car honking outside. He peeked out his window and noticed a black FORD pickup truck with flames on the sides, parked in their driveway. Through the windshield, he could see Shadow and Rouge, with his ebony rival sitting at the steering wheel. He honked on the horn again to let the residence of the house know that he was here, and he was getting impatient.

“Come on Sonic!” Tails called from down the stairs. “Grab your suitcase and let’s go! We don’t have all day!”

“Coming Tails!” Sonic called back as he grabbed his bag with a sigh and started heading downstairs.

This was gonna be a long week.

Chapter Text

The ride to the diner was awkward, mostly because Rouge and Tails kept plotting ways to get Sonic in the water at the beach, as if he couldn’t hear their plans. He tried talking to Shadow to ignore them, but all the ebony hedgehog said was “Don’t distract the driver, Faker.”

Sonic inwardly cringed when Shadow called him that, just like he always does. The insult ran deeply with him. He was a Fake, for many different reasons. But, even so, he couldn’t let Shadow know that his words got to him. After all, that’s all they were. Just words.

“Ah, here we are!” Tails called out as they pulled into the parking lot of the diner. “And there’s the others.”

Sonic looked out the window and saw their friends waiting for them at the entrance of the diner. He looked up to the sign and cringed. It wasn’t an ordinary diner. It was a buffet. Great.

Shadow parked the truck and they all got out, walking up to the entrance to meet up with their friends. Sonic scratched at his arm nervously. A buffet meant that they were expecting him to eat a lot, but with his craving for something fresh, if he ate anything else otherwise he was gonna be sick.

“Hey Sonic!” Knuckles greeted loudly, slapping the hedgehog on his back in a bit of a roughhousing tease. “You ready to get this party started?”

“Heh, yeah.” Sonic said half heartedly as he followed everybody inside. His scaling on his arm was starting to bother him. He had the urge to scratch at it, but he resisted, knowing that if he did it would mess up the makeup.

Knuckles mistook his tone for the trip itself. “Ah, come on Sonic, it's not gonna be that bad. I promise we won’t try to throw you in the water again.”

“Swear it?” Sonic challenged.

“Of course.” The echidna nodded, crossing his fingers behind his back. At that moment, the hostess came up to them.

“Hello.” She greeted them kindly. “How many will be joining us today?”

“Party of nine, please.” Vanilla answered sweetly.

“Alright then, follow me this way.”

The group followed the hostess through the tables and by the food. Sonic’s stomach churned a bit from the smell of the processed food around him. Wasn’t there anything fresh in this place? Finally the woman brought them to a small party room and sat everybody down. As soon as she left, another woman came up. A waitress.

“Hi, I’m Rita, I’ll be your server today.” She introduced herself. “Can I start you all on a drink?”

“Just water for me.” Sonic said quickly. The woman nodded and went around taking everybody else’s order. As she did this, it gave Sonic time to study her.

She looked like any ordinary human woman, but there was something about her that struck him odd. Finally, she looked up and he silently gasped as he got a good look at her eyes.

They were blue with the pinprick pupils.

She was like him.

“Alright then, I will be right back with your drinks. Feel free to check the buffet during this time.” And with that, she walked away.

“I think I’ll take her advice and see what they got.” Sonic said, standing up from the table and walking away, going the same direction Rita had gone. He had to talk to her. Maybe she knew where he could get some fresh produce.

He followed her through the crowd of customers, keeping his distance until she stopped at an empty table, picking up the tip and clearing away the dirty dishes. This was his chance.

“Rita.” He called to her, making her jump. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No, no, it's quite alright.” She chuckled. “What can I do for you, Sonic?”

“Well first off, you should probably consider getting some colored contacts.” He teased.

“I’m sorry?”

“And second of all, what are you doing up on land?”

“I’m sorry Sonic, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rita frowned at him, causing him to laugh.

“It’s ok Rita, you can tell me.” He leaned close and whispered. “I’m one of you.” And then, just to prove his point, he took one of his contacts out after looking around to make sure nobody was watching.

At the sight of his true eye, Rita gasped. She looked around, then gently took a hold of his arm. “Come with me. It's not safe to talk about us out in the open.”

Sonic nodded, put his contact back in, and followed her to the back, out of sight of the customers and employees.

“I can’t believe you’re actually one of us.” She said to him. “Sonic, you’re just full of surprises.”

“I know.” He shrugged with a chuckle.

“So where are you and your friends off to?”

“Ugh, the beach house.” Sonic groaned. “We’re supposed to be staying for a week. I promised Tails I would join them.”

“Oh goodness.” Rita frowned. “Right by all that saltwater, and during mating season too… how old are you again?”

“I just became of age.”

“Yeesh. Well, I can only wish you the best of luck.”

“Thanks. Hey um, before I head back out there, do you think you can help me out?”

“What’s up?”

“I am craving something fresh, and I’m afraid that if I eat anything else, I’m gonna be sick.”

“I know that feeling. I’m afraid we don’t really have fish out at the moment, especially fresh fish since we’re in the middle of the breakfast rush. The best you can do for now is to have some fruit. That’s all we got right now.”

Sonic sighed. “Alright then. It’ll have to do. Thank you Rita, and stay safe.”

“You too.”

…

Sonic took Rita’s advice and ate only a fresh fruit salad for breakfast. Of course, some of his friends questioned him on his choice, but he just ignored them and ate it, and luckily, it didn’t make him sick. But even afterwards, he was still hungry, but he would have to wait until they got to the beach house, which is where they went right after breakfast.

The beach house wasn’t much to look at on the outside. It was a simple small blue cabin, set on hurricane suspenders, with white shingles and white frames. The real magic would be on the inside.

Tails reached under the welcome mat and picked up the key to the front door, opening the lock and allowing everyone to step inside. The inside had a shiny linoleum floor, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fully stocked kitchen, a living room with a pullout sofa bed, and a patio leading out to the beach, which was practically the backyard.

“Wow Vanilla. This house is beautiful.” Amy gasped.

“Why thank you. I do what I can to take care of it.” The rabbit mother giggled.

Sonic looked around the house, still unable to believe that Vanilla actually owned such a place. He would love to stay and explore the house a bit, just like the rest of his friends, but his skin was getting worse, as well as his hunger. So, instead, he quickly set his suitcase in one of the rooms and quickly rushed back out. "Well you guys, I didn't get to do my daily morning run, so I'm going now. I'll meet up with you all later." And before anyone could say anything, he was gone.

He ran down the shoreline, being careful to stay as far away from the salty water as he could. He came up to a small cave and went inside.

Inside the cave, there was a moonpool, where Sonic had come from to explore the surface world. He had always been a curious merhog, one might say that he was an Ariel. And despite his colony telling him the dangers of the surface world and the surface dwellers, his curiosity could not be tamed.

Blending into the surface world had not been easy. Learning how to walk, run, and speak proper English took months. It also didn't help that there were times when he had to go back to the water to fix his dry scaling. Like he was about to do now.

Sonic took off his gloves, socks and shoes, and his contacts, took a deep breath and dived headfirst into the water. As soon as his body was completely submerged, he started convulsing. He screamed in pain, bubbles flying from his mouth and popping on the surface. His hands grew webs between his fingers as long, dangerous looking sharp black claws grew out. Spiky dorsal fins popped out from his back, and his legs and tail gruesomely fused together to make a long, dangerously strong merhog tail, complete with a barbed stinger. He screamed in agony again as gills started ripping themselves into his sides, and his teeth grew out into large, razor sharp fangs, strong enough to pierce the skin of sharks.

When the transformation was complete, Sonic panted, out of breath as he curled in on himself a bit to let himself rest. He had forgotten how much strength and agony it took to change, both in and out of water. So many things could go wrong if he was not strong enough. He had seen people of his kind attempt what he had done, only to die halfway through the transformation because they weren’t strong enough.

He sighed and swam to the bottom of the moonpool, grabbed his spear, and swam out through the underwater cave to the open ocean to do some hunting.

This was his life.

His real life… as a Siren.

Chapter Text

Sonic swam through the ocean, close to the ocean floor where he knew he would be out of sight from any surface dwellers above on their boats. It was also the safest place for him to be to avoid their nets. He remembered one of his kind getting caught in a net before as they migrated through Russia. She never returned after that day.

The ocean floor was also the best place for him to find the freshest, juiciest prey there was… Ooh! There’s one now!

Sonic’s pupils dilated more than they were before as a nice, juicy eel swam harmlessly through the saltwater towards him. He licked his lips and swam behind a rock, waiting for the right moment to ambush the creature. As it came closer, he gripped his spear tightly, ready to make his kill.

Suddenly, much to his shock, another spear embedded itself into the base of the eel’s skull, disappearing and taking the eel with it. Someone had taken his kill. He hissed angrily and swam out from behind the rock, ready to face the intruder of his hunt. He looked around, his spear ready to attack, but he didn’t see anything.

Suddenly, he felt something swim behind him. He quickly spun around, but there was nothing there. He then felt a tap on his shoulder. He spun, but again, there was nothing. Then, he felt a hard slap on his backside. He growled and spun around quickly, not giving it a chance to get away. He raised his spear up to pierce through the heart of the teasing creature… but then he stopped, his hard gaze softening.

It was another Siren, a purple female merhog, one from his colony that he knew very well.

She smiled at him, her spear in her hand, with the eel still attached to it. Sonic blinked at her and began signing to her in their unique merhog sign language.

‘Ryn?’

She giggled and signed back. ‘Hello Sonic. Welcome back.’

‘What are you doing so far from the colony?’

‘I came to see you. The mating season is near upon us. I knew you’d come back for it. You’re of age now, and it is your duty.’

Sonic frowned. ‘I’m sorry Ryn. Though it is my responsibility to help continue the bloodline of the merfolk, I did not come back for that reason. I merely came because my skin was scaling up on the surface again.’

‘Why don’t you stay?’ Ryn sang sadly, swimming up to him and placing her webbed fingers over his shoulders. ‘Forget the land above. Your place is here, in the water with your kind.’ She nuzzled under his chin. ‘With me.’

Sonic felt a bit saddened. He and Ryn have been friends since they were born. When they took their first breath in the water, they were inseparable. They trained together. Hunted together. They even made their first kill together.

They were always there for each other, so when Sonic decided to try living on land, he knew it would break his friend’s heart. Even more so when he knew she had a crush on him. He could only make it up to her by promising to visit her as often as he could.

And with mating season coming up, and him being of age now, he knew that she was gonna choose him to mate with. It was always the females with the power in the colony.

‘Ryn, you know I can’t stay.’ He nuzzled back. ‘I have a life on the surface now. I have friends, and a little fox brother that depends on me. And the surface dwellers need me. I’ve told you about all of my adventures before. I’ve told you about the villains I had to defeat to save their world and ours.’

‘It worries me, all those villains you fight.’ Ryn frowned. ‘What if one of them finds out what you are and captures you? You remember what happened with Donna!’

‘I know. Donna never came back.’ Sonic shook his head. He smiled at her. ‘But you need not worry, Ryn. I’ve been extra careful with my secret. No one suspects a thing.’

‘I hope you’re right, Sonic.’

Sonic chuckled and pressed their foreheads together. ‘I must go now. My friends are expecting me.’

‘Wait,’ Ryn quickly grabbed his arm before he could swim away. She took the eel off her spear and gave it to him. ‘I took your kill, and I’m sorry.’

Sonic smiled and pushed it back to her. ‘You killed it fair and square. This is no longer my prey.’

‘I want you to have it. You must be hungry. At least eat it on the way.’

Sonic rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway, taking the eel back. ‘Alright, I will. Stay safe, Ryn.’

‘You too. Goodbye my friend.’

With that, the two merhogs began swimming in their separate ways. But what neither of them knew, was that someone was watching them.

A little sea drone in the shape of an Eggbot came out from behind another rock. It had a camera on it, pointed directly at Sonic as he swam.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Eggman laughed as he watched the footage from the safety of his lab. “So, Sonic is a merhog, is that right? And not just any merhog, a Siren, one of the most predatory creatures of the sea. I think I may have just found a way to defeat Sonic once and for all!”

“You’re gonna show the footage of Sonic in his merhog form to the world and get everyone to turn against him?” Cubot asked.

“Even better! I’m going to capture him and display him in a tank to the entire world!”

“What a splendid idea, doctor.” Orbot agreed. “But how are you going to do it? He’d never fall for such an easy trap.”

“He will if someone he cares about is in danger.” Eggman smirked as he panned the camera over to Ryn. “And I think I’ve found the perfect candidate.”

Chapter Text

When Sonic returned to the moonpool, he was shocked and a bit angered to see that someone had discovered his secret cove.

Shadow stood on the shore, frowning in confusion as he looked over Sonic’s clothes. Why were these here? And where was Sonic? His confusion only intensified when he found a pair of green colored contact lenses, the same emerald green color as Sonic’s eyes. The blue Siren hissed quietly, pressing himself against the side of the moonpool, out of sight from his rival.

‘Great. Just great.’ He thought. ‘Out of everyone to discover my moonpool it HAD to be him! Oh what would I give to be a female just to have the Song of the Sirens now.’

Even though he knew the Song of the Sirens would drive Shadow crazy once he heard it, Sonic felt like he deserved it for all the trouble the onyx hedgehog was always causing him. All Sonic ever wanted was to be his friend, but Shadow made it so difficult to be even that.

This was no good. He couldn’t get out this way now. He would have to find another way.

He gasped as he saw Shadow approaching the water, a small hint of concern shining in his eyes. He dove back down and quickly as he could, swam through the underwater cave, leaving his spear behind and giving Shadow only a view of his barbed tail disappearing after him.

‘Where do I go now?’ Sonic knew that the only other place that was safe enough for him to transform undetected would be by the woods, where a merhog burial ground was for the ones that died on land. But it was so far from the beach house, and it was dangerous for him to run at his normal speed without any protection from the friction on his feet. He learned that the hard way.

He then remembered that there was actually a store nearby the burial ground, owned by a good friend of his who was actually 40% mermaid herself. She was the one who created the burial ground for her family, and she had also taken him in when she discovered what he was. She clothed him, taught him, and took care of him until he was ready to head out to the open land himself. He could only hope that she was still there.

Sonic swam over to the forest and crawled onto the rocky bank. He pulled himself away from the water and waited for the agonizing transformation to begin. As his skin dried up, he screamed in pain, the scales on his body burning up and peeling to make way for skin and fur. His dorsal fins shredded apart and disappeared, pulling the bones into his back. The gills along his sides stitched themselves back together, and his fangs pulled themselves back up into his gums. Finally, the transformation ended as his tail disintegrated into legs and his hedgehog tail, leaving nothing left but the fin.

Back in his hedgehog form, Sonic laid there on the rocks, panting in pain as he waited for it to subside. Once it finally did, he sighed and stood up, looking at himself.

“What a weird sense of deja vu.” He said to himself, admiring his naked body, and knowing that his pinprick blue eyes were showing. He felt weird, not having his iconic gloves and shoes on. “I really hope she’s in her shop right now and she can fix me up. Until then, I’ll hide behind the trees to avoid detection.”

And that’s just what he did. There wasn’t really anyone out and about in the forest, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He didn’t want someone to see him and think that the Hero of Mobius was some nude weirdo. As he walked through the forest, he came across the mermaid burial ground. He stopped and frowned, walking through the small cemetery and looking around at the many graves. His ears lowered and his eyes saddened as he came across two very familiar gravesites. He knelt down and wiped away the grime covering the names on the small tombstones.

Bernadette and Jules.

Bernadette was a lovely light blue merhog, with a voice that Sonic believed was more beautiful than the rest of the females. She was kind, loving, considerate... She was his mother.

Jules was a dark blue merhog. He had been the male Bernadette had chosen to mate with. When Sonic was just a baby, Jules had been the one to take him away from his mother to train him until he had made his first kill and was ready to return to the colony and his mother. Jules was his father.

Sonic felt guilty every time he came to visit their graves. He was the reason they had died on land, instead of in the water where they belong. They had come onto land, for whatever reason Sonic did not know. They were unprepared and weren’t strong enough. They had died halfway through the transformation. He wasn’t even here when it happened. His friend had been the one to find their bodies.

Sonic smiled sadly, touching the names of his parents lovingly. “Hey mom and dad. It's me. Sonic. Your son.” Sonic sighed. He always did this when he came to visit them. He knew they couldn’t hear him, but he still spoke to them, hoping that their spirits were listening. “It’s mating season soon, and I’m of age now. You know what that means, right? Ryn’s gonna mate with me. Not that I have a choice, right dad?” He chuckled. He sighed again, pinning his ears back. “To be honest, I’m a little scared. You guys told me all about mating season, and the way the females treat the males, it doesn’t sound pleasant… but maybe it’ll be alright, right? I mean, Ryn and I have been friends since we were born. Maybe she won't hurt me too bad… I’m just worried about my land friends finding out… what will they think of me if they ever found out I was… a killer?”

He shook his head. He knew his parents would scold him for calling himself a killer, but like it or not, that’s what Sirens were. They were killers of the sea. He sniffed and hugged the tombstones, tears rolling down his cheeks. “I miss you guys. I miss you so much. Why did you do it? Why did you come on to land?” He sniffed and pulled away, glaring angrily. “Why did you do it?! Why couldn’t you have just stayed in the water where you belong?! At least then you’d be able to join the ancestors in death at the special place! WHY DID YOU TRY TO FOLLOW ME?!”

“Sonic?”

Sonic gasped as he heard a voice call out to him. He quickly stood up and hid behind a tree, peaking out to see who it was. He sighed in relief as he saw a woman in her mid forties, with grey hair and blue eyes, walk into the burial ground. He stepped out and sheepishly waved to her. “Hey Helen.”

The woman smiled at him. “I thought I heard you out here. Talking to your parents again.”

Sonic nodded with a sad sigh. “I still miss them.”

“I know you do.” Helen nodded, then frowned. “Sonic, where are your clothes? And your contacts?”

Sonic blushed and smiled sheepishly. “I was scaling, so I went for a dip in the ocean. When I came back to my moonpool… someone discovered it, so I couldn’t get out that way. I had to abandon my clothes and pull myself onto the rocky bank nearby,”

“Oh child.” Helen sighed, placing a comforting hand on his back and guiding him away from the cemetery. “Let's get you inside and taken care of.”

“Ok.”

Chapter Text

Sonic sat at Helen’s dinner table, eating a plate of fresh fish that the woman had prepared for him. Thanks to her, he was properly dressed with his iconic gloves and shoes. She also had a spare pair of emerald green contacts that she had given him. With him properly disguised, he now could go back to the beach house, but he wanted to stay and visit his friend for a bit. After all, she had closed her shop downstairs from the apartment just for him.

“So besides going for a dip and visiting your parents gravesite, what are you doing here in Emerald Coast?” Helen asked him.

Sonic chewed a piece of ocean salmon and swallowed. “Well, it’s uh… it’s mating season tomorrow… and I’m of age to… impregnate a female.”

“That’s wonderful, Sonic. Your parents would be so proud.”

“Maybe so, but I have a problem.” Sonic sighed, lowering his ears. “I’m worried about my friends finding out.”

“Why would they?”

“Because they’re here too. They’re staying at Vanilla’s beach house over the week, and I promised Tails that I would join them.”

“Oh dear, that is a problem.”

“That’s why I couldn’t attack the intruder at my moonpool. It was Shadow that discovered it.” Sonic groaned. “First of all, he’d immediately know it was me. And second of all, I’m not like other Sirens. I don’t kill to protect my identity. Unlike Tia.” He huffed and crossed his arms, remembering the stormy night when Tia had been caught in a fisherman’s net and she had killed him to get away. It was hard to keep a straight face the next day when he heard about the “shark attack” on the news.

“Yes Sonic, I know you’re not.” Helen smiled. “None of the other Sirens are in love with Shadow.”

Sonic hissed at her, his eyes widening and his pupils dilating. “Don’t be ridiculous, Helen. I am not in love with that edgy jerklord.”

“You always talk about him. What you two do. The names he calls you. Your hatred for him but at the same time your longing for his friendship. And most importantly, your fear about what would happen if he ever found out the truth about you. Not Tails. Not Amy. Shadow.”

“It’s because he’s a total jerk! And I know that if he ever found out that I truly am a Faker he’d never let me live it down. Not to mention he’d more than likely would hand me straight over to GUN. He doesn’t give a crap about me! GUN could dissect and torture and study me all they want and Shadow wouldn’t bat an eye! GUN could go searching for the rest of my colony and wipe it out, and Shadow would most likely join them! He doesn’t care!”

Sonic fell back against his seat, crossing his arms over his chest. Why did his face feel wet all of a sudden? He reached up to his cheek and wiped it away, looking at his fingers. Of course. He was crying.

He sucked in a shuddery breath and tried to wipe away his tears. Helen just sat there and watched, a small smile of a concerned and sympathetic grandmother on her face. “Is that how you really feel?”

Sonic sniffed and nodded. The old woman sighed and reached forward, taking his hands into hers. “Then tell me this… why does it hurt so much when it's the possibility of Shadow doing it?”

…

After Sonic had calmed down and finished his fish he said goodbye to Helen, thanking her for her hospitality, and went back to the beach house. He had only been gone for about an hour, but he figured it was time to get back to his friends and find out what they had planned to do for the week.

When he got back to the beach house, he was surprised to see that everyone was in the living room, surrounding the coffee table and seemingly looking at something.

“Hey guys.”

“Sonic! Come check out what Shadow found!” Tails said excitedly.

Sonic tilted his head in curiosity and went over to them. Amy stepped aside to let him get a better view and he mentally gasped.

Shadow was in the center, and in his hands was his spear!

“W-Where did you get that?” Sonic asked, trying to remain calm.

“I found it in this cave, in a moonpool, not far from here.” The ebony hedgehog answered. “It’s handmade, but not from land materials, that’s for sure.” He started pointing out the different parts. “The arrowhead is made from a fossilized megalodon shark tooth, the pole is a stingray barb tail, and it's all held together by seaweed tied around it.”

“Whoa, crafty.” Knuckles whistled.

“And creative.” Shadow complimented.

Sonic felt a bit of pride swelling up in his chest. He made that spear himself after his father taught him how. To hear Shadow call it creative was a big deal to him. Maybe he wasn’t a complete jerk after all.

“You know what this reminds me of?” Amy said. “Mermaids!”

And just like that, Sonic’s world came crashing down.

Oh no.

“Mermaids?” Shadow frowned in confusion.

“Yeah! These are the kind of weapons they build to help them hunt, kill, and defend their colony.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Sonic quickly said. “I thought mermaids were peaceful creatures.”

“Not all of them.” Amy shook her head. “Especially Sirens. They’re known to be cold-hearted killers.”

Sonic felt his stomach twist as Amy said that. If that’s how she saw her people he knew for a fact now that he can’t ever let his friends know that he was a Siren. He would be branded a killer if they did. The thought of it hurt him, even though he himself already called them killers. But it just felt different when it came from the mouth of his friends.

“Well it doesn’t matter,” He shook his head. “Because mermaids don’t exist.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.”

Sonic’s eyes widened as Shadow said that. Was he actually going along with this? “Come on Shadow. You can’t possibly believe such a fairytale.”

“Look, all I know is that SOMETHING made this spear and hid it in the bottom of the moonpool. Not to mention as I was looking in the water I saw a large fish tail with a barbed stinger disappear in an underwater cave.” He frowned and gave Sonic a suspicious glare. “And I found this stuff in the cave too.”

That’s when Shadow reached under the table and pulled out a bunch of stuff… Sonic’s stuff. Sonic silently gulped when he saw it. He wasn’t accusing Sonic, was he?

“Sonic that looks like your stuff.” Tails frowned. “Those are your gloves and your shoes.”

“I-I-It can’t be though, because I’m still wearing my stuff.” Sonic quickly said. “It would make no sense if it was mine.”

“To be honest I was thinking it was your stuff.” Shadow said. “I kept wondering where you were, why you would take your clothes off, why there, and…” He held up Sonic’s contacts. “Why you’re trying to hide the color of your eyes?”

Sonic gulped again. Was he still accusing him?

“And yet, here you are, fully clothed and with natural green eyes, so it can’t be you.”

Sonic mentally sighed in relief. He just dodged a bullet there.

Thank you Helen.

“But something IS out there.” Shadow frowned. “And whatever it is we’re gonna find it. Even if it takes more than a week.”

… Oh shit.

Chapter Text

The rest of the day, the group spent it by unpacking their belongings, planning the events of the week, and figuring out their sleeping arrangements.

Since because there were nine of them and only three bedrooms as well as the sofa bed, each of them had a roommate. Vanilla, Cream and Cheese shared the master bedroom. Amy and Rouge took the other bedroom, and Tails and Knuckles shared the sofa bed. That left Sonic and Shadow as roommates in the last available room.

This made Sonic nervous. He couldn’t sleep in his contacts, and Shadow was already suspicious of him. If he saw Sonic’s true eyes it would only raise his suspicion. He would have to do his best to make sure his eyes were never seen by the ebony hedgehog.

“Alright Faker, here’s the deal.” Shadow said harshly as they started getting ready for bed. “You stay on your side of the room. Don’t talk to me. Don’t touch me. Don’t even look at me. Basically, you leave me alone, and I’ll leave you alone. Got it.”

“Got it.” Sonic nodded with a sigh. Seems like this was gonna be worse than he thought.

“And another thing, don’t do anything annoying or you’ll find yourself sleeping outside.”

“... Guess I better head out there now then.” Sonic sighed. “I get nightmares… a lot.” It was true, but maybe this could actually work. He could sleep in the moonpool and his secret would be safe. He started to gather his stuff, wanting to leave as soon as possible so that he could get to his moonpool without anyone seeing him.

“... How often?”

Sonic paused and looked back at Shadow. “What?”

“How often do you get these nightmares?”

Sonic's ears lowered and he looked away. "Almost every other night… sometimes a full week."

"What are they about?"

"... My… parents… they died and… it was all my fault." A tear ran down his cheek and he quickly looked away. Sonic couldn't say anymore. Not unless he wanted to reveal his true identity. He jumped when he felt a hand on his chin, making him turn his head back around.

Shadow held onto his chin, making the blue hedgehog look at him. His face was hard, but his gaze held a hidden sadness.

"I'm sorry about your parents." He said. "But I'm sure it was not your fault."

"You don't understand, Shadow. It was. It was my fault."

"How so?"

More tears fell down his cheeks. "I… I left home… they tried to follow me… and they died in the process… an accident that I caused."

“How did you cause the accident?”

“Well, I didn’t physically cause it, but it was because of me it happened. If I haven’t left… they wouldn’t have tried to follow me. And they would still be alive.”

Sonic shut his eyes and turned away, tears falling down his cheeks as he started getting sad and angry again. He had to calm down before he started shouting again like he did at the burial ground.

“Sonic…” The blue hedgehog gasped and turned to look at Shadow again, surprised to hear him say his name. “I’m sorry to hear about your parents. I don’t know what happened to them, but I can assure you it was not your fault.”

“But…”

“They tried to follow you because they love you. And I’m sure they would not be happy to hear you thinking this way.”

Sonic was silent. He knew Shadow was probably right, but it still hurt.

“Look, I’m not good at these things.” Shadow shook his head. “But what I’m saying is true. It was not your fault, and you shouldn’t be thinking that it is.”

Sonic rubbed his arm, thinking about it. Was Shadow right? Was it really not his fault?

Shadow sighed and went back over to his side of the room. “Listen, if you have any nightmares I won’t hold it against you. Just think about what I said and try to get some sleep.”

With that, he climbed under his covers and turned his lamp off. As soon as Sonic was sure that he was asleep, he pulled his contacts case out of his sock and put his contact lenses in the holder. He hid the case under his pillow and climbed under his covers before closing his eyes and trying to go to sleep.

…

Sonic opened his eyes to find himself in the dark waters of the ocean. He looked at himself and discovered that he was in his Siren form. That was weird. He didn’t remember waking up. He didn’t remember going to the ocean. And he would most definitely remember the agonizing pain of transforming. What was going on?

He heard a mermaid squeak behind him and he turned towards it. There in front of him was Ryn.

‘Ryn?’ Sonic signed.

Ryn said nothing and just smiled at him. Her smile was so alluring. Her purple quills shined beautifully through the water. He couldn’t take his eyes away from her. He wanted her… he needed her.

Before he knew it, Sonic’s neck and chest began to glow a bright beautiful golden color, trying to tempt the female into mating. Ryn smirked and swam around him, circling him, looking him over. Sonic hissed at her, causing her to hiss back. Suddenly, she charged at him, but before she could get to him, a net suddenly appeared and trapped her.

Sonic’s glow went down as he watched his friend in horror. He swam up to the net and started pulling on it, trying to get Ryn out. They sang, cried. Screamed and squealed to each other, fear filling their merhog voices as the net started to pull the female up.

Sonic lost his grip on the net, and he watched in heartbreak as Ryn’s body was pulled out of the water.

“RYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYN!” He screamed, not even thinking about how his land voice could be heard in the water.

Suddenly, another merhog swam by him. Startled, Sonic turned around to see what the rush was about, and he gasped in horror as he saw his colony fighting with other Sirens. Not only were there other Sirens, but there were also a lot of underwater GUN drones, attacking every Siren in sight.

“No! Stop! Leave them alone!” Sonic cried. “Leave them alone!”

He was about to swim to his colony, to help defend them against the invading drones and Sirens, until suddenly…

SHKT!!

Sonic gasped in pain as he felt something sharp go through his back. He looked down to his chest, gasping in horror to see a barbed stinger pierced through him. It suddenly pulled out, causing him to double over in pain as he placed a hand over his bleeding chest. He looked back to see what had stabbed him, and his eyes widened as he stared at another Siren, a human mermaid. One that he was very familiar with. He couldn’t help but feel betrayed.

“How… could you?” He whispered weakly as his eyes started getting heavy.

The mermaid said nothing. She only stared at the merhog as he started floating to the bottom of the ocean, his eyes closing in death as he could hear a faint voice calling his name.

Chapter Text

“Sonic! Sonic wake up!”

Sonic opened his eyes and gasped, forcing himself out of his nightmare. His chest started closing up in fright. He couldn’t breathe. He had to sit up. Unable to comprehend his surroundings, the blue hedgehog sat up quickly, knocking his head against Shadow’s face. The ebony hedgehog grunted and stepped back a bit, holding onto his nose and hissing in pain.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Sonic gasped. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” He told him, rubbing the soreness away. It wasn’t broken, nor was it bleeding, but it would definitely leave a mark. He sighed and looked back at the blue blur. “Are you alright?”

“I… I think so.” Sonic said nervously. “Why do you ask?”

“You were screaming in your sleep. Sounded like you were having one of those nightmares you told me about.”

“Oh.” Sonic sighed, lowering his ears to his head in guilt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I already said I wasn’t gonna hold it against you.” Shadow frowned, sitting beside him on the bed. As he did so, he got a better look at his face, more specifically, his eyes. “Sonic… your eyes.”

“Huh?” The blue hedgehog was confused, until he suddenly realized that he wasn’t wearing his contacts. He quickly looked away, putting a hand up to his face to shield his eyes. “D-Don’t look!”

“What happened?”

“Nothing! Nothing happened! I-It’s just the trick of the light!”

“Faker!”

Sonic cringed and lowered his ears, a few tears coming to his eyes.

“... Turn around.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Turn around, now. Or I’ll force you to.”

Trembling, Sonic turned to look back at his ebony rival. Tears came to his eyes as his true blue irises and the tiny pupils were revealed.

“... Wow.” Shadow said upon the sight of them.

“I know.” Sonic sniffed. “They’re hideous, aren’t they?”

“Hideous?” Shadow questioned. “No Sonic. I don’t think they’re hideous.”

“Questionable? Abnormal? Strange? Supernatural?” Sonic listed. “I’ve heard it all, Shadow.”

“What about beautiful?”

Sonic’s voice caught in his throat at that. He never suspected that Shadow would think his true eyes were beautiful.

“... Those contacts I found at the moonpool… those were yours… weren’t they?”

“... No… they weren’t… but I do wear contacts.”

He reached under his pillow and pulled out his case. He unscrewed the lids and presented his emerald colored contacts to his rival. Shadow inspected them with a frown before looking back up at him. “Why?”

“You know why.” Sonic said, lowering his ears. “I just listed them all.”

“You started hiding your eyes because of a few insults from a bunch of nobodies?” Shadow frowned, not believing a word of it.

“Not just that.” Sonic sighed. “... When I was younger… my guardian said that I would need to keep my eyes hidden. I don’t know why, but apparently my type of eyes make big money on the Black Market.” He looked up at him. “I would rather hide my eyes, than lose them forever.”

Shadow nodded, understanding his fear. “I understand. As beautiful as they are, they’re also a bit abnormal. I wouldn’t be surprised if people thought that there were some magical qualities to them.” He sighed and fixed him with a serious stare. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell a soul.”

The blue hedgehog smiled and closed the case again. “Thank you, Shadow. That means a lot.”

He sighed and pushed the case back underneath his pillow. As he did so, Shadow watched him curiously. “So here’s another question.”

“Hmm?”

“... Who’s Ryn?”

Sonic froze upon that question. How in the world did Shadow know about Ryn?!

“W-What?”

“Ryn. You were screaming her name… sounded like she was pretty important to you.”

Sonic lowered his ears and hung his head with a sigh. “She’s… an old childhood friend. I’ve known her since I… we… were born.”

“You two were born on the same day?”

“Yes… we practically grew up together.”

“You care about her.”

Sonic nodded. “The thought of something happening to her… scares me to death.”

“And in your nightmare, something did?”

Sonic nodded again. He sighed and fell back in his bed. “It’s dumb. I know she’s safe. I don’t have any reason to be worried.”

“Or do you?”

The way he said it sent shivers down Sonic’s spine. ‘Don’t give in to his bait, Sonic. He’s just messing with you.’

Ryn was a big girl and a responsible Siren. She could take care of herself… so why wouldn’t his stomach stop twisting?

“Sonic?” Shadow said in confusion as the blue hedgehog got up and pulled his shoes and gloves on. “Where are you going?”

“On a run.” Sonic said simply, walking to the door.

“In the middle of the night?”

“I’ll be fine. I just have to clear my head of some stuff.” And with that said, without a second thought, he was gone.

Sonic ran from the house, ignoring Shadow’s calls. The wind of the night breezed through his quills, the sand from the beachy shore flew behind him. He had no destination in mind. He just kept running.

He was being paranoid, freaking out over nothing. Of course Ryn was fine. Why wouldn’t she be?

But then again, it was mating season tomorrow. What if something was wrong with the water? What if there would be no babies this year? It wouldn’t be the first time something of the sorts had happened.

At last, Sonic came to a stop. He had not meant to come here, but his legs sometimes had minds of their own.

He was at the cave, with his moonpool hiding inside. There was absolutely no reason to be here. But for some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to turn away.

Sonic sighed. “Just a quick checkup on her.” He decided, and entered the cave.

However, unbeknownst to him, the Siren in disguise had been followed.

Out of the darkness, Shadow stepped forward. He watched in curiosity as his blue rival went inside the cave.

It was strange to him.

Why had Sonic decided to come here?

What had he meant when he said he was gonna do a quick checkup?

Was there something else that the blue hedgehog was hiding?

Driven by curiosity, and the tiniest bit of concern, Shadow stepped into the cave and followed the footsteps of his rival.

Chapter Text

Oblivious to the second party following him, Sonic continued to walk to his moonpool. He stopped once he reached the shore, staring down into the glowing water as the moon shined upon it through the hole in the ceiling, wondering if it was worth going through the transformation again, twice in the same day. The soft ripples of the tide beckoned to him, pleading for him to return to his true home, but it was his paranoia, the fear of something happening to his best friend and future mate, that got him to make up his mind.

Shadow watched from the darkness in confusion as Sonic pulled off his gloves, socks, and shoes, setting them beside the water. Then, his eyes widened as with no hesitation at all, Sonic dove headfirst into the water.

What was he doing?! Sonic doesn’t know how to swim! Did he fall?!

Coming to an irrational thought that maybe he had just slipped, Shadow stepped out from his hiding place and quickly went up to the water. As he looked down into the pool, he could see bubbles rising from Sonic’s throat in a scream he could not hear as he squirmed and thrashed around, hugging himself as his eyes squeezed shut in what was obviously pain.

‘He’s hurt himself!’ The ebony hedgehog thought, his eyes wide and ears up in concern as he kicked his shoes off, knowing that the metal in them would only make him sink. “Hold on, Sonic! I’m coming!” And without a second thought, he dove into the water after the blue hedgehog.

The rush from the dive obscured his vision, making it impossible to see anything. When he was fully submerged, he batted the bubbles away from his vision. He turned to Sonic to grab him and get him out, hoping that he wasn’t too late, but he suddenly stopped. His eyes widened and his mouth hung slightly open in shock at what floated in front of him.

Sonic’s back was faced to him as he panted, catching his breath from the agonizing transformation. His barbed tail paddled loosely in the water, keeping him afloat from the bottom of the pool. He sighed and turned around to leave through the tunnel, but he abruptly stopped when he saw Shadow in front of him, staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

‘No.’ He thought. This couldn’t be. He wasn’t supposed to be discovered! Especially not by HIM!

“Sonic?” Shadow’s voice bubbled through the water. The sound didn’t carry well, barely reaching the Siren’s ears.

Why did he follow him?

Why didn’t he just stay in the bedroom?!

Suddenly, instincts overtook him and Sonic hissed and screamed, glaring dangerously at the hedgehog in front of him. He started to charge at him, swimming at a pace that was almost as fast as he was on land.

Seeing the oncoming attack, Shadow tried to back away from his rival, but even without his metal shoes on, the water made him slower. Suddenly, Sonic headbutted him right in the chest, knocking the air out of the ebony hedgehog and sending him back a few feet. Shadow shook his head clear and tried to locate where Sonic had gone, but he had disappeared! It was just a moonpool! He couldn’t hide that well!

Suddenly, Sonic knocked into him from behind, headbutting his side as he disorientated his rival. He grabbed onto his shoulders and pressed him down the water, screaming in rage as he tried to drown him. Bubbles flew from Shadow’s mouth as he struggled against Sonic’s grip. Panic was filling his chest as he started to lose air, fast. He kicked and he squirmed, hitting Sonic with his fists until he was able to get his foot between them and he roughly kicked him away.

With Sonic’s claws off of him Shadow began to swim as fast as he could back up to the surface. His head broke through the water and he took a deep gaspful breath. He scrambled to the side of the pool, but just as he was about to pull himself out, he was yanked back down. He kicked his legs out at Sonic as the Siren began to pull him back down. His eyes widened in fear as his back touched the floor of the moonpool. Sonic was really trying to kill him!

The Siren hissed and snarled at the struggling hedgehog, keeping his claws pressed into his shoulders as he held him down. Shadow again batted at his face with his fists, squirming to get out. Sonic was starting to get fed up with the struggle, wanting this to end quicker so he could go find Ryn, and the moment he left it open, the Siren dug his teeth into Shadow’s shoulder.

The ebony hedgehog screamed out in pain, unheard by the water blocking the sound. Blood rose from the bite, the wound stinging from the saltwater. He fixed Sonic with hard glare, filled with fear but also determination. He reached his hand on the floor, feeling around for something to defend himself with. At last, his hand fell on a large rock, big and heavy enough to do some damage.

‘Sorry Sonic.’ He thought as he grabbed onto the rock and swung as hard as he could against Sonic’s head.

Sonic hissed and squealed from the pain, releasing Shadow and swimming back. As he turned, his tail whipped across Shadow’s face, the stinger leaving a nice red scratch on his cheek. Paying no mind to it, Shadow scrambled back up to the surface, partly pleased to see his rival retreating through the tunnel. He pulled himself onto the shore of the moonpool, coughing and gasping for breath. He dragged himself away from the water as far as he could, afraid that Sonic would come back for a round three.

When he was sure he was safe enough, Shadow laid on the floor of the cave, hugging himself and trembling from the frightening experience, ignoring the blood that was spilling from his shoulder.

He had never been scared of Sonic before. But after what just happened… he’ll never be able to look at his rival the same way ever again.

Chapter Text

‘Stupid! Stupid, stupid idiot!’

Sonic swam as fast as he could away from the moonpool, keeping a hand to his head where Shadow had hit him with the rock. Fortunately it didn’t break the skin, but it would definitely bruise, but that wasn’t his main concern right now.

Shadow knew what he was now… and he had attacked him.

‘Dammit, I thought I was better than this!’ He screamed at himself, still tasting the blood from Shadow’s shoulder. ‘I guess I really can’t control my instincts after all.’

He sighed and pulled his hand away from his head. Things were really going to be tense between him and Shadow in the morning. He could only hope that his rival was smart enough not to talk about it to their friends.

He shook his head and kept swimming. He couldn’t think about that now. His mind was focused on finding Ryn and making sure she was ok.

He swam to an open clearing of the coast, stopping just by the edge and smiling in fondness at the sight before him.

The Sirens of his colony, both human and Mobian. They were swimming together, the females checking out the males, picking and choosing, preparing for the mating rituals tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Everyone was here, including the Alpha. But as he looked over the merhogs, Sonic frowned in deep concern. Ryn was not among them. This did not help his paranoia. Not one bit. He kept trying to convince himself that he had no reason to be worried, but all together, his mind started thinking about what Shadow had said.

Or do you?

He shook his head of the thought, and hoping to get some answers, he swam towards his colony, making his way to the Alpha, the mermaid Tia.

‘Tia!’ He called with his merhog voice, signing to her in their language.

The mermaid turned to look at him, her black hair flowing beautiful around her pale face as her bright blue eyes stared at him. ‘Sonic. I was wondering when you would show up.’

‘Tia, where is Ryn?’

‘Don’t worry yourself about that now, you must join the males and prepare yourself for the season tomorrow.’

‘My seed belongs to Ryn and Ryn alone.’ Sonic frowned at her.

Tia hissed, rolling her eyes in exasperation. ‘You are a male. You do not get to make that decision.’

‘No, but Ryn does. So I’ll ask again. Where is she?’

Tia huffed and looked away. ‘... We don’t know.’

‘What?’ Sonic was shocked. ‘What do you mean you don’t know?’

‘My guess is that she’s dead. Dead like her sister.’

‘Don’t you dare say that about Donna!’ Sonic hissed in anger, unpleased with the topic of Ryn’s sister coming up again. ‘Why would Ryn be dead?’

‘She was caught in a net.’

‘What?!’

‘We saw her get taken. Few hours ago.’

‘And you didn’t think about helping her?!’

Tia hissed at him. ‘And what were we supposed to do Sonic?!’

‘I don’t know! Cut the net?!’

‘With what?!’

Sonic was silent. Tia was right. Even though their spears were sharp, they were not sharp enough to cut through rope. And if their spears weren’t sharp enough, then nothing in the sea was sharp enough.

Tia sighed and placed a hand on his back. ‘Look Sonic. I know you care about Ryn. She was your best friend, and she always talked about mating with you when you two became of age. But she’s gone now. You can’t change that. And it’s time to grow up and do your part to the colony. You must stay and mate with the female that chooses you. No more going to the surface. Your place is here and here alone.’

‘... No Tia.’ Sonic frowned. ‘You’re wrong.’ He swam away from the Alpha’s comforting grip. ‘Ryn is not gone. I know she’s not. She wouldn’t let herself just be captured like that. Not unless it was a trap. Someone has her, and I’m going to find her.’

He turned to swim away, but just as he was going to, the mermaid grabbed him by his arm.

‘Sonic I forbid you from going up to the surface world! Mating season is upon us and you need to be here for it!’

‘And I will be once I find Ryn.’ Sonic hissed, yanking himself away from her. ‘I’m going to the surface world and I’m going to find her!’

‘Sonic, if you leave this colony now you will not be welcomed back.’

Sonic’s ears pricked up in surprise. ‘... You’re going to banish me? For going to rescue one of our own?’

‘She is dead, Sonic. There is nothing you can do for her.’

‘You don’t know that!’ Sonic screeched. His outburst caused everyone in the colony to stop, turning to look at him and the Alpha in curiosity.

Tia huffed in exasperation and towered over the smaller Siren. ‘It’s not just that, Sonic. One of these days, your little expeditions between worlds are going to lead a surface dweller to our colony, and then we’ll all be in danger.’

‘That’s ridiculous! I’ve always been careful to make sure I’m not followed. Nobody even knows that I’m a Siren.’

‘Oh yeah?’ Tia challenged. ‘Then where did you get that bruise from?’

Sonic frowned and placed a hand back over his head, hiding the wound Shadow had given him.

‘You smell of blood too.’ Tia sniffed. ‘A surface dweller’s blood. Someone from the surface world saw you and you attacked and killed in defense, correct?’

‘No, I didn’t kill him. I have more control over my instincts than you ever will, Tia.’ Sonic hissed. ‘Do you know how hard it was to convince everyone that the fisherman you killed was a victim of a shark attack?’

‘He should’ve thought of that before he caught me in his net.’

‘He was just doing his job, you heartless monster!’

Tia screamed and slapped across Sonic’s face, her claws leaving a few scratches on his cheek. Sonic backed away in shock, holding his hand up to his burning cheek.

‘You watch what you say to me, boy!’ She snarled. ‘Like it or not I am still your Alpha and you will treat me with respect.’

Sonic huffed and looked around at the other Sirens. They watched him and Tia, discreetly signing to each other in gossip and nosiness. They were talking about him, he knew they were.

He turned back to Tia and fixed her with a hard glare. ‘Fine. Banish me if you want to. But I’m going to save Ryn. And once I do, you’ll be begging me to come back.’

The two Sirens hissed at each other, baring their razor sharp fangs in frustration. With a final hiss, Sonic turned and swam away, going back to his moonpool to start his search for his best friend, not even caring if Shadow would still be there or not.

Chapter Text

Luckily for the both of them, Shadow was not at the moonpool.

As Sonic laid on the ground panting in pain from his fourth transformation of the day, he looked around for any sign of his ebony rival, but there was nothing but a splash of blood on the ground, most likely from the shoulder the blue had taken a chunk out of.

Sighing, he got up and pulled his clothes back on before running back to the beach house. His search for Ryn would have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, he had some more important business to attend to.

He quietly stepped into the house, making sure not to wake Tails and Knuckles who were sleeping on the sofa bed. He tiptoed past them and went up to the door that led to the bedroom that he shared with Shadow. He could hear some shuffling going on inside, letting him know that he was awake. Not wanting to startle him, Sonic gently knocked on the door.

“Shadow? It’s me, Sonic… I’m coming in.” When he got no answer he slowly opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind him.

Shadow was on his bed, his back facing the blue hedgehog. It was obvious that he was faking to be asleep, but with his tense body and his ears swiveling to hear Sonic behind him, and not to mention his not so subtle panic breathing, Sonic could see right through the facade.

His ears lowered as he looked at his ebony rival, who was obviously scared to death of him, and with good reason. “Shadow?” He called gently. “... I know you’re not asleep.”

Shadow didn’t move, but Sonic knew he heard him. He looked at his shoulder, his ears lowering more in guilt when he saw the bandages wrapped around it, covered in a little blood. He ran his tongue over his teeth, grateful that he couldn’t taste the blood of his rival anymore. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to attack you. It was instinctual… I was scared… nobody has seen me in that form before… nobody was SUPPOSED to see me in that form. I acted on instinct, and I am so sorry.”

Sonic watched as Shadow slowly calmed down. It was obvious that he was still scared, but he wasn’t as tense as before. “... What are you?”

Sonic sighed. He knew this question was coming. “I’m… a Siren.”

Shadow’s ears pricked up in surprise and he slowly turned to look at him with wide, frightened eyes, a bandaid covering the scratch from Sonic’s tail on his cheek. Sonic cringed. It was unnatural to see his rival so scared, especially of him.

“A Siren? You mean…”

“A cold-hearted killer, as Amy so kindly put it.” Sonic sighed and looked away in shame. “She was right… I am a cold-hearted killer.”

Shadow was silent. He didn’t know what to say to that. He wanted to tell him that he was wrong. That he wasn’t a killer… but it was hard to get the words out after what happened at the moonpool. Sonic sighed and went over to his own bed. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to attack you. I was just so scared.”

“You were scared?” Shadow scoffed as he turned to look at him again. “I was the one who was scared. You nearly killed me, Faker!”

Sonic cringed from the nickname but he didn’t blame him. Shadow had every right to be mad… to call him a Faker.

“I am so sorry, Shadow.” He sniffed, turning away as his ears pressed against his head, tears flowing down his muzzle. “I know there is no excuse for what I’ve done, and you have every right to hate me more than you ever have. But please…” He looked back up, staring at Shadow with tearfilled eyes, shining in terror. “Please, I beg of you… don’t tell GUN.”

Shadow’s eyes widened in shock. He slowly sat up in his bed, his eyes never leaving the face of the sobbing hedgehog in front of him. “Is… Is that what you were afraid of?”

Sonic sniffed and nodded, wiping away his tears. “Yes… I always thought that if you were the one to discover my secret, you would hand me over to GUN, to let them torture me and do all kinds of experiments. And then my colony, my family, would be in danger, because with the evidence of me, it would mean that there were more of them, either in the water or hiding on land. No Siren would be safe… we would go extinct.”

Shadow frowned. “Is that what you really thought?”

Sonic nodded, hanging his head. “I mean, think about it Shadow… what reason have you given me not to? You’ve always hated me… always pushed me away… always thought that you were better.”

When Shadow said nothing, he sighed and placed his face in his hands, trying to calm himself down. Then, all of a sudden, he jumped a little when he felt a new weight sit down beside him. He looked up, surprised to see Shadow sitting beside him, his eyes hard but caring. He placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.

“Sonic… I would never.” He said surely. “I’ve been through that kind of pain before, and I would never wish it upon anyone. Not even my worst enemy and especially not on you.”

Sonic’s eyes widened. He was so shocked and touched by Shadow’s words. Fresh tears came to his eyes, unable to control his emotions. “Shadow…”

Suddenly, the ebony hedgehog wrapped his arms around the blue one, pulling him into a tight hug. Sonic was frozen, unsure of what to do. This was so unexpected, but he didn’t want it to stop. Softly sobbing, the blue hedgehog hugged back, crying into his good shoulder. Shadow refused to let go, gently rocking them back and forth as he softly petted Sonic’s ears.

“Don’t worry, Sonic. Your secret’s safe with me. I promise.”

Chapter Text

“So let me get this straight.” Shadow frowned as he gently cleaned the scratches on Sonic’s face, said hedgehog holding an ice pack over the bruise on his head. “Ryn, your best friend from your childhood, is also a Siren and she’s missing, caught by a net but you don’t know by who. And you want to go and find her, but by doing so Tia, your Alpha, has banished you from the colony, and to make matters worse, it’s also mating season this week and Ryn was supposed to mate with you?”

“Yep, that about sums it up.” Sonic sighed.

“Sweet mother of Chaos.”

“I know.” Sonic sighed and placed the ice pack down, his head starting to feel better. “I don’t know what to do, Shadow. Ryn’s my best friend and my future mate. I can’t bear the thought of something happening to her. I wanna save her, but I don’t even know where to start.”

Shadow frowned in thought as he placed a bandaid over the scratches Tia had given him. “Hmm, well whenever I’m trying to find something I usually start at the last place I’ve seen it, but I’m not sure if that’ll work so well for your friend.”

“... Or maybe it just might.” Sonic frowned. “There could be clues that might tell us who took her, or at least which way they went.”

“Where was the last place you saw her?”

“Not too far from the moonpool earlier today. Yes, I’ll admit now, those contacts and clothes were mine. I had to leave them behind when I saw you snooping around.”

Shadow frowned. “How did you…?”

“I have a friend in town that knows what I am, but that’s not important right now. Ryn is.”

“Alright, so if that’s the last place you saw her then maybe we should start there.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, ‘we’?” Sonic frowned at the ebony hedgehog in confusion. “Did you say ‘we’?”

Shadow blushed and quickly looked away, unsure how to answer as he started stuttering his words. “I… well… we… you…” He growled and looked back at him, his blush still on his cheeks. “Look, if you don’t want my help that’s fine.”

“No, no Shadow, it’s ok.” Sonic quickly assured. “I just wasn’t expecting you to offer so easily.”

Shadow huffed and picked up the ice pack, setting it and the first aid kit on the floor, out of the way so they wouldn’t trip on them. He’ll return them to their proper place in the morning. They’ve been out of their room enough for one night. “So then it's decided. In the morning, we’ll go to the place you last saw your friend. I’ll rent some scuba gear and follow you.”

Sonic’s ears pinned to his head. “I don’t think that’s a really good idea, Shadow. Don't get me wrong, I want your help… but after today… I don't trust myself around you in my merhog form. What if I attack you again?"

"You said you attacked because you were scared, right?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at him. "What reason would have to attack me next time?"

"It's instinctual, Shadow. I can't control it. There's a reason Sirens are known to be killers of the sea."

“You are not a killer.” Shadow quickly said. “You never have been. You are a protector… it's in your blood. You attacked me to protect your family. That does not make you a killer.”

Sonic kept his ears down and looked away sadly. “... But what if you’re wrong?”

“When have I ever been wrong, Sonic?”

Sonic kept his head turned, refusing to answer his ebony… rival? Friend? He wasn’t sure at this point. Shadow sighed, rubbing his hand on his neck, being mindful of the bite on his shoulder.

“Look, if you really don’t want me to follow you then I won’t. I’ll stick by the shore until he come back.”

“Promise?” Sonic challenged him, knowing it was the only way to be sure that he wouldn’t follow. Shadow never breaks a promise.

Shadow sighed. He knew Sonic was gonna play that trick on him. “I promise.”

Sonic nodded. “Ok. When the others are busy, that’s when we’ll sneak away. What’s tomorrow’s first activity?”

“Uh, breakfast in town and then we were gonna go on that tour of the Marine Life Search and Rescue.”

Sonic nodded. He knew that there were some sea lions there that would make a perfect distraction. “Perfect. When we get to the sea lions that’s when we’ll sneak away.”

“Why the sea lions specifically?”

“You’ll see. Not every creature is oblivious to a Siren’s presence.”

…

The next morning, when Sonic and Shadow came out of their room, they were immediately bombarded with questions, all concerning the new injuries that they had. Both of them had scratches on their cheeks, Sonic’s from Tia’s claws, and Shadow’s from Sonic’s tail. And while Sonic’s only other injury was the bruise on his head, Shadow was definitely worse with the bite on his shoulder.

“My goodness, what happened to you two?” Vanilla gasped upon seeing them. “Don’t tell me you did this to each other!”

Both Sonic and Shadow started talking at once, trying to deny the fact.

“Well if you didn’t do it to each other, then what happened?” Knuckles frowned.

The two hedgehogs looked at each other. They knew they would be asked this question, so that had forged up a story together.

“We couldn’t sleep last night, so we raced.” Sonic started.

“We were a little too close to the shoreline and Sonic slipped.” Shadow added.

“I hit my head on a rock and went unconscious. By the time Shadow had realized, the tide was already pulling me out to sea.”

“He didn’t get very far without me noticing, but he was out far enough to get the attention of a reef shark. I dove in to save him but by the time I got to him, the shark was already on us. It bit my shoulder but I was able to kick it back and swim us to safety without any other major damage.”

“And the scratches?” Rouge questioned, tilting her head to the side. She didn’t believe a word they were saying.

“The scratches came from the rocks on the shore.” Shadow quickly said. “I had lost my footing and tripped, bringing us both down.”

“It’s not like you to trip, hun.”

Shadow shrugged. “Doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”

“Are you sure you two are alright?” Amy asked them in concern. “If you need time to recover I’m sure you can stay here. Right Vanilla?”

“Of course.” Vanilla nodded.

“Thanks, but we’re fine. Right Faker?”

“Yep. Now come on, I’m starving and ready to check out the town. Let’s go get some breakfast and explore!”

Chapter Text

After they had their breakfast at The Anchor, the town's most popular bar and restaurant, the group walked through the town, admiring the rustic buildings and the beautiful mythology of the mermaids. Sonic and Shadow shared a look as a couple of small children ran by them, their faces adorned with mermaid makeup.

Oh if only they knew.

As they walked by Helen’s Antiquities, said old woman was out on her walkway, sweeping away any dust, dirt, or trash that could be dragged into her shop. As she did so, she called out her usual greeting to lure in customers.

“Come inside, have a look. The only real mermaid artifacts in town. Come inside, have a look. Maybe buy something while you’re at it.”

“Oh, mama can we go see?!” Cream asked her mother excitedly.

“Maybe later dear, we don’t want to be late for our tour.” Vanilla said gently.

As they walked by, Helen lifted her head up and her eyes came into contact with Sonic’s. She studied the young hedgehog, noticing the injuries on his head and cheek. Shadow stopped when he noticed that Sonic wasn’t following them. He looked back, noticing the old woman looking at them. She looked at Shadow, noticing the injuries on him as well. She looked between the two, her eyes widening a bit. Feeling uncomfortable, Shadow gently took Sonic by the shoulder and guided him away. Once they were far enough, Helen nodded and went back to work.

Shadow sighed and whispered to Sonic. “What was that all about?”

“That’s Helen, the friend I told you about last night.”

“You mean the one that knows what you are?”

“Yes, and the only reason why she knows is because she’s 40% mermaid herself. She could tell I was a Siren just by looking at me.”

“Sweet Chaos… those artifacts aren’t real are they?”

“No, just imitations. She’s not stupid.”

Shadow nodded. “Good.”

With that said, the group continued walking in silence. It lasted for about another block before Rouge came up to Shadow.

“So hun,” She started. “Why don’t you tell me what actually went down between you and Big Blue.”

“What are you talking about?” Shadow frowned at her. “Nothing went down between us.”

“Come on, Shadow. Reef shark. Tripping? You don’t expect me to really believe that do you?”

“Believe it, Rouge, that’s what happened.”

“That bite seems to be a little small for a reef shark.”

“Not all reef sharks are big.”

“I still don’t believe you tripped, Shadow.” Rouge frowned. “You don’t trip.”

“People trip, Rouge, let it go.” Shadow hissed.

“Not until you tell me the truth.”

Shadow growled and glared at her. “Listen here, bat. What happens between me and Sonic is none of your business. It’s between Sonic and I and nobody else, so butt out!”

Rouge’s eyes widened and she slightly backed away from him. “Alright, fine. Geez, so touchy.”

“Hmmph.” Shadow grumbled and turned away, continuing to walk in silence.

Sonic had heard the conversation between the bat and hedgehog. He slightly sighed in relief as Shadow kept his word and didn’t tell Rouge what actually happened.

Now he knew for sure that his secret was safe.

…

Not long after, the group finally made it to the Marine Life Search And Rescue. A class of kids and their teacher were already there, a field trip on a Sunday, which was not uncommon for the center. Sonic smiled when he saw an African American woman, smiling down at the children and wearing the uniform all staff of the building were supposed to wear.

“Maddie Bishop.” He whispered to Shadow. “One of the greatest biologists of Marine Life, she and her boyfriend, Ben Pownall.”

“How do you know all these people?” Shadow asked in suspicion.

“When I came onto land I knew nothing.” Sonic started. “I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t talk. And I was completely naked. I was lucky that Helen found me when she did. She took me in and taught me everything I needed to know about the surface world. She taught me to walk, speak, and how to dress. It was a slow process so I ended up staying in town for a few years. While I was here, I was able to explore and learn my way around town and learn the names and faces of the locals. Ben and Maddie were part of that.”

“Incredible.” Shadow whispered in awe.

“The tour is about to begin. We need to stick to the back if we’re gonna be able to sneak away.”

“Right.” Shadow nodded as they all started following Maddie inside.

“This is not a zoo.” Maddie started. “This is a research and rescue center for the many marine mammals that inhabit our region. We’re able to offer veterinary care, perform surgical procedures, and administer medication.”

“What are all the tvs for?” One of the students asked.

“Those are so we can keep an eye on our animals and what they’re doing, both in and out of the water.” Cream raised her hand and Maddie smiled at her. “Yes?”

“When you were a kid, did you know you wanted to work here?”

“That’s a very good question, Cream.” Maddie said, chuckling a bit when the little rabbit gasped over the fact she knew her name. But seriously, who could forget any of the friends of the Hero of Mobius? “Actually, it was a couple of years ago. I saw a video of a baby dolphin that had washed ashore. Instead of helping it, the people on the beach passed it around taking their picture with it. Even after it died, they kept taking selfies.”

“How awful!” Amy gasped.

Shadow huffed and crossed his arms. “Some people have no sense of morals.”

Maddie nodded and continued. “That video made me sad, and I wanted to do something, so I came here to volunteer. Now it’s my job.”

“And a wonderful job you do, miss.” Sonic complimented.

“Thank you.” Then the woman smirked. “You might be wondering what our animals like to eat.”

She led the group to another room filled with tools meant for feeding the animals. She placed a few pieces of fish into a blender and pressed the button until it was nothing but a puree mess. She took it off the base and presented it.

“Our fish shake.” She said. “A delicious blend of herring and cod, with various nutrients mixed in as well.”

Sonic stared at the shake that was in Maddie’s hand, the smell of it making his mouth water. Shadow turned to Sonic and smirked, noticing a little bit of drool. “Dude, you’re drooling.”

“I am?” Sonic quickly wiped it away. “Sorry.”

“Don’t tell me you actually eat that stuff.”

“Maybe not in that form, but fresh fish is a delicacy to Sirens.”

“Would anyone like a taste?” Maddie joked.

Everybody said no, but Shadow smirked and nudged Sonic forward. “Sonic will try it.”

“What, Shadow!” Sonic’s eyes widened as everybody stared at him.

“I was joking, but if you really want to.” Maddie shrugged, picking up a spoon and scooping some of the mixture.

“No no, that’s ok.” Sonic shook his head.

“Come on Sonic, I dare you to try it.” Knuckles smirked.

“Come on Sonic, don’t be a wuss.” Tails teased.

“I am not a wuss.” Sonic frowned and turned back to Maddie. “I’ll try your mixture.”

Maddie shrugged and presented the spoonful to the blue hedgehog. He opened his mouth and accepted it, chewing the blended fish and swallowing. The little ones expressed their disgust vocally while Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails laughed.

Sonic shrugged. “It’s not that bad. Kinda like pureed sushi.”

Maddie and the boys laughed as the kids gagged again. She put the spoon and mixture down before directing the group again. “Ok guys, we’re gonna head outside.”

The group followed Maddie outside, but Shadow once again stopped when he realized Sonic wasn’t following. “Sonic?” He turned back to the blue hedgehog and facepalmed when he saw him drinking the mixture straight from the blender. “Seriously?”

Sonic swallowed the last of it and wiped his mouth before releasing a small burp. “Excuse me. Something so tasty should not go to waste.”

“You know Maddie’s gonna notice that it's gone, right?”

“Relax, she’ll just think that one of the other workers gave it to the sea lions. Speaking of which, we’re about to meet them. Stay to the back so we can sneak away once the chaos starts.”

“Chaos?”

“You’ll see.”

Shaking his head with a sigh, Shadow followed Sonic so they could catch up with the group. They arrived just in time to see two sea lions jump onto the dock. Sonic stayed back a bit, waiting for the right moment as Maddie started talking again.

“Once our animals have received the medical care they need, they come out here to recover and prepare for their journey back to the wild.” She smiled at the sea lions. “This is Sitka and Hazy.”

At the introduction of their names, the two sea lions waved their flippers on command. The group laughed at the sight.

“They’re adorable, but not for long.” Sonic whispered to Shadow. “Watch this. Get ready to sneak away.” With that, Sonic took a deep breath and stepped a little closer to the group, in sight and smell of the sea lions.

Upon the approach, Sitka and Hazy started growling aggressively, causing the group to back up in fear.

“What’s going on?” The teacher asked unsurely.

“I’m not sure.” Maddie frowned, staring at her sea lions in concern.

Shadow watched with wide eyes as the sea lions continued to roar, their eyes trained on the blue hedgehog. Sonic paled a bit in fear and backed away, back to Shadow, but the marine mammals continued to roar and growl. “Come on, now’s our chance. Let’s go.”

Sonic grabbed Shadow’s hand and they quickly snuck away while the rest of the group ran inside while the other workers tried to figure out what had upset Sitka and Hazy.

“What was that all about?!” Shadow demanded once they were far enough away.

“Sea lions hate Sirens!”

Chapter Text

Not long after they had run from the others, Sonic and Shadow stood by the moonpool. Both were having flashbacks from the attack last night, Sonic feeling guilty, and Shadow feeling fearful.

Sonic looked over to the ebony hedgehog and lowered his ears, noticing how tense he was. His eyes went to his shoulder, unable to look away from the injury he had given him. He hesitantly brought his hand and gingerly touched the bite. Shadow hissed in pain, but surprisingly didn’t move away.

“Does it still hurt?” Sonic asked him.

“Only when it's touched.” Shadow answered.

Sonic whimpered and took his hand away. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Like you said, it was instinctual.”

“I wish I was a female. Then I could sing to you.”

Shadow frowned and gave Sonic a questioning look. “What does singing have to do with being a female?”

Sonic sighed and turned away. “Males don’t have the right vocal cords to sing a Siren’s Song. That’s why the females are in charge. They have the power that we don’t. Females can use their voices. To lure. To hunt. To kill. To calm... To heal…”

Shadow lowered his ears a bit, understanding what Sonic was trying to say now. He put a hand on Sonic's shoulder, causing him to look up at him. “Hey. It’s ok. I don’t need you to heal me. It’ll heal on its own. I’ll be fine.”

Sonic sighed and nodded before looking back at the water. “Well, I guess I should get down there and look around before the others get too suspicious.”

“You sure you don’t want me to come with you?”

“You promised, Shadow, and I know you’re not one to break a promise. I need you to stay on land. I don’t want to attack you again.”

“... Ok… then I’ll stay.”

Sonic nodded and stepped up to the edge of the pool, kicking off his shoes, socks and gloves. His contacts were already out and put in their case. He turned to Shadow with those bright beautiful blue eyes.

“I’ll be back.” He said before diving headfirst into the water.

Shadow stepped up the edge and looked down into the water. His ears pinned to his head in worry as he saw his rival writhing in pain, bubbles coming from his mouth in a silent scream. He watched in silent horror and Sonic’s fur and skin peeled away to make room for scales. The dorsal fins looked especially painful as they broke through skin on Sonic’s back. The last he could properly see of the transformation was Sonic’s legs fusing together to make one large fish tail, the one he remembered seeing disappear through the tunnel just yesterday.

He watched as Sonic stayed for a bit, panting from the transformation before he finally took off, swimming quickly through the tunnel and out to the open sea.

Shadow sighed and sat down on the sandy bank, keeping Sonic’s clothes close to him.

“Please… be careful.”

…

Sonic swam silently through the water, hoping not to alert Tia that he was back in their territory. He swam up to the meeting point he had last seen Ryn. Nothing looked out of the ordinary but he was sure there had to be something.

He swam around the area, trying to find something, anything, that would lead him to Ryn. When he came out with nothing, he sat on one of the rocks, calling out in sorrow. An echo called back, but it wasn’t his voice.

Twitching his ears, Sonic looked back in the direction he had heard the call. He called out, and was once again answered by another. He smiled, recognizing the voice.

‘Ryn.’

He called again, wanting to hear her voice to pinpoint exactly where she was, but instead of being answered by a call back, he was instead answered by something much more sinister.

Ryn’s cries of pain.

‘RYN!’

Sonic hissed and began swimming as fast as he could in the direction of his friend’s cries. As he got closer, the cries became more clear. He frowned, twitching his ear as he realized that they were looped. Now more curious than worried, Sonic continued to follow the sound. At last, he came up to the source.

A strangle metal device in the shape of a cylinder can floated in the water. A red light was flashing on its side, and Ryn’s cries of pain were coming from it.

Sonic frowned and went up to the device, taking it in his hands and inspecting it. He was drawn to the red light, and as he looked closer, he realized that there was a button. He pressed it and the cries immediately stopped. He hissed in aggravation, holding the device close to him. He turned to swim back to the moonpool, taking the device with him so he and Shadow could figure it out. But, as soon as he turned, he stopped.

A net was coming right for him!

Sonic screeched and tried to swim out of the way, but the device he was holding made him slower. He did not want to let it go, sure that it would lead him to Ryn, but he had no choice.

He dropped the device and swam as fast as he could away from the net, barely missing it. The device floated to the bottom, landing on its side on a rock. The rock hit the button, turning the soundwaves of Ryn’s cries back on.

Sonic hissed and dodged the net again, trying to reach the cylinder again. He NEEDED that device. Whoever had made it was hurting Ryn. He could not let them get away with this.

Sonic grabbed the device and swam back, just in time to miss the net again. If he didn’t know any better, he would think that the fisherman that the net belonged to was trying to get him.

He swam back again and disappeared behind a big rock. He pressed the button and turned the sound off, hiding it and himself, though he wasn’t sure why he needed to hide.

...

Up above on the surface, the one controlling the net was none other but Dr. Eggman.

He cackled notoriously as he watched Sonic desperately swim back and forth, trying to avoid his net.

“You can’t dodge forever, Sonic!” He laughed, his eyes trained on the blue Siren. “I’ll soon have you in my grasp, and then I’ll show the whole world what you really are!”

“It was a wonderful idea to use the female’s calls of distress to lure him to us, doctor.” Orbot complimented.

“Yes, yes, I know! Don’t distract me!”

“Um, just one question Dr. Eggman,” Cubot started. “When you get Sonic, what are you gonna do with the female?”

“I’ll think about it when we get there!” Eggman turned to snap at him. “Now be silent! I need concentration!”

But, the moment he turned back around, he cried out in anger, realizing that Sonic was no longer on the screen. “Great! Just great! You distracted me and now the little pest has gotten away, and with the lure too!”

“Um, what’s so great about it, sir?” Cubot asked.

“Oh nevermind. Once he sees that I was the one who created the device he’ll come straight to me. And when he does, we’ll be waiting!”

With a final laugh, Eggman pulled his net back out of the water and sped back to shore to prepare his lab for Sonic’s arrival.

Chapter Text

Shadow was pacing on the shore by the moonpool, keeping Sonic’s belongings close to him. It has been an hour since Sonic had gone into the water and he was starting to get worried. It was odd to him. He never thought he’d actually be worried for his rival, but yet here he was, pleading for the blue hedgehog to come back safe and sound.

“Come on, Faker. Where are you?”

Suddenly, bubbles started to rise from the moonpool. He quickly rushed to the water, ready to pull Sonic out despite being told to stay back. But to his surprise, instead of the Siren, a strange metal device popped out of the water. Confused, Shadow reached over and grabbed it, pulling it out of the water. As soon as he set it down, Sonic soon popped out after it. His sudden appearance startled the ebony hedgehog, making him step back and fall onto his rear. He looked up, watching as the blue merhog pulled himself out of the water and laid on the shore, panting in exhaustion.

“Sonic?” Shadow said as he stood up and hesitantly stepped toward his rival. But the moment he got too close, Sonic hissed at him, baring his fangs in a simple warning to keep the other hedgehog at bay. A few moments after that, Sonic screamed and gasped for breath. Shadow watched in horror as Sonic went through the transformation to turn back into a hedgehog. He felt like he was gonna be sick as he watched the tail disintegrate into legs. As soon as the transformation was over, Shadow rushed over to Sonic and gently held him in his lap, letting him catch his breath. “Are you ok? That looked really painful.”

“It is.” Sonic weakly nodded. “You’d think I’d be used to it by now. But that kind of pain… I’d rather be tortured by Eggman again.”

“Then why do you do it? Why do you let yourself go through that?”

“Because I have responsibilities, Shadow. Both on land and in the water. Mobias depends on me to protect them. And now that I’m of age I have the responsibility of impregnating the females that choose me during mating season. Besides, I can’t stay out of the water forever, Shads, otherwise I start scaling.”

“Scaling?”

“That’s when my skin dries up too much and it starts to look like scales.”

“It must be really hard to be a Siren.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.” With that said, Sonic sighed and sat up, accepting his belongings back and putting them on. “Speaking of torture, whoever made THAT thing is gonna wish that they never took Ryn.”

“What is it?” Shadow asked as they both approached the device. “And how do you know it's tied to Ryn?”

“It’s a lure.” Sonic frowned. “Whoever made it was trying to attract more Sirens to them. There’s a button on the side that creates Ryn’s distress call.”

To demonstrate, Sonic pressed the button on the device. Immediately, the red light started flashing, and Ryn’s cries of pain echoed in the cave. Sonic hissed in furry, while Shadow’s eyes widened in shock.

“She sounds like she’s in pain.” Shadow observed.

Sonic hissed and turned it off. “Whoever has her is torturing her and recording her voice to lure other Sirens to her aide. The others don’t know about the surface world as much as I do. They wouldn’t understand that this was a trap if they had found this thing before I did.”

“Did anything happen when you found it?”

“... A net… a net almost caught me. I was barely able to get away.”

“So it was a trap then.” Shadow frowned. “Sonic… I know you want to find your friend but… please… don’t go back down there… I don’t want you getting caught.”

Sonic was touched. He smiled and chuckled, lightly punching the ebony hedgehog on his good shoulder. “Don’t worry. Since because I’m banished from the colony and I know for sure that this is the only clue we’ll get to Ryn, there’s no reason for me to go back down there.”

Shadow sighed in relief. “Good, at least until we know for sure it's safe.”

“Right.” Sonic nodded. “In the meantime, let’s take this back to the house and see if we can figure out who made it.”

“Right.” Shadow nodded, watching as the blue hedgehog picked it up. But then, as soon as he did, some saltwater poured onto Sonic’s arm, making him drop the device and cry out in pain, his skin sizzling as if the water was acid. Shadow stared in bewilderment as Sonic’s skin peeled back to reveal some scales before quickly drying up and being covered by skin again.

“Ngh.” Sonic whimpered, holding onto his arm in pain. Shadow picked up the device and held it away from Sonic.

“Why don’t I hold onto this thing, so that doesn’t happen again.” He suggested.

Sonic nodded, rubbing his arm a bit. “Yeah. That seems like a good idea.”

With a final nod, the two hedgehogs left the cave, carrying the device back to the house with them, and hoping that their friends weren’t suspicious about their disappearance yet.

…

Unfortunately, once the two hedgehogs walked into the house, they were immediately met by their worried friends.

“Where have you two been?” Vanilla demanded in a worried tone.

“We were just at the rescue center and then suddenly you two weren’t there.” Amy frowned.

“We got bored.” Shadow shrugged.

“And the sea lions didn’t exactly make us feel welcomed.” Sonic added. “We didn’t want to bother you so we split off and explored on our own.”

“What’s that?” Tails frowned in curiosity as he pointed at the device in Shadow’s hands.

The two hedgehogs shared a brief look but they both knew they couldn’t hide this.

“We’re not sure what it is.” Sonic said.

“We think it might be a lure.” Shadow added. “It washed up on the shore and it was making this weird sound.” And then, without thinking, before Sonic could stop him, Shadow pressed the button.

As soon as Ryn’s cries were heard, their friends’ eyes widened in shock. Sonic hissed and quickly turned the sound off, growling at the thing, which caused his friends to give him a questioning look.

“I don’t like the sound.” He quickly said. “It sounds as if the poor creature is being tortured.”

“What kind of marine creature could make a sound like that?” Knuckles frowned.

“None that I know of, that’s for sure.” Tails said. “... Maybe it was whatever Shadow saw yesterday.”

“Whatever it is we need to find out where this thing came from so we can rescue it.” Amy suggested. “The poor thing must be traumatized.”

“The red light seems like it could be a tracker.” Tails said. “Perhaps I could tap into its system and see where the signal is coming from.”

“Good idea, hun.” Rouge nodded. “While you do that, I’m gonna have a small talk with Sonic and Shadow.”

And with that, before the boys could get a single word in, Tails took the device while Rouge took the boys outside to talk to them.

Oh, things were starting to get messy.

Chapter Text

Ignoring Sonic and Shadow’s protest to let them go, Rouge continued to pull on them until they were downstairs and underneath the house. The waves crashing on the beach disguised their voices, and underneath the house nobody from inside could see them. So far, it was the most private place she could think of to talk to them.

“Alright now. Spill.” She demanded, letting them go and crossing her arms.

“Spill what? What do you want from us?” Shadow growled at her. “What right do you have to just grab us like that and expect us to tell you anything?”

“Come on boys, this is the third time you two have separated from the group together… ok, the first time yesterday you didn’t leave together but still, you both left.” Rouge frowned. “I want to know what you two are up to, and I want the truth.”

“We aren’t up to anything, Rouge.” Sonic hissed at her. “And really, it's none of your business about what we do.”

“I just want to make sure you two aren’t causing any trouble. We’re supposed to be on vacation and I don’t want you two fighting each other all the time.”

“We’re not doing anything, bat, so butt out. I’ve already told you once.” Shadow snapped.

“Not until you tell me the truth! Stop lying to me and just spill the tea already!”

Sonic and Shadow growled at her. It was obvious that the nosy bat wasn’t gonna leave them alone, but what could they say to get her off their backs without revealing Sonic’s secret? Then suddenly, Shadow smirked. He glanced at Sonic and nodded. Immediately, the Siren in disguise didn’t trust that look.

“Alright then, fine.” The ebony hedgehog said. “You want the truth? I’ll tell you the truth.”

“What? Shadow!” Sonic gasped.

“Finally.” Rouge rolled her eyes. “Just tell me what’s going on between you two.”

“Alright, but you have to promise not to tell anyone. Not even our friends.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. What is it?”

“Shadow don’t!” Sonic begged him, tears threatening to fill his eyes. “You promised you wouldn’t say anything.”

“She’s not gonna leave us alone until we tell her, Faker.” Shadow said to him, looking at him with a frown. Sonic was going to protest again, but then, something in those eyes told Sonic to trust him. He sucked in a breath and nodded. Shadow nodded back and looked back at Rouge. “Alright Rouge. The truth is… we’re… dating.”

Both Sonic and Rouge’s eyes widened in shock. Did the ebony hedgehog seriously just say that?! It was a good cover up, but Sonic wasn’t sure what to think about it. Suddenly it felt as if it would’ve been better if Shadow had told her that he was a Siren.

Suddenly, Rouge frowned.

“I don’t believe you.” She accused. “You’re lying.”

“Why would I lie about that?” Shadow growled.

“If you’re really dating in secret then prove it. I wanna see you kiss him. Right now.”

Shadow huffed and turned to Sonic, approaching him closely. Sonic’s eyes were wide and his face was blushing a cherry tomato red as Shadow’s hands gingerly grabbed his cheeks. His heart beated a mile a minute as Shadow leaned his face closer to Sonic’s, lowering his eyes seductively as he slightly opened his mouth.

“Just go with it.” The black and red hedgehog whispered quietly before he suddenly pressed their lips together in a passionate kiss.

Sonic’s whole face blushed so brightly that even his ears turned red. He went rigid for a moment, unsure of how to respond, unsure of how to react. But then, after a few seconds of soft tan lips on his peach ones, Sonic’s body relaxed. His eyes lowered and he finally began to kiss back, wrapping his arms over his shoulders, being mindful of the bite.

Rouge watched on with wide eyes as the two hedgehogs made out in front of her. After a few seconds of passionate kissing, the two hedgehogs pulled away with a wet sound, staring into each other's eyes in what the bat could only guess was love. She cleared her throat, gaining their attention again. “Well then, I guess that clears it. Sorry I didn’t believe you.”

“It’s alright, Rouge. I wouldn’t have believed it myself if someone told me that I’d end up falling for this blue Faker.” Shadow assured her, pulling himself away from the blue hedgehog. “But now you see why we had to be so secretive.”

“Especially with Amy around.” Sonic added.

Rouge nodded. “I understand but you really shouldn’t keep this from the others, boys. Especially from Amy. It's not fair to her to make her think that Sonic is still available.”

“We’ll tell them, Rouge.” Sonic nodded. “But we want to do it on our own time. When we’re ready. When we know that this will work between us.”

Rouge nodded with a sigh. “Alright, I guess that makes sense. I’m sorry I forced it out of you two but you know, you were acting kinda suspicious.”

“We know, and we understand. It's fine.” Shadow nodded, directing her back to the stairs. “You go ahead inside. Sonic and I will catch up.”

Rouge smirked. “Don’t get too handsy down here you two.” She giggled then finally went upstairs and inside. As soon as they heard the door close, the two hedgehogs finally relaxed.

“Phew.” Sonic sighed as he approached Shadow. “That was a brilliant cover story, Shads.”

“Yes, and hopefully not one we’ll have to do again.” Shadow frowned, looking back at Sonic. “After all, you have a mate waiting for you, and it wouldn’t look too good if she ever saw us kissing like that.”

“R-Right.” Sonic nodded, ignoring the feeling of hurt in his chest. He really did enjoy that kiss. “You know, speaking of kissing… you’re a really good kisser, Shadow.”

“... So are you, Sonic. Ryn is a very lucky girl.”

“Heh, yeah.” Sonic blushed, smiling sheepishly. He suddenly looked down, his ears lowering to his head as his worry for Ryn came up again.

Shadow looked at him with a sad expression before gently grabbing him by the shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go inside. I’m sure Tails has that thing figured out by now.”

Sonic nodded and without another word followed him inside.

Chapter Text

When the two hedgehogs got back inside, they were confused to see everybody surrounding Tails. He was sitting on the couch, click-clacking away on his laptop with the device seated next to it, a cord connecting the device to the laptop.

“What’s going on Tails?” Sonic asked him as they both approached.

“Hacking into this thing’s camera feed.” The fox answered.

A chill ran up the blue hedgehog’s spine as he and Shadow both shared a look. “Camera feed?”

“Mmhm. You see this big glass piece at the top? It’s a camera lens. Whoever built this thing was trying to catch something with that sound, and I’m curious to see what. So I’m hacking into its recordings to see if it caught anything interesting.”

Suddenly, the green loading bar on the screen filled up and a video file popped up.

“Is that it, Tails?” Cream asked.

“It must be. Let’s take a look.”

Tails clicked on the file and immediately a video recorded underwater started to play. In the background, they could hear the cries of the lure looping over and over. Sonic gave Shadow a discreet look of fear. If they didn’t do something, they were going to see Sonic in his merhog form.

“Look, something’s approaching the lure!” Knuckles pointed out.

They all looked at the video, trying to figure out what the creature was. Sonic and Shadow both immediately could tell it was the Siren, but due to the darkness and bad quality of the video, the others luckily couldn’t figure it out.

“What is that thing?” Amy frowned. “It looks like some kind of fish.”

“It’s tail fin is moving up and down.” Rouge added. “A dolphin maybe?”

“No, too bulky to be a dolphin.” Tails frowned as the creature came closer. “Let me see if I can enhance the video quality.”

Sonic and Shadow both shared a look. If Tails fixed the quality it would be game over. Suddenly, Shadow had an idea. Being discreet as possible, Shadow feigned curiosity of the video, putting his hand on the table near the device as he pretended to keep his balance as he leaned closer. Suddenly, he slipped and knocked into the device, making it fall to the floor and shatter on impact, the cord connecting it to the computer ripping out of its side. With the device completely broken and the video feed corrupted, there was nothing on the screen but a blue error window.

“Shadow!” They all scolded him as Sonic went to help him stand up.

“Sorry everybody, I slipped.” Shadow shrugged.

“You klutz! Now we’ll never know what was on that video!” Knuckles growled.

“Is there any way you can save it, Tails?” Amy asked as the fox connected the cord again.

Tails messed around a bit and shook his head. “No. The file is completely corrupted.”

“Are you alright, hun?” Rouge questioned the ebony hedgehog, crossing her arms as she looked at him in concern. “You’re not usually this clumsy.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Shadow waved it off. “Just having an off day.”

“Yeah right.” Knuckles huffed. “I think you better get yourself checked, Shadow. You don’t get off days. I bet you broke that thing on purpose.”

“I did not!”

“You know what fine stands for, right?” Amy frowned. “Frightened, Insecure, Nervous, and Emotional.”

Shadow frowned. “Come on, that’s ridiculous.”

“Lay off him, guys!” Sonic finally snapped. “Everybody has those off days. He didn’t mean to break the lure. It was an accident.”

“That’s right.” Vanilla nodded. “Accidents happen guys. And besides, I thought we were trying to figure out who made the lure. Not what’s on it.”

Tails sighed and looked at the device. “Well, I was hoping that the video could give us a clue on who made it.” As he looked closer at the pieces, his eyes widened and his ears perked up. “However, we may not need the video.”

The twin-tailed fox suddenly grabbed a screwdriver and started taking more pieces apart. He kept working and working on it until he was able to pull a panel off, revealing a very familiar logo engraved on the lure.

“Eggman.” Sonic growled as he looked at the evil doctor’s signature mark. “I should’ve known.”

“What could possibly be in the water that Eggman wants?” Amy frowned.

“And more importantly, what could he possibly be torturing to record such a sound?” Shadow questioned, glancing on Sonic to see his reaction.

The blue hedgehog was shaking, his fists balled up at his sides, his head hanging low. He had been tortured by Eggman before, and the thought of him doing the same to Ryn infuriated him.

“Sonic?” Shadow questioned him cautiously. “You ok?”

Sonic shook his head, his anxiety boiling up inside him. He needed to release it, and there was only one way he knew how he would get relief fast. Sure, it may cause some damage, and his friends would definitely question him, but he wasn’t thinking about that now. Right now, he just needed to scream.

He took one big breath, and before Shadow could stop him, he let it out in one long high pitched note. A Siren’s scream.

The window panes shook from the resonation. Glass shattered around the house, and Sonic’s friends all covered their ears, cringing in pain as they were brought down to their knees.

“Sonic!” Shadow called, trying to get his attention, but the blue hedgehog continued to scream. Shadow managed to stand up and he went up to the screaming hedgehog. He wrapped his arms over his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug, ignoring the screaming in his ear. “Calm down! Calm down!” When he was ignored, he groaned. There was only one way he knew how to shut him up.

He suddenly pulled away, grabbed his face, and kissed Sonic on the lips, silencing his screams.

Sonic stopped abruptly, his eyes widening in shock from a second kiss from his rival, but then he lowered them halfway and kissed back, purring from the attention. After a few seconds, when he was sure Sonic was calm, Shadow pulled away and petted his ears, whispering softly so the others couldn’t hear him. Not that it mattered since their ears were ringing.

“We’ll find her Sonic. I promise.”

“... Thank you Shadow.”

“What the hell was that?!” Knuckles demanded as he and the others stood up again.

“I’ve never heard you scream like that, Sonic.” Tails added. “What was that?”

Sonic blushed and pulled away from Shadow, rubbing his arm a bit. It didn’t seem like they noticed the kiss he and Shadow just shared, more concern about his screaming.

“It… that’s what happens… when my anxiety gets the best of me.” He started. “I call it a Chaos Scream. I don’t use it because of the damage it causes but… I just couldn’t keep it in. I’ve been tortured by Eggman before. And the thought of him doing the same thing to that poor creature on the recording just… got to me.”

Sonic’s friends all looked at each other, understanding where the blue hedgehog was coming from now. They looked back at him with sympathetic expressions.

“It’s ok, Sonic. We understand.” Tails assured him.

“How about instead of screaming your head off and bursting all our eardrums we go to Eggman’s base and rescue this said poor creature.” Knuckles suggested, pounding his fist into his palm to resemble that he’s ready for a fight.

Sonic nodded. “Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.” He looked at Shadow and smirked at him, giving him a wink and a thumbs up. “Come on. Let’s go save that animal!”

Shadow rolled his eyes. All that talk of keeping his species a secret and the blue Siren in disguise hadn’t even thought up of a plan to save Ryn without his friends finding out.

Oh well. Guess it was up to him to think of one now.

Chapter Text

It didn’t take long after for the heroes to start running down the road to Dr. Eggman’s base. It was only Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Rouge. Vanilla, Cream and Cheese had sat out, Cream and Cheese being too young, and Vanilla staying behind to look after them.

Naturally, Sonic and Shadow were at the front, taking the lead. Sonic was boiling with rage. His killer instincts were telling him to rip Eggman to shreds as soon as they found him, for daring to lay a hand on his best friend and future mate. For daring to make her cry out like that. He subconsciously licked his teeth, already imagining the taste of the human’s blood.

It probably tastes like eggs.

“Sonic!” Shadow cried for the umpteenth time. He’s been trying to get the hedgehog’s attention for awhile now.

“Huh, what?” Sonic shook his head, snapping out of his daydream and looking at Shadow. “What?”

“I said we need a plan.” Shadow frowned. “We don’t want our friends to see Ryn, so we gotta figure out a way to rescue her without the others seeing her.”

“Right.” Sonic agreed. “One person knowing about the Sirens is too much already. Don’t get me wrong, I trust you and our friends, but I just can’t have too many people know about my people. It's dangerous for people to know, cause then we have this problem.”

“I understand, which is why we need a plan. I was thinking we should split up, but what are the chances they’ll find her before we do?””

Sonic frowned, thinking for a moment. “We’ll split up. You and I will be together. Sirens have a specific scent. That’s why the sea lions got aggressive. I’ll track her with it and send our friends in the completely wrong direction. We’ll find her and get her out before they realize that they have to turn around.”

Shadow nodded. “Good that.”

“Good that?”

“Maze Runner slang. Don’t you know I’m a bookworm?”

The two hedgehogs laughed, confusing their friends. They were all suspicious about the two. All but Rouge.

“Those two have been getting real chummy lately.” Knuckles frowned.

“They sure have been.” Tails agreed. “I’ve never seen them act this friendly to each other.”

“Rouge, you talked to them, right?” Amy said to the bat. “Did anything seem strange?”

Rouge lied easily. “Nothing that I could pick up on. I’m sure it's nothing, guys.”

They left it at that and continued running. As they ran, however, there was a question burning at the back of Sonic’s mind. One he just had to know the answer to.

“Hey Shadow?”

“Hmm?”

“Back at the house, when I was screaming…” He blushed a little before asking. “Why did you kiss me?”

Shadow seemed to tense up, a dark blush coming to his face, but he kept running and answered. “It was the only thing that came to my mind to shut you up.”

Sonic had a feeling that there was more to it, but before he could ask about it, he was interrupted by Tails.

“We’re here!”

The group stopped abruptly as they came up to the entrance of Eggman’s base. The door was already open, as if he was expecting them.

“I don’t like this, you guys.” Amy said nervously, a little creeped out as they stepped through the doorway and into the intersected hallways.

“Remember, we’re here for one reason and one reason only.” Sonic said, paying no mind to the creep factor. “To find the animal and get it back to safety.”

“So what’s the plan, hun?” Rouge asked.

Sonic frowned and took a few discreet sniffs down each hallway, trying to pick up Ryn’s scent. He purred a little bit in the back of his throat when he finally got it. “We’ll split up. Knuckles and Tails, you go down that hall. Amy and Rouge, take this one. Shadow and I will go down this hall.” He pointed down the hall where Ryn’s scent was coming from. “If one of us finds the creature, don't bother calling out, just get it to safety. We don’t want Eggman finding out we’re here.”

“Right.” The others nodded and started running down their respected hallways.

Sonic and Shadow went up to their hallway. Before they entered, the black hedgehog looked at the blue one. “So she’s down here?”

“Yes. I can smell her. She’s here, and she’s hurt and frightened. We need to find her now.”

“Then let’s not waste any time.”

With that, the two hedgehogs started racing down the hallway, Sonic taking the lead as he followed Ryn’s scent.

‘Just hang on Ryn. I’m coming.’

“When we find her how are we gonna get her out?” Shadow asked. “Can she change like you?”

“All Sirens have the ability to change, but as you know, it is painful. I’m not sure Ryn will be able to handle it. Plus, it takes time to change. Time that we don’t have.”

“Then what’s the plan?”

“We’ll figure that out when we find her.” Sonic stopped and sniffed again. “This way!”

They kept running down the halls, tracking Ryn’s scent. At last, they came up to a large door. Sonic approached it and sniffed it dartingly. “She’s here. Behind this door. Her scent is very strong.”

“Then we gotta open this door.” Shadow frowned, backing up a bit. “Move over. I’m gonna blast this thing down with a Chaos Spear.”

Sonic nodded and moved over to the side. However, before Shadow could summon up a proper Chaos Spear, the door opened, sliding up silently. The two hedgehogs looked at each other, both having a bad feeling.

“I’m getting the bad vibes of this being a trap.” Shadow said.

“Me too,” Sonic nodded. “But we have to keep going. Ryn needs us, and I won’t leave without her.”

Shadow nodded in understanding. “Then let’s go.”

Without a second thought, they entered the room. It was big, and dark. They couldn’t see a thing, but Ryn’s scent was stronger than ever.

“Stay together, Shadow. If this is a trap, we shouldn’t separate.”

“Right.”

They kept searching in the dark, Sonic sniffing the air. They were getting closer.

Suddenly, Sonic’s hand bumped against a glass wall. His eyes widened and he tapped on the glass. Almost immediately, a pair of bright blue eyes came up to the glass and looked at him, attached to a female purple hedgehog’s face that had a muzzle wrapped tightly around her head. A pair of webbed hands pressed against the glass, longing to touch Sonic’s.

The blue hedgehog felt like crying.

“Ryn.”

“Sonic! Look out!”

But the warning came too late as suddenly, the Siren in disguise was suddenly encased with glass, trapped without an escape.

Chapter Text

“Sonic!” Shadow gasped as he went up to the glass and started pounding on it, trying to break it to get Sonic out. Sonic pounded on the glass as well, but to no avail. Neither one of them could get a single crack in. Shadow growled and stepped back. “Stand back, Sonic. I’m gonna break it with a Chaos Spear.” However, once again, before he could summon one, he was suddenly grabbed from behind and held tightly. “Hey! What the hell?!”

“HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!”

Suddenly, the lights turned on in the dark room, revealing everything. Sonic and Ryn were both trapped in separate tanks, one filled with saltwater, the other still empty. Not only did Ryn have a muzzle on her face, most likely to prevent her from singing, but she also had thin cables installed into her back. They looked electric, most likely used to shock her so she would cry out in distress. It must’ve been how Eggman was able to record her voice. Around the room, in perfect view of the tanks, Sonic’s friends were held by Eggbots. They stared in bewilderment of the purple Siren in the tank, unable to believe that it was actually real. Suddenly, Eggman came flying into the room on his Egg Carrier, Orbot and Cubot by his sides.

“Well, well, well. Look at what I’ve caught.” He sneered. “How are you Sonic?”

“What are you doing, Egghead?” Sonic growled. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Oh nothing, just thought I’d show the world that merhogs are real.”

“So it is a merhog!” Tails gasped. “I thought they were just myths!”

“Oh no, Tails, they are very real.” Eggman smirked. “In fact, this is no ordinary merhog. She’s a Siren. The killers of the sea.”

“That’s why she has a muzzle on her!” Amy gasped. “But I don’t understand. Why do you care if the world knows they exist or not?”

“Yeah, Eggman. What’s your plan?” Knuckles challenged.

“Oh, you will see in a moment. Right now, it's time to go live.”

“You leave her alone, Eggman!” Sonic growled. “These creatures deserve to be protected just like any other. They didn’t do anything to you!”

“Oh, but they are dangerous. The world isn’t safe with them around. You of all people should know that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not dumb, Sonic. I know that’s no shark bite on Shadow’s shoulder. And I know why you’re so determined to protect these creatures.”

Sonic gulped, feeling very nervous. There’s no way Eggman knew that he was a Siren, right?

However, before anything else could be said, Eggman snapped his fingers, causing Orbot to lift up a camera and start recording. Around the world, live feed of Eggman and the hostages showed up on the screens. Citizens looked at each other in wonder and concern, curious to know what was going on. Now knowing that this was live, Sonic started to get really nervous.

“Eggman, please! Don’t do this!”

“Greetings people of Mobius! I, Dr. Eggman Robotnik, have brought you some very interesting entertainment.” The evil genius laughed, ignoring Sonic’s pleads. “As you can see, I have your precious heroes in my hostile grasp, however, I also have something else very interesting. Behold, I give you, the most dangerous creature of the sea. Not the Great White Shark, but rather, the myth, the legend. The killer of the sea, the Siren!”

The citizens gasped as Orbot directed the camera to zoom in on the captured creature. Sonic watched in horror as his best friend was put on display on the screen.

“Observe, the voice of a Siren.” Eggman cackled as he pressed a button.

Immediately, the floor of Ryn’s tank lifted her up, forcing her out of the water. More Eggbots came in with boat loops, wrapping the loops tightly around Ryn’s neck and body, keeping her in place even as she struggled. Cubot came up and took the muzzle off. Immediately, Ryn started screaming. She was about to sing, but Eggman pressed another button, causing the cables on her back to spark and shock her. Ryn’s voice called out in distress, frightening the citizens who watched. Sonic couldn’t take it.

“Ivo, please! Leave her alone!” The blue hedgehog begged, using Eggman’s real name as tears filled his eyes.

The sound of Sonic’s begging made the human look at him, a sinister smirk on his face. “My, my Sonic. Such sympathy for a creature that could so easily rip you to shreds.”

“Yeah, well a shark could do the same thing.” Sonic growled. “What makes Sirens so different?”

“How about the fact that they see land walkers as their prey? They attack on sight. And… they walk among us. You should know that little fact yourself, rodent, or should I say, fish?”

Eggman snapped his fingers again and immediately, another Eggbot came in with a large hose, a valve at the top. It put the opening of the hose into Sonic’s tank and turned the valve, sending saltwater gushing into the tank. Sonic watched in horror as the water started to fill the tank. It only took a few seconds before it reached his ankles, sending a searing hot pain throughout his body that caused him to cry out in pain.

“Sonic!” The blue hedgehog’s friends cried out as they saw him fall to the ground, withering in pain as his skin ripped apart.

“AHAHAHA! Yes! Yes! Witness citizens! The transformation of your precious hero, into a monster!”

Tears came to Sonic’s eyes as the water continued to rise. Orbot zoomed the camera onto him closely. There was nothing else he could do. He could already feel his tail trying to grow out of his shoes. Sonic stared mournfully at the camera, tears running down his face.

“I’m sorry.” He whimpered before the water completely engulfed him.

He withered and screamed, ripping his attire off as he went through the transformation, even pulling his contacts off as they stung his eyes. Sonic’s friends and the citizens of Mobius watched in horror as Sonic went under his gruesome transformation, from hedgehog, to merhog.

When it was finally over, Sonic just sat there, floating in the water, recovering from the pain. His blue eyes stared into the lens. He knew when he was beat. His secret was out, and there was nothing he could do about it.

… He never should’ve came on this vacation.

Chapter Text

A boiling rage filled Shadow’s chest as he was forced to watch his rival’s true identity be exposed for all to see. He growled darkly as Eggman laughed in victory, convinced that with the secret of Sonic being a Siren now known, the people of Mobius would turn on him. But the black and red hedgehog smirked. The doctor was not as smart as he thought he was. He had a plan. He just hoped their friends didn’t blow it for them.

“Wow, that’s some pretty impressive editing skills.” He said out loud.

This caused everybody in the room to look at him. Their friends looked at him with gaping mouths of shock, wondering what he was doing. Even the two Sirens trapped in their separate tanks were in curious awe to know what the ebony land dweller was planning. Eggman, however, growled angrily.

“What are you talking about?” The human demanded. “This is streaming live!”

“I know, that’s what makes it so impressive.” Shadow nodded. “I didn’t think anyone could edit so flawlessly and perform such special effects on a livestream.”

“That’s because it’s not possible!”

“Really? So you’re telling me that a person of your status, with an IQ of over 300, couldn’t figure out a way to do so?”

“No! I mean, I could, but that’s not happening here! This is real!” The doctor pointed an accusing finger at him. “You’re just trying to trick the viewers into thinking that this is editing. You were in on the rodent's little secret the whole time and now you’re trying to protect it!”

“Ha! That’s a laugh.” Shadow rolled his eyes. “I couldn’t care less about what the viewers think of this faker. But if they’re gonna turn on him, it better be for something real. Not for some editing magic that you come up with.”

Sonic watched on as Shadow tried desperately to convince the people of Mobius that what they were seeing wasn’t real. He could help but feel flattered. Even after he had tried to kill him, Shadow was still determined to keep Sonic’s species safe. He slowly swam up to the glass wall of his tank, his blue eyes trained on his frenemy. His tail waved up and down slowly, almost… seductively. A small smile was on his face as he placed his hands against the glass, watching in flattered amusement and not even noticing the little sparks of golden light flickering in his neck and chest.

Ryn, however, did notice the glowing and hissed sharply behind her muzzle. The glowing of a male Siren’s chest was to lure a female into mating. Ryn had been waiting for years for her and Sonic to become of age for the mating season, and now, instead of trying to lure her, her best friend was trying to lure this… surface dweller, who wasn’t even of the opposite sex!

She’ll show that surface dweller! She’ll show him real good that he can’t take Sonic from her, once she gets this stupid muzzle off!

“I mean, seriously, who are the people of Mobius gonna believe?” Shadow rolled his eyes. “You, who have tried multiple times to destroy him? Or his friends who have known him for… just about his entire life?”

At this, Dr. Eggman smirked. “Well Shadow, here’s the thing. I hear you trying oh so desperately to defend the blue hedgehog, but his other so-called friends still haven’t said a word yet.” The doctor then turned his attention to the others. “They’re just as shocked to see that their so-called friend and hero has been keeping such a secret from them.”

“Oh really?” Shadow scoffed and looked at the others. “Guys. Tell me. What do you see on the screen that everyone in Mobius is seeing?”

The group looked to each other, unsure what to say. Finally, Tails spoke up. “Two separate tanks with a merhog in it?”

“Exactly.” Shadow nodded. “Now, when you look at said tanks in real life, what do you see?”

Again, the group was silent. They were unsure if they should answer with the truth or not. They had thought that Sonic was their friend, and as their friend, he could trust them with such a secret.

But then, they thought about how he must be feeling about the exposure, and if this was how he thought he’d feel about telling them.

Terrified.

After all, Amy had made it perfectly clear yesterday that Sirens were not welcomed.

Sonic watched them in worry. Were they actually gonna let Eggman get away with this? Were his friends that angry with him for not trusting them?

He let out a little merhog squeak, gaining their attention. They looked down at him, their eyes coming in contact with the sight of their friend’s true blue eyes. Big and filled with fear and sadness as he gazed up at them from within the salty water that changed him.

At last, they had their answer as they looked back up at the mad doctor.

“We see nothing.” They said boldly.

“What?!” Eggman shrieked. “You can’t be serious! He lied to you! He could’ve killed you at any moment, and you still see him as a friend and want to protect him?!”

“Of course we do!” Amy growled. “Mostly because he didn’t lie about anything!”

“You’re the liar here, Egghead!” Knuckles snapped. “There’s nothing in those tanks! Not even the purple Siren on your screen is real!”

“I don’t believe this!”

“Oh, and doctor.” Shadow smirked, forming a small Chaos Spear of energy in his hand. “The whole thing of Sonic having the ability to kill us… ANYBODY could do that.”

With that said, he sent the Chaos Spear into the robot holding onto him before throwing another Chaos Spear at Eggman’s recording equipment, destroying the livestream.

“NO!” Eggman shouted in dismay and started pressing an emergency button. “Calling all robots! Get that hedgehog!”

Shadow turned and threw another Chaos Spear at the robots holding onto his friends, freeing them as robot reinforcement came into the room. The others wasted no time to started fighting the robots as Shadow ran to the tanks to get the Siren’s free.

“Back up, Sonic!” He ordered the blue Siren.

Sonic nodded and swam back, covering his face as Shadow threw a Chaos Spear at the glass, shattering it to bits. The water from inside came pouring out like a flood, bringing Sonic with it. Shadow was quick to catch him in his arms and take him over to the side, out of the line of fire as the water on the floor began to short circuit some of the robots that couldn’t fly. “Stay here! I’ll get Ryn!”

Sonic couldn’t talk in this form, so he just nodded and prepared himself to undergo the transformation into a hedgehog. Shadow nodded and quickly ran up to Ryn’s tank.

“Back up!” He told her, but the purple Siren didn’t understand. She glared at the black and red hedgehog, her blue eyes seemingly staring into his soul. “Back up, Ryn!” But again, she didn’t listen. Shadow groaned. He didn’t have time for this. “Don’t blame me if you get hurt! Chaos Spear!”

The glass of Ryn’s tank shattered immediately. Ryn was too close to the glass for Shadow to prepare himself to catch her and she knocked into him harshly. The sheer force of the hit was enough to knock him over, losing his grip on the merhog, but managing to pull the muzzle off of her as she went flowing with the rest of the water. When she stopped, she pressed herself up against the floor and glared angrily at her rescuer. Shadow had also gotten up and he was just approaching her to make sure she was alright and take her over to Sonic.

Ryn saw her chance… and began singing.

Chapter Text

The moment Ryn’s beautiful voice hit his ears, Shadow stopped. The way the music left her lips so flawlessly. The way it kept increasing and decreasing in volume. How it sounded like multiple voices at once, and it came directly from one of the most beautiful creatures he has ever seen… it was intoxicating.

Ryn kept singing, her tail waving seductively in the air over her as she playfully bent her finger towards her, luring the black and red hedgehog towards her. Shadow was too out of it, too entranced, to realize that this was a trap. He stepped towards the purple merhog slowly, each step bringing him more and more closer to the ground towards her until he was on his hands and knees, crawling to the singing Siren, his red eyes never leaving her blue ones.

At last, he was close enough for Ryn to pounce on him, but before she could do so, she was interrupted.

“SHADOW! NO!”

Sonic, who had just finished transforming, practically bull rushed into Shadow, knocking him away from the singing Siren. Ryn was so shocked by her friend’s actions that she stopped singing, watching in awe as he tried to get her prey to snap out of it.

“Shadow! Shadow, snap out of it!” Sonic cried to the ebony hedgehog, shaking his shoulders violently. “You have to resist her song! Please!”

With the combination of Ryn no longer singing, and Sonic shaking and screaming at him, Shadow shook his head out of his daze, bringing himself down to earth.

“Ugh…” He groaned, putting a hand up against his pounding forehead. “What happened?”

“Ryn.” Sonic hissed, turning back to the female. He hissed at her, signing in their merhog language. “ How dare you?! He is my friend! You cannot sing to him! ”

Ryn hissed and signed back. “ Oh please, Sonic. I was just following my instincts. ”

“ Not. With. Him! ”

“The robots have all been taken care of and Eggman is retreating.” Knuckles said as he and the others ran up to Shadow, helping him up to his feet. The red echidna looked over to Sonic and Ryn, seeing them signing to each other frantically. “What’s going on there?”

Shadow looked over to the two Sirens and frowned. It looked like they were arguing but he couldn’t understand why. “I don’t know. I’m unfamiliar with such forgein sign language.”

“ We will continue this discussion in the water. ” Sonic hissed and ended it there before turning to look at his friends. “Is everybody alright?”

“We’re all fine, hun.” Rouge assured him. “What about you and your friend?”

“I’m fine, but if we don’t get Ryn back in the water soon she’ll…”

Suddenly, Ryn gasped and started screaming. Sonic’s eyes widened in horror and turned back to her, his quills standing up as he saw her starting to transform. “Ryn! No! No! No! No!” He ran up to her and held her close, trying to get her to calm down. “Guys! She needs water! I don’t know if she’s strong enough to transform!”

Everybody looked at Ryn in horror as her scales started peeling back to make way for skin and fur and her tail started to disintegrate. Each second in the transformation looked like pure agony and her screaming wasn’t helping the matter.

Shadow looked around, desperately trying to find anything that could stop Ryn’s transformation before it could possibly kill her. Suddenly, his gaze fell onto the valve that Eggman had used to fill Sonic’s tank. “Guys! The valve!”

In silent agreement, the group of landwalkers ran to the valve. Shadow grabbed the hose and quickly brought it over to the two Sirens, pointing it directly at them. “Now!” At his command, the others turned the heavy valve, watching as saltwater came spraying out of the hose, drenching Sonic and Ryn. The two of them cried out in pain though Ryn’s was shorter as her transformation into a hedgehog stopped, allowing her to stay in her merhog form. Sonic, however, continued to scream as his body was forced to go under another transformation, even after he just came out of one. When he was back in his merhog form he panted, leaning against Ryn tiredly. He was exhausted from how much he had transformed today.

“ How many times have you transformed today? ” Ryn asked him in worry, noticing his exhaustion. Sonic was too tired to sign properly, so he held up his hand, showing her he transformed five times today.

“He’s exhausted.” Shadow frowned, cautiously approaching the two of them and kneeling down, gingerly petting Sonic’s quills back. “He’s transformed too much today.” He looked up at their friends. “We need to get them to the water before they start drying up and transforming again.”

“Yeah we may have a problem with that.” Tails replied as he looked outside.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s a crowd outside. I think they’re here to see if the Sirens are real.”

“Dammit.” Shadow hissed.

Sonic whimpered and grabbed Shadow’s arm, being careful not to puncture his skin with his razor sharp claws. “ Help us… please. ” He signed to him desperately.

Shadow couldn’t understand what he was trying to say, but he was sure he knew what it was. He gently took Sonic’s hand and held them, staring directly into his blue eyes. “Don’t worry. We’re gonna get you and Ryn outta here. We just gotta figure out how.”

“The back way.” Amy suddenly said. “We can take them out the back way.”

“Taking them out that way may avoid them being seen from the front, but we still gotta sneak by to get them to the water.” Rouge frowned, looking at Sonic. “It would be easier if Sonic was in his hedgehog form, then he could use his speed to sneak by with the other merhog in his arms, but I don't think Big Blue can handle another transformation.”

“Let alone two more.” Shadow agreed. “I won’t let him go through that pain anymore today. He needs to rest.”

“At least now we know why you two were being so friendly towards each other.” Knuckles frowned.

“Now’s not the time, echidna.” Shadow growled. “We’re running out of time.”

“If only I had brought my plane we could put them in it and we could fly over the crowd and to the beach without them noticing us.” Tails said.

Suddenly, Shadow’s eyes widened, a spark of determination suddenly shining in them. “Tails, that’s it!”

“What’s it?” The yellow fox asked in confusion.

“You and the others can’t run as fast as me and Sonic, but that doesn’t mean you and Rouge can’t stay outta sight.” The ebony exclaimed. “You and Rouge can carry Sonic and fly over the crowd to stay outta sight, and I’ll carry Ryn and run right past them.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Rouge nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, but I don't think Sonic’s too thrilled about it.” Knuckles said, pointing to the blue merhog who was anxiously pinching his thumb, index and middle fingers together in the common ASL of “NO”, knowing that it's a sign they'll most likely understand.

Shadow frowned at him. “Why not? What’s wrong?”

“ I’m not gonna let you carry Ryn! She tried to hurt you! ” Sonic signed, pointing at Ryn so that his frenemy could get the vague idea of what he was saying.

“Do you not want me to carry her?” Shadow guessed, then sighed as Sonic nodded. “But I have to, Sonic. Do you really trust her to be carried by Rouge and Tails?”

“ I am right here! ” Ryn signed. Despite being unable to understand Shadow, judging by Sonic, she knew they were talking about her.

“ Shut up! You’re not off the hook yet! ” Sonic hissed at her.

Ryn hissed back and smacked him across the face, shocking his friends. Sonic growled and lunged at her, the two of them fighting with tooth and claw.

“Hey! Hey! HEY!” Shadow shouted, forcefully pulling them off each other. “Break it up, you two! This is no time for fighting! And besides, you’re friends! You should be settling whatever it is going on between you two civilly!”

Sonic huffed and signed to Ryn. “ He’s right. We’ll settle this in the water. ”

“ Agreed. ” Ryn nodded.

Satisfied that the two weren’t fighting anymore, Shadow noticed that their skin was drying up again. He grabbed the hose and sprayed them, rewetting their scales to stay in merhog form. “This water isn’t gonna last forever, and I can hear the crowd getting anxious. If we’re gonna do this we gotta move now. Tails, Rouge, grab Sonic and let’s go.”

“Got it.” The two fliers nodded and carefully picked up Sonic in their arms, flying in the air as they kept a good grip on the heavy merhog.

“ Don’t you dare hurt him. ” Sonic signed to Ryn as Shadow picked her up. “ He’s just trying to help. ”

“ Land dwellers are trouble. ”

“ Not these ones. ”

“Alright, we’re ready.” Shadow nodded. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Knuckles looked out the back of the building. Behind him, Amy had her hammer out, ready to use it if she needed too. Behind her, Rouge and Tails were hovering, holding onto Sonic. Tails had him by his armpits, while Rouge had him by his tail, remembering to be extra careful and wary of the barbed stinger on his tail. Shadow was with them, using the most of his strength to hold Ryn in a bridal style. To be honest, Ryn didn't mind it as much. She kinda liked being carried this way. If only it was Sonic instead of this surface walker.

"Ok, the coast is clear." Knuckles assured them. "Let's go."

"We'll go around and distract the crowd." Amy told the carriers. "You guys just get them to the water."

"Got it." The others nodded.

With that, Knuckles and Amy went around to approach the crowd from behind and distract them. Once they were sure the crowd wasn't paying attention, the carriers ran/flew as fast as they could, carrying the Sirens with them. With Shadow's speed, he was the first one at the beach, just a few miles from the beach house and the moonpool. Luckily, nobody was at the beach to see them.

" Such speed ." Ryn signed. " Impressive ."

Shadow frowned at her signing, unable to decipher what she was saying. The sign language she was using was foreign to him, not like the normal ASL he was taught. "I'm sorry. I don't understand." Ryn tilted her head, clearly indicating that she didn't understand him either. Shadow sighed and placed the purple Siren in the water. "Guess you don't understand me either. Rouge and Tails should be here soon with Sonic. They're not as fast as me, but they're still pretty fast." Ryn just laid in the water, frowning at him and splashing her tail in the water to keep herself wet. "Not much of a talker, huh?"

Ryn smirked and opened her mouth, beginning to sing again, but this time, she had a different intention. This land dweller had gotten her home safe and sound, and quite quick too. He had done his best to keep her wet so that she didn't experience that pain of drying up again. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

Once again, Shadow was entranced by her beautiful voice. It took over him quickly, just like it had before. When she sang, he couldn't focus on anything else but her voice. Ryn smiled and waved her hand, beckoning him to come closer. Unable to resist, Shadow got on his hands and knees and crawled over to her. Once he was close enough, the purple merhog wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a deep kiss, her razor sharp fangs lightly grazing his lips. Shadow's fur stood on end, the action completely unexpected. Though, as unexpected as it was, he couldn't bring himself to pull away. He closed his eyes and kissed back, not caring if the others came and saw this.

One would be lucky to be kissed by a real live merhog.

After a few seconds, Ryn pulled away and smiled. Such a great kisser too, this land dweller. Maybe Sonic was right about the surface world.

At that moment, Rouge and Tails finally showed up with Sonic.

"We're here!" Tails called, shaking Shadow out of his stupor.

"Right, put him in the water with Ryn." He ordered them. The fox and bat nodded and gently placed their friend in the water with the female. Sonic sighed in relief. It felt good to be back in the water again. Shadow knelt down to the two Sirens and looked at them seriously. "Are you two going to be alright?"

" We'll be fine ." Sonic signed with a nod. " We have to go now. I'll be back soon. Goodbye ."

With that, both Sonic and Ryn turned tail into the salty depths of the ocean, swimming as fast as they could away from the shore of the beach and away from Sonic's friends. Shadow sighed and stood up, watching the waves crash against the ocean surface, disguising the two Sirens.

"Man, what a day." Tails sighed, shaking his head. "Sonic sure has a lot of explaining to do tomorrow."

"That's if he even comes back tomorrow." Shadow frowned.

"What do you mean? You don't think this experience is actually gonna scare him back to the ocean, do you?"

"No, of course not. He's not that kind of hedgehog... or merhog... do so. What I mean is that he has a responsibility with his colony this week."

"What do you mean, hun?" Rouge asked him in curiosity.

Shadow smirked and turned to look at them. "Why do you think he was so worried about the female?"

It took them a second to understand what he meant and they gasped. "Shadow, surely you're not implying that... they..."

"I am... unfortunately, the week we've chosen to vacation is the same week where Sirens are preparing to mate."

"Mating season." Tails shook his head. "No wonder why he was acting so strange about this trip."

Shadow nodded. "Indeed... we should get back to the beach house. We'll need to explain to Cream and Vanilla what they just saw if they happened to have been watching the news lately."

"We'll have to explain Blue's disappearance to begin with." Rouge placed her hands on her hips, staring the ebony down. "Tails, why don't you go ahead and start heading home. I'm gonna have a chat with Shadow here for a moment."

"Oh... ok then." Tails shrugged and started flying back to the beach house.

Shadow sighed. "What is it you want to talk about now? Whenever you want to talk, it's usually not about something good."

"Oh, it's nothing. I just want to know why you were so close to that female Siren before we got here."

Shadow blushed but quickly turned away so she couldn't see it. "It's none of your business."

"Shadow... did she kiss you?"

"What? No! Of course not. Why would she kiss me?"

"I don't know. Maybe to show her gratitude for saving her life?" Rouge smirked.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Whatever, keep thinking that Rouge, but I will not confirm that she did such a thing. Besides, she has Sonic... and he's a much better kisser than me."

"Ooh, and I bet you know that from experience." Rouge smirked again, then frowned. "Hey hun?"

"What?"

"When you kissed Sonic under the house earlier, in front of me, did you do that because you're actually dating... or was it a cover up?"

"... It was a cover up..."

The bat didn't miss those silent hesitations. She nodded, understanding that the black and red hedgehog may be starting to question himself and his actions. She sighed, deciding not to dwell on it any further. "Come on. Let's head back to the house. We've got some explaining to do."

Chapter Text

In the dark depths of the sea, without a care in the world, Sonic and Ryn swam around to their heart's contempt. They laughed and played and sang to each other, happy to be free once more. They swam in spirals and loops, trying to impress one another, a basic instinct for mating season.

Ryn smiled and signed to Sonic. “ You know, maybe your land friends aren’t so bad after all. ”

“ I told you. ” Sonic signed back with a cocky grin.

“ You sure they can keep us a secret? ”

“ Shadow tried really hard to convince the people of Mobius that what they were seeing was not real, and the others went along with it. I’m sure we can trust them… ” Sonic lowered his ears in guilt. “ If only I had trusted them before, this never would’ve happened. ”

“ Sonic, you cannot blame yourself. You didn’t know. ”

“ My distrust of the friends I’ve known for most my life got you captured. ”

“ No Sonic. My own stupidity got me captured. I wasn’t paying attention and I got caught in the net. But that’s ok. It's in the past now. You and your friends saved me… saved us. And I will be forever grateful… especially to that handsome black one. ” Ryn smirked.

“ You mean Shadow? ” Sonic frowned. “ You tried to kill him. You even sang to him. You realize that your song is gonna start driving him nuts now? He’s gonna crave your voice. He’s gonna want to hear it again and again until it's all that he can think about! You know that’s how this works! ”

“ I know, and I regret my actions… I can see now why you love him. ”

That statement caught Sonic off guard. He was used to hearing that from Helen, but not from his childhood best friend. “ What are you talking about? ”

“ The glow of a male never lies. ” Ryn frowned. “ I know you’re attracted to him. That’s why you tried to lure him back in that… horrible place… I was jealous… that’s why I attacked him. ”

“ But I don’t understand. ” Sonic frowned. “ I didn’t try to lure him. My chest never even glowed. ”

“ Ah, but it did, Sonic. Your chest and your neck glowed as you were looking up at him. Your whole body language was asking him to mate with you. I saw it… but maybe you didn’t realize it. ”

Sonic lowered his ears and looked away in thought. “ I… have been having some… questionable feelings about him lately. We used to be rivals down to the bone… but these past few hours… after everything he’s done for me to help me find you… I don't know what to call him anymore… He even kissed me when one of our friends started to get suspicious of our disappearances together. And he kissed me again to silence me when I was Siren Screaming in frustration. It was wonderful. ” He looked up at her in guilt. “ Maybe you’re right… maybe I am in love with him. ”

“ And that’s perfectly fine. ” Ryn smiled, running her hand through his quills. “ Just because you’re a male doesn’t mean you can’t love another. ”

“ But I’m also in love with you! ” Sonic quickly stated, putting a hand against her cheek lovingly. “ I’ve loved you for a long time, Ryn. Just like you, I also couldn’t wait for us to become of age… and now that we are, and we’re in the water during mating season, I can’t wait anymore. I have to have you… if you’ll take me. ”

At that moment, Sonic swam back a little and started to glow. The bright, golden light filled his chest and neck, shining beautifully in temptation to the female in front of him. Ryn smirked and swam around him, circling him, looking him over. Sonic hissed at her, causing her to hiss back. This was standard procedure for the mating ritual, but Sonic couldn’t help but have a sense of deja vu, like he had already done this.

Suddenly, his mind flashed back to his nightmare last night.

Attempting to mate with Ryn.

 The net taking Ryn.

The invading Siren colony.

The underwater GUN drones.

And a mermaid from his own colony stabbing him in the back.

It was too much to handle.

“ Wait! ”  The blue Siren cried out, dimming his glow.

“ What’s wrong? ” Ryn questioned. “ I thought you said you couldn’t wait anymore. ”

“ Before we do this, we should check on the colony. ”

“ The colony? ” Ryn frowned, a ‘you can’t be serious’ look on her face. “ The colony left me to die. ”

“ I know, but they’re still our people. We have to make sure that they’re ok. Who knows? There’s a slight chance that not everybody believed Shadow when he said that we don’t exist. We have to make sure that nobody else is trying to capture one of us. ”

Ryn sighed and nodded.

“ Ok. You have a point. We should check on them. ” She grinned mischievously. “ I’d like to see the look on their faces when they see that I’ve returned. ”

“ Me too. ” Sonic grinned back. “ Especially after Tia banished me for wanting to rescue you. ”

“ Ooh, this is gonna be fun! ”

…

Back at the beach house, Sonic’s friends had just finished telling Vanilla and Cream what had happened at Eggman’s base. The two rabbits were in shock, unable to believe that Sirens were actually real, and their famous blue hedgehog friend was one of them.

“Unbelievable.” Vanilla said, shaking her head. “To think, all this time, he kept a secret like this from us.”

“You don’t blame him for doing so, do you Ms. Vanilla?” Shadow cooly challenged her.

“Oh of course not, dear.” The rabbit mother was quick to assure. She sighed, looking a bit crestfallen. “I understand he was afraid, but I really wish he would’ve told us. At least he could’ve told me. I would’ve made sure that all his needs as a merhog were met.”

“He didn’t want to risk his species being discovered.” Shadow told her. “He was afraid that if his species was discovered, then they’d be in danger. His biggest fear was me finding out.”

“Why specifically you?” Amy asked him.

Shadow lowered his ears and looked away, his eyes closed in shame that he was unaware of. “He was afraid that if I found out about the Sirens, I would go to GUN and inform them about it… then his species would be in danger of being captured and tested on… killed… They’d all go extinct… even Sonic himself.”

“But you’ve been through that kind of pain before.” Rouge frowned. “You’d never wish that upon anyone.”

“He knows that now.” Shadow nodded.

“There’s just one thing I’m still confused about.” Knuckles frowned.

“And what is that, echidna?”

“Well, clearly, you knew Sonic was a Siren before the whole fiasco with Eggman. If Sonic was so scared about you finding out, how did you know in the first place?”

“... I found out last night… we lied about what happened to us last night.”

“I knew it.” Rouge smirked.

Shadow sighed. “The truth is… Sonic was having a nightmare last night. A pretty bad one. I don’t know what it was about but I do know Ryn was a part of it.”

“Ryn…” Tails frowned. “You mean the purple female?”

“Yes. She is Sonic’s childhood friend and… either as of now or later, his mate.”

“Mate?” Knuckles frowned.

“... It's mating season for the Sirens this week.” Shadow smirked.

“Geez, talk about timing.” Amy frowned, crossing her arms in jealousy. “That Siren better treat my Sonic right.”

“I’m unsure of how the mating ritual between Sirens are like.” Shadow frowned. “We’d have to ask him when he comes back. Anyways, would you like me to continue?”

Everyone nodded silently, eager to hear what truly happened last night. Shadow sighed and continued.

“Anyways, he was screaming in his sleep because of this nightmare. I got worried so I woke him up. I comforted him and calmed him down… that’s when I saw his Siren eyes.”

“You mean his blue eyes with the tiny pupils?” Cream asked.

“Yes.” Shadow nodded. “I tried to ask him about them… but he got ashamed and looked away from me. He said that others that see his eyes often have some nasty things to say about them, calling them hideous and abnormal.”

“That’s awful.” Vanilla frowned.

“I, however, think that they are beautiful. I wish he wouldn’t hide them with those colored contacts of his, but he told me that not only are his eyes strange, but they’re also valuable in the Black Market. That’s why he keeps them hidden.”

“That’s understandable.” Knuckles nodded.

“After that, I got him to tell me a little bit about Ryn, only because he was screaming her name. He didn’t tell me that she was Siren, only informed me of how important she is to him.” Shadow lowered his ears in guilt. “I made him believe that she was in trouble based on his nightmare.”

“But that’s the thing.” Amy frowned. “She was in trouble.”

“He didn’t know that until I planted it in his head.”

“But think about it, hun, if you hadn’t done so, he never would’ve known, and it may have been too late to save her.” Rouge assured him.

“... Sonic left after that. He said he was going for a run… but I got worried and followed him. He went to the moonpool, the same place I found his spear.” He looked over to the weapon, which was still sitting in the corner. “I’ll have to return it. I was confused on why he would go to the moonpool so I continued to follow him… then I saw him jump in the water… and I saw him change… that’s how I found out.”

“If that’s what truly happened, how did you two get those injuries?” Amy challenged.

Shadow frowned and looked up at the pink hedgehog, giving her the most coldest look ever. “You should know. After all, you’re the one that so bluntly put it that his species are, and I quote, cold-hearted killers.”

Amy blushed and looked down, feeling ashamed for what she had said.

If only she had known that Sonic was one of them, she never would’ve said it.

Chapter Text

Sonic and Ryn swam as fast as they could through the dark ocean, making their way to the clearing where their colony mostly inhabits. When they got there, they smiled at the sight of their people taking in the season’s tradition. All around, males were glowing, trying to lure at least one female towards them. The females were being picky, looking up and down at every male, and those that had mates went to the far side to do their deed. Of course, the merhogs went with other merhogs, and the mermaids went with the mermen. There was no cross breeding in their colony.

There were no babies yet, but that was to be expected at the start of the season. It will be a few weeks until the mark of pregnancy formed in the bellies of the females.

Sonic smirked and looked over at Ryn. “ Ok. You stay here and wait for my signal. I want your return to be a surprise. ”

“ Ooh, I like it. ” Ryn giggled and stayed hidden behind the rock.

Sonic nodded and swam out from their hiding place, swimming towards the colony. He was nearly halfway there when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, he was surrounded by Siren Warriors. Merhogs and mermen swarmed him, pointing their spears at him in all directions. Sonic remained completely still, suddenly fearful of his life.

“ What is the meaning of this? ” He timidly signed.

A hiss came from behind one of the mermen. He backed away to let them through, revealing the mermaid hisser to be the Alpha, Tia. She glared at the blue merhog, signing to him angrily.

“ What are you doing here?! I banished you from the colony! ”

“ You banished me because I wanted to go and save Ryn. ” Sonic frowned. “ Is it so wrong that I was worried for the wellbeing of one of my own kind? ”

“ Yes, because we all know that Ryn is dead! When a Siren is caught in a net, if they do not defend themselves and come back a few minutes after the kill, then they are never coming back! ”

“ You think so little of me. Do you not think that I could not save her? ”

“ The last I remember, you said that you were not coming back until you have Ryn with you. I do not see the merhog, so I can only assume that you failed, and now you are here to admit your defeat. ”

Sonic gave his Alpha a shit-eating grin. “ Ah, but you see my dear Alpha… that is where you are wrong. ” He then looked back and gave a merhog squeak, signalling to Ryn that she can come out now.

At the squeak, the purple merhog immediately came out of hiding from behind the rock and swam over to them, a bright, beaming grin on her face. Tia looked on in shocked, as well as many of the other Sirens that Ryn’s appearance caught the attention of. The spears were lowered down away from Sonic, the Warriors unable to believe what they were seeing. Ryn swam up beside Sonic and snuggled up to him, smiling at Tia. “ Hello, Alpha. ”

Tia was at a loss for words. Ryn was actually back, rescued by the famous Sonic the merhog. She didn’t think that he could actually do it on his own. She frowned and growled upon this realization. There was no way he did do it on his own.

“ At what cost? ” She hissed.

“ Nothing. ” Sonic answered. “ Completely free of charge. ”

“ You expect me to believe that you did all of this on your own? You had help, you must’ve. ”

“ ... Well I… may have had a little help from my friends. ”

“ Ah! Land dwellers! I knew it! ”

Sonic hissed at the attitude of his Alpha. This was not how he expected this to go at all. “ Those land dwellers are my friends! They helped me rescue Ryn! ”

“ Ah yes. That’s how it always starts. ” Tia hissed. “ They act like your friends. They act like you can trust them. And then, before you know it, they’re stabbing you in the back! Surface dwellers cannot be trusted! ”

“ These surface dwellers can! ” Ryn screeched. “ They risked their lives to save Sonic and I… unlike you. ”

“ Are you challenging me, pup? ” The Alpha towered over her.

“ You left me to die. You didn’t even try to help me when I was caught in the net. ”

“ It was your own fault that you got caught to begin with. Why should I help a merhog who can’t even help herself to pay attention to her surroundings?! ”

“ Would you say that for the entire colony?! ” Sonic challenged.

“Of course I would! In this sea, it is the survival of the fittest. If you cannot survive on your own, then you do not deserve to survive at all! True Sirens don’t need the help of their colony!”

Sonic growled and swam up to her without fear, getting right in the Alpha’s face. “ Then maybe it's time for a change! ”

Tia hissed. “ Are you challenging me, boy? Because if you are, I could have the Warriors kill you right now. A male can never challenge a female, especially the Alpha. Are you going to go back on your Siren traditions? ”

“ ... No, Alpha. I’m not stupid. I know a male cannot challenge the Alpha. Females have always been the Alpha because they are smarter and are natural born leaders. They also have something a male doesn’t, a voice. ”

“ If you’re smart enough to know that then I suggest you stand down, before I actually do set the Warriors on you. ”

“ He may not be able to challenge you, but I can! ” Ryn hissed, pushing Sonic back as she swam up to the mermaid. “ Tia, I challenge you for the role of Alpha! ”

Tia growled at the purple merhog, but then she smiled, a grin made of razor sharp teeth within her beautiful face. “ Very well then. As tradition, we will meet here in the clearing at sunrise. We will battle to the death. Whoever is still alive will be Alpha. Good luck, little merhog. You’re gonna need it. ”

With that, the Alpha turned away from the two merhogs and swam away, the Warriors following after her. When she was gone, Sonic swam up to Ryn.

“ Why did you do that? ” He asked her. “ You know she is much bigger and stronger than you. A merhog has never been an Alpha before due to that same reason. ”

“ Because you’re right. It's time for a change and that’ll never happen as long as Tia is in charge. ” She looked to her best friend. “ Don’t worry. I can do this. Have faith in me, my friend. ”

Sonic sighed and nodded. “ I… I have faith in you, Ryn. You are one of the strongest merhogs I have ever met. I know you can beat her. ”

Ryn smiled and nuzzled him. “ Still, it doesn’t hurt for a male to wish his female some good luck. ”

Sonic smirked with a light blush as he held her hands. “ And I think I know just how to do so. No more waiting. ”

His chest and neck barely started to glow before Ryn suddenly charged him, biting his shoulder and hitting her tail against him roughly.

The mating ritual between the two merhogs had finally started.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Shadow stood by the moonpool, anxiously waiting for Sonic to return. However, Sonic wasn’t the only one he was waiting for. He also really wanted to see Ryn again.

The purple merhog had done something to him that he couldn’t explain. Her beauty was mesmerizing. Her voice was like a drug he couldn’t get enough of. Her lips… he longed to feel them on his again.

“Come on, guys. Where are you?”

“My, I’ve never seen you look so anxious.”

Shadow jumped at the presence of a second voice. He turned to see Rouge standing behind him, her arms crossed as she stared at him smugly. “Didn’t you say that there was a chance he might not come back today?”

Shadow lowered his ears and looked back at the water. “... Yes, but I didn’t think it was actually possible.”

“You’re worried about him.”

“Gee, what gave it away?”

“Hun, I’m sure Sonic can take care of himself. The ocean is his territory, after all.”

“I’m not worried about how he’ll fare in his own territory, I’m worried about his Alpha.”

“His Alpha?”

“She banished him from the colony the other night because he wanted to rescue Ryn. She’s paranoid about the surface finding out about her people, and disapproves of Sonic living in two worlds.”

“Geez, reminds me of a book I once read.” Rouge smirked. “Can’t live with a fin in each world.”

“But for Sonic, he doesn’t have a choice.” Shadow frowned back at her. “He has responsibilities he cannot ignore. Both on land, and in the water.”

“Right, I understand that, but obviously his Alpha doesn’t.”

“Indeed.”

Nothing else was said as Shadow continued to stare into the water. Sonic’s spear, returned back to its rightful place, and the underwater tunnel was all that he could see. No quill or fin, blue or purple, looked back at him. He was starting to get really worried now.

What if the Alpha had attacked them?

Rouge came up beside Shadow and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure they’re fine, hun. They’ll come back when they’re ready.”

“They?”

“I know you’re worried about Ryn too, hun. You can’t hide it from me. But they’ll be ok.”

“... I hope you’re right, Rouge.”

“You know I’m right. Now come back to the beach house. There’s a woman who would like to speak to you. I think it’s the same old lady from the antique store yesterday.”

Recognizing that it might be Sonic’s friend that he mentioned, Shadow sighed and nodded. He started to follow her out of the cave, but then suddenly, his ear twitched.

He heard Ryn’s song. It was just as beautiful as the first time he heard it. He looked back at the moonpool, expecting to see her there, but the water was empty. Her song started to get softer, fainter, as if she was going away. He wanted to follow it. He wanted to go in the water and swim after her. He was just about to do so, when Rouge spoke up again.

“Come on, hun, we don’t have all day.”

Shadow shook his head, relieved that the music was gone. He gave the moonpool one more glance before he turned tail and began running after the ivory bat, wondering why he had so suddenly heard Ryn’s voice.

…

In the clearing belonging to Sonic’s colony, merhogs and merpeople of all differences stood in a circle. Each one was hissing and cheering as they put all of their attention into the middle of the circle. Sonic, who was a bit banged up from mating with Ryn last night, was amongst the crowd of Sirens, also looking into the circle and feeling a bit worried about what was about to happen.

In the middle, Tia and Ryn circled around each other, hissing and snarling at the other. Neither one of them backed down, eager to prove once and for all who should be leading the colony.

“ This is your last chance, Ryn. ” Tia hissed. “ Surrender now, and I will spare your life. ”

“ Sounds like the words of a coward to me. ” Ryn hissed back with a smirk. “ What’s wrong, Tia? Afraid you’ll lose to a measly little merhog? ”

Tia snapped at her. “ I gave you a chance to leave with your life. You have refused my offer. Now prepare to die as a consequence. ”

“ Bring it on, bitch. ”

Tia screamed and immediately charged at her, grabbing her by the shoulders before the merhog had any time to react. The Alpha pushed and scratched at the merhog, trying to get to her throat to rip her fangs into it. Ryn fought back with all the strength she had, scratching and pushing as well, getting a few bites in as well. Their tails tangled with each other, each trying to stab the other with the barbed stinger.

The Sirens on the side silenced themselves to a few hisses as they watched the two females battle. Sonic watched with filling anxiety, hoping, praying that Ryn would make it out of this. He wanted to go in and stop the fight, but he knew that would be a fatal mistake.

Once a pair of females started to fight, there was no stopping it, especially if it was for leadership.

Suddenly, Tia managed to dig her fangs into Ryn’s shoulder, tearing off a good piece of flesh. Ryn screamed in pain and pushed Tia off, smacking her in the face with her tail. Blood started to flow from her shoulder, but it didn’t faze the little merhog as she charged at the bigger mermaid, headbutting her and scratching at her sides, trying to damage her gills to drown her. Tia hissed and grabbed Ryn by her quills, pulling her off and slamming her onto the ocean floor, scratching at her face mercilessly.

‘ Come on, Ryn, she’s not paying attention. ’ Sonic thought, clearly seeing an opening that the current Alpha was too angry to see for herself. ‘ Now’s your chance. ’

As if the purple Siren could hear her mate’s thoughts, Ryn saw her opening and took it. While Tia wasn’t paying attention, too busy scratching at her face, Ryn pushed one hand against Tia’s neck, choking her as she tried to keep a distance between them. Meanwhile she used her other hand to search the sand around them. Her fist closed around a sharp rock, the point sticking out. She brought it up quickly and slammed the pointed end against the side of Tia’s head, sliding it across her face and piercing it deep into her eye.

Tia screamed in agony and let Ryn go, backing up away from her as she put her hands over her now mutilated eye, which was pouring with blood. The distraction of such pain was all the purple Siren needed.

Without any hesitation, Ryn hissed and brought up her tail, swinging it to the side with the barbed stinger pointed inward. The stinger came into contact with the base of Tia's skull, impaling itself deep into the Alpha's spinal cord.

Immediately, Tia went limp. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream, her arms falling to her sides. Ryn took her stinger out, watching as the mermaid floated down to the floor, blood pouring out of her eye and neck. She looked up at her colony, her mouth as straight as it could be as she watched the Sirens kneel and bow their heads to her.

As serious as the situation was, Sonic couldn't help but smile as he showed his own respects to Ryn, the new Alpha of the Siren colony.

Chapter Text

Back at the beach house, Sonic’s friends sat around in the living room. Their attention was all trained on the old human woman with the grey hair and bright blue eyes. Bright and blue enough to be compared to Sonic’s eyes.

“So you’re… really a friend of Sonic’s?” Knuckles asked with some skepticism.

Helen gave a warm smile to the red echidna as she placed down the cup of tea Vanilla had so kindly given her. “I am. In fact, I knew him before any of you did. I met him the day he first came onto land. Such a curious, but rather confused child.”

“What was he like, the day you two met?” Shadow asked in prying curiosity.

Helen chuckled. “Nothing like how you know him today. The child knew nothing about our world, but he was eager to learn. He was a curious lad, but also protective of himself. Whenever he felt threatened he would attack, the basic instincts of a Siren. What made it worse was that he could barely speak, if at all, so whenever he needed something he would either hiss or sign frantically. So many hours were put into teaching him to speak, and walk as well.”

“Like a mother teaching their toddler.” Vanilla smiled warmly, gently petting her daughter’s ears.

 “Indeed.” Helen nodded. “Teaching him was especially hard when he would start scaling.”

“Scaling?” Tails frowned in confusion.

“Sonic told me about that.” Shadow answered. “It’s when a Siren’s skin gets so dry that it starts to look like scales. It weakens the Siren until they are able to go back to the water and rehydrate.”

“I wondered why there were times Big Blue looked like he was wearing makeup.” Rouge smirked.

“But enough about the past.” Helen said, suddenly looking very serious. “I’m actually here to talk about the present, and quite possibly, the future.”

Shadow nodded. “I had the feeling you were. Listen, we all understand that what happened yesterday could put the Sirens in a lot of danger. We’re willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe, especially Sonic.”

“That makes me very happy to hear, Shadow.” Helen nodded. “You know, Sonic is like a son to me. I taught him basically everything he knows about our world. I would hate for anything to happen to him.”

“We feel the exact same way.” Amy assured her. “He’s our friend, and we care about him.  Whether he’s a Siren or not.”

“Surprised to hear you say that.” Shadow said coldly.

“Look I’m sorry! Ok?” Amy frowned at him. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like that. Could you please just let it go?!”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to!” Shadow snapped back. “And no! I won’t let it go until you apologize to him!”

Helen seemed confused about the hostility between the two hedgehogs. She looked over at Vanilla with a questioning gaze. “Is there something I’m missing between those two?”

Vanilla sighed. “Before we knew that Sonic was a Siren, Amy had called them cold-hearted killers. We’re afraid that it might’ve offended him.”

“Ah.” Helen nodded. “I don’t think he was offended. In fact, I think he agrees with her. He’s come to believe his species to be that way too.”

“I don’t understand why you even care!” Amy snapped at Shadow. “You two are rivals. Why should you care whether I hurt his feelings or not?”

“Just because we’re rivals doesn’t mean I don’t care about him!” Shadow growled. “I’d die for that blue idiot if I had to!”

“Oh really? Care to explain why you care so much?”

“I don’t have to explain anything to you!”

“Tell me Shadow! Tell me! Why do you care about someone half the time you can’t stand?! Why do you care so much about someone who gets on your nerves 24/7?! Why do you care about Sonic the Hedgehog?!”

“I DON’T KNOW!”

“That’s enough!” Vanilla hollered, standing up from her place on the couch, her face contorted of an angry mother about to scold her children. “I think you two need some time away from each other. Shadow, why don’t you go see if Sonic is back yet? Take some clothes for him and his contacts if he is.”

“Hmmph, with pleasure.”

“Wow, what a shocker.” Amy hissed with distaste.

“And Amy, when Sonic gets back you WILL give him a heartfelt apology, and you will leave the business between Sonic and Shadow alone.”

Amy lowered her ears and sighed. “Yes ma'am.”

Satisfied with the outcome, Shadow quickly gathered Sonic’s belongings and left the house, running back to the moonpool in hopes that Sonic was back.

…

When Shadow got back to the moonpool, he was disheartened to see that it was still empty.

There was nothing to indicate that Sonic had been here. No tail fin left behind. No disturbance in the sand. Not even a single drop of water on the shore.

Shadow sighed and sat down, setting Sonic’s stuff beside him. He placed his chin in his hands in a resting position and stared into the water.

He was getting sick with worry, and he didn’t like it. More than anything he wanted to go in the water and find them. He wanted to make sure that they were ok, and practically beg them to come back.

The Alpha had banished them. And without a colony, they were defenseless.

“Sonic, Ryn… I hope you guys are ok.” He sighed, hanging his head with his eyes closed.

Suddenly, Shadow’s ear twitched when he heard a small splash in the water. He quickly looked up and he smiled, his tail wagging vigorously in joy as Sonic pulled himself out of the water. He got up and went over to the blue Siren to help pull him away from the water, and that’s when he saw Ryn as well.

The condition the purple Siren was in had the ebony hedgehog baffled. She was bleeding badly all over her body. Her face looked especially damaged with the multiple scratches all over it. And her shoulder had a good chunk taken out of it… similar to his own injury.

“Sonic, what happened to you two?” He asked the blue hedgehog when he had calmed down from his transformation. Shadow could now see that even Sonic was injured. There were scratches and bites all over him, along with multiple bruises. “Did the colony attack you?”

Sonic looked up at his frenemy and smirked. “Nah. Most of them welcomed us with open arms. Only Tia had a problem with us.”

“But you guys are so beat up! What happened?”

“Ah this?” Sonic chuckled, gesturing to himself as he started putting his belongings on. “This is nothing. Just standard mating procedure.”

“Standard?!” Shadow’s eyes widened. “You two look like you just came out of a war.”

“Ah, well, she is a different story.” Sonic nodded to Ryn, a proud smile on his face. “Shadow, why don’t you show your respects and kneel to the new Alpha of the colony?”

“Alpha?!” The ebony’s eyes widened more as he looked at the injured female. “She’s the Alpha now?”

“Mmhmm.”

“What happened to Tia?” He asked as he knelt down beside the purple merhog, bowing his head in respect.

Ryn smiled at the ebony hedgehog. Such a respectful gentleman for a land walker. She wouldn’t mind kissing him again, and she had a feeling he wouldn’t mind either.

“Dead.” Sonic answered, putting his contacts in. “When an Alpha is challenged, the fight is to the death. Ryn killed her, and now she’s the new Alpha.”

“That’s crazy.”

“That’s the way of the Sirens.” Sonic sighed and walked back over to them, a noticeable limp in his step. “Though, she is badly injured. She’ll need to be treated, and have some time to heal.”

“Let’s take her back to the house.” Shadow suggested, looking up at him from the ground. “We can treat her there.”

“We can’t keep her at the beach, it's too open.” Sonic frowned.

“She can stay in the house. You said all Sirens can change. I’m sure Vanilla wouldn’t mind an extra guest.”

Sonic’s eyes widened and he frantically shook his head. “No! Absolutely not! She’s already weakened enough, the change could kill her!”

“Are you sure? She seems pretty strong to me.”

“I said no!” The blue hedgehog harshly hissed. He looked back at Ryn and signed to her. “ Stay here in the water. Shadow and I will be back with someone who can treat your injuries. ”

Ryn smirked and signed back. “ Hurry back, boys. And don’t have too much fun without me. ”

Sonic blushed at the inquiry made by his mate and quickly grabbed Shadow by his arm, pulling him up and dragging him away from the female as they left the cave. Ryn giggled and blew a kiss at them as they left, leaving Shadow blushing brightly.

Chapter Text

Shadow followed Sonic freely as they left the cave and started heading into town, no longer being dragged. The blue hedgehog’s limp had Shadow very worried. He couldn’t keep quiet about it.

“Sonic, are you sure you’re ok?” He asked him. “You’re limping pretty badly there.”

“Tch, I’m fine Shads. Don’t worry about it.” Sonic assured him with a grin. “The mating procedure between Sirens are always rough. It’s how the females dominate the males.”

Shadow smirked at that statement. “You mean to tell me that you, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Hero of Mobius, and Fastest Thing Alive, got dominated by your little female friend?”

Sonic blushed brightly and chuckled nervously, a drop of sweat going down the side of his head. “Well when you put it like that it sounds kinda sad, doesn’t it?” He then frowned and shook his head. “But that’s the way it always is. I’m lucky that someone as beautiful as Ryn chose me to mate with her.”

“Do the males in the colony have any say whatsoever?”

“Never. The only way the males have any freedom is when they take the offspring away to train them, and even then that’s only a handful of the males.”

“They take them away?” Shadow frowned. “Where do they go?”

“Out in the open sea.” Sonic frowned. “The babies are taken the moment they have their first breath. They don’t get to come back to their mothers until they’ve made their first kill.”

Shadow’s ears lowered, feeling sorry for the blue hedgehog. “Did… did that happen to you as well? Were you taken from your mom?”

Sonic sighed and nodded. “That’s the way it always is. But it’s ok. Because I had Ryn with me. And my father was the one who trained us. Not very many babies have that pleasure.”

“I see.” Shadow nodded.

Sonic grinned a little and, out of nowhere, took Shadow’s hand into his own. The action was unexpected, but Shadow didn’t pull away. Instead, he smiled back and gently squeezed Sonic’s hand with his own.

“Would you like to meet them?” The blue suddenly asked.

“Meet your parents?” Shadow frowned in confusion. “But I thought you said they were dead.”

“... They are dead, but I still visit them from time to time.” Sonic smiled and nuzzled him. “I’m sure they would love to meet you.”

Shadow blushed a bit from the nuzzling. He wanted to stop the blue, but at the same time, he didn’t. It felt… good. Trying to ignore the feeling of butterflies in his stomach, Shadow gently pushed Sonic’s head away and smiled.

“Then I would love to meet them.”

…

Shadow looked around the small hidden cemetery as Sonic led him through it. It felt a little weird to be on such sacred ground. He felt like an impostor… an intruder.

“So… all these graves are… Sirens who died on land?” He asked the blue hedgehog.

Sonic frowned and nodded. “When a Siren dies on land, their bodies are unable to change in the water. They are either trapped in the land forms… or somewhere in between.”

“In between?”

Sonic’s ears lowered. “You’ve seen how much I stress about one of my kind coming onto land. You know that it takes strength for a Siren to change. You’ve seen it yourself, multiple times.” He looked up at the ebony. “When a Siren is not strong enough, the change can kill them. It can happen unexpectedly at any time… sometimes even at the very end if the change. But the worst is when they die halfway. They’re not fully land… but they’re not fully sea either.”

“Gosh that’s… absolutely horrible.”

Sonic nodded and continued to lead him through. “My parents died on land. I told you that they tried to follow me.”

“You said that you blamed yourself.” Shadow remembered.

“... I still do. They tried to follow me onto land. For whatever reason I’m unaware of. They weren’t strong enough to survive the change, and they died halfway through it.”

“Oh my god.” Shadow gasped, feeling even more sorry for the blue every second. “That must’ve been so horrible for you to see.”

“... That’s the thing though… I didn’t see it. I was in Station Square when it happened. Helen was the one who found their bodies, and buried them. Right. Here.” He stopped in front of two small graves, sat right next to each other. The final resting place of his mother and father. The blue hedgehog smiled warmly and knelt down to the graves like he had done just two days prior. He wiped the dust off their names, revealing them to the ebony.

Bernadette and Jules.

“Hi mom and dad. It’s me again. I just came by because there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Shadow felt his heart constricting as he watched Sonic talking to his dead parents. It reminded of himself when he would talk to Maria.

Suddenly, he didn’t think that the two of them were so different after all.

“Mom. Dad. I’d like you to meet Shadow.” Sonic continued, coaxing the black and red hedgehog to kneel beside him. “He’s a land walker, but he’s one of the good ones. He saved Ryn and I yesterday.”

Shadow nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Bernadette and Mr. Jules.”

“See how polite he is?” Sonic chuckled, then looked a little sad. “We did it last night. Ryn and I. We mated. I’m sure you can tell by all the bruises, heh. We’re not sure if it worked, but you know how it goes. We’ll keep trying until the season is over.”

Shadow thought he should’ve felt a little weird at that, but he didn’t. He knew that the goal of mating season was to impregnate the females to start a strong new generation. It only makes sense that Ryn and Sonic would keep trying in case the first time didn’t do it.

“I have some other exciting news.” The blue continued to his dead parents. “Ryn’s the new Alpha of the colony. She defeated Tia this morning. I know a merhog has never been Alpha before, but if Ryn was able to defeat a mermaid bigger and stronger than her, then I’m sure she’ll make a great leader.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Shadow smiled, astounded that there has never been a merhog Alpha before.

Sonic sighed and ran a hand over the tombstones. “I wish you guys were here. I miss you so much. I wish I could hear your voices. To tell me how proud you are of me.” He sniffed, a single tear running down his cheek.

Shadow saw the tear, and immediately, his instincts took over. He wrapped his arms around the blue hedgehog and gently hugged him, petting his quills a bit. Sonic continued to sniff, but he welcomed Shadow’s comfort as he laid his head on his chest.

“I sometimes wonder why they did it.” He started sadly. “Why they thought it was necessary for them to come onto land. What was so important that they couldn’t wait for my return? Why couldn’t they have just stayed in the water?”

“I… I don’t know Sonic. I wish I did, then I could possibly ease your thoughts.”

“It… it just makes me so upset. It’s one thing for them to die at all. But it’s a totally different thing for them to die on land. Now they’re trapped in those horrid half-forms, unable to be reunited with our ancestors.”

"What do you mean? Aren't they with your ancestors now?" Shadow frowned in confusion. "Isn't this a mermaid burial ground?"

"Yes, but this is not where they belong. It's so... dull. There's nothing special about it."

"... When a Siren dies in the water, what does your people do?"

"... When my people die, we take the body, and we swim, for a long time. We hold on to the body, and we go to the deep waters, where no animal can find it. We lay the body on the soft sand... and we leave it in a special place."

"... A funeral."

"Yes." Sonic sniffed and looked up at him. "Shadow... I know I am part animal... but I am also part Mobian."

"I never said you weren't."

"But you must've been thinking it."

"Never." Shadow shook his head, hugging him tightly. "I would never think that of you."

Sonic sniffed and hugged him back, crying into his chest. The ebony hedgehog said nothing, and only continued to hug and soothe him, rocking them back and forth as he petted his quills and whispered soothing words into his ear.

Chapter Text

After Sonic had calmed down from his emotional breakdown, he and Shadow left the cemetery, heading towards Helen’s Antiquities . Shadow was confused on why they were going there, so he asked.

“Sonic, why are we going to your friend’s store?”

“Helen is the only one that can give Ryn the kind of treatment that she needs, so we’re going to ask her.”

Shadow smiled sheepishly, a drop of sweat rolling down his face. “Well then we’re going the wrong way. She’s not at the store.”

“What?”

“She’s at the beach house. She showed up this morning wanting to talk to us about what happened yesterday. I think she was worried.”

“That makes sense. She has every right to be worried.” Sonic nodded, then gave him a playful smirk, putting his hands on his hips. “You know, this would’ve been nice to know before we came all this way.”

“Sorry. Didn’t know that’s who we were looking for.”

The two hedgehogs laughed, both feeling like fools. Suddenly, their fun was interrupted when Sonic was suddenly splashed with water.

“Hey!” The blue hedgehog cried out, now dripping wet and irritated.

“Sonic!” Shadow gasped, afraid that the blue was about to change right then and there. When nothing happened, he sighed in relief and glared over at the culprits. A couple of kids with water blasters in their arms. “Now what did you do that for?”

“We wanted to see if Sonic really is a merhog like Dr. Eggman said.” One little girl explained.

“But clearly, he’s not, otherwise he would’ve transformed by now.” An older boy deadpanned.

“Yeah, he changed pretty quick in the video yesterday.” Another boy said. “Come on, let’s get outta here. He’s no merhog.”

“Bye Sonic! Bye Shadow!” Another girl cried happily as she ran off with her friends.

“Hmph, kids.” Shadow rolled his eyes as he looked at the blue hedgehog, who was shaking his fur dry. “But I don’t get it. How come you didn’t change?”

When he was mostly dry, Sonic stopped shaking and grinned at him. “Not my water. They sprayed me with freshwater. I only change in saltwater.”

“Then how come you freaked so much when Knuckles tried to throw you in the lake on our camping trip?”

Sonic gave him a deadpan stare, as if to say if he was really asking him that question. Shadow blushed, catching on pretty quick.

“Ok. Ok. Point taken. Had to keep up the facade.” The ebony chuckled sheepishly. “Come on. Let’s just get to the beach house.”

“Race you!” Sonic grinned and got into running position. He was just about to take off, but one forceful step on his limp and he fell to the ground. “Ow.”

Shadow chuckled and went up to him, picking him up in a bridal style. “You are not running mister until that limp is healed.”

Sonic blushed, and as much as he was enjoying being held like this by the black and red hedgehog, he couldn’t let him know. He wriggled to get out of his grasp, but the hedgehog held on. “Fine, I won’t run. But I can still walk, you know.”

“Your limp will never heal if you don’t stay off your feet. I’m carrying you, end of discussion.”

With that, Shadow began to walk home, carrying the blue hedgehog in his arms. Sonic chuckled and remained still, letting his frenemy… or maybe friend now, have his way.

He could get used to this.

…

When the two hedgehogs got back to the beach house, the gang, plus Helen, were working together to replace the windows Sonic’s scream had shattered. Sonic felt guilty that he had caused such a mess, but he had no other choice. If he had not screamed, something worse could’ve happened.

“You know the first time I heard Sonic use a Siren’s Scream was when I was teaching him to talk.” Helen chuckled. “He got so frustrated and just let it all lose. I had to replace everything in the apartment and a few things in the store too.”

“What word were you trying to teach him?” Cream asked.

“Actually, I was trying to teach him to say ‘May I use the restroom?’.” The woman smirked. “He would get so frustrated at times, and he couldn’t run yet, so it was the only place where he could retreat. I eventually got tired of it and locked the bathroom and wouldn’t let him in until he used his words. I assume you all can guess what happened.”

Knuckles and Tails both snickered at the idea. The girls looked a little sorry, but even they couldn’t help but smile in amusement. Even Shadow gave the hedgehog he was carrying a knowing smirk.

Sonic blushed brightly, covering his face and whining loudly.

“Helen! Do you have to tell them that story?!”

“Oh, Sonic, Shadow. Welcome back.” Helen smiled at them.

“Goodness, Sonic!” Vanilla gasped at the condition the blue hedgehog was in. “What happened to you?!”

“Don’t worry Ms. Vanilla, I’m fine.”

“Yes, apparently this is just the aftermath of Siren mating.” Shadow added.

“Jeez,” Knuckles frowned. “What did she do to you? Use you as a punching bag?”

“Eh, more or less.” Sonic blushed.

“She dominated him.” Shadow chuckled.

“The females always dominate the males!” Sonic defended himself as the boys laughed at him. “They’re the ones in charge of the colony! They have more power than us!”

“You’re pretty banged up, hun.” Rouge commented. She smirked at the fact Shadow was holding him. “What’s the matter? Can’t stand on your own?”

“I can stand just fine, but I have a limp so Mother Hen over here won’t let me down until I’m healed.”

“Hey. Be glad I actually care.” Shadow chuckled.

“Well in that case let’s bring him inside.” Vanilla suggested, opening the door and leading everyone to the living room. “You can lay him on the couch.”

“We can’t stay for long.” Sonic said as Shadow laid him on the couch, setting a pillow under his legs to keep them elevated. “Ryn’s waiting for us at the moonpool. She needs treatment from Helen.”

“What’s the matter, child?” Helen asked him in full concern.

“... She defeated Tia this morning.”

Helen gasped but everyone else, besides Shadow, were confused.

“Who’s Tia?” Tails asked.

“Well, she was my Alpha.” Sonic said. “Until Ryn challenged her and defeated her this morning.”

“Goodness that’s wonderful!” The old woman smiled. “A merhog has never been the Alpha before.”

“Yes, we’re all very proud of her, but she needs treatment. Tia showed her no mercy.”

“It’s true. I saw her condition myself.” Shadow nodded. “She is covered in scratches and bruises. Her face is all cut up and there’s a good chunk missing from her shoulder.”

“Jeez, was this a battle to the death or something?” Knuckles frowned.

Sonic was silent for a minute before he spoke. “... When an Alpha is challenged for their position, it's always to the death.”