Chapter Text
Things like this weren’t supposed to happen to people like Sonic. He was really just a regular guy - albeit a guy with super speed - but for some reason, fate decided to spit in his face and throw him in the gutter. The very night before his fifteenth birthday, Sonic went out into the woods by himself. He was being a typical dumb teenager, messing around. He never saw it coming.
He was attacked by a werewolf. And by some stroke of luck, it bit him instead of killing him.
A bite is all it takes for a werewolf to turn someone. Sonic was a hedgehog no more. Instead, he was now a werehog.
Honestly, before Sonic got bitten, it was fairly easy to ignore all the monster tales that got passed around. Sure, monsters existed, and sure, they attacked people and turned them, but if it didn’t happen to you, it didn’t really matter, right? Well, now it had happened to Sonic. Now, it did matter.
Obviously, it was too dangerous to stay in town after he got bitten. Sonic didn’t exactly know how being a werehog worked yet. He didn’t want to lose control and hurt anyone by accident. He didn’t want anyone to figure out his new secret either. Among other things, he’d gotten noticeably . . . fluffier since he got turned. Everyone would notice how he’d changed and realize what had happened to him. Staying was just too risky.
Sonic left his hometown without saying goodbye to anyone and traveled alone for a while. He attempted to transform into his wolf form, just to see what it was like, and he discovered that it caused him to lose his precious speed. Luckily, it came back when he was in his normal mobian form, though he noticed it was a bit lessened than it had been before the bite and it was enough to convince Sonic that he was going to avoid transforming whenever he could help it.
After a good while, Sonic arrived at a small town called Starlit Shores. The location was a seaside town with a pretty view of the ocean, not that he ever intended to go swimming or even get anywhere near the water. Ever. At all.
Now, by no means did Sonic intend to stay here. It was, again, too dangerous. He’d just had a long day, he was tired, and he was finally feeling the effects of all his non-stop traveling. He needed some rest. Sonic wholeheartedly planned to just spend the night and leave again in the morning. He arrived in town fairly late at night, but that wasn’t much of a problem for his new night vision. Sonic checked into an inn and slept through the entire night as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Amy Rose didn’t ask for the life of an outcast. She was just . . . born one. Growing up, she never thought anything was ‘wrong with her.’ She just did things. Potions and magic all came naturally to her. She didn't question it when she discovered she could make brooms fly, or when she found out she had crazy accurate future telling powers. Honestly, it was pretty easy for all of this to get ignored when Amy was younger. No one really paid attention to the little girl messing around in her cottage. But as Amy started getting older, it didn’t take long for the people of her town to figure out what she was.
Amy was a witch.
Needless to say, Amy got driven out of town not long after that. Witches were only barely considered 'monsters,' but they had gotten a bad reputation over the years. Even if they hadn’t, who wanted a witch in their town? Amy would only attract trouble, which was very undesirable. Regardless, no one was very in love with the idea of her bringing in any more ‘monsters,’ whether by accident or intentionally.
Amy wandered around for a while after that. She tried to sell her services to anyone she could find as a fortune teller or an herbalist. However, it didn’t take long for each of her customers to figure out what she was and get as far away from her as possible. A year or so later, Amy arrived at the town of Starlit Shores. She thought that this place could serve as her fresh start. If Amy was more careful this time and made sure to hide what she was, surely she could have a chance at a good life. It was worth a shot.
Amy settled down and earned her keep telling fortunes, which was the skill she was best at. She earned a decent living and things were going pretty good. She even managed to make a few friends!
Nothing could go wrong.
The life of Shadow the Hedgehog had been a long one. An extremely long one. Shadow had actually been born centuries ago - or was it closer to a millenia by now? - but thanks to the actions of an interfering vampire, his life had taken a dramatic turn. A vampire can only turn someone if they choose to inject their venom into their victim’s blood during a bite. That meant that Shadow becoming a vampire had been very intentional. One had to wonder what the reasoning was, but Shadow would never know. His first act as a vampire was to kill his attacker and feed on his blood.
The bloodlust of youth had a firm grip on Shadow and he spent his first century or two ravaging towns and flocks of animals, feeding on whatever he could. As time stretched on though, Shadow finally began to outgrow the violent urges and started to calm down. His mind once again clear, Shadow realized that the years had left him friendless and alone. He wondered if he might be able to find a way to live a somewhat normal life again. He missed the days of his youth, where nothing had been wrong with the world, and he had friends to share his days with.
Shadow decided to try settling down in a town, but picking back up where he left off proved to be easier said than done. He’d made a name for himself in the last few centuries, so it was hard to find a place where no one had heard of him. The first few times Shadow tried, he got chased out of town. He tried laying low for a while, and after another couple centuries, rumors of his actions had faded into legend. Things were still hard though. It’s very difficult to hide vampiric nature and urges. Shadow was discovered and subsequently rejected five more times and began to lose hope. Perhaps this had been a stupid idea from the start. Would it be better to go back to rampaging, or seek out others of his kind?
Shadow decided to give things one last try before calling it quits for good. He stumbled across the seaside town of Starlit Shores. To his surprise, it seemed that this time . . . his plan was going to work out! Shadow didn’t let himself let his guard down though. One misstep and it was all over. He couldn’t let anyone know who he was.
No one.
In Rouge the Bat’s not-so-humble opinion, other monsters had it easy. They may have had to deal with urges, transformations, and unnatural abilities, but at least they could somewhat control all that. Rouge wasn’t so lucky.
Rouge was a medusa. You can’t exactly turn off your eyes.
Being born a medusa was a rare mutation. In fact, not having the genes in your heritage and being born one anyway was practically unheard of. Most medusas in the world were the offspring of other medusas. So clearly, the world was out to get Rouge before she was even born.
It was honestly a miracle that Rouge didn’t turn her parents to stone. Somehow, they’d had just the insane luck for her to look at a robin when she first opened her eyes. The winged creature had petrified instantly upon meeting her gaze and Rouge’s parents quickly sprang into panicked action. They knew a medusa when they saw one.
Were Rouge’s parents terrible people? No. Absolutely not. They had no intention of getting rid of their daughter for what she could do. But they also had no intention of anyone else finding out about her and subsequently driving their entire family out of town as punishment for giving birth to a monster. The solution Rouge’s parents came up with was simple. They made sure Rouge always wore elbow length gloves to cover the green fur on her arms that grew in later. They also tied a thick strip of cloth around her eyes.
They planned to raise her as if she was blind.
It wasn’t that hard for Rouge to adapt. Afterall, she was only about a week old when her parents elected to ‘take away her sight.’ For the first few years of her life, Rouge was raised as a blind girl. She learned to get around just as well as any other blind person, and her echolocation only made things easier. She never asked what the cloth tied around her eyes was for or why her parents always checked it every day to make sure it was secure.
It took many years for Rouge to question this. Rouge was always questioning things, but the cloth and her blindness had always been a constant in her life. She’d never known anything different. So why question it?
Then came the night Rouge finally did.
Rouge always slept with her blindfold on. Always. But that day, her mother had tied it a bit too tightly around her face. Rouge only intended to loosen the knot, but she ended up accidentally untying it all together.
And it was-
She could see.
Even though the lights in her room were turned off, everything was so unbelievably bright. Colors swirled in her vision - she had vision - and everything was twisting and turning and it was too much. Rouge felt like she was going to be sick.
She lost her balance and fell off her bed. She could see her bed. She could see the floor. She could see her room. She could see her own hands.
Though Rouge would never admit it, at the time, she hadn’t been thinking clearly at all. Her brain was just going in circles over and over and over again. She could see. She wasn’t blind. Her parents had lied to her.
Why?
Rouge pulled herself up and stumbled into the hallway. She somehow managed to make it into the kitchen. Everything was too bright. Her father had left a pair of his sunglasses on the table and she grabbed them immediately, shoving them onto her face. Rouge breathed a shaky sigh of relief as she lowered herself into a chair. That was better. That was so much better. Now everything wasn’t as blinding. She was positively trembling. She stared at her hands. She could stare at her hands.
That was when her parents came into the room. They heard all the noise she’d been making.
They asked questions. They saw Rouge wasn’t wearing her blindfold. And then she got mad. She got so mad. The three of them yelled at each other. Rouge hated that her parents had taken away her sight for no reason. They tried to explain. Rouge wouldn’t hear it. She just kept yelling at them.
And then-
She messed up. She made a mistake. The worst mistake she could’ve possibly made.
Rouge didn’t want to think about it.
The truth came out that night. Rouge was a medusa. She left. She left and never looked back.
She didn’t want to think about it.
The only thing Rouge took with her was her father’s sunglasses, and they proved to be her saving grace. Her petrifying gaze didn’t work through the tinted lenses. The fact that they discolored the world was a small price to pay. She could actually live her life without having to pretend to be blind.
It wasn’t long before Rouge stumbled across the town of Starlit Shores. She was about ten at the time, but she was still able to get an apartment and a job as a papergirl. She did her best to blend in and live as normal a life as she could, moving up to a better job once she turned sixteen. She discovered more about what being a medusa meant, and she did her best to keep every new feature hidden. A few years after Rouge came to town, Shadow arrived and Rouge befriended him instantly. He seemed so lonely and Rouge couldn’t stand that. A similar thing happened when Amy moved in several years after that.
Rouge’s life was very good. She had friends, a home, a steady job, and some stylish clothes to go with her increasingly diverse collection of sunglasses. As long as she never took off her glasses in public and no one ever figured out her secret, life would be golden.
Sonic woke up in the morning feeling very groggy. Had he really been that tired last night? Or was it something else that was making him feel like this? Allergies?
. . . Didn’t matter. First, food. Then . . . whatever.
Sonic dragged himself down to the community area of the inn and ordered himself some breakfast. He sat down heavily at one of the tables. Hopefully, food would make him feel better.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” a voice said. Sonic looked up and discovered a well dressed bat waitress with his food on a circular tray in her hands. She was wearing a white dress shirt with a black pencil skirt, as well as sunglasses, which was weird since they were indoors. She started setting his order on the table in front of him. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen you before. We usually get a lot of merchants in town this time of year, but you don’t really look like a merchant.”
Sonic chuckled, trying to mask how exhausted he felt.. “You got me. I’m not from around here.”
“You just passing through or are you moving in?” the bat asked.
“Passing through,” Sonic said truthfully.
“Shame. Well, if you change your mind, you’ll be more than welcome,” the bat said, tucking the now empty tray under her arm. “I’m Rouge by the way.”
“I’m Sonic.”
“Let me know if you need anything else, hun.” Rouge gave a half wave as she turned and walked away.
Sonic proceeded to eat his breakfast, asking for a drink refill from Rouge a few times. After a while, Sonic’s stomach started twisting around itself uncomfortably and he couldn’t bear to eat anymore. Maybe . . . fresh air . . . yeah, fresh air would help. Paying his bill, and promising to be back for his stuff later, Sonic left the inn to clear his head and take a breather.
As Sonic wandered around, he discovered that Starlit Shores was somewhere in between slow and busy. There were a decent amount of people who were out and about, but not so many as to be overwhelming. Sonic looked around until he stumbled upon a certain interesting looking shop. It was decorated with magenta accents all over the place. Several bright lanterns adorned the walls, even though it was noon. A sign above the front door read, “Amy Rose’s Mystical Emporium.”
Sonic tilted his head in confusion. What did that mean? Deciding to check it out, Sonic walked forward and pushed open the door to the shop.
(Why was he doing this? He was supposed to be keeping a low profile. He was supposed to be leaving and getting back on the road . . . right?)
A bell rang as he entered, but no one seemed to be around to hear it. Sonic was met with the sight of a cozy looking reception area adorned with more dark pink and some sweet smelling candle sticks. Sonic looked around. He was about to leave the shop when someone pushed through a white and fuschia striped curtain at the back of the lobby.
“So sorry about the wait!” a pink hedgehog wearing a black and magenta dress apologized. She didn't look that much older than Sonic. Actually, she looked younger. “Welcome to the Emporium! My name is Amy. How may I help you?”
“Well, I'm Sonic and . . . um . . . I just wanted to know what this shop was,” Sonic replied awkwardly. Why was it so difficult to put together a sentence right now?
“Right,” Amy nodded, smiling kindly. “Well, I sell a lot of things here, but my most popular service is fortune-telling.”
“Cool . . .” Sonic wasn’t really sure whether to believe her or not. It didn’t sound possible, and if it was, what if she looked into the future - or the past - was that how this worked? - and saw what he really was?
“If you’re unsure, I can give you a free reading as a trial run,” Amy offered.
“I dunno . . .” Sonic eyed the door, itching to get back outside again.
“It’s no trouble. Really! It’ll only take a few minutes, and then you can be on your way.”
Sonic wasn’t sure what it was, but he was having a hard time thinking clearly. He was so tired and sore and just . . . ugh. These allergies sure had hit him like a boulder, hadn’t they? Well, if he took Amy up on her offer, he’d at least get to sit down for a few minutes.
“Um, alright,” Sonic relented. Sweet Gaia, he felt so dead.
“Awesome! This way, please.” Amy led him back through the curtain from before, down a short hallway, and into a dark room lit by more candles. Sonic sat down heavily on one of the pillows positioned around a small, circular table. Amy retrieved a deck of cards from a nearby bookshelf before sitting down as well.
“I think this one is right for you,” Amy said. “I have a few different decks, and I don’t use this one very often, but there’s something about it today.”
“Mm.” Sonic was not impressed. He faintly decided that Amy was just being mysterious in an attempt to get him interested.
“Now normally, I let my customers pick five cards,” Amy explained as she began to expertly perform an overly complicated shuffle on the deck. “However, since this is your free trial, I’m gonna have you draw two.” She finished shuffling and fanned the deck out in front of Sonic.
Sluggishly, Sonic reached out and picked two cards. Amy pressed the deck back into a neat stack and set it aside. She took Sonic’s two cards back from him and placed them face down on the table.
“Now, let’s see what fate has in store for you, shall we?” Amy asked with a mysterious smile. She flipped over the first card, which showed two blacked out figures with white smiley-faces shaking hands with each other. “The Bond. You will come across a certain person that all will label as an outcast. All except you. Your relationship will grow to that of family.”
“Huh,” Sonic said, peering at the card. So he was going to become friends with someone weird? Yeah, that sounded like him.
Amy flipped over the second card. On it sat a picture of a full moon. A shiver ran up Sonic’s spine, but he tried his best to not let it show. While he didn’t know much about werewolves and being one yet, he knew that a full moon was their worst nightmare. The full light of the celestial object induced what was known as the ‘Full Moon Frenzy.’ During one, a werewolf transformed against their will and lost control of themselves, becoming a wild beast whose only desire was to kill. If you were unlucky enough to encounter a werewolf on a full moon, your only hope of surviving was getting bitten and turned. Sonic hadn’t yet experienced his first frenzy and seeing this card only reminded him that he had no idea when the next full moon was. He felt a pit in his stomach. He needed to figure that out as soon as possible so he could make a plan for when it happened.
“The Complete Light,” Amy said. “You . . . will find yourself in dire danger . . . or you will put others in danger. It’s a bit unclear. Friends will come to your aid and guide you. Together you will be complete, a light to each other.” Amy furrowed her brow as she continued to stare at the card. Was she seeing something else? Was she seeing . . . what Sonic really was??
“Miss Rose?” Sonic spoke up, nervously.
“Ah! Sorry. Just . . . thought I saw something else,” Amy mumbled.
Good Gaia, she knew. Did she know? She might’ve seen something. Sonic wasn’t sure. He didn’t know, he didn’t know. Sonic quickly stood up, fighting back a sudden dizzy spell. “Well, it was really nice to meet you and . . . a-and to get my fortune read. I’ll be sure to come back . . . uh, later. I’ll be seeing you!” Sonic excused himself out of the room before Amy could stop him. He raced back down the hall, into the lobby, and out of the shop as fast as he could. She wasn’t coming after him. Maybe she really didn’t know. Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. That was close. Too close.
The day dragged on and Sonic tried many times to go back to the inn so he could leave. But his feet kept betraying him, making him wander around the shops and the town as a whole. The general feeling of crumminess Sonic experienced that morning only got worse. He felt practically dead on his feet. At some point, his hands had started shaking, but it didn’t seem that concerning for some reason. As the sun started to set, Sonic dimly realized that he really needed to get back to the inn. All thoughts of leaving now had left him. He was too exhausted and needed sleep. He began to drag himself along the road.
The sun was almost entirely gone, with only a few stray streaks of light surviving, when Sonic accidentally bumped into someone. His fur was so dark that it was no wonder Sonic didn’t see him.
“Sorry,” Sonic mumbled.
The person, who was a black furred hedgehog with upturned quills and red stripes, looked down at him with a critical eye. “Isn’t it a bit late to still be out?” He wore a black suit with a white dress shirt adorned with a black tie underneath his suit coat. On his wrists were a pair of black gauntlets along with golden ring-like cuffs. His eyes were a gleaming ruby red, a color not unheard of for a mobian, but it still managed to make Sonic’s skin crawl with unease.
“I could ask you the same question,” Sonic returned, irritably.
The hedgehog’s face barely changed its expression. “I work the night shift at the museum, but I doubt you have as good an excuse.”
“Lost track of time,” Sonic grunted. “I’m heading back to the inn now.”
A slight hint of interest entered the hedgehog’s eyes. “You’re new then?”
“No. ‘M not . . . ‘M not stayin’.” Sonic sighed. He was being a bit rude, wasn’t he? That wasn’t his fault. He just felt so off. “Name’s Sonic the Hedgehog. You?”
“. . . Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog.”
“Nice to meetcha.”
“Same to you. Have a good night.”
“Thanks.”
The two hedgehogs went their separate ways and soon, Shadow had disappeared, melting into the darkness.
It was a pretty dark night. Thick clouds blanketed the sky, threatening to rain at any moment. Sonic stumbled and tripped into a streetlight. He clung to it, grunting in pain. He felt so . . . wrong. He couldn’t ignore it anymore. His stomach was ripping itself apart. His muscles were burning. His vision was swimming. Was he dying or something? He hoped not. That would be a pretty nasty surprise for someone to come across in the morning. Was it something he ate?
Feeling like he was going to puke, Sonic dropped onto all fours. Everything hurt so much. His heart was beating so hard, it felt like it was going to rip out of his chest. Suddenly, the clouds above the town began to clear, revealing the light of the moon. The full moon.
Oh.
The pale light felt like a hot iron against Sonic’s skin. He bit back a scream as the unforgiving light burned a hole into his brain, destroying any and all reason he had. He felt himself turning into his new wolf form without meaning to, his body growing larger, his claws and fangs growing sharper. His bones twisted and stretched. His head was absolutely pounding.
Just before the world was consumed by white, Sonic tipped his head back and howled.
Most of the residents of Starlit Shores had already gone to sleep. But not Shadow. Thus, it was very easy to hear the unearthly howl long before he arrived at the museum. That didn’t sound natural. Not by a long shot. In fact, if Shadow wasn’t mistaken, it sounded like the howl of a werewolf.
Over the centuries, Shadow had met a few werewolves. None of them had been his friends - actually they had all tried to kill him - but Shadow had learned enough about them to be able to recognize one. If one was in Starlit Shores, Shadow couldn’t allow it to put anyone in danger.
After a quick look around to ensure no one was watching him, Shadow shape-shifted into a small bat and flew off towards the sound. He took in a deep breath through his nose and identified the scent of werewolf blood. It seemed the werewolf was heading towards the forest. That was good - there was no one to hurt out there - but Shadow still couldn’t allow the beast to come back towards the town. He had to find it and try to drive it off. If all else failed, he’d have no choice but to kill it.
With a powerful flap of his wings, Shadow raced off towards the forest.
Amy was busy finishing tidying up the lobby, straightening pillows and blowing out all but a few of the candles. It had been a slow day for business, but she’d still managed to bring in a decent amount of money. That meant she’d be able to buy new food next week and not have to rely on canned soup from food storage. Maybe if money got too tight, she could ask Rouge if she was allowed to give friends discounts on the inn’s food.
As Amy was about to close the lobby’s curtains, she saw something race past the front window. What was that?? It was running on all fours, was very bulky, and Amy was sure she saw sharp claws.
A werewolf. Had to be. Amy hadn’t ever met one before, but she knew how dangerous they were. At least this one seemed to be heading away from town, but it was still a threat. Starlit Shores had no way to protect itself from monster threats. They were supposed to be in a ‘safe zone.’ Amy was the town’s only hope. She had to go after the werewolf and make sure it stayed out.
Racing back to her bedroom, Amy grabbed her supplies. Her hat that was enchanted with a protection spell, her broom so she could have a safe getaway, and her wand so she’d have a weapon to channel spells through. At the last second, she grabbed a satchel full of some basic potion ingredients, just in case she needed them. Once she had everything, she ducked out of her shop. Amy was pretty sure everyone was asleep by now, but she didn’t have time to be overly cautious. She hopped onto her broom and rocketed into the sky to follow the beast.
Starlit Shores needed her.
Rouge was just about to take off her sunglasses so she could go to bed when she spotted it out of the corner of her eye. Pushing her glasses back up, she went to the window and bore witness to a massive beast down on the street. It sniffed around on the ground before growling to itself. It then turned and ran off in the direction of the forest.
A werewolf.
Rouge groaned to herself. Of course it would only be a matter of time before her mere presence in Starlit Shores attracted more monsters. Rouge just wanted to live a quiet life here. Was that too much to ask?
Well, having a werewolf around was no good. Not only was it dangerous, but it could attract more with all its howling. If Rouge wanted to preserve her perfect life here, she’d have to deal with this unwanted guest. She quickly changed out of her pajamas and into a silver tank top, bell bottom black pants, and black heels. She switched out her sunglasses for a silver pair and threw on a silver necklace with matching silver earrings.
If she was going to do this, she might as well do it in style.
Making sure the door to her apartment was locked, Rouge opened her window and spread her wings, making a beeline for the forest. She hoped she’d be able to deal with this without petrifying the poor beast, but if it wouldn’t cooperate, Rouge wouldn’t exactly be to blame for things turning hairy.