Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Daylight poured onto the meadow as the world faded from black. Lines of grass in tidy stripes stretched endlessly in either direction, only interrupted by raised platforms of checkered earth and clay. In some places it rose high and arched into loops; in others, it descended into a dastardly pit of metal spikes, planted by wicked hands. Amidst the sunny scape stood a lone blue tenrec, studying his white-gloved hands with great fascination.

These hands were his, he knew; he controlled this body so intricately. His black shoes scuffed lightly against the grass, scored across with one thick stripe of white. These, too, were his, even the thick socks rolled up against their tongues. He even knew his name: Hog. Simple and straightforward. But he wasn’t standing alone because of his simple discovery. Before… before… there was nothing. Fog enshrouded his mind as he struggled to think back. Was there… really nothing there?

Hog shook his head and smacked it lightly. Nevermind that! There was something he had to do. Something about… a friend? It would surely come to him later.
Right! He had work to do. Winding up into a pitcher’s swing, Hog took off, running towards an old warehouse in the distance.

//.

The void was black. It was beyond cold. Beyond warm. Temperature had no meaning. Light had no hand.
Sonic floated within the stark depths. Trapped within a deep sleep, he passed between massive chunks of old land and strings of discarded code. He weakly registered the fur of cold animals brushing his quills as they drifted by. Far, far above, numbers and letters formed a twisted semblance of clouds. Binary and hexadecimal. C++. Empty codeblocks. It all meant nothing here in the darkness.

From behind approached another chunk. It was a massive stone, cold, iridescent and glimmering green. Perhaps it had power, once, but here it was no better than a rock. Messy gravitational force propelled it rapidly across the null, delivering it directly into the back of Sonic’s head. The blue hedgehog awoke with a cry as it bounced off, spiraling away into the void.

Sharply Sonic grasped the back of his head, sucking in a breath. The wound stung, but his gloved hand did not come away with blood. Still, it’d need to be iced later. He could almost feel the bump rising under the thick quills…

As he began to look around, Sonic realized he did not know where he was. Bits of earth and metal floated by, a chaotic collage of nonsense, interspersed with random objects. And, far away in the distance, the faint green glimmer of the Master Emerald. Sonic yelped and shifted his balance to swim after it; Angel Island was in danger if the Emerald had ended up here!

But as luck would have it, gravity was not kind to him today. Suddenly his trajectory switched. His peaceful floating shifted with his balance, sending him plummeting downwards. Sonic unleashed a cry of terror, reaching out to grasp at something, anything, before the fall claimed him.

His fingers suddenly caught on to a ledge, sending shockwaves through his arms. He clung fast to fistfuls of grass and braced himself against cold earth. The blue hedgehog broke out into a pant and looked down. The drop below was impossible, swallowed by darkness beneath his feet and who-knew-how-far down. Snapping his jaw shut and summoning his strength, he quickly pulled himself up and over the edge, collapsing against the ground. Sonic wheezed a breathless laugh. He had survived! Now all he had to do was figure out where he’d ended up. Taking a second beforehand, he shakily forced himself onto his feet.

The first things he saw were the dead animals littering the floor.

They were sparsely laid out, in all stages of decay, with faces - if they were even recognizable as such - as if they’d been running through the wood moments before. Some, he thought, still had a sparkle in their eye.

A chill ran through Sonic’s body as his quills lifted behind him. “Geez, this place looks like something out of a nightmare,” he murmured.
Gently, he leaned down to inspect a nearby rabbit. It didn’t look too banged up, its fur still intact with no external injuries. But as Sonic lifted one of its lopped ears, he saw its eyes empty. He could feel the chill of death through his glove. Grimacing, he backed up and decided on a different directive. He had to find his friends.

This particular patch of land gave him no insight, of course. As he walked its length, he noticed other patches drifting past - one of which was drawing near. Locking his eyes on it, he began to pick up speed. At the right moment he jumped, landing squarely on the piece. His momentum caused it to rock, forcing him to leap in the direction of a further spot. This one was metal, and was sturdy enough for Sonic to hold his ground when it, too, bobbed in place. But again gravity shifted, and he found himself falling sideways into another patch of metal. He took in a sharp breath as he landed centimeters from a patch of spikes. Carefully, he rolled away and got back up.

There, in the distance, he saw familiar orange fur.

“Tails! There you are!” Sonic ran to stand beside him, tapping his foot. “I knew you wouldn’t be far. This place is weird, um… Tails?”

There was no reply.

Sonic nudged him gently. “You there, buddy?”

Still nothing. Frowning, Sonic moved to roll him over. Maybe he could-

All thought froze as the little fox’s front came into view. Sonic stumbled back, eyes widening and quills standing on end. He felt the cone of a spike graze his leg and stopped, only sparing a split second’s glance.

The scratches on Tails’s back hadn’t alarmed him at first, but what he saw now definitely did. His face… where were those bright, shining eyes? He looked so happy, but was it even his mouth Sonic saw? Red scores of rot had eaten him away. They had only been separated for a few minutes… hadn’t they?

“No… nooo, no nonono. This can’t be happening. That can’t be- Tails?! Buddy?! Where are you?!”

As panic overtook him, Sonic took off again, leaping from chunk to chunk, swearing he’d seen a smear with Knuckles’ deep red fur here, a black and red arm there. He shook his head, uttering “no, no, no” to himself all the while, until finally he screeched to a halt in front of a rounder, unfriendly shape. The Eggmobile. Within its metal shell sat his rival, his head bowed below his line of sight.

Sonic started forward. “Alright, egghead, you’ve gone too far this time. You think putting dummies of my friends everywhere is funny, huh? Making me think they’re all dead? You’ve got another thing coming.”

Eggman did not react. Furious, Sonic wheeled into a spindash and flung himself at the carrier. Heavily dented by the attack, it slid across the bright blue-and-yellow ground, only slowing centimeters from the edge. Still, Eggman did not react.

Fear began to settle into Sonic’s being once again. He paced towards the Eggmobile, slower now, waiting for the laughter of a nemesis who thought he’d been fooled. It never came.

Circling the base, Sonic realized that his head had not been bowed. It was not there at all. Thin, bloody lines ran down Eggman’s shoulders. Sonic had a sinking feeling he did not want to see his rival’s face.

Pain overwhelming his senses, he turned away, pacing towards the rightmost edge of the platform. There he sat, dangling his legs over the abyss, with only the metal shield Tails laid upon to protect him. Tails… Eggman… Knuckles… even Shadow. Was everyone dead?

Fury and unease and hopelessness warred in his soul. It should have been him who took this blow, who absorbed everything done to them one by one until there was nothing of him left. If that’s what it had taken to save them… but there was nothing he could do. Tears began to well up in his eyes. Perhaps he would’ve died too, if he hadn’t awoken. He couldn’t count himself lucky.

As he pressed his face into his hands, the earth tilted, sending him plummeting just short of the ground beneath him and into the abyss. Past numerous objects and pathways he fell, howling all the way, until finally the ground struck him from below, and everything was gone.

//.

Hog gently opened the door leading to the warehouse. “Hello-ooo? Anyone in here?”

The warehouse was a wide-open space. Its walls were a solid grey metal that stretched for what felt like kilometers from one end to the other, topped with a pointed roof that soared high into the air. Its windows were evenly-spaced, only broken by massive garage doors on either side - and, of course, the smaller door Hog entered through. The atmosphere was just a touch too cold for the tenrec’s liking, but perhaps its resident liked it that way.

“Right here, Hog!” chimed a friendly voice. Not far away waved the gloved hand of a scarlet fennec fox, black tips on his ears and a heavy toolbelt around his waist. “I’m never far from my garage. You know that!”

“Oh, hey… uh?”

The fox looked confused for a brief second. “Prowler,” he answered. “Are you okay? You look dazed.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry, Prowler. Must’ve taken a good hit from somethin’,” Hog explained. “Can’t remember anything today.”

“Oh, that’s not good. Do you…. need me to check for an injury, or?”

“Nah, I’ll recover. The Dust Devil always bounces back!” Hog jabbed a thumb towards his chest. Prowler frowned at him, but did not argue. Apparently this fennec knew him better than he thought.

As the conversation died down, Prowler turned back to a large screen set against the wall, expression scrunching into focus mode. Upon the screen was a map laid out on a grid, dotted with six colorful lights.

Hog sidled up behind him to look over his shoulder. “Whatcha workin’ on?”

Prowler practically leapt out of his fur as Hog suddenly materialized behind him. At a quick glance, he yelped and leapt into the air, nearly falling without a counterbalance. Hog couldn’t hold back a giggle as he caught the fox.

“Well, before you came, I noticed a strange energy signal,” Prowler sighed, standing back up. “That’s fairly standard, all things considered, since the Power Rubies are usually buried underground. But the thing is, they’re coming from several different places. The Rubies’ burial ground must have been upset. But what’s really gotten my attention…”

Prowler zoomed in on one particular corner of the screen. “Is that one of them is moving.”

“Moving? Do you think somebody has one of the rubies?”

“It’s a possibility… Yolkman might,” Prowler mused. “What’s got me puzzled is why he didn’t just take all six and power himself up. They’re scattered all over.”

“Yeah, doesn’t sound very much like him.” Hog leaned back, crossing his arms. “I wonder if the Rubies moved themselves somehow.”

“Like a security system for something like this?” Prowler looked back at him. “I guess it could be. But if that’s the case, then it means Yolkman’s already found one, so-”

“So we’ve got to beat him to the punch to get ‘em all back?”

“Exactly.”

“Well then, we better get started.” Hog grinned. “We’ve got no time to waste.”

//.

So far, the day had been quiet. Amidst the jungle trees and stone pillars was a dark red porcupine. With two sharp spikes upon his mitted fists and a crooked tail, he rested against a massive red gemstone.

The Giga Ruby had been Strike’s duty to protect ever since he was young. He had been trained long ago to defend it against all manner of treasure seekers. Not only did the Ruby contain such immense power that no one creature should hold it, but it kept the island afloat. Should it ever be separated from its holding base, the island would collapse. It was Strike’s mission to ensure that never happened.

And so here he lived, never far from his post, warding off intruders and destroying any robots that happened upon its location. On lazier days, the clouds rolled by and he could patrol; on the worst days it’d be down to the wire, forcing him to set off explosions and flying debris in close proximity. Today was on the more hectic end, like many before it. So when he saw two distant shapes, he leapt to his feet and readied to fend them off.

The first of the two, a scarlet fennec that hovered a decimeter above the ground by two translucent blue tails, accelerated into view. A second later a bright blue shape followed, forming into that of a tenrec as he came closer.

“Hey, Strike,” Hog began as he skidded to a halt. “What’s goin’ on?”

Strike raised his fists in response, interlocking the two spikes to create a small earthquake. “I’m standing guard to protect the Giga Ruby. You are not going to get your hands on it today, Dust Devil.”

“Take it easy. We’re not here about the Ruby.”

Strike narrowed his eyes.

“We really aren’t,” Prowler insisted, drifting to the left to land beside Hog. He pressed a button on his toolbelt, and his two tails flickered off like a light. “We came to warn you.”

Strike studied him. On the one hand, they could be lying; they had diverted his attention in order to take from him before. On the other, this could be quite serious. He’d always been told to expect the unexpected… but what counted as unexpected now could be anything. Perhaps wise words could better gird him.
“Alright.” Strike slowly lowered his hands to his sides. “What are you here to tell me?”

“The Power Rubies have been scattered across the world,” Prowler explained. “We don’t know what’s happened to the others aside from what’s on my map, but we do know Yolkman has one. If he gives you any trouble, we want to make sure you can contact us.”

As he spoke, the fennec fox rustled around in his pockets. Soon he pulled out a small earpiece, a microphone dangling from one end. “If you see anything suspicious or lose track of a Ruby on your island, press the little button behind your ear. We’ll get to you as soon as we can.”

Hesitantly, Strike opened a hand to accept the gift. “I am surprised you’re willing to go to such lengths to help me. Know that it’s the same if you need assistance from me.”

“Thanks, buddy.” Hog tapped his ear, where his had been hidden beneath his fur. “Stay safe out here, m’kay?”

Strike offered a dirty look at Hog’s bright grin. A chill ran through his spines. “I will.”

“We’ll see you soon,” Prowler said, and then the pair were off again.

As they walked, Prowler pressed the toolbelt’s button once more, and the tails rematerialized, lifting him into the air.

“You never did tell me why you have that gadget,” Hog mentioned.

“Huh, I thought I did! Honestly, above everything, it makes me feel better. Since I never got to have one, it’s nice to have it as an option. And finding out these supposed-to-be holograms could make me fly and pick up speed was just a bonus. This way, I get to have as many as I want.” Prowler landed and turned a dial, taking the number down to one. “Given the battery power lasts, anyways.”

“Ohhh, okay! You know, I feel like you did actually tell me that at some point before. Who knows?”

“Really, Hog?” Prowler chuckled. “Man, you are so forgetful.”

Chapter Text

The wind rustled calmly through the palm trees. Overhead, the sky was inked in beautiful shades of purple and pink and orange, blossoming out from the bright point of the sun behind them. Against a totem Sonic leaned, watching Tails pick flowers from the grass. As the two-tailed fox tied stems into the beginnings of a flower crown, Sonic rambled on about whatever came to mind, and Tails would brush most of it off with a nod or a quiet mhm as he half-paid attention. Flickies soared along as they talked, twittering their own little songs, and a squirrel skittered by to click a friendly hello to the two heroes.

“There,” Tails said as he lifted a long string of flowers by its ends. “Do you think that’s long enough?”

“Looks like it,” Sonic replied.

Tails leaned forwards to test it around his head, sticking out his tongue. “Hmm, it’s a little too long…”

Around that time, a certain echidna was gliding overhead on his patrols. His more serious mood was caught by an air of whimsy below, and upon recognizing his friends, Knuckles landed not far from where Sonic and Tails were chatting.

“Ah, there you are. What are you two up to?”

“Oh, hey, Knux!” Sonic grinned.

“Hi, Knuckles! I’m working on a flower crown. Sonic is…” Tails side eyed his partner dubiously. “Sonic is here.”

“Hey, I’m doing something!”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“I’m chillaxing, obviously.”

Tails giggled. “Honestly, you could be doing that anywhere.”

Sonic gave Tails a pouting look. Tails guffawed and looked away.

His expression faded into curiosity as he turned his attention to Knuckles. Tactfully, he got up and began tying up the last end of the crown. He made his way over to where Knuckles stood; the red echidna nearly ducked, but held himself steady as the dainty petals came to rest. The crown contoured surprisingly well to Knuckles’ longer spines.

“Perfect!” Tails took a step back to admire his work.

“Woah, dude, you look amazing!” Sonic leaned back on his arms.

Knuckles wasn’t quite sure how to react at first. What had been a serious patrol had quickly roped him into a touching moment with his friends. He had not been expecting to return to his post feeling any different. Perhaps the change wasn’t so bad.

“There’s a pond over there if you wanna see what you look like,” Tails suggested, pointing off to his left. Knuckles approached the pond and looked into it. Atop his head laid several colorful flowers, ranging from pure white daisies to little yellow buttercups to purple stalks of lavender, coating the area with a lovely scent. It made him feel… oddly happy, he realized, as the other two Mobians came over to join him.

For the first time in a while, away from the Master Emerald, Knuckles was smiling. Sonic knew this was the future he wanted to see: all of his friends, sharing laughs and picking flowers, until the end of his days. Finding himself another comfy spot near a palm tree, he laid his head atop his hands and watched them talk, until slowly he drifted off to sleep.

He wished he’d never opened his eyes.

Crushing darkness surged into his vision as he awoke. A new goose egg was beginning to form on the back of his head, bringing with it a dull pain. Beneath him was a glassy ground, invisible but cold to the touch. As Sonic got up from his sprawled position, he ran his hand along the floor, cast his gaze up to where everything he’d known floated above him as it rotted away…

And he laid back down again, beginning to curl in on himself. The dream he’d had had been so viscerally real, so kind to his heart, that waking up felt like a spike to the gut. He grasped at the fraying ends of the dream as it unwound, leaving a foggy memory in its place. He could almost hear Tails calling to him from afar.

Wait. Was that really him?

Sonic jolted up, his ears swiveling as he tried to pinpoint the location of the faraway voice.

“Hey, over here!”

There. Sonic’s head snapped to the right. “Tails?”

“Come on, you can make it!”

“Tails! Hang on, buddy, I’m coming!” Joy filled Sonic’s heart. He really was alive! All those dummies above him he’d thought had been his friends, when all along they were waiting for him here. Sonic hauled himself to his feet, wincing as sharp pain pierced his legs. This must’ve been one of Eggman’s simulations. Surely Tails and Knuckles and Amy were here to rescue him? As the encouraging words of his old friend carried him, he broke into a run, ignoring the pain in each step. There, just ahead, was a sliver of light. He forced himself to run faster.

“There we go! Took you long enough, huh?”

“What…?” Sonic skidded to a stop. Nausea began to work as his pains caught up to him.

He found himself face-to-face with a large screen. It stretched twenty centimeters above his head, wider than it was long. Within the screen stood an unfamiliar scarlet fennec fox, speaking in Tails’s voice without either of his tails. Onto it ran a taller blue tenrec, shorter than Sonic but sharing his fur color, who came to a stop with labored breaths.

“Phew! Yeah, sorry about that, Prowler! I really gotta lay off those corn dogs.” The tenrec leaned forward a bit, pressing a hand to his back. He, too, spoke in a voice that wasn’t his. This one was Sonic’s, as if it had been passed through a pixelated filter.

“It’s alright, Hog. Let’s keep moving. Yolkman can’t be far from-”

Prowler’s voice dropped to a yelp as he was jolted off the ground, suspended by a rope around his leg. Down from the sky emerged a large Eggmobile, done up in yellows and greens. Atop it rode a man that looked incredibly similar to Eggman - the thing was, this stranger was clothed in a yellow uniform, and his red mustache had trailed its way down into a goatee. The grin and the voice were all the same, though.

“Ah-hahahaha! If it isn’t Hog the tenrec!” Doctor Yolkman - at least, that’s what Sonic assumed his name was - announced.

“Yolkman!” called the other two in sync.

From behind the screen, Sonic watched. It all felt so familiar.

“We know what you’re up to, yolkface,” Hog growled, quills standing on end.

But it was all so different.

“Oh, me? Nothing in particular. Nothing I’d tell you, anyways. What do you think I am, some bumbling idiot?”

Sonic couldn’t look away. These weren’t his friends. But this place was his home.

“High energy levels detected,” chimed a feminine robotic voice. The four of them jumped as Yolkman looked down at the screen in front of him. “Power Rubies located. Displaying coordinates.”

“Curses! Engage silent mode! Order ten!” Yolkman jabbed a button on the control panel. The voice went silent. Yolkman leered at his grounded nemeses, his hands still moving.

“Sounds like a race then, huh?” Hog challenged.

“A race indeed.” A loud beep sounded from inside the off-brand Eggmobile - Yolkmobile? - and from it two lasers fired. As Hog leapt over one, the other caught his side, sending him skidding across the grass.

“Bwahahaha! Au revoir, rodent!” And off Yolkman flew.

As soon as he left, Sonic launched himself at the screen. “Hello?! Can anyone hear me?” He pressed his hands against the warm surface.
At the edge of the screen, Hog flinched.

“You won’t get away with this!” came Prowler’s furious reply, swinging back and forth as he shook his fist at the retreating vehicle.

The tenrec began to pick himself up off the ground, brushing dirt and blades of grass out of his coat. “Dangit! That dumb doctor doesn’t know what’s coming for him.”

“No, he doesn’t. But if that happens to be us, I see one teensy little problem.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m still stuck up here!” Prowler yelped impatiently.

“Oh, right. Sorry!” Hog leapt atop a small totem pole, and as he gained his balance, Prowler hurriedly tried to fiddle with a gadget at his waist. Just before he could activate it, Hog untied the knot, dropping him face-first onto the earth.

Sonic watched the story unfold, fascinated. This world was so similar to his own, with just enough changes that he couldn’t be sure what was really happening. “It’s almost like looking through a distorted mirror,” Sonic murmured, removing his hand from the glass. “But it’s all so different, too…”

As Sonic paced away from the screen, he began to think. “There’s gotta be some way to contact them,” he said. He wasn’t sure what, but he did know that something he’d done had gotten a reaction out of this Hog character. He just had to figure it out.

Days passed. Sonic tried everything he could, analyzing every inch of Hog’s world to figure out how it functioned. Theories rose and fell as he spoke to the screen, rapped on the glass, tried to push through the screen from behind. With every passing day, Sonic sensed a greater and greater unease from Hog. It could only be the results of everything he’d tried… but it wasn’t what he wanted. Sonic wasn’t trying to make anyone suffer; he just wanted to talk. He only wanted answers. Beneath his skin, the pain began to run deeper.

It wasn’t long before Sonic had had enough. He threw his hands into the air. “Argh, nothing’s working!” he growled, pacing restlessly in front of the screen. “If Hog can even hear me, he isn’t talking to me. I don’t know what else to do!”

Furious, he let himself drop down to the floor. The screen lit up his silhouette, an inescapable piece of his existence. This sort of technology was something he couldn’t figure out. If Tails were here, maybe…

As the thought crept into his mind, Sonic sat up. Tails would know what to do here. Tails would…

The image flashed into his mind of what the fox looked like now. What little was left of him was wasting away, wasn’t it? There was nothing he could do. Solemnly, Sonic leaned forwards and laid his hand against the screen. There was Prowler, running alongside Hog with fierce determination. “I miss you, Tails…”

Behind the glass, Hog let out a cry and tripped forwards, landing hard on the grass. Prowler screeched to a stop. “Hog?! Are you okay?”

“Agh… what was that?”

“What was what?” He leaned down to help Hog up.

“You didn’t hear it? The really loud squealing noise? It was like nails on a chalkboard, but…” Hog pressed a palm to one of his temples. “It sounded like words, almost.”

“No, I didn’t. Hog, I’m worried about you. You’ve been jumpy lately, you’ve forgotten half of what we’ve done, you ask questions about things you’ve known for years, and now this. Listen, I know this situation is stressful. If you want to take a break…”

Sonic shakily lowered his hand from the screen. Hog had heard him. He hadn’t wanted it to go like this.

Tap, tap, tap. Sonic’s ears turned. Nobody else was alive here. Why did he hear footsteps?

When he turned, darkness enfolded his vision. Sonic blinked furiously in an attempt to readjust his eyes. There, just visible, was a familiar silhouette.

“... Hello?”

The figure stopped. Hope jolted Sonic’s heart. The hedgehog stood up and began to limp over. Here, outside the screen, someone could actually hear him! As he got closer, too, he began to recognize…

“Tails?”

Chapter Text

It was as if the fox had never died. His orange and white fur was bright and well-groomed, with no sign of the matting or rot on the body Sonic had seen. His kind green eyes were rife with a deep sadness.

“Hey, Sonic,” Tails said, his tone gloomy.

“Tails! You’re alright! And you… you can hear me!” Sonic started forward, a tearful smile upon his face.

“Sonic, wait-”

“I missed you so much, buddy.” Sonic opened his arms, offering a hug.

Tails only stared back, blank-faced. Sonic’s arms slowly began to lower, as did his smile. “Tails, is… is something wrong?”

A moment with no reply. Sonic took a step forward.

“Come on, please…”

“Sonic, you don’t have much time,” replied Tails, as if Sonic hadn’t spoken at all.

“You… aren’t real, are you? You couldn’t be. I saw you dead…”

“I’m just as real as you are,” Tails snapped suddenly. “Look, I know you have questions, but I can’t answer them. Right now, you have to listen to me.”
Sonic gawked at his old friend. Tails did not wait for him to reply. The young fox lifted a hand, and in front of Sonic formed a frameless mirror. “Take a look.”
Sonic let out a loud yelp and jumped backwards. His view cut off, the hedgehog had nothing to look at but himself, and he looked very different. This rot was beginning to eat away at him, too. His body was growing skinnier, his fur thinning as it greyed in some spots and darkened in others, and parts of his body had torn to display thin strips of exposed muscle.

“AGH! What’s happening to me?!” Sonic lifted his arms, horrified to see that those rips were just as real as the mirror displayed them to be.

“You’re withering away. This place is slowly killing you, Sonic.” Tails closed his hand into a fist, and the mirror vanished. “As that tenrec continues his story, he’s borrowing more and more of his lifeforce from you. If you can’t find a way to escape, you’ll end up just like I did.”

“He’s… what?” Sonic watched Tails walk past him. He lunged forwards suddenly, grabbing his friend’s arm. “Tails, please, what are you talking about?!”

Tails turned to meet Sonic’s eye. Except there was nothing there, nothing but the rotting face of the cold body laying on the metal. Sonic let him go with a gasp. Tails returned his attention to the screen.

The surface displayed Prowler and Hog, sitting on the grass together. They seemed caught up in jovial conversation, although the thunderous pounding of Sonic’s heart in his ears prevented him from understanding them. Tails pressed a hand against the screen. A massive gemstone emerged from the earth below Hog and approached the screen, obscuring the sight of Hog and Prowler laughing.

“Is that a Chaos Emerald?” Sonic asked shakily.

“Not quite.” Tails glanced back. His face had returned to normal. “This is a Power Ruby. It’s the same thing in essence, and it’s what you’ll need to get out of here.”
Sonic traipsed to Tails’s side as he lifted his hand away. The Power Ruby began to spin gently. “This is your connection to the world outside. When they collect one, the barrier thins for a short window. If you can break it, then you’ll be able to contact them as part of their world.”

“The… barrier? What do you mean?” Again, no response. Sonic tapped his foot. “I’m in the middle of nowhere and you’re telling me there’s some wall I need to break down? There’s literally nothing here! Why are you being this cryptic now of all times?!”

Tails turned away and began to walk off as if his job was done.

“Tails? Where are you going? Come on, man!” Sonic began to follow, but Tails walked forward at an incredible speed.

Desperation taking hold, he broke into a run, trying to give chase. “Tails, please! DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!”

But it was too late. The fox began to fade into the void. Before he did, though, he paused and gave Sonic a grateful look. “Keep yourself safe for me, alright?”

“What?! What are you talking about?!” He skidded to a halt, sucking in a breath as sharp pains pierced his body. Sonic collapsed. Tears slipped down his face.

“Please… don’t go.”

He could only watch as Tails took the last step into the dark.

Sonic lowered his head and began to cry.

“Are you ready to go?”

Sonic looked over his shoulder. The screen still shone with sunset lights.

“Yeah. I’m sorry about all of that, Prowler.”

“Don’t be. Everyone deserves a break.”

He began to wander back towards the screen. Drained of his spirit, he watched. Hog took Prowler’s hand as the fennec helped him up.

“You ready to go?”

“Yeah. Thanks, man.”

“Don’t mention it. What are friends for?”

//.

Not far from the edge of a sheer cliff, a flying squirrel glided. She was graceful, swooping across the sky in arcs, the sun reflecting off her pure white fur. Her deep green eyes tracked the cliff’s surface below, her pink-tinted lips twisted in impatience. She’d glided ahead of her partner in search of a very powerful gemstone, thanks to word from a very wary porcupine, but it seemed as if her partner had gotten sidetracked. She’d been waiting for a good ten minutes now.

Finally, she saw a dark blur racing towards her, its gait zig-zagged as it went. He screeched to a halt a few meters from the edge, a powerful burst of air serving as his brakes when he pushed his feet forward. Below her landed a black-quilled echidna, his spines tinted with red at their tips and his golden-eyed expression wary.

“Oh, thank the stars.” The squirrel swooped down to land beside him. “You took ages. What kept you?”

“Hello, Velvet,” Shade replied, adjusting the rings on his red and white gloves. “I ended up in a scuffle with some of Yolkman’s robots. They’ve been territorial lately.”

“Well, I’m glad you made it out okay,” Velvet said. “One of the Power Rubies is here, if my memory serves me right. Those coordinates really were helpful.”

“Hrm. I still think it was foolish to attach malware to Yolkman’s tech, but I suppose it did come in handy here. Where is it buried?”

Velvet tapped the earth with one pink high heel, from one place to another. When her heel struck the ground and it rang hollow, she looked up. “Right down here,” Velvet grinned. She stepped out of the way and allowed Shade to begin digging.

It wasn’t long until Shade’s fist struck something cool. Velvet’s grin widened as he emerged from the earth shortly after, a green Power Ruby in his dirtied gloves.

“Excellent work, Shade!” Velvet exclaimed.

“Thanks. Now would you mind…”

Shade trailed off and looked beyond her, his expression off-guard. Confused, Velvet turned, too, and found them both faced with a horde of furious badniks.

“Oh dear,” Velvet sighed. Shade glanced backwards at the cliff face behind them. “Did we interrupt something?”

//.

Sonic knew everything had been taken from him. What used to be his friends were now mere shells of themselves on the other side of the screen. For days he watched them, intervening only when he needed to. He had discovered that his limited method of communication was somewhat useful in keeping Hog on track. This Power Ruby, whatever it was, could get his world back to him. He didn’t want to be trapped here any longer.

As the hedgehog sat and thought to himself, he registered the approach of someone new behind him. Fading in came the heavy footsteps of weighted shoes.

“Sonic.” Knuckles spoke sternly.

Sonic looked behind him, ears turned back. “Knuckles? Is that really you?”

“If you believe it is.”

Sonic looked him in the eye, then began to stand and face him. “I just want a straight answer. You-”

“You’re running out of time, Sonic.” Knuckles cut him off mid-sentence.

Sonic’s jaw hung open for a second. “Knuckles, I’m trying. I really am, but-”

“You’re not trying hard enough. You’re growing weaker. Softer.”

The hedgehog fixed Knuckles with a tired look. Knuckles did not acknowledge him. “They replaced you, Sonic. Because of your negligence, they took everything from you. Now you’re nothing but a burning memory, and you will soon be forgotten.”

A growl rose in Sonic’s throat. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m going to get out of here, I’ll prove it.”

“And how will you do that, Sonic?” Knuckles leaned in close. “How will you go about saving your world when you can’t even figure out how to speak through a screen?”

“...And I assume you’re going to help me with that?”

“Your sarcasm isn’t going to help you either,” Knuckles answered, pressing one spiked fist against Sonic’s chest. “Don’t waste time.”
Sonic caught sight of a smear of blood just above the echidna’s eyebrow; a blink and it was gone. Sonic didn’t think his eyes were fooling him. Why would they? This had to be some cruel trick of the void.

Pain filling his heart, he turned away, and that pain expanded out to his skin as he sat down facing the screen. He fixed his eyes on the floor’s reflected light. “Then what are you doing here?”

Knuckles cast sad eyes upon the hedgehog he’d called a friend. What was once a vibrant blue had grayed; skin had peeled; his eyes had sunken in. His teeth were beginning to show through cracks in his lips. A finely-oiled speed machine had become nothing more than an overgrown wreckage, cast away into an old junkyard and forgotten.

He turned away and walked into the darkness.

Chapter Text

Time and time again, Sonic tried to think of a way out. But he was stumped on what to do. Every day was a struggle to get through. To keep himself sane, Sonic went on runs, though they were brief; he couldn’t travel far, not while his body was breaking down. Some days he’d be curled over in feeble attempts to fend off the agony. Through the cracks in his skin seeped the void, poking little holes in his reason as it dug in deeper. And through those holes rang Knuckles’s words. Was this what it felt like to go mad?

On one such day, as Sonic clutched his stomach while Hog ran about on-screen, Eggman appeared at his side. “Ah, my old nemesis. Sonic the Hedgehog. Or at least, what’s left of him.”

Sonic did not take his eyes off of the screen, but one ear turned.

“Time is slowly draining away. But I’m sure you already knew that by now, hedgehog.”

Now Sonic’s head turned for an instant. Then he looked back at the screen.

Eggman began to pace behind him. “It’s a shame I never discovered this place. It would’ve made for such a wicked scheme. Sending you here and trapping you, maybe watching you lose your wits in the process. What a delight! Wouldn’t you agree?”

No reply. Eggman leaned over Sonic’s shoulder to get a look at the screen. On it, Hog high-fived Prowler, then ran off-screen as the act came to an end.

“You know, if I had to choose your worst aspect, besides the fact that you so often ruin my plans, it’d be that you always expect there to be some immediate answer. The world always did seem to lean in your favor, didn’t it? Such a shame this is where it left you.”

Sonic finally met Eggman’s eye, annoyed. Eggman chuckled. “No need for that look, rodent. Don’t you suspect that there’s more to all this than meets the eye? Have you even tried thinking outside of the box?”

The hedgehog’s gaze dropped to the floor, unsure of himself. He startled slightly as the music for the next act kicked back up.

“Mind you, I’m not worried about whether you get out of here. I think I’d quite enjoy watching you wither into nothing in this dark emptiness. But I’d expect more from the rat who’s been pestering me for years now. Or maybe that little blue devil behind the screen has already beaten you?”

Sonic cast his eyes back up to the screen, where Hog leapt atop a platform in what had once been Green Hill. He grabbed the hand of Prowler as the fox flew them up to a once-unreachable place.

“Isn’t it upsetting that you’re dying in here while they live in your place out there? That they stole your identity and fled? That they took your title as the hero of the story?”

Sonic’s expression saddened. Hog looked so happy, running about with his friend out there. That smile should’ve made him happy, too, but it didn’t. What was his was out there, behind a wall of plasma, and it had all left him behind.

“Face it, Sonic. You’re not running ahead in the race anymore. You’ve been left in the dust. Forgotten.”

Suddenly he whirled onto his feet. “And why should I believe you? Why should I take anything you’re saying to me right now as truth? You’re just messing with me like you always do. I’m never gonna let you get the best of me.”

“And yet…” - Eggman pointed at the screen - “It would seem somebody already has.”

Sonic hesitated. The screen glimmered behind him. He gently turned and placed his hand upon the screen. Behind it, Hog shuddered and fell against Prowler.

“Ignore me if you wish, but the fact still stands that you can’t even tell what’s real and what is fake.”

“Stop it. Stop messing with my head.”

“You’ve lost your way, Sonic. It’s quite obvious.”

“Quit it!” Sonic covered his ears, trying to block out the vile voice.

“And soon enough, you’ll cease to exist, just like the rest of us. In fact, I’d argue you’re not yourself anymore anyways.”

“Be QUIET!” Sonic shot around like a bullet and threw out his fist. It soared through Eggman’s body, and as Sonic fell through with it, Eggman’s form exploded into thin air. As the blue blur fell against the cold floor, realization struck him. He clutched his head. The skin tore beneath his tattered gloves.

“I’m not going crazy,” his voice whimpered. “I’m not.”

Sonic was not sure how long it had been. As time passed, the apparitions of those he’d loved became fewer and farther between. It wasn’t long before they stopped visiting at all. More than once he found himself staring into the screen, his expression empty. More than once he only barely lifted a finger to redirect Hog. Nothing felt quite worth doing anymore.

The creatures behind the screen had so much color in them, so much life. Sometimes he could almost see himself reflected in Hog’s eyes. Those were his friends, twisted into something he did not understand, but…

“Wait a minute.” Sonic’s eyes widened as he watched Strike and Hog leap into battle. “I think I get it. They’re still there.” He chuckled weakly. “My friends aren’t here with me. They’ve been stuffed away, in these new bodies. They’re trying to talk to me through these ghosts. Telling me how to get them back.”

Sonic fell back and began to laugh, a wretched, empty noise. “I can get them out. ALL OF THEM! Hog can’t have them all to himself. He… he can’t keep them hypnotized any longer!”

He lunged up and grabbed the screen, garnering a cry from the tenrec. Strike glided into the nearest wall and looked down at him with concern.

“CAN YOU HEAR ME?! You don’t get to keep them all to yourself! I’ll show you what it feels like to be all alone. I’ll destroy your world with my own two hands!”

Hog trembled, gripping his ears, and fell to his knees. The fight screeched to a halt as the other two ran up to check on him. Sonic couldn’t hear them over the ringing in his ears.

“You can’t get rid of me. You can’t throw me to the side and take everything I love. I WON’T LET YOU.”

Sonic released his grasp, manic, and slammed his fists into the ground. The sound of cracking bones resonated through the air.

“I WILL NOT BE REPLACED!”

//.

Prowler, to put it lightly, was very worried about his friend.

Hog had been acting strangely ever since Yolkman had first challenged them. It had started out so simple; Hog had forgotten many things, but he’d acted just like he always had. Then he began to become uneasy, and gradually started to turn back from any side venture. He could not explain what was going on at the time, and neither could Prowler. But what was happening now was unlike anything Prowler had ever seen. Now, he couldn’t go far without a rest. He kept shivering and losing his balance, even screaming, and at night Prowler would sometimes hear him cry. Prowler had spent countless evenings with his portable laptop, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. A concerning amount of results told Prowler it might be possession.

“Hey, Prowler?”

The scarlet fennec looked up as Hog called his name. Tonight they had decided to camp with Strike when their battle had been cut short by another of Hog’s outbursts. Within the old, crumbling temple, the three of them had constructed a makeshift tent. Prowler had promised to trade lookout duty with Strike tonight so the porcupine could get some quality sleep.

“What’s up?” Prowler tilted his head. Hog wasn’t usually awake at this hour.

“I can’t sleep. This whole headache thing is killing me tonight.” Hog rubbed his temples as he sat up against the cloth wall.

“Yeah, I bet. You got it pretty rough today.” Prowler gingerly put down the laptop, trying to avoid shrouding them all in darkness. On his opposite side, Strike shifted in his sleep. “Do you… want to just talk?”

“Nah, that’s not my style. I don’t want to wake up grouchy over there.” Hog jutted a thumb towards Strike. “I’d rather go out for a walk.”

“Not a run?”

“Nope. It’d be nice to take it easy while this headache’s easing up.”

“Wow, you seem awfully concerned about safety.” Prowler glanced over as Strike growled. The fox lowered his voice. “Let’s get going.”

Hog nodded, taking Prowler’s hand as they crawled out from under the tent’s overhang.

Through the crumbling stone roof of the temple, a starry night sky dimly lit the world. They picked through flattened grass patches and overgrown debris, and soon they found their way out of the worn engravings and onto the grassy rise. Prowler stepped back, lifting a hand to allow Hog to take the lead. Hog smiled appreciatively at him and began to walk in a random direction. Prowler was close at his heels.

It was quiet out here. The night air was crisp, billowing against Hog’s quills and piercing Prowler’s sensitive nose. The cold sent a few sniffles into the atmosphere, nothing the pair couldn’t handle. The sound of crickets was only interrupted by crunching grass and the animals around them as they roamed.

“So…” Prowler began. “Things have been crazy.”

“Yeah, they have. I honestly don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this.”

“Do you think it could be because of the Power Rubies? Like, they’re sending a distress signal?”

Hog thought for a moment. “I don't know. This has been happening all over, even outside Highrise Hill.” He paused and tapped his foot. “I don’t get it. I feel like it’s a voice, but...”

Prowler couldn’t respond for a long moment, perpetuating an awkward silence. Hog studied Prowler’s uncomfortable stance for a long moment, then shook himself out, allowing his quills to rise in response to the cold. “But hey, don’t psych yourself out about it! We’ll figure out what’s going on. The night’s pretty chilly, eh?”

“...Do you think it’s possession?”

“What?”

“You keep saying it sounds like a voice.” Prowler began to walk alongside Hog again. “And I know you’ve been really freaked out recently. I don’t know if it’s safe to go for the Rubies until we know for sure whatever it is isn’t related to them.”

Now it was Hog who looked uncomfortable. Prowler looked down at the floor. They continued on in silence.

“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“No, it’s fine. This is pretty serious. I guess I’d know, huh?” Hog laughed, placed a hand behind his neck. “We’ll figure it out.”

Prowler lifted his gaze to the sky. Above him, the stars winked. He recognized Corvus’s luminous wings.

“Yeah. I hope so.”

//.

Sonic sat, bleary-eyed, against the floor. Whatever trace of himself was left had been ebbed away by the tide of time. He wasn’t sure how long it had been. The same thoughts lingered in his mind. The need to get rid of his impersonator, to fix his world, to return to his old life. His focus had narrowed to nothing beyond it. He would make it so. By any means necessary, he would see this through.

As he sat and watched the screen, the light of the rising sun drew his eye. Sonic noticed a black bar hovering not far overhead. It reflected an odd display into his eyes: Sonic sitting in the same position he did now, as if from a lower angle. He tilted his head, and the Sonic on the display’s tilted with him.

This must be the view from the barrier. It was right beneath him.

At the same time as his realization, Hog’s eyes lit, and he tapped Prowler’s shoulder. He pointed offscreen, and the camera followed, revealing a Power Ruby resting atop a broken-down pillar. Tails’s words flashed through his mind. This was it. Sonic pulled himself to his feet with some effort.

This was his chance to free himself from this hell. All Sonic had to do was break through to the other side.

Sonic’s fists struck the ground, one punch at a time. Pain shot through his wrists with every hit.

Thud. Thud. Thud. The floor began to crack. Hog drew closer to the Ruby. Prowler called out, trying to stop him.

Thud, thud, snap. Sonic yelled as one of the bones in his left arm broke. Hog winced.

Crack, crack, crack. The bones in his other arm did not handle the same pressure, even as the breaks in the barrier became more and more visible.

“Come on.” Sonic forced himself to stand. His arms hung loosely at his sides. Hog shook himself off and kept going as Sonic reared up to stomp on the fractured ground. “Break! Break, damnit!”

Sonic and Hog both leapt, their goals far different.

Shatter! Sonic’s final landing sent him howling through the floor and into the clouds. As he fell, he struggled to right himself. Below he saw Hog, reaching out for the Power Ruby. Gasping, Sonic reached out too. As he fell closer to the pillar, his hand touched something cold, and the world went white.

SONIC has collected a Power Ruby!

Chapter Text

Rolling off the pillar and into the grass, Sonic could only feel the sensation of soft earth below him. Gone was the pain of the rot he’d endured for so long. Cold air punched into his lungs, filling him with raw energy. As he spun to a stop, Sonic laughed with pure breathless ecstasy and opened his eyes. It was all over.

Except the face peering down at his sprawled body had scarlet and white fur. Those eyes were the wrong shade of green. This fennec fox had no tails.

“Hog, are you alright? You hit that pillar really hard.”

“What?” Sonic sat up. These legs weren’t his. They were all too dark. His hands, he realized as he lifted them, were far too small. “My name isn’t…”

He clambered to his feet. His shoes were black. His tail was longer than he remembered. He was far furrier than he thought he was.

“No. No, no. This is all wrong! What happened to my body?!” Sonic’s hands curled into fists. His plan had worked, but not how he’d intended it to. This body wasn’t his. It belonged to Hog.

“Hog? Are… are you okay?”

Sonic froze. This was Prowler. But his voice wasn’t.

“Hog…?”

“Tails, are you in there? Can you hear me?”

Prowler’s eyes widened. He lowered into a defensive stance. “Who… who’s Tails?”

Confusion burst over Sonic’s heart. He took a step forward. “Tails, it’s me, buddy. Don’t you know who I am?”

“Hog, you’re acting weird. I shouldn’t have let you touch the Ruby.”

“The Ruby? Oh, don’t worry, I’ve never felt better. But you… you’re supposed to…”

Sonic looked at Prowler, hapless. Tails should’ve known him. Tails would never play dumb. Whoever this was, they’d taken some part of him. Sorrow took him over. “I’ll get you out of there, lil’ bro.”

Prowler felt a shudder pass through him. “Hog, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you need to come back to the warehouse with me.” Against his better judgement, the fox padded forward and laid a hand on his shoulder. “I need to study the effects of the Ruby while it’s-”

“GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!” Sonic’s voice rose to a shrill cry. Rapidly he grabbed a hold of Prowler’s throat and lifted him into the air. Prowler let out a choking noise, smacking Sonic’s hand with his own. “Please, you have to remember! I know you’re in there, Tails!”

“Gh- What’re you- talking about-?!” Prowler thrashed in his grip.

“Please, don’t leave me like this. Don’t leave me alone. Please, please…” Sonic’s voice broke into incoherent sobs, and his grip tightened.

“H-Hog, I can’t… breathe. Please… p-please st…op…” Prowler’s efforts grew weaker. The light began to fade from his eyes as he slowly stopped clawing at Hog’s hands. As Sonic cried, he noticed his vision growing blurry. He began to detach from reality, and before he could see the results of his efforts, his hands were empty, and he was faced with a screen.

//.

“Gack- whuh?”

Hog blinked, and suddenly Prowler was gasping for air in his hands. He yelped and immediately let go, making his friend limply fall to the ground. Prowler backed away as soon as he struck the ground, wheezing and grasping his bruised neck. His eyes were wild with terror.

Prowler pressed himself against the wall as Hog tried to step closer. “G-Get away from me!”

“Prowler, what happened?! Are you okay?!”

“Am I okay?! You were just strangling me!” Prowler hoarsely yelped. “What’s gotten into you?!”

“I… I was? I’m so sorry- I didn’t mean it- um-” Hog tried to lean down to check on Prowler’s wounds. The fennec fox swiped at his face, growling. “Hey, woah! I’m confused too! I just blinked, and suddenly… I don’t know what happened.”

Prowler looked into his eyes for a long moment, his snarl easing. “Well…” he coughed harshly as he got up. Hog stopped himself from reaching to support him. “Whatever it was, it doesn’t excuse you from almost taking my head off. But it does confirm one of my theories.”

“I’m sorry.” Hog cast his gaze to the floor, ashamed of what he couldn’t even remember. They remained like that for a long moment.

Then a loud beep sounded in their ears. A gruff voice broke through the speaker. “Where are you two?” called the porcupine. “You’re supposed to be on watch here.”

“Sorry, Strike! We got sidetracked.” Prowler’s voice cracked as he spoke. “But we found a Power Ruby. We’re on the way back.”

A second beep signaled that Strike had turned off his microphone. Hog looked up again. “Well… we might as well get going. Should- can we keep this between us?”

“If it’s anything to go by, no. I’ve got a few tests I need to run.”

Hog’s ears turned back. Oh well. Not all things could end happily. “Then let’s go.”

Prowler nodded and ran ahead of Hog towards the home trail. Hog followed close at his heels.

//.

The tears rolling down Sonic’s face wouldn’t dry up. He stared blurry-eyed at the screen once more, recoiling from the shock, the sorrow within him welling up into fury and helplessness. Sonic curled up into a ball, a scream clawing its way out of his throat.

“No, no, NO! Why am I back here?!” The void had no answer. It closed in on him with invisible claws that pressed into his throat. His breath stuttered. “I almost had it, I- I could’ve-”

And then he paused. A faint blue glow lit his left side. Hesitantly, he uncurled, just enough to catch a glimpse of a blue Ruby floating above the ground. This was it. He’d gone insane. It was nothing more than pixels, really, his own mind showing him how close he’d gotten. But yet, something about the way its glow reflected off of the world around it felt too real. Sonic curled up again, waiting for it to disappear.

When it did not, he found himself slowly standing up. There it was, so close he could almost touch it. But as his hesitant steps became stronger and he approached it, the Ruby began to float upwards. Away it went, spiraling up and out of sight. Sonic’s heart began to sink. As it had many times before, anger bubbled up from the depths, and Sonic lifted a foot to stomp down on the glassy surface below. His foot instead landed on soft grass.

Below him, a piece of the shattered landscape had slid to catch him. Bits of dirt crumbled where Sonic’s foot had made impact, but the grass had held itself up quite well. His eyes flashed with curiosity, and in a moment of faith, Sonic took another step into the thin air. Again, a piece of the land caught him, bearing the marble of a watery maze. Sonic began to walk up the spiral, following the Ruby as it soared just ahead. Again and again, chunks of the land in many sizes came to aid his ascent. The blue light of the Ruby reflected off each surface, sand and metal and grass and leaves, and Sonic followed it, eyes locked on his prize-to-be.

Not long after Sonic’s legs had begun to ache from all the climbing, he noticed something odd being constructed above his head; an arch of stones and marble scraps, as if it were mimicking the frame of a gateway. It lifted itself weightlessly into place atop a patch of striped grass. As the gateway completed itself, the Ruby slowed, eventually easing to a stop in its midst. Sonic’s legs began to buckle, but he pushed through, and eventually he stood upon the same platform, reaching out to take the Ruby into his emaciated hands.

“Look at you,” Sonic sighed lovingly. “Just the thing I need at a time like this. We’ll get everyone out of here someday. I can feel it.”

Just out of the corner of his eye, Sonic saw movement. His ears turned to the right just before his head did, and he found himself looking into the dead eyes of his old partner. There he was again, the picture of the little brother he’d grown up alongside, not a hair out of place.

Sonic’s eyes dimmed as he turned to fully face Tails the fox. “I’ll get you out of here, buddy.”

A forlorn expression crossed Tails’s face, brightening his tired grape-green eyes, and then he turned away and walked off the platform. He did not fall, however; he simply stepped out onto the nothingness. Without a word spoken, Sonic could feel the sorrow emanating from the movement. Clarity brought the hedgehog to the realization of what he had done, if only for a moment. The little fox padded off with ears low and vanished one more time into the darkness.

He stared after Tails for a long time. He wasn’t sure how long. It could’ve only been seconds or hours or days, and his feelings wouldn’t have shifted. But then something tilted in Sonic’s head, the last remaining whispers of sanity he had left, and it all went out with a tiny “heh.” And that sound grew louder and more fervent, growing into a chuckle and then a laugh, and then the floor was crumbling out from under him as he cackled, clutching the Ruby close while the grass’s code melted away. Thus he fell, laughing maniacally the whole way until tears streamed down his face, the Ruby clutched to his chest like it might vanish if he loosened his grip.

So when he hit the ground below, he hardly even noticed when he could barely move. The shock passed through his bones and out through his voice as it crumbled just like the grass below his feet.

As his breath came in ragged gasps, Sonic caught glimpses of the world through Hog’s eyes. Pictures of entering a ruined temple, of Hog nearly falling as Prowler rushed forward to support him, of the tenrec sitting down in a raggedy tent, rushed through Sonic’s mind. He could swear Hog was breathing just as hard as he was, even as his breath withered into long, deep cycles. Even as he pressed a hand to his chest to steady himself. Even as he curled himself miserably back into a ball to make the world stop shifting, closing his eyes into the same nothingness… but this time with a blue glow lighting his chest.

//.

Prowler ran every test he could think of. Hog saw himself attached to nodes, placing the Ruby in a sterile container filled with strange chemicals, put to every machine and newly-tinkered invention the fennec could possibly conjure, and yet they couldn’t figure out just what the problem was. Strike’s temple had slowly but surely become a laboratory. Hog watched his friend agonize over it for days, and he couldn’t help but let the frustration take hold of him, too. He sincerely wished with every hair on his body that he could help, that he could figure out what was wrong with him or the Ruby.

Plus, like it or not, they were running out of time. Yolkman’s efforts hadn’t ceased, despite Strike’s persistent protection of the second Ruby they’d discovered on the other side of the island. So when Yolkman’s forces increased and Prowler began to worry he had found another, the pair had no choice but to collect their second Ruby. Hog’s vision flickered again as they did.

Sonic peered through the eyes of a stranger into the home he once loved.

When it eventually came time to clean up, Strike seemed more than eager to see them off, packing away whatever equipment was in reach to get his living space back to normal. Watching the porcupine hurriedly usher the pair out the door was enough to distract Hog from everything that had happened, even for a moment. He was back to his old self as they boxed things up and took things apart, joking and laughing like nothing ever happened. He caught Prowler looking at him with wistful eyes. For now, everything was okay.

“Thanks for letting us crash here, Strike,” Hog said as they finally hoisted the last of their cargo into Prowler’s airplane. “Do you think the Twister’s gonna be able to hold all of this stuff?”

“The Twister’s been through worse! It’ll be okay,” Prowler laughed.

“I wish you two well on your journey,” Strike offered as he leaned against a wall. “And I hope you recover quickly, Hog.”

Hog leaned around Prowler to shut the airplane’s door with a sigh. “I do too.”

The zone was silent for a long moment.

Then, flicking his holographic tails up, Prowler swept around the side of the Twister and leapt up into the driver’s seat. “We should get going.”

“Yeah,” came Hog’s terse answer. He turned his gaze up to the stacked wings of the plane; bunching up his legs, he jumped onto the lower of the pair. His gaze flickered again, and he caught himself on a support beam just in time. Hog leaned into it for support. Surely this would end soon.

Below his feet, the engine of the plane roared to life. Hog sat down, dangling his legs off the edge, and watched as Prowler pulled on a pair of goggles from the storage unit under his seat. A quick thumbs-up flashed between the two of them signaled an a-okay, and then the Twister was rolling forward, and with a bit of a start it tilted up into the atmosphere. Hog glanced over his shoulder long enough to watch Strike wave them a farewell.

The flight to Stonepath was tense and silent. The wind whipped away any conversation that could’ve been made, but while it may have been the cold chill, Hog could see Prowler’s fur puffing up against the wind. He understood what the fennec was feeling. Even with everything happening, they both knew that Yolkman wouldn’t let up with his plans. This wouldn’t be over until they’d taken every last Ruby from him… and who knew what would happen when they did.
Hog wrapped his arms around the pole he leaned against. He wished this wasn’t his burden to bear.

Chapter Text

Stonepath was a small, simple place. It was easy to find, tucked beneath grass that grew just too tall amongst pillars that rose twice as high as the Mobians that passed them by. Its walls were a light shade of purple, and many spots were covered with vines in various stages of life. It wasn’t short on traps, either; it was quite well-fortified. Fire traps and heavy spike plates were laid randomly throughout the area. Hog and Prowler both nearly ended up impaled several times, and by the time they had reached the end of the first act, Prowler’s ear tips were singed.

Occasionally Sonic would get to see into the chaos. He had started to take time away from the screen. He got to see plenty through the eyes of the captor.
As they reached the end of the next act, Hog felt that familiar prod inside his skull. The whisper of something tapping the chalkboard it had long ago raked its hellish nails down. He had tried to trod the wrong path, he knew. Whatever was forcing this upon him had returned. Was this way unsafe, or was it so determined to get to this next Ruby that it had to keep Hog on the straight and narrow? Hog’s feet swerved to take him down the alternate path he’d seen about a meter back. He brushed past Prowler as he moved, eyes turned to the ground. He almost couldn’t bear it when he saw the white light of the next Power Ruby illuminate his shoes.

Prowler peeked through the doorway behind him, casting a long shadow into the room. “Hog…” He hesitated, voice concerned. “You… you don’t have to take this one, ya know. I can take it for you.”

Hog opened his mouth to speak.

And then a crashing wave of agonizing pain speared through his eyes. He stumbled forward while his balance wavered, pushing a hand hard into his forehead. He fell against the pillar, nose centimeters away from the Ruby. His lip curled into a grimace as he pushed himself back and fell down to the stone.

“Woah!” Prowler ran into the room, crouching down beside Hog as he screwed his eyes shut. “Are you okay?!”

“Urgh,” went Hog, and at that he heard his friend get up solemnly.

“Oh, Gaia, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you with me.” The cool cloth of Prowler’s glove pressed gently against his forehead. “I can take this one, okay? Just try to relax.”

The blue tenrec didn’t have the energy to argue. Every time he opened his eyes, they were dazzled by white light. The only thing breaking it up was the shadow of his large-eared friend reaching out to the source.

When he opened his eyes again, he stood in the midst of an unfamiliar space. The room was dingy and covered in vines and old mud, along with some churned earth here and there. Prowler, with a new scrape wound above his right eye, stood between him and a hole in the far wall. A bright streak of blood was smeared against the stone.

“Prowler!” Hog yelped, rushing towards Prowler and grabbing him by the shoulders. “Are you okay?! Did I- did someone- did they hurt you?!”

As he looked frantically into Prowler’s eyes, he realized they reflected confusion. “Uh? No, I’m okay. I think I just took that spindash too fast. Geez, I hope nobody lives here…” Prowler glanced over his shoulder.

Hog paused. His ears turned back. “But you’re bleeding! And I don’t know where we are…”

Hog let go of Prowler and walked around him, casting a worried glance at the blood streak. He stepped partway out of the hole and looked out into a completely different area of Stonepath. He could see the broken pieces of a Caterkiller strewn nearby. His quills began to rise as he turned back to Prowler, who looked more puzzled by the second.

“How… how long was I out for?”

Horror began to dawn in Prowler’s expression. He took a hesitant step forward, reaching out a hand. “Oh, no. I thought you were acting differently, but I assumed it was the migraine. I thought me taking it would help…”

Hog felt his steadying arm begin to tremble. His breath quickened as the pieces fell together. “Oh, Gaia. I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

Prowler froze in place. “Hog…?”

“You noticed, too, didn't you? Whatever this thing is, it’s been possessing me. And I don’t know what’s going to happen when I get the next Ruby, but it’s not even going to matter, because no matter who takes it I am still going to die. And I can’t even do anything about it.” Hog choked. “You won’t even notice when I disappear.”

Prowler leapt forward to wrap his arms around his brother. “I would never, ever let that happen to you,” Prowler promised. “You’ll come back, and when you do, I’m gonna be there. You won’t be alone.”

As he crumbled into Prowler’s arms, tears flowing freely down his snout, Hog thought he heard a little voice in the back of his head.

Not like this.

//.

A solemn air drifted through the room as Hog and Prowler stood in front of their next Ruby. Like the others, it sat glistening atop a carved stone pedestal. Its green light was not enough to overpower the sunlight filtering through the open ceiling, but it did cast odd shadows and reflections off the area around it.

Hog had been blacking out more frequently since the last Ruby. There was a sinking feeling growing in his chest now as he looked on.

Prowler reached forward and laid a hand atop the tenrec’s shoulder. “Whatever happens,” he promised, “I’ll be there.”

Hog opened his eyes to a dark, unfamiliar expanse where chunks of earth floated through the sky.

//.

The journey back to Highrise Hill was a long trip. Hog and Prowler had to clamber up old, collapsed walls and wander through labyrinth-like pathways with the sound of water dripping just behind the bronze concrete. Prowler felt his fur rise every time they passed by a particularly thin wall. He wanted nothing more than to get out of here.

Hog, on the other hand, seemed oddly okay with all of this. He hadn’t been acting too unusually since they had collected their fourth Ruby, but Prowler had been fooled before. There was a certain glint behind his friend’s black eyes that hadn’t been there for a long time.

Past the Bronze Maze was Stonepath, where they’d packed the Twister all of Prowler’s cargo into a backup storage unit, and then an odd greenish zone where the floor was made of metal. They had never come up with a name for it, but Prowler remembered the shiny material reflecting starlight the night they’d camped there. In the days that they took to make it back home, Hog and Prowler ended up with a fifth Ruby in their possession. As Hog took it into his hands, Prowler noticed a gleeful expression on his face. Even the fur on his holographic tails stood at the sight.

Not far from the border to Highrise Hill, Prowler felt he’d noticed enough incongruencies to speak up. Fidgeting with his toolbelt to steady himself, the tailless fennec sped up to match the pace of his old friend. “Hog, are you feeling okay?”

Hog glanced over. “Yeah. Just been feeling a bit under the weather, I guess. I’ll live. I just want to find these Rubies and get Yolkman out of our fur.”

“But that’s what we’ve been doing almost non-stop! I can’t remember a time in the whole trip back where you weren’t getting into every corner you could see. I think we could use a break. If Yolkman pulls ahead, I can always throw something together to slow him down. I’m just worried about you.”

“Prowler, stop. I’m okay,” Hog asserted sternly.

“Are you sure? You were so worried before. Honestly speaking, I think we really need to ease up on this whole--”

“I said I’m FINE!” Hog spat, stopping in his tracks. “If we don’t get this done, we let Eggman win! I’m not gonna let that egghead get another one up on me!”

Prowler raised his hands harmlessly. Hog glared into his eyes for what felt like half an hour, black eyes burning holes in his face, until he finally turned and began to speed off into a run. Prowler stared after him, reeling from the shock, then shook himself out and took the conversation in.

There was that slip he’d been waiting on. Turning his belt up to three tails, Prowler sped off after what remained of the Dust Devil.

When they finally arrived, Prowler offered up his warehouse for the pair to rest in. He very quickly lost his bed to a particularly worn-out tenrec, and so he used the sleeping bag he’d kept in a closet to keep himself warm while he waited to hear Hog’s signature snoring. Fighting the drowsiness off of his own fur, Prowler slipped out from the sheets. He had work to do.

Whatever had control of Hog’s body, it clearly wanted the Power Rubies. He could only assume it had something to do with Hog’s Super form, even if he wasn’t sure what. There was one thing he was certain of, though: Hog would have only used it to defeat Yolkman. This thing that was so obsessed with its power was not his friend at all.

Even stranger, it had mentioned a name he’d never heard when it had snapped at him earlier. This Eggman character wasn’t someone he recognized, but they must have something to do with Yolkman if they came up in the conversation. Were they responsible for scattering the Rubies like this? Was this body-squatter working with them? Questions floated through Prowler’s head, all important but ultimately unanswerable - and, as of the current moment, unimportant. Prowler cleared out a spot on his busy work table. If this thing was so focused on harnessing the Rubies’ power, he would make sure it was impossible to use it. All he needed was something to nullify that energy.

In the unfinished basement beneath the warehouse, Prowler placed one of their collected Rubies on the ground. All night he had been tinkering and playing with different materials strewn about in his workshop, and now, after all those sleepless hours, he’d finally made a breakthrough. It was a risky maneuver with Not-Hog so close by, but with layers of earth between them, the sleeping tenrec wouldn’t be awakened. At least, not if luck was on his side…

The weapon he’d invented was a fairly lightweight handgun painted in uneven coats of purple and orange. The gun sat comfortably in the palm of his glove as he checked the little indicator light - green, good - and lifted its barrel towards the iridescent blue stone. Releasing a slow breath, he lined up the sights and squeezed the trigger.

BANG! The shot echoed against insulated concrete. A blast of bright light exploded from the barrel on a course for the Ruby. Its issuer aggressively kicked back against Prowler’s hand, forcing the fennec fox to stumble. Prowler grimaced and covered his eyes with his free arm. As the light faded against his fur, he lifted it away, lowering his gun to see the results of his efforts.

There, on the ground, sat the unharmed stone. Its sheen was noticeably duller. Cautiously, Prowler picked up the reader he’d brought down and aimed it at the Ruby.

Nothing. The Power Ruby was just about as useful now as a regular gemstone. Smiling despite himself, Prowler scooped up the Ruby and hurried away up the stairs. The light of sunrise greeted him as he poked his head through the doors. Perfect timing. Prowler scurried back inside the warehouse, dropping the Ruby in its container and then slipping into his sleeping bag. He silently prayed Hog wouldn’t notice the change.

//.

The light of the sun behind Sonic’s eyelids gently roused him from sleep. Only a few days had passed since that light first awoke him. He couldn’t express how much he had missed its warmth.

Sonic got out of bed with his back to the light and bent down beside Prowler’s slumbering form.

“Alright, Prowler, it’s time to get up.” He nudged the fox with his foot, earning him a groan of complaint. “We have Rubies to find.”

Sonic pulled on his gloves as Prowler pulled himself out of sleep and put on his shoes while his younger companion brushed out his fur. Seemed like he was moving a bit slower this morning than usual. No matter; Sonic was only going to drag him along if he wasn’t going to cooperate. They needed each other.

The first thing they noticed as they arrived at the dig site Prowler had located was a swarm of badniks. The ugly robots clicked along the ground, beeping at one another and scouring the earth with unusual beams of cyan light. The ground itself was a mess of holes and dirty heaps, and Sonic could see where some of the stronger-built badniks were drilling or digging into the earth.

Sonic ducked as one passed over their scouting spot, flinging out one arm to push Prowler out of the path. “Not good,” he murmured.

“Yolkman must’ve sent boltnik scouting teams to inspect the area for Rubies,” Prowler observed over Sonic’s shoulder.

“Then we oughta bust ‘em before they bust us,” Sonic said. “I’ll handle these guys.”

“That’s an awful lot of robots, though! It might be better for us to plan this one out and- ookay.”

//.

Before Prowler could utter another word, Hog was already gone, barrelling full-force into the first of many startled bots. Prowler watched raptly as the agile tenrec bounced off of every surface, tearing through boltniks with incredible speed. Occasionally, Hog would pop out of his whirlwind to throw an exhilarated laugh - the same one he’d used just seconds before wrapping his claws around Prowler’s throat - and spinning right back into it. In only minutes, what used to be a minefield of scouts they’d usually sneak past had become nothing but a field of metal and debris. When the breathless tenrec finally stopped his destruction, he was grinning and covered in dirt. There was a cyan Ruby clutched in his hands.

Prowler’s composure crumbled a bit at the face of his old friend. He had to get this intruder out of his body.

Staying low, Prowler crept out of their hiding spot, flicking his tail on. His eyes remained trained on the tenrec as he began to giggle, unmoving but for the shaking in his shoulders.

He could hear Hog’s voice as the thing spoke. “Yes! I finally have them all! Let’s see if these are as powerful as I remember!”

Prowler’s eyes widened as Hog’s closed and the Rubies laid out around him began to spin into the air. The Rubies began to glow faintly as Hog lifted his arms, looking more ecstatic by the moment. Prowler crossed his fingers behind his back. As the tenrec stretched his arms to the sky, the Rubies rose with him… and then clattered down onto the grass.

Hog’s eyes snapped open. “No! Why didn’t they work?!” Hog grasped at the nearest Ruby, lifting it to his eye. Prowler’s hand reached for something different. “It can’t end like this! Maybe I just have to try again.”

Prowler pulled a blaster from his toolbelt and fired it at the tenrec.

Hog’s head tilted as he heard the blast and he leapt out of the way, quills spiking up. “Watch where you’re firing that!”

“I know what I’m aiming for, you fake!” Prowler spat. “Give Hog back his body!”

The thing’s eyes narrowed in fury. It wheeled into a spindash and shot towards the fox - Prowler was against the ground before he could react. A gasp escaped his throat as the thing pushed his head into the dirt. He thrashed about furiously in the larger tenrec’s grip.

“You figured it out, huh? You really are just as clever as Tails.”

There was that name again. “Wh-who-”

Hog pushed a knee against Prowler’s throat. “You don’t get to take his body any longer, either,” he growled. “Give me back my brother and you get to live!”
The air forced out of his throat, Prowler could only struggle for the blaster he’d lost in the flurry. He reached out as far as he could, tugging in the handle by the tips of his fingers. He felt the anger of his opponent intensify as the weapon slid towards him. The weight of Hog’s knee crushed down on his neck, garnering an odd choking noise from the fennec fox. His muscles strained as he reached harder for his weapon, but Hog’s force acted as a pin, driving him into that one spot. Leaning seemed impossible to pull off. His survival instincts kicked in, urging him to defend himself. Prowler suddenly whirled to start smacking Hog off him as darkness vignetted his vision.

Somewhere in the blurring edges of his hearing, he caught a snort of disgust.

Fury surged into his heart. Prowler reared back and kicked with as much force as he could. Hog went soaring off of the scarlet fennec, slamming hard into the wall behind him. Prowler shot into a sitting position, gulping air into his lungs. He only allowed himself enough time to hear a pained groan from behind him before he spun to grab his blaster and scrambled to his feet.

“Let Hog go,” he growled hoarsely.

Hog’s body grinned wickedly at him as it picked itself up from the ground. “Go ahead. Shoot me. Your friend is here with me, too. I’m sure he’d love returning to a corpse.”

“He won’t.” Prowler tugged the slide on the top of the gun. “I figured out where your power is coming from. I can take all of that Power energy out of you with one shot. Whatever you are, you won’t have a hold on Hog any longer. So what’ll it be? Your way or mine?”

Prowler pushed the barrel against the thing’s chest. It raised its hands, back against the wall.

And then it suddenly shoved Prowler aside and dodged out of the line of fire. Prowler left a scorch mark on an empty wall. Howling in anger, he began to fire rapidly, trailing Hog with wild balls of energy. The tenrec ran up a nearby wall at a speed he’d never seen before, but this time he was ready and dodged when Not-Hog leapt at him. He landed a hard blow to its back as it roared past. It fell face-first into the dirt and sprang back up, wheeling around for a punch to match.

The two exchanged blows, ducking and weaving and snapping at one another. Prowler learned very quickly that the imposter may have been clever and quick, but it had no idea how to handle Hog’s body weight, often overshooting or unbalancing itself and allowing Prowler free hits. But despite his skill in combat, he couldn’t avoid a few scratches of his own. Both scarlet and blue fur littered the battlefield.

It wasn’t long before the tenrec was overpowered. Its breath came in heaving gasps; its shoulders began to sink. Prowler stood above it, eyes narrow. He pressed the barrel on the slumped creature’s forehead. “You don’t even know what you’re doing. Ready to give up now?”

The fake didn’t respond for a long moment. Then he burst up with one fist, jettisoning it directly into Prowler’s jaw. His teeth crunched against one another as he fell back. Prowler scrambled away, touching his sore nose. His glove came away with blood. He spat a fang onto the greenery below. Trails of blood scored the earth.

//.

“Seems like those Power Rubies do something after all.” Sonic felt power surging through his veins. It reminded him so fondly of his old Super form. Those yellow quills flashed into his mind, reminding him of everything he’d lost.

He focused his eyes on the scarlet fox before him. Prowler couldn’t hold Tails captive forever. He broke into a sprint, flames flaring up in his wake. Prowler gasped in shock and fumbled for the dial on his belt. His lightformed tail split in two, and as he tried to lift off the ground, Sonic got a hold of his leg and flung him back into the floor. Prowler yelped in marbled surprise and pain as the blaster spun away from his hand. Training his eyes on the device in frenzied desperation, Sonic scrambled towards it.

//.

Behind him, Prowler kneeled down, splitting his tails into nine. The weight of the new tails was heavy. Prowler sincerely hoped that’d mean a harder hit.
“C’mon, Prowler. You can do this.” He let out a slow breath and curled into himself. He focused hard on what he’d seen - kicked against the ground and gritted his teeth as the grass bit into his fur - and kept pushing himself until he heard the familiar vree-vree-vree of an impending spindash. Behind him, his tails began to spin, adding the extra weight of all that air pressure, until suddenly he propelled himself forward with incredible speed and arrowed directly into the imposter’s side. His right hand whipped out to scoop up the blaster as he spun out of the attack to watch Not-Hog skid across the ground.

His left hand turned the dial back down to three tails, and he took off into the air, firing three shots at Hog’s winded body. It hopped up suddenly and dashed into the arc of a hill. Prowler followed its trail up platforms as it sprang ever higher, leaping above Prowler’s head and flinging one leg down. Prowler reached up and caught it, throwing Not-Hog into a wall far below. The force kicked up a massive dust cloud; he could hear Hog’s body coughing hard against the rocky surface.

Prowler slowly began to float down towards the ground. Something pinged in his mind - there was the pressure of the communicator in his ear. Prowler reached up and pushed down the button on it as his feet touched the ground, training his eyes on the spot where Not-Hog sat behind the dust.

“Strike, come in.” His voice was ragged but authoritative.

“Prowler? What’s going on? You sound like-”

“There’s no time to talk! Something’s taken over Hog’s body. I don’t know what it is, but it’s strong and it’s fast. I need you to contact anyone you can. Mobius isn’t safe anymore.”

By the time the dust had cleared, Not-Hog was gone. Prowler felt an incredible force barrel into his back. He dug his feet into the ground, sliding in an arc as the faker fell back and kneeled down with ragged breaths. Prowler felt his own breath explode out of his chest, and he wobbled slightly despite the adrenaline coursing in his blood.

“You’re… pretty tough, eh?” The thing gasped. “I’m surprised you can build a weapon like that. Even… even I didn’t know about that whole Ruby energy thing. I guess… that’s what makes you like my lil’ bro… even if you aren’t the same. You couldn’t understand how I feel like he can.” It laughed weakly.

“Look, I don’t know who this Tails character is that you’re talking about, but he seems like he wouldn’t stick with you. You seem insufferable to live with.”

Its eyes widened in rage. A snarl wrinkled its muzzle. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No, I really don’t. But I know enough from just watching you go. You’re awfully obsessive.”

The thing hesitated at that. Its eyes roved over Prowler’s beaten-yet-proud stance. This fennec fox, this body-stealing thief, was staring him directly in the eyes, and all he could see there was contempt.

“You’re nothing like him,” Sonic whispered.

“Maybe not. But great minds do think alike. He probably meant to leave your side a long time ago, what with the violent streaks.”

Prowler watched the thing. It was still but tense, poised like a perfect statue. Its face began to calm. Hog’s body stared at him with black eyes. Icicles pierced Prowler’s heart. He gently reached for his blaster.

The tenrec shot at him like a bullet. Prowler shot a bullet at the tenrec. The world slowed to mere pixelated frames.

The forest was beautiful this time of year. Beyond the debris and the oil and the blood, the ground was striped in beautiful greens, orderly rows of peaceful plants swaying in the wind. Birds twittered solemnly in the trees, ushering their young into the depths of the branches. The light of the sunset began to shine through rolling black clouds. The sound of the waterfall was a bubbling melody in the distance.

Suddenly, if one listened, they could hear something.

Though faint, the presence was undeniable.

Tiny little droplets falling, one after the other, dappling the soft grass underfoot. Leaving dewdrops on bloody scarlet fur.

Prowler felt a sharp pain pierce through his abdomen. It scored through his body and out his spine. His eyes crept down to his stomach, where an arm so mud-covered and bloodied that he could no longer tell its color tore through him. Bright scarlet hues poured from the hole it had made. Betrayal pierced his mind, arresting him in shock. His dull green gaze traveled up to a face that was laughing.

Sonic forced his other hand into the wound and began to pull. The sound of ripping flesh reverberated through the humid evening air. Everything silenced just enough to echo Prowler’s gargling breaths. The cruel fox’s body broke in two. The world around him turned vividly red with blood and viscera, showering down onto the soil. Around them, the earth spun on.

Sonic dropped the body to the ground, clutching his unrecognizable face. His vision blurred, a mess of red and brown and horrible too-dull colors becoming nothing but extraneous data, and the body of the tenrec sank into darkness.

Chapter Text

The void was dark and crushing. It was so hopelessly cold, yet warmth stripped it all away. Useless code and numbers floated amidst the bits of land, no more solid than the emptiness pressing in on everything. In the black ran a tiny blue tenrec, leaping from plane to plane with precision, longing for the wind to ruffle his quills. In the days that he had found himself here, he had learned the rules of this world’s gravity. It hadn’t taken him long with nothing to distract him. He didn’t remember who he was; his name was within reach but irrelevant. Here he was nothing but fragments, too, bits and pieces of whatever he’d used to be. He didn’t mind his new environment, though he longed for the light of a sunset he could hardly remember seeing.

There was blood under his feet. When had that gotten there? Perhaps he had crushed the skull of another dead creature under his heel. But there was not a body here, only tufts of red fur tucked within the grass. A name ghosted through his mind. Shaking his head, he jogged on, leapt for another platform.

Then gravity suddenly changed, and the little beast found a strangled cry ripping from his throat. A glassy ground hurtled up towards him. His eyes squeezed shut as he curled up and braced for impact.

Memory was instead what crushed him. There was so much of it, pain and joy and wonder, filling his eyes with color and crashing chaotically into his skull. He felt himself pulling apart as his jaws opened wide.

And then Hog sprang out of blackness, gasping. The world was red, red, red, and strained-sore exhaustion pressed against his bones. He reached up to rub his eyes, but noticed the fabric of his gloves were covered in something that squelched under the pressure.

What? Hog’s bleary gaze faded into focus as he moved to look at his hands. His gloves were bright red. His fur was stained far beyond his arms with blood, mixed with mud and green scuff marks in many places. Hog could feel the painful pressure of several bruises under his coat, and he could see many cuts leaking more of the warm vermilion color. He hardly looked like the blue Mobian he had been when he reached for that fourth Ruby.

The fourth Ruby! He had grabbed it just moments ago, hadn’t he? Where was he now? How long had it been? His quills rose as he looked to get a sense of his surroundings.

The world was such a bright vermilion shade. Overhead were thundering black clouds, driving rain into Hog’s face. The ground was torn into nothing but churned and charred mud. Amidst the deep bronze grass laid half the body of a scarlet fennec fox.

Hog was screaming before he could register his own voice. Involuntarily he stumbled towards his friend, unable to even give himself time to stand. His balance could not keep up with him; he collapsed atop red fur. His body was still warm as Hog pressed his hand desperately into Prowler’s wrist. Nothing greeted his pressure except Hog’s own heart thundering under his skin. Hog whimpered his name over and over, praying that those ears would twitch, those wide-open, petrified eyes would turn towards him and be filled with love. But there was no movement but the grass below him and the rain above.

I’ll be there, he’d said. No matter what happens, I’ll be there.

“Prowler…? Please…” Hog pressed his face into Prowler’s chest. Tears burst from his eyes, unstoppable as a raging river. His voice broke into a sob as he grasped desperately at Prowler’s sides. There was so much he needed to say, so much he wished he had. Now his friend lay dead in front of him by his own gory hands, and he hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye.

A cry ripped from his throat. This had to be a nightmare, a creation of his own thoughts, but all of it was too real, too real. No matter what he wished, he could never wake up. But as despair crumbled the edges of his heart, so did the call of the void. He slipped away into eternity again as another hand clawed its way out.

//.

Sonic forced his way back into reality and found his muzzle tear-stained. He leaned over Prowler’s body, hands dug into his sides with a desperation only grief could cause. A grin twisted his face. It had only been a few seconds, but Hog had come back to this, and he had seen what Sonic had done. Good. It was what the little thief deserved.

And another thing; now the cruel tongue of the late Prowler was no longer in his way. Tails wouldn’t have a body to come back to, but… oh no. Tails wouldn’t have a body to come back to. He had been so caught up in the battle that he hadn’t stopped to think that he needed Prowler alive. He pulled his hands down his face, trailing blood under his eyes. He’d have to find some other way now - was that even possible here?

Nevermind that. He’d cross that bridge when he came to it. The hedgehog - no, tenrec - pulled himself out of the churned-up mud and wandered the dead landscape, plucking Rubies from the dirt. Though they were filthy now, they would still work, right? They were all here, after all. He called out to the energy of the six Rubies, and they responded in kind, if a bit weakly. The hope that filled his heart was swiftly done away with as they clattered to the ground, just like before. A snarl wrinkled his muddy face. There had to be something missing here, right? What was he not seeing?

In the void, a massive green stone spun away from his aching spines.

That was it. Their Master Emerald - the Giga Ruby, if what Prowler had told him was true - had to be on Heaven’s Land. If the Power Rubies didn’t do anything on their own, surely the Giga Ruby would have what he needed. It was the same floating island he remembered, too, visible as a silhouette in the distance. All he had to do was find a way up.

Sonic thought back. He and Prowler had passed through many zones to get back to Highrise Hill - Starlight Zone, Bronze Maze, Sacred Aether - but it was Stonepath that he recalled seeing a certain storage unit within, and inside was the Twister. Sonic shook out his quills, rain shimmering out from his fur like torn petals, and took off towards the old marble ruins. He sincerely hoped he remembered how to fly a plane.

//.

The first thing that told Strike something was wrong was the rising smoke at the edge of the island. It was difficult to make out amidst the dull grey of the clouds overcasting the islands, but it was definitive in its smell even as rain pattered on Strike’s snout. The second was the presence of something fast-approaching that put his spines on edge. Alert, he scanned the blurry horizon. He lifted a hand above his brow and blinked away the rain. There was something running towards him at impossible speed, a harrowing marble of browns and reds and smears of Hog-fur blue. As it sharpened into the shape of a tiny tenrec, Strike’s heart jumped and he stepped in front of the Giga Ruby.

“Hog.” Strike raised his fists.

Hog stopped just out of focus, black eyes trained wordlessly on Strike’s rain-streaked face. Beneath the tear stains, were those dark stripes of blood under his eyes?

“What brings you here, Dust Devil? Looking for trouble?”

Hog did not respond to him. His gaze turned to the Giga Ruby.

“Very well then,” Strike snarled, jumping forward and delivering a fierce left hook to his cheek. Hog recoiled, wiping blood from his jaw, and Strike fell into a defensive stance. “Prowler told me that you are not the Hog I once knew. An intruder of another kind. It gives me a new reason to pummel you into the earth below your feet. I want to see what you’re truly made of!”

Hog’s lips split into a grin. He reeled into a spindash and flung himself at the deep red porcupine, barreling directly into his chest. Sucking in a breath, Strike grabbed a hold of the ball of spikes and hurled him into the rock below. The force threw Strike high into the air, shredding the fabric of his mittens completely. He called the winds and began to glide out of reach, but Hog sprang back up and knocked him out of the air.

The fight raged on much like the one before it. Rock scraped mud and viscera off of blue and red fur; teeth flashed in the darkness of the raging storm; rain lashed fiercely against the fists of the dueling duo. But neither of them could press on forever, and it just so happened that a tired tenrec had not been long out of another. Strike tackled Hog to the ground after a solid hour of back-and-forth chaos.

Strike’s face was contorted in anger as he straddled Hog’s battered form. He wasn’t in much better of a condition himself, but the Giga Ruby sent power thrumming through his bones. He heard its gentle voice echoing in his mind. Not safe, not safe, not safe. He would make sure that wasn’t so. Strike punched Hog directly in the face.

As one fist came up, another went down, over and over. “You’re weak,” he taunted. “Pathetic. Come on, fight back.”

Hog laid panting underneath him.

“Fight back!” Strike cried. He threw another punch. “Fight me, damn you! Now!”

Like a blast of lightning Hog’s fist impacted his nose. He reeled back, gasping, as Hog slid out from under him and whisked a handgun out from a very familiar leather belt. “You said you wanted a fight,” Hog said finally. He raised the barrel to Strike’s chest and fired. Unable to get his bearings in time, the shot landed… and dissipated into nothing against his thick pelt.

Strike couldn’t help but laugh. “You disappoint me, tenrec. Your weapons are malfunctioning. Do you still want a piece of me?”

Hog traipsed towards Strike. Strike squared his shoulders and glared into the eyes of his opponent.

“I don’t just want a piece of you.” Hog dropped his gun. “I want everything!”

Alarm rang loud in Strike’s mind. He reared back for another punch, but as his knuckles struck Hog’s body, he felt the force reverberate across his own. He clenched his teeth in pain. Weakness dropped him to his knees as he met the glinting eyes of his enemy once more.

“What… did you do to me?” He gasped, clutching his arm.

“I took the liberty of relieving you of what’s not yours.” Hog swept past him.

Strike realized what Hog was about to do. He whirled around, tried to run after him. “NO! You don’t know what you’re doing! Stop!”

But the fight had taken too much out of him. Strike crumpled to the ground. He could only watch as Hog traversed the steps to the one thing he had sworn to protect.

No, he realized. He still had the communicator on, even as he faced his first true defeat. A desperate hand pushed a tiny button, and a loud beep sounded in his ear.

//.

A loud beep sounded in Sonic’s ear. “Prowler? The imposter has infiltrated my base. I have… been downed. I need your help.”

Twisted satisfaction squeezed his heart. He laid his forehead tenderly against the Giga Ruby.

“Prowler? Come in, please.”

“Bring my friends back,” he whispered to the gem. His hand lit with gentle red light. That light spread across his fur, illuminating him in beautiful ruby red, and as he closed his eyes and filled his heart with love and loss, he heard the sound of air popping behind him. His stomach jolting, Sonic pivoted to see the fruits of his efforts.

The bodies of his friends stood before him, just like before. Tails, Knuckles, Robotnik… in the void they had been in many pieces, rotting away as the null claimed them. Here they stood in one piece, their flesh falling from their bones, grayed fur exposing nerves and skin and yellowed teeth. Their eyes were milky white and unfocused. Knuckles’ jaw hung on by a few thin layers of sinew. Sonic’s eyes widened in horror.

“No, no, no no!” He cried as they each turned their heads to focus on Strike. Sonic lashed out at the crystal. “This can’t be right! What did you do to them?!”

It glimmered back at him, uncaring. Sonic’s breath began to quicken.

The bodies of his three friends suddenly moved, closing in on Strike. The hapless porcupine scrambled up, backing away on all fours. “Stay back, you freaks! Get away from me!”

Sonic’s vision began to blur as he dropped to his knees. He couldn’t focus. His friends took shambling steps closer; their bones cracked beneath their weight. Strike pulled back, further and further, until suddenly Tails leapt forward with a beastly roar and the others followed, and before he knew it he was pinned beneath the weight of the undead.

What followed, Sonic couldn’t register. All he could hear was screaming that turned to wailing and growling and tearing flesh. His vision blurred as he stared vacantly at his palms, where the dreams of saving those he loved were crumbling into dust. He had come so far, endured so many torturous visions, even claimed the body of someone who had stolen everything from him. And here were the results of his efforts. His hands began to tremble. It was all worthless. It was all nothing.

Sudden movement caught Sonic’s attention. Strike had ripped himself out of the fray, clawing at the earth with fading strength, desperation in his bright purple eyes. Sonic felt terror capture his heart. It was so real, so visceral, as he watched the half-eaten porcupine try to drag himself to safety. His hand moved, trembling, up to his ear. Beep. The sound rang in Sonic’s skull. Beep-beep. He tried to speak. Beep. But there was nothing left. Nobody could save him. Beeeep. His jaw opened in one more cry for help, but in the chaos he had lost his throat, and so he collapsed into the stone below as blood poured from his wounds.

Their task complete, the undead creatures began to rot into piles on the earth. Sonic’s voice hitched in his throat. This was all wrong. He had to stop this. He pulled himself to his feet, turning his gaze away from his old friends and towards the Ruby. He placed one tensed hand atop the massive stone. “Please, this has to work,” he whispered. “Please work.”

As he spoke, he drew power from it, echoing prayers in his mind. There had to be some way to fix this. It couldn’t all have led up to what laid before him. This wasn’t it. He wouldn’t allow it.

His fur began to glow yellow under the influence. He could feel familiar energy rushing through his veins, filling him with purpose. His quills raised, joining his gravity as he floated upward. The blood and mud-turned-dirt began to burn off his pelt, cauterizing the many wounds he had sustained. Around him, the stone began to crumble. It was just like the old days.

Then his body began to change. Parts extended and shrank, an unnatural image in the sunlight pouring through the clouds. His bones grew faster than his body could handle, ripping his arms and legs and scorching his exposed muscles. His fur greyed rapidly. The skin of his jaw decayed as his snout grew longer. Sonic’s gentle breathing erupted into a scream as the pain of the transformation grew beyond what he could express.

Before he knew it, it was all over. Sonic tumbled to the ground in a mess of fur and rotting flesh and horrible burns, and as he pushed himself up he realized how much taller he had become. But this wasn’t what he had hoped for. He had wanted a final chance to say goodbye to his friends. Now all he had was himself, a twisted, amalgamated combination of who he was and what he had taken. An atrocious mistake.

And so he began to walk. He shoved himself away from all his hard work, stumbling past the glimmering disdain of the Giga Ruby, past the piles of his old friends, past Strike as the light faded from his eyes. He needed a clear head; instead he stared forward with eyes vacant as the void he’d come from, shambling hopelessly around crushed lionhead traps and below rain-lashed palm trees. Overhead, the storm had begun to calm, but it had carried itself over into the mindscape of someone so scrambled he could hardly recall who he was.

As he walked, the trees around him began to wither. They knew he did not belong here; they were attuned to it, so well that the rot spread to their own leaves. Even the grass broke apart under his feet. It was suffocating. Why was any of this his fault? He had had everything taken from him. He had been the one sitting in an empty void, watching a screen as he withered away. He hadn’t even gotten to hold his friends as they died. All of the things he’d failed to do, and yet nothing allowed him mercy for the things he’d done. He thought in circles as uneven as his own pace.

Fine, then. If this world refused to make room for him, he would make this world his own.

//.

When Yolkman saw the smoking remains of the Twister at the edge of Heaven’s Land, he felt nothing more than excitement. This was it! That blasted blue pincushion and his sharp-tongued friend had finally cornered themselves! Now nothing could stop Yolkman from swooping in unannounced, capturing the Giga Ruby and perhaps Hog and Prowler on his way. The final victory awaited! All he had to do was follow his trusty Yolkmobile’s coordinates to the Giga Ruby and take what was rightfully his.

At least, that’s what he thought… until he saw the trail of decaying plants leading in an odd line away from the plane. Confusion settled on his brow. This wasn’t the result of one of his herbicides; he hadn’t visited Heaven’s Land in many days, and the line would have graduated out more. It couldn’t be the cause of any air strikes, either. Those marks would be much more spaced out. So what could’ve caused something like this? He drew closer in the Yolkmobile, leaning over the edge to observe the browned earth - and then it shook, rattling the edges of the ship and forcing Yolkman to pull back up into the sky. Perplexed, he began to follow the trail. Whatever had caused this was not good. Perhaps he could use it to his advantage.

As Yolkman flew above the quake, he could see more spots of crumbling plant life. Many of the lionhead traps he’d usually have to fly around were caved in, as if broken by powerful hands, and fallen trees dotted the stone at random intervals. Even more unnerving, the usually teeming with life landscape was deathly silent, as if all the animals were holding their breath.

While he pondered what could’ve done all this, his vehicle beeped at him. “Warning,” It chimed in its lovely feminine voice. “Unstable Power energy detected. Proceed with caution.”

Unstable Power energy? Now this was something he had to see. A grin spreading under his mustache, Yolkman sped up, eager to see what power the Giga Ruby had stored.

What greeted him was something he couldn’t have imagined. Strike lay gasping for air on the floor, all torn to pieces, surrounded by rotting piles of flesh and cracking stone. The whole floor was covered in cracks, as if it was trying to crumble into itself. The decay worsened as it led into a ring around the Giga Ruby. From its midst, Yolkman could hear a peculiar sound: the unruly thunk of crystal against furious hands.

Those hands belonged to something wretched. It was a creature so close in resemblance to a certain pesky blue devil, but its limbs were long, with exposed muscles as if it had stretched its own legs and arms until they had torn themselves apart. Its fur was dappled gray in some spots and burned stark black in others. Worse, the beast was covered in blood and muck. Spit dripped from its skinless jaw. And when it turned its eyes on Yolkman, they were dark as ink, almost as if there was nothing there at all.

Something cold settled in Yolkman’s stomach. “...Hog?”

The beast growled, a sound low in its throat, as Strike thrashed a final time. The sound of something cracking broke the silence. Both Yolkman and the creature looked to its source.

The ice in Yolkman’s belly bubbled up into boiling terror as he saw spidery fractures splintering up the Giga Ruby. They spun out into an intricate web, culminating in a massive X shape where the beast stood. The whole world slowed, as if it were holding its breath.

Then the Giga Ruby shattered into a million pieces. A scream ripped from Yolkman’s throat while the monster flung up its arms against the Ruby shards. He had to get as far away from here as he could. As it shook its quills out and stumbled back, Yolkman backed up the Yolkmobile and made to fly off. The beast very suddenly pivoted and leapt with a mighty roar, and Yolkman felt his vessel dip backward. It bowed this way and that as he struggled to stabilize it. He punched in the first coordinates he could think of, and with a jolt the machine began to soar off towards Sacred Aether. Behind him, he could hear the frantic scrambling of the beast as it tried to climb aboard.

The Yolkmobile was making very unpleasant shrieking sounds as it grappled with the newfound weight. “Excessive cargo detected,” it chimed. “Detecting nearby areas for safe dropoff.”

“No!” Yolkman jabbed the cancel command on his console. “I won’t have this blasted rodent ruin another of my plans.”

Below, Yolkman could see a piece of land rising up from the bright blue waters. As he went to shake off his adversary, it was gone, as if it had never been there at all. Yolkman leaned over the sides of the Yolkmobile, but he couldn’t see any place to drop the beast.

“No areas detected,” it replied in robotic fashion. “It is advisable to drop excessive cargo. Rerouting motor power to stabilization.”

The machine sputtered and began to slow. He heard the thing behind him offer something just shy of a laugh.

“Ack! Override operation! Order 25!”

“Override denied due to excess cargo.”

Yolkman growled in panicked exasperation. “Then I’ll need to burn off the excess fat.”

Yolkman undid his seatbelt and swiveled to get a good look at the creature. It leered close to his face, breath hot as cinders - Yolkman yelped and socked it directly in the nose. It howled in pain and released one hand to claw at him, forcing him to duck. The Yolkmobile rocked heavily. It roared in fury and attempted to tighten its slipping grip. Yolkman spun back around rapidly and shoved a button on his console.

The ship rolled in a wide circle, alarms squealing, and he heard the desperate cry of a very angry tenrec as it struggled to keep a hold on the metal rim. Yolkman clung to the underside of his seat, gritting his teeth, until he finally heard its hands slip. Victory lighting his heart, he righted the ship and leaned down to watch as the monster plummeted down towards the water.

//.

The ocean slammed into Sonic’s back with bone-breaking force. He gasped for air but found himself consumed in the sea’s cold embrace before he could even take in a breath. He sank into the depths, limbs flailing, trying desperately to shove himself upright and towards the light that was dying away from his hands. He opened his mouth in a roar of effort, but water surged in, and he expelled it in a blinding shroud of bubbles.

Desperation clung to his throat as he finally got a good paddle on the water and began to pull himself towards the surface. It felt so strongly like he was making no progress, the light just as far as it was before. His lungs burned. He had to get out. Primal fear overtook his heart. He caught a glimpse of yellow fur simmering atop his arm. Realization struck him, and suddenly he was propelling himself out of the blue, liquid boiling beneath his feet as hot air pushed him on.
Sonic burst out of the water. It sprayed out from the point of exit like a pair of angel wings, clinging to his pelt enough to make it shine. He soared up into the atmosphere, swiveling this way and that as he searched for that tricky metal orb.

There. He could see it, not far, done up in the yellows that so betrayed how it no longer belonged to his rival. He narrowed in on it, hovering in the air as the man inside saw him and took off with a shout. Growling, Sonic sped after it. This one wasn’t getting away. He would make sure of that.

The Yolkmobile was much faster and more agile than the Eggmobile could’ve dreamed to be. Red light poured from its exhaust as it pressed on, banking and swerving, trying to stay out of Sonic’s laser-focused path. He followed with crazed ferocity, turning occasionally to draw long scratches into its underside. Occasionally he would grab a hold, sinking his nails into its belly, but every time he tried Yolkman would shake the device madly to force him off.

As the chase went on, the Yolkmobile kept yammering. Sonic only caught glimpses: “ship damaged,” “overheat warning,” “low battery.” It was when he caught the phrase “Power Ruby container” that his ears turned forward. Suddenly he was looking around, watching the world flicker, and he spotted a wall floating not far ahead. His face split into a grin. He slammed into it and curled himself up, aiming sharp at the escaping ship. Vree-vree-vree went the air around him, and then he was firing towards the Yolkmobile at lightning speed. A hard thunk shook his body as he shot straight through the front of the vehicle.

Yolkman screamed as it began to bow towards the sea. Sonic pivoted to watch him as he desperately tried to steer the ship toward the nearby coast. Sirens roared in his ears, growing more and more distant as it pulled towards long grass, exploding into many pieces upon impact. Sonic’s smile stretched when something shiny spun out from beneath the rubble. He floated down to join the old doctor, who groaned in pain, legs pinned beneath heavy debris. Before Yolkman laid a pretty red Ruby.

Sonic picked his way over broken wires and sharp metal bits to rescue his prize. It gleamed in the soft twilight as he took it into his blackened palms. Now he had everything he needed. The shuddering terror of the man splayed before him was the only thing that made him look up.

“Fear doesn’t look good on you,” Sonic commented, passing the Power Ruby to his left hand.

As he kneeled, Yolkman tried to scramble back. He sucked in a breath as the debris tore into his legs. “Listen, please! Don’t- don’t kill me!” He begged. “If it’s the Power Rubies you want, I can get them! I just need some time to repair my aircraft, a-and then I’ll have those coordinates for you…”

Sonic leaned forward and gently laid a hand under Yolkman’s chin. The man flinched as if Sonic had grabbed him, breath quickening as he looked into Sonic’s eyes. His expression, gentle as a mother to her child, slipped slowly into the malice of a scarred king. His grip turned to a vice.

“BURN.”

Chapter Text

Upon the screen, a mangled tenrec stood before a pile of ashes that had once been a man. He had wandered into the screen’s view not long after he had woken up on a floor cold as glass, and he had watched a porcupine get torn to shreds. Something had come upon him at the sight - a squirming feeling, some need to do something - but all he could do was observe. Here he was disconnected from that world, standing at its edge and looking forward into the sky below. He had laid a hand on the screen, tracing the body of the porcupine, but nothing reflected the little motion but his charge shambling away.

This time, though, it was different. The yellow monster was rotting away a world that had once been beautiful. He could see animals and pixels blipping into corrupted splotches as the Giga Ruby became shards. It had not ceased with the chase, and as the screaming stranger burst into flame he’d watched the earth char with him. More than it was snapping the strings of the only reality he had left, it was hijacking a body that the little tenrec somehow knew was his, murdering his friends. He would not sit there and watch it happen.

He launched forward with a yell. “Stop! Get out of my body!” He grasped the screen’s edges. “GET OUT!” He ground his teeth together and wound up his arm, slamming his fist into the screen. Pressed all of his weight in and watched the monster on-screen shudder, pressing its hands into its skull. He would not let this thing steal everything from him. Something had to give.

As it had many times before, the floor cracked as he dug his shoes into it. And as it had once before, the beast wobbled, and far sooner than he had expected Hog was thrust back into the bounds of Mobius.

Hog shook out his quills, standing before a pile of ashes, and realized he was far taller than he should be. Memories tumbled into place like a falling shelf, painful and unruly. He was finally back in control of his own body. A breathless, ecstatic laugh escaped his lungs, and he wrapped his arms around himself, feeling how real it all was. Then a force like lightning struck his brain and that laugh became a scream, and he collapsed against the grass. He scrambled to the side as a patch of the earth below him vanished into thin air. Through the hole he could see the sky, dark as the twilight overhead. He could feel something scratching at his temples from the inside, desperately pushing for control of the body it had ruined.

Suddenly hell was upon him. The awareness of two minds swept in like a whirlwind, one hellbent on warfare and one on restoration, both equally desperate in their struggle to hold the body. No sooner than one would have a foothold would the other shove him into the aether, then be thrown back again himself. All the while their body trembled on the floor, spreading ashes with its lashing limbs, eyes flashing with a specter of emotions like brilliant onyx fireworks.

Suddenly blackness slammed upon them, and Hog found himself standing once again in the void. The stare of a predator in wait burned into his back. He turned to face Sonic.

Sonic stood further away, expressionless, but his eyes bored into Hog’s soul. There wasn’t much left of him from what Hog could see, a body whose flesh was falling off even as he watched. But Sonic’s body was holding together as far as he cared, and he would not let this puny tenrec stop him anymore.

He was tired of being pushed around.

Sonic burst towards his prey, baring his teeth. Panic rattled Hog’s spines and spiked his fur, and he turned to run. The screen was only meters out. Two pairs of eyes focused squarely on the screen. Hog scrambled forward in unbalanced desperation; Sonic raced behind him in methodical lines. He could make it, if he could only stop his opponent first!

As soon as Sonic got within range he leapt upon Hog, tackling him to the floor. Hog yelped, trying to dart out of the way, but found himself sliding harshly against the smooth earth. Immediately as he landed, Sonic pushed off of him, using Hog’s body as leverage to pull ahead. Hog lashed out with both hands and grabbed hold of his legs, sweeping Sonic down with him. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to force Sonic back, so instead he clambered up off of blue-grey spines, shaking out his hands as they punctured his gloves, and leapt forward.

Sonic flailed furiously, struggling to get up. Hog wasn’t about to best him at a time like this! He had to get himself back into gear! Curling up into a spindash, he sent himself flying after Hog, only slowing to steady into a run.

Hog heard a snarl behind him and cast his head over his shoulder. Sure enough, there was a sneering corpse, pushing itself harder and harder to get a lead on him. His breath exploded from his lungs. He realized now he was finally in contact with his possessor, the one who had taken so much from him. The reason he had lost his best friend, his rival, his enemy. The reason the world was falling apart.

He had to know what caused it.

“Why are you doing this?” Hog cried over his shoulder, praying his voice carried.

He got a growl in response. “Why would you care, thief?!”

“Thief?” Hog slowed slightly. Sonic’s eyes glinted.

“Don’t sound surprised! You took everything from me!” Sonic pushed harder, his legs splintering under the pressure. He flew past Hog in a blur of marbled fur. “And now I’m going to take it all back.”

“What?! You stole everything from me!” Hog leapt off a platform, outstretching his arms to tackle Sonic. They rolled against one another, hissing and struggling. In the light of the screen, mere inches away, Hog shoved Sonic’s face against the floor. “You don’t know what it’s like to watch all your friends die! You haven’t had to watch everything disappear! You can’t just- you can’t just take it all and leave nothing behind!”

Sonic hesitated for a long moment. His expression registered a million emotions - shock, horror, hopelessness - and then contorted once again into thoughtless rage.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” With no warning he surged upward, throwing Hog in a wide arc and watching him slam into the ground. “You don’t know what I’ve been through! You’re the reason I am the way I am! Everything that I loved became nothing but a memory when you showed up.”

Familiarity pinged in Hog’s mind. Breathing hard, he pushed himself to his feet. He made no move to step towards the screen; neither did Sonic. It seemed they both wanted answers, now that they were finally face to face.

“I lost everything that day. I was trapped in this empty void for months while you were gallivanting around out there. When I got the chance to restore my world, I took that opportunity.”

“And for what?” Hog leaned forward. Sonic’s quills raised. “For your own sake? You killed three people, you- I don’t even know your name!”

Hog watched Sonic’s face. There was anger there, but also exhaustion, a glimmer of someone who once wanted to do the right thing. Sonic couldn’t feel it buried beneath layers of anguish.

“We would’ve helped you, you know. If you had just told us what had happened to you, we could’ve helped you figure things out. We could’ve even shared all this. But now…” Hog trailed off as Sonic looked over his shoulder. Both their eyes met the scene they’d left behind. Their body lay in ruin amongst scuffed ash and metal. Corruption blotched the world in messy dewdrops.

Hog took careful steps toward Sonic. “We don’t have to keep fighting,” he pleaded. “There’s still some of it left to save. I don’t know what your world was like, but I know that with a little work, we can rebuild this one together.”

Sonic felt his walls burning down. He had been so upset for so long that he had forgotten what it felt like to be free from it. For as long as he could remember, he had only wanted to tear apart this little tenrec, but now he only felt sorrow as he looked into those hopeful eyes. He was a hero, long ago. He had only wanted to keep everything safe. He’d said the same thing to his greatest enemies. In the shoes of his opposers, he couldn’t understand the mercy granted to him. He knew he didn’t deserve this. But… if he really could undo it all…

Hog saw the gears turning in the tall hedgehog’s head. Hope and disbelief warred similarly within their souls. They had both suffered so much.
Hog lifted up a hand in a silent offer of peace. Sonic stared down at it, began to lift his own.

Then both of them felt a jolt.

Sonic whirled. Hog leaned to look past him. Their body slid across the grass, propelled by the fierce kick of a black and red echidna. Beside him landed a white flying squirrel, who looked down upon the unmoving shape with confusion.

When Sonic’s eyes turned back to Hog, they were angry once more. He had nothing left to say. So instead he reached up with one hand, and as Hog dived to stop him, he pressed it into the screen and escaped back into the remains of reality.

//.

Velvet wasn’t sure what she should be expecting, but she certainly hadn’t expected nothing.

The trip to Sacred Aether set a foreboding tone. The sky was painted with stripes of clouds from the clearing storm, but it was also punctuated by squares of fighting data. Random bits of land flickered in and out of existence. In some places, the sea had parted, leaving only dying fish. Shade had sworn he could hear the waves piling up in his ears, but Velvet had heard complete stillness. They had arrived on the scene, too, to chaos. The wet grass was covered in shards of metal and shredded wiring and oil. Above them, the overcast was finally giving way to a night sky that bathed the area in darkness. The crown jewel of it all, though, had been the slumped form of a carnage-causing tenrec. Finding him had initially been their goal.

Velvet, like many others, had heard about the havoc happening on this side of the world. There had been reports that Hog had gone crazy, attacking his best friend. Going in to defend them had been Shade’s idea at first, since she had only wanted to look after her newly acquired Power Ruby, but he had managed to talk her into it somehow. She had begrudgingly obliged him in coming along. Being greeted to silence was definitely strange.

Hog’s torn-up body, fading out of its super form back into its odd greyish tone, was still as Shade shoved his foot into it once more. “It’s warm,” he observed. “He’s not dead.”

Velvet nodded thoughtfully. “It’s odd, though. Hog’s usually never one to back down from a challenge…”

Velvet turned to trek towards the water, hoping to see some sign of Yolkman’s forces, but as she stepped away she spotted a twitch in Hog’s fingers. Beside her, Shade’s expression shifted. He reached out with one hand to her; Velvet nodded back at him. There was no way she could miss this. As Hog rose, he towered above them like a feral bear awakening from sleep, but the eyes that opened upon the speechless pair were all but animal.

Hog jolted forward before either of them could react. His fist whistled through the air just inches above Velvet’s head, who quickly ducked down and delivered a kick into his stomach. The beast gasped and fell back, clutching the impact point, and looked at his body with surprise.

“What’s happening to me?” He gasped. His voice was strained and unfamiliar, as if he’d been trying to speak like something he wasn’t for many months.

“Looking for these?” Velvet opened one arm. In the flap of her wing, she’d tucked away eight colorful Rubies whose light prismed into an enchanting white. “I just found them lying around. Such a shame someone would just leave them out in the mud like that.”

Hog stepped forward, but paused when Velvet clicked her tongue at him. “Ah-ah! Finders, keepers.” She heard Shade sigh beside her and flashed him a wicked grin.

Ash spread out in a wide cloud under the feet of the beast as he charged into view. Velvet only had enough time to notice, and then she was jumping to the side, just fast enough to clear out of the way. She fell into a huge pile of debris elbow first. The impact forced its way through her muscles, enough that she only heard Shade’s furious yell. When she looked up, he had leapt atop Hog’s thrashing shoulders, face twisted in fury.

As Shade struggled to push Hog against the ground, he caught Velvet’s eye. “I can handle this faker! Get the Rubies to-”

Hog threw himself backwards without warning. Shade clung to his spines and bit down hard on his left arm in a panic. Letting out a strangled yell, Hog overbalanced and crashed back-first into the ground.

“Shade!” Velvet pushed off of the metal lump she leaned against. Prayers raced under her breath as she ran towards the fallen monster. She shoved Hog hard, trying to roll him off while he snapped at her with jagged teeth. She ducked and tried to shift her momentum to lift him from the side. “Oh, please, please…”

Finally, Hog had had enough. He leaned to swipe at her, crushing her hands under his weight, and his palm pressed firmly into her cheek. Scorching agony swept through her face. She felt the ground under her feet decimate, polygons piercing through her shoes and punching a hole in her wing flaps. She opened her jaws to express pain, but instead came a high-pitched beep that dug into her ears like nails. When Hog’s fist lifted away, so did the everything. Velvet could smell burnt fur at the point of impact. She could almost convince herself what she’d felt wasn’t real if it weren’t for the tears in her wings. She stumbled back, lifting her trembling palms. She felt the night draft against the soles of her feet.

As Hog pulled himself up from the earth, she could see a mangled black and red echidna, pierced through with long blue-grey quills. Velvet’s breath caught in her throat.

Its eyes weren’t on him. It was almost like it didn’t care.

This wasn’t Hog at all.

“You-!” Velvet stumbled back, one hand clapping over her mouth. “You’re not-”

The imposter was upon her before she could even finish her sentence. Its hand splayed across her face, burning a jagged handprint into her fur as it lifted her off the ground. She kicked at it with all the force she could muster, drumming her legs into its arm, but even as bone cracked it wasn’t enough. Her lone open eye watched as his jaws split.

From far away came the sound of thunder. The atmosphere heaved as if it was sick, and then the sky split open. Through the black tore bright strobing red. Jagged peaks of night punctured the air in staggered motions. The coast scraped Velvet’s back and bubbled around the imposter’s feet. Agonizing pain peeled at Velvet’s body, and as she looked down she realized she was falling apart.

Her heart leapt into her throat. Face contorted into something indescribable. She looked back down at the only stable thing in view. “Please-”

Her plea was swallowed in the sound of howling wind, far louder than any wind should be, as her eyes glossed over in milky white. Her wing membranes shredded around the shattered remains of the Power Rubies. Marbles of color spiked through her skull.

But she could not comprehend it, as she had long ceased to be.

//.

Hog was thrust into awareness in a world that had reduced itself to corrupted data. Pain surged through his arm and he tugged it against his chest, sucking air through his teeth. The atmosphere itself was piercing his feet, shifting his balance this way and that, and as he opened his mouth to take in air gravity shifted. He fell hard against the floor, breathing quickening into ragged hyperventilation. The air pressed into his side, pinning him down as the islands crumbled and the stars winked out. Tears slipped from his eyes as he watched on, unable to even stand, broken pixels scraping his pelt.

Sobs broke from his snout. His body began to shrink beneath the influence of the cataclysm. His muscles wove themselves back together, repairing him flesh and bone as the world shuddered its final breaths. He felt as small as he became, helpless, returned to what he had once been. Despite everything, he hadn’t been able to save anyone. And now, thanks to his inability, he had lost it all.

“All gone… it’s all gone.” He curled as far into himself as he could, wrapping his arms around himself once more. Tears pooled against his face. As his vision blurred, he closed his eyes, wishing that for once, just for a few moments, he could open his eyes and see his friends one more time.

Hog didn’t know how long he stayed there. He only knew that his tears were beginning to wane when he heard slow footsteps stop by his side.

The hedgehog Hog saw as he looked up was so familiar. His fur was a vibrant electric blue, his muzzle and belly a shining tan, but his eyes were an emerald so dimmed with grief that he could hardly register them as anything but black. Someone so much like him that he could almost look into that face and see his reflection.

Sonic the Hedgehog settled down beside Hog the Tenrec. Hog gently sat up, nestling his knees against his chest. They watched as the chaos burned down to embers, leaving nothing but that same empty void. Both didn’t speak for a long moment.

Then Hog tilted his head to regard the stranger. “Was it worth it? …All this?”

Sonic looked away, steadying his tired gaze on the floor beside him.

“Did you get what you were looking for?”

Sonic closed his eyes. There were no words to answer Hog. Nothing he could say to justify himself.

“You took the lives of so many people. All for some goal you couldn’t figure out. For everything.” Hog laughed weakly. “There were so many better ways this could’ve gone.”

“It wasn’t my choice,” Sonic finally said.

“So it wasn’t you who killed my friend? It wasn’t you who stood by as Strike got mauled? You can’t say it wasn’t.”

Sonic was silent for long enough that Hog thought he wouldn’t speak. So when he did, Hog couldn’t help but startle. “I… I had to. You took everything from me. I…”

“... You what?” Hog felt hot anger flare under his pelt. “How did I take everything away from you? What part of all this was my fault?!”
Hog’s eyes were frigid. Sonic’s ears turned back.

“You don’t even know, do you?” Hog chuckled. “You’ve been here - stuck in that void - for so long that you forgot what you wanted in the first place.”
Sonic sighed, long and low, and hung his head. “I really did, huh?”

“Yeah. And now there’s nothing left for either of us.”

Hog studied Sonic’s expression as he spared a side glance at Hog. There was so much in the mind of this stranger. What had he seen, even before all this? Was there something left in this husk of a hero that Hog could still save?

“You never told me your name,” he tried.

Sonic couldn’t even smile. “It’s not important,” he said.

“It’s important to me.”

“I guess it is. But then again, I never really cared about what you thought was important.” Sonic pushed himself to his feet. “And now it doesn’t mean anything, so.”

Hog felt the final, cold pull of eternity on his heart. “You’re going to leave.”

“Yep.”

Hog watched the hedgehog bring his arms up and pull in one long stretch. He could see a spot of decayed blue-grey fur on the stranger’s back.

“I don’t want to die alone,” Hog murmured.

The nameless hedgehog looked down upon a distorted mirror. “Doesn’t look like you have much choice now.”

“It’s not too late.” Hog stared after dirty glass as he began to walk away, fading out into the vast emptiness. “Please… don’t go.”

He could only watch as the stranger took the last step into the dark.