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Chapter Text

Wind blew past Sonic as he charged ever forward. The feel of the crisp morning air on his fur and quills made him feel alive. The smell of the grass and dirt as he zipped past made him feel free. His heart was racing as fast as his feet, the adrenaline pumping as fast as his heart. His mind was clear for all except one thing.

Run.

The sky was clear without a cloud to be seen, and the air was still, apart from around Sonic. His grin grew as he shot across the checkered grass, his feet gliding across the blades slick with the early morning dew. He wasn't running fast enough. He lengthened his stride, straightened his posture, and pushed himself to the max. He was aware of the grass flying with each step he took, but he was too in the moment. He was too free.

He increased his speed as he approached the first loop, a staple landmark of the Green Hill Zone. He had always enjoyed the stomach-flipping thrill as he ran it, his trajectory keeping his soles firmly planted on the ground as he ran. He whooped as he zoomed from the first loop, keeping his pace. He decided on a different path, zipping down a lesser used trail of the Zone.

Sure enough, some of the remaining remnants of Eggman's attempted take on the Zone covered the path, endlessly walking back and forth of their covered area. Sonic made easy work of the Crabmeats and the Moto-Bugs, deciding not to backtrack to get the only Chopper he missed. He shuddered at the thrill of his razor sharp quills slicing through the metal like a hot knife through butter.

He was sure he'd gotten them all as soon as he rejoined the regular path, the one that led either further into the zone or back to the looming city across the way. He turned, guiding himself back to the city.

He slowed he pace as he approached the towering buildings of Station Square, his full-out sprint turning to a leisurely jog. He was panting from the effort he'd put in, his body burning with the thrill. The jog back to Tails's workshop wouldn't take too long. Sonic kept his pace quick, yet he allowed his eyes to wander.

The city was always so pretty, though not nearly as much as the wilderness of the Green Hill. He jogged by parks with little kids that squealed and cried joyful 'hello's at his presence (to which he waved back), and by big buildings full of people at work. He passed the school, just letting out for recess and by the apartment building with young adults bustling to and fro. It was never a dull moment in the city.

He passed by cop cars who's drivers saluted him, he passed by young children who honored and idolized him, he passed by big open areas, and he passed by the theme park as he jogged to the beach. He followed the little dirt path up to the top of a nearby cliff that overlooked the sea and rapped his knuckles lightly on the door of the little yellow house seated at the top.

"Tails!" He called, his voice dry from his run. "I'm back!" It wasn't a moment later when the door opened, his twin-tailed fox buddy on the other side.

"Welcome back, Sonic!" Tails chirped, letting him inside. "I went ahead and made you a chili dog, but there's more in the fridge if you're still hungry!"

Sonic smiled, patting him on the head. "Thanks pal."

The cobalt hedgehog gladly sat down at the table when he was sure the front door was shut and locked, munching on his lunch happily. He got a glass of water after he'd finished, chugging the whole thing down. He refilled his cup and wandered into Tails's workshop.

"So, whatcha workin' on today, Tails?" He asked as he walked over.

Tails picked up the object, presenting it to him. "A new and improved engine for the Tornado. The last one was pretty dinged up from our last fight with Eggman."

"That's a good thing to be working on, then." Sonic replied, sipping his water. He allowed his eyes to wander again when Tails had gone back to work, seeing two gold rings resting up on the shelf.

Shadow's rings. The one he'd left Sonic and the others after defeating the Finalhazard on the Space Colony ARK. The rings that constantly invaded Sonic's mind, reminding him of the sacrifice made by their black and red friend to save the planet.

Reminded him of how much he truly loved him.

He'd never let himself entertain those feelings. After all, they were just silly feelings, right? Shadow was a warrior, a soldier. He didn't have the time for love, let alone the want or the need for it. But Sonic did. And his heart ached for Shadow, only Shadow. He headed back into the house, quickly walking to the bathroom. He needed to get these thoughts from his head. Maybe a couple splashes of cold water would wake his mind up to reality.

However, Sonic hardly made it there before his chest started to ache. He set his glass down on the side of the sink and braced himself up on the porcelain, feeling weak and faint. Did he push himself too much on his morning run? If so, why was this happening only now?

He shuddered, regaining his stability on his own two feet. He tried to think of what all he did on his run that could've caused this dizziness, but his mind could only think of Shadow.

And then he coughed.

He coughed and he hacked and he retched, nothing coming up except his own saliva and some phlegm. He coughed, wet, violent coughs that wracked his lithe body and pained his chest and throat. He spat between coughs, feeling something there, thin and small, yet he was too caught up in his fit to check.

He coughed up more objects and phlegm, and his eyes watered from the sheer effort. What it was that started this fit, he wasn't really sure. He just knew it was absolutely killing his chest. He gasped when he got a break, breathing deep. His stomach flipped ans flopped, going topsy-turvy, and he retched again, actually spitting out something more solid and plump than whatever it was at first. He felt almost immediate relief, and he let himself heave and come to his senses before he looked at the foreign objects in the sink.

He froze immediately. There, in the bowl of the sink, were petals. Petals, and a slightly blooming, bright ruby bulb, coated with his saliva.

Flowers. He had nearly choked to death..on flowers. A rose, no less. No wonder it fucking hurt.

Sonic's hands shook and his knees wobbled, weak and unsteady as he stared at the sink. His brain was blank and blood ice cold, the world around him spinning. It had its talons on him, the incurable disease of humiliating love.

But what could he do? He was in love with him, and he surely didn't love him back.

He was lucky to have shut the door, as there was a knock upon it. Tails.

"Sonic?" He was right, it was Tails. "Are you alright? That cough sounded horrible!"

"Yeah," he rasped, his voice gravely and sore from overuse, "I'm fine. Just inhaled some water, is all." He hoped his lie was believable.

He heard Tails shuffle a bit outside the door. "Okay," he said at last, "you had me worried there." He heard Tails leave, and he couldn't help but laugh softly, without humor, his teary eyes trained on the red bulb in the sink. He had it deep for Shadow, he knew, but he wasn't aware he had it that deep. He certainly wasn't expecting the incurable kind of deep.

But that just confirmed his feelings; he was in love with Shadow, despite how much it hurt to think. Shadow didn't love him back, he was sure of it. The other had never shown any interest in Sonic aside from rivalry. As for the disease, he couldn't even recall another real instance of it, though he had heard of it. Flowers growing in their victim's lungs to represent the unrequited love and pining for another.

But, that just meant he was now marked for death by a stupid, dumb flower in his lungs. And he couldn't tell a soul.

Chapter Text

At first, the disease didn't really interrupt Sonic's life. His routine was altered to account for the occasional fit he endured to cough up petals, but that was pretty much it. He still had his morning runs, his lunch, and his chats with Tails as normal, with a bathroom break somewhere in there to dispel petals.

Overall, it wasn't too bad. There was an uncomfortable and annoying weight on his chest from the flowers, however, and it did impede on how fast and far he could run; he was more short of breath. Though, when the flowers were coughed up, it was easier to breathe and run faster, farther.

Green Hill Zone was a bit more challenging now, especially as Eggman tried to reaffirm his hold on the zone by dispatching more Badniks to wreak havoc. Sonic could have cleaned things up there easily, if not for the ever present weight on his sternum and the stems constricting his lungs. Now, dealing with the Moto Bugs and Crabmeats was still pretty easy, but Buzz Bombers and Choppers were much harder to deal with. His spin dash was very limited, and he felt like he was suffocating every time he did it.

Boy, was he not expecting Eggman himself to actually be there.

He was piloting some sort of new mech Sonic hadn't seen. It was sort of like the Death Egg Robot, but also not quite. Sonic definitely didn't need this today. Especially with the faint tickling in the back of his throat.

But, he wasn't gonna stand idle and let Eggman do what he wanted. No way.

"Cut it out, Egghead!" He called, his voice a bit weaker than he wanted it to be. He cleared his throat. "You won't get away with this again!"

Eggman scowled, growling as he turned his robot to face the hedgehog. "Not this time, you pesky little pincushion!" He sneered. "I'll get my hands on the Chaos Emerald here and smash you to smithereens!"

"Chaos Emerald?" Sonic echoed quietly and to himself. There's one here? I wonder why Tails hasn't picked up on its energy yet. He shook his head and stood as tall as he could. "No way!" He shouted back. "I'll find that emerald and smash your robot to smithereens!" Sonic's voice has more volume now; a good sign. Maybe he could win this fight after all.

Then it was practically a race. Both Sonic and the mech fired attacks at each other as they hunted for the emerald. His feet never missed a beat as he zipped around the Zone, scaling loops and clearing ravines as he normally did. With Eggman watching, he couldn't show weakness.

But damn did those petals want their presence known. They tickled like hell, dancing with feathered graces at the back of his throat, threatening to send Sonic into a hacking fit.

He couldn't let Eggman see if he was to cough. He couldn't afford to cough anyway, it gave Eggman a better chance at finding the Chaos Emerald. He deftly swallowed back the twirling petals, increasing his speed.

When that mech came back into view Sonic launched that first attack, homing in on it and slamming into the glass with his heels. He felt the shock shudder up his legs, and a swift hop back saved him from the mech's large foreboding hand.

Sonic grinned when he saw a large crack in the glass, knowing if he could take Eggman down he might have a chance. His feet were flying faster than they had in quite a few days. His throat ached with the petals dancing their furious dance in hopes of escape.

He matched pace with the robot, slowing just a bit to try and get a homing attack off on the glass cockpit. He ran up the high ground, jumping off the ledge.

And he hit.

The glass shattered almost on impact, the force allowing Sonic to get boosted forward. He watched the mech strike the ground from the force of his strike, skidding to a halt when it had crashed. He was heaving more visibly than he would've liked, more short of breath today than he had been yesterday.

"Hah!" He breathlessly laughed. "Take that, Egghead!"

The rotund man growled with frustration at his latest creation's failure, freeing the Egg Mobile and flying off in it with an 'I'll get you for this' shouted back his way.

With the relief and knowledge that he was finally alone, Sonic gave those pirouetting petals their wish, coughing and hacking and wheezing to get them out. Luckily, it was just petals for now, so he wasn't there too long.

Sonic wiped his mouth, turning on his heel and running back through the Zone, searching it too to bottom for the Chaos Emerald Eggman claimed was there. Finally, he saw it; a faint white glimmer in a bush, buried under some dirt from their battle.

He picked up the emerald, thrumming with power, and carried it carefully back to Tails's workshop. It had been far too long since he felt the electrifying jolt of energy of a Chaos Emerald.

He knew the door would be unlocked this time when he arrived, so he just waltzed on in. "Tails!" He called. "Come quick! You'll never guess what happened on my run!"

Chapter Text

Holding the Chaos Emerald in his hands helped ease the weight in his chest. It's almost as though the flowers knew of the immense power thrumming through the gem and receded on instinct. He could breathe deeper, his throat a little clearer.

But he couldn't hold the Emerald forever. When he brought it back to the workshop, he knew he couldn't hold it forever. When he passed it to Tails's hands and grinned at his excitement, he knew he couldn't hold it forever.

When the constriction resumed and his chest tightened back up, he knew he couldn't hold it forever.

"How did you find this?" Tails had asked, his sky blue eyes alight with glee.

"Eggman, believe it or not." He'd replied with a grin, setting the glowing white gem in the fox's hands. "He announced he was looking for it in Green Hill, so I learned it from him. Kicked his butt, too." He remembered puffing out his aching chest and punching the air in a leftward swing to emphasize his point.

He remembered Tails's laugh, his eyes, his excitement, then nothing at all. Tails had taken the Emerald to his workshop and left Sonic in the living room with that retched feeling of roots and stems on his sternum. He walked to the kitchen sink and splashed himself with water, getting a cup from the cupboard above and filling it with ice and water. He sipped at the freezing liquid, allowing it to penetrate his raw throat.

It helped with the stinging slightly, easing it away from the raspiness he'd had after his fit. His stomach flopped, and any appetite for lunch he had was gone. He knew very little about the disease he was inflicted with, only knowing that it was supposedly a legend to scare naughty children into cooperating. He was sure books on the subject were in the public library, but he would need an excuse to go there without drawing in Tails's suspicions.

He hated lying, truly. Especially to Tails. But he couldn't know. He couldn't know Sonic was dying slowly, doomed to be suffocated by pretty flowers that had taken root in his lungs. He couldn't let him know there were flowers in his lungs at all. Leaving him in the dark hurt almost as much as the realization that he would be leaving Tails all alone soon.

Sonic shook his head and splashed his face again. He did not want those thoughts. Never. He would come around to telling Tails, subtly, that he was dying. Just not now. Lying, he hated, but bending the truth wasn't so bad. Especially when it came to this.

He had unrequited love, and it was going to kill him in the end.

Sonic had never bothered to learn the name of his ailment, and he didn't want the search to pop up on his history in case Tails needed his computer for Google for any reason. He also wanted no one else aware of it. He was the hero, the unshakable, unbeatable hero of the entire world. He couldn't let one silly illness take him down.

But he would.

But not yet.

He finished his water and crunched on some ice, hissing as he bit his tongue in his haste. He set the cup in the dishwasher and walked to his bedroom. He turned on his monitor and signed into his profile. If he was going to trek to the library with aching lungs, he wanted to know what the hell it was he was looking for. He opened his browser and paused at the Google page, trying to think of an indirect way to phrase the question.

'Fantasy Illnesses', he typed at last. He could feign the ideas being for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, or a new book or fanfic he found that didn't describe what the main character was ill with. Maybe there was a movie he was watching that featured one of these.

He found many from various franchises. Andromeda strain, instantaneous blood clotting. Nope, not his ailment. Dragon Pox, like smallpox for wizards. Nuh-uh. Not it. Hanahaki disease, an illness in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean media wherein a victim of unrequited love is doomed to cough flowers until the love was returned, the flowers were surgically removed, or the host was killed. Yep, that hit the nail on the head.

Hanahaki. He thought bitterly. So that's the name of this humiliating ailment. It would have been fascinating, had it not been for me practically dying because of it.

He felt the familiar tickle of the petals rising up in his throat, and he closed the tab and shut off his computer. He quickly rose from his gamer chair and bolted to his personal bathroom, glad it was one of the furthest rooms from the workspace Tails was in. He hovered over the porcelain of the sink, staring down at the silver drain against the white.

And he coughed. He coughed and coughed and retched and coughed some more. His throat, already being raw from the earlier session in Green Hill, burned like fire as he hacked and gagged and coughed around the petals lodged in his esophagus.

He spat out one petal, then another, then another. He struggled the most on the last, even going as far as to beat on his chest to try and dislodge the stuck phlegm and flowers. That was a bad move, he quickly learned, when the flowers prevented him from sucking air in. His eyes bolted wide with panic, and he stupidly beat his chest some more.

It worked, strangely enough, and the petals rolled into his mouth and onto his tongue. He spat them out, wrinkling his nose at the taste they left in his mouth. Coppery, metallic, and vile.

Sonic pawed at his eyes and removed the tears from them, gulping down air now that his lungs were unobstructed and begging to be filled with it. He closed his eyes and wiped sweat away, begrudgingly looking down at the flowers that had caused the obstruction.

The last petals he'd coughed were actually three ruby red rose petals stuck together. They were sitting in the bowl of the sink, taunting him with the overbearing knowledge that he was in love, and Shadow didn't love him back. That thought made his chest twist.

He also noticed, along with the last singe petal he'd coughed, the three were weighed down by something heavier than spit and mucus. He inspected them, and felt his heart freeze.

Blood.

The coppery taste, the more weight on the petals. It made sense. His throat was already so raw from his fit only two hours or so earlier. But seeing blood in the sink that he'd coughed up, tasting it in his mouth.

That scared him.

Chapter Text

The next couple of weeks were practically the same. The weight had reaffirmed itself deep in his chest, constricting his once powerful lungs. The days had been rather peaceful after Eggman's defeat in Green Hill, aside from Tails's tinkering with his inventions and searching for the other Chaos Emeralds.

No luck yet. Sonic snuck cheeky holds of the powerful emerald whenever he could, enjoying the deeper breathing he could accomplish with the gemstone's power. On test flights with the Tornado (of which there had been two), he found it more difficult to retain his consciousness when they flew to higher altitudes. It was even difficult socializing, as he never knew when he'd need to bolt for the bathroom to dispel petals. The more he had to deal with it, though, the easier it became to manage.

It remained mostly the same since Tails nearly caught him disposing of flower petals one Sunday afternoon. It remained mostly the same when he met with Amy and Rouge to head to see the new chick-flick they'd been dying to watch. It remained mostly the same when he joined Silver's jaunt around the mall looking for things to give to Blaze for their one-year anniversary.

It wasn't the same, however, when he met with Shadow at his front door early one morning. A harsh knock on the front door had roused him from his peaceful slumber at six-thirty that morning. He knew Tails was asleep in his workshop, as he'd tucked him in when sneaking out for water at midnight. He got out of bed, scowled at the red numbers flashing on his alarm clock, and stomped out to the door. He wrapped himself up in his favorite blanket, a fuzzy wool blanket with cute tassels on the short ends in his favorite color, blue, as he made his way down the wooden stairs and crossed through the living room. It startled him to see it was Shadow he saw through the peephole, and he could feel his heart fluttering into his throat. He opened the door and gave him a sleepy, surprised look.

"Shadow." He yawned, biting his tongue to try to stop the action. "What an unexpected surprise. Come in." Sonic stepped to the side to allow his rival to enter.

"Thank you for getting the door." He said bluntly as he stepped inside and walked promptly to the couch. "And I apologize for my sudden intrusion."

"It certainly was impromptu." Sonic agreed, closing the door and walking over to sit in the chair across from him. "So, what brings you here?" He was too tired to come up with funny quips or remarks, rather quietly waiting for Shadow to answer.

It was obvious Shadow was expecting some kind of snippy joke, as the silence drug on longer than Sonic cared to admit. When he did realize that Sonic wasn't going to joke around with this, he cleared his throat. "I'm sure you're aware Eggman's looking for the Chaos Emeralds." He started.

"We are, yeah." Sonic replied, looking in the workshop's direction. "I found one in Green Hill after driving the Eggster off. Tails has it in his workshop. We're looking for the other ones, especially if Eggman's after them."

"So you got it, good." Shadow murmured, looking down at a device in his lap. "We were hoping you did after we couldn't find it in Green Hill. G.U.N's looking for them as well, presumably to keep Eggman's grubby paws off them." Shadow looked back up at Sonic.

Sonic nodded his head slowly, licking his lips with his parched tongue. He hadn't had the time to drink some water before getting the door. "Why's he looking for them?"

"Beats the shit outta me." Shadow snorted bluntly. "Clearly some evil robot to try to take the world over."

"He did that once," Sonic groaned, "hasn't he had enough?"

"Nope. He'll never learn."

"And he'll get his butt kicked by a blue hedgehog. Again." Sonic grinned confidently.

Shadow snorted again, his ears flattening. "You're really full of yourself."

"Only 'cause I'm tired." Sonic shrugged. "You did wake me up out of a perfectly good dream."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. You wanted to know where the Emerald went, and if we knew about Eggman's plan."

Shadow nodded. "Partly."

"Partly?" Sonic echoed, his voice quiet. He could feel his throat tickling.

"Silver mentioned you were a bit ill when you went shopping with him." Sonic's heart sank at Shadow's words. "He said you coughed a lot. You feeling okay?"

"It's just the changing of the seasons." Sonic dismissed hastily. "Hay fever's no big deal. Everyone gets it."

Shadow narrowed his eyes at Sonic's quick dismissal, though he said nothing about it. "If you say so."

They sat in silence long enough that Sonic swore he was dozing. He only woke when he felt the familiar tightening of his stomach signaling his need to cough. He cleared his throat harshly, pushing the feeling away and earning a strange look from Shadow. His heart fluttered again, and the petals rose back in his throat. He could feel them fluttering and catching with each inhale.

Shadow thankfully got the memo after a few seconds of studying Sonic's worn-out face. "I'd better get going." He stood up, walking towards the door again.

"Thanks for dropping by and letting us know. I'll relay the info to Tails when he wakes." Sonic replied, his voice tight. He needed to the bathroom now. "Have a safe trip back home, or to work, or whatever."

"Thanks," Shadow opened the door, "sorry again for waking you."

"You're fine." Sonic grinned as he stood. "I'm gonna head back to sleep for a few hours." He walked over to the door and held it open as Shadow stepped out.

"Right. I'll see you later."

"Gotcha. Don't be a stranger, Shads!"

"Hmph." Shadow turned and left, walking down the gravel path that led to Tails's workshop.

Sonic closed the door as nonchalantly as he could, locking it and zipping back upstairs at full speed. He barely made it to his bathroom sink before he started hacking, coughing hard and wet. It sealed his airways off as he choked and gagged and retched, clearing his throat as best he could as he could with the flowers lumping together.

He eventually got himself to vomit, throwing up blood and petals and stems alike. He coughed and gagged as he expelled them from his body, harshly retching at the vile taste of blood and bile. His eyes had teared up, and the tears started rolling down his flushed cheeks. Sonic wrinkled his nose and wiped his eyes, opening them and blinking away the tears blurring his vision.

It had gotten worse. In the sink alongside the petals was a bulb. A little green rose bulb split through with red petals. The green leaves on the flower head were bathed in blood, his blood.

There was more than one of them, too. A full flower was sitting beside some petals, severed from its stem with its own petals painted deep red with his blood. It was hardly recognizable against the ruby red of its petals, but Sonic could see and smell it there. His stomach lurched, and his head spun as he filled his lungs with oxygen again.

His knees were trembling and weak, his mind racing as fast as his heart. It's gotten worse, he thought to himself, was seeing and speaking to Shadow enough to make it so? I'm not sure how much more of this I can take.

Sonic threw the flowers and petals and thornless stems away with trembling hands, washing his sink clean of his blood and bile. He stumbled back out to his room and collapsed on his bed, trying to calm the shakiness in his legs and arms.

He wasn't close, he knew that. But the pain was already unbearable. Shadow couldn't know. Tails couldn't know. No one could know. They couldn't know he was dying, or when he would die. He wasn't sure he'd know when his time was up until it was. When it was up, he knew exactly what he'd do.

He'd scamper off and die somewhere all alone.

Chapter Text

Dire news reached Sonic and Tails' ears by way of Amy. She'd come banging on their door one afternoon after Sonic had returned from his supposed run. He'd really gone and researched Hanahaki at the public library, especially since his shaky legs and aching chest couldn't handle the exertion of loop-de-loops.

"Eggman's got three Chaos Emeralds!" Amy shouted as soon as Sonic's twin-tailed buddy had opened the door. "He just stole one from Rouge downtown!"

"He what?" Tails shouted at the same time Sonic shot from his seat. His chest throbbed after that sudden action.

"Three?" He questioned. "How? That quickly?"

"Apparently! He was boasting about it as he flew away in the Eggmobile!" Amy explained, frantic. "You have to stop him, Sonic!"

"I'll do what I can." He agreed, furrowing his brow in a serious manner. "Which direction did he fly in?"

Amy thought back. "East." She said at last.

"Tails," Sonic said stoutly, "Fire up the Tornado."

They left Amy in charge of the one Chaos Emerald they had at the workshop, rushing out to Tails' hangar. "Don't mind the mess," he sheepishly told Sonic, "I've been tinkering."

Sonic passed Amy the Emerald, feeling the nasty constriction in his chest ease up as he held it. He took a deep breath in before handing it over and holding back a wince when his chest tightened again. "Whatever happens, do not let Eggman have this."

"You have my word, Sonic." She agreed, holding the glowing gem close to her chest, the light pulsating inside it like a heartbeat. "Be careful out there. Both of you."

"We will be." Sonic assured, shooting her a thumbs up as he hauled himself up and onto the wing of the plane. He braced himself, nodding to Tails when he was situated. The fox started the engine and fastened himself into the cockpit, driving the Tornado out to the runway and taking off.

Wind whipped Sonic's face and whirled his quills around behind him. He tightened his hold on the wing of the plane as the drag and pressure of their liftoff threatened to pull him off with it. They ascended into the sky for a few seconds, enough for each one to feel like hell. Tails steadied out, and Sonic let his hold relax slightly and his posture straighten.

"You alright up there Sonic?" Tails called over the roar of the wind and engine. Sonic looked back at his buddy, grinning and trying not to look too lightheaded. His interaction with Shadow had made his disease worse pretty significantly.

"Yeah!" He hollered back after gathering enough air to so do. "Let's go crack an egg!"

The entire flight towards Eggman's base wasn't too long, but for Sonic, it crawled by. His chest ached and throbbed, and he strained to look as though he was fine and getting plenty of oxygen as normal. The smoke in the air around Eggman's hideout further dilapidated him, and he bit back stinging coughs that could spell disaster for their mission.

Tails dipped the Tornado downward, gently curving around the factory island for clearance to land. Sonic tightened his hold and arched his posture again, reducing the drag and strain on his weakened, lithe body. His best fox friend eventually touched down, landing the biplane with little to no difficulty.

As their vehicle slowed and the altitude lowered down to sea level, Sonic found breathing slightly easier. He still felt as though he were suffocating in the island's foul, sulfuric smog. He noticed Tails looked as though he felt the same, though on a significantly lower scale.

Sonic hopped down when the plane stopped moving, trying to quash the shakiness in his powerful legs. He lit slip a few coughs, each luckily without flowers. "Ugh. This place stinks. Like, worse than usual." He joked.

"Yeah, I agree." Tails wrinkled his nose as he hopped from the plane. He pushed a button in the cockpit as he did, and Sonic watched with awe as the plane's cobalts and yellows shimmered away to match their surroundings; grey and drab, with a few blues from the sea. Sonic grinned.

"That's new." He prompted.

"New camouflage function I added." Tails puffed his chest out. "Pretty nifty, huh?"

Sonic threw his arm around Tails. "Yeah, it is, especially on missions like these." He ruffled his best friend's fur, letting him go after he heard him laughing and felt him smacking his arm playfully. "Now let's go scope this out and try to get those three Emeralds back!"

Tails nodded and clasped his hand, spinning his twin tails like helicopter blades and lifting them into the air. He flew Sonic over to the open hangar above their landing site, setting him on the ground and joining him on the white metal. They scurried to hide when a few Buzz Bombers flew by on patrol, flying out the open door with monotonous buzzes. The less fighting we need to do, Sonic thought to himself as he and Tails crept through the Buzz Bomber hangar, the better.

Eggman's HQ was always a maze. It had been then, and it still was now. They hid from Moto Bugs and Crabmeats, and ducked under boxes or behind curtains to evade more Buzz Bombers. The halls were stark white, so they both stood out tremendously. The air inside the base seemed to be cleaner, at least. Eggman didn't want to live in his own filth, did he?

Their shoes made soft clinks and clanks against the metal as they slipped around corners and down halls. They descended deeper into the belly of the beast, slipping into a massive underground room their nemesis apparently used as storage for robot parts. On a stand in the furthest point of the room were the Chaos Emeralds, but not just three.

Five.

Eggman had collected five in the short timeframe they had known he was even looking. That realization made Sonic's heart sink. He was weak, and tired, and in too much pain to run, but Eggman was at full strength. He had been this whole time. Eggman had robot slaves to do his bidding, and while Sonic had friends of his own, he wouldn't subject them to tyranny to get what he wanted. He wasn't like that, and they weren't like robots.

So they were stuck. If they didn't retrieve at least one or two of those Emeralds, it would be all over for them. Sonic knew this, and Tails looked like he'd had the realization. They made eye contact before looking back at the gems just mere feet away on the other side of the barren white room. They took one step, and then another, crossing the floor with small, tentative steps.

Finally, the pedestal that held the Emeralds was right in front of them. Sonic extended his hand slowly, wanting to feel their power course through him and free his constricted lungs of their thorny prison. But he hesitated, his gloved hand inches from the glass. "Wait." He thought aloud. "This seems almost too easy." He lowered his hand to his side again as his lungs screamed and cried for relief, trying to trick his mind and hand to knock the glass casing away and hug the gemstones close. Instead he turned, looking back at the large expanse of room around them.

Empty. He scanned the room for any doors that could release a robot onto them, and while he saw a few, none looked too big. Some were even cracked open with only miscellaneous parts to be seen inside. Sonic narrowed his eyes in suspicion, Tails doing the same eye sweep of the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Sonic turned back around and reached out slowly for the glass case again. He hesitated, but rested his hand over it. Nothing still. Sonic turned his back to the room fully, motioning for Tails to cover his blind spots. When he was sure the fox was ready, he lifted the glass from around the Chaos Emeralds in one swift motion.

All hell broke loose.

A hidden door they weren't even aware of flew open and dispensed onto them an army of robots. Most were easy fodder, being just the regular Moto Bugs and Crabmeats, though there was one that stood out because Sonic hadn't seen it before. It was painted a deep crimson, with black and brighter red spikes protruding from its grotesque back. Eggman constructed it out of heavy metal plate, the majority of the robot being just that. Its arms led down to scythe-like claws, and its head was sunken in and protected from any spin dashes Sonic would let loose. It released a robotic battle cry, sounding similar to a bear, and charged at them.

"Tails! Get the Moto Bugs and the others!" He barked. "I'll handle the big boy!"

"Gotcha!" Tails spun his tails into flight again, kicking at and smashing in robots.

Sonic turned his attention to the bipedal bear robot and dodged its charge with a simple sidestep to the right. It crashed into the wall, shielded from damage by its spikes and sunken in head. Sonic skirted around it and jumped into the air, his chest stinging with lack of oxygen as he curled into a ball and landed a homing attack on the thick metal bear. He didn't get spinning even close to fast enough, so his quills barely managed to even scratch the paint. He leapt into a backflip as the machine slashed at him with its razor-sharp claws, springing himself to his feet with a deft hand to the ground.

The bear charged again, and Sonic ducked under its legs this time, straightening up and landing a harder homing attack on its back as it collided with the white wall. He got to spinning faster, but it left him feeling dizzy and lightheaded. Not a good idea.

He dodged another swipe of its metallic paws, yelping when he saw them gorge the wall deeply. If he was one second too slow on any of his dodges, he was dead. I need to stay focused! He felt his throat prickle with the sign of an oncoming flower attack.

Tails joined him in fighting the big bear robot once he took the smaller robots out, and not even he was making a big dent in its armor. Sonic glanced back at the five Emeralds laying unguarded behind them, and bolted for them. He snatched up two, feeling the power course through him so quickly that the vines in his chest felt almost nonexistent. The tickle of cough remained, however, dancing in the back of his throat.

The Chaos Emeralds gave him his strength back, and he let his legs carry him around the room. He built up the massive speed he would need before curling into a ball and homing in on the robot. His speed and velocity shot him straight through the center of the bear-bot like a bullet, carving out a Sonic-sized hole in its center. It buzzed and hissed, the robotic life dying from it as it fell and clattered to the ground. Sonic looked back at Tails with glory, tossing him an emerald and giving him a high five.

Then Sonic fell too. He lost his hold on the gem he didn't pass Tails, falling to his knees as he coughed and coughed. "Sonic!" Tails cried with alarm, rushing to his side and trying to ease him. Shit. Shit, shit, shit, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening. He's not supposed to know, no one was supposed to know—

Sonic hacked up a few ruby petals and blood, as well as some phlegm and saliva. His eyes teared up as he squeezed them shut and clawed at his throat and chest. This one hurt, but not nearly as bad as Tails's horrified gasp when he saw what came up. Sonic coughed and hacked until what he assumed was another half bloomed bud blocked his airways again. He heaved and pounded his chest until it came out, its removal being the end of his fit. Blood oozed from his lips, dripping down to the petals mixed with saliva. He was shaky, his arms shaky and legs even more so.

Tails wasn't supposed to know.

"Sonic," he spoke so soft, so quiet, "why didn't you tell me?"

Sonic tried to reply, his throat too raw from the petals that scored it. "I didn't want you to know." He rasped, almost inaudibly. "I didn't want anyone to know."

"Who is it?" The simple question from Tails's lips hurt more than his fit did. Sonic closed his teary eyes almost as soon as he'd opened them, a few fresh tears joining the mixture of blood and spit on the flowers.

"I can't say." He mumbled out. Tails luckily didn't press further. "Don't tell anyone, please." Sonic begged.

"But—"

"Don't." Sonic interrupted.

"—you'll die."

Chapter Text

Dealing with the fits seemed a bit easier with Tails at his side. He at least knew he wasn't alone in this anymore, as much as the thought of Tails knowing his death was imminent hurt his soul. The little fox had been researching Hanahaki nonstop since he'd discovered Sonic's dirty little secret those few weeks ago in the depths of Eggman's lair.

Sonic also had noticed the attacks he'd been having and lessened slightly after they'd gathered six Emeralds in the workshop. All they really needed now was one more, and they could stop Eggman.

If they can really perform miracles like we've seen them do, Sonic thought hopefully, maybe they could cure me of this humiliatingly demeaning disease.

Most of Tails's research bore no fruit, with each fictional story of it being different and practically no real cases documented. It seemed near impossible to find a solution to the problem aside from the love Sonic felt burning in his chest being requited.

"Surgery is an option," Tails had told him the night after he'd witnessed the gruesome sight, "but you won't like it."

"Oh joy." He'd replied sarcastically, looking across the room at his twin-tailed buddy. "Why? What's it do?"

Tails had turned his sky blue gaze from him to his computer. "It has a high mortality rate, for one, and two it also removes any feelings for that person completely. You wouldn't even feel friendship." Sonic's heart had sunk then, and still did at the thought.

He didn't want to do that to Shadow. Correction; he couldn't do that to Shadow. As much as it would shatter his own heart, it would probably hurt the ebony's as well. Then Tails and anyone who he fucked up around would know it was Shadow he loved so dear and true. A love he then wouldn't get to have.

Surgery was a no-go.

So back to the drawing board, they were, looking for any breaks in the lore or loopholes in its effects. Occasionally Sonic would have to go hack his lungs out, and Tails would be right there with him. According to his friend, he was still in the beginning stages of the disease.

It got worse from there. Great. He already felt like he was slicing his throat open with each flowery fit he endured, and that was apparently minor. He felt his gut knot with terror and anxiety at the new knowledge.

He tried to begin slowly distancing himself from his friends, though with little success. He wasn't a recluse, but a very big extrovert. He hated being alone, without his dearest allies at his side. He hated the hurt looks on their faces as he declined their many offers to take him out to eat or to the movies.

But he would hate to screw up again and reveal his disease to others more than that. He already felt like crying at night now that Tails knew, and that was just Tails and no one else. Then again, Tails would've been the hardest to break the news to, if I was planning to at all.

He still refused to reveal to Tails the source of his ailment, much to the fox's dismay. Sonic didn't even have the heart to tell him battling Eggman was more of a challenge than fighting for oxygen.

He couldn't stop fighting him, though. He couldn't let Eggman have his way, and he couldn't let Tails do it all alone. He wasn't even going to let Knuckles or anyone else face the mad genius without his speed at their backs, as minimal as it was at the time. The Hanahaki had severely limited his speed, down from Mach One to barely over a hundred miles an hour. He was barely able to maintain it before he couldn't get oxygen to his lungs.

And this is just the beginning.

"Amy called earlier," Tails spoke from their silence as they battled it out in Super Smash Brothers, "she wanted to know if we wanted to go out to dinner tonight with her and some of the others."

Part of Sonic wanted to shout no, to scream that word to the heavens before he had to double over in a fit of flowers. Yet another part of him wanted to cry out unending 'yes's, yearning for social interaction with someone other than the one person who knew of his dehabilitating condition.

Instead, he just shrugged, put on a smile, and said, "Sure."

Tails eyed him warily, nearly costing himself the match. "Are you sure you're feeling up to it?" He wrinkled his nose as he was knocked off the stage by Sonic's main of himself.

"Yeah, I feel pretty great." He replied as he spiked a stock off of Tails in the game. "Besides, I can always bring an Emerald with me. Hide it in my quills."

"That would ensure your lungs would be working better." Tails mumbled, focusing more on the Smash match. "But what if you have to cough?"

"I can always excuse myself to the bathroom, or stifle a small one with my hand." He answered smoothly. "If they ask, hay fever. Or maybe I've had a cold recently and it's not out of my system yet."

"I'm not sure that'd fool everyone."

"It'd fool enough." Sonic cooly countered.

Tails sighed when he lost the match, closing his eyes. "If you're sure." He opened his eyes again. "I'll let her know we're in."

"Sweet." Sonic grinned. "Who all will be there?"

"As far as I know," the fox began, "you, me, Amy, Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, Rouge, and maybe Shadow." Sonic's heart nearly stopped.

"Maybe?" He echoed, trying not to sound too faint.

"Yeah." Tails reaffirmed. "He has something he has to do this evening, but if he can make it he said he'd probably show up." He was texting Amy their answer, balancing the red and blue Switch joycons on his leg. Sonic set his purple and orange ones on the oak table beside the couch. Shadow might not be there.

But he also could be.

"What time is the dinner? I need to know when I should get ready." Sonic chuckled, fluffing his quills jokingly. Tails rolled his eyes and laughed at his antics.

"Six o'clock." Tails replied. "She said she's added us to the reservation number."

Sonic chuckles and checked the time on his communicator watch: four-thirty. They still had time for another match or two.

"Hey Tails?"

"Hm?"

"You up for a rematch?"

The fox sneered competitively.

"You're on."

Chapter Text

Sighing with contentment, Sonic slipped his ungloved fingers through the fluff on his chest, accenting it as best he could. He had little in the chest fluff department, but his peach chest was at least fluffier than it had been a few years past. He fluffed it up with a touch of cold water from the sink, his fur already damp from the quick shower he'd indulged in. He slicked some moisturizer through his spikes, knowing how shiny the moisturizer would make his razor-like quills.

He washed the substance from his fingers after he finished shining each row of dangerously sharp quills. Sonic patted his hands dry with the bath towel he had, hanging it up to dry. He flipped the fan on to dispel the steam, pulling his gloves back on and kneeling to slip on his trusty red sneakers. His chest constricted as he bent over his knee to tug on his socks, and in turn his shoes. He did this part as fast as he could, his chest burning. He rose to his feet quickly, walking out of his bathroom.

Tails was downstairs, brushing out his tails as a last finishing touch. He'd fluffed his chest fur, much like Sonic had, shiny and beautiful. He tilted one ear in Sonic's direction as he heard him descend the stairs, lifting his head with his crystal eyes twinkling.

"Heya Sonic." He smiled. "You ready?"

"Yep." Sonic winked as he reached the bottom of the wooden stairwell. He crossed the living room towards the kitchen in five strides, scooping up the keys to the workshop from the counter and tossing them to Tails. The fox caught them, chuckling as he shifted them around to hold the house key in between his fingers. "Shall we?"

With a deft nod of his head, Tails pulled open the front door and let Sonic exit. He trotted out the door and waited for his fox friend to lock up. The door was locked with a quick insert and jerk of the keys, and they were starting down the path towards the city.

"So, where's dinner at tonight? Did Amy say?" Sonic asked as he greeted the sweet evening air with as deep a breath as his vine-constricted lungs would allow.

"Mexican." Tails replied. "Mamá Tequila."

"Mm." Sonic hummed, already imagining the excessively stuffed burrito he would be ordering. "Sounds delish!"

Tails chuckled, seeming to follow Sonic's train of thought to his bulging burrito. "Doesn't it? I've never been before, but I think that's because it's fairly recent."

"Yeah, didn't it move in where the old Mickey D's was?" Sonic asked, glancing over at Tails as they paused at a busy street to await their turn to cross.

"Mhm." Tails hummed. "In the plaza, near downtown. Off Vine Street."

Sonic smiled, tapping his foot impatiently as a gentle gust of wind threatened to mess his fur up. "Ah, yeah. I remember seeing it a few weeks ago when I came back from the downtown branch library." His companion nodded and groaned softly as the wind succeeded in messing up his delicate fluffing.

They crossed the road as soon as the lights changed and signaled their safe cross. They followed the sidewalk down a few more roads and left turns, arriving at the plaza that held their restaurant of choice. Tails rounded the fountain with Sonic, leading him to the rather large building in the left-hand corner of the rightmost shops. There was a decent sized patio just outside the front door and wrapping around the side, and speakers well hidden in the rocks and plants playing melodic mariachi songs into the evening. There were patio lights strung around the fence holding the patio tights to the restaurant, and a mural of a significant battle in Mexican history painted on the outdoor, windowless wall. Sonic opened and held the heavy glass door for Tails, who sheepishly grinned and chuckled as he thanked Sonic and walked inside. Sonic followed him, and was immediately taken aback at the ambiance.

Sweet smells of margaritas and churros fluttered into his nose, mingling with the savory queso and salsa scents from the tables. The mariachi music was a little louder inside, but not enough to be overpowering. The place was buzzing with customers, chatting about the day or about their delicious meal as they ate. The lights inside were dim, enough to see but enough to create a mood Sonic had yet to find the right word to describe. The walls were a beautiful saffron with real wooden trim, and some had paintings hanging on them, while others had more hand-painted murals. The bar was clean and full of consumers, cheering on the ball game as they indulged in their alcoholic beverages.

All in all, the setting was a ten out of ten.

Tails gently grabbed his arm and led him over to a large table he only just now noticed, with Amy standing as tall as she could and waving her hand at them. Sonic smiled as he turned his attention to where he was going. He eased into a seat adjacent to Silver, and across from Amy and Rouge. Tails took the other empty seat beside Sonic, folding each tail to one side and holding them gently beside each leg.

"Sonic, Tails!" Amy greeted with glee, sitting back down and readjusting her dress. "I'm so glad you both could make it!"

Sonic chuckled, clearing his throat as he felt gentle petals tickle its back. He would need to dispel them, but not yet. "Hey, me too." He winked. "It's been a while since all of us have hung out together as a group."

"Well," Rouge hummed, her voice like liquid sugar, "almost all of us." She glanced at the still empty seat beside Knuckles, and Sonic knew who she was referring to in an instant. Shadow.

Knuckles snorted, picking the largest, saltiest chip from the basket and scooping out some salsa with it. "He said he most likely wouldn't make it, remember?" He grumbled, stuffing the salsa chip into his mouth.

"It's still nice Amy invited him." Blaze spoke up from Silver's other side. She had a chip with some queso on it in her hand, watching it drip excess back into the bowl with sharp gold eyes. "Even if he doesn't show."

"And if he does," Silver chimed in, levitating his salsa chip to his grinning mouth, "he can have a margarita."

Sonic chuckled and took a chip from the basket, passing one to Tails as he scooped out some salsa. He wasn't sure why his heart twisted so badly when he heard Shadow would most likely not show. It would be realistically bad for him to come, with Sonic's condition as bad as it was.

But a small part of him had really hoped he would've.

And hey, he still might show up, Sonic thought to himself, dinner has barely begun, anyway. He happily munched on his chip, licking his lips to get the extra salsa on them he missed. He listened partially to the conversation between the girls and Silver, and partially focused on the Spanish of the song playing from the speakers. He recognized some words, like cómo, también, and bien, but that was mostly it.

He pulled his focus together completely when the waitress walked up, a young sea green cat with a white muzzle and tail tip and sparkling magenta eyes that looked like they'd seen the world and more. "Hóla!" She grinned. "Welcome to Mamá Tequila! I'm Turquoise, and I'll be your server for this evening!" She set two napkins down on the table, one in front of Sonic and the other in front of Tails. She giggles. "What could I get you two to drink?"

"Water, please." Tails ordered with a smile.

"Mhm! And for you?"

"Water as well." Sonic smiled. "Please.

"Yes, of course!" Turquoise wrote that down on their notepad, looking over at Amy. "We still waiting on someone?"

"Yeah, but he might not make it." She informed, smiling softly. She'd already ordered her drink when she'd arrived and appeared to be halfway through it. "Oh, and another tea when you get the chance would be nice."

"Of course! Unsweetened?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Okay!" Turquoise rounded the table and picked up Amy's cup to go refill it. "I'll be back with your drinks and to get your orders!" She walked on to the back afterwards.

Sonic chuckled and took another chip from the basket, adding salsa and eating it. He skimmed the menu briefly, running his fingers over the smooth laminated paper as he scanned it for his heart's desire: a burrito. He decided upon the burrito fajita upon seeing it, already salivating as he thought of its succulent flavor. He finished chewing on his chip, turning to Tails when he'd swallowed. "Whatcha gonna get, buddy?" He asked.

"Hm." Tails hummed thoughtfully. "I think I might try the cheese dip enchiladas. Ooh, or maybe the chicken quesadilla." He giggled softly at his own indecisiveness.

"Ooh, those both sound tasty." Sonic informed, reading the menu after scanning the page Tails was on to find where he was. "I'm gonna get the burrito fajita."

"Those are massive." Knuckles butted in. "I had that last time I was here and I'm gonna get it again. With less peppers, though."

Sonic chuckled, glancing up at his crimson echidna friend. He grabbed another chip, asking for some of Blaze's queso to dip it in. She luckily agreed, and Silver passed the bowl of the white cheese sauce over for Sonic to enjoy.

Turquoise returned shortly afterwards with their drinks, smiling softly and nodding to all the thanks she was receiving. "Do you all know what you want, or do you wanna wait a little longer for your last member?"

"I think we'll go ahead and order." Amy answered with a smile, sweetening her tea with a packet of stevia she had on her. "One check. If our final member arrives, his food is on me as well" She giggled as everyone glared her down. Turquoise nodded and got out her notepad again, clicking her pen at the ready.

"Alrighty. Whenever you're ready!"

Amy lifted her menu and pointed to an item on it. "The tamales, how many are there for a dinner portion?" She asked.

"Three large ones." The waitress replied.

"Ooh, okay. I'll have those then, and add a side of Spanish rice and refried beans." Amy smiled and set her menu down in the middle of the table to form a nice pile. Turquoise scribbled her order down, turning her gaze to the bat beside her.

"I'll have the cheese dip enchiladas, shredded beef." Rouge ordered. "No sour cream on the salad."

"Gotcha, and for you, sir?" She turned her magenta eyes to Knuckles.

He set his menu in the pile after Rouge did. "Burrito fajita with steak, light peppers."

Blaze let her write the order down before ordering herself. "I'll have the pollo jalisco with the flour tortillas. Everything is fine." Turquoise nodded, looking up at Silver when she was done.

"I'll have the empanada with shredded beef, and no sour cream on top." He ordered, setting his and Blaze's menus in the pile Amy had started.

Sonic's turn. "I'll have the burrito fajita, also with light peppers, no beans on the side and no tomatoes in the salad." His stomach growled thinking about his order.

Tails was last up. He looked up at the waitress as he pointed to what he wanted on the menu to remind himself what it was. "Chicken quesadillas, please! Light onions and no avocados, and no beans on the side as well." He passed Sonic his menu, and the cobalt set them on Amy's neat pile. The pink hedgehog scooped them up and passed them over to the server.

Subtle footsteps approaching would've gone completely unnoticed if not for the ending of the current song over the speakers. They all turned their head to look, and Sonic felt his heart both flutter with glee and sink to his stomach when he saw who was approaching, standing just beside their server when he arrived.

Shadow.

"Sorry I'm late," he spoke, stepping around Turquoise and taking his seat beside Knuckles, "I got held up a bit."

"Buenos tardes, welcome in!" Their server smiled, turning to face him. "What could I get you to drink?"

"I'll have a margarita on the rocks, sugar instead of salt, and water on the side. No lemon." Shadow looked down at his menu, flashing his I.D. Turquoise nodded and wrote that down.

"Alrighty, I'll get that right out for you! I'll leave that menu so you can browse through it." She gathered up the remaining menus and carried them to the back. Shadow gave her a taut nod as he slipped his I.D. back into his wallet and scanned the menu with his eyes of deep ruby.

Sonic felt his chest tighten, the flowers making their presence more known with feathery twirls and flutters at each inhale. He could hold them in, dinner would only last about another hour or so. He hoped he could hold out that long, at least.

Tails seemed to express Sonic's concerns as well, giving his blue friend an alarmed glance. Sonic returned it with a cool smile, hoping that whatever Tails was thinking was changed out to 'yep, Sonic's just fine'. No guarantee the look would work, but Sonic tried anyway.

They returned to chips and salsa as Turquoise returned with Shadow's margarita and water. She set them on the table in front of him, asking his order with a smile.

"Hard shell tacos with ground beef, no cilantro, extra salsa. Sour cream on the side, if you will." Shadow's voice was liquid gold to Sonic's ears, and despite the relaxation his muscles felt hearing the husky voice, his chest felt the opposite. Shadow passed her his menu, the dim lights of the restaurant glinting off the golden inhibitor ring around his bracer. Even that sent the butterflies resting in Sonic's stomach into a frenzy.

"I'm glad you could make it, Shadow!" Amy giggled, filling the soft silence at their table with idle banter. "We were all worried you wouldn't make it."

"I almost didn't." He mumbled in response, wetting his throat with a sip of the alcoholic beverage he'd ordered. "But I did, so it's no matter." Shadow set the glass down and indulged in some chips and salsa.

Sonic tuned most of the chatter out and opted to talk with Tails instead. The look Tails kept flashing his way was attracting Silver's unwanted attention. "How's your most recent attempt on the Tornado work out for ya buddy?" He asked, pulling the first thing he could think of to talk about.

"Pretty well," Tails replied almost effortlessly, "but I can't seem to get the cloaking right. Remember when we left Eggman's base with the Emeralds? It shifted back."

"Yeah, I do." Sonic replied. "Cloaking seems like it'd be ridiculously difficult."

Tails groaned. "It is. I've consulted Espio about his ability to camouflage as a chameleon, but it's hard to take something like that and put it on an inorganic object."

Sonic scooped some salsa out with a chip and crunched on it, mostly in an attempt to drive the dancing flowers back down. "It worked pretty well when it did last, though." He pointed out. "That's something."

Tails did almost the same as Sonic, munching on the chip before taking a sip of his water. "Yeah, I guess so. I just need to figure out how to prolong it indefinitely, or at least until I deactivate it." He giggled, his twin tails fluffing up and twitching.

Sonic took a big swig of his water after the chip and salsa failed him. He swallowed as hard as he could without doing so too loudly, withholding a groan of frustration when the aggressive swallow did next to nothing to aid in pushing the petals away. "Maybe after you get that working, you can hook it to a remote."

"Ooh, or maybe a set of armor or rings?" Tails wondered aloud. "It would be handy to shimmer invisible, especially in stealth missions like our last one."

Sonic laughed. "Don't go all Lord of the Rings on me, buddy." He teased. "No magic invisibility rings."

"Sonic!" The fox smacked him lightly. "I wouldn't make the rings control you towards evil! You can cast them into the fire in which they were made if you distrust them so." They both giggled and snorted at their own references.

It didn't take too much longer for the parade of waiters and waitresses along with Turquoise to deliver their food to them, piping hot. They read off each order as they picked it up, setting it down in front of the corresponding person. Everything's savory scent wafted into Sonic's nose all at once, flooding his mouth with saliva as he imagined each juicy bite of his burrito.

Maybe his meal would shove down those pestering rose petals daring to make their debut.

The knife slid through the tortilla and its innards like butter, and the first bite matched Sonic's every hope. The creamy queso on top, the perfectly cooked and seasoned beef, the delicate flavor of the tortilla, and unique tastes of the onions and peppers all mixed so well in his mouth. The beef was tender and juicy, and sent tidal waves of satisfaction down his spine and through each and every quill.

The first bite, then the second, and the third all satisfied his urge to cough by shoving the petals out of the way. The fourth bite was different, though. He wasn't sure what changed between it and the last, but his throat itched dangerously and his stomach tightened with the urge to cough. He swallowed his mouthful hard and half-chewed, standing quickly. "I'm gonna use the bathroom." He stated, hoping his voice didn't sound as strangled as he thought it did.

His feet quickly crossed the floor and he scanned desperately for the sign of the restrooms. He had to refrain from bolting to it when he saw them, and hastily entered the room and moved towards closest stall. There wasn't anyone inside the bathroom at the moment, so he was good to hack his lungs out.

He settled for the sink when he started cough and couldn't make it to the toilet. He braced himself on the granite counter and hacked away. He coughed, hard and choked, his eyes tearing up from the exertion and the pain of the flowers scoring his lungs upon exit. It was mostly petals and some blood, so he hoped it was just a light attack.

The door opened, and Sonic couldn't stop himself from coughing. He couldn't even look to see who it was walking in to his horrible fit. Maybe it was a random other customer who wouldn't give a hoot. Maybe it was Tails, who probably knew what was going on.

But he wasn't prepared for the voice he heard next.

"Sonic?"

No.

Fur of charcoal and garnet entered his peripheral, and sent his heart plummeting to the tile as he heaved out another wet cough of rose petals. It was Shadow, and he heard the gasp from him when he was stood at his side.

He knows.

Chapter Text

"Who is it?"

Shadow's voice cut through the coughing like a knife, nearly inaudible past the blood and adrenaline roaring in Sonic's ears. He heaved another cough, wet and hard, squeezing shut his teary eyes as he tasted the blood rolling down his tongue. He jumped and shuddered when he felt Shadow's hand, warm and broad, rest over his back in support. Pretty dumb of him to ask 'who is it' when I'm about to black out.

Sonic felt his airways block with what he assumed was another half-bloomed bulb lodged in his throat. He retched and hacked and heaved, trying to dislodge the stuck flower before his already blurred vision faded away to black. He would have forgotten about Shadow's hand on his back if not for the other softly pounding on it. The flower passed and he coughed it out with Shadow's aid, gasping and wheezing for air when the airways were unobstructed. He gulped down what he could, slumping weakly against the marble counter.

"Who is it?" Shadow asked again, helping to support him. Sonic couldn't help but rest his head on his chest.

He opened his mouth to answer, without a sound leaving his lips. He opened his teary and blurry eyes to gaze up at Shadow. His rival was staring at the petals and flower head in the sink before turning his icy gaze back to Sonic. "I can't say." He forced out, his voice barely a hushed whisper.

"Tell me." Shadow demanded.

"I can't." Sonic countered with as much gusto as he could muster. "I can't."

"You'll die."

"I know." Sonic knew that silence was a bad one, and he forced himself up to his feet and leaned shakily over the sink. He removed his gloves with tremulous hands, turning on the water to both rinse the petals of blood and splash his face.

"That's it?" Shadow asked again, his voice a scary combination of surprise, anger, and terror that sent shivers down Sonic's spine. "You're giving up?"

Sonic braced himself against the marble counter with his elbows, cupping his gloveless palms together and gathering a small pool of water between them. "No." He splashed his face and rubbed the icy tap water in. "I'm not. Not that easily." He cupped his hands another time and sipped the water from his palms, swishing it around to wash the blood and metallic taste from his tongue. He spat the water out over the flowers, trying the tap off and frowning as he stared at the carnage.

The petals were larger than before, or maybe he was just hallucinating it to be. They smelled of blood and roses, an intoxicatingly strange scent to his nose. What he thought was a half-bloomed bud was actually a flower in full bloom, with each petal spread vividly and vibrantly against the silver chrome of the restaurant sink.

"I can't believe you." Shadow grumbled, his eyes boring into Sonic's back as he shakily pitched up the flower and each petal for disposal. "There is no cure for this."

"I know, Shadow." He huffed, voice stronger than before but still weak. He threw the petals and flower head away wrapped in a paper towel from the dispenser. "Tails and I have done our research."

Shadow crossed his arms, flicking his ear in annoyance. "Then you understand how imperative it is that you tell him or her that you love them."

"I can't." Sonic reminded. "They don't like me back."

"You don't know that." Shadow pressed.

"Yeah, I kinda actually do." Sonic snapped, keeping his back to Shadow. "So I can't tell them, and put the burden of my death on their shoulders. I would think you could understand that."

Sonic didn't hear a word from Shadow, and he chanced a glance over at him. He was standing there, straight up with ears nearly flat to his head. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, looking away from his cobalt rival. "I do understand that." He answered at last. "But is it worth the pain on everyone else?"

Sonic chuckled softly, without humor, and cast his eyes downward. "No, but at least the pain for that one person wouldn't be as heavy." He looked back up at Shadow, clearing his throat and straightening up his posture. He plastered a grin to his face, a near undetectable fake one, and waved his hand towards Shadow. "C'mon. My voice is back, and our food is getting cold."

"Hmph." Was all Shadow said in response as they walked out of the bathrooms. They crossed the restaurant, Sonic following Shadow's lead back to the long table they were dining at.

"One more thing, Shadow." Sonic whispered lowly to him as they approached their table.

"What?"

"Please, please don't tell a soul."

Shadow hummed softly. "We'll see." When they arrived at their table, Sonic took his seat back beside Tails, and Shadow his place beside Knuckles.

"Are you alright Sonic?" Amy asked. Ever the worrywart, she was. "You took off in such a hurry we were all worried about you!"

"Yeah, I'm good." He replied smoothly after taking a nice long sip of his ice water. "I had a cold recently, and I guess I'm still not one hundred percent!" He bluffed, laughing as if to seal the deal. Amy chuckled along with him, buying into his lie for the time being.

Shadow cut him a look from across the table, and Tails slipped his hand onto Sonic's knee under the table. Sonic gave Shadow a small shake of his head and Tails a nod. He couldn't have his secret out, not now. Not at all.

Not ever.

Chapter Text

Shadow had been thankfully discreet about Sonic's condition as of late. He'd given out more or less the same excuses as Sonic whenever someone asked him to reach out to his blue rival. However, that also meant he was more involved with the whole situation as a whole, and inadvertently making Sonic's condition worse.

Sonic couldn't tell him that, though.

Sonic had been going a bit stir crazy as of late. It had been a solid two and a half weeks since they had dinner with the rest of their friends and Shadow found out. Sonic hadn't really left the workshop, just taking the time to go easy and kick back for a break. Well, how much of a break he could considering his situation.

He felt more or less the same regarding the weight on his chest, however the fits had been more frequent and a slight bit more aggressive. Tails once again reminded him that he was still in the early stages when Sonic went on and on about how he was sure he was dying. The only good part about this was that Tails was getting decent research on a disease that was supposedly mythical.

The Chaos Emeralds still helped ease the pressure in his sternum, and helped him breathe a little deeper. When he held them, he almost didn't remember he'd had this debilitating disease for over a month. He almost forgot he'd had the disease at all.

But like all good things, they didn't last.

Eggman came raiding one night, jostling Sonic awake from his delightful dreams of Chili Dog Valley and causing him to fall from his bed. Of course it had to be in the middle of the night, and of course it had to be the loudest break-in ever. The azure hedgehog shot to his feet much to the dismay of his chest and bolted downstairs as fast as he could. He was smart enough to grab his phone, and even smarter to pull up Shadow's number. While he was the last hedgehog Sonic should be seeing, he's the only one Sonic trusted in case he broke down into a fit of flowers. With a quick press of the green call button, Sonic darted to the door leading to the Tornado's hangar.

He noticed Tails scrambling down the stairs in a panic when he had his hand on the knob. He twisted it open and let Tails barge in first, while he waited on Shadow. The line rung and rung, until finally Shadow picked up.

"Hello?" He asked in a tired voice on the other line.

"Shadow! Thank Chaos you answered!" Sonic cried. "Eggman's here! He's after our Emeralds! We need you!"

There was silence on the other side, all up until Sonic heard the sound of Shadow rushing from his bed. "I'll be there as soon  as I can!" He shouted, slapping his phone loudly as he went to hang up. He missed, however, and Sonic had to press the button to end the call.

"Hurry! And come through Tails's hangar!" He added before pressing the hang up button. All he could do was hope Shadow heard that last part.

He threw the phone on the kitchen counter and ran out after Tails, his quills prickling with aggression. "Eggman!" He shouted as loudly as his vine-constricted lungs would allow. The action shot a bristling tickle down his throat, awakening the petals that had been laid to rest for the night.

Eggman was there in his Egg Mobile, letting his robots do all the intrusive rustling through Tails' things. "Hedgehog!" He spat, his brow wrinkling and nostrils flaring in anger. He pressed a button concealed by the slope of his mobile, causing some of the robots to turn their hostile gazed on Sonic and Tails.

Tails grabbed a wrench, brandishing it angrily as Sonic dipped into an offensive stance. He knew he couldn't do much, but he couldn't show weakness in front of his nemesis. "Call off your goons!" Sonic growled, glaring up at the rotund man hovering above the biplane. "And leave us alone! Waking a hedgehog from his beauty rest is a terrible idea, y'know."

"I don't care about your beauty rest!" Eggman snarled. "Attack! And search for the Chaos Emeralds while you're at it!" Sonic rolled his eyes, sighing a small breath as he aimed at his first target. He dodged a few snaps of the claws of a Crabmeat, and flipped over a few charging Moto Bugs.

"Tails!" He called. "Stop the Egg Pawns!"

Tails smashed the Buzz Bomber that was targeting him, nodding his head determinedly. He ran over to the Egg Pawns rummaging through his desk, smacking them with the wrench. "Stop invading my privacy!"

Sonic jumped over the pincers of the Crabmeat, landing on a Buzz Bomber's back and aiming its laser sting at its own allies. "Eat plasma!" He laughed, smashing in the head of the robot when he was done with it. He launched off its back as it started to fall, kicking it into a few of the Egg Pawns sorting through the shelves to the left of the room.

Eggman shouted in anger, slamming a button that summoned a few more Egg Pawns in to search. A few he called in were armed, and came after Sonic and Tails after the initial Crabmeats, Buzz Bombers, and Moto Bugs were destroyed. Sonic homed in on one with a laser pistol, grabbing one of Tails's hammers and throwing it at its head. He luckily hit it, but didn't quite destroy it. He ran up to it, lungs burning, and jumped up. He grabbed its leg and pulled it downwards, slamming it into the ground with as much force as his weakened muscles could muster.

He snatched up the blaster and stomped on the Pawn's head to ensure its defeat. He leapt back towards the doorway leading inside their home, dropping to one knee to both rest his trembling muscles and get a lock on the whole room. He opened fire upon the robots, the blaster shooting lasers with enough power to destroy the Pawns in one or two shots.

However, with Sonic and Tails distracted by the Pawns flitting about in hopes of destroying them, one of the search drones found the basket of Chaos Emeralds Tails had craftily hidden behind a false painting. It flew the basket over to its creator, passing it to him while the fat man roared out his laughter.

"You fools!" He howled. "Now the Chaos Emeralds are MINE!"

"Not quite."

A blur zipped by, flipping over Eggman and snatching two of the precious gems from the basket. Landing in front of Sonic, he felt his heart come alive with the sight of their rescuer.

Shadow had arrived at last.

The black and red hedgehog tossed one Emerald to Sonic, keeping his fiery ruby gaze on Eggman at all times. His free hand crackled with energy as a Chaos Spear was summoned to it, powered by the Emerald, and humming audibly with might. "I suggest you give up." Shadow threatened, his voice like liquid gold to Sonic's ears. "Now."

Eggman sneered, ordering his robots to attack while he turned tail to flee. "No matter. I still have three Emeralds, and I will be returning for the rest!" The Pawns obeyed mindlessly to Eggman's orders, advancing on the three remaining in the room. Sonic stood up straight, rejuvenated by the vines receding, coughing only lightly into his hand. A single petal came up from this relatively mild fit, and he tossed it aside without a second thought.

Shadow made quick work of the Pawns advancing on him, as did Sonic and Tails. They were almost too focused on the fight at hand to notice one of the Pawns stray, and collect Sonic's discarded petal before it fled with the rest of the now retreating robots. Sonic laughed a breathless laugh, blowing a weak raspberry at the retreating machines before turning to Shadow.

"Thanks for coming." He spoke with a soft voice, the exhaustion of being ripped from a dream settling in now that the initial adrenaline had passed. "We owe you one."

Shadow nodded, examining the purple gem he held in his hands. "I'm happy to have arrived in time. I could've teleported if I had one of these, but I didn't until now." He turned his haunting scarlet eyes from the Emerald and locked them with Sonic's. "Mind if I keep this one for quick entry in case of another emergency?"

"Go ahead." Sonic smiled. "It's better to keep them spread out, after all."

"There was only five in that basket." Shadow observed. "You had six."

Sonic laughed, twirling the emerald green gem in his hands. "I kept the white one I found in Green Hill under my pillow." He answered. "Helps me breathe at night, and no one would expect it to be there."

"Hm." Shadow hummed. "Clever hiding spot."

Tails yawned softly, stretching. "I'll deal with this mess tomorrow. We can also decide on what our next course of action is tomorrow as well." He rubbed his eyes, walking to the hangar doors to close and lock them again. "I'm headed back to bed now. Shadow, feel free to stay the night in a guest room if you'd like."

"I might take you up on that offer." Shadow replied, checking the time on the clock Tails had mounted on his wall. "It's late."

"Early, more like." Sonic yawned, stretching as well. "C'mon, I'll show you to your room for the night."

Shadow said nothing after that, following Sonic inside the workshop. Sonic grabbed his phone from the counter and led Shadow upstairs, showing him a room he could call his own for the night. Shadow entered the bedroom with a soft 'thanks', setting Sonic's cheeks on fire. Thankfully it was dark, and Shadow had the door practically closed when the blush settled onto Sonic's muzzle, hot and fuzzy.

Sonic returned to his own room afterwards, tucking the green Emerald under his pillow beside the white one. He took a swig of water from the cup he had on his bedside table, setting the glass back down on the coaster as he settled back under the covers.

His bed was still slightly warm from where he had been curled up in it only about twenty minutes earlier. His eyes slipped shut after barely a few seconds of laying in the warmth, and he drifted back to his beloved Chili Dog Valley once again.

Chapter Text

Sonic woke that morning with a gentle nudge. He swatted at the thing that had nudged him, turning back onto his side. He was still half lodged in his dream of his beloved Chili Dog Valley when the nudge came again, harsher and more frequent.

“Mmmmphhhh,” he groaned, “shhtap.”

“—nic. Sonic. Sonic!”

The thing, which he now knew was a hand that was nudging him, came down as a harsh smack. Sonic jolted upright, eyes wide and quills bristled, and a squawk of alarm left his lips. “Bwha?! Shadow!” He spat, glaring up at the now snickering hedgehog stood by his bedside.

“Good morning sleepyhead.” He teased, a sneer growing on his lips. The gesture sent Sonic’s heart into cartwheels. “Tails sent me to wake you.”

The events of the night prior flooded Sonic’s mind. The rude awakening, Eggman’s raid, Shadow’s arrival, all of it. He grimaced. “To talk about our next step, I take it?”

“Yeah.” Shadow walked a few paces from Sonic’s bed, standing in the center of the golden, ring-shaped rug on the floor. He shifted his weight, and it took all Sonic had not to swoon over the muscles he saw rippling beneath his shiny onyx fur. “He didn’t destroy anything in the workshop, and all he stole was the Emeralds. His intentions with them are still unclear, but all we know now is that he has three and we have three. The seventh is up in the air.” He tapped his chin, his back mainly to Sonic.

The cobalt hero shifted to his feet, the constricting grip of the vines in his airways returning so suddenly that it nearly knocked him over. What were once deep, robust breaths were hollow, shallow husks of what they were before. He half debated on grabbing an emerald from his bed to stash away in his quills.

“You broke into his hideout,” Shadow continued. “Tails said the only thing of note from it was the strange bear-like robot you faced when you grabbed the Emeralds.” He turned back to face Sonic.

“I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.” Sonic supplied, knowing Shadow’s prompt was eminent. He closed his eyes, trying to breathe deeply. The flutter of petals and ridged leaves in his chest nearly sent him coughing. “Thinking back, there was a strange door leading out back, just past the Buzz-Bomber Hangar.” He recalled. “We didn’t peek through there, we just made a beeline for the Emeralds. Tails had a sensor lead us around.”

He opened his eyes again, meeting Shadow’s as he turned to stare at him. “A strange door?” He echoed.

“Yeah, something like that. It had a padlock on it.” He explained.

“Then that could be what we’re looking for. The answer to the question.” Shadow crossed his arms and closed his eyes, rapping his fingers along his bicep. “Let’s bring this up to Tails.” He opened his eyes and started towards the door.

“Good idea.” Sonic agreed, taking a step away from his bed.

“Oh, and grab an Emerald.” He barked. “Silver’s here, and if you don’t want your secret out, you’d best not be wheezing in front of him.” Shadow swept out of the room.

“Hah.” Sonic huffed, turning back around and scooping the white Emerald from under his pillow. He left the green one behind, deciding it best not to risk both if they had to go somewhere.

The thought of passing the extra Emerald to Silver crossed his mind, but he decided to let it rest for now. If it came to it, he would. After securing the white gemstone between his quills and getting his shoes back on his already socked feet, he exited the room and started towards the downstairs. He ghosted his hand over the wooden railing as he descended the stairwell to the living room.

The three sitting in the room below looked up at him as he entered, and he stretched his tired muscles with a loud yawn. “Sup guys?” He greeted.

“Good to see you again, Sonic.” Silver responded, smiling. His golden eyes were practically twinkling with excitement. “I’ve missed seeing you out and about. Things are different without ya.”

“Heh, sorry.” He apologized, relaxing and walking to the couch. He sat down between Silver and Tails, as Shadow preferred to stand. “So, what’re we talking about?”

“We were waiting for you, actually.” Shadow replied, smooth as silk. “I informed Silver of the whole situation, and them both about the door you saw.”

Sonic nodded. “Yeah. All I noticed was the padlock. Nothing else, aside from its placement next to the hangar.”

“It might be worth checking out,” Silver pointed out. “There might be something in there Eggman’s trying to keep secret.”

“Maybe the Emeralds?” Tails added, looking between the three hedgehogs. “Or something related to his plan with them?”

“We could dispatch a stealth mission.” Shadow provided. “Just Sonic, Silver and I. We can slip in undetected, and make a break for the door.”

Sonic scratched his head. “Hopefully the Eggster hasn’t set up cameras after our last, eh, ‘visit’.” He chuckled nervously. “Also, what about the padlock on the door?”

“Was it electronic?” Questioned Tails.

“Probably, knowing Eggman.” Sonic replied.

The fox straightened up, hopping from his seat and scurrying towards his workshop. “I have a signal jammer,” he began as he hurried across the living room floor, “it can deactivate the padlock, and effectively unlock the door!”

“Pretty nifty Tails.” Sonic winked.

“It could work.” Shadow agreed.

“You’re a genius, Tails!” Silver added, beaming.

Tails ran to the back, returning after a few seconds with the device. “This is it!” He presented it to the trio. “All you have to do is hold it close to the padlock and press the jam button! It’s the big green one in the center, you can’t miss it.” He pointed to it anyways. He passed the item to Shadow.

“Thanks.” The dark hedgehog took it carefully between his hands, turning it over and humming in approval.

“When do you wanna go, Shadow?” Silver asked, looking over at the other.

“As soon as possible,” he answered, “so probably now.”

Sonic gulped, standing. “Well, then we best do it, huh?”

“Yes.” Shadow turned to him with a brisk nod. “Tails, I’ll have Sonic call if anything happens.”

“Thanks.” Tails acknowledged, his twin tails swishing behind him. “You three be safe.”

As Shadow produced his Chaos Emerald from his quills, Sonic have Tails a gentle ruffle of his fur. “We will be.” He reassured. “Trust me.”

Sonic walked over to Shadow and Silver after reassuring Tails, standing with them. His heart fluttered in his chest, and the vines loosened by the Emerald tightened ever so slightly at their closeness.

“Chaos Control!”

Chapter Text

Using Chaos Control to teleport always left Sonic with a strange, tingly feeling. He knew the hands on his left arm were Silver’s, as the hedgehog attached was wobbling around. It took a moment for his vision to catch up with the new space he was in, and he ushered Silver along after Shadow who was marching on ahead.

They were in the Buzz Bomber Hangar, from what Sonic recalled. His heart fluttered weakly when he remembered that day, and how he’d slipped up and revealed his illness to the one person he never wanted to tell. He ducked behind a crate beside Shadow, so close their fur brushed, and tucked Silver behind him. It didn’t take much longer for the dove grey hedgehog to recover from the teleportation. “You’re the one who’s been here before,” Shadow hissed to Sonic softly, watching a Buzz Bomber fly by with alert eyes. “Lead us.”

Sonic furrowed his brow and squinted, trying to remember the route they took when it was him and Tails. “This way, I think.” After checking that the coast was clear, he made a quick dash to another set of crates to hide behind as he made his way to the exit. Shadow teleported there behind him, and by the way Silver used his psychic abilities to zip after them, he might as well have teleported also. They let another outgoing patrol buzz monotonously out the door leading to the polluted exterior, before Sonic bolted to the inner door. He rounded the corner to his right, ducking behind a structural support pillar. Shadow teleported behind him against the wall, and Silver across the hall. Shadow’s chest fur brushed the quills protruding from Sonic’s shoulders, and he shuddered.

From that point, Sonic wracked his brain. Right or left? He couldn’t remember clearly, but assumed right. He slipped behind another beam, and another as he made his way down the blank white and grey corridor. Shadow followed closely, staying one pillar behind him while Silver trailed along across the hall. They had one close encounter with a Buzz Bomber patrol, but they otherwise snuck through that hallway just fine. They reached a crossroads in the path, however, with a hall leading straight and one stretching across right and left. Sonic groaned, his ears flattening to his head.

“What’s wrong?” Shadow grumbled softly from behind him.

“I can’t remember which way.” Sonic replied, his voice barely above a whisper. “I didn’t pay attention to our direction when we were here last.” Shadow sighed heavily.

“We should’ve brought Tails,” Silver groaned from across the hall.

“Think, Sonic.” Shadow hissed quietly. “Try to recall the steps towards where the Chaos Emeralds were.”

Sonic groaned in frustration, closing his eyes and thinking back. He pictured the halls in his head, all sterile white and monochrome. He pictured Tails sneaking in front of him, of the rooms through large, steel grey doors they passed to where he was with the other two now. He focused in on where they went after that, his feet subconsciously carrying him down the hall. He opened his eyes, waving Shadow and Silver along with a soft “This way.”

He dodged the monotone hum of Buzz Bomber patrols, weaved around the winding corners until he finally stood across the hall from the mysterious padlocked door. “That should be it,” he whispered to his companions, “over there.”

“It’s very,” Silver paused briefly, “in the open.”

“We’ll have to be fast putting Tails’s device on the lock.” Shadow concurred, pulling the small jamming device from his quills and turning it over again. He glanced over at Silver, then to Sonic, then to the door again. “After that patrol buzzes by, we go.”

Sonic took a deep breath in, nodding his head and staring out at the door with Shadow. “Silver, you match the floor a bit better than us. Maybe you could zip out and use the device.” He looked over at the other hedgehog. “Then once its open, we zoom in.”

“I can do that, yeah.” Silver smiled, taking the device from Shadow when he handed it over. They all quickly hushed as the patrol droned by, watching them with cautious eyes. Once the Badniks were gone, Silver zipped to the door with a quick burst of psychokinetic energy, flattening his back to the wall behind him. Sonic held his breath as the other hedgehog held the jammer to the padlock and pressed in the green button Tails told them to.

The lock shorted out, sparking and smoking as the signal was jammed. They heard the lock click open, and Sonic, joined by Shadow, made their way over to Silver across the hall. Sonic’s hand closed around the handle, and he took a stabilizing breath in before pulling the handle down and pushing the door in. The door groaned and creaked against the doorframe, tight and grinding. It gave with a little helping shove from the Ultimate Lifeform, and it moaned open on rusted hinges.

Sonic peeked his head into the pitch black room, squinting with effort to try and see anything in the inky blackness. Shadow was the first to venture into the room, probably with night vision that he was most likely created with as an ultimate weapon. Silver snuck in as well, with his hands glowing faint cyan. Sonic followed last, closing the door to a small crack behind him. He found a small wooden door stopper in the darkness, and wedged it carefully between the door and its frame.

“Found the lights,” Shadow spoke from the darkness, “brace your eyes.”

The lights sprung on, temporarily blinding Sonic. He winced and blinked multiple times, lifting his head as he pawed light-induced tears from his emerald eyes. His eyes adjusted slowly to the light in the stark white room. Sonic looked around, scanning for any sign of the Chaos Emeralds. He found various robot scraps, power cores, hinges, and cans upon cans of machine oil. He looked over to where Silver was, watching him sift through baskets of loose parts, and over to Shadow shifting large slabs of sheet metal to peer around behind them. Tentative steps were taken as Sonic made his way around to the center of the room. He saw a hatch on the floor and one to match on the ceiling, and a silhouette on the center of the floor hatch. He gasped softly, Shadow and Silver joining him shortly after.

“How did I know you’d come back here?” Growled the figure standing there, tall and rotund with a remote in one hand, and something small, delicate, and red in the other. Sonic’s heart skipped and sunk into the sea of vines constricting his chest, as the silhouette turned around to face the trio. “Hedgehog.”

Chapter Text

Adrenaline spiked and pounded in his ears as Sonic stared down Eggman from across the room. He flattened his ears to his head, scowling in the most threatening way he could. “Eggman.”

The rotund man sneered, lifting the red object up between his pointer and middle finger. “Do you know what this is, Sonic?”

“A rose petal?” He answered with a low growl, trying to keep down his fears. He couldn’t possibly…

“Precisely.” Eggman replied, voice dripping venom. “Not just any ordinary petal.”

He knows.

“Am I right, Sonic?” Eggman finished with the biggest, nastiest smirk. “It was found in Tails’s lab, after all. And there weren’t any roses in there.”

Shadow’s gaze cut straight into Sonic’s fur, almost searing him. He shrunk slightly, his hard gaze faltering. Eggman knew. He knew he was weak. He knew he was dying.

He knew he couldn’t do anything to fight back.

“Sonic?” Silver asked softly, looking over at him with confused, concerned eyes.

“You didn’t tell them, Hedgehog?” His nemesis sneered. “I thought you’d be better than that, Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes. Go on. Tell them you’re dying.”

Silver’s eyes blew wide in alarm, and Sonic just shied away from his gaze. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. His heart began to pound as though he’d just ran all day. Shadow’s mouth moved, but he didn’t hear a sound. The world around him was drowned out, as though he were underwater. The ground beneath him shook, and he fell into the violent, hungry sea. Sinking, sinking, sinking, drowning, drowning—

“—ic! Look out!”

Tackled to the side, Sonic finally came back to reality. Shadow was above him, pinning him to the ground almost, his head turned to face something else in the room Sonic hadn’t comprehended. He could smell his soft, faint cologne, the sweet lavender of his fur, him. It made him so sick, a pool of heat settling uncomfortably in his belly. He retched, and started coughing uncontrollably.

Shadow above him gazed back down at him in a panic, his voice drowned out from Sonic’s ears as he coughed. His blood roared in his ears and stung the back of his tongue as he coughed up petals, nearly choking as he rolled from his back to his belly. He pushed himself to his hands and knees, accidentally pushing Shadow, barely able to gulp in air between each horrid cough. His airways were suddenly obstructed by what he knew now as a full flower head. He retched silently, passing the bulb as more petals poured out like a waterfall out after it.

There were two more blooming flowers that passed, his arms trembling and knees threatening to give from underneath him. He stared down, teary-eyed, at the mess of blood and petals beneath him. Even with the Chaos Emerald tucked safely in his quills, he had an attack that bad and felt like he couldn’t breathe. It was worse than he thought. He finally was able to tune back into the world around him with his attack over, weakly looking up to what appeared to be a battle.

Silver was flying around the room and throwing whatever objects he could at a large mecha Eggman was piloting. Shadow was still nearby him, protecting him as he struggled through his floral attack. The mecha, which looked almost like a miniature Death Egg Robot, was shooting bombs and lasers at the two other hedgehogs. Sonic attempted to stand and help, his knees buckling underneath his weight. He collapsed, hitting his head on the sterile white floor.

Then white faded almost instantly to black.

Chapter Text

The world was fuzzy around Sonic as he slowly came to. His eyelids felt like cinder, and his chest and stomach ached badly. He could barely breathe, and his head throbbed. Everything just hurt.

He could hear muddled voices, three of them. He picked out Tails, so he was back at the workshop. The last thing he could remember was squaring up with Eggman…and learning that he knew of Sonic’s Hanahaki. His heart sank again, and he barely mustered a groan.

The voices stopped, and Sonic could feel the warm presence of Tails next to him. Or maybe he just smelled the mint. Sonic wasn’t sure, his brain hurt.

“Sonic?” Tails asked, voice muddy and surprisingly loud in Sonic’s ears. “Are you awake?”

Sonic tried to reply with a simple “yes”, though he was sure it came out more like “ymmmphhhsssssss”. He groaned again, forcing his hundred ton eyelids to slip open. The room around him was thankfully dark, with faint light filtering through partiality closed blinds. Tails sat beside his bed, hands on one of Sonic’s own. The other two voices belonged to Shadow and Silver, so he now discovered seeing those two also in the room.

Speaking of room, he was in his bedroom. In his bed. Certainly better than the stark, cold metal floors of Eggman’s lair.

The ringing in his ears that he hadn’t even detected before started to fade, and he could hear the room much better. He struggled to sit up, only to be gently forced back down by both Tails and Silver. “Guys?” He winced at how weak and vacant his voice was.

“You gave us a heart attack!” Shadow scolded, ears flat to his skull. “We thought you were going to die!”

“Sorry,” Sonic tried almost inaudibly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Silver softly questioned, his golden eyes meeting Sonic’s emerald.

“I didn’t want anyone to know.” Sonic answered. It wasn’t a great excuse, but it was all he had. Silver looked away from him, his hand glowing a faint cyan.

The vines constricting his chest twitched unnaturally, but gave him enough reprieve to gasp and swallow up as much air as his bruised lungs could hold. He did just that, giving into his eyelid’s wants and closing his eyes again. “I can help you,” Silver replied, delicately, “I can help ease the stress they put on you.”

Slowly, the relief faded away as Silver’s power deactivated. The vines constricted his heart again, and his breathing became a chore. “I didn’t know.” He licked his lips, parched.

“I didn’t either,” Silver admitted, looking away. “But when we defeated Eggman, and saw you laying there motionless, I knew I had to try.” He looked back at him again. “But I can’t do it forever, Sonic. You’re going to—”

“Die? I know.” He interrupted. “Tails and I have come to that conclusion.”

Tails looked down at his lap. “Shadow and I have been working to find a loophole. No results so far.”

“I’m not sure we have enough time to keep looking, and then implement one if we did find it.” Shadow added, running a hand over his quills. “I’ll redouble my efforts.”

Silver looked back at him. “I’ll help too.”

“Just keep this a secret, for now. No one else needs to know.” Shadow replied. Sonic could see the strain on his face. “And keep him breathing.”

“You all act as though I’m gonna die tomorrow,” Sonic attempted humor, but was met with nothing but seriousness.

“At this rate,” Tails began.

Shadow finished for him. “You might.”

Chapter Text

“I think we’ve found something!”

Tails’s excitement made Sonic happy, despite how hard breathing was for him. He’d been battling the Hanahaki for a few months to that point, and each day that passed certainly felt like it would be his last. He could barely breathe without Silver’s aid, as the two Chaos Emeralds didn’t seem to cut it anymore. According to the research Tails and Shadow had been vigorously doing, he was approaching the final stages of the disease significantly faster than anticipated. Sonic had all but accepted his fate when Tails cried out from the hallway as he burst into the room with Shadow hot on his heels.

Silver was at Sonic’s bedside, focusing his psychokinetic power on keeping the vines from completely crushing Sonic’s sternum. He looked over at the two in as much of a start as Sonic did.

“You did?” The cobalt cried as loud as he could.

“Yes!” Tails reaffirmed.

“Its a bit more complicated than we anticipated,” Shadow added, cooly, “but it could work without any other complications or drawbacks.”

“What? Don’t leave a guy in suspense!” Sonic sat up with Silver’s aid.

“The Chaos Emeralds!” They both exclaimed in unison.

“I’m honestly embarrassed we didn’t think of this sooner! Remember how you said you couldn’t breathe well without one?” Tails asked, chuckling softly at his own ignorance.

Sonic gave a soft chuckle of his own, and nodded. “Yeah?”

“It makes sense! They hold unlimited power, and can preform miracles when gathered in one place!” The fox continued. “All we have to do is gather all seven, and use their miracle to cure you!”

Shadow shifted his weight, producing the purple gem from his quills and turning it over in his hand. “It sounds easy on paper.” He started, halfway to dashing Sonic’s hopes and dreams. “We have three, Eggman still has three, and the last one is still out there, undiscovered. Gathering them all will be a pain. Doable, but a pain.” His hid the Emerald back in his quills again.

“Do you really think it will work?” Silver piped up, looking between them and the diseased hedgehog.

“Its worked previously,” Shadow pointed out. “Brought him back from the dead.”

“It’s true.” Sonic grinned.

“I was there,” Silver agreed, “but what I meant was, would it keep the Hanahaki away permanently? Or would it come back thanks to the still unrequited love?”

“Hopefully, by that point,” Shadow glared at him, “he would have told them and alleviated the issue.” Sonic shrunk a little under his gaze.

The idea made sense in Sonic’s head, at least. He’d had the same thought previously, that their miracle could’ve been the key to removing this debilitating disease from his system. He’d since forgotten about that, as after his most recent encounter with Eggman, the two emeralds he had tucked under his pillow hadn’t been doing jack squat to help his condition.

The constriction began to return as Silver slowly deactivated his powers to give his mind a rest. His breathing became a chore again, but was still definitely doable without aid. He wasn’t quite to his breaking point yet, and he could live with that.

“The next issue is Eggman. He knows of Sonic’s condition, and will be absolutely relentless in getting and guarding those emeralds.” Silver added, resting his hands in his lap. “And we need to get his three emeralds, along with the one we don’t know the location of yet.”

Tails fluffed his namesakes. “Leave tracking the last emerald to me.”

“And leave Eggman’s emeralds to me.” Shadow rumbled, quills bristling. “I’ll make him regret dancing this tango with us.”

“And what about me? What do I get to do?” Sonic asked.

“Rest.” Shadow barked.

“Stay in bed,” Tails said at the same time as Shadow. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere.”

“But—”

“Sonic, this is serious. You could die tomorrow. You could be dead. Without any way to come back. The emeralds only revive someone once.” Shadow snapped. “We can’t lose you. Mobius can’t lose you.”

Sonic briefly waited for the ‘I can’t lose you’, but it never came. His heart fluttered and sank, but he understood completely where Shadow was coming from. “Right, yeah. Sorry.”

“I think it’s time we told the others,” Tails spoke, his head down and pointer fingers pressed together anxiously. “We need all the help we can get, and it’s awkward to tell them to gather the emeralds hastily without any reason why.”

“I don’t want the others to know.” Sonic mumbled, nearly a whisper.

“Sonic, you can’t be selfish here. This is your life on the line.” Shadow growled, but Sonic could detect the worry in his voice, the exhaustion. Just knowing about his ailment was driving the Ultimate Lifeform to the point of exhaustion. Sonic’s heart sank even further into the vines in his chest.

“No, no, you’re right.” He admitted. “Just, be gentle when you tell them. And don’t let them all rush to see me at once. I can only handle so much right now.”

“Understood.” Shadow gave him a brisk, taut nod. “As for the rest of us, we have emeralds to track.”

“Right!” Tails beamed. “Let’s save Sonic!”

Chapter Text

The clamor and chaos that erupted in the living room after Tails’s announcement was enough to give Sonic’s already aching head an even bigger migraine. Most of them were furious, namely Knuckles and Rouge, but Blaze and Amy expressed worry and concern. In the end, they were all clamoring over each other on ways to help Sonic survive his unfortunate encounter with the Hanahaki.

Their voices all clashed in Sonic’s throbbing brain, and he was glad he had Silver there at his side to steady him, or he would have fallen unceremoniously down the rest of the stairs. All he’d wanted originally was a glass of sweet, sweet, ice-cold water. When he accidentally stepped on and creaked the one floorboard that still groaned when trodden upon, the whole room went dead silent and all eyes were locked on the hedgehog they had been discussing. Sonic’s heart dropped when he saw the looks everyone had on their faces. “Uh,” he started so eloquently, “hi?”

They all started talking at once, some of them shooting to their feet. Sonic flinched, unable to hear anything anyone was saying. He attempted to step back up the stairs, to retreat back to his room and not leave until the workshop was just him, Tails, and Silver again. His attempts were cut short by Shadow, the hedgehog rising from the armchair he was seated in previously. “Everyone shut up!” He barked raucously, quills bristling. “Didn’t we tell you guys not to overwhelm him?”

Everyone took a seat after his outburst, looking between each other, and Sonic rose slightly from where he had been barely cowering. Shadow huffed a frustrated breath, plopping back in his seat.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Amy asked, her voice wavering with what could’ve been fear or worry, or possibly anguish. Sonic wasn’t completely sure.

“I didn’t want anyone to know originally,” he mumbled, his voice stronger than it had been but still weak, “but I screwed up bad.” He swallowed around his parched throat.

“I’ll say.” Knuckles remarked bitterly. His amethyst gaze was hard and disapproving. Sonic frowned, averting his gaze to the floorboards around Silver’s boots.

Tails stood up from the beanbag he was sitting in. “We can all scold him after we save him.” He pointed out. “He doesn’t exactly have long, and we have four emeralds to get ahold of; three with Eggman and one still out there.”

“That’s the other reason we called you all here today.” Shadow looked over at them all, not rising from his seat this time. “We need to get these emeralds. We believe they’re the key to saving the dumbass’s life.”

“He said they eased his pain.” Silver explained from beside Sonic. “Helped relieve the pressure and get him breathing better.” The cobalt gave a nod to confirm Silver’s words.

Tails nodded as well. “So we think their miracle is the only way to save him without him confessing, which he’s adamant about not doing, or surgery.” Sonic could feel the heat of everyone’s stare on him again, and he looked away.

“Tails said he’s found the last emerald,” Shadow continued without missing a beat, “and we obviously know where the other three are. I’ll be leading a recon mission to get those three.” He paused briefly. “And I’ll do it solo if I have to.”

“Not solo.” Knuckles grumbled. “I’ll come.”

Rouge nodded, shifting her position where she sat on the royal blue couch. “Me too. Can’t have Big Red here messing up your mission now, can we, Shadow?” Knuckles about recoiled, his face reddening in rage as he fumed.

“I’ll go with Tails to get the last emerald, then.” Amy cut in before Knuckles could explode. “That way he doesn’t have to go alone.” Tails shot her a thankful expression, petting one of his fluffy tails.

“I’ll stay with Sonic and Silver, then.” Blaze added. “That way, if Eggman attacks, they won’t just be sitting ducks.” She gave Silver a loving smile which he returned with gratitude. Sonic’s heart fluttered. He wanted Shadow to look at him that way so badly. That’s why you’re in this predicament, Sonic, he thought to himself, sucking his lower lip between his teeth and biting on it gently.

“Then we have it settled. I’ll go with Rouge and Knuckles, Tails will go with Amy, and Blaze will stay and protect Sonic and Silver.” Shadow stood again from his seat, adjusting the inhibitor ring on his left bracer. “We leave immediately.”

Everyone else stood and shared idle chatter as they split into their groups, Tails leading Amy to his hangar and Shadow producing his Chaos Emerald to teleport his group to Eggman’s lair. They were gone with a flash, and Sonic could hear the rumble of the biplane’s engine as it started. The noise faded from his ears as the Tornado took off, flying away to Chaos knows where. Sonic stepped back down the steps all the way and sighed, releasing his bite on his lip.

“Is there anything you need, Sonic?” Blaze asked sweetly, approaching him and her boyfriend.

“Yeah, as a matter of fact, there is.” He cracked a weak grin. “The glass of ice cold water that I’ve been trying to go get since I came down these stairs originally.”

Chapter Text

Tails exhaled through his mouth as they soared over the wilderness below. Amy was silent in the seat behind him, likely playing with the strap of her seatbelt. Tails recalibrated the map on the Tornado’s screen, glancing down at the coordinates he’d inputted in the GPS. The wind whistled around him, the only other sound he could hear besides the hum of the engine.

They had been flying for a few hours now, and the air around them had a bite to it. Frost clung to what moisture his biplane collected from the clouds, dusting the brilliant red with a thin film of white. The further they flew, the more overcast and heavy the clouds above became. Tails lowered in altitude, his gaze moving skyward as the wind picked up and the sky began to spit soft flurries around them.

Amy softly gasped in wonder, the first sound she had made since they left the workshop. Tails didn’t even realize how far north these coordinates were taking them until he gazed down below. The lush deciduous forests had morphed into a thick evergreen landscape, painted a beautiful alabaster with the falling snow. Landing the Tornado in these conditions would be a trick.

The frozen area around them was practically devoid of life, wether human, Mobian, or animal. The needles of the pines whistled in the air, a sound so faint and haunting Tails almost missed it over the roar of the engine and the pounding of his own heart. The sensor in his console began pinging, the sound Tails’s ears were aiming to hear. The Emerald was close by.

Tails pressed a few more buttons, recalibrating his controls as he scoured the forest below for clearance to land. As he spotted a place, he angled the biplane downwards, gliding over the picturesque ivory landscape and safely touching down in the clearing. The fox turned off the plane and pulled out his handheld scanner, calibrating it to their location as he hopped out of the cockpit. His feet crunched in the snow, Amy’s crunching along with him as she climbed out after him. Her hammer displaced some of the snow, knocking the powder against the wheel of the plane. It wouldn’t be too hard to locate a glowing red gem in the pristine white snow. At least Tails hoped it wouldn’t.

The ghostly whistling in the pines was louder now, more like a threatening howl than an ethereal whisper. The wind around them snarled with the same fervor, almost like it was both demanding they turn back but also pleading evilly for them to head deeper in. Tails felt a shiver wrack his spine as the snow and wind battered them and sunk through his thick coat of fur. The sensor was still beeping despite the certainly subzero temperature, egging them on to the dangers unknown.

“Tails!” Amy shouted, her voice nearly carried away by the harsh winds. “We can’t keep searching in this! We’ll freeze!”

“We have to find that Emerald!” The fox hollered back, taking a few steps out into the snow. The winds whipped around him, nearly dragging him off his feet. His sensor still beeped, as if trying to urge his feet to move just by its tantalizing sound. “Besides, I can’t fly the Tornado out in this blizzard!”

Amy made what Tails thought was a disgruntled noise, but her protests were whisked away by the stirring gales. He could barely pick up the sound of her boots crunching the snow as she followed him closely. He felt her free hand on his shoulder, though he was unsure if she was grounding him or herself. They both trudged on through the knee-deep snow, following the teasing beep of the Chaos tracker in Tails’s left hand.

The winds died back a little when they were in the cover of the trees, the thick curtain of snow and needles protecting them from most of the whiteout. Tails glanced back out into the clearing for his plane, though the Tornado’s vibrant cherry red was almost completely blotted out in the blizzard around them. It was marginally warmer under the blanketing of the trees, and the further they trudged into the forest, the shallower the snow on the ground became.

By the time they had made it to the search zone, Tails could barely feel his fingers through his gloves. The incessant snowfall had lightened up as they walked for what felt like hours to a gentle flurry, but the winds were still sharp and relentless. They had come across another clearing, cut through by a frozen river. There was a small slope leading up into the forest again, and a frozen waterfall connected both sides of the iced over river. Behind the thick veil of ice glimmered a gentle red.

They had found their Emerald.

Amy approached the frosty riverbank with Tails, tapping the glassy ice with her hammer. The frozen water had no reaction, staying as perfectly pristine as it was when they’d reached it. “Well, we found the Emerald.” She breathed, each word she spoke visible in the air as hot mist. “I’m gonna smash the ice, grab it, and we can run back to the plane.”

Tails breathed softly, his nose both inside and out stinging violently from the cold. “Okay, but be careful. If you disturb the ice above it, the waterfall can start flowing again.” He shivered violently, fluffing his fur in an attempt to stay warm. The pink hedgehog next to him nodded, gently tapping away at the ice from the waterfall.

Cracks shot up the frozen stream, and slowly splintered away. They revealed to them a small opening in which the crimson glow was emanating. A hole small enough for only Tails to fit through. His heart sunk, and he felt another shiver wrack his body. He and Amy exchanged a nonverbal conversation, both nodding to each other.

Tails laid down on his belly on the ice, the chill immediately penetrating through his fur straight to his bones. He crawled through the opening, surprised to find a small cave behind the ice. The rock was damp inside the cave, and that also penetrated through the warmth Tails was trying to conserve in his body. The cave was thankfully small, and the Chaos Emerald was easily locatable in the reflective room.

A small puddle deep enough to submerge the whole Emerald in the back of the cave was its resting place, with a tiny little stream feeding dripping groundwater back out to the main creek. Tails found a long rock and used it to push the emerald from the pool and onto the floor of the frigid cave. He grabbed hold of it and crawled in reverse, back until he was outside the hole and able to stand up straight.

“Got it!” He proclaimed, earning a laugh and excited whooping from Amy. “Now let’s get back to the Tornado and get out of here!”

There were no words exchanged between the two of them as they followed their deep trudges back towards the clearing that held their plane. The blizzard had subsided into a flurry; the snowflakes pushed around by zephyrs. Occasionally, the wind would pick up and howl, whistling and whispering through the needles in the trees, but the atmosphere was calmer.

Tails still had to unbury the biplane from the snow and clear the powder from his windshield and seat, but he was glad to get that motor started again. Thankfully, the motor did not stall after all the heavy precipitation, and roared to life at the turn of the key in the ignition. Amy launched into the plane as well, situating her hammer where it had been before.

The orange fox passed her the red Chaos Emerald in his hands as he changed the coordinates in the GPS to home. With numb hands and fingers, he grasped the yolk and turned the plane around in a wide arc. They lifted to the sky soon after, successful and homeward bound.

Chapter Text

It rather impressed Shadow how silent Rouge and Knuckles were as they slunk through Eggman’s sterile base. Though he had been there previously, Eggman had certainly changed up the base since then. There were more cameras, more Badnik patrols and sentries, more traps, everything. Hell, getting into the base would’ve been a trick if Shadow hadn’t just teleported them in with Chaos Control.

Locating safe places to hide was far from fun, the whole situation being less than ideal. He’d had to shoot mini and weak Chaos Spears at the cameras on occasion to short them out enough for the three to slip past. Shadow was garnering a massive headache having to try and pin down each camera.

Rouge, at least, was helpful enough in locating hidden cameras. Knuckles acted like the bodyguard of the group, assassinating any Badnik that happened to notice them and hiding the evidence well amongst their hiding places. Avoiding a full scale battle was the main goal, and avoiding any sort of detection played into that. Eggman sure made that difficult.

He was glad Rouge and Knuckles were working together almost in unison. Avoiding the bickering between them was something he was concerned about going into the mission, but so far they’d only had one silent quarrel. Shadow had also been able to dispel the fight rather easily, thanking Chaos for that afterwards. Since that, they’d been pretty focused and on target.

Shadow was using his tie to the Chaos Energy emanating from the Emeralds as his compass, guiding them through the labyrinth of monochrome halls. The energy pulled him in only one direction, meaning the Emeralds were likely stored together. As they reached a fork in the halls, however, he hesitated.

“The hell?” Knuckles hissed harshly to him from behind, nearly crashing right into him. “Why did you stop?”

“I’m being pulled both directions,” Shadow explained in a whisper, eyes tracing the junction, “he split the Emeralds up.”

Rouge pouted. “Smart move, unfortunately.”

“Then how do we get them?” Knuckles grumbled. “You’re the only one that can feel where they are.”

“The fastest way is to split up.” Shadow rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. “I can grab one, while you two go and grab the other two. Of course, you’d have to hunt them down.” He opened his ruby eyes again and gazed at the other two.

“At least you’re talking to two master treasure hunters,” Rouge chuckled, “leave it to us.”

“Where should we meet you when we’re done?” Knuckles gazed down the left hall with determination.

“Back here.” Shadow replied. “I’ll Chaos Control us back to the workshop when we’re done.” He gazed back at the split and closed his eyes to sense where they could be. “There’s two down the left, one down the right. I’ll fetch the one on the right if you two track down the ones to the left.”

Knuckles nodded curtly and smacked his namesakes together as Rouge gave him a confident smile and said: “You can count on us.”

Shadow covered the two as they sprinted down the left hall before turning to head rightward. He used the Emerald stashed in his quills to create an energy field around him, short circuiting every camera in the hall around him. He dashed down the hall, his increase in speed activating his air shoes. They gave his speed a boost, and he skated down the hall as swiftly as Sonic had been able to run.

He used his momentum and his circuit frying Chaos Energy aura to zip by patrolling Badniks, knowing they couldn’t detect him fast enough before they were rendered useless. This section of the base was a maze, but he was able to navigate it thanks to the Emerald pulling him towards it. He would have to use the trail of disabled robots to find his way back to the fork he was to meet the others at.

He was glad he had left his trail of robotic breadcrumbs as well, since all he could register as he sped left-right-left-right was the white and chrome of the corners zipping by. He was pretty dizzy by the time he’d skidded to a halt and ducked behind some crates outside the room that held his thrumming prize. He let his head stop spinning and stomach stop flopping before he registered the situation outside the room. There were cameras, as expected, as well as robot sentinels and patrols up and down the halls. This wouldn’t be an easy break in.

He let slip a soft cough that gathered the attention of the closest robot, a Buzz Bomber, allowing it to float closer to his location. He grabbed it by its laser stinger as it spotted him, yanking it down and destroying it as hastily and silently as he could. He stashed the broken pieces in the crate with a slightly askew lid, hiding the rest of the robot behind the boxes. He zeroed in on his next hiding spot, behind some sacks likely filled with various mechanical items, and slunk over to it.

He forced another cough to lure in some more of the patrolling robots, and destroyed them in the same way he had the Buzz Bomber. He shot the cameras down with some Chaos Spears as he approached them, all of them angled at the guarded door for some reason. Likely because of the Emerald stored within, Shadow mused to himself. He wants to catch any would-be thieves getting in, so they wouldn’t get back out.

He repeated the process of alerting the robots with little coughs, whistles, or clears of the throat, then destroying them like an assassin would his prey. Shadow thanked his profession and his innate knack for things like this for how well he’d been doing so far. He ran out of cover as he approached the door to the room, one reminiscent of the door he, Sonic, and Silver investigated literally a few weeks prior.

When it came to the sentries, Shadow took a more direct approach. Having dealt with all the patrols, he knew he could make it in without any trouble if he struck hard and fast enough to defeat the Badniks before they could call for more aid. Using his speed, strength, and agility to his advantage, he launched a heavy attack on the leftmost robot, retaliating a second time against the one on the right. Both shattered under his assault, and the rightmost sentry dropped a keycard that would bypass the keypad on the lock. Shadow picked it up with a triumphant smirk, scanning it on the sensor, turning the handle, and forcing the door open.

Unlike the door he’d looked into with the other hedgehogs, this one swung open with ease and nearly took Shadow off his feet. He stepped into the room, gazing around as he felt for the emerald again. It was a supply closet, he found, full of mops and towels and extra sheets for Eggman’s evil bed. A perfect, inconspicuous place to hide such a precious and priceless artifact.

Shadow located the gem of shining gold inside the linen basket, on the bottom, underneath a neatly folded pile of sheets. Its power surged through him much like the violet one nestled in his obsidian quills. He gazed into its brilliance for half a heartbeat before stashing it away with its partner in his razor sharp quills. Now, to get back to Knuckles and Rouge.

Shadow made sure the cameras outside the room were still disabled before departing from the closet. He didn’t want to risk his theft being caught on camera, and thus jeopardize their heist. With his prize acquired and exit secure, he made a dash for it. He followed his trail of broken robots and downed cameras, putting up his Chaos Energy aura again to protect himself from detection again.

He was the second to arrive back at their meetup spot at the fork, followed seconds later by Knuckles. After each of them showed their bounty, the yellow Emerald from Shadow, the cyan from Knuckles, and the blue from Rouge, Shadow gathered forth the energy needed for a teleport. The two he was raiding with rested their hands on his shoulders, and braced themselves.

In a flash, they were gone from the monochrome hell and back in the cozy living room of Tails’s Workshop.

Chapter Text

“Ha! Sonic ten, Silver zero!”

“I still don’t understand how to play! C’mon, again!”

Sonic chuckled as much as he could, mostly at himself since he’d nearly thrown his joycons across the room in his excitement. He wasn’t sure how he convinced Silver to play Super Smash Bros with him, but boy was he glad he did. He had gotten bored literally minutes after everyone had left on their valiant quest to hunt down the Chaos Emeralds for him.

They had tried a few various board, card, and video games, like Monopoly, Uno, and Minecraft, but had inevitably settled on Sonic’s favorite beat-’em-up. Blaze opted to just sit and watch the boys play, chuckling around her mug of piping hot oolong tea. Sonic believed she kept it warm like Iroh from his and Tails’s favorite show, Avatar, and he liked that theory so much he refused to let it go. He was sure Tails would agree.

When choosing characters to duke it out, Sonic almost always picked himself. Silver, however, had tried at least four different characters in hopes of finding someone to main and potentially beat the azure with. So far, Cloud, Marth, Banjo, and Pit had all failed Silver in his conquest to understand the controls. At least he wasn’t giving up so easy.

As Sonic prepared round eleven, Silver chose Lucario to try out, his eyes focused on the screen and brow creased in determination. “If I win this,” Silver began, “I wanna try out that Stardew Valley game.” Sonic smiled as he thought about starting a new save with Silver in the comforting land of Pelican Town. He didn’t even entertain the fact that if their Chaos Emerald plan failed, he was going to die. He liked the comfort in the idea.

“Sound good.” Sonic grinned. “If you can beat me, that is.”

“This is the one!” Silver proclaimed, locking in Lucario as his fighter as the round began. “This is the run!”

Sonic stuck his tongue out in determination as he and Silver went all out in virtual mortal combat. They both ended up losing a stock due to stage hazards, both being startled by Shadow’s sudden teleportation in. Sonic paused the match after they returned, looking hopeful.

“You’re back!” He exclaimed. “Did it go well?” He noticed Silver’s ears perk up out of his peripheral vision.

“Well, it went.” Knuckles replied, dusting himself off and picking metal nuts and copper wires from his crimson quills. The tone of his voice was laced with frustration and mental exhaustion.

Shadow rubbed his temples. “He’s heavily monitoring the place. Double the guards, double the cameras, double the security measures. But, we were all at least successful and retrieved our quarry.” He set down the yellow emerald on the coffee table where Sonic’s other two sat. Knuckles and Rouge added the blue and cyan ones afterwards.

“Just waiting on Tails and Amy, then.” Sonic replied as Shadow retrieved the purple emerald from his quills and set it down beside the green one. A smile spread on his lips as he stared at the six they had gathered. “Then I can kiss this stupid disease goodbye.”

“You’re playing Smash?” Knuckles asked suddenly, loudly, staring at the paused match on the television. “Without me?”

Sonic laughed, the sound weak. “Yeah. Kicking Silver’s butt too.” Silver made a distraught noise.

“After this match, add me in!” The echidna demanded, though Sonic knew it was probably just an offer. The echidna hopped over the back of the royal blue sofa and plopped on the cushion beside Sonic. The hedgehog laughed.

“Oh, absolutely!”

“Three players?” Silver squeaked. “Now I’m really screwed.”

“Make it four.” Shadow added, his voice deep and dangerous. A terrifying, competitive smirk creased his muzzle as he leaned over the back of the couch. Sonic could feel his body heat and smell his gentle lavender aroma, and it set his heart off. He was lucky to escape without a nasty fit of coughs.

Silver made another distraught noise as he and Sonic resumed their match. While he was getting better at figuring out the controls, playing as the aura wielding Lucario couldn’t save Silver from Sonic’s merciless beat down. Sonic laughed triumphantly, getting up and fetching two more pairs of joycons from the basket under the tv stand that held various console controllers. He passed the red and blue set to Knuckles, and the grey set to Shadow. Now it was on.

Sonic helped them connect their controllers to the Switch console, then started up round one of the four player, winner takes all match. He selected his usual rule set—thirty minutes, three stocks, and two different, alternating stages. Knuckles sat up from where he was flopped on the couch, sitting more forward. He was fiercely determined to defeat the Smash Bros champion at his own game.

After the statistics were set and the stages both selected as random, they had to pick their characters. Sonic went with himself, obviously, Silver with Lucario again, Knuckles with Wario, and Shadow, rather ironically, with Sephiroth. Then it was time to begin.

“This outta be good.” Rouge chuckled as she sat on the arm of the couch beside Blaze.

“Three!” The first stage they started on was Palutena’s Temple. “Two!” Nasty, with a lot of places to fall. “One” The match began in intense ferocity as the announcer shouted Sonic’s favorite Smash Bros word. “GO!”

Sonic focused mainly on trying to beat down Shadow and avoid the fall zones, knowing his rival in every other category would be his main threat here. Knuckles acted more of a nuisance, but he at least knew what he was doing. Poor Silver was just trying to keep up.

While Shadow and Sonic dealt the most of the damage to each other, it was surprisingly Silver that spiked them both off the map and down to two stocks. Knuckles very hastily moved into remedy that, attacking Silver’s aura Pokémon with Wario’s nasty farts. Silver stood up for himself and fought back, dodging when able.

As Sonic and Shadow returned to the stage below, items began to rain from the sky. Sonic got the first piece to the Dragoon, Knuckles got a Pokéball that contained, very obnoxiously, Alolan Exeggutor, and Silver managed to snag an Assist Trophy. Silver, unfortunately, had no idea how to actually use it, and ended up throwing it at Shadow. Shadow, also unfortunately, stole it and used it, gaining the Shovel Knight as his temporary ally.

Shadow continued his merciless assault on Sonic, likely aiming for his Dragoon part. Sonic was determined not to hand it over, using swift dodges to lure Shadow into Knuckles or Silver’s attacks, or striking back when he least expected it. Silver was knocked down a stock, having gotten caught in the turmoil of Shadow’s rage, but then promptly landed a nasty combo on Knuckles and blew him off the map. The echidna, too slow to respond, also lost a stock with a growl of frustration.

Now they all had two.

Sonic bolted from one end of Palutena’s Temple to the other when the second Dragoon piece spawned and the Exeggutor despawned, snatching it up. He was caught in a Sephiroth combo afterwards, and lost his hard earned first piece. Shadow stole it, earning Sonic’s angry spin dash to the face.

In the middle of all that, Silver managed to spike Knuckles off the map, who then hastily used his up B to recover back to the stage. As he did so, the map changed to Arena Ferox, and gave Knuckles the stage back under Wario’s feet. Silver took damage from Wario’s motorcycle, now at a higher damage percentage. He also seemed to learn, very hastily, that Lucario’s aura moves got stronger the more damage was dealt to the fighter.

He evaded to the other side of the map while Knuckles pursued, leading Knuckles right into the mess of Sonic and Shadow. He charged up an Aura Sphere, and launched it as soon as all three were in range and on the ground. Since all three were also at a high damage percentage, they were all simultaneously KO’d by the move. Silver then stole the two pieces of the Dragoon Sonic and Shadow were guarding.

Then, the third one entered the map.

All three boys made a run for it, attacking each other after the invincibility frames were gone. Silver also made a mad dash for it, battling everyone on the way with renewed confidence. He grabbed it, and was able to allow Lucario to use it. Before Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow could react, Silver used it on all three clustered in the same area. Knuckles, so close to the edge of the screen, was blasted off it and knocked down his final stock.

Sonic had also been blasted that way, but had recovered back to the screen before he could get knocked out. Shadow had been blasted back across the map and remained clinging to his one stock at high damage. With the Dragoon out of the play, the two hedgehogs tried ganging up on Silver. They ended up attacking each other more than Silver, but did managed to get Silver down to one stock with a KO screen of Lucario splatting against the screen.

Sonic spiked Shadow while Silver was returning to the match, and ended up knocking Shadow out as well. On his way down, Silver used his down B to attack Sonic, sending his fighter of himself flying across the screen as the Smash Ball floated tantalizingly across it. As Sonic recovered, Silver sent an Aura Sphere his way and smacked him into the KO zone, therefore winning his very first match.

To say he was excited was practically an understatement. He looked like he’d been sweating bullets the whole match, that only lasted about six minutes, and to see Lucario come out as the victor nearly made him jump up in joy.

“GG.” Sonic laughed weakly, feeling his chest stirring with the flowers inside. “You beat us all fair and square.”

“I think it was because you all were constantly trying to beat each other up, I was able to squeeze in and snag the knockout.” Silver chuckled humbly, smiling from ear to ear.

Knuckles chuckled competitively. “Wanna do that again?”

As Sonic went to answer, the low purr of a familiar biplane rumbled through the house on its approach. “Actually,” Sonic began, “let’s do another round in about an hour. Tails is back.”

The rest of the room perked up as they heard the Tornado’s engine grow louder and louder, until it eventually turned off in the hangar. Rapid footsteps were heard as Tails threw open the workshop back door and ran in, followed by Amy. The pink hedgehog had the red emerald, the last emerald, hoisted triumphantly in her hand above her head.

“We’re back!” She shouted excitedly. “And thankfully not frostbitten!”

“Frostbitten?” Sonic echoed, watching her run around the couch and place the seventh emerald with the others on the coffee table. Sonic swore he saw the seven glow with glee at being back together again.

Tails laughed from the kitchen. “You would not believe how far north we had to go to find that emerald.” He ran the sink, probably to run hot water over his fingers to warm them. “We flew almost completely into a blizzard!”

“You’re both okay though, right?” Asked Blaze.

“Mostly!” Amy laughed. “Tails was the one who had to commando crawl on his belly over wet stone.”

Tails laughed as he removed his gloves and plunged them under the sink running hot. “At least I have thick fur!”

“I’m glad you’re safe, lil buddy.” Sonic smiled, his voice much softer than he’d anticipated. His chest was stirring with flowers that were both blooming and receding. He stands up and stretches, a few hard coughs slipping out. Everyone turned to him in alarm, and he waved his hand dismissively as he spat out a couple petals. “I’m fine.” He answered.

“We gathered these emeralds together,” Knuckles said, standing up, “time for you to use them.”

Sonic cast a glance down at the seven gemstones glimmering on the coffee table. He smiles softly at them, nodding. “Yeah. It is.” He turned to the tv and used the home button on his joycons to put their Nintendo into sleep mode. “Let’s do this outside.” He suggested. “In case I hurl flowers everywhere.”

Everyone seemed to agree with that idea, each gathering an Emerald or two and walking them outside. Tails dried his hands and slipped his gloves back on, walking over to Sonic and standing at his side until the cobalt was ready to go. “I was the first to know,” he spoke softly to Sonic, “I’ll be the first one to help.” Sonic let a soft grin crack his lips as he switched the tv off and walked outside with Tails’s support.

“Thanks pal.”

It was sunny outside, without a cloud to blot the sky. The cool fall air prickled his fur, reminding him again just how long he’d been dealing with this disease. Since early spring he’d battled Hanahaki, on that one fateful day in Green Hill, when he battled Eggman and retrieved their first Chaos Emerald. How long a journey, a battle, this had been. He was relieved, to say the least, to step into the center of his group of friends, and have the Chaos Emeralds offered to him.

Sonic closed his eyes, turning his hands palms up towards the sky, and took as deep a breath as he could. When he opened his eyes again, all seven mystical gems were floating around him, each rotating counterclockwise, awaiting his question, his request. His miracle.

Before he could wish upon the seven, an explosion echoed through the area and tremored the ground beneath their feet. Sonic gazed towards the epicenter, his friends following suit, to see a large mecha again reminiscent of the Death Egg Robot parading through town and wreaking havoc.

Sonic’s heart skipped a beat and sunk. He knew what he would have to do. He knew how his friends would react. He knew his fate if he did.

Chaos Emeralds, I ask for your miracle…

And his fur sparkled from blue to gold.

Chapter Text

Sonic didn’t stick around to hear the responses of his friends. He knew they would be aghast, upset, angry even. But this is what heroes do, right? They protect until their bitter end. Sonic felt he was no exception to this rule. That’s why he made this decision against their choices. They would’ve wanted him to save himself. But he couldn’t live with that choice, knowing he left the city in danger.

He flew through the air at lightning speed, towards the town he loved so dearly. The energy of the Chaos Emeralds prickled through his now golden fur, electrified his quills, and made him seem like a god. He could still feel the heavy weight of the flowers rooted in his lungs, but with so much mystical energy coursing through him, they remained silent, dormant—but far from dead.

He knew he’d made the correct choice when he arrived on the scene. Eggman’s mecha was heavily armored and reinforced, so his regular spin dash attacks would’ve done nothing but ricochet him into buildings like a pinball. Thankfully, while Super, he would be able to cut through the armor almost like butter. It might take a few tries, but so did cutting butter that had been previously frozen.

He zipped in under the robot’s fist, catching it and saving someone’s car from being crushed, them along with it. He acknowledged their cries of thanks with a nod, adrenaline pumping and blood roaring in his ears. This machine was probably what Eggman wanted the emeralds for. Sonic clenched his fists.

“Hedgehog!” Eggman spat venomously. “I knew you’d show up sooner or later!”

“Damn straight.” Sonic growled, floating back up after flicking the robot’s arm. The robotic appendage flew up, still attached to the machine, with the force of Sonic’s might. “No matter where you go, I’ll be there to stop you.”

“Oh ho ho!” The fat man sneered. “Not much longer, right? You used the Chaos Emerald’s miracle to make yourself Super Sonic! You’re still diseased!” He cackled. “With the strain our battle will give your body, I doubt you’ll make it five minutes after letting those emeralds go!”

“Then I guess I’d better beat you up right quick.”

“We’ll see about that!” Eggman retaliated on his comment, making the robot swing at him with surprising velocity. Sonic bolted out of the way, curling up and speeding down against the reinforced titanium in the fastest spin dash he could accomplish. He left a large dent and scrapes, but bounced off before making any more progress.

Sonic doubled back, dodging another swipe and some homing missiles, trying again for the same spot. He was swatted away, slapped into the side of a skyscraper. He recovered quickly, leading away another homing missile before it could also collide with the building. As he braced to counter another missile, he watched it become encapsulated in a cyan glow and be launched back at its sender. Sonic glanced to his right as Silver levitated up beside him.

The expression on Silver’s face was a heart wrenching combination of emotion. He looked utterly distraught, horrified even, by Sonic’s choice. But on the other hand, he looked like he supported and understood his decision, as though he knew subconsciously that he would’ve done the same if he were in Sonic’s shoes. He gave Sonic a wordless nod, hovering beside him with his psychokinetic energy.

Sonic saw the others arrive on the scene as well, with Tails and Amy in the cockpit of the Tornado, Knuckles gliding in to give the mecha a good smack, and Shadow flying up beside him via his air shoes.

“You’re a fool.” He growled harshly, glaring at Sonic with unreadable emotion.

“I would rather die than let Eggman level this city.” Sonic replied, almost monotone. He averted his gaze from Shadow’s eyes half out of caution and half out of shame. “That what a hero does.”

Shadow scoffed softly, his searing gaze turning thankfully off Sonic and to the robot. “Incorrigible.” He spat.

“You understand.” Sonic supplied. “Now let’s finish this thing.”

“Part of me wants to drag this out,” Silver mumbled almost inaudibly, “just so you have more time.”

Sonic’s heart tweaked, but he refused to let that shake his conviction. He bolted forward, slicing through the air with ease, curling into a ball and using his momentum to launch him back at the dent he’d caused earlier. He broke the shell, bouncing off before becoming caught and steadied by Silver. Sonic frowned when he saw the damage he’d caused.

The tear was small, only the size and width of his balled up form, and led only to another sheet of thick titanium. Sonic and Silver both flew away from another swat, each leading a chase of homing missiles sent after them. Sonic led his pursuers back at their sender, Silver catching his and firing them back at different areas that he thought could be weak spots in the mech. Nothing else seemed to make a dent.

Shadow zipped by and attempted to stun the circuits with Chaos Energy, but was unable to draw out enough without an emerald in hand. He did, however, accomplish drawing Eggman’s attention. Sonic used this as an opening, assaulting the tear he’d made in the armor again with a precise strike.

He tore through half of the second layer, spinning as fast as he could to try and dig deeper. If he could reach the wires on that side, he could disable that arm. Eggman caught him and forced him back out of the wound by violently spinning the bot.

Tails flew by next, allowing Amy the ability to open fire with the gun mounted on the Tornado’s battle mode form. While the bullets themselves did no damage to the metal armor, they did manage to lodge themselves in every crevice, groove, and hole in the shell. They began blinking red at the press of a button, Sonic vacating the areas with Shadow and Silver close on his heels. The bullets, becoming time bombs, exploded after a few seconds and caused major hull damage to the right and rear side of the machine. Eggman spat a few curses their way.

Rouge flew by with Blaze holding her hands, dropping the cat on the cockpit. Blaze used that opportunity to use her pyrokinesis to assault the upper segment of the mech and distract Eggman. Rouge used this distraction to soar around and plant bombs along the back of the robot. With a simple Chaos Spear from Shadow and an amazing show of acrobatics from Blaze, the grenades exploded and launched more of the metal shields off its back.

Knuckles assaulted the legs of the mech, his punches enough to make it unstable. Sonic knew he had an opportunity here. “Sonic!” Tails shouted as he flew by. The golden hedgehog flew alongside the plane to converse. “There’s a hatch on the back! It’s likely the power supply! If you can disable it—”

“The robot will go down!” They shouted in unison. They smiled at each other, each one having sadness lingering behind each grin, then Sonic broke away from Tails and soared back down towards the robot. He took a deep breath and curled into a ball for what would hopefully be the last spin dash. He homed in, and let gravity do the rest.

He shot through the power panel and through the batteries and circuits, erupting out of the heart of the machine. He arched upwards soaring back into the sky and turning to gaze down at the robot. He needed to know if that did it.

The large mecha stopped in its tracks, creaking and groaning as the circuits shot and the machine began to shut down. Slowly, it fell to its knees and then forward. Knuckled hastily vacated the area to avoid becoming an echidna pancake. Eggman’s cockpit ejected as soon as the machine powered down, and became the Egg Mobile to allow for his escape. He shouted something along the lines of “curse you”, fleeing east towards his island base.

After the loud crash and boom of the robot hitting the ground, after the dust had settled, Sonic lowered himself to the ground. He held onto the Chaos Emeralds just a moment longer, thanking them for their aid in driving away the villain and protecting the city. Silver and Shadow were the next to land, followed by the Tornado nearby. Everyone rushed over to Sonic’s side, hoping to see him cured despite the situation.

As Sonic released the emeralds, as he let them scatter once more, as his fur shimmered from gold back to blue, the weight returned to his chest. It crashed into him with the force to knock him over and leave him gasping helplessly for what oxygen he could suck in around the vines. Everyone clamored around him, voiced mixed with other voices, clashing in Sonic’s ears as he choked on nothing. This is it, he thought with a pang of terror, this is my end.

He retched, gagged, and coughed, throwing up bile and a cascade of petals. Stems and vines followed suit, all of them painted with bile and blood, and being stained by the tears dripping down his muzzle. I’m dying.

Even through the loudness of his fit, through the cries of his friends muffled in his ears, he picked up on another sound, clear as day, through it all. A simple sound, but one he was all too familiar with.

A cough.

He blinked through the tears, gazing up towards the direction of the sound with little reprieve from his fit. Everything else was suddenly silent, all but that one sound. His own attack, as fatal as it would soon be, seemed tame in the grip of what he saw next.

Shadow. Shadow was coughing. He was coughing hard, shoulders shaking, in the way Sonic had been the last eight or so months. As he removed his gloved hand from his mouth, Sonic’s blood froze over.

In the palm of Shadow’s hand, as simple as they were, was a small bushel of flowers. Soft, pale blue, itty-bitty flowers. Five petaled, yellow centered, small flowers. Forget-me-nots.

“You,” Sonic choked between hacks and gasps, “have it, too?”

“Yeah,” Shadow’s voice was hoarse from coughing. Everyone else around them was stunned to silence.

“I don’t—” Sonic threw up again, passing more roses, vines, and petals with a horrible, rib-rattling cough, “—understand. H-how long?”

“A few months.” Shadow admitted, discarding the delicate flowers on the torn up concrete beside him. “Took me a while to figure out why.” He took a few staggered steps over, kneeling at Sonic’s side and just supporting him up. His attack eased, his coughs subsided, giving Sonic the chance to listen. His heart beat unevenly, his breath rattling faintly in his chest.

“I got sick shortly after learning you were,” Shadow began, “I wasn’t sure why. I looked up what forget-me-nots meant a few weeks ago when I figured out what flower it was. They mean true love. I only had attacks when I thought of how ill you were, and how powerless I was. Sonic, I,” he paused to swallow, licking his lips and hesitantly continuing, “I love you. My true love, is you.”

Sonic’s heart flipped. He immediately felt slapped with relief. He opened his mouth to reply, only to be cut off by harsh coughing. He felt writhing in his chest as he coughed, the petals he dispelled as well as the ones around his knees withering up into nothing. “I,” he gasped, “love you too!”

Shadow’s eyes widened, and he succumbed to the same relief that Sonic had. He coughed up the withering plant that had been growing inside him, breathing long and deep. Sonic had more coughing to do before he would have that relief he was sure, but he knew now it would, at some point, come. He would be alright.

He would live.

Everyone else around them, almost dumbfounded, erupted into cheers upon seeing them growing well again. Some, like Tails and Amy, actually cried tears with relief. Others, like Knuckles and Rouge, only expressed their joy through excited laughter or expressions.

“Holy shit,” Shadow laughed airily as he breathed deep, “I have no idea how you dealt with that so long. That was horrible!”

“It wasn’t easy, trust me.” Sonic laughed weakly alongside him, still half slumped in the ebony’s arms. It was wonderful to breathe, just to really, truly breathe. His lungs hadn’t felt this full of oxygen since he couldn’t even remember when. “I never plan to do that again”

“Good.” Shadow laughed, looking as giddy as a child.

“Let’s get you home, Sonic.” Tails chuckled softly, sniffling and wiping his tears. “You still have a road to recovery ahead of you.”

Sonic laughed softly, remaining nestled into Shadow. “That I wouldn’t doubt.” With the aid of his friends, he stood, making his way to the Tornado for easy transport back to the workshop they called home. Shadow stuck right at his side, even getting in the plane with him for the flight back.

Sonic glued himself against his new boyfriend, refusing to move the whole ride back.

Chapter Text

A FEW MONTHS LATER…

Sonic gazed out the window at the gently falling snow, an impatient grin crossing his face. The months waiting for the sky’s first snowfall were well worth it. The city in the distance was alight with cheer, preparing for the upcoming holiday season. The horror of the past was nothing but a distant memory to him, now. He’ll be here soon, Sonic thought, tapping his foot impatiently on the wooden floor of the living room. It shouldn’t be much longer now.

He rapped his fingers on the windowsill, emerald eyes scanning the snowed over pathway up to the front door. He had been banned from Tails’s back room, since the fox was wrapping presents in the back. Sonic had nothing else to distract him from the horror of waiting for onyx and ruby quills to cut the alabaster landscape. His breath against the frigid window fogged the glass, making staring out it incredibly hard. Sonic groaned and moved into the kitchen to stare out that one next.

Being in the kitchen gave him an idea. He and Tails had recently baked up a batch of chocolate chip and sugar cookies to replace the snickerdoodles they had scarfed the morning after they’d made them. What good were fresh cookies without milk? As Sonic crossed the tile to the fridge and pulled open the door, another brilliant thought crossed his mind. Shadow would be coming in from the cold. He would certainly appreciate some piping hot cocoa with his cookies, right?

Sonic grabbed the heavy cream and milk from the fridge, then found the hot cocoa mix and fished it out of the cabinet. He read the instructions on the canister, getting a pot off the pot rack Tails had mounted over the stove a few days ago. He set it over the stove, pouring the appropriate amount of milk and cream into liquid measuring cups and dumping them in the pot. He set the heat to medium, grabbing a rubber spatula to stir.

He carefully monitored the milk as it heated, recalling an event last Christmas when he’d forgotten about a boiling pot of milk and it bubbled all over the kitchen. He chuckled softly at the memory, recalling that, despite the fact they didn’t have any hot chocolate, it was still the best Christmas party he’d ever had. This year, he decided, they would have hot cocoa. He would make more that afternoon, right before the upcoming party. But this pot was for him, Tails, and Shadow. No one else.

Sonic added the mix to the milk when it was sufficiently heated. He stirred and mixed carefully, turning down the heat a little so the milk wouldn’t bubble over like last year. He hummed a soft song, smiling down at the milk as it slowly melded with the cocoa mix. He let it simmer on the stove as he fetched three mugs from the dishwasher and the whipped cream from the fridge. He grabbed the marshmallows from the bottom cabinet, sprinkling a few into the bottoms of the mugs. He switched off the stove when he was sure it was ready, grabbing the measuring cup the heavy cream and milk had been in to serve.

He scooped out almost a full cup and filled the mugs, one cup each. He still had more in the pot he knew would be for refills. He topped one off with a tower of whipped cream and a few more mini marshmallows, walking it back to the hangar door. He knocked against the oak with his free hand. “Tails!” He called, singsong. “I’ve got some cocoa for you!”

While there was no verbal response, Sonic heard the fox stand and run across the floor to the door. A grin split his lips as Tails opened it, just a crack, and poked his arm through to recieve. “Thank you!” He giggled as he was passed the mug.

“You’re welcome, lil’ buddy.” Sonic chuckled. “Are you almost done in there?”

Tails’s arm disappeared back through the door, but it remained cracked for them to talk. “Almost.” He paused and took an audible sip of his cocoa. “Are you done already?”

“I only had yours to wrap,” Sonic chuckled, “you’re wrapping the rest.”

“And you had that gift for Shadow to wrap,” Tails reminded him.

“And I wrapped it.” Sonic chuckled, gazing over at the poorly wrapped present on the counter. On it was a simple gift tag that read To: Shadow From: Sonic. Sonic truly hoped he’d like it, as small and cheesy as it was.

Tails took another sip of his cocoa, making soft “ow!”s and “hot!”s. “Okay, as long as it’s done!” He giggled. “I’m gonna finish mine before the party!”

“And I’ll leave you to it.” Sonic closed the door for him, returning to the kitchen to add the whipped cream to his and Shadow’s mug. He fetched a plate from the cupboard and set out a few of the party cookies on it to greet Shadow with. His heart soared as he peeked back out the window and saw this obsidian quills approaching. Sonic zipped over to get the door, unlocking it, and then back to the kitchen to get the cocoa ready. He knew Shadow would let himself in.

The door opened after a few moments, as Sonic was garnishing the whipped cream with marshmallows. “Hello?” Shadow asked. “Sonic?”

“You’re here!” Sonic scooped up the mugs, hugging his between his arm and his chest, then grabbed the plate of cookies. Carefully, he made his way into the living room entryway to greet his boyfriend. Shadow smiled lovingly upon seeing him and the drinks so carefully prepared for his arrival. “I made us some hot cocoa!”

“Sonic, you’re too kind.” He chuckled, taking his mug from Sonic as well as the plate so the blue hedgehog could maneuver his mug from its precarious position and into his hand. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, Shadow.” Sonic gave him a huge grin. He helped the other remove the scarf wound around his neck, leading him to the heated blanket Sonic had thankfully preheated on the couch. They set their things on the coffee table, and Sonic fetched the present before joining Shadow under the fluffy warmth of the blanket. He offered the poorly wrapped gift to him. “I want you to open this early.”

“Now?” Shadow accepted the present from him.

“Now works.”

Shadow smiled softly as Sonic buried himself up against him, sinking into the sweet lavender scent Shadow was known for. Shadow undid the wrapping gently, as to not disturb Sonic, opening the simple white box the paper hid. A smile graced Shadow’s lips again, and a bigger one split Sonic’s in tandem. The ebony hedgehog removed the item from its box slowly, his free hand finding Sonic’s and intertwining their fingers.

In his fingers was a small resin pendant connected to a sterling silver chain. Incased in the resin was a red rose petal and a pale blue forget-me-not flowerhead. Sonic knew it was likely a bit insensitive reminding them of their previous disease, but he couldn’t help himself. He saw it, and it instantly made him think of Shadow.

Shadow seemed to share the same sentiment.

“It’s beautiful,” he spoke softly, turning it over in his hand, “thank you.” He let go of Sonic’s hand just briefly to put the necklace on. Shadow produced a small box from his quills, intricately wrapped. “We seemed to have the same idea.” He chuckled sheepishly as Sonic accepted the box from him.

Sonic chuckled, his heart fluttering, as he opened Shadow’s gift. Rather than a necklace, Shadow had gotten him a bracelet with the same two flowers inside its resin coating. Sonic laughed as Shadow did, removing the gift from the box and putting it on. “Yeah. It seems we did.” He nestled back into Shadow’s embrace.

It was so homey with him. So soothing. This would be their first Christmas as a couple. The first of many.

Sonic was sure he wouldn’t mind that one bit.