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Chapter Text

The cracked moon hung high above the town of Green Hills, Montana. The night was dark and silent, except for a familiar blue streak that sped over the mountains. Sonic the Hedgehog swerved around the trees, hoping to clear his mind and get away from Knuckles’s obnoxious snoring. He jumped over a pile of rocks, his quills bristling in the cold mountain air. On autopilot, he sped along the all too familiar path to the old burrow, his old home.

Sonic stopped, still, almost in a trance as he breathed in the familiar scents. He remained in bliss until an unusual scent hit him. The smell was mostly sweat, with a slight trace of, was that chemicals, and burnt quills? Wait, he knew that smell. He barely had time to recall who smelled like that before he heard a soft growl and crashed into the nearest tree, sending his head reeling. A deep, gruff voice spoke from behind him, suspicion evident.

“Why the hell are you here, Needlemouse?”

With a turn of his head, Sonic caught sight of… Shadow? But… Shadow was dead. The spaceship exploded, and Egghead and his gramps went with it… but Shadow must’ve lived. Sonic couldn’t stop his smile from spreading despite the throbbing of his head.

“Shadow! Good to see you, buddy.”

Shadow's crimson eyes narrowed as he stepped closer.
“I'm not your “buddy”, hedgehog. I helped you once, reluctantly…”
That's true. He briefly recalled his short time fighting alongside the black hedgehog. But even with that, Sonic couldn’t help but feel relieved at seeing Shadow standing before him. Getting back to his feet, Sonic turned to face Shadow, his gaze both happy and a bit weary.

“Well, I’m still glad to see you alive… though a bit singed.” Sonic pinched his fingers.

Shadow simply glared in response. His eyes narrowed, especially at the ‘singed’ comment. He readied his fist for another blow before Sonic held his hands up in surrender, a hesitant smile crossing his lips.

“Hey, no need to be all up in arms. You’re the one who attacked me for being near my cave!”
The black hedgehog still didn’t bother giving a reasonable response for a moment. He simply stared, his expression annoyingly unreadable.

“That trashed badger nest was your den…?”

Sonic’s quills bristled angrily at the rude comment. That badger nest was his home! Anger and embarrassment surged through him, making his eyes glow.

“That den was quite homey, y'know. And who are you to judge about messy homes?”

“I don’t have a home,” Shadow said firmly, turning away slightly. A flash of sadness streaked across his face.

Sonic hesitated, he hadn’t really thought about how Shadow lived. For a second, he didn’t have anything to say, no banter or quip for Shadow. It was rather strange, as he always had something to say. An instant passed, and that moment was over as soon as it started.

“Okay, Mr. Edgelord, how about we-” -but Sonic was cut short as said Mr. Edgelord disappeared with a ‘poof’. “Dang it!”, Sonic thought as he dodged a fist, quickly followed by a kick.

Sonic reached out his hand blindly, hoping it would stop the other hedgehog. Shadow freezed for a second, inches from Sonic’s outstretched hand. It had the effect he’d wanted, but…

“Okay, hold it right there, bud. I know it’s been a long time since we were a dynamic duo, but you really don’t have to give me the cold shoulder.”

Shadow seemed to tense at this. He looked straight into Sonic’s eyes.

“We are nothing.”

Shadow broke eye contact from Sonic and walked off into the woods. Sonic couldn’t help but notice that Shadow almost looked… defeated. Soft moonlight illuminated the two hedgehogs, as if the world itself was declaring the fight to be over.

(***)

A subdued Sonic walked to a towering pine, climbing it with ease. He could have run up the tree, but he didn’t want to be seen. Strangely enough, he wanted to know where Shadow was going.

And so, silently, he watched Shadow.

The dark hedgehog looked… lonely.

Questions swirled around in Sonic’s head. One seemed to stick out: Why had Shadow been so cold to him? It was strange, but Shadow had always felt a little different about him than everyone else. It was as if he wanted to know more about Shadow- wanted to understand him. He knew so little about Shadow, but he could tell he was hurting. If only he could do something, anything to help…He shook his head, pushing aside his thoughts about that particular hedgehog.

Shadow trudged away from the site of their scuffle before slowing and eventually coming to a stop. The hedgehog looked around cautiously. And he did the most bizarre thing: he went the other way. Sonic had to keep himself from making a noise at this. What was Shadow doing?

He slowly watched as Shadow looked around, then disappeared into a familiar hole in the ground.

“No, he wouldn’t do that.” Sonic thought, but he did. Sonic wavered as Shadow made home in his old burrow. Why wouldn’t Shadow say this to him, after all he’s been through—he didn’t deserve this! But of course Shadow would never agree to stay with Sonic; it would damage his pride. Still, he needed a home, not some run-down, pathetic excuse for a cave! He would’ve gone there right then and there, would’ve told Shadow he has a place not by himself. But when Sonic looked at Shadow again, something prevented him from doing that.

Maybe when they’d meet again he’d ask Shadow to stay with him. Maybe.

Sonic slowly made his way down the tree, trying still to not instill another attack. It had just begun to snow, and already snowflakes were falling down in thick, cold droves. By the time Sonic made it down, the ground was already covered in a thin, translucent carpet of it.

The wind whistled, making the trees dance. Sonic tramped through the snow, contemplating why he felt this way. Why he felt a- He stopped, something caught in the corner of his vision: small, white flowers. They looked so delicate, so opposed to the harsh cold. Gently, he plucked them, admiring the softness in their beauty. The blue blur ran over to the small crater Shadow had made during their brawl. Almost without thinking, he placed the flowers in the middle of the crater. The white petals of the flowers looked ethereal in the moonlight. He suddenly had an urge to stay there, stay with the flowers, wait for-

He should go home.

(***)

Sonic walked through the door to his house just as the sun began to rise. The morning rays made the fresh snow glisten and sparkle. His steps on the worn wood floor were light, as to not wake up the other members of the house. The sound of Knuckles snoring was, and always will be, obnoxiously loud, and it could have probably been heard by the entire town of Green Hills.

As he made his way up the staircase, something abruptly caused him to stop in his tracks. A crack of sunlight had slipped through the window, illuminating an old photo that hung quietly on the wall. The photo pictured Sonic, Maddie, Tom, and Tom’s inarticulate animal friend, Ozzie, standing together with smiles plastered on their faces. It had been taken during the first year in which Sonic joined the Wachowski family.

Sonic stared at the photo with nostalgia. He remembered the time when he was all alone, only living in a dimly-lit cave with no one to accompany him but himself. Those times were rough for Sonic. After all, he had only been a kid when he was forced to leave his home and his mother in order to protect himself from those who sought his power. Sonic shuddered at the thought of his past, but nonetheless continued looking at the photo, mesmerized.

He was a lot shorter back then, only reaching about where Tom’s waist began. In the back, the Wachowski house stood tall, not yet succumbing to the dread of inevitable age. Its years, however, would eventually amount to several fun and memorable times for Sonic and his new found family. Stepping back, Sonic smiled at the photo on the wall. “I’m home,” he whispered, and began up the stairs once more.

Sonic paused at the top of the stairs, a few words ringing in his ears: “I don’t have a home.” The memory of Shadow’s voice sent a shiver down Sonic’s spine. He had sounded so lost and afraid, almost like how Sonic had felt living alone. This recollection aroused a new feeling within Sonic. Guilt rushed into him and left a pained look on his face.

Sonic walked back to his room and flopped down on his bed, the thought of Shadow still buzzing through his mind. “Ugghh!” Sonic groaned. For some reason, the idea of Shadow being left alone in the cold was unsettling to him. “Should I… ask him to come live with us?” Sonic weighed his options. He knew Shadow would deny his request, but not doing anything just didn’t sit right with him. His eyes started to feel heavy as his thoughts spiraled further. Sometime during his brainstorming, the sweet release of sleep consumed him.

BOOM!!

The door to Sonic’s room flew off its hinges, barely missing sonic as it fell to the floor. “I’M UP!!” Shouted Sonic, alarmed. Knuckles made his way through the doorless entryway.

“Sonic!” He scolded, “What are you still doing in bed? It is almost 11 o’ clock in the morning!”

Sonic sat up with confusion. “Huh!? You nearly just killed me with that door!”

“Nonsense! The hedgehog I know is fast enough to avoid such blows.”

“Fair point, but still! Stop breaking things, Tom is gonna have to fix all this!”

The hedgehog sped off of his bed.

“And anyways, I couldn’t sleep all night because of your extra-loud snoring!”

Knuckles, offended, snapped back,

“I do not snore, hedgehog!”

Sonic drew in a breath, ready to thicken their morning argument, when suddenly the thought of Shadow came rushing back into reality. He let his anger toward Knuckles dissipate as he released his breath.

“Whatever. Where’s Tails? I need his advice on something.”

“The fox is downstairs helping Maddie and Tom clean up the kitchen. They made pancakes earlier. You better hurry if you want any.”

Annoyed, Sonic sped past Knuckles and entered the kitchen to find Tails cleaning the table and Maddie washing the dishes. Tom walked into the room with a garbage bag in hand.

“There you are, Sonic! I was beginning to think you’d never wake up!”

Sonic stared at Tom, still half asleep, and then remembered what he‘d come down for.

“Tails, I gotta talk to you about something.”

“You can talk to him after you take out the trash. Here.” Tom handed him the bag he was holding.

“Ugh, fine!” Sonic replied. He ran out to the trash bin, dumped the bag inside, and was back in the kitchen in the blink of an eye.

“Alright, I really need to talk to you, Tails.”

“What’s up, Sonic?” The fox’s calm tone clashed with Sonic’s agitated eagerness.

Frantically, Sonic told Tails all about the interaction he had with Shadow earlier that morning. He reluctantly skimmed over the part where Shadow had survived, however, he allowed himself to recite every detail regarding Shadow’s living state with obvious concern. Sonic finished speaking and looked down at Tails, whose mouth was gaping at the retelling of the story.

“So what do you think?” Sonic said nervously. “Should I ask him if he wants to live with us?”

Tails was taken aback at the thought that the darker hedgehog, who had once tried to destroy the world but then sacrificed his life to save it, had somehow survived.

“Shadow’s alive!?” His voice was sharp yet soft.

Sonic stared blankly at Tails. He was surprised or rather a bit annoyed that this was the detail that his best friend was focusing on.

“Yeah, he’s alive but that’s not what’s important!” Sonic replied. Tails stared at his best friend, puzzled.

“The important thing is that Shadow is living all alone in the cold with no one to talk to. Don’t you think we should ask him to come live with us?”

Tails hesitated, but then his expression softened. “Sonic, I understand your concern but…”

Sonic knew what came next,

“There aren’t enough rooms in the house and he kind of hates us. I mean, should we really be bringing him inside? I don’t want to see the living room being transformed… again.”
Sonic opened his mouth, getting ready to protest, but Tails cut him off,

“…How do we know we can trust him? After all, he did try to destroy the world.”

Sonic was taken aback. He wasn’t really expecting that kind of response to his pleadings, especially since Shadow had undergone a change of heart. I mean, he’d practically given his life to confirm this! How could Tails not understand?

Sonic drew a breath in order to calm himself. “Look Tails, Shadow’s changed… I just know it.”

Tails looked down at his feet, a trace of fear showing in his eyes. It’s rare that Tails ever gets upset by anything. Something flashed in his gaze, perhaps a sense of irrelevance. Sonic knew that Tails had always struggled with this feeling; it was ever so easy to succumb to feeling inferior. It made sense that Tails would feel this way. First impressions matter and Shadow had not made a good one; Tails went down first in the humiliating encounter.

“Do you really think so?”

His voice was quiet now. Sonic noticed this change and quickly matched his volume. He had forgotten how young Tails was. A twinge of guilt pierced him. I was too insistent, the blue hedgehog thought, glancing down.

“Listen, buddy, nothing bad is going to happen to you while I’m around. Sure, Shadow’s a rough guy, and he may seem, well, intimidating. But, he’s just misguided. I think if we let him stay here, he’ll open up and become much more likable!”

Sonic laughed softly. He was lying to himself, however; the thought of Shadow being anything but cold hearted was amusing.

Relief on his face, Tails began to speak.

“Alright… I guess you can ask him to stay with us.”

Sonic sped around the kitchen with excitement. “Just make sure you let Tom and Maddie know about this. I’ll inform Knuckles later.”

Sonic was overjoyed at Tails’s approval.

“Thanks, buddy!”

A soft smile broke out across the fox’s face as Sonic continued rambling about Shadow. He spoke so passionately on this topic. His words seemed to flow smoother, even though he had been talking faster. The smile on Tails’s face began to widen. It had been a while since he had seen Sonic this happy.

Chapter Text

The sun peeked over the horizon, bathing the multitude of mushrooms in a magical glow. Fauna grazed upon the land and townspeople opened their shutters and windows to let in the light.

In the marketplace, shops started to open up. Pipes sprawled across the village, connecting it externally and internally.

However, one would not welcome the sun. Tucked tightly in his bed was Mario, curtains and windows shut. It was so nice just to lay in his bed, but he couldn’t go back to sleep due to that infuriating clanking noise coming from downstairs.

BANG! CLANK!

Mario groaned and sat up in his bed. How can one person make so much noise while cooking?

He trudged over to the top of the stairs. “Luigi! Quiet down in the kitchen, I’m trying to get some beauty sleep here!”

There was no response. Mario continued to huff down the stairs. That was until the delicious aroma of pancakes hit him. He stopped dead in his tracks and started to float, following the smell.

And there was Luigi, tapping his foot annoyedly as he waited for Mario to come back down. “I told you, making noise is part of the process! It adds character.” He pouted.

Mario dropped to the floor, making a splat sound. He should really stop doing that.

As he stood back up, his eyes drifted to the plate of pancakes. They were a scrumptious golden brown, some decorated with a darker brown star.

Unable to take his eyes off the pancakes, Mario mused “make as much noise as you want as long as you keep making these delicious pancakes.”

“Well you better eat them before they get cold!” Luigi chuckled.

Mario eagerly sat down and scarfed up his meal, taking as many pancakes as he could from the main plate.

“Good soup” Mario choked, face gaining a cerulean tint.

Luigi looked amused. “Mario, you really need to breathe in between bites, don’t just hork it down!”

“But it’s too good, I can’t help it!” Mario cried, pulling another pancake onto his plate.

Luigi watched Mario shove more food into his mouth in disgust. He looked like he was going to scold Mario, but stopped when a pounding came at the door.

“Alas! I have looked hither and thither for my dear friends yet none have been found! So I sit here lonely on this barren, rocky ground!”

Luigi promptly opened the door to their dear friend Toad lying on the front porch. His eyes stared blankly up at the ceiling.

“Aha! I hath found thee! I’ve been looking at the ceiling for so long, it has felt as if an eternity has passed! Hath thee come to see me?”

The plumber looked at his hopeful friend. “Get off the floor, Toad.” Toad looked vacantly back at Luigi. His eyes were hollow pits in which life seemed to no longer exist. He slowly got up, looking at nothing yet… everything. As if by some sort of code in a game he replied, “Luigi! Hath not thy seen? The festival is today’s scene!”

Mario perked up at the idea of a festival and quickly walked toward his brother, who stood by the door. “A festival? I love festivals!” But uh… what’s the occasion?”

“Hath thee not learned of the festival? ‘Tis of utmost importance, for once every decade, thy sun rises upon the land, bringing forth the people of Selen, for the people of Selen are the best of all!”

The two brothers stared blankly at Toad. Finally, Mario broke the silence. “What…?”

“You do not know of Selen? Tis only the second most important planet within this galaxy! I cannot believe this blasphemy! Toad shook his head in disbelief. “Well you lot must come join the fray! Come enjoy the festivities brought to us on this fine day!”

***

As the sun rose high in the sky, the markets and festival stands watched as the citizens danced around the plaza. The festival had just begun and the streets were already filled. Having just arrived, Mario, Luigi, and Toad made their way through the rumbling sea of people.

“Wow, this festival sure is beautiful-”

“Come one, come all, to the festival of starlight!” An announcer boomed over a microphone, cutting off Mario as he spoke. Startled by this, Mario tracked the blaring voice to Peach’s castle, where the announcer stood atop the balcony. A ray of sunshine illuminated the speaker as if they were standing in the spotlight of a stage, performing a famous play. The balcony was an especially good place to make an announcement, as it was centered in the middle of the castle and overlooked the entire kingdom.

Mario gazed at the balcony in reminiscence. Peach had always made her statements here. He recalled the time when Peach had reassured the toad people after the threat of Bowser’s invasion, which had aroused fear within the kingdom gates. She hadn’t realistically believed she could defeat the Koopa Kingdom, especially not by herself; however, the mushroom princess would do whatever it took to insure the safety of her people. After all, they had given her everything she knew, and Peach would forever feel as though she were in their debt. She would risk her own life for those toads if she had to, and Mario deeply admired that about her. He would do the same thing for his brother, Luigi.

Throughout her speech, Peach had seemed so calm and unbothered, even though she had later relayed to Mario that she was, in fact, terrified. She didn’t know what she would do if her kingdom was destroyed, and her discomfort didn’t sit right with Mario. Mario wondered how someone could be so determined despite wielding such great fear. Nonetheless, it didn’t matter how Peach overcame her fear, the kingdom had been saved after all. But now all Mario could focus on was that agitating voice, echoing from above.

“Welcome everyone! Gather around. Thank you all for coming out on this fine day! We’ve got a great line up for you this afternoon!” The announcer spun around gleefully. They looked different from the average citizen. They were taller than the toads and had a skinnier build. Their brown hair was slightly grown out yet it appeared professional. They wore a simple grey shirt and dress pants. Everything about them seemed pleasant.

The announcer stood with the microphone in their hand. Even their face was charming and innocent. They seemed calm under pressure and not easily disturbed. And their voice, despite being loud, was somehow soothing and entertaining, which deeply annoyed Mario.

The voice resumed as Mario snapped out of his daydream. “Wonderful, familiar faces that you all know and love: the Princess of Sarasaland, Daisy, and her majesty Princess Peach!” The crowd cheered as the princesses took the stage. “And lastly, hailing all the way from Selen, the mysterious, mystical, and magical, Princess Rosalina!!”

Mario watched from the sidelines as a woman walked past, gazing at her otherworldly beauty. She towered over the crowd and the parade of miniscule stars that followed her. The one eye that was showing was near Cerulean in color and almost seemed to gleam in the sunlight. Her hair covered her other eye, but stopped before covering up her full, pink lips. Falling to her waist, her light hair swayed behind her as she walked, sparkling with the light of a thousand stars. The dress she wore was almost the same shade as her eyes, and brought them out even more. Mario had never seen such beauty here or on earth, she was truly out of this world.

Rosalina approached the microphone and spreaded her arms out “Hello citizens of Mushroom Kingdom!” The crowd cheered, some people climbing over each other to gaze upon Rosalina. “As all of you know, we of Selen come every ten years to celebrate this festival. But do all of you know why we’re here?” The crowd muttered. “ We’re here to celebrate the founding of our alliance!!

As the glorious Rosalina continued her speech, Mario turned to Luigi, but there was an empty spot beside him instead. Mario tensed. Luigi had a bad habit of getting lost and panicking. With a crowd like this, Luigi could be anywhere.

Mario started to look around for his brother when he had an idea. He weaved through the crowd, awkwardly bumping into a few people, until he reached a light post. Climbing the base of the light post, Mario started to get anxious. Best case scenario, Luigi was just buying something from a street vendor. Worst case scenario… Mario’s mind fumbled through the horrid possibilities.

He scoped the area; toad, toad, toad, toad… No sign of Luigi. Mario’s anxiety turned. He looked again through the crowd frantically.

No Luigi to be found.

Mario jumped off the light post. He had to get help. Toad would be of no use, all he does is spout poetry and stare off into the void. “Peach,” Mario thought. “Peach will definitely know how to help.” Mario pushed through the crowd of toads and frantically made his way towards the castle. He tried calming himself with the technique Peach always used to reassure the toads whenever she gave her speeches. It had been that very tactic, in fact, that made her appear so uplifting throughout her diligence.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to calm down. He felt his breath shake as he tried to push the thought out of his mind. Like a wound, the thought festered and became enraged. It stung the back of his head until Mario could no longer deny its presence. He let the thought engulf him, taking over completely.

Memories of what happened last time Luigi was captured resurfaced in his mind. “No…not again”

The words repeated in his mind over and over: not again, not again, not again, not again.

***

The castle doors burst open with a great thud that bounced off the walls of the lengthy corridors. A medium sized shadow stumbled inside, struggling as it tried to find its balance. The guards immediately took action and blocked the way so that the mysterious figure couldn’t advance any farther into the castle.

“Who are you? What are your intentions?” Shouted one of the guards. The figure could barely get a word out without aggressively taking a breath every now and then. “I need…to speak… with the… princess!” It finally managed to spit out. The guards instantly recognized the voice and relaxed their spears. “Step into the light!” The guard demanded. Something shifted into the light and the guards’ suspicion instantly became validated.

“Mario? What brings you here in such a hurry? I thought you were an intruder!”

Mario, having finally caught his breath, began to speak. “It’s an emergency. I must speak with the Princess right away.”

The two guards looked at each other with concern before turning back to the plumber. “Her majesty’s presence has been requested atop the third floor balcony for the festival preparations.” Stated one of the guards, who Mario now noticed was a blue toad.

“You cannot interact with the Princess right now for the festival mustn’t be interfered with.” The second toad replied, agreeing with the first toad.

Mario didn’t have time to wait around or play games with the colorful toads. His brother could be in trouble right now for heaven’s sake!

“Look, I really need to talk to her. I’ll make it quick.” Mario hissed.

The red toad snapped back, his eyes narrowing. “We can’t let you go up there. This was the one job we were given from the Princess!”

Without thinking, Mario dashed through the guards and continued down the hallway.

“Stop him!” Shouted the guards. All the surrounding toads stopped what they were doing and put their focus on Mario, who was now almost to the staircase. “Don’t let him get to the Princess!” The guards screamed again.

By now, all of the toads were chasing Mario up the stairs, throwing their spears as if they were harpoons. Mario dodged the flying weapons and darted around a corner to avoid their blows. His rest was cut short as the guards picked up their speed and gained numbers from the nearby toads in the neighboring hallways. Mario lunged for the 2nd floor staircase, directly avoiding a spear in the air.

The toads ran after Mario like a cat chasing a mouse until they approached the entrance of the third floor balcony. “Stop!! Do not open those doors!” The red toad remarked in a last desperate attempt to put an end to this chase. Mario did not listen however and flung open the balcony doors.

The toads came tumbling outside, screaming at Mario with their spears in their hands. The whole commotion caused the announcer and princesses to abruptly stop and turn around to see the ungodly scene unfolding behind them; a captured Mario with tons of toads piled upon him.

Mario muffled a cry from underneath all of the toads. The announcer looked aghast at the sight of this; their mouth hung wide open and their face paled to the point of being blue.

Despite the almost unanimous shock, Peach looked more concerned than surprised. Everyone in the audience began to stir, some trying to climb on one another to get a better view of the scene.

Sounds of broken breathing swept through the air, coming from the dogpile. Mario struggled to breathe under the pile of toads, who had started to beat him with their spears. Daisy and Peach immediately took action, insisting the toads lay down their weapons and release Mario. The toads, however, could not hear the princesses’ pleas and continued hitting and screaming. Off to the side, Rosalina stood by quietly, her dreamy eyes going back to the crowd every now and then. It was an awful scene.

Between the commotion, the announcer finally came out of their shock and remembered themself. Their eyes shifted between Mario, the toads, and Princess Rosalina, who watched uncomfortably as the other princesses struggled to pull the toads off of Mario. A red hue stained their cheeks.

“STOP THIS FIGHTING AT ONCE!” The announcer shrilled, hot with frustration. Their voice boomed across the entire plaza.

The crowd went silent. The toads halted and stared at the announcer. Even Rosalina was thrown off by their dark tone.

“Never in my life has someone interrupted me during my announcements!” Their voice sounded harsh now, projecting even further than before.

A new voice spoke. It was one of the guards. “We’re sorry, announcer. We were just trying to stop that man from intruding” he squeaked.

“By intruding yourself!?” The announcer boomed. “How dare you be so ignorant.” They took a breath and spoke again, this time with a calmer tone. “Gather your spears and your friends and then get out of my sight. I have a festival to host and you all are getting in my way.”

“But… but we were just trying to stop him. We didn’t mean to interrupt!”

“I DON’T CARE WHOSE FAULT IT IS! JUST LEAVE!”

The toads didn’t speak another word. They got up off of Mario and dragged him back towards the doors. Mario caught the wall just as they were pulling him in. “Peach!” Mario’s voice was loud enough to capture the Princess’s attention. She turned to look at Mario. Behind them, the announcer started to speak over the microphone again, reassuring the crowd that the incident was over and being dealt with. Mario and Peach glanced at the announcer. Neither one of them wanted to create another scene. “Come inside!” Mario whispered loudly, his hand left the door and he disappeared into the castle. She nodded and muttered something to Daisy before joining Mario inside the castle.

The muffled voice of the announcer was heard from outside, but the castle’s walls distorted the sound. All that could be heard now was echoing, followed by silence, and– “Mario! What is your reason for all this!?” The Princess sounded harsh, although there was a flicker of hurt within her voice. She looked down at Mario and rubbed the back of her neck.

Mario looked back at Peach. “There’s an emergency”

She looked exasperated. “What now?”

“Luigi is missing—and before you cut me off, no he was not at any of the stalls, he was not shopping, in fact, he was nowhere to be seen!” His mind started to spin.

“I understand, but Mario–“

“No! You don’t understand!” Mario’s voice turned to a whisper “I know I sound crazy, but this somehow feels different. I just have this gut feeling that something is wrong, that he’s in trouble…please, just help.”

Peach stared at Mario and sighed, “Well considering the last time your brother went missing, it contributed to a war being fought on our land. I suppose you’re not wrong for feeling this way.”

Mario looked up at Peach. A glint of hope flickered in his eyes.

“Alright… I’ll help you.” Peach said at last, her face filled with determination. Mario relaxed, letting a hesitant smile slip onto his own face. It was that particular look Peach gave that Mario was way too familiar with. A look that steadied his anxiety by embracing it head on.

“Well then!” Peach began again. “We should check the market and ask if anyone has seen your brother.”

Mario was glad he had Peach with him. She always knew exactly what to do, no matter the circumstances.

They started towards the main hallway, but stopped due to a loud noise behind them. Peach and Mario turned around from where they were standing and were met with the faces of Daisy and Rosalina. The princesses walked towards Peach and Mario, their faces plastered with confusion and concern. Finally, one of them broke the silence.

“Peach! What’s going on? Why are you leaving?” Daisy’s tone was soft and caring.

“I’m sorry.” Peach replied. “There’s been an emergency and I have to tend to it.”

“What kind of emergency?”

“My friend Mario’s brother has gone missing and we were about to go look for him.”

Rosalina joined in “Can we at least help you look for him? After all, 4 sets of eyes are better than just 2.”

Peach looked conflicted. “Won’t that interfere with the festival? The announcer’s already upset as it is.”

“The festival has already been interfered with. And the Announcer will be fine without us. I’m sure they have plenty to talk about. Also, I don’t really need to be on stage for another couple of hours so…”

Daisy chimed in too. “Yeah, my next appearance isn’t until the afternoon so I can help as well.”
Mario was overjoyed at the thought of more people helping him look for Luigi and turned to look at Peach, hope sparkling in his eyes.

“Very well then, let’s get looking!”

The four of them began on their new quest to find Mario’s brother with one goal in mind: return to the festival before anyone noticed they had gone.

If everything went according to plan, all would be well. But if they failed, well… Mario did not want to know what the announcer would do to them.

***

A torch flickered. A limp body cast a long shadow. A chair. Nothing else.

Something new– a hulking shadow, demonic looking in the feeble orange glow. A mix between roar and laugh erupted from it. “Finally, after all this time, all I had to do was act like a decent citizen and you and your crew believed me! You didn’t even thi– wait, are you even awake?” The shadow revealed itself as an annoyed Bowser.

He boomed toward the beat up body and tilted the head up.

A green cap with an L landed on the floor.

The face of Luigi was sound asleep, probably from being knocked out. Bowser turned his head, inspecting it. There were a few bruises, although they were minor; they were likely to heal up in a few weeks or so.

Taking his clawed hand off Luigi, Bowser breached back and roared, the sound so loud it reverberated off of the solid stone walls. Luigi bolted awake, eyes going wide.

Luigi looked around, taking in his crude surroundings. When his eyes landed on Bowser huffing, he shifted in his seat.

He said absolutely nothing but stared accusingly back at him.

Bowser barked “Best you get a hold of yourself…and, if you really thought I was good. One; you’re wrong, I was never good. And two; I like it!” It was almost as if he was finishing an argument made long ago. Luigi’s expression shifted to one of hurt and betrayal, still refusing to speak.

Bowser walked around, picking up the green cap. Luigi turned to face him, staring into his dark eyes. They shared a look before Bowser gently stepped toward Luigi. It seemed like he was going to place the hat on Luigi’s head but he stopped himself and returned to the entranceway. The hat was crumpled in his hand.

An eerie feeling swept into the room. “Anyways, I’m sure” Bowser sneered, “that you’ll just love my new boss”

The door slammed open. The single fire from the torch flickered, the burnt smell from it growing thicker with each passing moment. Cold creeped into the room, slithering across the floor.

Something arose from the crack of light from the entranceway. Taking the shape of a triangle and emitting a shadow onto the walls, its presence almost entirely enveloped the room in complete darkness.

Luigi stifled a scream.

Bowser grinned.

Chapter Text

“So…Dear family…” Sonic started off, scratching his quills. He looked around at his family, not sure how to convey his idea. Tom and Maddie Wachowski sat on the couch, Ozzie in between them. Tails was sitting next to the TV, happily kicking his feet, and Knuckles stood, arms crossed, in the doorway.

“I’ve come to make a—an announcement”, Sonic hesitated, as he was not used to these things. The words began to spill out of his mouth. “You know that hedgehog that looked like me and almost destroyed the world but later helped save it with me but died in an epic sacrifice in doing so…?”

Tom and Maddie looked concerned.

“Well, he may or may not actually be alive, and I may or may not have found him… alone. In the woods.” He stared at them sheepishly.

“Well?” Knuckles raised an eye ridge.

“I was thinking,” Sonic went on, doing his best to sound convincing, “that maybe he should stay with us?” He raised his hands up as though in surrender, although it was anything but.

“No”

“C‘mon Knucks, surely you can’t judge someone by their past?”

“He almost killed Tom. That hedgehog is not one of honor.”

“I’m sure there is an explanation. He really didn’t seem like he would hurt someone for no reason.” Sonic began to grow worried. Maybe Knuckles was right. He really didn’t know much about Shadow; he was practically letting a stranger (and a dangerous one at that) into their house. But it still didn’t feel right just leaving him out in the cold.

“I don't think it would be a good idea to let someone who hurt our family come live with us so soon, Sonic,” Maddie chimed in. Her eyes glimmered with a hint of concern.

“Oh, come on guys… he might be different now. The egghead and his gramps are gone, so he’ll be better… probably.”

Sonic pleaded with the group, even though he knew Shadow was almost the same. He scanned the faces of his family. The bit of hope in his eyes faded as he saw their firm disagreement. Why can't they see that Shadow isn't that bad?

“But—”

“Knuckles and Maddie are right, Sonic. It's too dangerous for Shadow to stay with us. We know nothing about him and I don’t want to ‘almost ascend to the great battleground’ again, as Knuckles puts it.” Tom looked at Sonic, worry captured on his face. “I just don’t want another Eclipse Cannon, that's all.” Maddie nodded in agreement.

Sonic went quiet.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that Shadow should be all on his own, that he deserved it. It wasn’t fair that Sonic got to live comfortably with a family while Shadow struggled all by himself.

“You guys think he deserves this, don’t you.” Red coursed through his veins. His emotions swirled inside his head. Small sparks of electricity started to dance around him. “But you gave me a chance. Why. Not. Him?” he ground out.

“You already know why,” Maddie sighed. “We can’t let him live here. End of discussion.”

Sonic didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t even think. His face started to flush, embarrassed of his anger. He shouldn’t be fighting them, they were just concerned for the safety of the family. Sonic gave a cursory glance at Knuckles, who had stayed surprisingly silent for the most part. He looked serious, although he almost always looked serious. Knuckles could be thinking about literally anything with that expression.

“Ok then. Well, I guess I’ll go, nothing else to discuss.” With that said, he hurriedly left the room. It was impossible to stay in that place. He had to go somewhere, some place where he could take out his emotions.

***

Tails watched as Sonic stomped out of the house and slammed the door, causing the photos on the wall to rattle. He didn’t get why his best friend was so worked up. Shadow hurt Tom. Shadow hurt their dad. But Sonic wanted to give him a chance?

“Sonic, wait, please!”

He wanted to talk to him, but the blue hedgehog was already gone. The faces of the others were firm, but also concerned… except for Ozzy, who was happily wagging his tail.

“That hedgehog… he wished to bring an enemy into our household…” Knuckles muttered to himself. He stood in the kitchen doorway, a glare on his face because of Sonic's perceived audacity.

“What if Sonic was right and Shadow has changed?”

Tails looked between Tom and Maddie, hoping for a response. Of course, he never handled being told ‘no’ well, but this was different. He looked so… distraught.

Maddie and Tom exchanged a glance before Maddie shook her head.

“Let him cool off, Tails. We can talk to him about it later.”

Tails nodded and stared down at his feet. Sonic would only throw another fit if it was brought up again, but they all had so many questions: ‘How was Shadow alive? Where was he staying? How did you find him? Why do you trust him after everything he's done?’ These thoughts floated thickly through the room. The room became stagnant with an awkward silence, all of them still processing Sonic’s proposal. Finally, Knuckles sighed and left the room.

“I am going to pillage the freezing temple of consumables,” he called over his shoulder.

“...The fridge?”

Tom cracked a smile at Knuckle's wording. After a moment, he got up to follow him, probably to make sure he didn't break anything. Ozzie then hopped off the couch to join them. Eventually, Tails went back out to his shed, his thoughts still filled with unanswered questions.

***

Sonic ran. He didn't know where he was going, but he ran. Blind and deaf to his surroundings, his frustration fueled him. The surrounding trees were a blur around him, creating a pathway only he could see. Every now and then, he could vaguely pick out something: a log above him; a small creek to his left. But it didn’t matter. Almost nothing mattered right now.

His speed increased. He had to shake off this anger! He didn’t know where it even came from. They’re right, aren’t they? Shadow is dangerous, unpredictable, even irrational! Besides, Shadow doesn’t even like him. Loathing is a better word for it.

Sonic shook his head. It felt like that moment on the moon between them never happened. It was so peaceful, those few moments between them. In fact, the more he thought about it… he had never really connected with anyone when talking about his own turmoil. At least, no one had understood his pain as well as Shadow.

But that didn’t matter, did it? Shadow was a “lost cause” according to his family. Sonic could feel his electricity intensify until it crackled around him like a thunderstorm. His legs, in response, started to speed up.

He needed to go faster.

Everything around him started to become simple lines. His vision couldn’t keep up with his speed.

Faster.

The electricity around him started to hurt. It didn’t matter.

Faster.

He tripped on a branch, catapulting himself face first into the soft, mossy earth. He had gone too fast. But it was worth it as he felt his anger start to subside, as if the ground was soaking it up. Sonic started to laugh as he got up, half humiliated by his predicament. He stopped when he heard a snobbish sniff.

“Why are you here?” rumbled a familiar voice. Damn it. This is the last person Sonic wanted to see at the moment. Wide green eyes turned to see a grumpy looking Shadow, although he always looked a little grumpy.

“H-hey, Shadow, uh, what are you doing here?” Sonic asked, voice shaky. He looked at what was resting in Shadow’s grip. “You reading?” His expression immediately turned into one of amusement. Maybe he could stay here just for a little bit, if just to tease Shadow for his studious habits.

“What I do is none of your business.” Cold as ever. “I suggest you leave.”

“Why? Are you mad that I interrupted your brooding?” Sonic couldn’t help it, Shadow was just such an easy target for his frustration.

All he got was a glare in return. Shadow got up from his seat and turned to Sonic, his book dropping to the ground at his feet. Offended by this, the blue hedgehog sped in front of Shadow, blocking his path.

“Get out of my way,” Shadow snarled.

Sonic grinned slyly. Annoying Shadow was just too easy.

“Out of your way? You’re in the woods, there is no way.”

Shadow’s expression hardened, too hard to really read. “You make no sense, hedgehog.”

Sonic leaned in, causing Shadow to take a step back. “I think I make perfect sense.” His mouth curled into a smirk, one quickly torn off his mouth as he was tackled onto the ground. Honestly, he should’ve expected that, given the ebony hedgehog’s past actions.

Sonic instinctively tried to wriggle out of his grasp, the sodden ground dirtying his back. The mud took a hold of his fur and quills, weighing him down. It was no use.

Shadow balled one of his fists and brought it back for a punch. Red electricity startled to crackle around his hand.

Time slowed down.

Sonic looked up at Shadow in this slowed down state. Rage was printed on his almost frozen face. But why? Why did Shadow hate him? Why do you care so much?

It didn’t matter. What mattered right then and there was that Shadow was about to go all chaos energy on him and break his face or something. He needed to lock in. Sonic squirmed out of Shadow’s pin and stood up.

Time returned.

Shadow punched the ground where Sonic had lain, sending pieces of the earth flying. The jet black hedgehog stared at his fist embedded into the ground. Impossibly, the anger in Shadow’s face grew.

Sonic impulsively tapped Shadow’s shoulder. Shadow turned towards him in a flash, his eyes simmering with endless rage. He swung a leg toward Sonic, who had deftly ducked it

Now it was his turn. Sonic thrust himself at Shadow, air tackling him into a tree. But Shadow took it up a notch as his air shoes ignited, and Sonic latched on in a death grip to prevent himself from falling. The ground grew increasingly farther away.

“Get off of me!” The highlighted hedgehog yelled. He started to push down on Sonic, who was currently clinging on for dear life.

“Um, no. I’ll fall to my death at this height!” Sonic looked pleadingly at Shadow, his head brushing the white fur on Shadow’s chest. Honestly, this wasn’t too bad; Shadow was surprisingly soft for someone who lived in the woods. If he wasn’t so high off the ground he could’ve even said that Shadow felt pretty comfortab— god, what was he even thinking?

Shadow looked dumbfounded for a moment, maybe even a little flustered. But then again, it was hard to tell what Shadow was thinking behind his carefully schooled expression. At least he didn’t look angry anymore.

“Fine,” he finally replied, “I will let you down as long as you let me return to my reading. If you do not, I will not hesitate to throw you.”

It was progress.

Sonic closed his eyes and buried his face in Shadow’s fur, feeling him tense at the contact. All he was doing was comforting himself, nothing else at all. It was simply a reaction to his fear of falling. An unfamiliar part of mind said something else, and he could feel his heart start to race at the thought. He quickly shut that thought down.

“You can get off of me now.” Sonic could feel the vibrations of his voice within him. They must’ve reached the ground.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” he stammered, hopping off of Shadow. Sonic watched as Shadow brushed himself off. Somehow he hadn’t even gotten a speck of dirt on him, while Sonic’s entire backside was covered in mud.

“Where is my book?” Shadow stared at the spot where he was previously reading.

“It must be around here”, Sonic replied, “maybe it got tossed in the fight or something.”

They both looked around. Besides, Sonic didn’t have too much else to do. After a few minutes of looking around, Sonic saw something clearly inorganic lying in a muddy area. Oh no.

“Um Shadow, I think I found it,” Sonic winced, he was not going to like this.

Mud had splattered over the cover of the book; the murky water soiled its pages as it sunk further into the puddle.

Everything stopped. It felt like time was at a standstill. The two hedgehogs, frozen in place, stared silently at the corpse of it. The book lay a couple feet from the two, begging to be saved from the dirty puddle. The wind blew, seemingly the only noise other than the symphony of cicadas, who were now starting their rhythmic mating calls. An ungodly amount of time had passed when, finally, one of them broke out of their denial.

“That book was all I had… and now it’s gone.” Shadow’s voice sounded lighter, a bit more heartfelt. His tone reminded Sonic of how Shadow had spoken to him on the moon. It had been right after their fight when Shadow had let down his guard. His face became pinched, as if trying to remember something from long ago. It was so rare that Sonic saw this vulnerable part of Shadow.

Disregarding the tone, Sonic remembered what Shadow had said to him and it finally made sense now. Was this about Maria? Sonic thought to himself. Guilt painfully stabbed him in the heart. He had been so careless when he was teasing Shadow that he didn’t even stop to think how it would affect him.

Sonic shifted his gaze towards Shadow, whose focus was deadlocked on the sinking book. His eyes shone with unshed tears. Waves of regret pained Sonic for his selfishness. He had let his pride win and what a great price he would pay for it now.

“It’s all.. gone. Just like-“ Shadow quivered.

“Wait! Just wait!” Sonic screeched. He ran over to the puddle and picked up the mud covered book. Aggressively, he shook the book, hoping most of the mud would come off. His wish, however, was rewarded with limited success as the majority of the mud had dried and was now conformed to the book.

“It’s no use.” Shadow spoke. “You’ve already ruined it.” His voice had regained its natural cold tone. It occurred to Sonic that Shadow must still be in a lot of pain from what happened on the Arc to be able to let his guard down so easily, even if it was just for a brief moment. Maria, as Sonic knew it, was the only thing that truly got to Shadow. And because of this, Sonic was desperate to fix the situation.

Shadow turned away from Sonic and the book, but Sonic couldn’t let him leave just yet.

“Shadow, wait! I… I'll get you a new one!” He pleaded, clutching Shadow’s arm in desperation. “Just don’t run off again!”

Shadow stopped, shocked by Sonic’s concern. “And how do you suppose you’ll do that? It was a limited edition copy that I got from… her, on the Arc.” Getting those words out seemed to cause him physical pain.

Sonic, however, became a bit more relaxed. “Don’t worry, I may or may not know of a place that will have any possible book your heart could ever desire.” He regained his sassy smirk as Shadow listened, intrigued. “It’s called the “Green Hills Library” and it’s got the best comic books! And normal books too, I guess.”

“They’ll even have books from 50 years ago?” Shadow asked.

“You betcha! And I’ll take you there sometime.” Sonic then made a perplexed face. His next question was phrased a bit quieter and with less confidence, almost as if he was afraid to ask. “Uhh…when are you free?”

Shadow froze for a moment. He hadn’t expected to be invited out like this and he didn’t know if he wanted to accept it. “Umm.. let me think.” Sonic sat by, tapping his foot eagerly, nervously, while Shadow pondered.

Shadow’s face contorted with indecision. Was it really that hard to tell when he was available? All he really did was brood all day from what Sonic could tell. What if he had daily brooding sessions? That would be kinda camp! said the voice in the back of his head. (It’s definitely one of the writers, guys)

“All right, I guess I’m free whenever.”

Sonic hid his sigh of relief and began to speak with artificial confidence. “Gr..great! Um… what day works best for you?”

“Uhhh-”

*The two hedgehogs proceeded to discuss their calendric events, however the writers did not include this because it was too boring. Though, if you really want to know, they ended up choosing the upcoming Friday.*

***

The sun caressed the tops of the Montana trees with its orange rays and inched towards the night. Purple streaks of light wafted away from the light source, encasing the entirety of the sky. Not a single spot in the sky was left untouched by the sun’s paintbrush. Even the clouds were tended to with a vibrant, blazing red.

A few stars peaked out, appearing with the growing darkness. The two hedgehogs were staring at each other without a clue what to say or do. Shadow averted his eyes from the other hedgehog and began focusing on the ever so slightly lit sky. Seeing this, Sonic did the same.

The sky was so pretty, it enraptured the two. For a while, they stood there mesmerized by its beauty. It seemed as though the sun itself was hypnotizing them with its spiraling rays of color. *this is foreshadowing btw*

Though the sky was illuminated with a kaleidoscope of colors, there was something far more dazzling that caught Shadow’s attention. He brought his gaze slightly down, enough to pull the light source into view and then he saw~

The blue hedgehog remained seized by the scene. The red from the sky reflected off of the blue hedgehog’s fur, providing a contrasting highlight. With the steady advancement of the night, the stars shone even brighter, allowing them too to be reflected in Sonic’s wide eyed gaze. It was beautiful, really.

A new feeling arose within Shadow. Despite their previous brawls, he felt oddly safe standing there with Sonic. It was peaceful, and he started to become fully enveloped in it. Maybe he had fallen too deep into Sonic’s eyes, because Shadow noticed something else. Lifting his hands, he felt his face.

His cheeks were hot.

Chapter Text

A twig snapped somewhere in the mushroom forest. Two sets of figures emerged from the shadows.

The queen of the cosmos offered a break from the silence. “Goodness, that sun is dazzling today!” Rosalina remarked. Raising her hand, she blocked out the glare that obstructed her view.

Daisy was quick to comment. “Yeah, it’s so hot outside today.”

“Don’t worry everyone! There’s a great shop on the far side of the market that sells the most wonderful popsicles,” Princess Peach assured the group.

“That sounds amazing! A nice cold popsicle will surely do the trick of cooling me down!” Daisy gleefully responded.

“But wait, Peach, we’re supposed to be looking for my brother..” Mario’s face was painted with grimness. Honestly, Rosalina couldn’t really understand why Peach trusted this guy. All he had done so far was crash the festival with guards chasing him, and whisked Peach away from her.

“We’re still looking for your brother, but we haven’t got a clue where he is right now. I say we stop at the market for some popsicles to get rid of this horrendous heat and, while doing so, we can ask around and see if anyone has seen him.”

Peach tried her best to reassure her friend, but Rosalina, lingering behind the two, could tell that Mario was still incredibly anxious. It was hard to tell at first, but she noticed how he kept looking around him, as if someone was going to take him away.

She stood tall with her arms by her side, lady-like, occasionally picking up her dress while they walked through the muddy grass. Her silky blond hair swayed perfectly in the wind and her eyes sparkled in the heat of the sun.

They continued walking towards the market for what felt like hours. At one point, a traveling toad crossed their path. His spots were a dark blue, his skin slightly tanned. He looked down at them from the yoshi he was riding and smiled.

“Greetings, your majesty and friends! Where are you off to on this fine day?”

Peach addressed her subject with the utmost form of glee. “Hello traveler! We’re off to the market to buy some popsicles.”

The toad laughed, respectfully. “Ah, I see. It’s good you are, it sure is hot out here!”

Mario stared eagerly at the Princess, who seemed to be in no rush. Rosalina couldn’t help but exchange an impatient glance with Daisy. She too was starting to feel impatient with the prolonged conversation. Nonetheless, the toad continued rambling.

“As I recall, the festival of the Seren people is today. Why aren’t you gracing the kingdom with your presence?” The toad stared dumbfoundedly at Peach.

A new voice spoke; it was Rosalina. “We are here on account of finding our dear friend's brother.” Her tone turned out a tad bit more sharp than she had intended, but she couldn’t help her growing restlessness.

The toad was rather stunned at this comment. He shifted his eyes towards the majestic Rosalina. Her otherworldly beauty was almost incomprehensible to his mortal sight. It took a moment before he was able to gather any words to say. At last, he finally spoke.

“Who is this diva?” The toad spoke, almost as if he were totally engulfed by her goddess-like features. Rosalina, however, was disconcerted at this question and chose to ignore it.

Mario tugged at Peach’s pink dress. It was clear he wasn’t going to wait any longer. “Well, we better get going now…” Peach said, finally. She waved goodbye to the toad and he galloped away atop his yoshi. Once more, the three princesses and Mario, set off towards the market, which was now only a ten minute’s walk away.

***
One red, one blue, one orange, and one purple. It didn’t matter the flavor, they all had the same effect. The cool popsicles hit their tongues and released them from their great anguish. It was almost as if steam was expelled from their mouths with each taste of the cold treat.

Mario and Peach sat in a booth facing Daisy and Rosalina in a little shop on the far side of the market. For a while, none of them said anything. All that could be heard was the scraping of tongues against the rough edges of the popsicles.

When they finished their treat, they began to create friendly small tal, chatting about the wonderful weather or how Daisy’s dress was magnificent. Mario mainly sat with a perplexed look on his face. He was hardly listening to the conversation being discussed.

The voices seemed to trail off and began to sound fuzzy, fading into one constant, loud buzzing. Next, Mario’s vision started to blur. He was losing focus. His thoughts encircled him and squeezed him tight. He could feel his breathing become uneven as he choked on air.

What will they do to him? Mario didn’t even want to think of the hypotheticals. Involuntary, he heard a faint whisper echo in the back of his mind. Hypothetical? Ha! You ought to be a fool if you thought this wasn’t real! Despite its antagonizing tone, Mario embraced the whisper, giving into his anxiety.

The sudden jingle of a door opening snapped Mario out of his trance. He noticed an oddly shaped toad walking towards the counters. At first, he thought nothing of it and almost went back into his uncomfortable, irrepressible thoughts. But Mario, a bit curious now, looked a little closer.

The strange toad was holding a small spear and wearing a cloak that seemed to be covering something oddly familiar on his back. Mario looked to the top of the toad’s head, it was weirdly flat. He then brought his eyes down slowly, following the shape of the cloak. It ran down the back of the toad’s neck and abruptly jutted outwards. The deformity resembled a bulge that looked like…a shell?

And then it hit him. This toad wasn’t a toad at all, it never was! It was a koopa, which could only mean one thing… Bowser.

Mario let out a quiet scream. All his worst fears had just come true. All he could do was stand there, his feet seemingly stuck to the ground.

“Mario, what are you doing? What happened?” A blurry voice breached his ears, breaking his trance. He looked up at Peach, whose face was contorted with concern. He didn’t even notice that she was touching his shoulder until now.

“I don’t understand,” he hissed, “why do you not believe me? You saw me break down in front of you earlier and you still seem to not care about this enough to do anything about it”.

“Mario, I do care, it’s just—“

“It’s just what!?” He shrugged her hand off his shoulder and looked darkly at the ground. “What measly excuse do you have for me? For all I know, Rosalina cares more about this than you and she barely knows me!” By this point, he was near shouting. It didn’t matter.

Mario glanced back up at Peach. Her face was unreadable. Across the table, Rosalina flashed her eyes in code. Both Daisy and Rosalina got up from their seats, their faces showing a glint of concern. Desperate to get away from the tense situation, Rosalina guided Peach away from the table, where they could talk in private.

Mario was still stuck to the ground, shaken by his outburst. He didn’t even know where his anger came from. And now Peach and Rosalina have left. What have I done? He had gotten so caught up in the moment that he had failed to realize that the disguised koopa troopa was nowhere to be found.

He was startled out of his thoughts a third time as Daisy spoke from beside him. “Mario.. are you okay?”

“No!” Mario snapped, “My brother is missing and no one seems to care!”

“They do care, Mario, I promise. They’ll be back soon. Peach is easily distracted, you know that. She cares, she’s just having a hard time with no leads”

Mario noded mutely, going back to staring blankly at the ground, his eyes hazy. Daisy rolled her eyes and sat back down, tired of trying to be a support through Mario’s emotional breakdown.

***

“Rosalina, what are you doing?!” Peach glanced at her surroundings, which consisted of some miscellaneous boxes and other things found at the back of a market stall.

Rosalina stated, “Listen Peach, I don’t know what you see in that man, but he seems to be serious about what’s happened with his brother.” Peach fiddled with the collar of her pink dress, her azure eyes slowly drifting back to Rosalina’s. It was enough to drive a spear through her heart, but Rosalina didn’t show it. She had already guessed Peach would never feel the same way about her.

Rosalina averted her eyes from Peach and focused her gaze on the blue of the sky. Right, Mario’s little bro was in trouble and they needed to find him. “Whatever you may think of this situation, I have a feeling that this is not normal for Mario. Just give him a break.”

She felt Peach’s gaze on her. She would never understand. Peach was a flower floating in the wind and all Rosalina would do was drown her out in her downpour.

“You’re right,” Peach’s voice was muted, “we should go.”

***

They walked back to the group. Daisy looked worriedly at them. Mario’s head snapped up from staring at the ground. His expression was as if he was being woken up from a nightmare.

Peach started, “Hey Mar-“

“Mario” Rosalina interrupted, “do you have any leads on who may have kidnapped your brother?

“I do,” his face looked shadowed as he responded. “I saw a koopa troopa disguised as a toad earlier. I-“ his voice cracked, “I don’t know where it went but… I think Bowser took him.” He took a shuddering breath. Rosalina couldn’t help but feel a twinge of concern at his anguish.

Daisy’s face contorted into one deep rage at this. It was obvious she didn’t like Bowser. Personally, Rosalina had only heard stories about Bowser and his escapades. And judging by his past actions, it really was not surprising that he had done yet another kidnapping.

Peach stepped up to Mario, her hands clenched, “I think we should take this somewhere more private.” The plumber looked up at her with a weary expression.

Just looking at him, anyone could see Mario’s true feelings plain as day on his face, and his anxiety was no exception. He was already upset enough that his brother was missing, but the thought of… him… was enough to send him into a full state of panic. Peach hated seeing her friend in such distress. This was the reason Peach had for her next action.

Without thinking, she took him by the hand and dragged him out of his seat. She paused for a moment, waiting for Mario to regain his balance, and then darted towards the door with his hand still in hers.

Rosalina and Daisy didn’t even have time to react to their sudden abandonment. They simply stared dumbfoundedly until the two had left their sight.

***

Somewhere outside the shop, Peach finally let go of Mario’s hand. Although her face looked contorted, her grip had been somewhat gentle. She seemed to regain her thoughts, her eyes focused on Mario’s now.

“Mario, I hate to see you looking so upset.” Her soft tone quickly shifted to a more determined one. “I’m done sitting around and doing nothing, we’re finding your brother.”

It was an abrupt change in mindset, but Mario was glad Peach was finally starting to take this seriously. Though, he wondered what had made her suddenly want to leave. Had something happened while she and Rosalina were talking? He thought for a moment and then decided to let it go, figuring he’d put his focus into the next step: finding the koopa.

“Okay… let’s go this way.”

Just as soon as they had started, they stopped. There was a chaotic chorus of sounds. Rosalina and Daisy had come bursting out of the shop. They frantically pushed through toads while yelling out for Mario and Peach to wait.

Once they finally reached the two, they broke into a fit of heavy breaths. Mario looked around to see where he was. Peach had dragged him almost 50 feet away from the shop’s entryway. Mario hadn’t even realized how far they had strayed and Peach had neglected to care.

“You left us.” Rosalina said, panting. Her hands were on her knees as she fought to catch her breath. It seemed she had forgotten her propperness. Realizing this, Rosalina straightened her posture and gathered herself.

Mario noticed Peach still seemed a bit bothered as she looked at Rosalina. She turned her back to her. “We need to get a move on if we’re gonna find Luigi, it’s just like you said.” And with that, she started walking again.

They organized themselves into two groups: Peach and Mario in the front, and Daisy and Rosalina in the back. This way was best to avoid any more tension. Rosalina slouched her back again as she walked. She watched the two ahead of her with a look of displeasement.

Mario and Peach wove their way through the crowd of toads as if they both had forgotten their previous dispute. They talked with ease now, and Rosalina noticed that they looked like a team. She drew her eyes away from the two. They sure did work like one. Rosalina thought, pursing her lips, she didn't know why she was pouting.

Even though she stared at the ground, she couldn’t block out Peach’s conversation with Mario. They were saying something about how the koopa had looked and where it might’ve gone. The conversation sounded peaceful. Rosalina bristled at this, starting her own conversation with Daisy.

***
The group walked around the market for almost a half hour, scanning every toad for any possible resemblance to a koopa. Everyone seemed to grow more tired as time went on. Their hopes were starting to lower when, finally, Mario spotted the koopa from across the street. It had blended into the crowd and Mario would not have noticed it if he hadn’t seen its weird shape already.

He let out a scream. “THERE IT IS! THAT’S IT!!”

The rest of the groups’ hopes were restored and a rush of adrenaline overtook them. Mario stood frozen in place, pointing at the koopa, who was mischievously making its way through the crowd.

Suddenly, the gang started running after the koopa. The sea of toads parted wherever they went. Peach screamed “YOU THERE!” The koopa looked up towards the sound, their eyes going wide. Immediately, the koopa started to flee, their legs
kicking up clouds of dust.

The chase was on. Rosalina darted through the crowd, gaining a great lead on the koopa. The koopa stepped on the gas, going speeds never seen before. It could even be described as the koopa going super sonic.

“He’s too fast!” Exclaimed Peach. “We have to do something!” Mario materialized a banana. He took the fruit from its peel and shoved it down a nearby toad’s mouth. He cranked his arm back and yelled, “BANANA…. THROW!” The banana was catapulted into the air, landing impeccably in front of the Koopa.

Perfectly executed, almost as if it was out of a script, the koopa slipped on the peel. His arms reached into the air, hoping to grasp anything to keep him from what happened next. A resounding splat was heard as they hit the ground. The group quickly surrounded them.

“Don’t even try to stand back up, koopa.” Rosalina was tired of this wild goose chase. It was about time they got a lead.

The koopa trembled before the figures of the princesses and Mario. “Look, um, I don’t mean any harm.” He looked down at his wrist, “Hey! Look at the time! So I really, uh, got to go—” He tried to make a run for it, but Daisy caught him before he could even shoulder his way out of the circle.

“Now listen here you turtle shelled two-face!” Daisy half-shouted, “We are going to put you into custody and you are going to tell us everything you know about Luigi’s kidnapping.” Her voice rasped with barely contained anger. Rosalina made a mental note to not get on Daisy’s bad side.

***

The cell was pink. Well, the whole prison was a cacophony of pinks. Unfortunately, all Daisy could see was red.

Her day so far consisted of the crashing of one of the biggest festivals, a manic Mario, and the most frustrating field trip turned freak out. Oh and Mario, Mario was definitely overreacting. Daisy couldn’t tell whether it was from a build up of stress or something, but Mario was freaking out. He had acted out of character all day and it was starting to get to her.

So while the others were calming Mario down from yet another meltdown, Daisy decided to take matters into her own hands. It was about time for the koopa troopa issue to be taken care of.

Speaking of which, the koopa was currently cowering in the corner of the bedazzled cell.

“Let me tell you how this is going to work: I ask you questions and you answer with complete honesty. No lies, no keeping secrets, and no bargaining. Got it?

The koopa stared fearfully back at Daisy. Good.

“Alright then, let’s start with the easy ones.” Well, not really, but Daisy was not going to say that. “Who are you working for?”

The hesitant voice responded, “Bowser, ma’am.”

That checked out. “Why were you disguised as a toad?”

“I was sent to spy on your group.”

“Were you involved in the kidnapping of Luigi?”

The koopa didn’t respond. That was a bad move.

“Where did you take Luigi to?”

Their eyes went wide and they started to frantically mumble. Daisy’s patience went thin. “Speak up!” She yelled.

“Sorry! Sorry.” The koopa gulped, “he’s at th—at the tea shop on the outskirts of market square.”

Daisy smirked, he’s got to be lying. But judging by the sad state that the koopa was in, she didn’t think that pushing the subject was a good idea.

She stepped down the hall of cells, opened the door, and left. She didn’t get too far before the group bumped into her, seemingly on their way to the dungeon. “It’s already taken care of.” She simply said to them and started to walk past them.

They turned around, Rosalina spoke, “What did you find out?”

Daisy stopped, not turning around, “He’s in the tea shop on the outskirts of the city market. Do what you want with that, because that koopa is likely not going to open back up anytime soon.”

***

By this point, the crowds that had earlier choked the town began to make their departures. It seemed as though the sun joined them in their leavings as it too graced the sky in farewell with a ghost of its fiery presence in its setting. However, the mood of the group did not match the amiable atmosphere around them.

Luckily, to Rosalina’s relief, they had finally made it to the area where Luigi was supposedly being held: a tea shop.

Rosalina had been skeptical at first, but the more she thought about it, the more a tea shop started to seem like the perfect place for a secret base. The sun’s glare on the window made it difficult to see inside. Not that it mattered anyway, since they would probably break the glass while saving Luigi.

Mario stepped in front of the group, staring at the building, his face one of steely determination, “You guys ready?” The group nodded in almost complete unison.

Mario placed his hand on the doorknob, clearly bracing himself as he swung the entrance door open. But then… he just froze, standing in the doorway.

Peach glided over behind Mario, until she too stood there, her hand gently covering her gaping mouth. Rosalina came over to them, wanting to see what had caused their shock.

Luigi was sitting at one of the cafe tables. He looked at them, and an eerie smile cracked across his face. “Hey guys. Where have you been all day?”

Chapter Text

Nothing could be heard but the slight sound of the linoleum ground cracking beneath the weight of feet from outside the room. It was inconsistent, only occurring every so often.

The air was cool: a steady breeze blowing from a vent across the room. A fracture in the door allowed the light from the hallway to slip into the darkened room.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

Something new: outside the room, anxious feet shifted from one to the other. The light filtering through the door flickered in time with the steps.

“…energy levels… low… stable conditions.”

Voices.

“What about heart rate..?”

“… readings normal… but…”

A new voice, this time harder to make out.

“Should we…”

“No… I think… is asleep.”

Time passed. The voices in the hallway ceased. The light was constant again.

For a while, it remained that way: seemingly motionless and only casting shadows on the metal walls.

Suddenly, a renewal of footsteps sounded in the air. Faint at first, but growing in volume as time went on. They were getting closer.

Step… step… step… katcha

The door opened. A female silhouette appeared in the doorway. Her presence flowed into the room. Finally, she spoke.

“Ready to cause trouble,” she paused before adding the name, “Shadow?”

It was Maria.

***

It was well into the night, or at least what appeared to be night, it was hard to tell time. A bokeh effect highlighted the false sky.

The ARK lay suspended in a singular beam of sunlight. It hurt his eyes. Shadow and Maria raced across the corridors. Maria with her skates, and Shadow with his air shoes.

“Try to keep up!” She giggled.

Shadow snorted at this and sped ahead of her, no longer holding back. It felt like he cut through the air itself.

Maria was left dumbfounded as Shadow bolted out of her sight. The world started to fade and her vision blackened altogether. Suddenly, she was caught off balance. She reached out for Shadow, mouthing the word “help.”

But he was nowhere to be seen.

There was no feeling in her legs. Her feet gave way, making her plummet to the floor in a hard crash.

It was like the sound traveled across lightyears. Shadow stopped dead in his tracks.

Oh no… not again.

By the time he got back to Maria, Gerald Robotnik was there, kneeling on the ground. He held Maria in his delicate arms.

Shadow made a pained look. He rushed over to them in a frantic manner.

“What happened to her?” Gerald spoke, wearily.

Looking down, Shadow could see that her legs were starting to swell. Must’ve been from the impact. They turned a familiar purple-blue color. Maria was easily bruised.

“We were racing and—“

Maria coughed. Gerald and Shadow jerked their faces down to look at her. She lay there, squinting her eyes at the light.

“Ugghhh..” Maria groaned.

The world around Shadow began to cloud. His breathing was in sync with the pounding of his heart. He couldn’t control his panic.

She could barely get a word out before a booming voice came echoing into the hall. Everyone looked over to see two scientists eagerly approaching.

“Hey, you there! You need to come with us!

The tone was a bit harsh, but Shadow could still make out where he had heard this voice before. It was the person that was whispering outside of his room earlier.

The scientist's angry expression made sense now, they were after him. Shadow couldn’t move.

Not again

Gerald looked concerned but he was focused more on Maria than anything else. She was now beginning to sit up carefully with his help. The scientists were now in front of them all, although they didn’t stop there.

They started reaching for Shadow. Like a protective dad, Gerald’s fatherly instincts kicked in. He swiped their hands away and took Shadow by the arm. His other hand was clinging onto Maria’s shoulder, keeping her upright.

Together, they slowly ran away, it was enough for now. But the scientists ran after them.

“They’re getting away! Stop that hedgehog!”

“We have to capture them before he reaches his limit!!”

Just then, members of G.U.N. showed up. They must’ve called for backup. The soldiers each clutched a pistol and, with a single command, started firing at the hedgehog.

The family huddle dodged the bullets. They increased their speed, desperate to get away.

Maria, gaining her consciousness again, demanded answers.

“Why do they want Shadow!?”

Gerald breathed heavily. “His energy levels have gotten too high, they want to take him away from us. But I’m not gonna let that happen.”

They continued running. Bullets flew all around them and then, suddenly, a loud “pop” was heard.
Everyone turned their heads. A bullet had pierced through one of the chemical tanks that was lining the walls.

Time seemed to stop. There was nothing anyone could do. A full blown explosion erupted, sending pieces of metal flying into the air. Gas leaked from the ruptured chambers and smoke filled the room. In the blink of an eye, the ARK had gone from a peaceful, elegant ship to a hellscape of fire and destruction.

Shadow had been thrown onto the ground from the force. He picked himself up slowly, taking in his new surroundings. His ears were ringing and he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He ignored it however and looked around for—

“Oh no… oh no no no no no!”

Maria was laying on the floor. A piece of metal had struck her. It lay, embedded in her chest. Blood spilled from the wound.

Shadow panicked. The world started to tilt and his vision stretched and contorted. He limped over to her still body. She came into view. Her eyes were lifeless and her countenance was no longer benevolent. It was clear she wasn’t breathing anymore.

Maria was dead.

Shadow, his blurry gaze deadlocked on Maria’s colorless eyes. His mind was a tempest of screams. Nothing else seemed to matter, only the inanimate body that was once his best friend, dead on the floor, gone.

It was all his fault. It had been all his fault. If he hadn’t run away from Maria during their race they could have escaped… he could have saved… no. It was too painful.

He wept. He wept for a long time. He wept for so long he thought he was going to throw up.

Something felt off. An eerie sensation filled the room. Maria’s eyes turned black and widened. Her face elongated and wrinkled. She was no longer her young, innocent self, but a demonic monster.

Maria, or what was left of her, looked up at Shadow. Her distorted face was wet with her own blood. Shadow pulled away, but couldn’t tear his gaze from Maria. His stomach did loops within itself, making him put an unsteady hand to his mouth. Everything was damp; damp with Maria’s blood, damp with his tears, damp with liquid from the explosion.

Shadow looked away, it was too much. He begged her to stop staring at him, but was met with nothing. She just watched him, her empty eyes reflecting Shadow’s disturbed face.

The room started to blacken around them. Darkness made Shadow claw at his own throat. He could barely breathe, his inhales and exhales coming in strangled rasps. Everything else quieted. It surrounded him and Maria, who still gaped up at him. Her silence quietly mocked him, drove him insane.

He didn’t know what to do, the darkness surrounding him paralyzed him. It started to whisper. At first, he felt like he was going mad, like he was imagining them. Even so, the darkness whispered to him.

Why do you think… Look what you’ve…fake…irredeemable… never can be…

 

It was too much. He put his hands to his ears, trying to block out the deafening whispers. They hurt his head. They spun his reality like a dreidel.

He stared at the floor, the whispers grew louder. He started to collapse, the whispers turned to screams.

Maria watched.

 

“Shaaadow..!”

She croaked, painfully. Her voice was hoarse and menacing, though she wouldn’t stop chanting…

“Shadow… Shadow…. Shadow… Shadow…”

Those words taunted him. Over and over and over, she uttered those words.

Over and over and over. He felt the quills on his back stand up.

Over and over and over. Her broken voice grew louder until her vocal chords could no longer support the sound.

Over and over. Now, she was screeching the words. Over and over and over and over and over and—-

“SHADOW!!”

His eyes flashed opened. It had all been a dream.

***

Sonic stared at Shadow, who had a grim expression on his face. He was sweating profusely and was hyperventilating.

He turned his head frantically and noticed Sonic standing next to his bed beside him. “Why,” Shadow choked, “are you here?” His body shook, and Sonic had to stop himself from reaching out.

Shadow looked around, squinting. It seemed he was still half asleep. “…Sonic?”

Upon hearing his name, the blue hedgehog immediately became flustered. Had he really just snuck into Shadow’s cave while he was sleeping? He took a few steps back, regretting his choices.

“What’s going on…?” Shadow’s voice was groggy.

“Oh! Um…” Sonic didn’t know what to say. He sat there, quickly searching for the right words. “…I was just walking around and happened to stumble upon my— I mean, your cave.“ He tried to sound nonchalant.

“…Huh? Why are you here?”

Sonic spoke frantically. “I…uh… Well you just looked so distressed and I… had to make sure you were okay!”

“Had to?”

Shadow’s words pierced Sonic’s barrier. He seemed to see right through him.

This interrogation was really getting to Sonic. It wasn’t like he actually cared about him… right? Sonic chuckled nervously at the thought. Nonetheless, he couldn’t let Shadow know.

But it didn’t matter anymore. Shadow’s breathing increased. He was hyperventilating again.

Sonic freezed, watching Shadow struggle to take in oxygen. He debated if he should just go, but he didn’t want to leave Shadow… not like this.

Shadow looked panicked, and he was wheezing now. Sonic immediately took action. He rushed over to comfort Shadow.

Kneeling down beside him, Sonic reached his hand out, sliding it down Shadow’s quills. They were a bit sharper than normal, now that Shadow was on edge, but they still felt cool in Sonic’s touch.

He felt Shadow relax a bit. Sonic, himself, even calmed down as he stroked Shadow’s fur. Then, almost as if it were instinct, he started talking to Shadow. He hoped this would soothe him more.

“It’s okay… I’ve got you.”

Sonic wrapped his other arm around Shadow and closed his eyes.

Something in the air shifted. Shadow’s heavy breathing ceased. He appeared more… nervous.

And then he realized…

Sonic’s eyes flew open. “What am I doing!?”

In his attempt to be comforting, he had pulled Shadow’s head to his chest. He hadn’t even noticed. Immediately, he flung himself off of Shadow and stood up.

Shadow looked up at the other hedgehog. He was a bit disconcerted at his sudden movement, but he held himself in such an insecure way that made Sonic regret getting up. Nonetheless, it was an awkward moment.

They stood there, taking in quivered breaths, not quite knowing what would happen next.

“I’m okay now,” Shadow assured, breaking the silence.

“Huh? Uh, are you sure?”

Sonic had noticed Shadow’s hesitation.

“…yeah.”

It was an indefinite yes, but Sonic felt as though he had overstayed his welcome. Hell, he had just walked in without permission, after all.

“Okay. I’m gonna go then. I’ll see you later.”

“Alright..”

Sonic waved a final goodbye and quitted the cave, regrettably leaving Shadow by himself. He walked into the daylight. It was almost noon now.

“Man..” Sonic thought to himself. “That was so weird.”

He continued through the forest, prolonging his thoughts, although he didn’t know where he was going. The forest was very welcoming, almost too welcoming. It felt eerie, but Sonic didn’t really mind it.

His thoughts always got in the way of his focus. They were too powerful and encompassing. As he thought, it was as if his feet were on auto pilot. They navigated Sonic carefully through fallen branches and twisted vines.

But his feet didn’t have eyes, and they couldn’t see the unfamiliar obstacle ahead. Sonic tripped. It was over something hard, unusual for a forest. He looked down towards his feet. It was… only wood?

No, it couldn’t have been. Its shape was too perfect for it to just be some random branch. He looked closer, following the wood’s polished pattern. It contorted upwards, leveled itself, then continued upwards again, and stopped. Sonic could have sworn that he had seen it countless times.

Was he seeing this right? Could this actually be what he thought it was?” He glanced over the wood and its jagged maneuver again, there was no denying it.

“Are these stairs?”

***

Shadow felt terrible. The world around him appeared duller, nothing compared to the oversaturation of his dream. His mind felt muddled with traitorous thoughts.

What was the blue faker even doing in his cave? Sure, they started to meet up more often. It just felt natural, at least ever since that sunset.

Something changed that night, something fundamental shifted in Shadow’s mind. It was as if the haze of the sunset had affected him. Maybe the swirling sky was just a filter over his eyes, a pair of rose tinted glasses. Yet, he still gladly embraced that feeling.

He had little idea as to what it was; perhaps it was the sun’s last rays of day catching on Sonic’s eyes or maybe the way he looked as if he belonged there among the clouds.

Shadow didn’t know and it hurt. He could feel it in his chest, a constricting feeling. The feeling of staying underwater for too long and realizing you’re far from the surface. The feeling of falling so hard that the air gets knocked out of your lungs.

He looked out from the area he had awoken in and felt a sudden agitation. All he saw when he looked around was the remnants of his sleep. Even thinking about it caused his head to spin and eyes to burn.

The room started to constrict, or maybe it was just his mind, he really didn’t know. His own skin felt tight, his bones itchy.

He needed to leave immediately. It didn’t feel safe there. It felt too recent, too shocking. He could feel his quills start to bristle.

The pale light from the midday sun shone through the opening of the cave. He escaped it’s confines, relishing the natural petrichor scent of the forest. The snow he had witnessed from months before had melted, readying the land for spring.

For a while, all he did was wander. The woods were seemingly endless, with ancient, mossy rocks jutting out the ground. Every now and then, he would find a familiar spot, but not familiar enough for him to remember what he did there.

Eventually, he walked onto a small, rocky outcropping. The wind brushed his face as he stepped further out from the earth. He traced a finger along the weathered stone, looking out at the forest below.

He recognized this place, except last time he was here he had to prevent himself from looking at Sonic. It looked so different during the day, being shadowed by the trees.

Stepping out into the direct sun at the top of the rock face blinded him. He shielded his eyes. He hadn’t noticed how beautiful it was, the wintery buds of leaves getting ready to unfurl and embrace the new spring sun.

Not too long ago, those trees had been covered in snow. It was so cold during that time. He remembered the dirt in Sonic’s old cave being ice cold to the touch despite never actually freezing.

He really didn’t know what to do with himself during those months. The cold reduced him to the most basic of survival instincts. He stole food from people’s homes. He ate snow for water, which, in hindsight, he could’ve also stolen water. The winter had robbed Shadow of a peaceful sleep as well, causing him to toss and turn in the extreme chill of the night. It left him in a paralysis state, staring at the earthy ceiling.

Everytime he dared to wander beyond his hovel in the dirt, he was met with the pangs of loneliness. At least when he was on the ARK, he had Maria.

Now, he had nobody.

He remembered it hurting to cry. His eyes burned when he tried. It was as if winter mocked his very existence.

Often, he found himself drifting. One moment he would be in the snow. The next he was on the ARK listening to an old record player. Those moments almost felt peaceful. Sometimes he even longed for them, despite knowing that they were fake, his mind simply replaying his past.

Shadow once learned that when someone died, the reason their life flashed before their eyes was because their mind was trying to find something to save them. Something to cure the incurable. He wondered if the same would happen to him if he got lost in those drifts.

Every now and then, he thought he saw a bit of blue out of the corner of his eye. At times, he hoped he had truly seen it.

Shadow let out a long sigh, returning his mind to the present. He was okay, he was okay, he was okay….

***

Sonic sped past tall trees on the way home, causing their branches to sway in his wake. The sun was well high in the sky by now. A thick blue haze overtook the scenery of the Montana mountains.

He was at home within the blink of an eye, but the other residents of the house seemed to think otherwise. Knuckles was standing atop the porch, his arms crossed when Sonic arrived.

The echidna had that same annoyed look on his face that he only made when Sonic had done something wrong. It was similar to a mother waiting to scold her child, after they had snuck out. This was usually followed by a disquisition.

Ah great.. another lecture. Sonic thought.

Knuckles was always going off on how Sonic needed to be more responsible. Whenever he was being careless, Knuckles would step in and tell him off, saying his actions have consequences. But Sonic was still growing, and he hadn’t quite mastered that skill yet.

“You have dishonored me, hedgehog. You know you have responsibilities that you have to take care of.”

Right on cue.

“Chill out, Knucks, I wasn’t even gone that long.”
Sonic huffed.

“It has been 4 hours exactly. No one has seen you all day. Do you think you can just leave and not tell anyone?”

Sonic completely ignored the question. “Geez, has it really been that long?”

“It is true, but you know you have to own up to your actions, Sonic.”

Sonic rolled his eyes and tapped his foot impatiently. Knuckles was blocking the door so it wasn’t like he could just speed inside. Per usual, Knuckles went on another “you are not honorable, hedgehog” rant. Sonic tuned out all of Knuckles’s demanding words, his attention span only having lasted a minute at tops.

Just then, Tails walked out, saving Sonic from his boredom. He looked up at Knuckles, who had just started to finish his speech.

“…and that is why you must not leave unannounced.” He finished, proudly.

Tails took a breath. “It’s nice to see you around.” He said sarcastically. “Hardly see you anymore it seems.”

Knuckles shifted positions. “I am in agreement with the fox.”

“I don’t know why you’ve been acting so weird recently…” Tails began. “… but I’m not gonna let it get in the way of our friendship.”

Tails took Sonic by the hand and dragged him away. Knuckles followed, seemingly understanding Tails’s unspoken idea.

“Where are we going?” Sonic asked.

“Somewhere fun!” Tails responded.

***
An airplane soared in the sky above, producing a low buzzing sound that became like background noise.

“This is your idea of fun?” Sonic said, bitterly.

“Of course! Nothing like playing some putt-putt with your best friends to make you start feeling like yourself again!”

Knuckles handed him a golf club. Sonic groaned. He wished he was anywhere but here. But Tails looked eager to play, so he followed them to the start of the course.

“Ready to get absolutely destroyed!?” Yelled Tails.

Knuckles responded. “Only in the false realities in which you see at night, fox!”

Sonic just rolled his eyes.

Tails raised his yellow club into the air and brought it down perfectly in line with the golf ball. It blew down the turf, dodging the obstacles. It bounced off the wall and landed straight in the hole with a ‘plop’.

The game was on.

The three of them battled to get the smallest amount of hits, with Sonic trying the least. Knuckles was very competitive, but he couldn’t compete with Tails’s proficient knowledge.

It seemed as though he knew every last detail of the course, even factoring in the slightest gust of wind to his mental equation.

It must’ve been pure luck, cause he got the golf ball in on the first shot almost every time. And Knuckles couldn’t even hit the ball straight! He was beginning to get ticked off.

Sonic just stood there watching Knuckles get mad and Tails rubbing in his skill. He picked up his club and swung it towards the ball. Before he could hit the ball, the club slipped out of his hands. It flew through the air and landed in the artificially blue colored pond next to the course. The club sank pitifully, going beneath the water’s surface in a matter of seconds.

Tails paused his making fun of Knuckles and looked over at Sonic with a worried expression.

“Sonic? What’s going on? You don’t seem like yourself today.”

“Huh? Oh… I’m fine, just don’t wanna play golf is all.”

Sonic refused to look at Tails.

“But… I thought you loved golf..” He spoke, his voice soft.

Sonic was beginning to get annoyed. He couldn’t control himself.

“Tails, d’you ever think that maybe I just don’t want to hang out with you all the time?” His words were a sledgehammer to the heart.

The fox’s eyes watered. “I— I just… wanted to cheer you up…”

“What I’ve been feeling is something you’re not able to understand because you’re too young. If you wanted to help, you should’ve just left me alone!”

He had gone too far.

Sonic immediately felt a sharp pain of guilt rush into him. He snapped out of it, but it was too late. The little fox turned away sadly and didn’t look back.

Chapter Text

It felt as if he were peeking through blinds that were forever shut.

He remembered the last time he was fully aware of himself, sitting in a chair in Bowser’s cell. After that, it was as if someone had taken the driver’s seat in his mind. Had locked him in a room and kept the key.

His own mind was being hijacked.

He knew it deep in his gut. It felt degrading, being whittled down to nothing but a vessel. Something to be infected and disposed of once it is finished.

The worst part about it was that he was still aware of himself.

Like right now, Luigi knew that he was doing something, but he was not in control of it. Even now, he knew he was talking, but after that… nothing. He could’ve been floating through a void, and he wouldn’t have known.

Now he was walking. His legs felt unused, his mouth dry.

Someone came up to hug him, he could feel their touch. They held on tightly, as if a hole would open up beneath him. Devouring his body and trapping his mind. In a way, they weren’t far off.

Whatever was happening with his mind made his body stiffen at the contact, as if repulsed.

He never did that.

That scared him; it made him want to curl up in a ball, made him want to see his friends. He tried to cry, but his body didn’t respond.

He needed something, anything to make himself move. A finger would be enough. Just something to prove he was in control.

The pavement felt familiar beneath his shoes. All tiled and grooved. Worn down under decades of shoes.

Yet he could only feel it. Everything else was lost, void, gone. All he could hear was the circulation of blood in his ears. The rest of the world was deaf to him. He couldn’t even hear himself speak, only feeling the vibrations of his own voice.

Someone else hugged him. The manner felt as if someone was going through the motions rather than from the heart.

He started to panic.

How did this even happen? The first moment he was tied to a chair, the next he was pushed to the back of his mind. He was trapped in his own solitary confinement, barred from his consciousness.

He tried again, tried to move. A blink of the eyes. A twitch of the mouth. A curl of a finger. Nothing happened, he was completely out of control.

It must have been Bowser, that bastard. He hated him, despite how a despicable part of his mind curled and twisted at the sound of his name. It was disgusting, it disgusted him.

He took care to avoid Bowser when he had apparently turned good. He didn’t believe it that Bowser, the villain, would ever redeem himself. No, he deserved to rot in a jail cell, regardless of how much he would regret that. He hated that he would even have regret.

He knew Bowser treated him differently, he could see it in his friends’ eyes whenever he was rescued. He knew that Bowser kidnapping Peach was a front. He knew all of this because Bowser told him himself. He knew he could never let go of that, no matter how hard he tried.

All it did was make him hate Bowser more.

His thoughts were quickly swept away when he felt water. It was freezing. He must be in the shower. His body shivered in response to the barrage of ice-cold water. Who would do this? All of this only mildly inconvenienced him. It didn’t make any sense.

Now he felt the plush of a bed. He was dry now, but the air still felt cold. It was nice, being somewhere that made more sense than what he had felt before.

His body relaxed. His mind quieted.

***

This is not real…. His mind spoke to him.

Mario was frozen in the doorway of the tea shop. He just stood there, his eyes widening at the sight of his brother.

The others were behind him, though none of them knew how to react. Of course, they were relieved. They had spent all day looking for him, and they knew how deeply Luigi’s absence had affected him.

Would he be sad? Overjoyed? Would he run to him and be free of his curse? The very curse that had forbidden him from seeing Luigi? The same curse that invaded his mind and caused him to act out? The curse that kept him in the doorway, unable to move…

No. Mario hid those thoughts away. This was his brother… his family! His ride or die! How could he just stand there when he needed to go to him? Why were his feet stuck to the ground?

With all his last remaining energy, he forced his foot up, taking a step, then another, and another, and another, and another, and—

He was running now.

Mario threw himself onto Luigi, wrapping his arms around him in a tight embrace. He thought about how long he had searched for him and how scared he had been that something had happened to him.

He felt himself squeeze Luigi, pulling him closer to his chest, but something felt off. Luigi wasn’t hugging him back. In fact, he became stiff in his arms.

That is not Luigi… He heard his mind say.

But Luigi was right there. He could see him, he could touch him, he could even smell the flowery fragrance that followed him. There was no denying that this was his brother.

Maybe he’s just had a long day. I know I have.

He let go of Luigi just as Peach put a hand on his shoulder. She looked at the lost brother, squeezing him in reassurance.

Mario felt his shoulder being released. He watched Peach walk over to Luigi, hugging him in a proper manner. Daisy and Rosalina walked over. Their eyes fixated on Luigi.

Finally, he spoke.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, addressing the group.

Mario formed words faster than his brain could keep up. “Where were you!? What happened to you!? How did you get here!? Did Bowser kidnap you again? Did he hurt—”

“Relax, Mario. I’ll tell you everything over a nice cup of tea,” He said.

 

***

Rosalina sipped her Chamomile tea and listened as the conversation unfolded.

The two brothers were going back and forth relaying their sides of the story. Rosalina decided it would be best if she just sat back and let Mario handle this.

She stared at the clock on the wall. It seemed to be broken, the hand dictated the time to be 5:15. Rosalina was great at keeping time. She knew, when they had entered the shop, that the sun had started its journey downwards and lay caressing the tops of the mushroom trees.

It was 6:15.

Strange, exactly one hour had passed since the clock had stopped working. She looked down at Luigi briefly. His eyes were those of someone who was sleep-deprived. He stared slightly, and deep bags huddled beneath his eyes, a feature she rarely saw on Luigi’s face. She looked back up at the clock, its abilities frozen in time.

Mario and Luigi continued talking. Rosalina was hardly listening anymore, though she noticed how calm and collected Luigi was, despite having been kidnapped.

Time passed, and Rosalina grew restless. Her eyes drifted around the room. She memorized its appearance. The way the wallpaper chipped as it approached the ceiling. The light brown stain on the table left from a tea spillage. The cobwebs in the corners of the room. She took it all in as if uncovering a crime scene.

She continued analyzing her surroundings. Drifting her gaze from here to there until she caught sight of something.

Those eyes.

She knew them all too well. Big and bright, with a determined stare. There was a faint glimmer that shone gold, yet it was so noticeable. It brought out the soft blue that colored her irises.

Rosalina could get lost in Peach’s eyes for hours, and she wouldn’t be mad about it. She might even thank the cosmos that she was even allowed to look into them. But Peach’s eyes were ones that came with the privilege of being looked into and Rosalina had not yet earned that right.

Peach had noticed Rosalina’s gaze and stared right back at her, catching her in the act. Rosalina quickly darted her eyes away, but her eyes were an attractive force. Like magnets, Rosalina’s eyes locked on Peach’s once more.

They furrowed in anger. Rosalina took the cue and shifted her focus over to Luigi. She didn’t know why Peach was upset, but she wasn’t going to provoke her any further. At least, not right now.

The conversation seemed to go on for hours when suddenly Rosalina found herself walking with the others. They had all gotten up from their seats and were making their way to the small inn across the dirt road.

It was too late now to walk all the way back to the castle. The sun dipped over the horizon, casting a final red hue that stretched into the darkening sky, as if it was making a last ditch effort to cling onto the day before it was dragged into the night.

The group entered the inn and checked in at the front desk. At this hour of the night, there were only two rooms left, with each room only having two beds. The problem was there were five of them, so two of them would have to share a bed.

They took the elevator to the fourth floor. It was strange, the sense of normality imposed by the elevator. The smooth jazz that paraded from its cheap metal speakers. The awkward silence it induced.

Peach walked out first, as if in a hurry.

Rosalina stared at Mario as he pulled out the room keys. He looked at the numbers beside the doors in front of them and took a hard right. They all began walking down the hallway. Peach seemed quiet.

It was a long hallway, long enough to have a full conversation before reaching their rooms. Rosalina took advantage of this.

“Peach…” She grabbed her arm and lingered until they were behind the others.

Peach’s arm twitched, Rosalina let go.

“What?”

“We need to talk.”

“About what?”

Rosalina stiffened, “About what happened at the market earlier.”

Peach paused, as if replaying the events in her head. She sighed.

“What is there to talk about?”

“…are you upset with me?”

“No… just tired. It’s been a long day.”

A cover up. She was avoiding the subject, but Rosalina couldn’t let it go.

“I’m sorry if I made you mad… that wasn’t my goal. I was just trying to help, but… I was getting frustrated.”

Peach just stared at Rosalina, her face choleric.

“…it’s just, Mario was getting worked up and it was obvious he was becoming restless just sitting there.”

“Are you saying I have bad judgement?” Her voice came out a bit harsh.

“What!? No! I just mean we could have been searching that whole time instead of sitting around.”

Peach’s face contorted.

“So you’re saying I was being lazy.”

Rosalina was shocked by her accusations.

“No! That’s not what I’m trying to say at all! I—“

“I’m the one who has to look out for everyone. I’m the one who makes sure no one gets into trouble. At the end of the day, it’s me who has to clean up everyone’s mess!”

“Woah, Peach I’m—“

“You don’t know Mario like I do. If we had kept going, he would have burnt out. That would have made this whole situation even worse than it already was. So I’m sorry if I offered an effective way for us to cool down and gather our thoughts. That was quite ‘lazy’ of me.”

With that, Peach turned away and walked quickly to Mario and Luigi, who were almost at the doors. Rosalina saw her say something to Mario, but she couldn’t quite make it out.

The woman was too stunned to speak. Rosalina just stood there, mouth wide open in the hallway of the inn. She had never seen Peach act that way before. The Peach she knew was always calm and collected.

Oh heavens… What have I done?

She slept in the same room as Daisy that night while Peach slept in the other room with Mario and Luigi. The brothers had offered to share a bed so the Princess could have her much needed space.

Rosalina laid in the darkness. Daisy was already asleep. She stared at the ceiling, hoping it would just swallow her whole. Maybe she had fallen asleep and this had all just been a dream. Surely then, she would wake up tomorrow to find Peach smiling beside her. She never did sleep though, just occasionally drifting in and out of a reality she hoped to escape.

***

Luigi soon felt the warmth of bed covers. Someone had put them on him, or maybe he had? He was comfortable, relaxed even, when something strange happened.

He started hearing voices. Could it be? Had he regained control over his body? He tried to move, trying to confirm to the speaker that he had heard them. Nothing happened. He was still locked out of his mind.

The voices were still muffled, but were starting to become more clear and recognizable. Through the static, he made out some words…

“… I don’t know… just glad he… finally found him…”

It was Mario! He was sure of it, but how could he let him know he was there? Somewhere? Wherever he was? It felt like he was stuck in sleep paralysis.

He listened to the voice.

“…would never stop…for him… he’s my brother…”

Luigi felt something… a warm feeling rushed through his body. It felt like an electrical circuit, starting from his stomach and pushing outwards into his hands and feet. His finger twitched.

So many thoughts rushed through Luigi’s mind. Did he really just move!? Could he do it again?”

There was only one way to find out.

He could feel the sensation of his hand now and focused on the feeling in his fingers. It was so heavy. Sinking back into his mind, he let go of the feeling, knowing he wouldn’t be able to lift his finger again.

But it had been so easy, before… why?

And then he felt that feeling again. The one that hugged his stomach tight, filling it with warmth against the cold of the air. Like lightning, it shot out to the tips and his foot jerked a little.

Haha yes!! He thought.

He was going to try again, this time focusing on Mario’s voice, letting it guide him and his feelings.

The voice grew clearer and louder. He could now hear him speak as plain as day.

“Maybe tomorrow he’ll be feeling better. I’m kind of worried, he’s acting… unusual.”

He cares for me so much…

That warm feeling rose and erupted like fireworks. He felt it climb towards his hands. The sensation was like sparks. Like the feeling when a limb falls asleep. He directed it towards his fingers.

His hand lifted.

Mario was mid conversation with Peach, but noticed this movement. He stopped talking.

Luigi’s hand rested back on the bed, as if it had never moved.

Noo!

He tried again. Nothing.

He had lost the feeling and, worst of all, was losing the sound of his brother's voice. It faded out into the static, which grew louder. He got lost in it like a sea. His body was tired of keeping his head above the surface, he started to drown.

He fell down, beneath the waves. Further and further, until he was back in the pit of his mind. Lost and alone, with no feeling whatsoever.

Something was arising, something more powerful. It pulled him down even further. He was nowhere. He felt nothing. His thoughts contained nothing. He was drowning in nothingness, and soon lost all sense of reality itself.

***

The sound of light snoring filled the darkened room. Mario laid dead awake in his bed. He felt the presence of his brother next to him and he was calm. But still, he couldn’t let himself fall asleep.

Even though Luigi had been found, that feeling of satisfying an objective hadn’t quite left him. It still felt like there was something more, something bigger. Like finding Luigi was too good to be true.

He knew Luigi was right next to him, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t over. In fact, it felt like this was just the start. The start of something that would change everything.

Perhaps Bowser was planning something. Well, he had to be. Bowser was always planning things, but maybe this one would be different. It was weird really. It was almost as if he could feel it.

He could feel the anxiety in his chest. He could feel it in his mind, buzzing through his thoughts. His arms and legs were stiff against the soft mattress and he clutched his hands tight. He didn’t know how to stop this feeling.

Mario picked his head off of the pillow and propped himself up on his elbows. He glanced over and Peach, who was sleeping soundly in the bed next to them, then to Luigi. His brother was taking soft breaths now.

This calmed him.

He put his head back on the pillow and shut his eyes once more. This time, letting the good thoughts in. They swirled around, whispering.

Luigi is here.

He is safe.

Peach is safe.

You are in control~

Time passed…

There was nothing. No thoughts, no sound, no feelings, no dreams. Just peace. And in the nothingness, there was a light. And the light grew brighter. And brighter. And then it was dark again.

The door slammed shut.

The sound traveled across the room. Mario abruptly opened his eyes. He looked over to where the sound came from, but something else won over his focus.

Luigi was gone…

The spot next to him was empty and he could feel the bed contorting back to its original shape. Ironically, it felt uneven. It was almost like his body had gotten used to that dip.

Mario darted his eyes to the clock. It was 11:33pm. He must’ve fallen asleep at some point. He rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of it all.

Why would Luigi have left? Where would he have gone? None of it was clear.

Mario sprung out of bed. He contemplated waking Peach, but didn’t want to worry her, so he left.

Outside the room, the light in the hall was blinding. Mario squinted for a couple seconds, his eyes adjusting to the light.

His vision unblurred. He looked around. There was no sign of Luigi. Mario still wasn’t sure why his brother had left, but he knew he couldn’t let him out of his sight again. Never again.

His feet took him to the elevators. The door had just finished closing when he got there. Mario ran over.

Luigi was definitely here.. He thought.

He frantically pressed the down button and got on the next elevator. It took him to the lobby. He walked out and saw Luigi turn a corner.

There!

Mario ran after him, turning the same corner. He noticed Luigi looking around suspiciously.

This was unusual. Luigi was never one to sneak off. Mario darted back around the wall. He was intrigued now and decided to see where he was going.

Mario peered his head around the wall and saw Luigi head through the sliding doors of the entrance.

The way Luigi moved seemed almost robotic. It reminded him of a stuffed puppet being played by a malevolent child.

Luigi must’ve been sleep walking, that was it. Mario just had to make sure that he wouldn’t get hurt. Still, he clung to the shadows.

The crisp nighttime breeze brushed his cheeks, and for a moment he thought maybe he was the one dreaming. It could be possible, he could be just realizing that and any second now he would wake up. All of this would never have happened. Everything would be normal and safe and okay. And Luigi would’ve never been kidnapped.

But he knew that wasn’t the truth. The world felt too sharp, too in focus. Too real.

Mario would give anything to go back to that, to redo that moment. It hurt how much he wanted that. He could feel unshed tears burning his eyes. He fought them off, now was not the time.

Maybe it was never the time.

Luigi turned down a darkened street. He was whistling. Mario didn’t think he even knew how to whistle. The tune was almost haunting, something someone would hum at a funeral while wiping away runaway tears.

What was even happening? He felt so overwhelmed from it all. Something was wrong with his brother, he was different. He could see it in his eyes and in the way that he talked.

This new Luigi wasn’t his Luigi. Everything he did felt a little off. It felt more like someone’s impression of Luigi rather than Luigi himself.

He needed to know what happened. Or maybe he was just going crazy. He knew anxiety could lead to paranoia, and he had been more than anxious recently.

It still didn’t change the fact that Luigi was leaving the hotel at an ungodly hour of the night, alone.

Luigi turned a corner, heading towards a more undeveloped area. It was recently demolished due to leaks causing rot internally. He knew those buildings had been up for longer than he was alive, and a part of him was sad to see them go.

One day, something new could replace them. Something strong and sturdy to last many lifetimes. But now, it was nothing but a gravel lot lined with steely fences. A feeling of kenopsia hung in the air.

Ooooh I love this word. Thank you for expanding my vocabulary.

Mario realized he was drifting. His attention span had become meager as the moon dipped below the horizon. He looked around for his brother. Listened for feet shuffling on pavement. Nothing.

He had let him out of his sight for too long.

Luigi was gone.

***

“Where did that koopa troopa go?” Bowser tried to keep his composure, but he was shaking. His rage seeped deep in his bones. It was a part of him, something that kept him going through all these years.

The assistant looked up at him, his eyes wide. He was new, not used to how things were run. And now that there was a possibility that one of his minions confessed vital information. Information that could change everything.

He had to do something about it. Keeping confessers out in the wild was not a good idea. “I want that koopa in here by tomorrow, you know what to do if he gave away too much.” With that, the clerk slipped out of the office.

The clock on the wall ticked endlessly. It seemed to have broken recently, but Bowser had never gotten around to fixing it. For the last month or so, it had been stopping randomly, the hands ceasing their movements while the ticking continued. Oddly, it had broken down around the same time that his boss arrived.

Bowser forgot how his boss had even arrived the first time, how he became his boss. In all of his life, he had never needed a boss, yet he had one now. And he knew that in spite of being labeled second in command, he was the true one in power.

Honestly, he was less of a boss to Bowser and more of a friend. However, Bowser did what he knew best: Manipulation. Of course he would take advantage of this fast friendship, what else would he do?

There was a knock at the door.

He knew exactly who this was. A part of him feared this. A part he didn’t want to admit existed. He was not supposed to be afraid of anything. He was supposed to be the one that people feared, the name that was whispered in the shadows. No one, no one made him fear. Yet here he was.

“Come in.” He put as much authority in his voice as he could muster.

The door cracked open, its hinges squeaking in protest. A figure dressed in green stood in the entranceway. Bowser knew Luigi very well, and he knew this wasn’t him. His body moved like a marionette doll in the hands of a skilled puppeteer.

In a way, he wasn’t far off. Bill had told him of his expertise in these… areas. Yet it was still uncanny to see Luigi act like this.

It almost hurt to see him like this. But it would hurt to see anyone like this.

It made his skin crawl, imagining being completely out of control. It reminded him of being lost beneath the waves of a storming sea. Watching the waves crash as his lungs shriveled from a loss of air. He made sure he could never be controlled, no matter the cost.

“Heyyy pal!” The word came off Bill’s tongue as tar. Bowser chose to ignore it. It must have been a while since Bill had possessed a body. “Well, well, look at you! Playing boss like it’s your job or something! How adorably responsible!”

Bowser ignored the strange compliment. “Have you got any information about the gateway?”

“Aw, tuckered out already? That’s right- I always forget you meat bags need sleep!”

“I don’t see the point here” Bowser ran a hand through his hair. Of course he was tired, but he couldn’t waste time. He was on the brink of something groundbreaking. Something that could change reality and give him power. The mere prospect of it made his mind heady with exhilaration.

“The point is, they’re clueless!” Bowser snapped back to reality at this. The positivity that was oozing out of his voice reeked of rot. It felt so wrong hearing this coming out of Luigi’s mouth. In fact, it made him feel angry. Maybe that was normal though, being mad. It was how he stayed attached to the world, or else he’d fall through the pit of fear waiting for him to slip in.

It was how he survived.

Nonetheless, he still had to do something about the other group. Despite being seemingly ignorant, there could be details that could have been missed. What if they find the gateway? What would he do then?

“I still want you to spy on them. Every night or so, you can show up here and tell me everything.”

“Aye-aye captain! Whatever drowns your boat!”

Bowser grimaced.

Luigi grinned.

He tried not to sound exasperated, “I know that you’re still getting used to your body, but that does not change the fact that you are a spy. At the very least, you should know how Luigi acts.”

Luigi’s face shifted to being offended. “I don’t know what you’re talking about! I make a great Luigi; green hat, crippling anxiety and everything!” Bowser pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel his infamous rage start to seep in his bones.

“You clearly don’t, my spies have already picked up that Mario’s group is suspicious of you.”

“Oh?”

“So let me ask again, do I need to tell you how Luigi acts?” He placed every word as carefully as he could. It was all he could do to not let his anger boil over.

Bill stood there. Bowser knew it was a yes. He honestly did not know why Bill had decided to help him, what ulterior motive he could have possessed. Not that Bowser cared all that much. Whatever Bill had in mind, it surely would not interfere with his own plan.

“Mario is Luigi’s big brother and he definitely acts like it. Those two are the definition of a brother duo. In a way, they are inseparable, so act that way.”

Bill looked bored. The clock on the wall still said 12 am. It must have broken during their little conversation because that was when he had called Bill in.

“Also, Luigi tends to be more timid but he’s really not. All of his friends see him as the shy one with a big heart. If anyone says you are not acting normal, tell them you’re just processing what happened.”

“Alright, alright. Mental note taken, champ! Filed right between ‘DOOMSDAY PROTOCOLS’ and ‘THINGS I‘LL IGNORE LATER!’ But I’ll keep it in mind for now, just for you,” with that, Bill gave a deep and mocking bow and sauntered out the door.

Bowser looked back at the clock. It was 12:11 am. The hands were moving again.

Chapter Text

Something stirred deep within the woods. Leaves crunched beneath the weight of light feet. A pause, then scurrying.

A squirrel.

It wove around obstacles in a calculated maneuver, its tail twitching. Over rocks and roots and rotting logs, it flew along the forest floor until it stopped at a peculiar spot.

Right in front of it lay a wooden staircase, as if taken straight from a suburban home. The wood was a polished deep tan. Gently, the squirrel sniffed the grain of the wood and hopped up on the first step.

It must’ve caught a scent. The squirrel sprinted up the abnormal structure. On the top ledge, there lay a small acorn about the size of a penny. The sunlight hit it at just the right angle, making it appear to glow.

It glistened, almost like a mirage. A flicker of blue light flashed for a second then ceased. On the highest step, it was almost as if the scenery around it was distorted. A higher power fiddled with the strings of reality and the fabric of spacetime was subjected to its foreign sounds.

The squirrel, almost in a flash, ran up to that step, its eyes locked on the prize. It completely disregarded the uncanny illusions. All of the forest went quiet, as if holding in its breath. Even the whisper of the wind no longer brushed the green foliage. The woods became a graveyard of silence.

Yet unaware of its surroundings, the squirrel tarried on to the acorn.

Its shell seemed to be made out of molten gold, and its cap a beautiful bronze. The crisscrossing pattern atop the cap appeared to be engraved by the hands of a master woodworker. Even the way it sat upon that top step was immaculate. Tilted at the perfect angle for the sun to catch it. Everything about the acorn seemed too good to be true, yet here it was.

Zaaap!

The blue light had emerged once more. This time encasing the squirrel and its love entirely. Within the flash, the stairs stood alone again, almost as if it had never even been touched.

The surrounding woods regained life. Birds continued their songs. Bugs burrowed and crawled into trees. Life resumed in the absence of one.

 

***

Tails turned away, his face a storm of emotions. Emotions not even Sonic knew he was capable of expressing.

It scared him a little.

Tails started to run, his tails whirling around to propel him over the fence. He knew this was pointless, Sonic would be able to catch up to him instantly, but still, he ran.

Sonic never meant for this to happen. All he wanted to do was try to fix some things over a little putt-putt, but all he did was ruin it.

He looked over to knuckles. “What just happened?”

Kufkles’s eyes narrowed. “One does not ask such questions when they know the answer.”

Sonic just stared at him.

“You hurt the fox, and now it is your duty to apologize. Then you will give me Doritos from the
Cool Ranch as a thanks.”

Sonic stiffened. “What!?” He didn’t know whether to be confused or mad that he had just told him to apologize. He didn’t even know what he was really apologizing for!

Sure, he had snapped at Tails, but it wasn’t that irrational of him, was it? After all, he kept provoking Sonic when he was clearly not in the mood.

He couldn’t have been in the wrong. No. It was only fair to tell him off. At least, that’s what Sonic thought.

The blue hedgehog looked around. Tails was nowhere to be seen.

Crap. How could I let this happen!?

He was more upset over the fact that the event even existed in the first place. It had ruined his already upset mood.

Sonic’s mind buzzed, shuffling through all the possible things he could have done wrong. Not that it mattered too much, he had to catch Tails first.

But his feet took him in the opposite direction.

***

He knew the way almost as if it were routine. Through the trees, down the hill, into the den.

Sonic was standing outside his old cave. He had come here so often now that he couldn’t remember a time before it.

He didn’t know why he was here, but it seemed right. Like the humble place it was, it always felt like home. It comforted him and gave him reassurance. And it had this grasping effect that would ensure that no matter how far he went, he would once again be drawn to it.

The memories took over. This place was so nostalgic, yet it had a tendency to create new memories..

Sonic received a harsh blow on his head. He had been struck from behind.

A dark figure rose before him.

The blue hedgehog looked up at it, his vision still blurry from the impact, though he didn’t need eyes to know who it was.

It was Shadow.

“What are you doing here, Faker? I thought I told you to stay away.”

Sonic smirked.

“Still shaken up from our last little encounter?”

He watched Shadow jerk his head to the side, hiding his flustered face. This made Sonic smile wider.

He regained his balance.

“Maybe I oughta rock you next time like a ba–“

Another blow, this time to his stomach.

Sonic groaned on the forest ground. The dirt seeped into his fur, seemingly hiding him from his own shame.

“Don’t speak like that..” Shadow muttered, annoyed.

He must’ve known by now that Sonic would follow him in. As he walked into the cave, he left the door open behind him.

Exactly as predicted, Sonic took this as an invitation. He got up off the floor, leaving his shame buried in the ground, and stepped inside.

Sonic had been in this cave many times before. He knew its cracks and crevices by heart and how messy it always appeared to be. Now, though, it seemed different.

The walls had been smoothed out, the mess put away, and he could no longer remember how it felt to live there. It was almost like he was reliving a dream he couldn’t quite recall.

Shadow sat himself in a nice chair on one side of the room, while Sonic plopped himself down on his old bed.

The dark hedgehog seemed to have cooled down. He gazed up at Sonic and, with a softer tone, spoke to him.

“Sonic.”

Sonic lifted his eyes until they were locked on Shadow.

“Yeah?”

“Why are you here?”

He paused, not quite knowing what to say. It wasn’t like he could just say “because I wanted to see you.” That would be ridiculous! Insane even! Completely deranged—

“Thank you.”

“Huh?”

Sonic was taken aback. Did his greatest rival just thank him?

“Thank you… for being there for me… when I… you know…”

“Wasn’t in the right headspace?” He said in a false cheery tone.

“Yeah.”

Sonic chuckled, nervously. “…no problem!”

The air changed. A silence swept over the room.

Sonic paused, then began.

“…have you ever had a friend that you really liked but sometimes they’d just get on your nerves?”

“…”

“Like you love them, but also just can’t stand being around them constantly.”

Shadow inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

He spoke.

“I had a friend like that once.”

Sonic looked up.

“It was a long time ago, but it still feels like yesterday. My friend and I would hang out everyday. We’d play games, cause trouble, and just laugh together.

She was my best friend, but she was sick. Her illness controlled her life. It caused her to faint without reason and to lose her memory randomly. She would always have to get tests done on her.

They were trying to find a medicine that would cure her, but they would just end up making her more tired. Sometimes she couldn’t even walk on her own. It was so painful to watch.

But every now and then, I’d find myself wishing she would just be normal. I would lash out at her when she couldn’t remember things.

I know it wasn’t her fault and she was trying her best not to hurt my feelings, but I just couldn’t help but be annoyed at it all. And, worst of all, I wasn’t there when she needed me most..

Her soul shined brighter than a thousand stars in the sky, her kindness was one of an innocent fawn.

She was the person who inspired me the most, the person that I cared for more than anyone else in the world.

I never got the chance to tell her that.”

Sonic’s eyes were excessively dilated. There was seemingly no expression on his face (pov you're just trying to describe Jax in that one scene where Ragatha apologizes to him for bringing up him not having any friends)

“…was this… Maria?”

“…yeah.”

Sonic sat back, his whole world view shifting.

He had been in the wrong for yelling at Tails. It was his fault for being so absent. His actions did affect his friends in a way he didn’t intend.

“I don’t know what you’re going through, but I do know it’s not worth it to leave this knot untied.”

“I’m sorry… that that happened to you.”

“It’s okay. It’s just, you never know what the future holds. You should patch things up while you still have the chance.”

“You’re right. I can’t believe I’ve been so selfish… I need to make this right.”

And with that, Sonic sped out of the den, leaving Shadow by himself.

 

***

The air was thinner now. It felt like Shadow had been holding his breath for the entirety of Sonic’s visit. He didn’t know why, but he felt better now that he was gone.

That visit felt odd, Shadow didn’t know why exactly Sonic had come or why he was acting so strangely. A part of him even rejoiced at Sonic visiting him, no matter how much he despised it. Hopefully, Sonic didn’t see that part of him. The part that noticed how close they were when fighting. The part that made him pull half of his punches. The part that made him open up about Maria.

Sometimes Shadow wished he was stone.

Stone that no matter how deep you dug, all you would find would be rock. Rock that showed nothing and felt nothing. He would be impenetrable.

Yet somehow, Sonic would still find a way in. He was the water that seeped through the near invisible cracks of bedrock. The wind that managed to pluck the leaves off of a tree that refused to litter the ground.

It infuriated him how he could do that. It made him want to punch the wall of his cave. Hell, even tear everything down to get an ounce of power over Sonic. He wanted Sonic to see that he was not one to get close to. Why couldn’t Sonic see that he wanted him gone?

But that would mean he could never see Sonic again. As much as Shadow wanted Sonic gone, he was repulsed by the idea of Sonic never coming to visit him. The mere thought made alarm bells ring in his head.

He needed to walk.

It was beginning to turn night. The sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving the sky draped in lilac and rose. Shadow breathed in the earthy scent of the forest. Maybe he could leave behind these feelings, clear his mind.

One step. Two. Three. He didn't want to run.

The trees bristled at a surprise gust of wind, their pine needles dancing down to the forest floor.

Shadow didn’t care what direction he went. Didn’t care if he got lost. Maybe getting lost would shake him from this feeling.

He walked where his mind wandered.

The woods were unfamiliar, but then again, he wasn’t used to nature in general. It felt so vast, so unforgiving. In a way, nature opposed Shadow on a fundamental level. Rejected him. Where it was peaceful and delicate he was hostile and crude.

Nature was a sanctuary. Somewhere someone went to calm down. Shadow knew he could never be that.

In his past, his forest was sterile. Trunks of metal and leaves of glass. What winds that blew were through AC systems. Scientists and researchers roamed the halls in place of animals. Pipes stretched through the ARK as vines would in trees. The whirring and beeping from various machines became background noise, something someone didn’t realize until they’ve lost it.

The first time Shadow stepped into the woods, he was assaulted by the cacophony of noises that came from everywhere. No matter how much he hated it, he was comforted in the order that the ARK provided. Everything was routine, unchanging. When he heard the noises of nature he was overwhelmed. The forest seemed so vast and wild. Nature tangled and twisted, spreading wherever it wanted. There was no structure to it as it simply just was.

It reminded him of Sonic.

Even thinking his name caused him to war with himself. Maybe one day, he’ll be free of his shackles that his mind placed upon his heart. Even then, he knew he was not the same as he was before. At times, he wanted to hurt who he was in the past. To yell at his past self for being too immature, too hopeful for his life to change.

Yet he could feel his past in the back of his mind. Whispering naive nothingness. It made him want more from life. More from Sonic. He didn’t want to admit it. It repulsed him even.

But he knew the past would still grow from its grave. Cling to him as a child would to their doll. Even now, he could feel it around him like a haze he could never shake. The only time it seemed to clear even a little was… he didn’t want to finish that thought.

He looked up. The night sky twinkled with fresh stars, as if someone threw them on as a finishing touch to a masterpiece. Shadow could barely see where he was going. Yet, as he looked down, he saw the familiar sight of a house.

***

Metal objects clinked together rapidly. A hammer, a piece of old, thrown out aluminum foil, screws. The manner in which the task was performed was filled with complete aggression.

Tails sat in his hideout, where he’d go to work on his projects. He was always working on something. Usually, it was little technical gadgets that would assist in their fights against Eggman.

But Robitnik was gone now and there was seemingly no danger present that was big enough for Tails to get involved in. He knew he wasn’t allowed to work on these types of things alone, Maddie had forbidden it.

It bothered Tails. The fact that his caretakers thought so less of him. As if he were just a small kid who couldn’t understand anything. As if he didn’t know what he was doing! He was probably the smartest one in the family! Well, besides Maddie. He learned so much from her. But still, he needed to prove his worth.

It wasn’t until he found a hollowed out tree in the woods when he started working without anyone else knowing. He had since expanded the area, building a hut that connected to the tree. Sometimes he would just disappear here for hours on end.

Working… it was what he was good at.

Nowadays, Tails threw himself into something new. Something bigger, something… that was just for him. Something he could work on when he was upset or just having a bad day.

This was one of those times. He thought back to the putt-putt incident. All he had wanted was to cheer Sonic up. To hang out with him! Was that a crime?

Maybe Sonic was right. Maybe he had gotten in his way…

Or maybe, he was changing. Growing up. Sonic had told him it was something that everyone went through. Tails knew it would happen to himself, though he had never thought it would happen to Sonic. His best friend.

It didn’t matter though, he was mad at Sonic, or at least he wanted to be. He felt this boiling feeling within his blood, but he still felt guilty that Sonic was the cause.

Tails pounded his hammer harder, letting his anguish pass through it and into the aluminum foil. It was relaxing, but that only lasted so long…

*CLANG*

Sharp pain infiltrated his nervous system, alerting his brain of an occuring hazard. Tails immediately reacted.

“AHHHH”

He jerked his hand away from the object that inflicted the pain. The hammer lay on the side of his desk, guilty.

A throbbing pain refused to let go of his hand. It felt like an inferno was blazing up his arm. His head started to spin, knocking him off balance. Nausea kicked him in the gut. He took off his glove to reveal the damage.

He couldn’t help it… he screamed.

***

Sonic heard the cry seemingly from every direction. He had been wandering in the woods trying to find his friend.

He immediately went into panic mode. Moments from Shadow’s story flashed into Sonic’s mind.

Oh no. What if Tails is in danger?

And worse.

What if I’m too late..?

He picked a direction and started sprinting, hoping it was the right way.

Another scream, this time closer. He was going the right way.

Sonic called out. “TAILS!!”

There was no response. He continued running, but it was too fast. Up above, something was in the way. Something that Sonic hadn’t remembered seeing before.

He screeched to a stop just before he hit… a hut?

A third scream.

Tails was inside. He was sure of it. Around the side, Sonic found a little, well made door. He entered and found Tails on the ground, clutching his hand in pain.

Sonic quickly assessed the situation: Tails had gotten hurt somehow and needed help. He sprang into action. Lifting Tails off of the floor, he looked down at his hand and saw…

“Oh my god, Tails! What happened!??”

On Tails’ bare hand was a massive bruise. It spread from the beginning of his fingers to the start of his wrist. The center was dark purple, almost black. It had swollen up a ton already, leaving the rest of his hand puffy with an ugly blue hue.

Tails was unable to speak through his tears. For a second, Sonic just stood there. He wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that Tails was safe or to be upset that he had gotten hurt.

It didn’t matter.

He ran over to Tails and picked him up in his arms. The fox gave in to the action, as if he had forgotten about their previous dispute. Sonic started running towards the door and that’s when Tails started resisting.

“No! Don’t!”

He squirmed in Sonic’s arms.

“Hold still! I’m trying to get help!”

“Please!! They’ll—“

But Sonic had already picked up his feet and they were headed in the direction of the house.

Maddie and Tom had been sitting on the porch when Sonic sped up to them. They immediately sensed that something was wrong.

“Help!” Sonic shouted. “Tails is hurt!”

They both looked down at Tails’ hand. It was limp next to him. Maddie sprung into action.

“Oh my god!! What happened!?”

Sonic gave them a recap. He explained where he had been, what he had been doing, and how he had found Tails.

Hearing this, Tom chimed in. “And what was he doing all alone in a hut?”

Tails flashed his eyes in desperation at Sonic, who unfortunately did not interpret it in the way he had hoped.

“I don’t know. It looked like he was working on something… a plane maybe.”

Tom and Maddie exchanged worried looks.

“C’mon, Tails. We’re taking you to the hospital.”

And with that, Maddie, Tom, and Tails left

Chapter Text

Bowser shuffled through his office papers, his teeny little glasses falling down his face. He always sucked at being organized. Usually, his minions did it for him, but they were always slacking off, those scumbags.

Nonetheless, he had to get these documents completed. Bowser felt like no one ever talked about how much work went into being an evil ruler. He deserved some praise here and there!

Besides, he was good at what he did. He was basically born to be evil. It might as well have been his middle name! Alas, here he was doing stupid profiling on Rosalina. What a shame. Her presence caused him anguish. He had to do so much work because she messed up his plans. Again.

Why did she have to show up? Just for laughs? To rub it in his face that he was no longer the most powerful ruler in the Mushroom Kingdom? Either way, it didn’t dismiss the amount of background checking he had to do on her now that she was working with Mario.

At least his office was nice, excluding the stuffed closet full of things he refused to get rid of. His desk was a rich mahogany, with an emerald green banker’s lamp illuminating his name in gold. Lavish curtains decked the voluminous windowsill overlooking the kingdom.

One day, all of it would be his. He just had to get there first.

Bowser had tried to sleep after Bill came, but he just couldn’t. Luigi’s eyes looked weird, and he was not into that at all. They looked all yellowish and murky, like the bottom of a swamp.

Bill really sucked at taking care of a vessel. In fact, Bowser bet he could be better than Bill at that. No matter how normal Bill pretended to be as Luigi, he still projected an aura of strangeness. Maybe it was the way he held himself. Maybe it was the jerkiness of all of his movements. Either way, Bowser didn’t care.

He remembered watching as the possessed Luigi left his base. Like his whole back shifted every time he took a step. Gross.

Anyways, he had to get back to very seriously profiling people. There was no point in thinking about Bill. Besides, he was just a head to step on on his path to power. A little brick in his metaphorical fortress.

It was a shame that Bill chose Luigi, but to each their own. Maybe Bill knew that they had a bit of a complicated past. Perchance.

It wasn’t like he cared though. Of course not! It’s not like he and Luigi had enough romantic tension to spark fanfics! Not at all! Like, who would ever think that?

Anyways, he had to get back to his important job. No time to reflect or whatever. He had very plot relevant things to do and it definitely wasn’t that the writers were a little tired of writing angst.

The folders felt dry in his hands. In a way, they were grounding. Something he could touch to realize that he was becoming too lost in his own thoughts. Perchance.

He opened Rosalina’s folder. Inside were only two papers detailing what information his minions had gathered for him. In terms of profiling, it was a skeleton. But even a skeleton could do enough damage. This small bit of information that he had could determine whether he could sit on the throne of Mushroom Kingdom or not.

Next up was the rest of Mario’s stupid little dream team: Mario (boring), Peach (naive), Daisy (stubborn), and Toad (the most dangerous out of all of them). Most of their papers had a decent amount of information on them, which made sense. The only strange one was Toad, who had ancient runes written in a metallic red substance.

Maybe toad could have his own origin story at some point and we find out the ancient past of the toads and maybe toad can be like the descendent of a really powerful toad from long ago

Yessss I was thinking he was some reincarnation of an ancient deity or something lol

On second thought, Toad seemed pretty average for him.

***

 

Mario’s eyes stung. He was fighting off the sweet release of sleep, which attacked in various waves. Around him, stars flickered throughout the sky. He would stare at them occasionally, getting distracted from his main reason for being out here: waiting for Luigi to come back from…

Well, he didn’t quite know where his brother had gone or why, for that matter. Though, it was too dark to go look for him by now. He figured he would just wait for him here, outside the hotel.

He waited for anything, a rustling noise, the movement of an animal, the bristling of tree leaves. Mario sat there for a while. Waiting, watching, looking.

Nothing.

The stars sank down deeper into the night. It felt like an eternity had gone by, yet time itself seemed to stop.

He continued patrolling the scenery, his eyes darting around frantically just to keep them from closing altogether.

Mario knew he needed to sleep. He hadn’t really been able to since Luigi’s disappearance. Sure, he had tried, but he never got anything more than the occasional drift. And even then, his anxiety would still find him in his dreams, jolting him awake, as if he had just hit the ends of the Earth.

Before all this, Mario would have nightmares similar to the ones he experienced now. His fear always lurked in the back of his mind. Always anticipating the unexpected. He envied those nightmares now…

For one, at least he knew it wouldn’t be real when he woke up. He would open his eyes to find everything exactly in place: the warmth of his own covers, the smell of pancakes in the air, and Luigi down in the kitchen.

But going to bed now, meant he wouldn’t be waking up from a nightmare but into one.

Mario shuddered, there really was no escape. Whether he slept or not, it didn’t matter, he would still be tormented either way.

Sitting there, Mario had decided to stay. He had picked his poison and now he would endure the effects. After all, it would all be worth it, wouldn’t it?

The wind blew off its normal pattern, it was eerie. Mario was hyper focused now, noticing every little shift and change in the atmosphere. The hairs on his arms stood up.

There was something in the woods.

He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it. Mario could sense it watching, lurking in the shadows. It was funny how, despite modernizing and advancing so much, the human form could still recognize when it was being hunted.

It was a survival instinct, one that didn’t really have much of a use anymore, but natural selection had never fully discarded the vestigial trait. After all, it came in handy in instances like this.

The wind stopped and the chirping sound of cicadas slowly died out. It was as if they too knew there was something out there. Something more powerful than them. And it scared them. Even more, it scared Mario.

What was this?

Mario was hit with a weird sensation. He felt sick. This thing didn’t even feel like a thing anymore but a weird entity from the spiritual world leaking into the physical one.

He wanted to look away from the forest, but his eyes were locked. In the distance, the bushes were being parted.

This was strange-like behavior, considering the fact that the bushes were spaced far enough apart so that any animal could move freely around them. Whatever this was, it didn’t belong here.

The bristling continued until there was no more sound. A figure lunged from the shadows.

It was a deer.

Mario sighed in relief, he had been holding in his breath.

It’s only a little deer! What harm could this do?

As he let go of his fear, he watched the deer start to move. Mario immediately stiffened once again.

The deer’s movement was sloppy and inconsistent, almost as if something was mimicking it but couldn’t quite grasp the full act. It shifted and stumbled as it tried to take steps towards Mario.

In the faint light of the moon, the deer paused. Its black eyes thickened against the veil that stood in between realms, almost as if in an act of defiance.

The displacement of the gravel jump scared Mario.

It was beginning to move again.

This time, the deer distributed its weight to its back end and began to rise from the front. The glow of the moon enabled the sight of this creature. It stood there, fully upright on its hind legs, just staring intently at Mario.

It seemed normal, somehow. Almost as if this was how the deer usually presented itself. But Mario knew, deep down, this was no deer.

The thing started to open its mouth, perhaps revealing its horrific set of teeth. The entire depiction would be one of a heinous murder scene.

Mario would look deeper into the throat of the thing, and it would start to glow, showcasing a slimy green color. The green would grow brighter and brighter and brighter and brighter and—

How did he know these things?

A cold hand pierced through his nervous system. It spread from his arm to his entire body, causing him great anguish. He looked up.

It was Peach.

Mario unfroze, the sounds around him coming back to life.

“Mario!? What are you doing out here??”

But he couldn’t speak.

“Do you have any idea what time it is!?”

Mario jerked his head towards the direction of the thing.

It was gone.

“Umm… I couldn’t sleep.” Mario muffled, not taking his eyes off of the spot where the thing had been.

Peach sighed heavily. “Well come back inside.”

She pulled Mario off the floor and back to the hotel. Her face, determined as always, though she must’ve not realized Luigi was missing.

As Mario was being pulled away, he thought back to the deer standing upright in the way that it did.

*Voices*

Had he just imagined it? Maybe he was hallucinating. He hadn’t been sleeping, after all.

*Voices*

But he could recall its details very well. And he remembered how the moonlight illuminated every feature that it possessed.

*Voices*

This couldn’t have been a dream. No, he was sure of it.

“Mario..”

Mario stopped in his tracks. He didn’t dare turn around. Peach noticed he wasn’t following her and looked back. To her, nothing was out of sorts, but Mario had a pale look on his face.

They continued at last, with Mario now trailing ahead of Peach. Eager he was now to get back to the safety of his room. Perhaps then he could rationalize this experience, but the mere memory of it seemed to fade away as he drifted off in his bed once more.

***

Waves of wakefulness lapped at the shores of her mind. But she didn’t want to get up. It was wayyyy too early, like the sun had literally just peeked over the horizon. Like, no joke, it hurt her eyes.

Sluggishly, she stood from her crumpled up mess of a bed. Dang, Rosalina was still sleeping even though it was 10 am. Daisy always considered her to be a pretentious early riser but people surprise you.

Careful not to wake Rosalina, Daisy put on her day clothes and left the room. She might as well help herself to the continental breakfast. The grease loaded turkey sausage was her favorite! Only 500 calories per patty! But that was way too many calories. Not good for her cholesterol levels. She just grabbed some toast instead.

Outside the hotel, Daisy marched happily with her perfectly golden brown toast in hand. It was perfect. The crust was just flaky enough to be crunchy but not burnt and the butter didn’t make the toast too soggy. Karriot really knew how to cook a meal!

To Daisy, everyday seemed like a good day! At least, that’s what she thought. She tried to live every day to the fullest saying “make it a great day for not, the choice is yours…”

It was said by her old grandpa before the Great War of Cartizer. Which led to the separation of her and the Mushroom Kingdom. That was in the past now, and Daisy was happy to be reunited with Peach in their recent peace treaty: The Sarasaland-Mushroom Alliance.

Speaking of that, she probably had to go back to her home kingdom, but it was kind of boring doing politics there. It was so stable that she basically didn’t have to be there to rule it anyways.

That’s why she lived in the Mushroom kingdom now, with the emergence of a new, profound friendship. Ever since then, Peach had quickly become her best friend.

Peach was a great person. She had a good heart and intelligent mind. Just the thought of her caused Daisy to smile to herself. She couldn’t help it, she was so glad she could call Peach her best friend.

Daisy's focus continued to stray to her thoughts, forcing anything concrete to be an afterthought… until it was lacking. Daisy felt a gaping lack of ground for the split second before she tumbled into the darkness.

It was as if the Earth had swallowed her up, took her away from the world she knew. She could feel the force everywhere, whatever it was. Splitting her own soul into pieces that were sewn together with wire and needle. Shattering her own train of thought and conscious mind until her heart slowed to the beat of a drum at the end of its life. Spinning and twisting and screaming she fell down this hole in reality.

Until it stopped.

And she was herself again.

Between the void and the abyss she stood.

Did her existence even matter here? She couldn’t tell where she was, or even who she was for that matter. It was like a dark curtain had been shut on all her memories.

She strained her brain trying to remember. Eventually, she gave up, it being too hard to focus now. She looked around, looking for anything she could see. Maybe the rough lining of a cave wall or even the slightest tinge of light would be great right now.

“And Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day” a voice from above quoted. “Do you know where that’s from?” The short figure was covered in a blanket of shadow.

Daisy stood frozen, taken aback by the shrill yet booming voices. Its sound bounced across all of the invisible cave walls. The echoes sounded like other peoples’ voices, each one sounding like someone Daisy had met. All together they became a cacophony of voices and stories.

“‘Twas I who oversaw such enactments of the past. Feeble minded people in a feeble minded world sent to an automatic oblivion." The detached voices boomed and echoed, layering and layering until they became a wall of sound.

“Doth thou understand? The surrounding world trembles in the mere presence…resounding, resounding, resounding. Echoes of those who have numbered days, laid folly of all things taken for granted. Time passes and trembles before the enormity that presents itself as reality. A dance perhaps, between the two. Lovers be they not. Stepping on toes and branches and ripples of a world yet to come in connection, contact. Doth thou understand?”

“Who are you?” Daisy yelled over the echoes.

The echoes ceased.

“Nay? I was but a passerby, a lofty figure one meets on a passing. Everyone yet no one knows. To drink a drink that’s true and sharp strikes right in the heart. To drink a drink that’s soft and pretty kills one in a false-armed pity.”

“A jinx, a hex, and a curse walk into a bar. The jinx proclaims discomfort of the mildest form. The hex heralds the jinx with ill intentions. The curse harms and nothing more.”

Nothing they said made sense, as if speaking in ancient riddles. Daisy wished she had stayed in the hotel, in bed. She still had no idea what was going on; at first she was normally walking down the street and now she was…somewhere.

“Who are you?” She tried again.

“Being does define being. What is, was, and will be blended together in an amalgam, wiping away any denotative concept. The convergence is a simple explanation for what is and what isn’t. Explanations, answers and definitions cease to have meaning in the face of everything all at once.”

“What does that even mean?”

“The root of reality is but a trifle matter. Once in the eyes of the beholder. Thrice in the tears of the morning that are shed in utmost secrecy. That is the way of life for those between anguish and the high parapets. Those who hold themselves so firmly to a moralistic standard whose threshold no one ever is denied. ‘To be or not to be’ they say, yet they nigh understand the true poundage of the matter. Governed the world in its age of purity, grasping at nothing and understanding nothing. Obtuseness perchance. Walking on ever-moving feet trying to slither through the roots of a labyrinth. They make their world a ruined bridge, resuming their old lament of centuries. Turn melancholy forth to funerals, weeping their undesirables onto to the wet lawn grass of the procession. Gorging themselves on homespun delicacies that are sights to worn eyes. Vivaciously dressed and well worn in their attire they weep, ‘o weary night, oh long and tedious night.’ Dreaming their dreams and nightmares into oblivion, yet as the night tarries on they do not seem to stop. They weave temporary tapestries with their mind, prejudice and pride. Day breaks leaving sweat and streams of consciousness behind. Beams of light no one dares cross except for those who stray too far. Followers of Icarus they are, wax wings and all. Falling from the sky over and down and under as the ghost of the past meets the present. Convergence. Death. The riddle of humanity’s fate over the cycle of the day told by mythical beings that represents nature's falsities. As time widdles on its heels we’re it not for the fire let fly. Wind bursting from crevices untouched previously. For I slumber, knowing and omnipresent…‘Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…’”

Daisy felt her mind screech to a halt as the… thing… kept rambling. None of it made sense about this whole situation. She didn't really want to know what that all meant. Her eyes scanned the seemingly endless darkness, continuing the fruitless search for the voice's owner.

“Hola senora, short time no see”

Chapter Text

His hand was pins and needles. Poking and prodding endlessly at his skin. Burning hot. Every single bump and jolt caused by the road sent little burning spiders crawling up his arm.

Sonic sat next to him, bouncing his leg and staring off into the car seat ahead of him. His eyes were wide.

The car hummed and vibrated steadily, the engine pumping like the beating of a heart. Wheels spinning endlessly along the asphalt of the ground. It felt oddly comforting despite Tails’s circumstances.

Sonic turned to him, “how are you feeling?”

Tails chuckled internally. Sonic had never really broken any bones before. Tails didn’t think he even knew what it was like. What true pain was like. “I’ve been through worse.”

The car lurched, sending his arm alight and causing him to yelp in pain. Everyone turned their eyes to him. It was too much, the invisible spotlight they had unintentionally cast on him. He shrugged with one shoulder and tried his hardest to look sheepish.

This sucked.

He couldn’t even fathom that all of this was caused by him hitting his hand. How fragile his own body was, how mortal it was.

That reminded him of a certain hedgehog. One he never quite understood. Black and red quills and a perpetual scowl. Shadow was impossible to figure out. The most emotion he ever showed was an eye twitch, or if you were unlucky, a glare. Whatever the Erinaceus thought about him, anyone could be hidden behind those angry eyes.

Lost in his own internal monologue, Tails absently stared out the window at the forest flying by. The darkness seemed to swallow his vision, only being illuminated by the nearby cars. Tails had guessed that it was easy to get lost in those woods, they had a habit of digesting ones that wandered too far.

He started to zone out, losing his thoughts to the speed of the car, the almost peaceful midnight drone it elicited, the streetlights that were few along the road. It was funny that despite his circumstances, Tails could still find beauty.

Something strange caught his eye, startling him from his waking slumber. It was like a streak of ember bolting through the woods, as if a little fire was trying to keep pace with the car. There one second, gone the other.

At second thought, Tails could’ve just hallucinated it. That it was just part of the pain.

His hand hurt so badly. Tails remembered seeing somewhere that a wound would hurt less if he thought about it less, but it was hard not to think about something that screamed out his failures. How he has always managed to break something no matter how hard he tried.

Every time he made something, anything really, something would go wrong. Sometimes a screw was loose or the wiring was frayed. But no matter what, there was something that always failed. At times he even thought about quitting all together, tired of the half-made broken machinery.

Tired of half-hearted promises being broken.

A fire twisted between the trees. Maybe he wasn’t hallucinating.

The road felt like it went on forever. Yellow and white lines endlessly led him on, coaxing him in and out of a painful purgatory.

He’d see the end soon enough.

***

Knuckles sat on the couch with a stern look on his face. He was staring at the clock on the wall, counting its seconds, watching the minutes go by, waiting for any sort of discrepancy that might occur between the tellings of the universe’s time and the human-created measure of “time” that was displayed on the wall.

So far, the suspiciously looking clock had been doing its job well.

Since Tails’ recent injury, Maddie had left Knuckles to watch over the house. Not that anything would happen, but just in case.

Knuckles didn’t see the objective in arguing with Maddie over this. He did want to go with them, but he saw the glint in her eye that only appeared with that particular kind of tone. He learned quickly not to question it, for it was unanswerable. Or maybe he didn’t question it because, deep down, he related to it.

He was always trying to protect those around him and he would do whatever it took to prove this true. Maddie appeared to be the same way, they had a mutual understanding, though it was an unspoken agreement: that they would go to great lengths to ensure the safety of each other as well as the ones they cared for most.

This time, Maddie would look out for the family and Knuckles would look after the house… and Ozzie, the dog Knuckles had dubbed “The Slobber Magician.”

Knuckles’ eyes zoned back in. He had been thrown off by the cacophonous ticking of the clock on the wall. It disrupted his session of honor.

The so-called “clock” ticked in unison with the passing of the universe’s seconds, just as it intended. Still, Knuckles deemed it to be untrustworthy.

He couldn’t prove it, but there was something wrong with that clock. Something about it wasn’t quite right. Knuckles disliked the fact that time was represented in a circle.

To Knuckles, time was always and never, something that happened before, and something that would never happen. It wasn’t just some concept that could be described through a simple geometric shape.

Geometric shapes were definite: they had ends and beginnings. They followed pre-determined paths that could be uncovered with intricate mathematical equations. Furthermore, they could be represented through models or graphs. They could even be predicted.

Geometry was a lot of things, but it could not represent time. Time was endless and always beginning. It created its own paths and sometimes even multiple paths. Perhaps these paths could interlink with one another, or they might never meet. They could slide into and stray from one another or sometimes even be one in one.

Time transcended the understanding of the 3rd dimension, which meant that it was incomprehensible beyond the perceived 4 dimensions. Human perception was like a jail cell, longing minds stuck on the inside and observing the universe unfolding outside, never quite being able to reach it, always limited to recording it.

Whichever way the paths intersected or split apart, it was up to time. It was for this reason that time could not be predicted. Especially not in the same way the artificially made clock did. It was mildly uncanny that the circle with ticking hands got to determine when the universe unraveled another precious second. The universe was boundless, and it had no reason to adhere to the laws of man nor did it possess the responsibility to make sense to anyone.

Perhaps the universe would skip a second, throwing the clock out of sync. It would clearly be represented as an imposter then. A true depiction of time stood the test of the universe, and Knuckles always felt as though it were playing tricks on him.

It could just be because he was otherworldly himself, or because he had traveled through portals unsanctionized by the universe. Maybe the universe would get back at him by betraying the Newtonian laws of physics.

Nonetheless, Knuckles needed to be prepared for whatever the universe might throw at him. And for this reason, he was always alert.

 

***

Foliage brushed his face, getting stuck in his fur and quills. The sky was a pool of deep, deep blue. So deep that Shadow believed if he was up there he could’ve drowned in it. He knew that there were stars, but they were washed out in a sea of bright headlights.

He was the ultimate lifeform, but he somehow couldn’t manage to keep up. It could have been the way his heart beat erratically or his breaths came too quickly.

How could one being do this to him?

He had no choice, no time. It was pure reaction, reflexes from ages ago being used. In one moment, he was walking in the woods. The next he was running alongside a car at the clove of evening.

The most he could remember in the blur was the yell twisting and writhing in his ears, setting them alight. It felt garbled. Strangled.

And now he was here…wherever he was. Shadow always made sure to avoid anything that had any hint of civilization. He already wasted 50 years in a stasis, barely even alive. What happened in those years was always a source of wonder for him, all the time that got taken from him. What would’ve happened.

He still feels the same the night he was forced into the chamber. It felt like his vision was painted in red, overwhelmed. Soldiers crowding and pinning him down. Taking him away.

All the stasis did was hold him. When he was in it he had no memory, no consciousness. He came out of it the same way he came in: fighting. He knew that he only aged in the sense that a tardigrade would age when it was dormant. Other than 50 years passing, he felt physically and mentally the exact same. In a young adult, out a young adult.

Shadow wished he could see inside the car, just to see if he was okay. That they were both okay. But all his gaze was left with was the glossy tints of the car windows.

It was like they were mocking him, telling him that he never cared about him. That Shadow was just a footnote in his life, something to be forgotten and thrown out. Just how Gerald threw him out, how everyone has thrown him out. Left him to rot out at sea while they lounged on the lifeboat they called Earth.

Maybe he deserved it. The pain that was methodically painted in his mind. Tainting his very soul.

He could see the tree line receding up ahead. For a moment, he panicked, before using chaos control to cross the distance. One glance from any wrong eye could send him back. Back to the place he wished to never return to.

A hospital sign flashed in the high beams of the car, almost blinding Shadow.

They were close.

He looked once more at the tinted windows, blindly hoping for something, some form of relief for him. Something to tell him that it was okay, that he could go back home like nothing even happened. Merciless panes of glass met his gaze. Dark fortress walls.

***

The car window seemed to be betraying his disguise. On the inside, he was a complete mess of chaos, on the outside, he was doing his best to mask his true feelings. His reflection, however, had other plans. It seemed to be that Sonic sat motionless, looking out the car window with a still expression.

Not at all the look he was going for.

Tails sat next to him and the entire car was silent except for the drone the tires made as they scraped against the asphalt road.

It had all hit him then, the fact that he had done wrong. He knew Tails was fragile, but he still did all this anyway. Well look at where that had gotten them. They were on the way to the hospital!

Sonic thought back to the minigolf incident, how he had been so insensitive of Tails’ feelings. He felt it manifest into a physical pain. The feeling arose from deep down in his stomach then spread to his chest.

It was a sort of constricting feeling, almost like he couldn’t breathe in fully. This caused him to panic.

Moments from the past flashed inside of his mind, which only fueled the fire. He saw himself yelling at Tails, Tails’s dispirited face, him running away, the moment with Shadow, his story telling. It all seemed to warp in his mind. The deeper he thought, the more turns twisted his memory.

He had focused on himself. He was the one at fault. Everything that had led up to this moment was because of him. He could see Knuckles’ disappointed face shaking his head at him. He could see that he had let down Tom and Maddie, even if they didn’t explicitly state it. It was all his fault.

He was a bad person. Unworthy of helping anyone, only making situations worse.

His lack of breath threatened to be the final straw that would push him underneath the constant waves of regret. Perhaps his next breath would even be his last.

Though this thought concentrated a great amount of fear and Sonic quickly progressed to hyperventilating. The car lights outside seemed to blind him and he could no longer see through his teary vision.

This hurricane of a storm was one of interminable doom yet an external peace overtook the car’s interior. It might only appear to the others that Sonic’s breathing was mildly out of control but nothing more than that.

Surely he was okay. That’s what he kept telling himself. Though the hell fire within his mind never ceased.

That was true until the car unexpectedly halted, causing Sonic to lunge forwards into the seat in front of him. He instantly was redirected from his negative thoughts and brought into reality.

They had arrived at the hospital.

Maddie helped Tails get out of the car and Sonic and Tom walked side by side towards the front entrance.

Tom stifled a noise and Sonic knew he was gonna say something.

“Why weren’t you with him? You’re supposed to look out for him.”

Sonic felt the pangs of guilt worsen once more.

“I— made him upset. I lashed out at him when he was just trying to cheer me up. It’s all my fault… I’m sorry.”

Sonic felt Tom’s eyes on him, though he wasn’t saying anything. There was nothing that needed to be said. The situation itself was complicated and would be taken from their control very soon.

They walked in the ER entrance. Inside was a remarkable amount of chairs and almost no one to accompany them. This made sense, it was late after all.

At the front desk, a sweet old lady got them checked in and assured that they’d be seen shortly. Despite this, it felt like they were waiting for hours.

The 4 of them sat in a row of uncomfortable hospital chairs, awaiting the inevitable call of a name that seemed so distant now.

Tails was on the direct opposite side of Sonic and Sonic could tell that he was mad. He wanted to go to Tails. To tell him he was sorry and that he shouldn’t have said those things, but his mind was seemingly trapped in a sort of conscious sleep paralysis. He tried to get up, but his legs never received the signal from his brain.

He guessed this would be the way he would leave this earth: chained to his own mind, trapped in his own body. It was all self inflicted, of course and Sonic knew that. He had come to realize a lot of faults about himself in the last 2 hours. Right now, however, it felt impossible to see past them. They eclipsed the prospects of the future and cast a dark shadow on any hope or solution.

Something released him from his prison then, something loud, too loud for this hour of the night.

It was the voice of a strict-looking nurse, calling Tails’ name.

 

***

The opalescent lights of the hospital shone through the windows of the waiting room. Illuminating patches of grass.

At first, he didn’t even want to look through, to confirm his fears. He didn’t even think about what he would do if it was true… if Sonic was truly hurt.

But he had to do it, at the very least for closure. Something to free him from the last tethers to Earth. Setting him sailing through the cosmos, infinitely. Years would blend into each other and the unloving universe would swallow him up.

Erasure.

To be completely wiped off the Earth, for no trace to be seen. No mark, no sign. Nothing.

For a while, Shadow wanted that. To disappear without a sign, to slip into oblivion.

But now he wasn’t so sure.

Shadow took careful steps to the wall of the hospital, then blasted his air shoes just enough to peek through the window.

Sonic sat in a waiting chair, perfectly fine, minus the stressed out look on his faker face. It must have been the fox.

At times, Shadow felt bad for the kid. Tails

Shadow slid down the cinder block of the hospital wall, a sigh of relief escaping him. He didn’t know what came over him, what he did in the last… whatever time was.

It was like he was a different person, like someone left him autopilot on for too long.

But now he was fine, completely normal. Was he mad?! He must’ve been all that stupid running after someone-he-barely-knew. Why should he even care?

There was no point in caring. No point in getting close to someone he knew…nevermind.

He couldn’t believe he went all the way out here just to see Sonic. It just bothered him. Just like when he met Sonic that first time, him standing atop his own doing. Everything felt so strange when he came out of stasis, like trying on shoes that were too big and pretending they fit perfectly.

He started to make his way into the woods. They were pitch dark, so dark his eyes felt fuzzy looking at it. It wasn’t scary though, Shadow knew that he was the most dangerous thing in there anyway.

He tried to lose himself in the woods so he wouldn’t get lost in his thoughts. At least, he tried. It was like his very being was straining towards that subject that was meant to be secret.

He relented, waves of relief sweeping through his body, letting himself remember.

His mind brought him back to the moment he first met Sonic, although meet is an euphemism. He didn’t know what was happening, why there was so much. Too much. Giant screens flashed all too vibrant colors of cheap looking items. People hurried in the streets, all of them in a rush. Smoothed out cars scooched along the greasy asphalt of the road. It was too much.

Police came after him, he vaguely knew why. Everything else went by in a blur, ending up with him on top of a pile of police cars.

That’s when he saw Sonic. He remembered seeing him standing there like when a little kid stands up to the bully in movies. It was a little goofy to be honest. Sonic had no idea who he was up against, yet he still tried to beat Shadow.

He remembered him and Sonic on the moon, how easily he dumped his life story on Sonic. How Sonic didn’t push him away for it. It felt different at that moment, like a little start had ignited inside of him. He wanted more.

No, he shouldn’t— couldn’t think that.

He needed to move, he passed the rest of the foliage in a blur. The trees became racing stripes as he gained speed, the wind a whistle in his ears. There was no need to keep pace with anything.

Finally, he made it back.

***

The night was calm, the breeze rocking the trees side to side. Shadow paced the ground. The grass covering the forest floor was overgrown and shielded by old leaves.

He kept his eyes locked on the ground, searching for any splash of color within the bland scenery. His eyes strained in the darkness. It was hard to see with the trees blocking out the light of the moon, but he forced himself anyway.

Maybe it was his guilt from the past, or perhaps he put too much pressure on himself to complete a task, but he couldn’t stop himself from doing anything but what he was doing right now. Looking for those flowers, it felt like his destiny: a self-inflicted form of purgatory.

He couldn’t stop it, he didn’t know why. Only that he knew he had to keep his mind occupied…

Anything to stop him from thinking about—

There!!

Just up above, Shadow caught a glimpse of something red. He could tell exactly what it was. A patch of red roses, they used to have those same flowers back on the arc.

The red flowers were dazzling in the light of the moon. Shadow wiped his eyes, but they were really there. They were vibrant against the dark of the night and shadow was drawn to them like a moth to a flame.

They seemed to know his wants and desires. When Shadow looked intently at the flowers, his thoughts smoothed out and now the only thing on his mind was going to them, joining their calmness, and preaching their beauty.

Shadow walked gently towards the flowers, which lay a short distance from him now. Though with each step, the roses seemed to wilt, and Shadow began to see them for what they really were. The layers of the rose were not layers at all, but a collection of smaller flowers.

This wasn’t a rose bush at all. Shadow stepped closer and confirmed his suspicion. Those were rhododendrons, specifically the rich, dark red kind.

Shadow took a step back, his lungs filling with air.

Rhododendrons were known for their poisonous nature. They were often used as symbols of danger and caution in the children’s books Shadow used to read with Maria back on the arc. Maria had always been interested in nature as she never got to see much of it on the arc. So, they learned all they could about different plants and animals on earth. It was one of the main ways they had spent their free time.

“The leaves, stems, flowers, and pollen contain grayanotoxins, Shadow. They also…”

There was no way Shadow could have used these flowers. He darted his head around, searching for any other hint of color. His eyes scanned the ground when finally, he caught a glimpse of something yellow.

This time, as Shadow stepped closer, the petals remained the same shape. They didn’t wilt nor wallow.
Shadow reached his hand out and picked the golden plants.

“Yellow tulips,” Shadow thought to himself.

He blushed a little, involuntarily. Shadow knew what those flowers meant. He didn’t know why but he wouldn’t admit it to himself. At least right now he wouldn’t, the thought was weirdly painful.

Shadow fiercely drew his hand across his mouth and began picking more tulips. He felt the cold come back into his face. He hadn’t enjoyed what his brain had just made him think of. Shadow made a mental note to unpack these “intrusive” thoughts later.

A twig snapped somewhere in the forest. Shadow was pulled out of his daze. He looked up from the tulips, scanning around, he realized he was unfamiliar with his surroundings.

He clutched the flowers he was holding. Something was off.

As soon as he noticed it, it no longer hid itself. The breeze halted, the trees rested from swaying, the cicadas withdrew their sweet song, and everything around him was silent. Silent and dark. Dark and cold. Cold and—

He saw it.

There must have been a thick fog covering it earlier. That’s at least what Shadow told himself. All of this was wildly abnormal.

Up ahead, a gap had swallowed the forest in a straight path. Shadow stepped back, but his quills were poked by something sharp. Something that did not belong in a forest.

He didn’t dare turn around, instead he ran straight down the path as fast as he could.

Trees whirred by yet the thing behind him never seemed to grow further away from him. He closed his eyes and trusted his feet.

Now the thing seemed to fade away and Shadow knew he was gaining speed.

A single instant called for change.

As if the forest was being controlled by a remote, the volume was unmuted, but the cicadas’ tunes sounded warped. Maybe it was due to the Doppler effect or maybe it was because…

They were moving away from him too.

Shadow opened his eyes. Around him, swarms of cicadas flew past him, fleeing. He felt a pit in the bottle of his stomach, but he couldn’t stop running. And now, it almost seemed as if he was running upwards.

He looked down at the ground which wasn’t the ground anymore. Below his feet lay wood, but not from debris of a storm. This wood was strategically placed and they formed stairs.

His feet flawlessly carried him up the stairs, but that’s not what he wanted. He wanted to turn back, to get out of this place, to find his hut. The wooden steps grew steeper and his feet lost their confidence.

He tripped on a loose piece of wood sticking out of one of the stair cases’ ledge. Shadow was catapulted through the air, but he never landed.

In the forest around him, birds scattered out of trees, away from all the commotion. Just beyond the horizon, the sun was starting to rise.

Its rays illuminated the forest ground, shining through what little leaves were left on the trees.
As the sun grew higher, so did its beams.

Following the sun’s spotlight across the sky and into the forest below, a bundle of sun-kissed, golden-tinted, yellow tulips lay motionless and disturbed on the stairs underneath.

***
Nothing but the sound of a heart monitor could be heard. Tails was asleep and so was Tom. Maddie sat next to Tails, who was in a hospital bed. Sonic watched her stare off into space. He was concerned by her worried expression, but figured it wasn’t the right time to say anything.

Sonic hadn’t slept all night. How could he? After all he’d done to Tails, he didn’t deserve it. He looked at the clock.

It was 6:07 A.M. and the sun had just started to peer into the sky.

He looked out the window. Though nothing seemed out of the ordinary, an impending feeling of doom washed over him.

“Oh no…” Sonic thought in his head.

“Something just happened”.