Chapter Text
Among things like struggling to find shoes that fit, breaking human combs against his quills, and needing a stool for like, every sink in the world, one of the worst problems that came with being a hedgehog on a planet that wasn’t always his was an inability to make easy, regular hospital visits. Apparently, even if he was a multi-round world-saver and class act hero recognized by at least one government branch, hospitals didn’t like letting animals inside, even ones that walked and talked. It took Maddie practically threatening nuclear warfare on not one, two, or three doctors, but four, each more terrified than the next, to let Sonic and his team in. And, even with the allowance, it was only for one miserable hour a day.
And it was great! It was the best hour of his day. But by day five, he quickly realized that with Tom in the hospital and Maddie spending most of her free time with him, the house felt… painfully empty. And even worse, it was boring.
Knuckles seemed content to binge-watch every single action movie on Tom’s Netflix, Ozzy planted on the couch beside him. Every hour like clockwork, the Echidna would hop up off the couch and pace the entire perimeter of the house, as he’d promised Maddie he’d keep an eye on everything, and he seemed to be taking that as literally as possible.
Tails, meanwhile, took it upon himself to modify every possible item in the house he could to help with Tom’s recovery, once he returned home. While he was already on his way to recovering, the doctor had said his arm would be in a hard cast for at least a month, and probably even longer in a sling after that if he wasn’t careful. Both humans had insisted Tom would manage, it was just his left arm, and Maddie and the three of them could all help, but Tails had simply waved them off. Now there were modified handles on everything and strange little contraptions lying all around the attic while Tails test-ran each one, his left paw held carefully behind his back.
But where the other two seemed able to keep themselves busy in the emptiness and the monotony of the house, Sonic found himself restless. He just couldn’t keep up with Tails when he started spewing off about the calibration of this and the mobility allowances of that, and pacing the perimeter with Knuckles was so slow. He spent the first couple days mostly watching movies with Knuckles, running circles around the house, then playing fetch with Ozzy for like, three hours, until the dog turned around and dragged himself back inside, refusing to chase after one more stick.
So, by the fifth day, he was bored.
After lounging around in the attic for all of about ten minutes after Maddie drove them home from their morning hospital visit, Sonic let out a long, miserable groan from his spot upside down on the bean bag chair. From a few feet away, Tails gave him a curious look but focused back on whatever project he was tinkering on in his lap without saying anything.
Unlistened to and ignored, Sonic gave a drawn-out and pained sigh.
And still… nothing.
He was just puffing out his chest for another lament when Tails finally gave in, his head popping up to give Sonic another pointed look. “Maybe you should go out and explore? Find something new to keep you entertained?”
Sonic sighed again, flipping upright and holding his chin in both gloved paws, putting on his best pout. “But what’s the fun in exploring all by myself? I’ve done that like, everywhere!”
Tails’ shoulders shook in a short laugh. “Everywhere, huh? Well, guess Tom and Maddie should just get rid of Google Maps and replace it with you!”
Sonic couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled from his chest to match the fox’s, infectious as it was.
“But, seriously,” Tails continued, once they both settled again, “You should go burn off some energy. You’re way too wound up.”
Unfortunately, Sonic knew the little fox was right. He was too wound up. Going from a couple days of nonstop excitement to the monotony of everyday life sucked, especially when the leaders of the Wachowski gang weren’t home nearly as much as usual. And according to the doctors that refused to let hedgehogs and foxes and echidnas, even ones that were technically world-saving alien heroes into the hospital as much as they’d have liked, it would be at least another few days before Tom was back home. Maybe even up to a week.
After only two more dramatic sighs, Sonic finally gave in, and barely a moment later found him running a lazy (but still unbeatably fast) pace through the familiar woods of Green Hills.
The weather was nice, at least, all blue skies and wispy clouds and bright white sunlight, a faint breeze trailing its feet behind his red sneakers. He even caught sight of the moon, despite the fact it was barely even noon, just a broken smudge of white against the sky. Sonic slowed momentarily along the ridge of a valley, his eyes lingering on the out of place moon until a cloud was blown in front of it, and the white obscured it from view.
There was something about looking up at the moon after standing on it that felt more than a little strange. Now when he sat on the roof and looked up at the stars, he knew what it looked like to sit on the moon and watch the Earth. Not many people, let alone hedgehogs, could say that. There was one, obviously, but Sonic shrugged that thought off in favor of tipping down the valley he was lingering above, letting the slight hug of gravity propel him all the faster with minimal effort.
After his momentary distraction, Sonic decided to try focusing, pushing more effort and intention into his steps, leaning into his speed with more fervor. He left the forest behind and dashed through grassy fields, reveling in the gentle up and down of the rolling hills. A creek almost caught him by surprise, but he caught himself easily, skipping up the opposite bank and leaping over a wooden fence at the top. He spun around and let out a whoop as he went careening down another hillside, laughing as his feet hurried to keep up with his own need for speed.
He rolled up the next hill, flying off an unexpected edge of a sudden grassless and barren crater. He flew up for only a moment, lingered in the air, then went racing into the center of the crater down the short wall.
So caught up in his own simple enjoyment of the new obstacle was he that he didn’t catch the flash of gold hidden in the dirt. He didn’t catch it, but his toe sure did, and with a yelp the hedgehog ricocheted off the mysterious blockade and bounced into the dirt.
He was up just as quickly, shaking the dust and a few pebbles out of his quills, then zipped back to the source of his crash landing. It took a second to find it, since it was mostly covered in a layer of grime, but then he saw it: a rounded edge of gold peeking out of the dirt.
Immediately curious, Sonic reached down and tugged it out, brushing it off with the cuff of one glove.
It took him a second before he realized what it was. For one, it was unclasped, connected with an invisible hinge, and for the life of him Sonic couldn’t find the clasp. But when he pushed the two halves together, it clicked into one solid, gold circle.
For a very long second, Sonic just stared at it.
The problem was that he didn’t really know what it was. He knew who it belonged to, sure, but honestly, that only left more questions and weird possibilities than concrete answers. But, with a brief flash of memory of two paws clasped in his and the image of another ring to match this one on two glowing wrists, Sonic held it up and tried to stick his own paw through it. Of course, it obviously didn’t fit now that he’d closed it. It took a second to get it back open, but he did somehow pop the thing apart again. He stuck his wrist over one half and snapped it shut.
At first, it didn’t seem like much. It was a very gaudy, slightly dirty but still pretty shiny, bracelet.
Then after another second, a jolt of something ran up his arm, sort of like a static shock, if a static shock was somehow inside his very blood stream.
He scrambled for a moment but finally managed to tug the thing off and dropped it like a hot potato. The weird sensation immediately disappeared, but left a sort of residual, barely-there ache in his arm and all the way up to his shoulder.
But his curiosity obviously won out in barely a second, and Sonic snatched it back up. This time, however, he clasped it and simply held it, since that seemed to be fine. The ring did nothing. No crabby, dramatic hedgehogs appeared. Not that Sonic expected that to happen, but he found himself still somehow disappointed.
After a moment of deliberation, Sonic kicked off and ran back up the hill he’d come from, now scanning the horizon for- well, for anything, really. But all he saw were a few fences, a few cows, and a few hay bales. No other rings, no black and red spikes, no weird hovering shoes. Nothing.
After what felt like about seven ages but was probably only a couple of minutes, Sonic reluctantly turned his feet towards home. But even as he headed back to the woods and the mountains between him and Green Hills, he glanced over his shoulder, some niggling little wish in the back of his head still holding out hope of seeing even the faintest trace of that still sort of new hedgehog.
Held fast in one paw, he clutched the golden bracelet all the way home.
He took the long way home, making a few extra loops around town. After snatching half a shockingly tasty cheese sandwich off an unsuspecting crow, he headed home. He felt both pleasantly warmed up if a little uncharacteristically worn out, and also all the more distracted than he had been before his latest mad dash. The bracelet in his paw felt heavier the closer he got to home, and without thinking, Sonic tucked it away in his quills for safe keeping. Also, maybe, so nobody saw it and asked questions. He himself didn’t have any answers; no way was he playing twenty questions over the stupid thing.
The run at least did seem to help him manage to struggle through the rest of the day. Tails even joined him and Knuckles for a Terminator marathon, and all three piled onto the couch, Ozzy their warm and furry footrest and every bag and box of snacks they could find on their laps.
When Maddie finally got home with three entire pizzas, Tails was back to fiddling with his latest household appliance modification locked away in his workshop in the garage. This time it was the switch board that seemed to control the lights in like, the entire household, and Maddie laughed as the entryway lights flashed at her in welcome.
Dinner was eaten loudly and quickly, all three of them devouring the pizza like it was the first thing they’d eaten all day. (It wasn’t.) Maddie showed them a video of a cat with a plastic apple sauce jar stuck on its head, and all three listened to her explain how they managed to keep the thing still long enough to get the jar off.
The house was way better with Maddie at least home, and even if they all didn’t really fit on the couch, they still piled on to watch the latest episode of some show involving firefighters and a lot of dramatic music that Sonic didn’t get at all but Maddie seemed to enjoy. So he was content to doze off stretched out on his belly across her lap, Tails legs tucked over the bend in his knees, Knuckles slumped on Maddie’s other side. Even if they were down a member, Sonic couldn’t deny the comfort of his family (mostly) all together.
That warm comfort stuck with him all the way until Maddie closed the attic door after her final goodnight, and suddenly, as soon as it was dark, Sonic felt wide awake. A hard edge dug into his shoulder, and he reached up to pull out the stupid bracelet. Then, remembering where he was, he hesitated. After another beat, he got up quietly and tiptoed to the window. Climbing onto the roof was a breeze, and he clambered all the way to the top before he finally pulled the bracelet out to inspect it.
Since the moon had already made an appearance in the sky during the sun’s shift, it was a pretty dark night. Even so, the bracelet gleamed with brightness, well-polished after being held in a reasonably soft glove for so long. Still, Sonic took a second to scrub away any last bits of dirt until it was downright sparkly.
He still wasn’t really sure why he’d snagged it. Or- well, that wasn’t exactly it. Of course he’d taken it with him, why wouldn’t he? It was more than he didn’t know why it was such a big deal to take it. He snagged weird things he found and brought them home all the time, as evident both by the attic and what was left of his old cave.
The difference was that holding the bracelet made his chest and stomach do wild things, and he wasn’t even sure how to feel about it.
He considered trying it on again, but in the end, wound up just staring at the thing cradled in both paws.
He’d known the guy for what, like, less than a week? And most of that had involved losing at a game of chase, getting ambushed in a sketchy dark lab, almost winding up in a DIY black hole, very nearly losing the first person on Earth to call him family, and then only narrowly avoiding exploding the Earth. All in all, most of their interactions had been pummeling each other and exchanging insults and threats. They’d even destroyed at least a dozen small mountains and maybe at least one national landmark, and Sonic grimaced at the memory of being slammed into the ground like a sack of rocks, at the singe of lava against his quills as they literally melted entire mountain peaks in their furious battle.
The problem was that even if they’d very nearly wound up killing each other and there was a good moment there Sonic hadn’t hated anybody or anything more, he realized just how badly he wanted to see Shadow again.
The taunts and the slamming each other into things and the genuine murderous intent on, theoretically, both their parts, it all melted away in comparison to the brief time they’d actually fought together, side by side.
And boy, Sonic was pretty sure he’d be chasing that high for the rest of his life.
He’d done plenty of fighting at that point with any combination of his various family members. But the thing was, none of them really matched him beat for beat in the same way.
Sonic sat back and leaned against the roof, the bracelet clutched to his chest as he squeezed his eyes shut. If he thought as hard as he could, he could almost recall the feeling of spinning around together so fast Sonic couldn’t even distinguish who was who for half a heartbeat.
But Shadow was-
Was what?
Sonic knew the most likely answer. So the guy was genetically enhanced in a lab by Eggman’s crazy grampa and had his own super form, but that explosion… it would’ve leveled the Earth. Surely it leveled one overpowered hedgehog, even if Sonic was pretty sure Shadow still held the power of the Master Emerald in that moment.
And yet the weight of the ring on Sonic’s chest was almost suffocating in how hopeful it made him. That’s why he’d grabbed it, why he’d hidden it and hadn’t told anyone about it yet. Even if he knew he’d probably never see the other hedgehog again, Sonic couldn’t help but hope that maybe, just maybe…
It was an endless battle of hope versus reality, and Sonic was not one for listening to logic and reason.
When the roof finally got too chilly for lying around and having dramatic thoughts, Sonic heaved a weary sigh and sat up. The problem was he’d napped for like, an entire episode of that firefighter show. Maddie had been scratching behind his ears one moment and the next she was nudging them all off to bed. Now, Sonic was a little too awake and a little too antsy, his earlier exhaustion gone.
After a long moment of deliberation, he crammed the ring back up into his quills, wedging it real good. And then, after sneaking back in to grab his shoes, he zipped off into the night.
He ended up retracing his steps from that afternoon without even meaning to, and before long he found himself back in endless fields and rolling hills. But this time he was on a mission. He hadn’t planned on it, but now that he was there, he figured he might as well take advantage of the opportunity. Thanks to a maddening lack of diversity in hill height, Sonic had to basically run up and down every single one and do a spin at the top to cover all possible ground. He’d run up his seventh hill that was slowly flattening out towards a distant town when he finally caught a glimpse of something.
And not just any something, but another crater! This one was a little smaller, but the shape was about the same, and Sonic basically teleported over to it he ran so fast, skidding to a halt right at the center.
But there was nothing. No flash of gold. No bracelet. Nothing at all.
The disappointment was suddenly very sharp and it twisted something in his belly. Frustrated, Sonic turned on his heel and ran back up the same hill he’d seen it from, flopping down in the cool grass. It was a little damp, but Sonic didn’t even notice. With a hasty movement, he yanked the stupid bracelet out again, holding it clenched in a fist at his side.
His frustration simmered as he stared up at the sky. With no moon and without any major cities nearby, the stars were brilliant, each twinkling with a million zillion different colors all in a single second. If Sonic focused, he could sort of catch each millisecond of the jumbled pinpoint rainbows. Lost in the endless view, he momentarily glanced about, searching for a shooting star. Maybe if he could just make a wish… But even as he let the darkness seep in, he caught just the barest hint of light at the horizon threatening just how late it was.
Sonic closed his eyes for all of a single second, ready to finally talk himself back to reason and back home to his bed before Maddie woke them all up for breakfast, when he was very suddenly shocked into the present by a voice he’d literally been hoping to wish upon a star to hear.
“I want my ring back.”
For one whole second, Sonic was just about sure he’d either fallen asleep or was lost in his daydream memories again. Then a blunt sneaker toe nudged at his shoulder, and he sprang upright with the sheer electric energy of the sudden realization.
Shadow looked- actually, he looked pretty normal, since his normal was a little brooding, a little scruffy. The faint dawn light did absolutely nothing for his red highlights, washing them out horribly but catching on the glint of his eyes. …And of three other gold rings to match the one still held tightly in one paw that was unconsciously hidden partially behind Sonic’s hip.
Sonic gaped at the dark hedgehog, drinking in the sight of him, before his brain finally caught up with his heart and he flung himself at Shadow. “You’re not toast!” he cried, fully tackling Shadow and spinning him around in a dizzying circle before slamming him back down on his own two feet. He hopped away to inspect Shadow from every angle, zipping around him in a staggered circle. “Not roasted, not burned to a crisp, probably not irradiated outta existence!” He hopped back in front of Shadow, still staring at him with a painfully wide grin.
Shadow, for his part, was more tolerant of the inspection than Sonic would’ve expected. Granted, it lasted for all of a single second, but still. The guy probably could’ve caught Sonic and strangled him or something if he was against the inspection.
Instead, Shadow just stared at him with a pointed look when Sonic finally stopped moving, not saying anything. Sonic just stared back until he remembered the bracelet in his paw and the words that had startled him mere seconds previously.
“Your bracelet!” He held the thing out with a triumphant flourish, bowing ever so slightly.
“It’s called an inhibitor ring,” Shadow muttered, but he took the bracelet — ring — and quickly snapped it onto his wrist. He rolled the wrist, flexed his fingers, and stood a little straighter. To Sonic’s delight, he even quirked half a brief smile. Though… that might’ve been Sonic’s imagination, or a trick of the ever-growing dawn.
When Shadow didn’t say anything else, like thank you, or ‘hey here’s how I survived all of that,’ Sonic decided to take matters into his own paws.
“So you lived,” he said, leaning a little closer, curious. “How’d that happen? Where’ve you been the past couple days? How’d you lose your bracelet?”
Shadow shot him a bemused look, blinking at the sudden volley of questions. “I told you, it’s not a bracelet, it’s an-“
“Inhibited ring, yeah I know.”
“Inhibit or,” Shadow emphasized, eyes narrowing.
“Still a bracelet though, and that doesn’t answer any of my questions!” Despite the lack of answers and almost bickering tone, Sonic realized he was still grinning as he continued to lean close and scrutinize Shadow. At least now Shadow had the smarts to look a little unnerved by Sonic’s staring, and he took a step back to add a few inches of space between them.
“I am the Ultimate Lifeform,” Shadow said, as if that explained everything. “It takes more than an explosion like that to kill me.”
Sonic snickered, then in one movement sat back down in the grass, cross legged. “Man, humble, much?” He patted the spot on the grass next to him when Shadow didn’t immediately join him. “You also fell through Earth’s atmosphere, and speaking from experience, that is no fun. Plus, your rings don’t help you from crash landing.” At least, Sonic was pretty sure they didn’t, especially since he’d found one himself. “Also, that doesn’t explain where you’ve been the past few days!”
After a delayed moment, Shadow did sit down as well, mirroring their brief moment on the moon. “I found a… refuge,” he said, hesitating. “It took time to find all four of these.” He lifted one wrist for clarification, twisting it around. The very first rays of sunlight caught the gold, hallowing it against the black fur is rested on. “I didn’t expect them to fall here, or for one to be stolen.”
“Stolen?” Sonic shot Shadow an incredulous look. “I didn’t steal it!”
“You took it from its landing spot.” Shadow seemed unpersuaded and unaffected by Sonic’s earnest tone.
“It was in the middle of a crater in a field, man!” Sonic gestured to the rolling hills devoid of all life capable of higher thought. “There’s only like, cows and barbed wire at here. Excuse me for thinking, ‘Hm, maybe I’ll keep this safe for Shadow, if I ever figure out if he died or not.’” His tone was lighthearted, but Shadow seemed surprised, eyes widening for all of a millisecond before narrowing just the same.
“You took it to… give it back to me?” He cocked his head to the side. “That’s not very sound logic.”
Sonic shrugged, flashing a toothy grin. “What can I say, I’m an illogical guy.”
Shadow continued to simply stare at him. His mystified expression was totally worth the sort-of bickering.
Sonic was about to open his mouth and ask another of his questions again, but another ray of morning sunlight escaped past a distant cloud, and he knew he really needed to kick it into overdrive to get back home before someone noticed he hadn’t spent more than thirty seconds in his bed. The problem was that he wasn’t exactly sure what to do now. He had no idea where Shadow had been, no idea what would happen if he left now.
Unwilling to leave without doing something, though, Sonic scooted a little closer. “Sooo since you’re being all mysterious about your current home base, wanna meet back here tomorrow at, like, uh, afternoonish?”
Shadow met his gaze head on. Even if he still looked a little lost, he managed to almost make it look threatening. Almost. “Tomorrow afternoonish…?”
Sonic made a vague noise, waving one paw around. “Afternoonish, yeah, I dunno. Just sometime tomorrow! Or, wait, I guess that would be today. Tomorrow-today. But afternoonish, cause I need at least some sleep.”
Shadow twitched an ear at his rambling. And yet for all of that, he only said, “Why?”
Sonic hadn’t expected the question, which sucked, because he really should have. But because he didn’t, Sonic didn’t have a great response. “Well, I dunno, I figured why not?”
“You want to meet tomorrow-today at afternoonish because you figured why not. ” When Shadow parroted his words back to him like that, he somehow made Sonic’s words sound downright ridiculous.
But as frustrating as it was, it didn’t dissuade Sonic from his intention, and even as Shadow leaned slightly away, he continued to lean in closer. “Yep. That’s what I said.” If Shadow was gonna make fun of his vague wording, Sonic was just going to have to refuse to budge even an inch. They were already on a hill; he might as well die on it.
His determination paid off a moment later when Shadow seemed to give in, sighing a very small, very put-upon sigh. “Fine. But think of a better excuse by tomorrow. Today.”
“You got it!” Sonic cheered, jumping to his feet and fist-pumping a couple times. By then, the morning light was bright enough to catch the bright red of Shadow’s stripes, and Sonic delayed for a moment longer to just stare at him. Alive. Right there, sitting in the grass at Sonic’s feet.
“Are you leaving, now?” Again, Shadow’s voice shook Sonic back to reality.
“Oh, uh, yep! Gotta blast, got breakfast to smash and hospitals to visit, you know how it goes.”
Shadow looked like he did not, however, know how it goes.
Continuously delighted by confusing the other hedgehog, Sonic finally forced himself to hop into a brief warmup before the run home. He’d really have to push it, but he was actually sort of relishing the idea of testing his early morning speed. “I’ll see you tomorrow-today!” Before he found another excuse to dilly-dally, Sonic disappeared across the hills, waving goodbye as he went.