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The weather is pleasantly hot with a burning sun and nary a cloud in the blue sky. The wind picks up occasionally to bring a cool breeze throughout the natural world. It would be nice for the wind to keep blowing, but that would only kick up the sand stretching out across the coastline. The Mobians spending their afternoon on the beach wouldn’t appreciate getting sand in their eyes. The ones who have escaped to the ocean to avoid the heat also wouldn’t like the wind forming choppy waves across the water’s roughened surface. Sacrifices must be made, though it’s hard to call them ‘sacrifices’ when everyone is having too much fun to remember a word with such a negative connotation exists.
Shadow wouldn’t be the first to say he’s enjoying himself. He wouldn’t be the last, either, since he plainly wouldn’t admit this. The words are, however, likely unnecessary. He’s been playing beach volleyball for a little over an hour now. There isn’t a way he can pretend he isn’t having at least a little fun. No one would believe him if he spoke about how he’s only proving the Ultimate Lifeform can’t be bested in silly games such as this one. Luckily, no one seems eager to ask him if he’s having fun as they each do their best to win the game.
Shadow is on one side of the net with Tails. Knuckles and Sonic are on the other side. Shadow doesn’t know how they ended up in this arrangement, but there was a subtle shift in Shadow and Tails’ teamwork skills that has allowed them to win some of the games against the other two. This is likely also because Knuckles and Sonic aren’t the best at working together. They seem to have forgotten they’re competing against Shadow and Tails and are instead competing against each other to get the volleyball. Additionally, Knuckles is clearly treating the game far more seriously than Sonic is which frustrates the former and goads the latter into teasing Knuckles.
Shadow doesn’t know how he feels about winning against such lackluster opponents. If Knuckles and Sonic weren’t able to pull their act together a few times to win themselves, Shadow would have quit playing already. Or, more likely, he would have forced the teams to switch. No one can completely handle Sonic, but Shadow knows he’s far better at it than Knuckles is. Tails might be the best of them all, though, so Shadow might find himself teaming with Knuckles.
None of that is important, though. He’s on Tails’ team, and they’ve just won yet another match. The kit drops onto the ground having used his tails to gain an advantage over Sonic and Shadow’s speed and Knuckles’ strength. Tails twists around to display his palm toward Shadow. A large smile splits his face in half. Shadow holds back a sigh as he slams their paws together. Tails’ smile twitches. Shadow looks away from Tails, only a touch sorry for overusing his strength.
“Come on, Knuckles, we’ll get them next time—” Sonic’s voice is carried through the net by the wind picking up. Shadow moves a paw in front of his lips to keep any sand from entering his mouth. He hates the taste and texture of sand, and it’s made even worse by his enhanced senses.
“Shut it, hedgehog,” Knuckles threatens, pointing at Sonic’s chest.
Sonic laughs merrily. “You should know by now that I don’t stop talking that easily.”
Knuckles’ eye twitches. Shadow turns his head away to hide his amusement. The echidna starts marching towards Sonic. The hedgehog’s eyebrow arches. Knuckles grabs onto Sonic, throwing the blue blur that didn’t get a chance to become a blur over his shoulder. Sonic hits his fists against Knuckles’ back and kicks his feet into Knuckles’ stomach. Knuckles remains stalwart through it all. Shadow crosses his arms over his chest. He watches Knuckles carry Sonic closer to the water. He can hear Sonic yelling at Knuckles, but the sound of the waves breaking against the shore is too loud for Shadow to make out any individual words.
“Wait a minute, Knuckles, Sonic doesn’t like the water!” Tails shouts. Genuine worry mars the kit’s face. Shadow glances between Tails and Knuckles dragging Sonic along. The hedgehog’s fighting has grown more intense now that Knuckles is wading into the shallows. The water reflects the frenzied chaos energy unwinding from Sonic’s frantic movements. Knuckles still hasn’t visibly reacted to it.
“Knuckles!” Tails’ shouting grows louder. He starts running toward the edge of the water. Shadow’s frown deepens. He already knew Sonic doesn’t like the water, but he doesn’t understand Tails’ reaction right now. Shadow finds himself following the kit at a slower pace. He’s curious how this is going to end. He’s also a little concerned, but that’s something he isn’t going to admit aloud.
Knuckles grabs Sonic’s quills. He tugs the hedgehog off of him. Sonic’s paws reach out to grab onto Knuckles. He scrambles against Knuckles’ shoulders. When he doesn’t manage to hold tight, he grabs Knuckles’ wrist. Knuckles lowers Sonic into the water. In a few seconds, Sonic is dropped face-down in the water. Sonic goes motionless. His grip is weak enough for Knuckles to lift his paw out of the water. He stares at the body bobbing in the water beside his legs. Sonic is of comparable height to Knuckles, so he should be able to stand in the shallows beside Knuckles. He should be able to get his head above water.
But he doesn’t. He remains face-down in the water. Knuckles frowns at him. Tails splashes into the water, but he freezes when the waves brush against his chest. Shadow stops at the shoreline. The water is up to his ankles. He reaches a paw forward.
“Knuckles! Help him up!” Amy commands him. She and Rouge are sitting on floaties some distance away from the boys. Amy pushes down her sunglasses to show the concern in her peridot green eyes.
“He should—”
“Knuckles,” Rouge remarks.
Knuckles huffs, but he doesn’t argue further. He grabs Sonic’s quills. He lifts the hedgehog above the surface. Like a flipped switch, Sonic starts moving once his head is no longer beneath the water. He throws his limbs in every direction almost like he wants to be dropped again. When Knuckles slightly lowers him, however, he wraps both arms around Knuckles’ wrist. The echidna drags Sonic out of the shallows and onto the beach. Tails hurries over to his side.
Shadow keeps his distance. He watches Knuckles drop Sonic onto the sand. Sonic curls into himself. His quills are damp, but they shoot out to protect him. His paws clasp together in front of his lips and nose. Unseeing eyes peer over the side, and the irises are dim enough to resemble moss rather than emeralds. It is those darkened irises that draw Shadow close enough to hear Sonic’s whispering. He’s talking quickly and quietly to no one at all. It takes a moment, but Shadow realizes Sonic is likely praying. “—we, the sinners of sea and sky, shall henceforth be purged of our sins. Bury us in the ground, hold us beneath the water, burn us with the fires—”
“Sonic,” Tails murmurs. He drops onto his knees in front of Sonic. He holds Sonic’s paws between his own. Sonic doesn’t react in the slightest. Tails leans forward, trying to put himself in Sonic’s line of sight. Tails closes his tightly. He’s clearly trying to remember something, and he eventually starts speaking louder than Sonic’s prayer. “Umm… The waters have— did— no, have relinquished us from moral— mortal bindings. The waves are clear and true as our souls will be when we are cleansed…”
Tails continues until Sonic starts repeating the correct prayer. Tails smiles at Sonic. The hedgehog’s face is eerily blank when he finishes. His paws fall to his knees. He stares straight ahead without seeing anything in front of him. His body shakes— sometimes violently enough to send water spurting from his mouth— but Sonic otherwise remains still. He doesn’t consciously move.
“We should get him somewhere safe,” Tails says, waving a paw in front of Sonic’s eyes to prove how out-of-it the hedgehog is. Shadow has never seen Sonic disassociate before. He didn’t know it was something Sonic would do under distress. He’s always seemed too lively to go completely silent and still like this.
“I’ll do it,” Shadow declares. Tails glances at him skeptically. Shadow doesn’t dignify that look with a verbal response. He, instead, steps forward to take Sonic into his arms. The azure hedgehog lets him, though Shadow knows Sonic would likely let anything happen to him right now.
“Where are you taking him—” Shadow turns, running forward without listening to the rest of Knuckles’ question. He definitely doesn’t answer it as his running creates its own wind to surround him. It is cold to a mostly dry Shadow. He wonders if the cold is getting through to Sonic.
Shadow takes Sonic to the azure hedgehog’s house. Shadow forces the door open. It doesn’t take too much strength since Sonic didn’t lock his door before leaving for the beach trip earlier. Shadow doesn’t know if this was on purpose or accident. He would normally ask Sonic directly, but the hedgehog isn’t any more responsive now than he was on the beach. All Shadow can do is close and lock the door behind him.
Shadow sets Sonic down on the edge of the couch. He waits for Sonic to tip in either direction. The hedgehog leans forward, but that’s the extent of his motions. Shadow goes to a different part of the house to grab towels from the bathroom. Shadow brings back a stack of them. He leaves a majority on the coffee table. He uses the one off the top, however, to lay out across the couch. He nudges Sonic’s shoulder, sending the hedgehog onto his back. Sonic curls onto the towel, wrapping his arms tightly around himself. Once he settles, he doesn’t move again— not even when Shadow starts drying Sonic’s body off with a different towel from the stack.
Shadow doesn’t finish drying Sonic off so much as he decides to stop. He leaves a towel on Sonic’s body. He reaches forward to pull the blanket from off the back of the couch onto Sonic. He doesn’t know if the slight tremor in Sonic’s body is from the cold, but the blanket should help him to some extent.
Shadow plops down on the edge of the coffee table. He stares at Sonic for a long time, waiting for some reaction. After a while of nothing, Shadow tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling. Or, rather, he lets his eyes focus there, but his attention is really on his own thoughts. He traces what happened for some sign of what is happening. After pissing Knuckles off, Sonic was dragged into the water by the echidna. Tails said plainly that Sonic didn’t like the water. Sonic’s reaction to it proves this point. But if he doesn’t like the water, why didn’t he get out of it himself? Why didn’t he fight more when he was in the water? Why didn’t he start fighting until he was dragged out?
Furthermore, why was Sonic’s first reaction to getting out of the ocean to… pray? Was he praying? Shadow has never heard Sonic pray before. While he doesn’t have proof Sonic isn’t religious, he’s never known the azure hedgehog to be. Even in dire situations, Sonic hasn’t invoked any deity’s name. He might drag a gods’ name into a curse, but those are just expressions to Mobians. ‘Oh my Gaia,’ ‘what the chaos,’ that sort of thing. They don’t mean anything. This, however, must have meant something to Sonic. It was the first thing he did on the beach. It was the only noise and motion he made.
How did it go again? “We… the— the, er, sinners from… No, sinners for… Sinners of sea and— and—”
“Forgive us, o’ righteous Gaia, so that we, the sinners of sea and sky, shall henceforth be purged of our sins. Bury us in the ground, hold us beneath the water, burn us with the fires. In our suffering, may we find you and your glorious salvation. Create indomitable souls within our bodies, ones fit to praise your name and exorcise the evil within our hearts.”
Shadow startles. His eyes slide back down to Sonic. His irises are a little brighter, but he still seems tired. Sonic pushes himself onto his back. He stares at the ceiling, crossing his forearm over his forehead. “There’s more to the prayer. It goes on and on which sucks because it’s the prayer you’re supposed to repeat after receiving your punishment for committing a transgression. If you want, I could teach you the whole thing.”
“Are you…” Shadow drifts off. He doesn’t know how to finish his words.
Sonic snorts. “I’m fine. I could use a nap, but that’s about it. Thanks for bringing me here. Or sorry you had to bring me here.”
“Don’t apologize,” Shadow firmly states. He narrows his eyes at Sonic. The azure hedgehog arches a brow. Shadow maintains eye contact when he whispers, “What happened?”
Sonic sighs. He kicks his legs up with enough force to bring his upper body upright. Sonic grabs onto one of his knees, wrapping both arms around it. His eyes transfer from the ceiling to the wall across the living room, but Shadow doubts there’s much difference between the structures in Sonic’s mind. “Isn’t it obvious? I freaked out.”
“Why did you freak out?” Shadow presses forward. “Why are you afraid of water?”
“Those are some personal questions, my good friend. If I answer them, I might ruin some of my mystique,” Sonic notes with a rueful smile on his face. He leans toward Shadow, tilting his head to stare at the ebony hedgehog. Sonic’s smile weakens when he’s unable to meet Shadow’s eyes. “They also have rather… heavy answers. You don’t have to listen if you don’t want to.”
Shadow frowns. His expression sets with determination. He flicks Sonic’s forehead, startling the blue blur enough to make him wince and laugh at the same time. “You listen to my heavy answers.”
Sonic chuckles at the tacit response. He swings his legs over the side of the couch. He stands long enough to drop his weight onto the coffee table beside Shadow. This is either an attempt to avoid eye contact with Shadow, or it’s because Sonic wants to nudge their shoulders together. It succeeds at both, in any case, as Sonic tilts his head back and leans his weight into Shadow.
“Well, let’s see, where should I start? Um… contrary to popular belief, I was born. I was a hoglet once. I never knew my parents, though. I lived with my uncle. He was very religious. He believed in Gaia as a primordial entity protecting the planet. He wasn’t entirely wrong. He’d blow a gasket if he knew about Dark Gaia, though,” Sonic snorts. Shadow decides not to ask what Sonic means about ‘Dark Gaia.’ It isn’t worth it to get answers right now when Sonic is actually opening up about his past. “I wasn’t a good hoglet. I got in trouble a lot. I would break things. I would run away. I would pull mostly harmless pranks. My uncle loved me. He loved me enough to punish me when I did something wrong. And his punishment was… to hold my head beneath the water. When I was younger, it was the sink. Later, it was the bathtub. It also… He would hold my head under the water for longer once I was older. It didn’t matter if I stayed awake or passed out. I would have to recite that prayer after he did it. Every time. I haven’t said it in years, but I guess it isn’t so surprising that I still remember it.”
Sonic’s eyes fall shut. “Forgive us, o’ righteous Gaia, so that we, the sinners of sea and sky, shall henceforth be purged of our sins. Bury us in the ground, hold us beneath the water, burn us with the fires… I guess I should be happy he never tried burying me or setting me on fire.”
“Sonic.” It’s only a name, but there’s so much unsaid within the one phrase. It is packed in the space between Shadow’s quiet yet present emotions.
A half-smile pulls on Sonic’s face. His eyes tighten even more. “That’s not why I avoid water, though. It… One day, I did something really bad. I don’t remember what it was anymore, but… My uncle was pissed. He grabbed the back of my quills. He dragged me out of our home. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t hurt me any more than necessary. But I knew from the look in his eyes that this was it. He was going to kill me this time. And he tried to. I remember the prayer he was chanting when he shoved me into the river. I just knew he wasn’t going to let me up until I was dead. Driven by some instinct to live, I grabbed a rock from the riverbed. I don’t really remember doing it, but I must have hit him in the head with the rock. There was blood on my glove and on the back of his head, after all. He just laid there. I ran. I never saw him get back up. I never went back. I don’t know if he lived or if he… Going into water makes me feel like I’m being punished for what I did. Maybe I deserve to be. Maybe I deserve to dro—”
“Don’t,” Shadow commands. He narrows his eyes at Sonic. The azure hedgehog lifts his gaze from his paws to Shadow’s face. “Don’t say that. Whether he lived or he died, it wasn’t your fault.”
Sonic regards Shadow carefully. He is silent for a long time. Shadow is about to force himself to speak more to fill the void, but Sonic beats him right when Shadow’s gathered his courage. He whistles briefly, letting it lead him into his words. “Ey, you’re probably right. I mean, I’ve done a lot of good since then. I took care of Tails. I saved the planet a few times. I even met Gaia. Which, for the record, jokes on my uncle, Chip would have hated what he did.”
Shadow doesn’t know what that part means, so he ignores it. “Even if you hadn’t done any good, no one can blame you for wanting to live. You can’t blame yourself, either.”
“I don’t know if I should distrust you since this sounds hypocritical or believe you because you’re likely speaking from a place of empathy,” Sonic mutters contemplatively. Shadow tenses. Sonic rolls his shoulders. He gives Shadow a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, I— probably— shouldn’t have said that. For what it’s worth, I think I’m going to believe you. I mean, I still don’t want to go anywhere near the water, but that’s…”
“Expected,” Shadow concludes. “And fine.”
“Yeah, expected and fine.” Sonic nods slowly. Sonic releases a heavy exhale. He lowers his head against Shadow’s shoulder. “Alright, I really am exhausting myself here between almost drowning and going down memory lane. Thanks for looking after me… and listening to what I had to say.”
“Thank you for telling me,” Shadow responds.
Sonic chuckles under his breath. “So, you do know how to say ‘thank you.’”
“Go to sleep,” Shadow orders him, causing Sonic to laugh a little longer. When he finishes, Shadow sets his chin on top of Sonic’s head. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Sonic hums. It is the last response Shadow gets before Sonic’s weight completely sinks against him and his heartbeat slows. Shadow doesn’t need to look to know Sonic has fallen asleep. Shadow transitions Sonic from his shoulder to the couch. He moves the blanket around the sleeping hedgehog. Once Sonic’s settled, Shadow sets himself back on the edge of the coffee table. Like he said, he’s going to be here when Sonic wakes up, but for now, he’ll let the blue blur sleep.