Chapter Text
Sonic was sitting on the roof of the newly fixed Wachowski house staring at the bright and dim stars that danced together across the purple-black sky. The blue blur enjoyed the nightly breeze tickling his back and making his quills stand, the way the silence allowed for him to think freely with no distractions, though recently Sonic’s Mind had been preoccupied for the last few weeks; If only he’d just lasted a bit longer as super then maybe, Just maybe! Shadow would still be alive living with them. They’d all be one big happy family.
The hedgehog's mind wondered, imagining what it'd have been like if Shadow lived with them. How cramped the attic would’ve been, how annoyed Shadow would’ve gotten at having no space to himself. The fighting that would’ve ensued between Shadow and Knuckles would have almost definitely put Maddie and Tom into more debt.
After enjoying the calm silence of the night for a bit longer the ocean-blue hedgehog, currently a dark navy blue, cautiously slipped through the round window careful not to wake his fox and echidna brothers.
The morning sunlight peeked through the small window behind Sonic's bed highlighting the bright ocean-blue quills that peaked out from under the blankets. He was rudely disturbed from his slumber by the sound of the attic door swinging open with a squeaky, high pitched squeal. Ozzy nudged the blankets off with his muzzle and licked Sonic’s face. The dog's saliva seeped through his fur and made contact with his skin. “Nooo, go awayyyy!” He whined, voice full of sleep; he pulled the blankets back over his head.
Maddie set a small box of comic’s down and turned to Sonic with a raised eyebrow,“Not up yet? Sonic? Are you sneaking out again?”
“No, been there done that, Now tell Ozzy to leave me aloneeee!” Sonic groaned, still trying to keep Ozzy from lifting the blankets.
“Sonic get up baby, We’re going to the lake, remember?” Maddie pulled the blankets off the bed and Sonic huffed but begrudgingly gave up on sleeping. Blue had been looking forward to this trip anyways, the lake was near his old cave and he was excited to visit it (even though he could visit it anytime he forgot about it a lot).
After laying his bed for a bit longer the bright blue hedgehog finally sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked where his head had been laying. Blue quills covered the pillow and a bit of the bed. “Uhg, curse spring shedding!” he grumbled to himself knowing he was going to find quills in his stuff for months after the season ended. Sonic cleaned and made his little race car bed then made his way downstairs and slipped into the kitchen to possibly steal a bit of Maddie or Tom’s leftover coffee (even though he hates coffee), to wake himself up a bit more.
“Morning Sonic, how’d you sleep?” Tom appeared behind Sonic catching him off guard. He jumped and coffee shot out of his snout right back into the cup and his spikes stuck up. “Jeez dad, don’t scare me like that!” The blur coughed and put the mug in the sink, “And also I slept fine just waking up still.”
“Sorry bud, didn’t mean to scare you,” Tom ruffled his non-restricted hand through the ocean blue quills making them go down. He didn’t seem to notice that the mug had coffee in it. “Also, just to let you know Maddie and Knuckles are going to make breakfast here in a bit, they are currently pulling out Red’s apron from the wash. You’d better get out soon, you know how Knuckles is about people(other than Maddie), in the kitchen while he cooks,” Tom chuckled while walking out of the kitchen. He plopped down on the couch behind Tails, who was sitting on the floor captivated by Bluey. Sonic, with nothing better to do, joined Tom and Tails despite disliking the show. He figured he could pass the time while breakfast was being made.
Some time later (after like 8 episodes of Bluey), Maddie called out from the kitchen carrying a plate full of the ripest, greenest grapes and another plate full of crispy bacon, “Boys, Time for breakfast!”
Tom went to grab drinks for everyone (since he couldn’t really help with the other stuff), while Sonic and Tails helped put everything on the table. Sonic grabbed a plate of pancakes along with the syrup while Tails grabbed the bowl of strawberries and blueberries snagging a few on his way to the table. Soon everything was set; they all sat down, thanked the chef’s, and dug in.
“Are you boys ready to enjoy the lake?” Maddie asked, putting a strawberry into her mouth.
“I am going to destroy the fox in a friendly battle of sand ball!” Knuckles lifted his fist in triumph
“Not this time!” Tails grinned and then pulled out an invention made out of Ozzy's missing ball throwers and a few old car parts from the time Knuckles destroyed the car to make a throne, “I call it the Sand-Hand! This time you’ll be the one trying to pick all the sand out of your fur–”
“And quillths!” Sonic interrupted with his cheeks stuffed full of food. The amber fox scoffed “–Quills and fur, whatever, I don’t care right now. My point is with this I’ll win!” Knuckles Snorted, “Enjoy your false hope while it lasts, fox!” Tails glared about to retort but Maddie stopped him.“Alright, alright, that’s enough. You guys can smack talk to each other when we get there,” She turned to Tails with her eyebrows raised, “Now what did we say about the inventions Tails?”
“No inventions at the table,” The amber fox pouted and put the machine in the yellow backpack he always carried with him.
Maddie nodded and turned to Sonic who was already helping himself to another round of pancakes, “How about you Sonic? Are you excited about anything?”
“Mhm, my old cafe ith around dare,” The blur nodded, his voice muffled with pancakes in his cheeks.
After everyone finished eating they went to finish packing the car. Knuckles loaded some of the heavier stuff, Tails loaded most of the pool floats, Tom brought out extra towels (just in case), and Sonic went behind to check if they were forgetting anything while they loaded Ozzy into the car.
The car ride wasn’t long (about 20-30 minutes), but to Sonic it felt like an eternity. Tails insisted that they watch Bluey even though Sonic and Knuckles didn’t wanna watch it. Tom and Maddie were no help at either, instead they encouraged it because the show ‘taught good lessons’ or whatever. Eventually Sonic accepted the fact that for the next 30 minutes they were going to watch Bluey so he sat back and drowned out the show to catch up on some much needed sleep.
The hedgehog was disturbed from his nap with Tails' paws thrusting weakly against Sonic’s shoulder and side. “Sonic get up! We’re here and I don’t want Knuckles to get a head start!” The fox whined.
The blur sat up disoriented for a moment before rubbing his eyes and stretching. The nap had given him some much needed energy. “Sorry Tails,” He hopped out of the car and Tails swiftly followed, already rushing to unpack stuff before Knuckles could get a chance to set up his base of operations.
By the time everything was unpacked Sonic’s shoes were full of sand and he was sitting on the cooler emptying them out, thankful he was wearing socks. Tails and Knuckles were at sand ball war with the foxes' new invention actually posing a threat to Knuckles winning streak and Maddie and Tom were sipping on coke, watching Ozzy try to catch some of the fish that came closer to the shore, and occasionally checking to make sure the sand ball war did get out of hand.
“Dad, Mom,” The hedgehog began to empty the sand out of his second shoe, smacking the bottom to make sure everything got out, “I’m going to visit my old cave after. I. Finish. Getting. The. Sand. Out. Of. This. Shoe!”
Maddie turned to look at the blue hedgehog still beating sand out of his shoe, “Is your phone charged?”
Sonic paused for a moment and pulled his phone out of his quills to check, ‘70%,’ then he nodded. He tucked his phone safely back into his thick blue quills, slipped his shoes back on, and stretched his arms and legs in preparation to run. “Call us if you need anything! And don’t die!” Tom called out as the blue flash swiftly disappeared into the thick brush of the forest.
Blue lightning danced through the tall, thick trees as the bright blue hedgehog enjoyed the familiar, comforting smell of Pine, Jasmine, moss and other things filled his nostrils. He stopped a few times to look around spots in the forest he used to spend hours playing at such as the big white pine tree that sat on a ledge of a cliff. The hedgehog swung on an old rope swing hung over one of the numerous small creeks that would, in the end, lead down to the many lakes that scattered the Mission and Salish mountains.
Eventually Sonic recognized a small birch tree he’d marked with some blue paint he stole a few weeks after he had gotten to earth. The hedgehog ran his hand over the fading blue arrow and looked for the other one to follow. Ensuing the trail of arrows lead him back to his old cave: A hole in the ground he called home (it did not cover from rain very well).
He slipped down into the ancient hole in the ground, the smell of wet moss and rocks becoming stronger. Blue picked up his old nun-chucks off the dusty ping-pong table, feeling the weight of them in his paws. He swung them around, hitting himself in the face, and knocking himself down. “Ow!” The hedgehog grumbled to himself, rubbing snout, “Every time!”
He put the nun-chucks back where they were and admired the small details of his former residence. The way the early bloom of the honeysuckle flowers draped over his painting or how some of the dusty, forgotten decor covered parts of the walls he himself was surprised he reached. He ran his gloved paw along the table remembering all the good times he had with it.
A small, almost unnoticeable golden shimmer heeded Sonic’s attention to a corner of the cave when he was about to leave. It was the part that had once sheltered Sonic from the cruel wet cold of rain and snow, now there was a massive hole in the ceiling where small bits of unstable dirt and rocks fell through and parts of the tree-root system were now exposed. The ceiling looked as though it could collapse at any moment so the hedgehog approached the pile of rubble cautiously making sure to not cause too much of a ruckus.
After meticulously digging away the mix of dirt, rocks, and broken roots he finally managed to unearth a—golden bracelet? A really big ring Maybe? A bracelet made more sense. The blue hedgehog ran his gloved paws over the hollow grooves carved into the gold, that despite previously being covered in dirt, shimmered like it was routinely cleaned.
For awhile Sonic sat against the wall of the part of the cave that wasn’t on the brink of collapse, wondering how anyone could even manage to get it on considering there was no clip and it was too small to fit around his hand; his phone went off with a text from Tom ‘ Be back soon it’s getting late .’
Sonic poked his head out of the entrance of the cave, barely able to see the sun setting through the trees. Blue inspected the familiar area for a moment then he placed the ring on the earth above and lifted himself so that he was sitting on the edge. The hedgehog tucked the bracelet safely in his ocean-blue quills and flew through the woods.
“Sonic! So nice of you to grace us with your presence,” Tom remarked in a joking, sarcastic tone as soon as the hedgehog arrived. Sonic hoisted the two camping chairs the adults sat in over his shoulders and caught up with Tom who was walking Ozzy to the car.
“Who won the sand ball war?” Blue asked, adjusting one of the chairs. Tom pulled Ozzy back a bit since he was walking too fast and shook his head, “Knuckles winning streak is over and he is not happy.” The hedgehog snickered as they neared the black, bulky car, “I’m sure.”
Later, after the vehicle was loaded, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles crammed into the row of white leather seats. As soon as he got comfortable, the two-tailed fox immediately put Bluey back on without asking anyone—not that it would change the outcome. Knuckles started picking at the sand bits lodged between the long, red quills that covered his head.
After some time of staring out the window Sonic felt a head fall against his shoulder. He glanced beside him to catch sight of Tails huddled up, quivering on the seat, utilizing his two tails as a blanket to shield himself from the cold air. The hedgehog outstretched his foot to push the little button that switched the AC on and off. Immediately, the fox’s body trembled less allowing him to rest a bit more peacefully.