Archive of Our Own

A Sapphire Nightmare

Chapter 1: Clues and Changes Across Dimensions

Sonadow story by Danny Blade

‘Green Hills, Earth. Present Day'

The sky shone a bright blue and the town of Green Hills was packed, ready for the St. Patricks Day Parade. After dressing up in as much green as his quills would allow, Sonic tied Shadow up in a green scarf and they headed towards Main Street.

“I look ridiculous!” Shadow implied, trying to untangle himself from the knitted scarf.

“You have to wear green today or you’ll have bad luck!” Sonic laughed, giving him a hug. Shadow pushed him away as he managed to get the scarf more or less wrapped around his neck instead of his head.

“You made it!” Tails called from the crowd. He was wearing green gloves.

“See?” Sonic grinned, emphasizing Tails’ choice of green attire. Shadow rolled his eyes. Still not convinced.

“I wanna get on with the day.” Shadow said grouchily pushing through the crowd. Tails and Sonic quickly followed him as he headed towards a seat by the front of the Parade. A man walking a dog passed by them; Shadow gave it a cuddle before continuing forward.

“So today, I had the idea we’d first go to-“ Tails carried on this way for a while, but Sonic wasn’t listening. He’d noticed a while ago Shadow wasn’t looking very good. They’d been officially married for a year and he had never seen Shadow like dogs so much as he had in the last week. He also seemed to go from being the silent type to very chatty and then ready to pass-out in seconds. Shadow started to look tired suddenly.

“How about we start with some coffee?” Sonic suggested.

“S-sure.” Tails stuttered, also noting Shadow’s odd look of tiredness. Sonic and Tails exchanged glances, nodding. Shadow did not seem to notice. “I know just where to go.” Tails smiled.

The diner was packed, but they found a spot in the corner booth and Sonic ordered his normal, “4 Chili- dogs, please!”

“Do you have lemonade?” Shadow asked. Tails and Sonic stared at him. Sonic felt a bit shaken up. Lemonade? Last week he had been drinking iced coffee which, Sonic admits was not completely strange, but lemonade?

“Of course! Be right out.” Shadow noticed them staring.

“What?”

“You okay, Shads?” Sonic asked, reaching for his hand.

“Look, I’m just tired.” He stated, pulling away.

“Uh huh...” Tails and Sonic exchanged glances again. No snappy response or insistence of being fine. Odd.

“Well, Faker, I think you just don’t want to go to this Parade!” Sonic laughed. No change.

“I just need some sleep.” Sonic’s jaw nearly dropped. He’d just called him ‘Faker’ and there was no snappy come-back? Rude remark? Retaliation?

“I-I guess we better get you to bed then.” Sonic stuttered, not wanting to escalate whatever was going on.

Sonic brought Shadow back to their house and tucked him in.

“You want anything, babe?” He double checked. Shadow shook his head. “Ok, I’m-I’m gonna go have dinner with the group but if you need anything, you call me, ok?” Shadow glared at him before turning away. Sonic sighed. He felt kinda selfish leaving the love of his life in this weird state of tiredness to go have fun. Especially since he knew Shadow wouldn’t call him for

help if he was on his dying breath. He’d never admit he needed help.

*****



‘Sparky’s Tavern, Mobius. Cuisine Dimension. Present Day.’

“You’re sure you saw him in this zone?” Detective Zoraxel of the No-Zone Cops asked, thrusting a photo of Sonic in the bar tenders face. In the picture, Sonic had dark indigo fur, bright eyes without pupils, and gold armor covering his chest, shoulders, boots and gloves, but no helmet or weapon. On the chest plate of the armor was the crest of a blue sapphire above crossed, blue swords.

“Oh yes.” The man said, cleaning a glass. “He was here all right. Asked me for food and directions. But he had no money!” The bar tender grinned, smugly. “He gave me a piece of his gold armor for shelter, food and directions.”

“Show me!” The detective demanded.

“And what do I get in return?” The bar man asked, holding out his hand. “My bar’s going out of business. Could use a little help.” Detective Zoraxel debated threatening him, but decided it wasn’t worth the paperwork. He handed him a few hundred from his pocket and the bar man smiled. He pulled from his pocket what looked like the tip of a gold armor glove finger. The detective scanned it. The bar man did not lie. There was a radiation of the Sapphire Chaos on it.

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

“We’re not done.” Detective Zoraxel stated, slamming the gold on the bar table.

*****

‘Green Hills, Earth. Present Day.’

“Are you sure you’re feeling all right, Shads?” Sonic asked as Shadow coughed. Sonic had decided to stay with Shadow and skip the parade, despite his desire to enjoy the once-a year festivities. He also passed on the dinner that had been planned since February, making sure things were well with Shadow instead. He made chili dog soup earlier, Shadow even tried to eat some, to Sonic’s surprise. He never ate his chili’s or anything with beans. He preferred the French cuisine.

Sonic reached over from the left of the bed. It was midnight and Sonic had long since snuggled up with him, despite the strange attitude he was portraying. Sonic felt his forehead. It was hot and he was sweating.

“You seem kinda hot.” Sonic said, worried. “Then again you’ve always been that!” Sonic added with a laugh.

“I’m fine.” Shadow argued, trying to pull the sheets up but kicking them off as his body temperature rose. “I can’t get sick! This...This must just be from the soup you made or something.” Trying not to feel insulted, Sonic turned the light on and saw sweat running down his brow. He jumped out of bed and grabbed a cold, wet towel. He quickly covered Shadows forehead; Shadow could argue all he wanted but there was something wrong.

“Can I at least take your temperature?” Sonic begged.

“I am the ultimate life form! I can’t get sick!” Shadow choked, throwing the towel away and sitting up. Suddenly he grabbed his stomach and stared at Sonic with a look that Sonic had only seen twice before; the first being when he realized blowing up the earth was not his purpose, and the second being when he admitted he loved Sonic. It was the look of scared confusion. Quickly he covered his mouth and pushed Sonic aside as he jumped out of bed, only to throw up on the carpet. Sonic was in shock for a moment but he quickly snapped himself into hero mode and steadied Shadow as he panted.

“You’ll be fine, relax.” Shadow threw up again. “Everything will be ok!”

*****



‘The Cosmic Interstate. Present Day.’

Detective Zoraxel of the No-Zone Cops stomped angrily down the Cosmic Interstate, a highway between dimensions, towards Anti-Mobius, a reverse dimension of the Mobius Prime. He had just given up several hundred of his own dollars for a bar tender to tell him that he saw the Dark Prince over ten years ago? The man had been holding onto the gold for years because gold buyers stated it was fake gold as the radiation on it was not natural. Detective Zoraxel had hoped The Dark Prince was still taking refuge at the bar or something! Now he had to do more searching.

He pulled out the gold slate of armor. At least he had one more clue to tracking that monster, he thought. He quickly tore a rift to the No-Zone, a pocket dimension specifically dedicated to catching and holding the most dangerous villains in the multiverse, and he jumped in. The world turned perpendicular. What was on the ground was now standing sideways as the artificial gravity allowed him and the No-Zone Cops to stay vertically oriented while everything else was magnetically pulled to a side-ways stance. It was known as spatial stabilization.

Detective Zoraxel quickly ran to the Warden’s Office, in the Zone Jail. Warden Zobotnik was the current head of the Zone Jail. The Zone Jail was created in the beginning of time and despite two successful break-outs, the record of keeping the dangerous felons locked up was spotless.

“Warden, sir, I believe I have another clue as to the whereabouts of the Dark Prince!” Detective Zoraxel stated, excitedly. Warden Zobotnik was not as intrigued.

“Detective, you have been on his trail specifically for 12 years now. Nothing bad has gone wrong, it’s clear he seems to have vanished with no interest or pursuit in evil, it’s time you expand your search to more critical matters at hand.”

“But-“

“I want you to put the capture of that felon aside, I want you to look at the whole.” The Warden commanded. The detective felt like a giant anvil just hit him in the chest. All his hard work...gone.

“I have another case,” the Warden continued. “- something more important for you to look into. There has been possible hints of Sapphire Radiation in the Multiverse. I don’t think this is the Dark Prince specifically, that’s why The Sapphire Nightmare needs to be addressed.” Detective Zoraxel looked up. He gripped tightly to the slate of gold armor he’d recovered and saluted, keeping it hidden from the Warden. Maybe all his effort wasn’t a complete loss.

*****

‘Green Hills, Earth. Present Day.’

Sonic had cleaned up everything and Shadow was back in bed with a wet towel on his head. Sonic had persuaded him to take his temperature and it proved he had a high fever. But Shadow still refused to go to the ER so it was up to Sonic to figure out the problem.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Shadow groaned. Sonic bit his lip, debating if he should mention anything, but Shadow was not fooled. “What are you hiding?” He growled. “You are hiding something, you only shut up and look away when you are hiding something. What?” Sonic sighed and sat down next to Shadow. Unable to say it he simply reached over and poked his belly which had been getting slightly plump recently.

Shadow looked at him, confused. Then realized what he was getting at and immediately pushed Sonic away.

“Hell no!”

“It’s from lack of exercise!” Shadow argued. “Since I’ve been with you I’ve stopped taking on so many missions from GUN.”

“Seriously? You don’t think anything else could be the case?” Sonic objected. “I mean, Come on, Shads! You’ve stopped drinking coffee and now drink lemonade, and it’s winter.” Sonic noted. “You just got sick, you tend to be rather quiet but lately you’ve started talking a lot more and your mood has been kinda...well you keep going from being normal laid back and grouchy to weirdly excited about things.” Sonic remembered the puppy Shadow was cuddling yesterday.

“So? It’s nothing new!” Shadow argued. “I’m always like that. And lemonade is good! You should try it.” Sonic pursed his lips. Shadow was never easy to convince. That hadn’t changed. “I’m a guy, Sonic.” Shadow claimed. “I can’t get pregnant. If I could then why don’t you? Why aren’t you the one with the kid?”

“Rouge showed me how you are technically an artificial life form. Wha-” Shadow grabbed Sonic by the neck fur.

“What do you mean Rouge showed you?”

“The file...” Sonic choked.

“You read my files?” Shadow tightened his grip on Sonic’s neck. “Not even I’ve read those! What gave you the right too?”

“I...didn’t...read-“ Sonic squeaked. Shadow loosened his grip but didn’t let go. “I didn’t read them, Shadow. I can’t focus enough to read something like that, you know that.” Shadow let Sonic go. This is true.

“But Rouge gave me the basics, simply because she wanted me to know, as a friend to you, Shads, who I’m getting in bed with. And it’s a fact you aren’t a Mobian.” Shadow got up, clearly shamed of what he was. But Sonic grabbed him. “Baby, you know none of that matters to me.” Shadow paused. “Just take the test and we’ll find out if it’s the answer or there’s something else to worry about.” Shadow sat back down.

“Fine.” In a flash, Sonic ran to the store and back.

“You got this!” He smiled handing the pregnancy test to Shadow.

*****

‘Zone-Jail. Present Day.’

“Detective.” A deep voice muttered from behind the drying sheets. A large Mobian with a Crocodile heritage stepped forth. Detective Zoraxel turned off the spatial stabilizer on his wrist, the device that kept him perpendicular to the convicts, and he fell to the angle of the inmate.

“Croc.” The Detective replied. “Any word so far?”

“No sir, but don’t worry. The Snot King was captured yesterday.”

“Scourge was captured, again?” Detective Zoraxel chuckled.

“Yes,” Croc agreed. “And we all know his relation to the Dark Prince.”

“Scourge isn’t easy to break though.”

“Oh, I’ll break him.” Croc punched his fist in his hand. “I’ll get what I need from that Snot Lord.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring.” The Detective replied, pondering history Scourge had with the Dark Prince.

“Well, it’s better than nothing, right?” Croc snorted, clearly feeling unappreciated.

“No, no, you’re right.” The Detective relented, stepping back. “If you can, can you look for any clue on the Sapphire Nightmare? I’m expanding my search.”

“Ooo, that’s a dangerous game you're playing there.” Croc replied. “I get the Dark Prince, but you don’t want to play with that fire, Sir.”

“Please?” Detective Zoraxel begged.

“I’ll see what I can find, but no guarantees.” Croc itched his neck.

“I hate wearing these inhibitor collars!” He stated. “They are so unhygienic and without my chaos energy, I feel so, naked!” They laughed.

“Well, you know those collars are there to keep all these convicts from using their abilities, and you gotta blend in.” Croc nodded. The Detective handed Croc a bag of portions.

“What meals?” Croc demanded, shoving the bag in his pocket.

“12 portions of each except Portion D, like you asked.” Detective Zoraxel replied, turning the spatial stabilizer back on. “I will be back soon.” Croc scoffed.

“I”ll get word before you’ve reached the Anti- Mobius. As I’m sure that’s where you are going.””

The Detective laughed. Croc was too good.