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Sonic was never defined by boundaries.
Why would he be? He was fast and free as the wind. He could cross an entire state in minutes. Even the oceans couldn’t stop him; he was fast enough to run on the water. Mountains, deserts, lakes—none of it mattered to a supersonic blue blur.
He never understood political boundaries. Why would one area of land that looked the exact same be split into two different countries? Whose idea was it to draw a line across the ridge of a mountain and declare one side to be the United States and the other side to be Canada? What difference did it make if he crossed that invisible line on one of his daily runs?
Tom and Maddie told him that, as long as he was in the mountains or the forest where no one could see him, it didn’t matter. (So why was there even a line?) They tried to explain to him the idea of territory, greed, and resource security. He didn’t really get it. It was so easy to share lumber or stone or whatever they needed in the mountains. Rivers didn’t care as they flowed from one country to another. Why should people?
He kind of liked to run in giant zig-zags across the border that he couldn’t see. He liked to taunt the system he thought was flawed. He wasn’t doing any harm. He was simply enjoying the mountains to their fullest extent. Shouldn’t everyone be able to do that?
Without Tom or Maddie or Tails or Knuckles knowing, Sonic began pushing his runs farther north, just for the thrill of knowing he shouldn’t be across the boundary. Besides, Canada was beautiful; lush forests, steep mountains, and bubbling brooks ensured no two runs were the same, and that they were never boring. The terrain was so pretty to run through. He enjoyed it immensely.
Sonic had just said goodnight to his family. He practically vibrated with excitement as he slipped on a winter coat and climbed out of the attic, dashing into the woods. He didn’t even bother trying to hide the direction he ran as he put the rising moon to his right and sped into the woods. He breathed in the cold winter air with a whoop of excitement. This was his favorite time to run—when the sun was down, the air had cooled, and no one but the owls could bother him. He’d always felt safer at night, protected in shadows.
Sonic darted up the sides of mountains and back down, heedless to the snow covering the stone. He dodged trees like they were an obstacle course. He leaped over rivers and sometimes cracked through the ice just to hear the satisfying crunch. He intentionally slipped and skidded across frozen lakes, shrieking and giggling when he lost balance and went sprawling across the ice. Then he got back up and kept going. Ice was fun to run across; it wasn’t easy, a challenge. He liked the ice.
As he went farther north, the temperature dropped. He could see his breath fogging in front of him. His jacket ensured he remained nice and warm and his fur staved away the worst of the cold. It was refreshing to not run in blistering heat; he far preferred the cold.
At last, he reached his destination. A frozen river surrounded by trees with a looming mountain in the distance. Last run, he’d found an abandoned waterfront cabin in this stretch of woods, so he decided that this time he’d stay for a while and enjoy the scenery. He couldn’t get anything like this in the States—it never got cold enough for long enough to freeze the middle of the river. It did in Canada.
Sonic invited himself onto the cabin’s frozen porch. He climbed onto the railing and perched there for a while. The full moon cast a silver glow onto the undisturbed snow and ice around him. He watched it for about five minutes before he was bored.
The over-energized hedgehog once more dashed into the woods. He ran to the base of the mountain and back. Snow crunched under his feet but he was gone before he could even hear it.
When he neared the cabin, Sonic slowed to a walk. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and sauntered towards the porch. He’d watch the river for a little more time, then head back.
On his next step, the snow suddenly caved out from under him.
Sonic yelped and threw his arms out to his sides as he suddenly fell most of the way into the snow. His foot landed on something metal that created a little click.
The hedgehog, half-buried in snow, froze. His eyes widened. He didn’t need to see what he’d stepped on to know what it was. Crazy Carl had put dozens of them out to try and catch him, not realizing he could run through them too fast for them to catch him.
A bear trap.
“Okay, don’t panic,” Sonic breathed to himself. He knew how these worked. Keeping weight on the trap once it was set was fine; removing his foot is what would cause it to snap shut. “Lucky for me, I’m too fast for this thing.”
Even from a standstill, he could still pull himself out of the trap and the snow in the blink of an eye. All his boasting about speed wasn’t for nothing, after all.
Sonic took a deep breath and braced his arms on the snow around him. At the same time that he pushed down with his arms to propel his body out, he lifted his leg.
He didn’t expect the snow to collapse under the force. He didn’t even make it an inch above the ground. But his foot still released the trigger and the trap snapped shut.
And then pain.
Sonic screamed as cold metal jaws clamped around his leg. It was designed for a large bear, not a small hedgehog; the pressure instantly crushed his leg and the teeth dug into his skin. Fiery agony shot through his entire body and he collapsed to the side to relieve pressure on the now-useless limb. Snow embraced him as he fell into the fluffy powder.
For a long moment, Sonic could only lay there, breathing through the pain and unable to think. Tears filled his vision and dropped onto the snow. Chaos, and he thought the fall from the bridge while fighting Eggman was painful. This was torture.
Deliriously, Sonic realized how lucky he was that he never got caught in Carl’s traps. He didn’t realize how painful it would be if he had one misstep and the trap closed around his leg. It also made him realize that Carl may have in fact been crazy for putting them out hoping to catch him. They were way overkill.
“Make it stop,” Sonic whimpered into the snow. He knew no one could hear him. He was out in the middle of nowhere. He’d be lucky if anyone found his body before spring.
The forest was cold and silent around him. He couldn’t tell which way was up or down. All he could see was white snow; he’d fallen to the ground and the snow fell on top of him. Despite his coat, he could feel the chill. Even the best winter parka wouldn’t last forever when surrounded by snow.
Sonic could feel heat leaching from his body. His leg felt like it was on fire despite the frozen rain, but his arms and his uninjured leg were already freezing. He could feel the cold seeping into his body the longer he lay there.
“I’m gonna freeze here if I don’t move,” Sonic gritted to himself. “But I can’t move.” Just to make sure, he tried to push himself upright. But as soon as his leg moved, more agony shot through him. He collapsed back to the frozen ground with stars in his vision. “T-t-that’s not g-g-good.”
He was so cold.
He tried to think of a plan. Some way to pry the trap off his leg; something to warm him up; a way to contact his family to get help. Nothing came to mind. His head was slow and foggy from pain and cold. All his thoughts ended up reminding him how helpless this predicament was.
“T-T-Tails,” Sonic whined. “C-c-could really u-u-use some h-h-help.”
If only he’d had the foresight to bring his tracker or his comms. Then Tails could find him in the morning, even though it’d be far too late at that point. At least they wouldn’t be left wondering what happened to him.
“Hello?”
Sonic caught his breath. The voice was faint and he almost missed it. He strained his ears to hear it again. Maybe he’d imagined it in his pain-ridden state. But then— “Hello? Is someone out there? We heard a scream!”
No, there were people.
“H-h-here!” Sonic cried. He accidentally jostled his leg and screeched as it exploded in pain. “I’m here!”
There was another shout, followed by footsteps getting closer. Sonic wilted into the snow with a sob of relief. He wasn’t alone after all.
He was so cold though. Every shiver that wracked his body sent starbursts exploding through his leg.
“Where are you?” The voice called again, much closer. Sonic opened his mouth to reply but found he had no energy to do so. The cold and the pain stole the breath from his body and left him unable to do anything other than fight to stay awake.
He felt the snow shift near his head as the stranger stepped near him. “Oh my God,” they gasped. “They fell through the snow! Don’t worry, we’re coming!”
We?
He heard shuffling. It lasted for several minutes, but he felt the snow above him get lighter. Something hard landed on his arm and he whimpered in protest as he tried to pull away.
“Here!” The hard thing was replaced by gloved hands sweeping the snow off him. He tilted his head away when they uncovered his face.
The stranger gasped and jerked away. “What is it?” A second voice questioned. “What’s—oh!”
Sonic cracked an eye open. Two people stood above him, a man and a woman, both young and dressed well for winter weather. The woman, owner of the second voice, held a shovel. They both stared at him in shock.
“H-help,” Sonic rasped. The humans blinked at him, then immediately jumped back into action.
The man crouched next to his head. Sonic watched him with wary eyes but couldn’t do anything else. He gingerly scooped away more snow from near his head. “You some kind of porcupine, or somethin‘?”
“H-h-hedgeh—” Sonic coughed and the action made his leg move ever so slightly. He yelped and screwed his eyes shut, instinctively curling closer to the injury.
“That doesn’t look good,” the woman gasped, finally uncovering the metal jaws of pain. “Damn people leaving out their traps in the winter…”
“Can’t do anything ’bout that now,” the man replied firmly. “Let’s just get it off.”
The woman nodded and reached for the trap. Sonic tensed, preparing himself in case something went wrong and the trap tightened—but with a few deft movements, the mechanism relaxed and the woman pried it away from his leg.
Sonic cried out as his leg fell to the ground. Where the teeth had once put pressure on its own wounds, blood now rushed free, warm and wet. His broken leg rested on the ground at an angle that shouldn’t be possible.
The women let out a colorful curse. “That’s bad,” she hissed, moving to put pressure on the wounds. Sonic tried to flinch away, but of course, the motion sent more agony coursing through him. He fell back into the snow, panting and stars in his vision.
“Stay still.” The man gently pushed down on his shoulders. “We’ll be careful, promise.”
Sonic didn’t trust them, but he didn’t exactly have a choice. He couldn’t move. He was dead if he didn’t let them do what they wanted.
“Ph-ph-phone,” he whimpered. He made eye contact with the man. “P-p-please.”
He stared at him for a moment, then nodded and fumbled in his jacket. A moment later, a small phone rested in Sonic’s frozen hand. He struggled to press the buttons with numb fingers, but persisted until he’d pressed call on the number he needed.
Shaking from cold and pain, Sonic put the phone on speaker and held it in front of him. It rang through to voicemail the first time, but when he tried again, someone picked up a few rings in.
“Hello?” Tom’s voice came through, slightly crackling but understandable. “This is the Wackowskis.”
“D-d-dad,” Sonic gasped.
“Sonic?!” Tom immediately sounded worried. “What’s wrong? Where are you?”
“I n-n-need Tails,” Sonic replied instead of answering. To be honest, he had no idea where he was, and he didn’t have the energy to explain the situation. “N-n-now.”
The other end of the phone shuffled, then: “Okay. I’ll get him. Should he track this phone?”
Sonic was relieved that he didn’t have to tell Tails or his dad what needed to be done. “Yeah.”
“Okay. Hang in there, kid.” More shuffling noises came from the phone, then Tom’s distant voice waking up Tails and explaining the situation. “He’s coming as soon as he can. Talk to me, Sonic. What happened?”
Sonic shook his head and glanced up at the man who’d saved him. He seemed to understand and took his phone back when Sonic held it out. The hedgehog’s arm dropped to the snow, no energy left.
“He got himself stuck in a bear trap,” the man informed Tom on Sonic’s behalf. “My partner ’n I found him in the snow.”
“Where?” Tom demanded.
“‘Ksan Campground, Canada,” the man replied.
Ohh. Sonic deliriously realized that’s why he found a cabin, and why there were people at this seemingly remote river. He wondered what on Earth made these two people want to camp in the dead of winter.
He zoned out as his mind focused only on the pain in his leg. It was growing worse the longer he lay there. At the same time, the rest of his body was getting colder and colder. He’d stopped shivering. At least it meant his leg could be perfectly still.
A red flash caught his attention. His fuzzy vision focused on a small red plane skidding to a halt on the river and the golden streak that shot from the vehicle to Sonic’s side. Tails’s frantic blue gaze scanned him and horror grew on his face the more he observed.
“H-H-hey, buddy,” Sonic rasped.
“What on Earth, Sonic?!” Tails screeched. He ushered the man to the side and knelt next to Sonic’s face. “Why are you here?”
“’s pretty,” Sonic mumbled. He didn’t move when Tails pressed his hand to his head.
“You’re freezing,” the fox fretted. “Okay. I’ll be right back.” Before Sonic could protest, Tails raced back to his plane.
The man and the woman who’d found him watched the exchange with wide eyes. “Are you guys aliens or something?” The woman demanded. “And how can you speak English?”
Sonic made a non-committal noise. He really didn’t have the energy to reply, but he indulged. They had saved his life, after all. “Aliens. Check the news.” No doubt his fights against Eggman would be all over the news, even all the way in Canada.
Tails returned with a hefty bag. Sonic watched as he carefully and expertly wrapped the wounds in gauze, then fit a splint around his leg. He whined in pain when it moved, but it felt better once it was secure in the splint.
“Let’s get home,” Tails mumbled. He glanced at the humans. “Could you help me get him to the plane?”
The man nodded without hesitation. At Tails’s instructions, he carefully lifted Sonic off the snow. He cried out when his leg swung underneath him.
The next thing he knew, he was nestled securely in the back of Tails’s plane with several coats and blankets piled around him. It did little to warm his frozen body, especially when they took to the skies. He mourned not saying thank-you to the kind strangers who’d saved him. He realized Tails probably did on his behalf.
He faded in and out during the flight. He saw cold stars glittering above. Then he was in Green Hills, slowly lowering to the ground as Tails expertly landed his plane on the road. Then he was in a car; and then in a place that smelled like chemicals with stark white walls and concerned faces around him.
Sonic tried to move, but firm hands kept him still. He whimpered in protest and weakly tried to wriggle free. Warm hands encompassed his own and his tired green gaze landed on the worried expression of his mother.
“Don’t move, hun,” Maddie soothed, rubbing his hands. “You’re okay now. Go to sleep.”
He didn’t really want to, not in this vulnerable and helpless position, but found that he didn’t have a choice. A specially-designed oxygen mask went over his mouth and nose, and something pricked his arm. He was out in two seconds flat.
When he awoke, the pain in his leg had dulled to a low throbbing, and he felt so much warmer. He was on his bed, several blankets on top of him, and his leg elevated. It was a nice contrast from the snow from before.
Tom came to visit a little later, bringing water, food, and painkillers with him. He settled on a chair by Sonic’s bedside.
“So, mind telling me what you were doing in Canada?”