OB!Sonic and Stubby's Shadow [@flawlessexistence]

[steadfastheartofgold]

Wow, he's alone.

Wow.

Wow.

No, it really is surprising. He's usually shadowed by... well, Shadow. But here he is, all by himself, not necessarily at peace but in one piece and he supposes that's all that counts in the end because who wants to test luck? Not him, that's for sure. He's done enough of testing luck for the time being, enough of making an utter fool of himself swallowing what he can't chew.

Right now he's wearing bandages, and he's only outside because he can't stand being inside for so long. He needs a stroll in the flowers, preferably alone. Not that he'd be totally adverse to company, so long as it's not Shadow, but alone time is fun time for Sonic the Hedgehog. He doesn't need company to make him happy. He's fine just being himself.

He scratches at those bandages just now, thinking about them. Around his torso... Ah, they're so itchy. Itchy.

He falls on his rear end nearby a tree, just quiet. Quiet. Quiet is fine, quiet is good. Quiet is better than... than...

That.

Comments

[obfuskate]

Even Shadow himself needs some time alone.

Sure, he wanted to be around Sonic, but even with his dedication, he needs to be away, away for just an hour or two, just to gather his thoughts and to plan ahead for the future, assuming numerous scenarios as possible. His ears wilt as he approaches a nearby tree, flowers crunching underneath his relentless air shoes, mouth curled into a frown more upset than usual and eyelids hanging heavily.

... That's when he sees him.

Sonic.

But... not his Sonic.

Ah, yes, different zones. Of course he would eventually locate another of him, one with legs, yet seeing that was somehow... heart-breaking.

He wants to see his Sonic again, but like this. Mobile. Free. Happy.

Instead, he's disabled, limited, and depressed.

... Such is life. Shitty. Fucking. Life.

He sucks a breath in and steps ever closer, quiet as he does so. It is typical for him to be silent, sure, but to be so soft while approaching a Sonic, of all hedgehogs... That in itself is unusual.

"... Sonic."

His voice rings out -- tender, yet flat and crestfallen -- without a hint of a screw loose in him.

He is not prepared at all for what this Sonic is going to be.

[steadfastheartofgold]

Yeah, Sonic knows that voice.

He knows that voice all too well.

All of a sudden, he's on the defensive. He springs to his feet, wrapping his arms around himself, emerald eyes weary but wild as they meet the black hedgehog's. It surprises him to see the clarity (albeit manifested in some sort of depression he can't understand) that's reflected back, but he doesn't allow himself to become too comfortable. After all, Shadow's managed to trick him before. Trick him badly. It's how he's become friends with him in the first place.

His heart is racing, his stomach is doing flips. He swallows, tries not to swallow too hard because what if Shadow sees? If Shadow sees then it's over, it's all over for him. Shadow can't see.

He tries to put on a smile. He's gonna be sick, he's gonna be sick all over him and maybe he'll faint. That'd be merciful. Then he can't feel whatever's going to be done to him.

"Hi! Hi, Shadow, ahaha," laughing mad, he's laughing mad, too. His thoughts are scattered, disorganized. Shadow's fault, but Sonic can't pin the blame on him as he's too busy spinning. The world's too busy spinning. "It's, uh. What are you-- How are things? Why are you... Ah, lookit me." Lookit me, trippin'. "Lookit me, you're-- How's it going?"

There's no way he could've fucked that up more than he did.

[obfuskate]

Wh...

What?

Shadow sucked in a whisking breath, eyes widening as the realization struck him hard: Sonic was uneasy around him. No, that was an understatement. He seemed to be flipping the fuck out.

He exhaled, face laced with pure concern as he took a step forward. One. Just one. A hand extended out, reaching out, and yet stopping just as flat, as he wanted to make sure he wasn't going too fast.

He wanted to tell Sonic that it was okay, there was no reason to fear him, whatever the reason, and yet he didn't want his efforts to be counterproductive.

Instead, he stayed in his spot, and he questioned, "Sonic. What... is wrong?"

[steadfastheartofgold]

Claws, claws, there are claws in those gloves and he can use them claws claws claws --

Sonic backed away, his heart slamming against his ribcage. No, he wasn't about to deal with that extended hand, no matter how placated it seemed to be.

Well, the blue hedgehog wasn't stupid. Shadow seemed surprised to find him here at all, and there was something about the way he was looking at him that indicated that he expected him to look... different. That likely meant that this wasn't the Shadow he was familiar with. Alternate Zones. Seemed like he was dealing with those a lot lately.

Not that he minded.

Still didn't calm him much. After all, it was still the same face of his captor, his self-proclaimed owner, an owner whose lights he wanted to punch out every time those hands roamed...

Teeth grazing blood starting to drip drip drip dr
i
p
.

Hyperventilation, save me now. Capture me, set me and knock me down. Shadow could do whatever he wanted, anyway. Let me not live through it.

"What's wrong? What do you mean?" Play dumb, play dumb. He said you're good at it. You're pretty damn good at it. "I'm totally cool. Yeah, really. Bandages," ow, wince, "they hurt, but it's okay, I'm good. Uh... Dizzy, I also feel dizzy, might sit down again. Might be a good idea." He was running in circles. "My question though, my question. You? How are you? You never answered."

[obfuskate]

That speech. That rambling, jumbled mess that could only loosely be considered speech...

No.

That is not right, no matter how much Sonic wanted to assert that he is okay.

Shadow approaches further, hesitating even more as shaky steps are taken to the frazzled blue hedgehog, ears and tail drooping just as his expression is.

Sonic, Sonic, Sonic. It's not his Sonic, but he doesn't care. It's still Sonic, and to see him like this because of him, presumably...

It makes him feel horrible.

"I... am not fine," he speaks softly, "until you tell me what is wrong. Those bandages..."

He steps even closer, hoping to at least bring a comforting hand to his shoulder if he can. "What happened? Who did this to you?"

[steadfastheartofgold]

No, no, no. Distance. We need distance here, because distance is safe. Distance is better than proximity because it means that he's safe.

What the hell is Sonic thinking? He's never safe.

Never.

Still, it doesn't hurt him to back away from Shadow yet again, nearly tripping over his own shoe buckles as he opens and closes his mouth uselessly like a fish out of water. He feels like a fish out of water, anyway; suffocating, flopping about and flailing, where's the water where's the water.

Okay, bad analogy. He's starting to feel seasick.

He ducks, he scrunches up his shoulders as if he wants them to meet his ears, eye ridges twisting upwards. He doesn't like this. He feels cornered, cornered, and his heart is racing. His heart is freaking loud. He gulps air greedily as if he's hungry, and doesn't allow himself to speak as he tries to settle the nonsensical circles his mind is running in.

"I... Look, he-- It's fine, I'll recover, things're fine, and I'm-- it's not a big deal, it's a thing," he stammers, unable to make sense of what he wants to say in his head. Breathe, one-two. "And the bandages... An accident. Yeah, accident." That sure as hell don't look like no accident, Sonic. He stares stubbornly at the ground, pulling his lips back.

A gulp, a breath. Several seconds. He can hear the clock ticking within his head as his blood roars in his ears. And...

"Shadow. Shadow did it."

He's going to die. He's gonna be sick, at least.

[obfuskate]

Yeah, right. For some reason, a part of him nags that this was more than likely not an accident, and that the blue hedgehog, frantic and frenzied before him, is lying through his teeth. Shadow watches him expectantly, hoping for some sort of substantial answer.

... Then, he got it.

Shadow did it.

He did this. An alternative Shadow, but it was him nonetheless. Suddenly, everything, right down the distressed speaking quirk, made sense, and it set him in a tizzy, eyes doubling in size and heart sinking like a stone.

He did this. He did this. It was his fault. His fault. He made Sonic afraid, he made him afraid, no, no--!

He sucks in a breath and reaches a hand out again, his worrying increasing tenfold, ears wilting and tail hanging in-between his legs. That can't be. It shouldn't be. It must never be!!

"I... am not your Shadow," he speaks slowly, cautiously. "I will not hurt you. I would never hurt you."

[steadfastheartofgold]

Which sends Sonic skittering back again. Nope, nope, he's not letting himself be touched. He remembers the first time--

Claws dragging biting he can barely hold in a scream

-- that Shadow had given him gentle touches, ones that he didn't mind, and then suddenly--

suddenly he's suffocating it's hard to breathe what the hell is he DOING

-- began digging in his claws. And it hurt. A lot.

Pain became everything it's consuming consuming it was pretty much him

He swallows thickly, shifting from foot to foot as his fingers brush over his bandages, as if to tighten or remove them. Either way he goes about it, it doesn't matter because he's gonna die, he's gonna be sick and those bandages don't help nor hurt that cause. Because he's gonna die, he's gonna die. And the bandages only hide it, the bandages only try and they're going to fail.

"I-I know you're not," he breathes. "I mean, I know you're not my Shadow. You're not, because... You can't be, you--" he indicates toward Shadow's face, trying not to choke on his own spit, "your eyes are all clear." He chokes on it anyway, coughing loudly before he continues, "His eyes aren't. They aren't clear. Clear, no, they're murky. And..." He squeezes his eyes shut. "He's a maniac. He's a maniac."

A maniac.

"And he's obsessed with me."

His eyes snap open again and a lackadaisical grin takes its place on his face. "It's okay, it's okay," he runs his hand rapidly over his quills, "it's okay because I can handle him, it's okay because... because he's not going off after anyone else. Besides what GUN makes him do. Besides." Swallow, gulp, breathe, this isn't underwater. It feels underwater. He's drowning, anyway. "Besides..." Ah. Ahh...

And then he laughs. "Yep, everything'll be okay. Very okay. Because I'm-- ha, ha, I'm the hero of Mobius. A great hero. Really damn good one. You're safe, the others'll be safe, we're all safe."

Except me.

[obfuskate]

"... No. You are not."

Shadow could see it -- the panic in his eyes, the grin that failed to take on the beaming characteristic Sonic usually took on, the jittery speaking and fidgeting and gestures -- and it was blatant. He was freaked out. Whatever this other Shadow did

a maniac

he's obsessed with me

murky

not clear

he was going to pay.

Dearly.

He stepped closer, this time with his eyes flaring with fury, but not directed at him. Rather, he wanted nothing more than to take this Sonic into his arms, to tell him that it will be okay as long as he is around, and yet he knows, he knows that will probably be a bad move.

A very, very bad move that would do more harm than good.

"Take me to him."

A request he couldn't adhere to, he presumed, but he was hard-pressed to at least try.

"Take me to him... and I will end your problem," he snarled, "once and for all."

No one was going to hurt Sonic like this with such malicious intent.

Not even he himself, Shadow the Hedgehog.