Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The village they lived in was one of the peaceful settings, people somehow still thrived while the rest of the world was full of a destroyed civilization.

The folks around there didn’t seem to care much about the outsiders' situation , too busy with their noses stuck to their own problems.

Sonic had come to the village when he was younger by following Eggman’s trial of evil robots.

Eggman hadn’t intended to take him in when he did, it wasn’t the plan to keep Sonic inside the base for as long as he did, feeding him, bathing him…sometimes playing…

The memory was bittersweet, when Sonic grew up to be a pre-teen his dislike for Eggman’s conquering plans became more obvious to the point they couldn’t do anything other than to fight about it.

Soon, Sonic went back to living in the surrounding nature of the village.

He just came to stay permanently for the stability it gave to both him and his new little brother.

Amy had her own little shack, Sticks was nearby and Knuckles found himself over the top of the island’s mountain.

They fought Eggman here and there, all the violence that came from the evil genius became strangely mundane.

However, the more they stayed the more the people of the village saw him as someone to fix their problems. Even if it was something as minimal as repairing a tile, he had the duty to do so now.

It felt like a way to make up for something.

Sonic was merely buying some bread in the village plaza when a lady came nearby and took the loaf of bread he had been looking at.

“Hey- I was gonna buy that!” He said.

“Oh come on I’m sure the village hero can afford even better ones, what are you on, eating what us poor folks can barely afford?” The lamb lady yelled at him.

“I don’t get paid for saving the village, that’s truly the bread I can afford” Sonic responded irritated.

Suddenly he noticed a few of the people in the market store were coming closer to listen to all the commotion.

“What does he mean he doesn’t get paid? That’s a bunch of bullshit!” A bull dog shouted.

“He wants to fool us all, this is what happens when we take a child as a hero, he’d just tell lies!”

“Okay that’s enough, this store isn’t even that good anyways” Sonic grabbed his shopping bag, emptied it and went to leave the store.

However, the store owner stood in front of the exit door.

He glared at the buffalo, and they glared back.

Ugh, he really didn’t have time for this!

“Is my store not good enough for you?” The buffalo spat.

Sonic rolled his eyes, and tapped his foot on the floor.

“Really, dude? You gotta accept when somebody doesn’t want to buy your products plus this mob in here ain’t selling you that well” The blue hero said, ignoring the many gasps and whispers in the crowd behind him.

The buffalo grunts.

“Must be nice being a pretty little boy, nobody expects you to do a damn thing” He said.

Sonic felt anger bubble inside of him, he pushed the buffalo off the door, the size difference didn’t deter him at all.

But then the buffalo grabbed his quills and pulled him back, Sonic yelled and in a frantic response hit the owner in the face.

Once the smoke in his mind cleared, he looked at how he had knocked out the big man.

Everyone was staring.

Sonic had blood on his fist, his ears bent down as he watched who could only be the buffalo’s wife approach her unconscious husband screaming.

People started yelling at Sonic.

Everything felt dizzy.

__________

“…I didn’t mean to” He told the major.

“You didn’t mean to drive the man to the hospital? Is that what you’re saying? Because that’s what you did!” 

Sonic suppressed a growl.

“I truly don’t think Sonic meant to do so, from what I heard they were pushing him way too much” Tails who had been sitting by Sonic’s side responded.

“Yeah!” Amy agreed.

“We have been telling you for a while to regulate your citizens! You don’t even pay us and we’re constantly harassed whenever we go out, especially Sonic-!”

 “Enough!” The major spatted.

“You all children are lucky I even let you keep your property!”

The three of them went quiet, the atmosphere tense, the sole of Sonic’s shoes hitting the ground constantly. He hadn’t meant to, really.

(He did, he was angry)

It was an accident, he felt bad.

(He didn’t, they were annoying him)

He covered his face with his hand, trying to hide his expressions from his friends. The conversation with the mayor kept on back and forth but Sonic wasn’t listening. He didn’t care what stupid punishment they made him do, he didn’t mind doing city clean ups, or tending the animals at the vet, he didn’t mind, they didn’t want him there (just when they laughed, they liked to laugh, he saved their asses all the time why-)

He didn’t listen to them. Not until-

“- a few months on the juvenile detention centre might do him good-“

“What.” He said on a cold tone

The mayor coughed.

“ I for one believe is the best option”

“You want to lock me up?”

“I’d like you to surrender yourself, show the people you’re getting better, that you’re not violent”

“They fucking surrounded me!”

“Sonic…maybe is the best choice we got”

“Really, Ames?”

Amy bit her lip then sighed.

“Maybe they’ll leave you alone after that”

Sonic felt his quills flare up, he was about to snap he knew- he got up and dashed out.

Amy and Tails stared at his empty spot before resuming the deal with the mayor, for some children they managed to negotiate something better than what they had first come up with.

The hardest part would be to convince Sonic…

___________

He tried running home but then he realized how hungry he was and how little food he had back home.

Groaning, he decided to go to another nearby village and buy groceries there.

It was a bad idea.

Sonic had just bought some bread and ham when he felt a hard sharp object hit the back of his head making him temporarily feel dizzy.

He looked around, anxious and saw some people gathering around.

“It’s him”

“The crazy scientist’s kid”

“I knew he’ll go back to his roots, look at him”

“The apple is not far from the tree”

Sonic’s breath picked up. How did they know about that?

He had never told anyone, Eggman had never told anyone. How could they?

“Hey” A in the crowd zebra said, angered.

“Why don’t you go back to daddy instead of pretending to be a hero?”

“Yeah!” A lioness agreed.

“We all know you don’t want the best for us, you just trick us so we lower our guard!”

“No…that’s not what I’m doing…” Sonic tries to say, backing up and looking for an exit.

“Do your friends even know whose kid you are? I bet they’ll be dying to know!”

At that Sonic spindashed against the crowd, leaving an absolute chaos behind him.

He felt his heart beating inside his ears, consuming his thoughts.

How did they know?

Nobody should know.

That was meant to be buried, left behind.

Sonic and Eggman’s relationship had shattered long ago. They were just enemies now, he wasn’t…he wasn’t his…

Sonic tripped against a rock, falling down a hill.

He realized soon enough that his bread and ham were inedible now but at least he could see his shack nearby.

Better stay hungry than go back there.

He tried getting up before realizing something was wrong.

His right foot felt wrong, it hurt, he couldn’t stand on it.

Was it twisted?

He tried touching it and he pushed down a scream.

Definitely twisted.

He grabbed a nearby stick and stood, shakily. Walking towards his shack, he couldn’t wait to pass out on the floor.

The closer he got, he heard whispers inside, he frowned but continued walking until he got to the door.

They were just his friends huddled up in the living room, he sighed relieved and went inside.

They all turn to look at him with looks of horror.

His heart made a small jump at their expressions.

Even Tails looked fidgety and avoided his eyes.

“Hey guys…what’s going on?” Sonic said, trying to hide how nervous he felt behind a small laugh.

“…Eggman destroyed the bathhouse while you were gone”  Amy said, looking down a bit.

Sonic groaned, slapping his face.

“Of course he couldn’t leave the village alone for ten minutes” 

“I’m sure you’ll know about that” Knuckles spat, uncharacteristically rude making Sonic stop and look at him.

“What? Look if this is because of the convenient store, he grabbed my quills first-“

“This is not about that guy!” Knuckles stood up, making Sonic step back despite his injured foot.

“How long were you going to keep lying to us?!” 

Sonic looked back to the rest, confused.

They all avoided his gaze, uncomfortable… with him.

Even…even Tails.

“What…what is going on?” 

Sticks was the one who stepped in front with a newspaper, the front page had him and Eggman, which could be confused by it just being news of a new attack but…it also showed a document.

Sonic The Hedgehog adopted by Ivo Robotnik at the age of four.

Sonic stumbled back, hitting a wall behind him. The room started to spin.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Tails asked, his voice small.

“How can we trust you after this? You lied to us for years!” Knuckles shouted.

“No…no that was a long time ago- it doesn’t matter anymore!” He said, trying to convince himself more than them. He felt nauseous.

“It’s still a legal paper Sonic…you’re still his child”

“No! No…that’s not true, not anymore. I left” He felt small, too small, they were looking at him like they were gonna swing at him at any minute.

“Sonic…”

Outside, there were voices, a choir. He peaked from the window and saw a mug, torches and all screaming his name.

He felt his breath constrained, he looked to his friends again.

Were they worried or were they going to throw him out to the wolves? Was it being his kid all it took for them to-

They couldn’t do anything, because for the second time that day somebody grabbed his quills from behind and dragged him out of the house.

The mug seemed bigger now that he was in the middle of it. He screamed when he felt his injured foot hit the ground and it didn’t even stop there. They began pushing him and putting the fire far too close to his face.

“If we can’t finish the father we’ll take the son!” 

“Yeah yeah! Finish the deceiver!” 

Sonic felt the strong urge to cry then, he’d been harassed all day, persecuted for everything he’d done and what he had no control over.

His friends must have stayed in the shack, watching how he got hurt, they didn’t care anymore.

Not even his baby brother.

He tried getting out of the crowd but his foot did not help, he just got more pushed around and hit.

He yelled when he felt a fire torch press against his back, some of his quills were still on fire, he felt himself panic even more.

The pain began growing and the screams did not stop.  Is this how he died? Being killed by the village he had fought to protect, with his friends turning on him.

Alone.

He grabbed his head in his hands and waited for another hit to come.

Suddenly, water.

Gallons of water fell upon him and the crowd, the fire left only smoke behind making everything blurry for a second.

Instinctively while the village was distracted, he crawled out of the crowd.

He looked up and saw the eggmobile, carrying a huge empty bucket.

He felt a pair of robotic hands grabbing him before passing out.

Chapter Text

Back when Sonic was little, he used to crawl under Eggman’s desk while he worked and drag some pillows underneath.

The need of burrowing, the instinct of hiding, despite being in a relatively safe environment, did not fade away. 

Whenever he wanted, he would bring pillows into the vents, inside the cupboards and his favorite…underneath the old man’s desk.

The evil genius at first would complain, talking about how he didn’t let him stretch his legs. Sonic, as always, paid him little mind, he was comfortable so he wouldn’t stop doing it.

Soon, Eggman would make him a small section for himself under the desk, if the hoglet could have talked back then he would have teased him endlessly but not then, back then he just snuggled against the pillows watching the old man work.

Back then, it would feel safe.

___

The walls of the med bay on Eggman’s base were pretty easy to recognize.

Just look at the wall paper and you’ll see small Eggman logos in pastel blue.

Looking down, Sonic realized the gown he was wearing also had them. 

How egotistical, he scoffed.

He tried getting up but stopped when he saw his foot on a cast. His back side also hurt, that was probably due to the burnt skin.

He sighed feeling his heart drop instantly.

Sonic could never go back to the village now.

God, his friends…were they even his friends now? They hated him.

They had left him to die in the fire.

He felt his eyes water for a moment before jumping out of his skin when the door opened.

Metal walked in, with a tray of food.

He practically pushed the table and the tray towards Sonic. He didn’t look pleased on being here but the blue hedgehog didn't feel as if it was hateful…more like it was awkward for the robot.

Sonic looked at his food. Strawberry jelly and some chopped mango.

Then he looked up at his copy.

“Eggman?” He asked tentatively.

Busy.

The robot responded in the only way he could, through their mental link.

Metal never really spoke through it but Sonic understood nonetheless.

The blue hedgehog took a piece of mango, feeling depression surrounding him again.

He was truly alone.

Eggman didn’t come, he sent Metal instead, was he even busy or did he just not want to see him? 

The man surely wanted to avoid having an awkward conversation with the once again homeless hedgehog now. There was no way he would accept him back in, not after everything.

After just three pieces of mango and two spoons of jelly he gave up eating and lay down again.

Metal waited for a few minutes, as if expecting Sonic to get back up and eat. Seeing that it was futile, the robot took the tray and left.

Sonic waited a few seconds before getting up again.

For someone with a normal speed it would have taken them a long time to disarm the cast on his foot but for him it was barely a minute before his foot was free.

He tried putting it down and realized that it didn’t feel as bad as before. It hadn’t been broken, just twisted.

The cast had probably been put there to stop him from moving. Well, it wasn’t gonna happen.

He tried not to wince when he stood up and still felt a hot pain on his right foot. The burn on his side was also there but he ignored it all.

Before the robots could be alerted of his actions he dived towards one of the vents. He still fit in perfectly inside of them,he closed the vent door and started crawling. 

He remembered the way out perfectly, he just hoped Eggman hadn’t done some remodeling inside the base or something.

Sonic crawled for a bit before he reached a vent that showed Eggman’s working space. He saw him there, sitting on his desk, working away.

So he wasn’t really…busy.

Surely he could have..left that paperwork for later? Go check on him?

No, of course he wouldn’t. It didn’t matter what those stupid adoption papers said. Eggman didn’t care about him, he had just felt pity for him back then.

Surely Eggman wanted this to happen, for him to be left alone after they found out he was his. When he even wasn’t.

He had no one. Not the kit he raised, not the family he thought he had found within his group of friends. They didn’t want him.

Feeling the waterworks coming, Sonic couldn’t keep staring at an uncaring Eggman and as quickly as he could he crawled out of the base.

Once he hit the ground outside he ran, not toward a village, not towards home. 

He ran towards the pier on the island.

___

When Sonic was taken out of the shack by the villagers it was one of the most terrifying moments in Tails’ life.

Seeing a crowd of people holding torches like crazy cult members was definitely going to stay in his nightmares forever. 

It was worse than all his bad dreams of past bullies haunting him.

For a moment, everyone on the shack froze. 

Then Tails screamed.

“Sonic!” The orange fox cub ran out, the fear of something happening to his brother was stronger than the fear of the torches.

The revelation of Sonic’s true origin was quickly forgotten by the rest and everyone quickly dashed out of Sonic’s house.

Upon going out they saw the amount of people that had gathered. It seemed as if all the towns on the island were there, hurting the one person who had dedicated his life to protect them.

Amy started swinging her hammer, trying to get people out of the way.

“Move the hell away! What are you all doing?!” The pink girl yelled, trying to extinguish as many torches as she could.

When the people noticed her presence they turned towards her.

“You’re helping a criminal!”

“How dare you! After we let you stay on our island!” 

They started pushing against her before Knuckles punched the ground and made them all stay back screaming.

“He’s not a criminal!” Amy shouted behind him, ready to swing her hammer again. 

“And this island doesn’t belong to you” Knuckles said coldly. 

The crowd started sharing the fire of their torches, lighting up the ones that Amy had managed to extinguish. The heat was becoming unbearable.

“I knew y’all were part of a cult! Yer messing with the wrong people!” Sticks said from the roof of Sonic’s shack making Knuckles and Amy’s mouths hang. When had she gotten there?! 

The badger then started launching coconuts towards the crowd, which definitely helped with knocking down a few as well as turning off some of the fire.

Amy couldn’t help but laugh triumphaly while Knuckles smiled.

Then they heard a scream.

Looking at the other side of the mob, some men were holding Tails’ namesakes and stopping him from running towards Sonic, who was on the ground holding his head.

Sonic’s quills, Amy noted, were actively on fire.

Leaving behind any restraint, both the red echidna and the pink hedgehog started hitting people away, not caring if they were hurting them in a lethal way.

They managed to knock most people out of the way, Sticks helping them with the coconuts.

Tails was screaming to his brother.

Sonic’s skin was burning up and they were still hitting him.

“Stop!” The kit sobbed to deaf ears.

“Leave him alone! He didn’t do anything! Stop! Please! Leave him alone!” 

Suddenly he was dropped down, Amy hit both men that were grabbing him with her hammer, not losing any more time, he ran to Sonic before gallons of water fell over everyone without explanation.

The steam of the extinguishing fire blinded him but Tails didn’t stop moving, he kneeled down to where he believed Sonic had been but only felt the sand on his fingers.

“Sonic! Sonic, where are you?!” He screamed, the tears running down his muzzle like waterfalls.

Where was his brother? Where was he?! 

He felt a pair of arms grabbing him and started swinging like crazy.

“No! Let me go! Get off me! Sonic! ” 

“Kid it’s me! Stop, look at me” Tails turned back and saw Knuckles who now had a burn on the side of his head.

He calmed down slightly but still tried to look around for blue quills.

The smoke died down.

And Sonic was nowhere to be found.

Chapter Text

Eggman wasn’t one to be interested in the unnecessary drama that the villages on the islands created. It was far too stupid for him to care.

However when his cameras around the perimeter of the island observed a giant mob with torches and angry screams, it was pretty hard to miss.

He would have let it slide, knowing that it could be some irrational thing that would stop soon.

But then, the drones around the blue rodent’s shack picked up all the violence occurring and he just had to go see.

Upon arriving he stayed far, first inspecting everything.

He saw the way they grabbed Sonic out of his shack, breaking the frame of the window the blue hero had been standing near.

The evil genius sort of expected him to fight back, roll his eyes and say something that would make the crowd back up.

Instead, Sonic fell to the ground, being pushed around by the villagers like he was some useless piece of trash.

He saw the kid try to stand up but fail miserably and once he zoomed the image on his foot he realized why.

The mob was not backing down, even when he saw the hedgehog’s friends fight them back, the people just got even more violent.

The snap in Eggman’s head occurred when he saw Sonic in a fetal position in the ground, not being able to defend himself. His quills, set cruelly on fire. The people watching as if wanting to see every second of Sonic’s body burning up alive.

He swiftly dived in towards the nearby ocean, the bucket he had installed on the eggmobile after many of his inventions setting on fire proved useful when he used it against the cult-like mob.

The egg-shaped man called the one robot of his that was always active and ordered Metal to retrieve Sonic.

Somehow that seemed like the only viable option.

___

Assessing Sonic’s wounds was a horrible task, not only because of the presence of quills that hardened the process but because…he was truly beat up.

Bruises and cuts were all over his body, his ankle was definitely twisted and while that didn’t really need a cast he put one on due to the hedgehog’s hyperactive behavior, he would definitely try to move once he woke up.

The worst was his back, his skin was burnt all over it, he had to order his med bay robots to get rid of all the burnt quills. Thank god Sonic was under medication, was it not for that it would have been an extremely painful process to go through.

Once the nurse robots were done they left the room leaving only organic beings inside.

Eggman took a moment to observe the blue rodent. He was still too small. The egg-shaped man knew Sonic was smaller than average since the moment he found him. 

The blue hedgehog had definitely been the runt of his litter. If he had had one that is. 

But still, for a fifteen year old, his development was slow. He was still the same height as when he was ten and that was not healthy.

Of course, there was nobody to force Sonic into a healthy meal now.

That train of thought led him to wonder why on Earth was the entire island so angry against the blue hedgehog? 

It didn’t make sense, he hadn’t made any of his reckless mistakes as of late. And it must have been something very serious for them to attack him like that.

It was…unjustifiable.

The evil genius looked down at the boy again.

It was obvious he wouldn’t be able to go back to the villages, not after that. 

Was his house even standing now?

The genius scoffed bitterly. Maybe now Sonic would stop trying to be good for all these people. 

Oh! Maybe now Sonic would seek revenge on all who wronged him, finally he would get to fight on the side of the Eggman Empire! 

Eh… no. That didn’t sound like the blue rodent at all.

“Ugh but you better not forgive them after all of this. No. I won’t allow you to forgive them after all of this” The doctor said to the unconscious Sonic.

The blue hedgehog stirred slightly in his sleep and it made Eggman’s heart drop.

The evil genius sighed.

“When will you learn, boy?” He started to reach out for the blue one’s head before his watch beeped an alarm.

Looking at it briefly he stood.

“Somebody is trying to enter the island again” He groaned, leaving the room quickly.

Eggman turned to look at Metal who was standing at the entrance of Sonic’s room.

“As soon as he wakes up, give him food, god knows he needs it. I’ll go check on some pests” He ordered the robot then scurried down the hall.

___

“Commander, commander! To what do I owe the pleasure?” 

Commander Tower looked unamused to the egg-drone while its owner grinned widely from within his quarters, knowing well that the agent would not get what he wanted.

“Robotnik, it is once again time to try and make a deal with you-“ The man started before Eggman laughed.

“Yeah yeah I know, you want to get in the island to scoop some hedgehogs yada yada” 

“I don’t think you understand what I’m offering you, Robotnik. In exchange for letting us capture both Sonic The Hedgehog and Project Shadow, the government is open to you being the legal owner of the island you reside in” The man spat already exasperated.

“It might not be world conquer but a whole island is a lot” 

Eggman twirled his mustache, as if he was actually considering it.

“Let me think about it…hmmm…. No” 

The commander visibly scoffed.

“Why not?! We are doing you a favor, don’t you want to get rid of the blue hero?”

“Oh I do, yes. But there’s no fun if it’s not me doing it. Now, commander, leave the island. Bring cheesecake next time, maybe that will make me change my mind!” The evil genius erupted in laughter before pressing a button that made the commander fly all the way back to his boat on the coast.

After turning down the microphone, the doctor visibly slumped on his chair.

Damn it, G.U.N was persistent as a cockroach.

It had been years since he had installed the protective shield around the island, preventing any human activity from closing into the safe space.

God knew how much they liked to mess things up for him.

It was only when they caught Sonic on the radar that the government grew even more anxious to get in. They wanted the blue hedgehog badly, and with GUN’s previous behavior towards extra-powered hedgehog all he could imagine was Sonic strapped to a machine for the rest of his days.

It wasn’t an image that brought peace to his mind.

They had sent Shadow back in the day to retrieve Sonic. But for some reason, the black hedgehog seemed to change his mind, preferring to stay as a hermit on the island’s mountains.

Which suited Eggman's plans.

Sonic and his pesky friends would remain on the island, where Eggman could prevent any outside dangers from lurking in. Like GUN was.

As long as they were on the island, they would be fine.

___

Sonic put his good foot on the boat first, the captain of the small boat hadn’t even charged him for the ride to the mainland. 

He felt dizzy when he sat on the side of the small ship, everything that had happened in the last few hours felt like a distant dream he couldn’t forget.

Had his mind been in any better place, he would have quickly seen the big GUN logo on the right side of the boat.

Chapter Text

Knuckles didn’t consider himself nearly as much of Tails’ older brother as Sonic was, but right now, Sonic was nowhere to be seen and the little kit was crying his heart out so someone had to take the blue hedgehog’s place.

The fox’s small claws were out but his head was on the echidna’s shoulder crying out the last remains of his tears while actively falling asleep.

Knuckles watched Amy pace all over Sticks’ living room (which was mostly a patch of dirt).

The badger’s burrow had seemed to be the only safe place to stay as long as that crazy mob continued to be out there, being hidden from most people and all.

The owner of the burrow was out there, being the sneakiest one of the bunch, trying to find the blue hedgehog.

Which made the pink one pace around like crazy from the helplessness.

“We shouldn’t have confronted him”

“Amy”

“We should have just talked to him” 

“ Amy ” 

“Don’t “ Amy ” me, Knuckles! You yelled at him!” The pink one said, pointing at him with rage.

“Well how did you want me to react? Oh ‘hey Sonic heard you’re the adoptive son of the man who tries to murder us every week, I don’t care that you didn’t tell us that important information for years!’ The red echidna said in a mocking tone yet still mindful of the sleeping fox cub in his arms.

“Maybe! I don’t know… I mean he’s still Sonic ” The pink hedgehog said.

“He still saves us from Eggman all the time…so whatever happened back then, means nothing anymore right?” She looked at Knuckles, as if wanting reassurance.

Reassurance that the echidna could not give her.

“I don’t know, Amy” He said, hesitating.

Before Sticks came crashing through the door abruptly even waking the fox cub up.

“What the!” Knuckles yelled while Amy ran towards the badger in the ground. Sticks quickly got up, dusting herself up and looking around frantic.

“I found the hedgehog!” She screamed proud, as if she hadn’t hit her head three times to get inside the burrow.

“Yeah?-“ Amy started trying to check the badger’s head still.

“He’s at Eggman’s base” Sticks said, smiling wide while her companions looked at each other in conflict.

It was Tails who got off Knuckles and started walking out.

“Let’s go get him” 

___

Eggman walked down the corridor down to Sonic’s med bay room, with a bunch of the hedgehog’s old books that he had left on the base. 

Honestly, it was a risky shot but he didn’t know how else to approach the injured hedgehog after all that’s happened.

Just throw the books on his face and wait for the best.

He took a small glance at the books. They were mostly classic literature for kids.

Okay maybe he should have picked some more mature ones. Sonic’s fifteen though? Young, still pretty young. Practically a baby. Yeah. He’ll like the books.

He reassures himself in a very non-convincing way before he crashes with Metal on the corridor and lets out an embarrassing yell.

“What the! Metal?! ” 

The robot started beeping in an alarmed manner, so quickly that the doctor struggled to understand what he was trying to say.

“HE WHAT?!” The evil genius finally spat, now practically running down the hallway to Sonic’s infirmary room.

He pushed the door open, almost making the corners of its frame crack. 

The bed was empty, the bandages of Sonic’s cast were thrown in the ground, and the egg-shaped man scanned all the room quickly.

The hedgehog wasn’t under the bed, no , he wasn’t in the room at all.  But how? How did he avoid setting off an alarm? How did he leave the room?

He turned to the right wall and saw it. A small screw was on the floor next to the vent.

He slapped his own face with a groan.

“Ugh! Of course!” He screamed in frustration, turning back to Metal.

“Find that goddamn hedgehog, he’s just gonna hurt himself further!” Just as he finished yelling his order, Orbot and Cubot appeared, knocking down some of the room’s furniture. Both small robots seemed to be in a hurry.

“Boss, we found him!” Orbot yelled with a panicked voice, yet his seriousness was betrayed by his companion boinking his head against him and making him fall again.

Eggman rolled his eyes in frustration while Metal just stared at the smaller robots.

The evil genius was about to scream at both of them to not waste his time before the yellow cubic robot interrupted with a yell.

“Surprise!” Cubot said.

“ Sonic’s going on a cruise with GUN , oh I’m so jealous of him! I wish I could get such a vacation!” 

“WHAT! How did this happen?! ”

Orbot seemed to come back to his senses because he pressed a button on his companion’s head that made a hologram appear through Cubot’s eyes showing a picture of Sonic holding onto the side of a military boat.

“They’re nearing the coastline, sir” 

“Don’t waste more time then! Ready the eggmobile! That hedgehog CANNOT leave this island! ” 

___

Sonic stared down at his hospital gown, he should have probably taken it off before getting on the boat, he must look ridiculous.

The logo of Eggman’s stupid face stared back at him, mocking him and the blue hedgehog felt the need to rip the fabric apart. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was how cold the breeze was.

It was no surprise, for it was late at night and the sea was nothing but darkness all around.

His paws were exposed too, so the cold was definitely getting to him now.

Suddenly the boat stopped in the middle of nowhere making Sonic look around confused.

That’s when he saw a bigger ship approaching the small solitary boat. The ship was from an undeniable military origin, judging by its appearance of heavy metal encrusted in its walls.

“Hey..huh, captain?! That ship is approaching way too much!” Sonic yelled struggling but walking towards the bridge in a panic.

He didn’t find the old captain there and, confused, tried to move back to the deck before he felt a prick on the right side of his neck.

“What the fuck…” 

He felt a pair of hands grabbing from behind and his fist swung back, hitting the man behind him. He took advantage of the slight moment of confusion for his attacker and kicked him right out of the boat.

Soon more hooded men began attacking him and that’s when he saw the GUN logo on their uniforms.

“Shit!”  He yelled but continued on avoiding their hits, pushing as many of them as he could into the cold water below.

They weren’t attacking him with legal weapons, he heard no bullets being fired and that was odd.

The blue hedgehog was smashing the seventh man’s head against the floor when he began feeling dizzy.

Whatever had been shot into his neck was definitely taking effect now.

Sonic tried to move towards the bridge again to attempt and take control of the boat but everything started looking blurry.

Something hit him on the head and he fell.

___

When the group arrived at Eggman's base they definitely didn’t expect him to ride out of it just at the exact moment on his eggmobile.

Metal was right behind him but Amy didn't let him get far, swinging her hammer at the robot with precision and making him fall down to the ground.

“Stop right there you bucket of bolts!” The pink hedgehog yelled, enough to make the evil genius turn backwards.

“What the hell are you doing! We need to get going now!” The egg-shaped man screamed in frustration, his eyes looking at the dot of his screen that pointed towards the tracker he had installed on Sonic since he was little.

It was getting further and further away and the man pulled at his mustache.

“ LET THE ROBOT GO PINKY!”

“Not until you tell us where Sonic is!” Amy screamed back, with the rest of the group nodding their heads.

“That’s what I’m TRYING to tell you! GUN TOOK HIM! ” The evil genius said pointing towards the dark ocean.

Tails looked at whatever the doctor was pointing at and saw a faint bunch of lights bearing the coastline.

Definitely a big ship, that could only be a military one.

The fox cub felt his sweat turn cold.

“Amy let Metal go! ” The young inventor said in a panic.

The pink hedgehog did so and the robot quickly fled towards the direction of the lights along with his creator.

The group stared helplessly at how they left.

“Why…why would GUN want to kidnap Sonic?” Knuckles asked out loud what everyone was thinking.

“I…I don’t know” Tails responded, feeling a tightness in his chest.

___

When Eggman and Metal arrived at the point of the tracker there was nothing to be found.

No boat, the lights seemed to be from a fish monitor but Eggman knew that wasn’t there before. It had definitely been put as a distraction from GUN.

It still didn't explain why Sonic’s tracker continued to point in this direction until he ordered Metal to dive in the ocean.

The robot came back holding what the evil genius feared.

Sonic’s tracker. But no Sonic. They had taken it off him.

Just how much surveillance did these creeps have on the kid for them to know it was there? 

Both man and robot came back to land with failure hanging over their shoulders.

The blue hero of the islands was gone.

___

Sonic’s body felt sick after being hit, bruised, burnt, drugged and hit again.

Upon coming to his senses he stayed for a moment holding a piece of the bed he was laying in.

He was so tired.

Not just physically, he was absolutely worn out from everything. His friends’ rejection, the island turning against him…being alone again and now…he didn’t want to wake up.

He didn’t want to face what was out there.

The blue hedgehog couldn’t get to rest however. He heard a door open and resigned. He opened his eyes, squinted under the bright light.

A quick glance at his sides and he already didn’t like what he was seeing.

A white room. White walls, white bedsheets. Empty with nothing other than the bed.

He noted they had taken away the hospital gown Eggman had given him, suddenly missing the cover it gave him.

Now he was truly exposed.

He looked towards the door and saw a man with grey hair and a uniform with way too many badges looking right at him.

The man closed the door behind him and approached the hedgehog.

“Sonic The Hedgehog, a pleasure to finally meet you” The older man said with a stern voice.

“Can’t say I feel the same” The blue hedgehog spat, not feeling like being cordial at all given the circumstances.

“I’m afraid it doesn’t really matter now” The man started.

“You might be wondering what you’re doing here. As you might know you were kept isolated in Bygone Island for the entirety of your formative years-“

“Hold up man, isolated? I grew up there with plenty of people” The blue hedgehog interrupted, saying the last phrase bitterly.

“Yes,but you have never left. That was due to Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s influence” The military man said, making Sonic squint his eyes.

“I stayed there so he couldn’t hurt anybody, besides why does GUN care about that? And who the heck are you?” The hedgehog confronted, feeling more impatient by the minute.

“Apologies, I’m Commander Towers and as to why my organization is interested in it is because of you” Sonic looked at him confused and honestly a bit concerned. “Such an… unusual creature as yourself needs to be monitored and examined” 

Alarm bells rang in Sonic’s ears and he smiled bitterly.

“I see, you want me to be your lab rat, don’t ya?” The hedgehog spat with venom.

“Given that you’ve got no caregivers, you are government property”

“Yeah well you know, a paper that literally said I was adopted was just pushed in my face yesterday-“

“Ivo Robotnik cannot adopt an individual as their own after all the war crimes they’ve committed, that document was not valid” The commander replied, his tone neutral.

Sonic laughed mockingly.

“Oh? So you just go around picking orphans and putting them in your laboratories? Wouldn’t expect less from the kings of uselessness. You really haven’t changed since the 50s huh? ” The blue hedgehog said standing up and bristling his quills.

“No, we don’t pick any orphans. Just you ” 

“Picky, I see. Well I’m not saying any longer, Commander Building. I’m leaving ” The hedgehog growled.

“I’m afraid not” The man said, pushing a button behind him.

Suddenly metallic claws emerged from the floor grabbing both hedgehog’s legs and dragging him to the wall. His entire torso was then grabbed by a machine in the wall making him unable to move.

“What the heck!” His heart began beating rapidly, being unable to move made him panic horribly.

The roof opened, making a camera go down and stare at him. Sonic felt terrified when another claw came to his chin and pushed him to look straight to it.

“Smile” 

 A robotic voice said from above.

Chapter Text

Shadow had been five the first time he had been put through all the tests, the scientists held the same accountability to their actions like a high school student would to opening a toad.

For them, it wasn’t a crime, it was a game.

Straddling a toddler against a table and dissecting him however they pleased. At the very least, Shadow tended to be dozed off to not feel the pain.

He had been five when they started and…six when they ended. 

Because she found him.

The professor’s granddaughter, a medicine student who wanted to follow her grandfather’s footsteps until she saw what they did to him.

Maria saved him.

He still remembered how tightly she held him while they ran away from the ARK underground base.

How she cut her hair in a ridiculous unnecessary amount to try and hide her identity behind a cap and how she carried him around on her school bag.

The young woman created a little home for them in an abandoned observatory deep in the woods.

Shadow grew there being cared for. Being loved .

It lasted 10 years.

Until they found them.

And they took her from him.

Reanimating him after fifty years wasn’t as smart of a decision as GUN would have liked to believe it was.

He was sent down to that stupid island, to capture someone that was as dangerous as him in the organization’s eyes.

Shadow’s spirit was low and honestly he didn’t believe there was a single reason for him to keep going, it had been so long that not even anger helped him get over his pain and the headaches that formed each time he tried to remember the good times made him all the more compliant to GUN’s plans.

Capture that hedgehog…

Sonic The Hedgehog. 

Fighting him…it sparked something Shadow had long believed he lost. Excitement.

He felt like a child again, trying to capture a butterfly with Maria, except this butterfly could keep up.

Watching him all the time started to become less of a task made by the obscure organization and more so a thing that Shadow obsessed with.

Sonic was intriguing. He was no ultimate lifeform, his pride insisted but deep down he knew he was something else entirely.

Why GUN wanted him, it was no mystery.

They wanted a new lab pet.

Yet as soon as Shadow found out GUN couldn’t reach this island thanks to Eggman it was the moment he decided to stay indefinitely.

Kicking that hedgehog’s ass was as much a purpose for living as he could get.

And watching him.

If Sonic and his friends found out they would probably freak out a lot, watching someone this much definitely wasn’t normal but when had Shadow ever been? 

Sonic has very strange habits, that was the first thing he noted.

His insomnia tendencies definitely explained the dark bags under his eyes, the way he paced around during the night on his shack and when he looked frustrated he would hit his head repeatedly.

It was all behavior Shadow had never seen before and it proved to be something Sonic would hide all the time from his friends.

There were other days when Sonic dedicated himself to taking care of Tails. Those were the ones the black hedgehog sat around for the longest.

Maybe this is why he watched him so much.

Sonic took care of Tails the way she used to take care of him. Making meals for him, talking things out, tending to his injuries when he got hurt, telling him stories…

Did Maria struggle too? The same way Sonic did when nobody was looking?

It filled his mind with guilt and dread.

Was the burden of caring for him destroying his sister too?

Yet Shadow never reached out to the blue hedgehog, he watched from afar how he crumbled underneath the pressure.

Shadow didn't miss when a bunch of people with torches walked towards the blue hedgehog’s shack but he refused to go and check.

It was unnecessary drama he didn’t want to be involved with.

But the problem wasn’t that day. It was the next ones.

It was too quiet.

The barrier of sound did not break once in an entire week and no matter how many different routes the hybrid took around the island there was no blue hedgehog to race with.

Whatever, Shadow had other pastimes other than just entertaining the blue hedgehog.

Yeah.

He ended up at Sonic’s shack.

Sonic’s….burnt down shack.

Only black ashes remained in the place of what used to be Sonic’s home.

He walked towards it, trying to find…anything.

His heart spiked. Could they have actually…

No.

Sonic couldn’t have died by a few torches, he was far too resilient for it to have been his final battle.

He accidentally stomped over something and looked down.

He saw a broken frame of the fox cub and the blue hedgehog, they seemed to have been fishing when it was taken.

It was all that remained.

Where was Sonic now?

As if the sky had heard him he heard an engine behind him.

Turning around he saw one of the doctor’s stupid ball shaped robots, the red one that at least seemed to know how to complete a phrase.

It was picking up stuff from the ground, he was about to reach out for the picture Shadow had just stood over before he realized the hedgehog was there and flinched in fear.

“Oh! Shadow! What …what are you doing here?”  The little robot stuttered nervously.

“What happened here?” Shadow spat.

“And what are you doing with its remains?” 

“Well huh…Boss said to bring any belongings to Sonic, he’ll surely want them when we find him”

“Find him?” Shadow asked even more confused.

“Yeah well…” The robot fidgeted with its hands.

“GUN kinda…took him” 

It felt as if something snapped right there. The echo of a bullet hitting something alive, someone he loved. Running through the laboratory, running and still being caught . 

Hiding now, was this the coward’s way? They would finally stop looking for him now that they gained a new weapon to play with.

Shadow would be freed from GUN’s antics now.

Sonic was no Maria.

He would surely survive.

He ended up at Eggman’s base.

___

Eggman was losing his mind.

Every precaution, every game he continued to play all to keep one hedgehog from leaving the island.

He couldn’t care less if GUN decided to take over this place if the hedgehog he needed to fight was nowhere to be seen.

The doctor had had the torturous experience of living under the government’s command before the organization of GUN had even formed and he knew what things they were capable of.

Now, he was no saint,not at all but GUN…they were monsters and they would be even more with us than the specimen they had captured.

How much would they push to see how useful Sonic could be? 

What method of torture were they putting him through right now?

The hedgehog was resilient, more than anyone he’s ever known but they could really pick you apart if another’s hedgehog experiences were anything to go by.

He stared at his screen, every GUN base that had ever been in its database, sending some drones towards it would definitely not be enough for the immense amount of security each one of them had.

“We need to go to the continent”

Eggman screamed in an embarrassing tone after suddenly hearing that voice. He then turned to an unsurprised Tails.

“We won’t be able to do much here and there’s no reason to stay here” The fox cub said calmly, too cold and calculating for an eight year old.

The egg-shaped man looked at him for a second, it wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it.

“What about your workshop, fox? This is where you grew up in” 

The little kit shook his head.

“Without Sonic, it's not home and after what the villagers did to him I don’t want to be part of their island” He said, determined.

“I don’t know if it’s all a trick or you actually care about him but I wanna help” 

“What about your other friends?” Eggman asked tiredly.

Tails scrunched his face.

“Huh…they’re coming to terms with Sonic being…”

The egg-shaped man looked at him simply blinking a bit awkwardly.

“…your kid?” The kit said and it felt as if that word took a lot to come out of his mouth.

The evil genius groaned yet started typing on his keyboard sending orders to his bots, mobilizing most of his forces back to the base in the mainland was something he really hadn’t wanted to do.

People were worse in the country and for kids like Sonic and Tails, the judgement they would face would be ten times worse.

“We will be leaving tomorrow morning, whoever wants to come better be there or I’m leaving without them” He stood up ready to leave the room to try and get some other things done before the kit grabbed his hand making him freeze.

He looked at the little fox in a panic.

“Do you…think he’s okay?” He asked, his voice small. So small it reminded Eggman of how old he was. Without his older brother, despite being a genius, Tails was still just a little boy.

The doctor patted his head slowly, making the young inventor surprised.

“He’ll be fine, he’s survived too much not to” 

The kit smiled up to him, too bright it made Eggman remind himself of who he was and he straightened back up.

“Now don’t waste my time! We’ve got a job to do!” 

___

Walking calmly along the halls of Eggman’s base was definitely something…different.

Yet again, they really couldn’t go anywhere else.

It was the only place in the island the villagers wouldn't dare set foot in.

Amy felt her whole world crumble around her.

Her best friend was gone, probably being tortured by that goddamn organization. Every one in the group knew how much damage they had done to Shadow from the times they had spoken to him about it.

She just wouldn’t have imagined they would wanna take… Sonic.

And that Eggman was protecting him this whole time!

How couldn’t she have seen any of it? It was obvious now wasn’t it? Eggman never gave a deadly hit, he would never show when Sonic was sick, leaving him to rest but not caring when the others were.

She believed it had been some weird nemesis competitiveness but now she could see the obvious favoritism.

Because Sonic used to be his family.

Did they miss each other? Life would be so much easier if they stopped fighting but why…

She shook her head. It wasn’t her problem to fix and it wasn’t even the most important thing right now, finding Sonic was.

But depending on Eggman to do so…

Knuckles and Sticks had stayed in the main room of the base waiting for any sign of a plan but she knew they weren’t convinced on trusting on Eggman.

Tails insisted but how much of that was desperation?

Amy was about to turn back when she looked left and found a very weird looking door.

It was a metallic one like the others on the base, however it had a kind of blue marker line on its side. It looked old.

Curious, she pushed the door open, finding little to no resistance.

What she saw inside made her mouth hang wide open.

It was a child’s bedroom.

On the right side there was an empty missile capsule but old and adapted to be a bed. The room was empty except for the bed but it was clear it had belonged to a child due to the walls painted with green hills and sunflowers.

On the bed lay a single jaguar plushie that had probably not been touched in years. Amy sat on the bed and grabbed it.

She read “Sonic” on the toy’s left paw.

This was Sonic’s childhood bedroom.

Eggman had given him a bedroom back then.

The emptiness of the room made Amy’s heart heavy.

___

“Any questions?” Eggman said to the four little creatures in his living room with a pained groan.

While the fox looked at him with determination the rest of the team looked at him with unease and suspicion, especially the brown badger.

“Why are we dividing?” Knuckles spat.

Eggman slapped his own face.

“Didn’t you hear, you, red imbecile? We need to cover more ground. We don’t know where Sonic is and there’s approximately fifty eight GUN bases only on the mainland that we have to check, assuming they didn’t take the hedgehog to another island” He repeated as if explaining it to a child, which he…kind of was.

“But why is Tails going with you?! That sounds like a double kidnapping to me!” The badger said, pointing her boomerang at the evil genius.

“Excuse me?!”

“How do we know you’re not working with the government, you’re an evil rich guy!” The paranoid girl insisted.

“I DO NOT affiliate myself with monsters like GUN” The doctor said.

“Besides it was the fox who made the teams, not me!”

Amy, who had looked like she was in a trance since she came back from her little walk, finally looked at the little fox cub.

“Tails?”

“Somebody needs to see that Eggman isn’t up to some scheme right? I’m the tech guy. I'll definitely be able to see if he’s up to something fishy immediately ” Tails replied, ignoring the very offended look on the evil genius's face.

“I’ll stay with you then” Knuckles said.

“No, I divided us on three teams for a reason, Sticks will need your strength” 

The red echidna looked like he wanted to discuss it further but then Amy stopped him.

“I’m not thrilled to be on Metal Sonic’s team either, Knuckles but this is the best shot we got at finding Sonic” The pink hedgehog said in a tone that left no chance of disagreeing.

The warrior scoffed but said nothing more.

“Alright then, I guess this settles it-“

Suddenly an alarm turned on inside the base making all mobians cover their ears due to their over sensitivity.

The human looked at his hologram watch to see what caused the alarm to go off just when the main door bursted open revealing a familiar black hedgehog.

“Okay, I've got enough problems at the moment, come back another day!” The evil genius yelled to the ultimate lifeform irritated yet the hybrid didn’t seem to care.

He approached the man without sparing a glance to the other people in the room.

“I’m here to strike a deal” 

“Listen whatever you’re up to, it's not my problem anymore, Shadow. I’m leaving and so it’s the shield of the island” The genius said looking down at the hybrid.

“So I heard” 

“Then I’ll recommend you to start looking for a new hiding spot-“ 

“I’m done hiding” The black hedgehog spat, his quills bristling.

“And don’t act like you weren’t doing the same, doctor” 

The rest of the people in the room were just staring at each other confused and a bit uncomfortable.

“What do you want then?” The doctor asked, annoyed.

“I want you to use your army to dismantle GUN, destroy absolutely everything ” The hedgehog said coldly.

Eggman stared at him then laughed.

“You do know GUN is literally the government right? You’re asking me to throw my army into a civil war” 

The doctor said between chuckles.

“ Exactly ” Shadow responded never losing his seriousness nor his coldness making Eggman’s laughter stop.

“They took something from me and now they did the same to you” 

“Now Sonic’s not-“

“You have the enough resources to take down their entire operation, it is time for you to stop being a coward and fight them! They’ve hurt this family enough” The black hedgehog finished his last sentence with a broken voice but his stance did not deter.

Eggman looked at the heroes on his right side.

Even their lives had been stained by GUN´s actions, had it not been for their fake allegations of mobians being a dangerous species these kids would have not grown up in such a conservative and isolated island that did nothing but treat them like scum.

And his- the blue hero wouldn't be wherever he is right now.

The evil genius sighed, looking down at the angry black hedgehog again.

“You said it was a deal, what am I gaining?”

“ Other than the satisfaction of justice… i´m helping you find the hedgehog” Shadow said.

Eggman looked at the others again , specifically at Tails.

“We need as many hands as we can get” The kit shrugged.

The doctor scoffed but handed Shadow a communicator he had on his desk.

“I programmed it with all the information I could gather from the GUN database, you must report whatever you find and when and only when that hedgehog is found is when I'll help you with your little civil war project”

The hybrid put the communicator around his wrist and nodded, disappearing in a flash.

The group stayed quiet for a second.

“Are you actually…?” Amy questioned the machine inventor who just shrugged. 

“Why not?” He said.

“They´ve been at peace for far too long”

___

Sonic screamed after the claw pulled away from his mouth, he fell like a doll to the ground as soon as he stopped being suspended by the machinery.

He looked to the scientists grabbing his just taken out fangs, still covered in blood.

The blue prisoner felt the red liquid leaving his mouth and gagged.

He tried getting up but one of the security agents swung his fist against his face making him fall backwards, dizzy and disoriented he was pinned down like a toy and pushed against the wall.

The woman with a long braid and magenta hair stared down at him, she was always present on the tests they had put him through.

Sonic laughed a bit maniacally for a moment before looking directly at her.

“That's all you got?” He said, a bit muffled because of the blood.

She kneeled down and grabbed his chin. 

"Don't worry, it will all be worth it” She cooed and his quills bristled.

Suddenly she started forcing his mouth open again with assistance from the security group.

She drew a knife and pressed it against his tongue making Sonic's eyes turn into pinpricks. 

“Shh, be quiet”

Chapter Text

Sonic woke up, bound down to the bed, the intense white light of the room was stopping from gaining any rest that wasn't drug induced. He felt weakness on all his limbs.

The restraint made his breath quicken up slightly, his claustrophobia wasn´t very helpful ever since he was captured, they had an obsession with making him feel more trapped than he already was.

It brought him memories of the weeks he spent at that fanatic tapir's home. He didn't even remember his name, it was as if his mind didn't want to remember. The kidnapping and the force-feeding had been something he had wanted to push down since it happened. 

That guy´s touch, it's like he could feel it again. 

He felt so nauseous,he wanted to throw up.

Sonic turned his head to the side and did just that, except it wasn´t bile that left his mouth. It was blood. 

He felt pain inside his mouth, he tried to move his tongue to find whatever had been taken but then… white-throbbing pain went through his skull and he vomited again.

His tongue… it was gone.

Now his breathing went out of control. He was trapped and mute, he could not talk, not anymore, not again-

They´ll come, they´ll come, the others will come.

No, he left them, he left so they couldn´t find them.

But Eggman would, Eggman always found him.

He didn't last time, when that tapir took him, he's not coming, nobody is coming.

He couldn´t breathe, he was choking on his own blood.

Scientists- or doctors?- filled the room and secured him.

They drugged him so he wouldn't move but they didn't seem interested in his panic nor his vomiting. 

They started bringing out sharp tools. Medical tools, and cleaning his chest with a wipe.

What were they doing?

Shouldn't he have passed out by now? Why was he still awake? He saw that doctor again.

Merlina? What was her name? She brought a surgical knife, she was pressing it down on his chest.

No, no, no wait! He was awake, couldn't they see he was awake?

Sonic felt tears leaving his eyes as his chest was opened wide by a knife.

___

Seven months.

Seven months and he hasn't found him.

How is this possible?

80% of the military bases on the GUN database and none of them contained the little blue hedgehog. His friends had made sure to leave a wreck behind on each of them, so Eggman could at least take in the small victory of destroying the organization´s peace. 

Surely they knew by now they were looking for Sonic, but Eggman had never considered the element of surprise, not even since the beginning.

GUN knew they would look for him from the moment they took him.

Which is why he was so well hidden.

Eggman watched all the videos recorded by each of the teams Tails had divided, analyzed them in different programs to ensure they hadn't missed anything, the kit had fallen asleep in the desk next to his after looking for so many hours on his own program.

He sighed, knowing what Sonic would say if he saw his little brother so overworked, the egg-shaped man stood up and carried the kit into his arms, laying him on a bed he had put on the computer room for the fox since he came with him to his main base in the country. 

Gods knew that as soon as that child woke up he would be looking for his brother again.

Eggman hadn't gotten much sleep himself either, his desk was filled with endless empty cups of coffee. He rubbed his temples, forcing himself to look at the computer again. 

He opened the drawer to his right, looking for a code containing Abraham Towers´properties. 

The evil genius was throwing papers from his way before he found something that definitely did not belong in there.

There was a small motobug stuffed toy between the copies of papers.

Eggman stopped in his tracks, staring at it as if he had found a hidden ancient text.

He grabbed it, slowly and gently.

The toy was covered in dust and some of its stitches were torn off, but it was still here.

Small paws that weren´t even the size of the half of his hand drew over sand. Winter was over and the small hoglet did nothing other than play outside.

Eggman watched him while he worked on his newest invention, one that surely this time would rival the hoglet´s strength and speed.

The little one didn't seem interested at all but as soon as he finished his drawing he demanded the evil genius´attention.

His little claws grazed against the egg-shaped man´s pants and he had no option but to simply groan and check whatever the rodent had done.

There in the sand was a small ladybug and next to it, a drawing that Sonic had done of it. It had eyes way too big and it was far too spheric.

Yet that drawing became the inspiration for his robot line of bug robots.

And later, Sonic took that stuffed toy as his along the stuffed jaguar until he ran off.

Eggman stayed with the toy in his hand for what could be hours.

Someone must have put it inside the boxes as they moved from the Bygone Island base and now it was here.

But its owner was not.

___

Having black be the color of his fur was truly helpful whenever he needed to stay out of public view.

He waited for a few minutes before he heard wings flattering near and looked up.

A white bat met his eyes with a grin as she gently touched the ground.

“Wonderful meet up spot, darling. Such a nice view” She said, ironically, for they were both sure there wasn't a dirtier alley in the city of Station Square than the one they were in right now.

“We may not have much time, let's go straight to the point, bat” Shadow said, his tone unchanging.

The bat just giggled.

“Seriously, Shadow? But why would I help someone who abandoned me on a mission? A…what is it called? … A traitor? ” Her tone turned from playful to dangerous, making Shadow's quills bristle. 

“You knew what GUN did to me.I was never on board with that mission to take Sonic down, not on my own free will” The black hedgehog spat, his anger showing.

“Of course! But you could have told me your plan to stay on that damn island, not leave me to the wolves” She said, her wings opening threateningly and baring her teeth.

“Do you have any idea what GUN did to me after you quit? Did you even care? ” 

At that the black hedgehog straightened up, immediately showing regret even if for just a moment his ears uncharacteristically bent down.

Upon seeing that the bat sighed.

 “Dont worry, I escaped before they could do anything” She said turning away from him.

“But if you hadnt… Rouge ” Shadow was still looking down, slightly ashamed.

“They´ve got Blue now, Shadow, not me”

“How do you-”

"That's why you called me, isn't it?” She said with a renewed knowing smirk,it was then when Rouge suddenly threw a small pink colored memory that Shadow caught easily.

“There´s a video inside” Rouge started explaining.

 “It was from when Sonic was first brought into the mainland docks. It's not much but maybe the doctor or that fox cub can get something out of it”

Shadow looked at it surprised.

“ How did you know I was looking for him?” The hybrid asked, slightly untrusting,

“Please, since Eggman took off that protective dome there's been chaos on that island and without Big Blue to protect it? I just knew GUN had something to do with it and I imagined you would do something against it” The white bat swayed her hips teasingly making Shadow´s eyes roll.

“Not running away anymore, right, hun?”

Shadow scoffed and closed his eyes but nodded.

“Id make GUN pay. For everything ”

Rouge´s eyes sparkled with excitement. 

"That's my boy”

___

Eggman walked into that lonely bar like a beaten old dog, the stuffed motobug was resting in one of his pockets after he found it and a gun was next to his belt.

He wasn't wearing his usual suit but a long red wine jacket and a hat over his head, trying to not seem as recognizable.

He sat on one of the chairs and sighed.

Coming here after seven months of not finding that damn blue hedgehog.

It had never been this hard, he usually always had Sonic within reach to lend him on in a battle.

The old man hadn't even come here to drink, medically he couldn't. Damned conditions of age.

“Just give me a glass of water” He said to the unnamed bartender without even sparring a glance at him.

“You look like you had a rough night”

“How observant of you” Eggman said, annoyed, still not looking at whoever was speaking to him.

“Well don't feel too bad. Tell you what, I'll prepare you a cup of hot cocoa, my offer”

Eggman scoffed. 

“Hot cocoa on a bar? ”

At that the man laughed and he turned to look at him.

The man didn't seem much younger than him, but stared at him as if he was the funniest thing in the whole building.

“Sir, this is a cafe” He said pointing towards the sign above him.

It read “Mean Bean cafe” and Eggman felt like shooting himself right there.

He groaned, trying not to show how embarrassed he was.

He hadn't even looked at the sign, if it was a cafe why did it look like a bar!

Suddenly the man left his water and a cup of hot cocoa next to it, he looked up at him and the man smiled back at him.

He was about to say something to scare off the annoyed man before this one interrupted him while looking behind him.

“Do they come with you?”

The question made Eggman aware of two pairs of hands near his back,he turned in time just to see a GUN agent draw their taser, the egg-shaped man grabbed one of the nearby chairs and threw it against him before grabbing the other by the throat and throwing him against the wall.

The first one got up again and attempted to draw their gun out  before Eggman grabbed his hands and punched him in the face until he passed out.

He didn't notice the second man walking towards him from behind. He just heard the sound of glass shattering and the thud of the agent falling unconscious.

Eggman turned around to see the barista that had previously attended him holding a broken cup, he then saw the fallen agent with bits of glass on his hair.

“You shouldn't have done that” Eggman simply said, before standing up.

“They were going to kill you!” The barista argued angrily.

“And now they´ll kill you for helping me, congratulations ” The egg-shaped man smiled mockingly and annoyed before walking towards the agent and looking inside their pockets, the one that had been hit with the glass seemed to slightly wake up and Eggman grabbed him by the throat.

“Where is he?” He spat at the agent's face but this one didn't seem to respond well yet, blabbering nonsense. 

“Fucking hell! Where the hell is he?You scum! ” He practically screamed at the agent before hearing noise outside the cafe and groaning. 

He stood up,ready to walk off before the barista grabbed his hand.

“Wait! You can't just leave me here! I'll go to jail!” The man said in a panic.

“Should have thought of that before helping a random man in your restaurant” The evil genius scoffed.

“I gave you free hot cocoa, you owe me!” The barista argued and Eggman rolled his eyes before cracking the most threatening smirk he could do.

“Do you have any idea of who I am?” He started pushing the man away. 

“Ive destroyed creatures bigger than you, fought against the most advanced armies and the most dangerous foes and you want me of all people to protect you?” He laughed at the man´s face.

“But…you´re looking for someone” He said, making Eggman's laughter stop slightly.

“Ive worked as an assistant before, maybe I could help?Surely someone to make your coffee would be useful while you look for them?” 

Eggman closed his eyes in annoyance. 

Orbot and Cubot´s coffee truly was horrid and besides,this man had seen too much, it was either hire him or kill him to ensure he would tell nobody.

“ Fine ” He said begrudgingly. 

“But if you try everything I've got more than a few nuclear weapons back at home to make you shut up forever”

“S-sure thing, sir”

“Whatever” Eggman groaned. 

“Your name, peasant? ”

“Its Stone, sir”

___

His body was heavy, way too heavy.

Had he been drugged after he passed out?

He remembered the pain of being opened up, seeing all the blood pour from inside him, his organs pushed around like they were toys. Like he was nothing. In their eyes, he was nothing.

Sonic felt bile coming up his throat at the memory.

Was he dead? Was this hell? Or was he still alive and trapped with these monsters?

The blue hedgehog rose up, feeling the weight of his body being too huge again.

It was when he looked down that he felt his eyes water.

His chest… It was metallic. 

He touched it, it was so cold and in the middle of it was something golden sparkling inside.

Sonic felt his breath quicken for the thousandth time since he had come in here.

He tried taking off whatever they had put on his chest, his panic only increased when he really it wasn't something that could come off. Because it wasn't over his chest…it was his chest .Almost his entire torso had been turned into metal. 

He almost fell off his bed before the door opened and he flinched.

That doctor, Merlina walked inside, her expression neutral.

“Good morning, Arthur”

His throat felt sore but he still tried to talk.

“T-thats not my name and- what… what have you done to me?” He stuttered while she walked towards him and touched his metallic chest as if you examined it.

“You…are project Arthur and this is your excalibur” She smiled before standing up.

“All inspired by your favorite book story” She said mockingly.

“How do you know thats-”  

“Oh we know everything about you, baby blue.That dome Eggman made prevented every GUN technology from entering but what that genius didn't know is that we already had technology inside ” She pressed a button on her wrist and showed the hologram of a small drone.

“This little guy followed you, for…your entire life”

Sonic stared at the hologram terrified before it projected endless videos of him ranging from when he was but a little hoglet to a few months ago.

His entire life…documented on GUN´s database.

“This… is so gross ” Sonic said, gagging. The realization that he had never been free from somebody looking at him, even when he was alone, made him want to throw up all over again.

Suddenly he felt a pain on his… chest.

Merlina just smiled.

“You see Arthur, one of the things we managed to gather before Eggman ran off to that little island was an unfinished project of his…he called it the robotizer ” She said before signaling to him. To his chest. His heart.

“ No… ”

“It seemed fitting to try it on you, don't you think?”

“ You…you fuckers!” He screamed as he dashed towards the doctor despite the throbbing pain in his legs, he was about to reach her, tear her apart just like they had to done to him, she would claw her heart out-

Suddenly, air stopped coming in, his body felt weak and he fell to the floor, something inside….his heart hurt.

He couldn’t breathe and he felt blood rushing down but it wasn’t a panic attack, no, it couldn’t be-

The doctor smiled, pressing a button on her wrist.

“Feeling down? Oh poor Arthur” She cooed.

Everything was so blurry, he felt like the biggest weight had been put on his chest, he couldn’t move, but damned he tried to look up at the woman, snarling.

“ Not…my name”  

“It is now, but what's King Arthur without his knights?” She said and as if on cue, several machines opened up from the walls, some grabbed him and pulled him to the bed again while others connected to his metallic chest making him scream. 

They were prodding and pulling at him, multiple wires were connecting to him and Sonic felt control over his body slip further and further away as military men entered the room and started programming something on a screen.

“ What..what are you doing?”  

He saw the tags on the men; those were the names of the knights from the Arthurian stories, Galahad, Lancelot, Percival, Gawain, Gareth… why.

How dare they turn something so precious to him into this…

“Giving you use of course” Merlina answered.

His vision swam with red.

The last thing he saw was the tag of a man approaching his bed.

“Stone” 

Chapter Text

The sound of waves was near, or something similar.His vision came in and out of reality. Dark scenarios and faces covered in blood passed through his eyes like a very bad movie.

And then, between those images, there was home.

Eggman had never been the most affectionate man, but there were times. There were times when Sonic would crawl to him, tired and worn out after a day of fighting other villains on the island.

The other villains weren't like Eggman. They weren't as dangerous. They were stupid, very stupid adults who believed they deserved everything they wanted.

Eggman was like that too.

No. No other villain would let him curl into a ball in his arms when the world got too loud. No, he was different. 

He wanted him.

Nobody wanted him, nobody even came.

Why else would he let him call him Eggman? He became fond of the name. He liked him.

He wanted…

Sonic felt his fingers cracking something open but that was strange, he wasn't awake.

“Dad…dad i want to go home”

But he wasn't here.

___

Tails was sitting on top of a roof, tapping fast on his computer, almost unblinking.

On his left paw he held an energizing drink that he was sure his older brother would disapprove of but he needed it to stay awake.

Thanks to Shadow's unexpected findings of Sonic's first entrapment, Tails had managed to locate the agents that had been responsible for his capture. Questioning them had proven to be futile. 

The young fox still remembered the way the whole team got frustrated when even though they captured them, the agents would to activate a device encrusted on the side of their neck that would make them turn to pieces.

Eggman had tried to shield him from seeing at first but…he knew.

The lengths GUN would make their people go…

He shook his head, refocusing.

It had been a year and a half of living in the country, living without Sonic.

The mainland was harsh with mobians.

They treated them like pests or the nicer ones, something to be poked at.

It made Tails uneasy, the public perception of humans towards his species was severely twisted.They blamed the animals for most of the modern diseases, unaware of there being scientific proof that it wasn't true.

But he knew who was behind all that misinformation.

The giant poster he was staring at right now across the street of a GUN agent protecting children from the infectious mobians had much to say.

Sticks had been reprimanded by the group after setting some of those on fire, he remembered with a chuckle. Everyone agreed that they wished to do the same, but they were currently conspiring against GUN, a.k.a the craziest psychos in all of history and they really needed to not get their attention.

Currently, however, Tails was staring at the map of an underground base right directly under the building he was in.

He could easily destroy all of its defenses, and this base seemed to be an archive. Just what he needed.

Tails finally closed the multiple windows of his computer after disabling the last programmed camera of the building. He was ready to stand up before he stared briefly at his screen where a picture of him and his older brother was.

His breath caught up briefly.

Sonic's eyes. He needed to remember those vivid eyes. His brother was alive somewhere, he just had to find him.

The kit turned off his computer and prepared to fly down.

___

Amy's last year hadn't been the best.

Her and Knuckles had hit more GUN agents than what she can recall and still there was no sign of her best friend. She felt hopeless with guilt crawling into her heart.

To gain money, she began a small business of pastries, even though when Eggman found out he started sending them money, she didn't stop. Baking was the only way to keep her from spiraling into insanity, although sometimes she wandered into Knuckles´ side of the apartment and used his boxing set up to take out her despair.

Despite what he said, the echidna wasn't fairing much better than her.She could hear him, sometimes, having nightmares. Calling Sonic.

The events inside the blue hedgehog's shack haunted them both. If they hadnt…pushed him away. Would he still be here? 

If they had spoken to him, asked him more about what he struggled with, would he have opened up? Would he have let them endure his hardships with him?

It didn't matter anymore, did it? They could do nothing.

“Stop it, yer gonna get a headache” Sticks said from the apartment's terrace. She was covering her nose, still not used to the heavy smell of the city despite how many months they've been here.

“Im…just thinking”Amy responded sitting on one of the terrace chairs with a baking magazine in her hands.

“You and Knux love making yourselves responsible for something you ain't” The badger chuckled dryly and it made the pink hedgehog´s quills slightly bristle.

“Sticks…we were-"

“No, of course not!” She said exasperated even though she was on the terrace railing.

“It was the dirty old villagers who caused everything, since forever! All of us were prosecuted by them since we were practically children! If there is anything I like about this place is that they aren't here!”

“But if i had…spoken to him-”

“That ain't your responsability, to none of us” The badger said firmly.

Amy looked down, her stance didn't show that she believed it, she simply didn't want to argue anymore.

“No news from egg and Tails yet?”

“No” Amy answered.

“We are still on break apparently. Knuckles and Shadow are still working on that mission, Gaia knows how well they're getting along” She laughed a bit making Sticks smile.

“Well last time it was Knuckles and Tails resting while you and I kicked that mayor on the butt for withdrawing money in the name of GUN”

“Im still pretty sure some GUN agents won money from that” She groaned.

Suddenly Sticks erupted into laughter making Amy turn to her.

“Look at us. What a mess” She looked in the distance, looking lost. The fog of the city became even more noticeable now. Amy knew Sticks didn't belong in such a place. Gaia, none of them did.

Sonic didn't, that was for sure.

And yet there he was, somewhere, trapped just like all of them were until they found him.

For a moment, Amy imagined what would happen if they didn't find him. Would they leave? Going back to Bygone Island was no choice but Amy knew there were countries where mobians were welcomed and treated like equals.

She had always wanted to live in Soleanna…maybe she could know. With no strings attached on the island she grew up with and was tormented each day.

She shook her head.

It was selfish. This was selfish, thinking about leaving without Sonic?

That was cruel, he was her best friend.

It was mean. She was being mean.

Still her mind wandered.

She really didn't think she could survive much longer in a place where everyone wanted to put a gun against their heads.

___

“Did you find anything?” The black hedgehog asked in a neutral tone, direct, serious.

The red echidna shook his head, frustrated.

“You?” He asked, a bit of hope resting on his tongue.

Shadow shook his head as well.

At that Knuckles roared in frustration, grabbing one of the giant rocks next to the base and throwing it against the gigantic GUN entrance. Shadow stared, impressed for a moment before rolling his eyes at the useless act.

“It´ll be better if you-”

Interrupting him, Knuckles threw another enormous rock again, this time damaging the entrance even more.

“That's enough, we don't want to draw more attention than necessary-” Shadow started, now terribly annoyed before being interrupted once again, this time with a rock almost hitting his head.

The hybrid teleported behind the echidna and in anger responded to his previous attempted attack by kicking him across the face.

“What the hell is-” Shadow once again was surprised by the sheer amount of strength and speed Knuckles was able to grasp his neck and throw him against a tree.

The echidna panted and for a second the hedgehog thought about teleporting before noticing the look on the warrior's eyes.

“...I shouldn't have left him” He said, his lips trembling.

And for a second, Shadow felt guilty.

Here was someone who genuinely cared about Sonic, fueled with rage and despair over not being able to find him, and then there was Shadow, who had obsessively watched Sonic for a few years now since he arrived to Bygone Island, and had made a deal with his father to rescue him only so in return his past tormentors would be destroyed.

He was doing this for himself. He, a horrendous being, caring about someone he had only truly seen through the windows of his shack.

Spied on, possessed memories of him without the consent to do so.

“He’s still out there somewhere” Shadow said, hoping that was enough. He did not know how to comfort, and he would not pretend to know, so he’d just do what he knows and redirect the echidna back to their objective.

“For how much longer?” The warrior spat, the air leaving his mouth turning into a white cloud due to the cold.

“GUN won’t kill him-“ 

“Yes but they’ll do worse, won’t they?” Shadow stared at the echidna waiting for him to continue.

“Those people can control minds, break souls. Even if we save him…do you understand that he might never be the same again?” 

The black hedgehog was silent.

Such concern, such maturity. Only to be expected from the red echidna. Shadow didn't think he had ever met anyone as protective of family as he was.

Knuckles, at last, pried his hands off Shadow, standing stiff in the middle of the snow.

He stomped off towards the west.

“Where are you going?” The hybrid asked.

“To the next GUN base” The fighter said.

___

Sonic knew they were making him do things he didn’t want to do.

Somehow the way they installed his new chest had made them controllers of his whole entire nervous system, including his brain.

He saw flashes of it, but the biggest tell was his hands.

They were covered in blood. Even when they and declawed him, his body was pretty capable of violence.

Sonic was in the showers, always being monitored, always watched when conscious. Like a zoo animal.

It had become a routine of sorts. 

Being showered this way.

The first time he fought but now he simply let the water take away the blood.

He really wanted to throw up.

“Who did I kill?” He asked in a whisper, still looking down, seeing all the blood falling from his hands and into the drain.

The man behind him sighed.

“You know I can’t tell you” 

He felt small. So small. They were using him as a weapon, they needed him but Sonic couldn’t help but feel like a small child each time they would talk to him.

Like his opinion didn't matter, like everything he said was stupid and useless.

“Did I know them?” He continued anyway. Because he needed to know, he needed to be sure that he didn’t hurt…

“No” And Sonic let out a sigh at that.

The shower stopped. He was clean now. Or as clean as he could without a shampoo or a brush.

The man approached him with a towel that was put around him.

Sonic didn’t thank him but he didn’t try to bite him either (he had tried that before).

“You’re getting a break, you should be happy about that” 

“And do what? Stare at the white ceiling of my cell all day?”

“It’s not a cell”

“Just because it looks nice doesn’t mean I’m not trapped” Sonic hissed.

Emerald eyes met brown ones, the man looked genuinely tired. The blue hedgehog wondered for a moment if some of them knew what they were doing was wrong, if they regretted joining GUN.

Then his chest tightened, his breath shortened and he fell on his knees with a thud.

“Stop…! I-I…I didn’t do… anything, you… psychos!” 

Sonic said between shallow breaths, his hands suddenly came up to his throat…and he started choking himself.

“Doctor Merlina-“ The man above him started after seeing him, if Sonic wasn’t about to involuntarily kill himself maybe he would have paid more attention to how mortified the man sounded.

“Don’t be soft, Stone” The woman said through the interphone above the ceiling of the showers.

“The boy needs to learn to be kinder to his superiors”

Sonic’s own hands continued to press at his throat, his eyes watered, he couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t control it, he couldn’t stop himself. He truly was helpless, if they wanted him to die they could make him do the deed himself. They had never shown this, that’s why they were doing it. They wanted him to know…he was not in control anymore.

“Doctor Merlina, I think he understands” Agent Stone said, dropping next to the blue boy and strangely gently prying his hands from his throat.

 Sonic was finally released from the woman’s control  and he could finally breathe. He fell lower into the floor, Stone didn't stop him as he sobbed.

___

Stone stared at the coffee he had prepared for Doctor Eggman for a moment. It was the first week of going undercover and pretending to work for the doctor. 

GUN had been smart at making him look like a common barista, bringing those agents inside the building and making Stone look like a helpful civilian to the evil genius.

They really thought of everything, all to ensure their new weapon’s previous caregiver could never find him.

For a moment, Stone felt a small part of himself dirty.

The doctor had no idea that when Stone left this base he went right to the place where the boy he was looking for had been held for a year and a half.

“Stone, what's taking you so long?!” The doctor spat from the other room, his yell resonating through the entire base.

“Coming right away, sir!” He took the coffee cup and dashed towards the doctor.

Eggman had no idea that his “assistant” saw his boy everyday, be beaten, controlled and manipulated, and just allowed it.

If the man found out while he was around, he knew he wouldn’t see the light of day again.

But, that was not what was going to happen. 

He was meant to be a distraction, keep Eggman’s gaze away from Sonic’s actual location, and make sure he never got too close. 

Make sure he never finds his son.

“Here you go, sir” He said with a smile leaving the cup right next to the evil genius hand.

“Bah! Tails is unresponsive once more, that little brat” He muttered, not even sparing Stone a glance, his eyes fixated on the screen. 

The agent glanced briefly to the crazy ramblings written all over the desk, and to a picture of Sonic and his younger brother.

Sonic looked nothing like he did now, in that picture he was confident, smiling at the fish the two brothers had captured. Resembling victory and peace.

Present Sonic had none of that.

“He takes after his brother” Eggman groaned and Stone wasn’t sure if the words were meant to be listened to by him or the egg-shaped man was just talking his mind out.

“They’re both brats” He said the last word in a shaking tone.

“You´ll find him, sir”

“Of course i will” The man spat, almost making Stone step back.

“I´ll tear down GUN piece by piece if i have to”

Stone gulped slightly, the egg-shaped man looked extremely intimidating, the shadow he cast on the room making his threat sound even more serious. A threat directed, unknowingly, to him.

The doctor had proven to be specially fond of Sonic, even more so than what GUN initially believed; it wasn't a relationship based on power gain, the blue hedgehog and doctor lived off fighting each other and that need to constantly bump into each other had turned slowly, into care.

Stone had seen and heard Sonic while he slept, he had heard him mumble “dad” in an almost desperate tone.

He knew what they meant to each other. And he knew he had to make sure they never found each other.

“Of course, sir” Stone said and turned around, ignoring the weird look that the two little geometric minions of Eggman gave him.

___

Tails looked at himself in the mirror. He was getting a bit taller, there were brown circles around his eyes and over his snout. And now…he had a black eye due to his fight with a GUN agent.

He had meant to stay unseen for the entire mission and had almost succeeded until the last minute. The inventor had thankfully brought along a few of his smoke bombs, and just had to fight the two main entry guards which resulted in him getting a black eye.

It had been worth it, not only had the two guards ended up worse but he had gotten all the information from the archive. Now he just needed to get home and download it all on his computer and on the eggman empire database.

The fox kit looked around, a public restroom was certainly not the place to hide now that he had activated all the nearby GUN locations, so he poured water over his face and grimaced at his long growing hair, he grabbed his bag and started searching for something to tie it. Thankfully he found two rubber bands he used for his notes sometimes and used it to tie his hair into two pigtails.

He then stared.

The pigtails were definitely a bit uncoordinated but…he liked it. He liked it a bit too much, why was that…?

He shook his head and dropped his head behind his shoulders. That…whatever, could wait, he needed to go back home immediately and use his findings.

___

Sonic was hugging himself while he was laying on his…mattress. Something was happening. They were moving…perhaps on a train? Underground, definitely. 

It would have been a perfect opportunity to escape, had it not been that Dra. Merlina had ordered his body to stay over the mattress. At least she had allowed him a bit of control to be able to move at his own will inside and actually fall asleep.

The wagon he was on was completely sealed, full with other specimens the lab had contained and multiple computers.

It wasn't helping with his claustrophobia.

He breathed in and out, knowing he would be there for a while.

His ear flickered when he heard something outside.

“-fox kit, the one with two tails, he found the archive”

Sonic´s breath hitched immediately and he covered his mouth so the agents wouldn't hear that he was awake.

“That´s why we are changing locations, they're too close to find him”

“And what will we do, take him off the country?”

Sonic froze at that, taking him farther away? No, no, they were searching for him. They were going to find him.

“Dont be ridiculous, even if they do find him, he's under Doctor Victoria's control”

“Shh! You know we are supposed to always use the codenames!” The other agent reprimanded.

“Anyhow, we are moving due to the equipment, that's what really must remain hidden. The research is private, if any of this were to come out…”

“Yeah it's already bad enough that there´s campaigns fighting for these fucking animals´ rights, tch, fools”

The two voices wandered off down the station and Sonic started trembling. Tears fell from his eyes.

Even if they found him, he had no control over himself. What if…what if they made him kill them? Tails, what if he forced him to kill him just like they had forced him to do so to all the people GUN deemed dangerous. 

Now, Sonic wished they would never find him.