As your past catches up with you...

Chapter 4

Guess who (unintentionally) lied about the new chapter being only in June? Me, of course!

But in all seriousness, I ended up finishing it faster than I had expected it thankfully. And School is almost over, finally. I mean, in 3 months I'll be back in that excuse of a prison, but at least I have 3 months of freedom :D

But, anyways, I hope y'all enjoy this new chapter

Longclaw opened her eyes slowly. The only thing she could see was darkness, so she tried to remember what had occurred. She recalled that the Echidnas had found where they were hiding and remembered grabbing Sonic and giving him a bag of rings, telling him to use them to escape to another planet (if anyone found him). She remembered getting shot multiple times and feeling more and more excruciating pain as the echidnas tried to finish her. She remembers throwing a ring and pushing Sonic through it, casting aside the conflicting thoughts of perhaps never seeing her Sonic again. And then, as the ring was almost closing, an echidna accidentally pushed her towards the ring.

She stumbles forward from the portal itself, and then she sees-

She tried getting up immediately from whatever she was lying on, only to feel immense pain in her left wing.

Where was Sonic? Was everything alright with him? Why were there so many humans and an echidna around? And why did he-

"Longclaw?"

That was Sonic's voice. Belonging to a much older Sonic, but still clearly her son's.

"Sonic?"

She looked to the other side, and even in all the darkness, she could see Sonic staring at her. Not only did he sound older, but he also looked older. The darkness of the room couldn't hide that Sonic's once infantilized, baby, face Longclaw remembered so well was replaced with a more mature one. While still retaining his bright blue fur and his green eyes. Could- What- How was that even possible?

"I missed you so much." Sonic said immediately, hugging her in a way that wouldn't hurt her. Some little sparks came from Sonic's back, lighting up the room, as Sonic felt a multitude of emotions.

After everything that had happened, she was so glad to see Sonic again. To be with him again. Even though she had... a lot of questions (Especially the lingering question of how and why Sonic is older), Sonic was safe, and it was all that mattered.

"I missed you too, Sonic," she said softly, feeling more and more content as the prospect of not losing Sonic, after all, warmed her heart.

They embraced (as much as an owl with a broken wig could) for a whole minute, feeling each other's heartbeat, before separating.

"Sonic, what's going on?" Longclaw asked as soon as she pulled away from him. "Where are we?"

As Sonic was about to answer, a strange sound was heard. The darkness dissipated. Light taking its place. Longclaw shut her eyes briefly, opening them, while blinking incessantly for a few seconds, so she would get used to the light while beginning to sit down on what looked like a couch. She looked up and saw... two humans looking at her...